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Adam Taves

@ataves.bsky.social
212 followers 531 following 245 posts

Librarian. Frequently on the move in Toronto with Wyatt the delightful springer spaniel.

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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 2h
Did you know the 1962 Grey Cup game (Blue Bombers vs Tiger Cats) was halted in the 4th quarter due to fog? With the remainder played the next day? Things I've learned working with a 16 mm film collection at work. ocul-yor.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...
ocul-yor.primo.exlibrisgroup.com
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Not wearing my reading glasses so originally read that as “if the librarians were to get a nuclear weapon…” and the mind reels.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Today I've received 2 personal and 2 work-related "please disregard that last email" emails. I didn't like any of the last emails so I'm calling today a draw.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
On campus, I just paid $9.13 for a plain bagel with one egg and a few banana peppers. Campus predominantly Chartwell operations, that Mike Harris outfit that's being sued for killing seniors during Covid (proper care eats into nursing home profits) and bilking people for mediocre food.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My only babka views come from Seinfeld. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7658...
cooking.nytimes.com
Date Caramel Babka Recipe • 5★ • 5 hrs 15 min
A buttery, enriched babka swirled with a sweet date caramel may sound like an ambitious baking project, but this one is extremely doable. Dates, soaked in hot water until tender, get blended with butt...
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I asked my father a few years ago if there was a sycamore tree in their yard. There is now and it's doing well. He sent this photo this eve - the first aerial view of their yard I’ve seen. Endless hours planting trees as a kid but what a delight now. Trees are wonderful.
Heavily treed yard surrounding by farm fields.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Voilà, Canada's national library catalogue, has flipped to Lake America. Things move fast in networked systems. canada.on.worldcat.org/search?query...
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Sad to hear. “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” is a book to which I return often, and often just to read a short passage. Helps to slow the world down.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I see Ford is seizing a potential opening on the Billy Bishop airport expansion. Have not been strongly opposed to airport as it currently exists, but at this point build the high-speed rail line and rip up the island runway Daley-style. In no mood to keep regurgitating this fight.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Today’s early morning rainbow must have been sent to foretell this evening’s delightful downpour.
A surprise early morning rainbow without any rain.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A recent favourite pic of Wyatt on ferry back to city from Toronto Islands. We sneak over early mornings so he (sometimes me) can go for a quick swim while beaches are empty. We leave no trace that he was ever there.
Liver and white springer spaniel on Toronto Island ferry.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I'm annoyed at the Library of Congress's quick capitulation on the Lake America front. It introduces another problem to quell (see Mount McKinley, Gulf of America) in our catalogue. I did just chance upon subject heading "Historiography - History" which I thought delightful. Hang in there LoC.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Duke Ellington, a glass of wine, and exercising my chops in the kitchen is one of my mental health go-to’s when the world is spinning too quickly for my liking. Downside: this combo always triggers a want to buy pack of cigarettes. Shall resist.
Cover of Duke Ellington’s album “… and his mother called him Bill.”
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Disappointing to see any admiration for Doug Ford’s Captain Canada act. Sure, he’s our guy and full of bluster. But he’s a Trumpist to the core, and acts as one whether he’s dealing with airport expansion, bike lanes, or even with Trump himself. Toxic and corrupt. Don’t be fooled by the act.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Got my octogenarian parents set up with their first Smart TV this past weekend. Have received 2 tech support calls and realize I'll be buying an exact duplicate of their model. Will be conquering their need for computer upgrade soon. They're switching to a Mac whether they like it or not.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Rain, hail, lightning, torrential winds. Eventually the amphitheatre show can't go on. And so it shall happen on Sept 11.
Concert poster for TLC and Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue "It's Iconic" tour.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
University of Toronto in full frosh week mode and I live right next door. Abba's "Dancing Queen" at SMC elicited big cheers from crowd. Now Gaga. Moderate cheer. Gaga good too, but those old standards still have lots of life in them.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Spotted on visit to the farmstead: an improvised strike zone on the barn door. From an Aussie nephew’s July visit.
Barn door with masking tape outlining baseball strike zone.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
It's the stupidity that is most exhausting. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
theglobeandmail.com
Trump signs executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America
U.S. President says change will take effect immediately
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Need to brush up on my Hobbes.
newrepublic.com
Darline Graham Says You Should Work Until You Collapse and Die
Graham mocked universal health care in the weirdest way possible after winning her primary election.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Trump renaming things (e.g. Gulf of America) wreaks havoc on library systems that get name authority updates from Library of Congress automatically. Our economies are integrated. So are our library catalogues. Admittedly way down on the list of present concerns, but it is a huge annoyance!
thestar.com
Donald Trump threatens to rename Lake Ontario ‘Lake America’ amid Canada trade war
The threat comes after incendiary comments from Ontario Premier Doug Ford Monday in reaction to the breakdown of talks toward an agreement to lower the American tariff rate on Canadian exports.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
A lesbian cousin visiting from Missouri asked me a while ago about women’s bars in Toronto. Uuhmmmm? Triggered memories of the Boom Boom Room (long closed), which was a regular haunt for a few years. Denise Benson does it justice: thenandnowtoronto.com/2014/09/then....
thenandnowtoronto.com
Then & Now: Boom Boom Room - Then and Now: Toronto Nightlife History
Boom cage dancers Mikey (far left) and friends. Photo courtesy of Sofia Weber. Article originally published February 1, 2012 by…
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The endless trade war tariff stuff is exhausting and I’m guessing many Canadians (and likely Americans) would be quite happy to awake tomorrow to the headline “Carney tells Trump to go fuck himself”. Throw in 50% export taxes on energy/oil and I’m making myself a Bloody Caesar for breakfast.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I hope he doesn’t make reference again to being “peeled off the ceiling.” Such an unsavoury expression.
thestar.com
Fine dining, oysters and axe-throwing: Inside Elections Ontario filings that reveal how some Doug Ford cabinet riding associations spend donor cash
The expenses by the riding associations of some of Doug Ford’s ministers, which include nearly $15,000 for organic grass-fed premium beef, are detailed in Elections Ontario filings, and are funded by ...
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The diminishing need for figuring out bespoke routes is a really big deal. I hop on my bike or a city bike and it's all so easy right now for most trips. Re-inject the need for constant route planning and biking around the city becomes much less attractive.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The fresh fruit is nice. The fresh tomatoes divine. But the Irish in me gets giddy when the new potatoes arrive. No famine here.
A basket of Ontario new potatoes.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I have a nice view from my balcony of the Soldier’s Tower at the University of Toronto, a commemorative structure to honour university members who fought in the 2 world wars. It assumes added gravitas given the current state of the world. I find myself staring at it more regularly these days.
Looking west across Queen's Park at the Soldier's Tower at Hart House on the University of Toronto campus.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My father’s decades old dad-joke “oh no” whenever my mother starts with “I’ve been thinking that we” never ceases to make me smile.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I hope this doesn’t involve adopting a warrior mindset like our neighbours to the south. I don’t want to survive on steak, sauerkraut, and testosterone shots.
thestar.com
Canada ramps up ability to fight wars as peacekeeping role recedes
Peacekeeping operations once romanticized as the backbone of Canada's international nobility have all but vanished amid preparations for war.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
The Ford government's concern for farmers/farmland is hogwash. Exhibit A: The greenbelt scandal. If the concern is food security (a noble pursuit), there's Exhibit B: mass conversion of Essex/Kent county lands (some of the most fertile in Canada) to greenhouses. You can build greenhouses anywhere.
thestar.com
Doug Ford’s MPPs criticize Mark Carney’s Alto high-speed rail project after Billy Bishop veto
The 300 km/h train that would cut through farmland in rural ridings represented by Tory MPPs has always been unpopular with some members of Ford’s caucus.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Price and origin indicators seem to be continually disappearing for produce at my Loblaws. A subtle way to communicate it may be expensive, of hostile provenance, and may make you sick.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
MPOW is hiring a Collections and Acquisitions Manager. Posting at bit.ly/3TzJNGd. I do collection development so you'd get to work with me! Although I shouldn't presuppose that is a great selling point.
bit.ly
Collections and Acquisitions Manager
Access Full Position Posting Purpose: York University Libraries' Content Development and Acquisitions Department oversees the acquisition and processing of content and distinctive collections that su...
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
"New Knowledge Experience Available" Actually I just need some tech info from your website about the platform my workplace just licensed from you. Definitely trying to avoid having an experience.
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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Blue licence plates on repeat
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Stephanie Carvin @stephaniecarvin.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Agree with @acoyne.bsky.social on Canada's options: "If there’s nothing we can do – if we lose no matter what – then we might as well do what we want. When nothing you can do will improve your fortunes, when the outcome is the same regardless of which option you choose, the stakes converge on zero."
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
"And the best way to solve it is to just stop burning fossil fuels." Full points to CBC for the headline. More blunt reporting welcomed. www.cbc.ca/news/science...
cbc.ca
'Just stop burning fossil fuels.' Scientists stress that our smoky skies only have one true fix | CBC News
Smoky skies in Toronto have led to new scrutiny of government efforts to fight fires and manage forests. But scientists say the realistic way to tackle the smoke is fighting climate change itself.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
So far left. Canada is pretty middle-of-the-road for a wealthy country. But thanks for the kind words.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I read that it’s good to interrupt doomscroll feeds with cute pet pics. Here’s my dog Wyatt. He lives a charmed life. He’s terrific.
Liver and white English springer spaniel looking at camera while lounging on white duvet.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
This is a great dressing. Although I halve it as I live solo. Throw rest of tofu in smoothies. Gift link. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027...
cooking.nytimes.com
Silken Tofu-Miso Dressing Recipe • 5★ (Gift Recipe)
At the restaurant RVR (pronounced “river”), the chefs Travis Lett and Ian Robinson toss this dressing with winter chicories from the local farmers’ market, speckled and striped pink and green. Any cri...
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
That was a great game. But time to go outside or, as we call it in Toronto, time for a smoke.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
A rendition of "God save the King/Queen" emanating from somewhere in the crowd fuelling my cheering for England. The united empire loyalist background doesn't die easily.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Whenever there's a huge change in tenor of a game after a break (in this case ENG v FRA, but any sport really), I always wonder what the manager/coach was yelling in the locker room. Dulcet words of enthusiasm? Threats?
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The Beaverton @thebeaverton.com · 16/07/2026
Toronto air quality plummets to 1990s bingo hall levels
thebeaverton.com
Toronto air quality plummets to 1990s bingo hall levels
TORONTO — Environment Canada has warned that wildfire smoke drifting from Northwestern Ontario has reduced Toronto’s air quality to 1990s bingo hall levels.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I like to think I keep a very clean bathroom. But for the 2nd time in a few weeks, a friend (different than the first) has mentioned "deep cleaning" their bathroom. Are they back channelling about my lacklustre domestic skills? Are they signalling that my bathroom isn't "deep clean"?
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Good op/ed by @shawnmicallef.bsky.social on needless divisiveness of transportation politics, or just plain old getting around, in Toronto. A warning if you're prone to earworms: its headline may result in you singing the chorus to Meredith Brooks' "Bitch" all day. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
thestar.com
Shawn Micallef: I’m a cyclist, I’m a driver, I’m a TTC rider. Stop making me pick sides, just make it easier to get around
Cyclists, drivers, TTC riders and pedestrians can unite in service of a better commute
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
When I figured out how they worked (the tracings!) back in the 80s, I thought they were a marvel. I still do and suspect they sparked my interest in librarianship. So much love and labour to make a collection accessible.
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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
A group of TO civil society leaders (in a sea of people who aren't saying a peep) have created TO Reality Check to oppose the Island Airport expansion. Give them some time + share where you can. They've made it easy to send a letter to Liberal MPs who could stop all this today. torealitycheck.ca
youtube.com
The Best of Toronto's Waterfront - And Why We Might Lose It
YouTube video by TO_RealityCheck
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Don't forget that today is "AI Appreciation Day". ChatGPT has some great ideas for how to celebrate.
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Adam Taves @ataves.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
With all the fires and smoke, Doug Ford’s go-to move—blame the federal government—must be on pause. Don’t want to imperil the island airport expansion by pissing off the feds. A real conundrum. Probably best for the premier to just disappear for now.
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