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mirthdal.bsky.social
Mirth
@mirthdal.bsky.social
6K followers 3K following 990 posts
Learn, laugh, cry, protest, save democracy. Some snark. Let's make this the new global town square. Bilingue. #WearAMask #Vote #Resist #AltFam #AltGov #ElbowsUp
Silicon Valley & Canada
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mirthdal.bsky.social
Good to see you back @lukelebrun.ca !
Suit by failed UCP candidate = very long! Centres on her claim she was resident of Alberta when submitted bid to be candidate. But in the court filing, she says she only "intended" to move to Calgary-Mountain View "if elected"
pressprogress.ca/wp-content/u...
Extract from the court filing ("lawsuit"): https://pressprogress.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Caylan-Ford-Statement-of-Claim.pdf 60. The quotation attributed to Ford in the Google Ads is a falsification by Jivraj. Ford has never said what was alleged to have been said. Ford had lived for three years in the Calgary-Mountain View constituency, which is located in Northwest Calgary, while she was attending the University of Calgary. She had the intention of moving back to Calgary-Mountain View to raise her children had she been elected.
November 7, 2025 at 10:50 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
@ominousrabbit.com In your on-going discussion whether AI is worth it...

Not only are tech companies telling their stockholders AI is a huge cost with extremely tiny return (-> HUGE $$loss)...

...but the public is now covering / paying for those losses - IN ADVANCE

blog.ucs.org/mike-jacobs/...
Screenshot of two tweets on Twitter by Ari Peskoe @AriPeskoe, Sept 29, 2025 Utilities are building massive amounts of regional and local transmission for industrial computing facilities. Existing cost allocation methods spread these costs to everyone. And here's a post form @UCSUSA explaining the report. "This spreading of costs isn't illegal. It is simply out of date." [Tweet links to article at blog.ucs.org] https://blog.ucs.org/mike-jacobs/data-centers-are-already-increasing-your-energy-bills/
September 30, 2025 at 5:39 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Hi @electricbluesfan.bsky.social have you noticed @bsky.app has simply dropped your entire thread?

The second post in the thread is just... missing.

No indication there's a thread, or you have a subsequent post. If readers miss your numbering, it looks like a one-off post

Bluesky needs threads
Screenshot of the original post, showing the post starts with "1/12", and a new post by someone else is displayed next, with the second part of the thread missing and no indication that there's a subsequent post by the same author.
August 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
For unclear reasons, Bluesky now hiding entire convos

Have you noticed the tiny print where entire threads and convos are hidden?

Hey @bsky.app - when an OP NUMBERS THEIR POSTS, those posts are a THREAD, or "extended post", not a "reply"

Fix your threading, fix conversations, STOP HIDING POSTS
Screenshot of a post ending with "1/2", where the second post is not displayed. Instead small print below says "+ Read 1 more reply" Where the "+" is enclosed in a circle and must be clicked to read the second part
August 4, 2025 at 11:52 AM
mirthdal.bsky.social
@support.bsky.team

Why do you make us click to see the full conversation? Inserting "see more" ("+Read 1 more reply")disrupts the flow, makes it hard to follow the entire conversation, and in this convo that is mostly 1-2 responses per post, potentially loses half the convo, for no benefit.
Screenshot of a post that is followed by "Read 1 more reply" preceded by a "+" that must be clicked to read the reply
August 4, 2025 at 2:47 AM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Why ever would you promote David Frum - American apologist, RW speech-writer and libertarian, retains Canadian citizenship solely as backdoor to escape American policies he promotes? Like US industrialists who supported Nazis & allies, he wins no matter what.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F...
Screenshot from Wikipedia article on David Frum https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frum David Jeffrey Frum (/frʌm/; born 30 June 1960)[4] is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum authored the first book about Bush's presidency written by a former member of the administration.[5] He has taken credit for the famous phrase "axis of evil" in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address. He is considered a voice in the neoconservative movement.[6][7]
August 1, 2025 at 4:19 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Do you have a source for who created the term "enshitification"? Wikipedia lists it as Cory Doctorow, and that's where I heard it.

If it was someone else, perhaps Wikipedia needs an edit?
Extract from Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is a pattern in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers (such as advertisers), and finally Wikipedia cont'd vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers (such as advertisers), and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders. Canadian writer Cory Doctorow coined the neologism enshittification in November 2022,[1] though he was not the first to describe and label the concept.[2][3] Doctorow's term has been widely adopted. The American Dialect Society selected it as its 2023 Word of the Year, with Reference [2] in Wikipedia article on "enshitification". Screenshot of a section of the article, with the reference highlighted and an arrow pointing to the popup reference text: [2] Smith, Yves (November 18, 2018). "Boeing, Crapification, and the Lion Air Crash". Naked Capitalism. Archived from the original on May 11, 2020. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
July 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Here's my notifications page at this moment. Seems to vary by the minute

Really weird

@support.bsky.team
Screenshot of the bluesky notifications page on a mobile app, displaying the title (Notifications), two tabs (All, Mentions), and a reply from one account. Rest of the page is blank.
July 12, 2025 at 1:20 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Have you read about the fictional world of "Gor"?

While Sergio may have chosen a short form of a longer surname, "Gor" has some creepy connotations.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor
Extract from Wikipedia entry on the fictional world of "Gor" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gor "philosophical content. The Gor series repeatedly depicts men abducting and physically and sexually brutalizing women, who grow to enjoy their submissive state. According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Norman's "sexual philosophy" is "widely detested",[1] but the books have inspired a Gorean subculture.[2]"
June 20, 2025 at 11:42 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
The "number" (or population %) is NOT the significant part of Chenoweth's research - it's the PERSISTENCE of action

A "one and done" protest is not sufficient to overturn regimes. It takes millions... PROTESTING & OTHER ACTIONS AGAIN & AGAIN... until the despot leaves.

#NoKings is a start, not end
Extract from an interview with Erica Chenoweth: Chenoweth: I think it really boils down to four different things. The first is a large and diverse participation that's sustained. The second thing is that [the movement] needs to elicit loyalty shifts among security forces in particular, but also other elites. Security forces are important because they ultimately are the agents of repression, and their actions largely decide how violent the confrontation with -- and reaction -- the nonviolent campaign is going to be in the end. But there are other security elites, economic and business elites, state media. There are lots of different pillars that support the status quo, and if they can disrupted or coerced into noncooperation, then that's a decisive factor. The third thing is that the campaigns need to be able to have more than just protests; there needs to be a lot of variation in the methods they use. The fourth thing is that when campaigns are repressed -- which is basically inevitable for those calling for major changes -- they don't either descend into chaos or opt for using violence themselves. If campaigns allow their repression to throw the movement into total disarray or they use it as a pretext to militarize their campaign, they they're essentially co-signing what the regime wants -- for the resisters to play on its own playing field. And they're probably going to get totally crushed
June 16, 2025 at 5:35 AM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Division of responsibilities. Feds do not have "housing" - it's split between provincial & municipal, except cities have no legal rights, so everything cities "own" is at whim of provinces.

For Feds to get housing back - they'd have to wrest it from provinces

opencouncil.ca/level-of-gov...
Open Council website "Which Government is Responsible? Municipal, provincial or federal?" https://opencouncil.ca/level-of-government-responsibilities/ Federal government Aboriginal Lands & Rights Citizenship and Immigration Criminal Law Competition Copyright Employment Insurance Foreign Policy Income Taxes Money and Banking (Bank of Canada) National Defence/Military National parks Telecommunications and broadcasting (internet, phones & TV) Trade and Commerce Canada Post Office Census Provincial government Administration of Justice Education (including colleges and universities) Healthcare (primarily) Long-Term Care Energy Highways Hospitals Labour standards Natural Resources and Environment Prisons Property and Civil Rights in Ontario Provincial parks Sales tax Social Services Transportation Municipal government Airports Ambulance Animal Control By-laws Arts and Culture Building Permits Child Care Economic Development Fire Services Garbage Collection and Recycling Electric Utilities Library Services Long Term Care and Senior Housing Local Road Maintenance Museums Parks and Recreation Public Transit Planning New Community Developments and Enhancing Existing Neighbourhoods Police Services Property Taxes/Assessments Provincial Offences Administration Public Health Sidewalks Street Trees Snow Removal Social Services Social Housing Storm Sewers Tax Collection Water and Waste Water (Sewage)
June 5, 2025 at 4:10 AM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Everyday acts of #Resistance / #AltCitizen

Send a comment against this proposed rule. Civil servants swear oath to support Constitution, not President.

Laws already exist to fire employees - but require PROOF and due process - to do otherwise is #tyranny

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
Extract from "A Proposed Rule by the Personnel Management Office" on 04/23/2025, in the Federal Register https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/23/2025-06904/improving-performance-accountability-and-responsiveness-in-the-civil-service SUMMARY The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduct. The proposed rule lets policy-influencing positions be moved into Schedule Policy/Career. These positions will remain career jobs filled on a nonpartisan basis. Yet they will be at-will positions excepted from adverse action procedures or appeals. This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or undermine the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives.
May 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Here's final vote Canada.

This is Liberal "minority" govt, which means govt can fall on important bills, forcing another election, unless Libs strategize well before votes, or enter agreements or coalition with other parties.

newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/fe...
Screenshot from CBC site URL in the skeet. Canada Votes 2025. 3-column table showing Elect, Lead, Total. All but one of the Lead entries are 0 Lib - 169 Con - 143, 1, 144 BQ - 22 NDP - 7 GRN - 1 172 required for majority
April 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
This is the final result. Cons could lose last seat, but unlikely

From CBC vote tracker
newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/fe...
Election Results showing only the results for parties that got seats https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/federal/2025/results/#/ Table shows Elect, Lead, Total. Elect and Total are the same except for the Conservatives, who have a 1 under Lead. Lib - 169 Con - 143, 1, 144 BQ - 22 NDP - 7 GRN - 1 172 for a majority.
April 29, 2025 at 9:12 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Canada election votes still being counted.

Advance / special polls being counted last in many places and are trending Liberal.

Still possibly of Lib majority. It's getting closer

#ElbowsUp #cdnpoli #polcan #CanadaSky
Screenshot from CBC election tracking, labeled Canada Votes 2025: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/federal/2025/results/#/ A table lists vote totals for parties that have gained seats, from most to least seats, with three columns labeled Elect, Lead, Total. Text above table indicates a majority government requires 172 seats. Lib - 155, 13 - 168 Con - 133, 11 - 144 BQ - 21, 2 - 23 NDP - 5, 2 - 7 Green - 1, 0 - 1
April 29, 2025 at 5:48 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
1/ Fair Vote Canada's solution is also hand-waving, just like the Electoral Reform Committee, it amounts to - Canada needs TWO DIFFERENT systems, one for urban, one for everywhere else. And then fails to provide concrete suggestions.

www.fairvote.ca/rural-urban-...
Extract from "Fair Vote Canada" website, section on Rural-Urban Proportional: https://www.fairvote.ca/rural-urban-proportional/ A graphic of Alberta and potential voting districts sits alongside the text. a) Multi-member districts in most places The key to the system is to elect representatives in multi-member districts wherever possible. The number of MPs elected in each multi-member district would be greater in densely populated “urban” areas and fewer in sparsely populated semi-urban and rural areas. Depending on how the system is designed, voters would elect MPs from across the district by marking their ballots with a simple X (an open party list) or by ranking their choices (STV). b) Single-member ridings in sparsely-populated regions The exception to the rule would be in sparsely-populated parts of the country which could retain single-member ridings. Voting in such ridings could be with a single X like in first-past-the-post, or by ranked ballot.
April 15, 2025 at 6:48 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Problem w/proportional rep - Canada's size. Northern & rural ridings = too large to be manageable/fair. Election reform committee said would need TWO DIFFERENT systems, one urban, one for rest. So did @fairvote.ca

No-one has come up with a viable solution for this
www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Comm...
Extract from "Report of the Standing Committee on Electoral Reform". Report #3. Dec 1, 2016. https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/ERRE/report-3/ c. Jean-Pierre Kingsley’s suggestion and Fair Vote Canada’s Rural-Urban Proportional Proposal In his testimony before the Committee, former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley proposed that some level of proportionality be introduced in Canada by clustering urban ridings into multiple member constituencies while keeping remote, rural ridings under FPTP. Voters would continue to vote once, whether in a single- or multiple-member constituency: That being said, here is my suggestion. Since Canada is so vast, we would keep the first-past-the-post system for remote, rural or large ridings. About 40, 50 or 60 members would be elected using that system. Extract from same report. p.97 The determination of whether a riding would qualify as rural or remote would be made by looking at each province individually: “[E]ach province would have to be looked at individually to see what people think of and accept as being rural, and what people think of and accept as urban.”295 In response to Jean-Pierre Kingsley’s proposal, Fair Vote Canada suggested an alternative model that it called Rural-Urban Proportional (with the objective of making the system more proportional). Fair Vote Canada describes the system as follows: 1) Multi-member ridings in the urban areas (which could be elected with a ranked ballot - STV - or an open list) 2) Single member ridings in the rural and small urban areas (which could also be elected with a ranked ballot – or by first-past-the-post) 3) A small layer of regional top up seats to make the overall results in the region proportional (an idea borrowed from Sweden, where these are called “adjustment seats).
April 15, 2025 at 6:29 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Long-term impact of Ottawa failing to stop convoy occupation - ongoing threats from their misinformed followers - who view threatening parliamentarians - elected officials & public servants - as legitimate discourse, instead of writing emails or talking to their reps

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Extract from CBC article showing part of a picture, its caption, and some text. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/parliament-hill-lockdown-1.7503089 Title: "Ottawa man charged after lockdown on Parliament Hill, police say" Apr 06, 2025, 10:14 AM EDT Image: Various police officers milling around, with PPS-SPP on the back of their jackets and two police cars. Caption: Parliamentary Protective Service officers secure the perimeter of Parliament Hill on Saturday. (Blair Gable/Reuters) Text: The man, who was not named in the release, has been charged with a breach of probation, public mischief and uttering threats to cause property damage.
April 6, 2025 at 8:44 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
3/ Though regime change can occur w/as little as 3.5% of the population, these movements must also have...

"momentum, organization, strategic leadership, and sustainability"

--> Get out on the streets AGAIN & AGAIN, every weekend, every opportunity...

www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/defaul...
Extract from the URL / PDF posted in the skeet: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/2024-05/Erica%20Chenoweth_2020-005.pdf Summary The “3.5% rule” refers to the claim that no government has withstood a challenge of 3.5% of their population mobilized against it during a peak event. In this brief paper, I address some of the common questions I have received about the 3.5% rule, as well as several updates from more recent work on this topic. Four key takeaways are as follows: • The 3.5% figure is a descriptive statistic based on a sample of historical movements. It is not necessarily a prescriptive one, and no one can see the future. Trying to achieve the threshold without building a broader public constituency does not guarantee success in the future. • The 3.5% participation metric may be useful as a rule of thumb in most cases; however, other factors—momentum, organization, strategic leadership, and sustainability—are likely as important as large-scale participation in achieving movement success and are often precursors to achieving 3.5% participation. • New research suggests that one nonviolent movement, Bahrain in 2011-2014, appears to have decisively failed despite achieving over 6% popular participation at its peak. This suggests that there has been at least one exception to the 3.5% rule, and that the rule is a tendency, rather than a law. • Large peak participation size is associated with movement success. However, most mass nonviolent movements that have succeeded have done so even without achieving 3.5% popular participation.
April 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
This report, referenced by your CUPE link, lists 2 causes for loss of "affordable" units:
1. "loss" (demolition)
2. higher rents on existing units

Poilievre (Harper) didn't "sell off" those units - but did fail support construction of new housing
eppdscrmssa01.blob.core.windows.net/cmhcprodcont...
Extract from The Urban Project: "Rental Housing in Canada’s Cities: Challenges & Responses". BY STEVE POMEROY AND DUNCAN MACLENNAN April 2019 https://eppdscrmssa01.blob.core.windows.net/cmhcprodcontainer/sf/project/archive/housing_organizations/201904-up2-rentalhousing-challengesresponses.pdf PAGE 18 | RENTAL HOUSING IN CANADA’S CITIES At the same time, the existing rental stock is being eroded. This occurs in two ways: First, some is lost in absolute terms as properties are demolished to accommodate new development (often the result of municipal smart growth, intensification strategies). Second, and more often the case, the units remain, but the rents have increased above affordable levels. The latter is associated with institutional (pension funds, life insurance companies) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) investors purchasing existing assets and then pursuing property upgrades and rent increases to enhance investment returns. The consequence is that the number of lower rent, affordable units is being squeezed down. Over 800,000 rental units below $750 (affordable to incomes below $30,000) were “lost” in the decade between 2006-2016. When these units shift to higher rent bands, more households pay over 30 percent and many over 50 percent to afford the remaining homes.
April 1, 2025 at 2:30 AM
mirthdal.bsky.social
This single tweet has garnered 43 MILLION views by Mar 27 - Canada's Prime Minister declaring relationship with US "over"

Trump tariffs = a tax on Americans

(Canadian population = 40 million)

x.com/donwinslow/s...
Tweet by Don Winslow (@donwinslow) with a video snippet showing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney giving a speech, and this text: HOLY SHIT "The relationship Canada had with the US is over" https://x.com/donwinslow/status/1905350369334755769?s=46&t=5B-ySI2yX2F6Lb4jsagQeA
March 30, 2025 at 1:00 AM
mirthdal.bsky.social
This is probably floating around, but saw it on Twitter and found it funny...

(Image of Zelensky on the left and JD Vance in a hoodie on the right- with caption:
"When you order a Zelensky from Temu")
Image of Zelensky on the left and JD Vance in a hoodie on the right- with caption: "When you order a Zelensky from Temu"
March 29, 2025 at 10:33 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Canola was created in Canada precisely to offer similar benefits of olive oil. Can-ola (Canada-oil)

WebMD - "lowering risk of heart disease and lowering cholesterol"

Different from its origin rapeseed - lower levels of erucic acid

www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/...

canolainfo.org/discover-can...
Extract from WebMD on canola oil https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1563/canola-oil Overview Canola oil is an oil from the canola plant. The canola plant is a type of rapeseed. While rapeseed contains a compound that can be harmful, the canola plant does not contain this chemical in large amounts. Canola oil is commonly used in foods. Canola oil is most commonly used for preventing heart disease and for lowering cholesterol levels. Extract from Canola Info https://canolainfo.org/discover-canola/history-of-canola/ using traditional plant breeding techniques to significantly reduce the levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates that were found in the parent rapeseed plant. The name “canola” is a contraction of “Canadian” and “ola”, which means oil. Although they look similar, canola and rapeseed plants and oils are very different. There is a strict internationally regulated definition of canola that differentiates canola from rapeseed, based upon it having less than two percent erucic acid and less than 30 micromoles of glucosinolates. Oilseed products that do not meet this standard cannot use the term canola.
March 29, 2025 at 9:49 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
Saw this over in the other place.

Canada is...
...a glacier with a PhD

@brittlestar.com @geoffypjohnston.bsky.social @margaretatwood.bsky.social @consumersos.bsky.social @thebeaverton.com @thenarwhal.ca @steveboots.bsky.social @ianhanomansing.bsky.social
Screenshot of a tweet from Twitter by Kingsley (Ned) Zis... Canada Next Chapter: The Call So let me get this straight: After months of flexing, tweeting, bluffing and barking, Trump finally realizes Canada doesn’t respond to barking— because Canada isn’t a dog. It’s a glacier with a PhD. And Mark Carney? He didn’t block Trump. He ghosted him. Harder than a Tinder date who smelled desperation.
March 29, 2025 at 9:03 PM
mirthdal.bsky.social
#AltGov - the Twitter account @AnnaOdesitka (Twin Anna Pirates) has great advice - Americans need to get out on the streets and STAY THERE UNTIL TRUMP leaves. Now.

Fictitious conversations with her Ukrainian father...

(Does anyone know if that account is here on Bluesky?)
Screenshot of tweets by Twin Anna Pirates MD (@AnnaOdesitka) on Twitter: Me; Why has Zelenskyy agreed to this? Father: Because that KGB prostitute Trump was going to lift sanctions anyway. No matter what we did. This way when russia breaks ceasefire, of course, it change nothing for us. But it’s show world that Trump and Putin are enemies of freedom. Of course we know this. It’s for us change nothing. Me: What this mean for America? Father: Forget this word America. This is final knife in heart. Imagine if America came to rescue of Hitler and help him fund his genocide machine? That’s what just happen these last weeks. America is helping Hitler openly genocide in Europe. They will never recover from this betrayal. Me: But majority of Americans I talk to don’t support this Father: So what they do? Go to protest few times and go home? If your house burns, you throw water on it once and come back week later? They want to fight for freedom but without risk. No freedom ever has been won without risk. I told you before, they are not yet scared enough. But by time they are, it will be much harder to fight. They will by September be entering big economic depression like last century. They will go from having everything to having nothing. Would this not be enough to make you go to street? They are not scared enough because McDonald’s is still open, it mean everything is well. Me: What can I tell my friends as any advice? Father: I told them weeks ago they are out of time. Get up and shut down entire country until this regime is removed. Stay as long as it take. You risk your job, your school, your family. You risk arrest. That’s cost. They are either willing to pay cost or not.
March 25, 2025 at 6:28 PM