I signed up for the Canada Post app service they’re rolling out that tells you that you’re getting mail and when it’s been delivered, seemed like a neat idea The problem is that it mostly just tells you that you have inbound junk mail.

Will this be a historian’s exercise, or will it engage the problem of 2026 that the actually-existing United States is sorta one of the pirates?

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 8h ago

Beginning to feel like I need to budget a week on the blog for a military primer on 'how the US Navy is the load-bearing pillar of your ability to eat bananas and of folks in developing countries to eat at all.' Not saying that is an optimal situation, merely that it is the situation.

They figured this part out 20 years before the oldest person now living was born. Electric passenger trains: good

dereksagehorn.bsky.social@dereksagehorn.bsky.social · 3d ago

Still thinking about this video. youtube.com/shorts/eSIMn...

Remember that by killing the Villages Plan, Sean, ABC, & "Green" Pete Fry scuttled Complete Communities, an essential Big Move of the Climate Emergency Action Plan. 1000s will commute in cars from exurbs & fossil gas will heat more homes, regardless of what CoV rules say.

I know it's slop and all but AI-assisted historical image 'colourization' is *fun* (that said the house on the right is 100% fictitious) searcharchives.vancouver.ca/looking-west...

Can’t get this story out of my head. The delays aren’t unusual, the cost comes out at $100k per unit or ~$400/month rent for those non-market homes. Same issues come up for market housing, developers could keep building at lower rents if munis did not impose those delays and uncertainty.

Ryan Jabs@ryanjabs.bsky.social · 2d ago

Another window into why even non-profit housing is so expensive. Saanich delays led to an extra $9milliom (!!) in costs. No one in Saanich is held accountable so they keep dragging their feet and increasing costs. bcbusiness.ca/real-estate/...

it is unfortunate that at a time when sovereign infrastructure is more important than ever, people are freaking out about building data centres here

I'm just using default settings without DEMs 1h 47m to Pemberton

Brick and mortar stores sorting clothing by brands is perhaps the biggest reason I have to shop online

there's a lot less dogma and a lot more 'doesn't pencil at this density' in so far as greenfield densities have been going up, an under appreciated explanation for this is that this is how people afford more expensive land and construction costs

Defence Scheme Enjoyer 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇬🇱🇲🇽🇵🇸@maxp94.bsky.social · 2d ago

My main gripe is the dogmatic refusal to do mixed use of any kind and all the local amenities are always shit nobody needs, so the streets are absolutely stuffed with vehicles

I made a thing that calculates hypothetical railway timetables in QGIS cartoview.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-...

It's a good day for a Burnabarian

oh my god

Brett Fujioka@brettfujioka.bsky.social · 5d ago

I think that I once opined that there isn't anything analogous in U.S. history to the inter service rivalries in Japan. But I've also said that the current administration is more comparable to Imperial Japan than other Quasi-Totalitarian States. cc: @sharonk.bsky.social @aelkus.bsky.social

the habitable earth:

Doing this the fancy way this evening

this would have been very cool for the five minutes it existed as a real estate consultant

QuoProQuid@quoproquid.bsky.social · 6d ago

google has added generative ai capability to Google Earth and i cannot conceive of any positive, good-faith use of this

Pretending that Canada is indefensible pretends to solve a bunch of tradeoffs that are unpleasant for the left but they really should have a better answer for defence than throwing up their hands

Isaiah Bishop@isaiahbishop.bsky.social · 6d ago

Its fun that the NDP's line is that the US military is simply unbeatable as they show themselves to be extremely beatable

I was curious

IMO, Canada should buy * high speed emus for Alto * regional DMUs for SW Ontario service, Quebec-via-Drummondville and other short-haul services *locomotives/coaches for long distance trains and remote service trains with low speeds, low productivity and the general discomfort of long DMU trips

I think my grand father *75* years ago was doing metal fabrication of some sort? There’s some story about him and the design of tanker trucks that I am fuzzy on A bit later he was framing paintings

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · last wk.

Enough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?

1) expropriate Union Station and lake shore east 2) build sufficient addition tracks and crossovers for blended service 3) electrify Boom: Alto into Union without dealing with Metrolinx or Ford

John Michael McGrath@jm-mcgrath.bsky.social · 6d ago

TIL there's SCC precedent from 1929 suggesting the federal government ("the Dominion", as they then called it) can expropriate provincial Crown property, specifically in cases where there's no other alternative to executing something in exclusive federal jurisdiction. www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/do...

Many said that we had to cut immigration so governments could "catch up" on housing. I tried to explain, based on my experience in housing advocacy, why I thought that was unlikely. Immigrants were just a scapegoat for governments who didn't prioritize new homes. I wish that I had been proven wrong.

Jacob Loo Dawang@jacobdawang.com · last wk.

Surely they made Alberta agree to the conditions of the program right? Right? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

the focus on the harms of development in many cases is an attempt to forge a one-sided alliance between tenant activists and nimbys and you should ask the tenant activists what they get for their trouble

Nicholas Rae@nickrae.bsky.social · 7d ago

Redevelopment and renovations makes up about 10% of evictions. Owner use is around 60%. That doesn't mean that it isn't important to have protections for tenants due to redevelopment, but they're much more likely to be evicted due to other reasons

Redevelopment and renovations makes up about 10% of evictions. Owner use is around 60%. That doesn't mean that it isn't important to have protections for tenants due to redevelopment, but they're much more likely to be evicted due to other reasons

Michael O’Shaughnessy@mdnoshaughnessy.bsky.social · last wk.

When I was evicted it was because the owner sold our apt. We found a new place but we had to compete against many other families, and our rent went up. The approach to housing policy below would have done nothing to prevent me from being evicted and it actively made it harder to get a new home

There was a time where this combination of product and marketing would have been regarded as criminally irresponsible

An old picture of myself playing a tuba around a campfire at a scout camp

The $36m/per locomotive via rail Stadler deal is incredibly frustrating when they’re cutting important programs to the bone to save money. If you’re going to do industrial policy you must insist on result not just sloppy pork barrelling.

Down at Yaletown Station

www.canada.ca/en/transport... Are these going to be the most expensive locomotives ever built?

Passenger Rail Locomotive Assembly Returns to Canada Through a $1.95 Billion Government of Canada Investment

Rail helped build Canada, connecting people and communities across vast distances and helping unite the country. Today, a modern and resilient passenger rail network is essential to supporting economi...

canada.ca

Ottawa Does Not Need The Provinces Permission To Build National Infrastructure

John Michael McGrath@jm-mcgrath.bsky.social · last wk.

“'It’s Billy Bishop for Alto, that was always the understanding,' said one insider" www.thestar.com/politics/pro...