jd 🔆
LightNews LightNews
banner
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
jd 🔆
@jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
7 followers 5 following 200 posts
Been on this planet for a bit now; still trying to figure it out.

What keeps me informed, amused, or up at night: climate and the environment, news and journalism, human […]

[bridged from https://mstdn.ca/@jd on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Posts Replies Media Videos
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
An air quality alert just popped up. Any theories as to why?
#ottawa
Screen shot of Apple’s weather app showing an air quality index of 5 (moderate health risk).
February 17, 2026 at 6:16 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
. . . and the piece de resistance . . .
#pancakeday
February 17, 2026 at 4:36 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
As fine a mardi gras as ever there was.
#pancakeday
Photo: On a countertop, the ingredients for making pancakes: a skillet, egg, maple syrup, salt, oat milk, vanilla, flour, butter, blueberries. Photo: A pancake browning nicely on the griddle. Photo: A table setting with place mat, knife, fork, blue napkin, and a white plate with floral designs upon which is a stack if pancakes adorned with fresh blueberries.
February 17, 2026 at 4:32 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Back in the Before Times, I would ocassionally buy a pair of jeans online from a U.S. supplier.
They sent me a survey this morning.
My response:
Text of my letter: Re: Your opinion truly matters to us Why are you sending me this email? I haven't bought anything from you guys for months, and have no intention of doing so until that crazy monster of a president you have down there is impeached and incarcerated. Do you think, as a Canadian, I would be so foolish as to purchase anything from a country whose government threatens Canada weekly, tries to stir political unrest in our country, slaps on punitive tariffs for no apparent reason, and insults us and our prime minister, not to mention turning your own country into a tyrannical hellhole? Nothing against you guys personally, but sheesh. JD Ottawa, Canada
February 17, 2026 at 1:31 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Not entirely sold on this AI thingy.
Screen shot of a chat GPT conversation. Question: I need to get my car washed but the car wash is only 300 meters away. Should I walk or drive to the car wash GPT answer: If it's only 300 meters (about 0.2 miles) away, you should walk. Here's why: It's very close - about a 3-5 minute walk. You'll save gas (even if it's a tiny amount). Better for the environment. You get a little movement in.
February 14, 2026 at 4:36 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
‘Tis the season!
Sure are some *searches for technical term* doozies out there.
Photo: A roadway full of water-filled potholes.
February 5, 2026 at 2:41 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
A question for you: is it just me or is this guy starting to turn orange?
Pierre Poilievre wearing a dark blue suit, standing up in the House of Commons surrounded by other MPs. His face does indeed seem to have a more orange hue than those of the others in the photo.
February 2, 2026 at 3:58 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
From @deAdder
Cartoon: A downtown city street looking from above. A theatre blazoned with the word “Melania” on its marquee sits beside a dental clinic advertising “Root Canals”. There is a long line up for the root canals. There is no line up for Melania.
February 2, 2026 at 3:53 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
OK little fella. Tomorrow’s your big day!
We all rootin’ for ya!
. . .
. . .
Just don’t you go screwing it up, now, ya hear?.
Photo: A ground hog sitting on a patch of half grass, half snow.
February 1, 2026 at 5:55 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Feel the burn . . .
#ottawa
Bluesky post by Ottawa City Councillor Ariel Troster: Ariel Troster @arieltroster.com An oft-repeated statistic says men apply for a job when they have 60% of the qualifications while women wait till they have 100%. Pretty sure that stat was debunked, but ... Several men seem to think that being Mayor is a suitable starter job for someone with no municipal experience. It's not. 15:10 • 31 Jan 2026
February 1, 2026 at 1:35 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
The results are in!
#ottawa
Poster’s note: This is a list of funny snow plow names, many of which use odd spellings so I”m not sure how well they’ll be machine read. Anyway, here goes. Name the Plow! Drumroll... The votes are in Ottawa! Here are the final 24 snowplow names... • Austin Plowers • Blizzard Wizard • Croque-Neige • Edward Blizzardhands • Fast and Flurious • Flurrious George • Good SnOmens • Han Snowlo • Jon Bon Snowvi • Pacman Contre la Neige • Plowasaurus Rex • Plowy McPlow • Sherlock Snowmes • Shiver Me Blizzards • Sir Plows a Lot • SnoMore • Snow Big Deal • Snowbi Gon Kenobi • Snowmageddon • Taylor Drift • Tim Snowtons • Winter Wonderplow • You Don't Snow Me • You're a Blizzard, Harry
January 28, 2026 at 1:24 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
According to this post, Tiktok is already blocking anti-Trump, anti-ICE posts. If so, time to abandon it altogether.
Are there Canadian/ other alternatives?
Screen shot of a post by David Leavett. I’m not sure what social media its on. Anyway it says that “TikTok has begun censoring anti-Trump and anti-Ice content.”
January 26, 2026 at 2:46 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Here we go . . . Again!
Weather alert from Environment Canada: Issued at: 12:00 noon EST Sunday 25 January 2026 Impact level: Moderate Forecast confidence: High Snow, at times heavy, this afternoon through Monday morning. What: Snowfall amounts of 10 to 20 cm. Reduced visibility in heavy snow and local blowing snow. When: This afternoon through Monday morning. Additional information: Snow will taper to periods of light snow or flurries from west to east through Monday morning. The Monday morning commute may be impacted. Northeasterly winds gusting 40 to 50 km/h may result in local blowing snow, particularly for exposed areas.
January 25, 2026 at 6:37 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
After all the lies, after all the abuse, after all the attempts to ruin our economy, we still do this . . .

Convoy of linesmen heading from Canada to the US to help out with the winter storm aftermath.
Linesmen trucks on an Ontario highway heading south.
January 25, 2026 at 3:44 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Found this on Reddit. Thought some of you guys would enjoy.
Photo: Two rolls of paper towels are bound in plastic on which there is an orange label with the logo of the National Post, a Canadian conservative newspaper. Under the logo are 4 bullet points: - now with extra nonsense; - may come pre soiled; - opinions worth the flush; - extra course texture. At the bottom of the label is a round red white and blue sticker reading “Proudly made in the USA”. For good measure, an open roll of toilet paper is positioned at the lower right corner.
January 24, 2026 at 8:29 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
The Roman historian Tacitus (50-120 CE) nailed it.

“Tacitus was especially good at describing the effect the tyrant has on the people around him. When the tyrant first takes power, there is a “rush into servitude” as great swarms of sycophants suck up to the great […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
A marble bust of Tacitus
January 23, 2026 at 3:44 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
This morning:
Trump displays an AI map of North America in the White House showing Canada, Greenland, and Venezuela as part of the US.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-shares-map-of-us-including-greenland-canada-venezuela-11384438
Trump in the White House with half a dozen visitors in front of the map of North America. The countries of Canada, Greenland, and Canada are overlaid with the American flag, as is the United States.
January 20, 2026 at 1:38 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Canadian cheerleader
(Credit: Theo Moudakis, Toronto Star)
#poilievre
Cartoon. Trump kicks a large domino labelled ‘Venezuela’ which topples towards a line of other dominoes: Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Cuba, and Canada. By Trump’s side is a figure jumping and waving his arms and saying, “Go Trump, go!!”. The figure is Pierre Poilievre.
January 19, 2026 at 1:29 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
@deAdder
Cartoon. A line marks the Canada—US border. On the US side, there is an ICE military style vehicle outside of which agents with clubs are busy besting up a person. On the Canadian side there is also a truck labelled ICE, but this is a plain old delivery van. Outside the van a man is pulling a trolly of, well, just ice. He says, “Americans sure do things differently.”
January 15, 2026 at 9:50 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Lansdowne Park this week.
#ottawa
Aerial shot showing the destruction of the grounds east of the stadium.
January 15, 2026 at 9:35 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
I wrote to the National Observer about this (thought they might be more investigative than the legacy media) and received this reply.
Message exchange with the National Observer: Hi John, Thanks for sending your scoop via Canada's National Observer's scoop link. Your scoop has been forwarded to our editorial team. They will contact you if they require any further info. Thanks again for sharing your scoop with National Observer. Kind regards, Jan 15, 2026, 07:30 PST Submitted on Thu, 01/15/2026 - 07:30 Submitted by: Anonymous Submitted values are: Name D Email address Subject - reason I've got a general question Message Politico Europe quotes an anonymous diplomat saying that Canada is sending troops to Greenland, though it's officially denied. See paragraphs 5, 6. Any chance NO could find out more? There's no mention that I could find in the Globe, Star, or NP. https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-allies-boost-greenland-military presence-donald-trump-ramps-up-pressure/
January 15, 2026 at 5:45 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
I received a reply from the Minister. It mentions improving platform safety and accountability but there’s no mention of moving the Canadian government from the X platform.

#x #grok
Text of Evan Solomon’s letter (truncated as it is over Mastodon’s character limit): RE: Use of X and Grok by the Canadian Government Thank you for reaching out to share your concerns regarding recent reports of deepfake images generated by the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok on the social media platform X. I want to be clear: deepfake sexual abuse is violence. Canadians should be able to participate online without fear that their image will be misused or manipulated without consent, particularly women and young people. Platforms and Al developers have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to prevent this kind of harm. Our government is continuing to advance the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence in Canada. A key part of this work is Bill C-16, which would amend the Criminal Code to clarify that non-consensual deepfake intimate images are treated as intimate images for the purposes of the offence of publication without consent. This legislation would strengthen protections for victims and help ensure that those who misuse these technologies are held accountable.
January 12, 2026 at 8:44 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
I’ve written several times trying to get someone—anyone— to show a little initiative on this file. Crickets so far.
Undeterred, here we go again.
I’ll let you guys know if I get a resoonse this time.
#x #grok
Letter: To: Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, Canada. Dear Mr. Solomon, I understand the Canadian government is reconsidering its use of X as a social media platform in the wake of controversies surrounding its Grok Al service, and X generally. Good. The sooner the federal government stops using X, the better. . . . Governments urgently need to find ways to wean themselves from this platform. In the recent past, X has helped foment right-wing riots in Britain, threatened to curtail essential military communications in Ukraine, promoted violent and extremist views and, in Canada, attempted to discredit the CBC by labelling it a 'government funded media' Fortunately, there are alternatives: alternatives which are not owned by any corporation and through which governments can own, operate, and control their own social media platforms. The Fediverse is one such alternative worthy of investigation. Fediverse servers are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. International government agreements and co-ordinated roll outs would help solve the chicken-and-egg problem in transferring to a new social media platform. For this reason I propose that the issue be put on the agenda of the next G7 leaders meeting with a view to securing such agreements as soon as possible. Thank you.
January 12, 2026 at 4:39 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Someone isn’t on this list and most certainly wishes he were, especially with a certain leadership review looming.
A screen shot from CTV news showing the 10 most searched Canadians in 2025. They are, in order, Mark Carney, Justin Trudeau, Justin Bieber, Tate McRae, Jagmeet Singh, Ryan Reynolds, Drake, Ryan Gosling, Shawn Mendes, Rachel McAddams.
January 9, 2026 at 12:48 PM
jd.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
North America, circa 2027?
Map of North America with the uS (including Alaska), and Greenland coloured in red. Text at the bottom of the map reads, “Choose one. Canada will be a) Coddled, b) Enwreathed, c) Besieged”
January 7, 2026 at 5:21 PM