Colin Foster
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colinfoster.net
Colin Foster
@colinfoster.net
100 followers 310 following 170 posts
Software. Tools. Epistemology. Birbs.

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colinfoster.net
I love being able to cool down my feet mid hike (Slim Bay @ Charleston Lake Provincial Park) while keeping them totally dry! Thanks for the super comfy, 100% waterproof boots
@keenfootwear.bsky.social !
Foreground: A person's ankle and booted-feet 2/3 submerged under water at the edge of a lake. Background: the water surface, reeds and forest on the other side of the lake a few 100m away. The water is mostly transparent, fully showing the Keen boots standing on a sparkly sandy bottom with some small plants growing around.
September 21, 2025 at 1:42 PM
colinfoster.net
Time to nerd this post up with a little backyard science.

Readings taken 1-1:30pm & 4:30-5pm in Toronto. (Cloud cover wouldn't allow for a noon-time reading.) Phone’s compass set to true north. (First reading should probably be 2-3° if my phone had been straight.)

So: 10° off in the afternoon!
Photo of an iphone on the ground showing the compass app situated so it's pointing perpendicular to two rocks. A straight red line has been drawn onto the photo connecting the tops of the two rocks to illustrate the line we're trying to point perpendicular to, in order to find true north (by this technique). The phone's screen shows it pointing to 4° instead of 0° if it was pointing to true north. Note that the phone is not perfectly perpendicular to the red line and would probably have read 3° or 2° if it had been perpendicular. Other information on the phone screen includes the longitude & latitude, elevation of 90m and location of Toronto, ON. Photo of an iphone on the ground showing the compass app situated so it's pointing perpendicular to two rocks. A straight red line has been drawn onto the photo connecting the tops of the two rocks to illustrate the line we're trying to point perpendicular to, in order to find true north (by this technique). The phone's screen shows it pointing to 350° instead of 0° if it was pointing to true north. Other information on the phone screen includes the longitude & latitude, elevation of 90m and location of Toronto, ON.
July 7, 2025 at 9:44 PM
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Huh. That's where I'm seeing it's most off-north. The "point shadow trace" view of their dial shows the path of the shadow at the summer solstice. That arc flattens out and eventually (helpfully!) goes concave so two points always point north. But morning and afternoon in summer would be far off N.
Screenshot from the sundial simulator show the position in the middle of Canada, close to the southern border. The diagram shows a strong convex arc for the path of the sun at the summer solstice. The line perpendicular to this arc would point NNW in the morning and NNE in the afternoon.
July 7, 2025 at 2:13 PM
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Kauai love-fest. I'm in!
Lumahai Beach, 2006.
A woman in the distance is running towards the camera, through the receding waves of a sandy beach. In the far distance is a tall tree line. There is a large rocky outcropping in the water as waves crash nearby.
April 5, 2025 at 11:44 AM
colinfoster.net
Playing a little Bohnanza with dinner tonight was a nice reminder that everyone does better when there is more free trading at every opportunity, instead of only trading when it serves a narrow short interest.
A top-down view of a dinner table with plates of food to the side and assorted lines of bean cards from the card game "Bohnanza" in front of each person's place. The cards have cartoonish figures on them including a Black-Eyed Bean drawn as a boxer in a boxing ring, a Chili Bean lighting up a cigarette while leaning back on a leaking can of gasoline, and a Green Bean that looks like its going to be sick.
February 3, 2025 at 1:15 AM
colinfoster.net
?
Ancient Egyptian drawing showing a person with arms in a position similar to how the cat has posed: bent 90 degrees at elbow and wrist, upper arms parallel with shoulders, left arm's hand pointing forward, right arm's hand pointing backward.
September 16, 2024 at 9:45 PM
colinfoster.net
If you see this, quote post with a beach photo from your gallery
August 31, 2024 at 10:36 PM
colinfoster.net
Seinfield based meme. Panel 1: George says "Why do billionaires care if they lose all their money?" Panel 2: George says "They'll just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make it all back with their unbelievable work ethic." Panel 3: Jerry replies "Plus if they're poor, all the money will trickle back down to them, making them rich again."
August 1, 2024 at 12:20 AM
colinfoster.net
Does anyone know how to valid if 3M masks are real?

Box arrived w seal broken. Box looks "used". There's a QR code, but it validates the box, not the contents (it may have come from a dumpster). The mask serial# matches the sticker on the box, but the sticker is also easy to fake.

Any guidance?
Picture of semi-disheveled box of 3M 9502+ masks with the seal broken. Cardboard looks like it's bent from use, and torn down one corner. Two clear-film wrapped packages of 3M N95 masks, each holding two masks. The left package shows the 3M impression in the mask along with a lot of fine print: "3M 9502+ N95 NIOSH...". The package on the right has a lot of fine print starting in what appears to be Chinese adn switching to English for a WARNING about proper use. There is a green sticker with the initials "LA" and a serial number in the lower right corner #E22344161216260.
May 4, 2024 at 7:07 PM
colinfoster.net
The tone is a good stress-test for whether they really want to hear the news you're covering. Without it, they might casually read one of your articles and have their head just explode.
Meme photo of a guy seemingly under huge stress with several veins bulging from his forehead and neck.
February 28, 2024 at 4:43 AM
colinfoster.net
Every day the quiet tap from my monitor's off button results in our sleeping cat launching himself from a bed on the 2nd floor, a rampage down the stairs, and into my office in hopes of snagging some treats & a belly rub before we head up. (Attached: the goober taking a nap in his Lego lounger.)
A large dark grey cat (chartreux) lying flat inside an even larger, shallow bin of Lego pieces with his head and one paw hanging over the edge
February 5, 2024 at 6:59 PM
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I actually logged back into my account at the other place just to see if these were real and... yup! His separation from reality should be a clinic diagnosis of... something.
This is an image of 3 posts: A (verified) post from Scott Adams on Twitter says: "I'll bet there is not a single academic paper on the likely impact of DEl on straight, white American men. Because no one cares until we leave. We probably need to start a new country. That should be feasible within ten years. On the sea." BlueSky's Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) quoted this post and replied: "Somewhere, beyond the sea My incel's waiting for me..." A 'liked' reply to that post says "I'll kickstart that shit, someone send me a link."
January 25, 2024 at 6:20 PM
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Government testing of the BTNX covid tests we have in Ontario suggests they are prone to false negatives except when someone is "highly infectious." (The story covers many aspects of how we got here but the one I'm immediately concerned with is told in the last two columns of this chart.)
Image of a chart comparing privately funded studies for BTNX covid rapid-tests to the results of those same covid rapid-tests when performed by governments/regulators. For "very high" viral loads, the results are similarly high: 100% in private-testing vs 91% to 100% for regulator-testing. For "High" viral loads: private-testing suggested 90% to 100% accuracy, but government-testing suggested 10-33% accuracy. For moderate viral loads: private testing suggested 40% to 82% accuracy but government testing found 0% - 10% accuracy.
December 22, 2023 at 1:28 PM
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⬇️ How it started. ⬆️ How it's going.
Photo of a space-suited astronaut standing on the moon, looking at the Earth as a meteor crashes through one side and explodes out the other, taking half the planet with it. A speech bubble beside the astronaut says "Oh God, the economy!"
November 2, 2023 at 3:23 PM