Rob Teszka
@robteszka.bsky.social
I'm a former academic, semi-professional magician, and partially-trained clown who used to work on the railway and now gives historical walking tours.
But I have interesting hobbies!
...
Get tickets for my various shows at https://robteszka.ctcin.bio/
But I have interesting hobbies!
...
Get tickets for my various shows at https://robteszka.ctcin.bio/
Pinned
Rob Teszka
@robteszka.bsky.social
· Nov 19
WHO IS THIS NERD
Hello! I am basically a wizard.
You may know me from the magic and storytelling I perform on the Fringe Festival circuit, the historic walking tours I lead with Forbidden Vancouver, or producing and hosting Vancouver's monthly Parlour Magic Show!
Hello! I am basically a wizard.
You may know me from the magic and storytelling I perform on the Fringe Festival circuit, the historic walking tours I lead with Forbidden Vancouver, or producing and hosting Vancouver's monthly Parlour Magic Show!
Well this is enormously enjoyable youtu.be/NZx9fAk22Qg?...
BOO!!! - A Halloween Music Video
YouTube video by Piemations
youtu.be
October 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Well this is enormously enjoyable youtu.be/NZx9fAk22Qg?...
I stumbled upon this wonderful, extremely niche essay about poetry, close reading, odd fads, T.S. Eliot, animal imagery, and the infamous cryptic crossword setter Torquemada: publicdomainreview.org/essay/beastl...
Beastly Clues: T. S. Eliot, Torquemada, and the Modernist Crossword
Just a few years after The Waste Land appeared — a poem whose difficulty critics compared to some “pompous cross-word puzzle” — Edward Powys Mathers (alias: Torquemada) pioneered the cryptic: a puzzl...
publicdomainreview.org
October 4, 2025 at 10:55 PM
I stumbled upon this wonderful, extremely niche essay about poetry, close reading, odd fads, T.S. Eliot, animal imagery, and the infamous cryptic crossword setter Torquemada: publicdomainreview.org/essay/beastl...
I think it would be pretty fun if, whenever someone would write
"THIS"
underneath a post they vociferously agreed with
They instead wrote
"Quite."
"THIS"
underneath a post they vociferously agreed with
They instead wrote
"Quite."
September 16, 2025 at 3:02 AM
I think it would be pretty fun if, whenever someone would write
"THIS"
underneath a post they vociferously agreed with
They instead wrote
"Quite."
"THIS"
underneath a post they vociferously agreed with
They instead wrote
"Quite."
"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps."
- Emo Phillips
Just been thinking about this line more and more, recently...
- Emo Phillips
Just been thinking about this line more and more, recently...
September 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM
"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps."
- Emo Phillips
Just been thinking about this line more and more, recently...
- Emo Phillips
Just been thinking about this line more and more, recently...
This article for @thetyee.ca is fantastic and wonderfully timed as I have just been thinking about how Vancouver seems to be afraid of standing out, fashion-wise--and yet whenever I'm out and about in period dress after a tour, so many people enjoy the hat & bow tie.
Wear what makes you smile!
Wear what makes you smile!
Look Out, Vancouver! I’m Dressing for Joy | The Tyee
Regional blandness was getting me down. Here’s how I turned things around.
thetyee.ca
August 30, 2025 at 9:08 PM
This article for @thetyee.ca is fantastic and wonderfully timed as I have just been thinking about how Vancouver seems to be afraid of standing out, fashion-wise--and yet whenever I'm out and about in period dress after a tour, so many people enjoy the hat & bow tie.
Wear what makes you smile!
Wear what makes you smile!
I am genuinely offended that Spotify's discovery playlist keeps recommending me electroswing no matter how much I don't listen to it
July 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I am genuinely offended that Spotify's discovery playlist keeps recommending me electroswing no matter how much I don't listen to it
Reposted by Rob Teszka
I genuinely think the reason execs were so certain AI could replace other workers is that they know it could replace them and they just assume everyone else does as little real work as they do.
June 19, 2025 at 3:13 PM
I genuinely think the reason execs were so certain AI could replace other workers is that they know it could replace them and they just assume everyone else does as little real work as they do.
Oh hey, a petition to save one of vanishingly few independent cinemas in the Vancouver metro area: chng.it/HmbZ8pzrYV
The Hollywood 3--previously Harris Road Cinemas--fuckin *rules*. A local, independent, second-run house with cheap popcorn!
Guess what?
The Hollywood 3--previously Harris Road Cinemas--fuckin *rules*. A local, independent, second-run house with cheap popcorn!
Guess what?
Sign the Petition
Save Hollywood 3 Theatre in Pitt Meadows
chng.it
June 16, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Oh hey, a petition to save one of vanishingly few independent cinemas in the Vancouver metro area: chng.it/HmbZ8pzrYV
The Hollywood 3--previously Harris Road Cinemas--fuckin *rules*. A local, independent, second-run house with cheap popcorn!
Guess what?
The Hollywood 3--previously Harris Road Cinemas--fuckin *rules*. A local, independent, second-run house with cheap popcorn!
Guess what?
I really like this article by Ashima Shukla in SFU'S student paper, The Peak: the-peak.ca/2025/06/the-...
It captures one of the things that I fundamentally dislike about AI
It captures one of the things that I fundamentally dislike about AI
The crisis in education isn’t AI — it’s meaning
By: Ashima Shukla, Staff Writer In the age of AI, effort has become optional. As students, we no longer need to flip through textbooks or reread chapters. As one homework app asks, “Why scroll thro…
the-peak.ca
June 16, 2025 at 9:23 PM
I really like this article by Ashima Shukla in SFU'S student paper, The Peak: the-peak.ca/2025/06/the-...
It captures one of the things that I fundamentally dislike about AI
It captures one of the things that I fundamentally dislike about AI
Reposted by Rob Teszka
I think, from now on, every time someone mentions "AI" I'm gonna go "oh, fancy autocomplete?"
June 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
I think, from now on, every time someone mentions "AI" I'm gonna go "oh, fancy autocomplete?"
An idle thought on the way to a haircut:
If you like everything, you have no taste.
If you like everything, you have no taste.
April 4, 2025 at 9:54 PM
An idle thought on the way to a haircut:
If you like everything, you have no taste.
If you like everything, you have no taste.
"Big breakthroughs, big changes, always come because at some moment you are taking yourself out of your comfort zone, and this will never be an optimization process. Optimizing everything results in missing opportunities sometimes." - Alessio Figalli
March 11, 2025 at 5:33 AM
"Big breakthroughs, big changes, always come because at some moment you are taking yourself out of your comfort zone, and this will never be an optimization process. Optimizing everything results in missing opportunities sometimes." - Alessio Figalli
Reposted by Rob Teszka
I have an essay in this week’s @bloomberg.com Weekend Edition about ticket stubs and memory and how the ways we catalog our own pasts have been changed by the internet. I’m really proud of it and I hope you’ll read it. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
What We Lose When Our Memories Exist Entirely in Our Phones
The act of putting something aside is an exercise in remembering.
www.bloomberg.com
March 7, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I have an essay in this week’s @bloomberg.com Weekend Edition about ticket stubs and memory and how the ways we catalog our own pasts have been changed by the internet. I’m really proud of it and I hope you’ll read it. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Ew who even uses Google anymore futurism.com/the-byte/goo...
Google Announces "AI Mode" For Search Results That Only Shows You AI Slop
Google, has announced that it's going to expand its infamously terrible and ad-inundated AI Overviews feature.
futurism.com
March 9, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Ew who even uses Google anymore futurism.com/the-byte/goo...
How doth the welsh-cake function?
The welsh-cake functions thus:
t'is fried in pan upon the hob,
with a minimum of fuss.
The welsh-cake functions thus:
t'is fried in pan upon the hob,
with a minimum of fuss.
March 8, 2025 at 5:42 PM
How doth the welsh-cake function?
The welsh-cake functions thus:
t'is fried in pan upon the hob,
with a minimum of fuss.
The welsh-cake functions thus:
t'is fried in pan upon the hob,
with a minimum of fuss.
Reposted by Rob Teszka
In 1890, the Tariff Act came into place in the United States. It placed tariffs on imports of up to 50%.
While touted as a way to build American industry, there was also the hope it would force an annexation of Canada. It backfired.
Let's learn more.
🧵1/10
While touted as a way to build American industry, there was also the hope it would force an annexation of Canada. It backfired.
Let's learn more.
🧵1/10
March 4, 2025 at 4:53 PM
In 1890, the Tariff Act came into place in the United States. It placed tariffs on imports of up to 50%.
While touted as a way to build American industry, there was also the hope it would force an annexation of Canada. It backfired.
Let's learn more.
🧵1/10
While touted as a way to build American industry, there was also the hope it would force an annexation of Canada. It backfired.
Let's learn more.
🧵1/10
Actually, while we're on the subject, Matt Disero had some stuff to say and he's bloody right. There's an incredible amount if homegrown talent in Canada. "Buy Canadian" isn't just for groceries.
March 4, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Actually, while we're on the subject, Matt Disero had some stuff to say and he's bloody right. There's an incredible amount if homegrown talent in Canada. "Buy Canadian" isn't just for groceries.
The arts in Canada have a marketing problem, argues Max Wyman in the Tyee: thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...
"Right now, nobody cares."
"Right now, nobody cares."
To Save the Arts, Blow Up the Old Ways | The Tyee
It’s time to publicly reimagine what the sector can really do, and why it matters.
thetyee.ca
March 4, 2025 at 7:33 AM
The arts in Canada have a marketing problem, argues Max Wyman in the Tyee: thetyee.ca/Culture/2025...
"Right now, nobody cares."
"Right now, nobody cares."
Reposted by Rob Teszka
The caption for this photo just said "Man and owl, 1920's, Sweden," but I know a warlock when I see one.
March 3, 2025 at 4:26 AM
The caption for this photo just said "Man and owl, 1920's, Sweden," but I know a warlock when I see one.
Oh my goodness this is wonderful www.flashgamehistory.com And interactive love letter to a gloriously creative era of the internet. Tools that make it easy for anyone to make things and share them are good.
How Flash games shaped the video game industry
Flash is dead. But the influence of Flash games on modern gameplay is inescapable.
www.flashgamehistory.com
March 2, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Oh my goodness this is wonderful www.flashgamehistory.com And interactive love letter to a gloriously creative era of the internet. Tools that make it easy for anyone to make things and share them are good.
"... in the age of AI. Unique ideas and critical thinking are more valuable than ever. The craft of writing looks like it will go the way of cursive based on our current trajectory. People who can uniquely and independently articulate their own ideas have an advantage." pjonori.blog/posts/own-wh...
Own what’s yours
pjonori.blog
February 24, 2025 at 8:24 AM
"... in the age of AI. Unique ideas and critical thinking are more valuable than ever. The craft of writing looks like it will go the way of cursive based on our current trajectory. People who can uniquely and independently articulate their own ideas have an advantage." pjonori.blog/posts/own-wh...
Reposted by Rob Teszka
Message to the grifter king from Canada:
"We will have no parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best. We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder."
- Winston Churchill
"We will have no parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best. We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder."
- Winston Churchill
February 2, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Message to the grifter king from Canada:
"We will have no parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best. We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder."
- Winston Churchill
"We will have no parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst and we will do our best. We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder."
- Winston Churchill