iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Why would Ottawa planners name a cluster of streets along NYC themes? Do they have a Saturday morning cartoons neighbourhood as well?

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Alan MacEachern @alanmaceachern.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Hey! Congratulations to @adeleperry.bsky.social on receiving the JB Tyrrell Historical Medal for outstanding work in the history of Canada.🍁 rsc-src.ca/en/about/pub... #cdnhist

rsc-src.ca

The Royal Society of Canada Announces its 2026 Award Winners | The Royal Society of Canada

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I love the juxtaposition of the words "bank" and "laundry." (Was this taken in the basement of our local casino?)

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Huh, that headline didn't age well.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Make a novel smaller (Canadian 🍁 culture edition) The Deptford Duology

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This is a whip-smart commentary on anti-trans b.s. in sports. Does it matter? Hell, yeah. People often forget that the Nazis rounded up and systematically murdered gay people -- as well as Jews, Roma, artists, writers, and socialists. If you're on that list...you're on THEIR list too.

rachelgilmore.substack.com

I’m glad that WNBA player Sophie Cunningham got booed -- and I hope it happens again. Here’s why

Listen now | For those of you who aren’t aware, Cunningham has become the latest face of the transphobic culture war that’s trying to strip rights away from trans people who just want to live their li...

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

There was gunplay at the end of our block in Vancouver about a year ago. Eight shots fired, in a targeted incident. (The all missed) There are shootings around Metro Vancouver regularly. I suspect that if you haven't encountered gun violence in Canada, you're probably living in a nice spot.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Took my bad hearing to the specialist today. Was asked to repeat aloud a series of words if I recognized them. One was “inkwell.” Now THAT is ageism.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

As someone who has taught economic history for years, I am grateful to the wildly incompetent application of tariffs by nincompoops for raising students' interest in trade charges of all kinds.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

You left out the bit where you drizzle a bit of maple syrup or honey -- not a ton, mind -- on top and now you have a bowl of citrusy zip with a dab of sweetness. (For the record, I have one of those knives that not only slices the fruit from the rind but also separates the membranes in the middle.)

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Like they'll care, right? But exercising my agency here is like exercising a muscle: it gets stronger every time. The world has taken US influence for granted for a very long time. Not me, not no more.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

"I know that other Canadians — and people elsewhere — are following the same course of action. Eventually, American organizations that claim to be 'international' will realize they have become what they always were: national organizations with ambition."

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I wrote to them today: "I am unsubscribing from my American connections. No point in doing so unless my motives are clear: as a Canadian I seek to diminish the influence of the USA in every aspect of my life. From the food I consume to the entertainment I take in to the organizations I support."

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I have started to disconnect from American academic organizations. I remain committed to the value, development, and use of Open Educational Resources and the democratization of knowledge. Belonging to ISKME, a US-based "international" structure advancing OERs now seems inconsistent with my values.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I'd say the centaur has bolted already, chaps. Enchantment 2; Team Odysseus nil.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

CBC headline this morning: "Roughriders linebacker and captain Jayden Dalke killed in crash" Let me tweak that a bit: "Two people killed in collision, including 'Riders linebacker" Shocking lack of interest in the other victim.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I gained a pound in the night. I must consume enormous quantities of spiders, mosquitos, airborne mites, and cat hair as I sleep. It's the only possible explanation.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

My question to Americans on every side of the spectrum. If a declaration of war requires, by law, the consent of congress, why -- in the absence of that consent -- does the Pentagon go forward? "Sorry sir, you don't have the permits here to conduct a war. Go back and get them."

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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

If art critics talked like football pundits.

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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Those top-tier teams in the semi-final #WorldCup games being played in particularly hot U.S. cities probably wish they were playing their games in the much cooler (and #1-ranked by Sports Illustrated) host city…Vancouver Canada.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

A friendly reminder from the 1990s: no smoking in the exam hall.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

It's a little thing to do, to add to evidence for increasing use of --and potential growth of --active and micro mobility.The annual pedal poll is two hours of sitting somewhere nice, watching happy people wheel by. #PedalPollSondoVelo

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

In truth, it worked like Beijing traffic: a tail-back quickly formed as one person wrestled with the brake lever while everyone shouted helpfully -- "Down is go! Down is go!" SIgh.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I rode one 15 years ago on the Great Wall of China. No, I did not merely dream this. www.atlasobscura.com/places/great...

atlasobscura.com

Great Wall of China Slide in Beijing

Why walk on this historical site when you can zoom down instead?

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

No. More broadly. I agree: looks like a monstrous amusement park. Some Americans might be horrified. Tell them that the rest of the world has a sore neck from shaking our heads so much. The nation with the greatest number of WMDs has the least dignified regime on earth. That's scary. Daily.

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Scott Robertson @sarobertson.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

"Imagine China or Iran inviting Canadian citizens to top-level meetings in national capitals with a plan to break up our country. They'd be charged with treason." Charlie Angus on Alberta separatists meeting with US officials.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Elect a man with atrocious taste and see what happens.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

A detail that many reports (and denialists) miss is there were, typically, official cemeteries very nearby the schools. There's one on the reserve in Kamloops. Indigenous people were buried there, including children. Burials AT the school were, thus, *hidden*. And that's worrying.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

And this is a good reason to call that shite Hoekstra onto the carpet in Ottawa, pick him up by his lapels and throw him down the stairs. An ambassador who threatens our sovereignty?!? Kick him out now.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Start sharing that perspective. NB, NS, PEI didn't get any northern annexes like ON & QB. They didn't get a resource rich lottery win like AB and SK. But they did pony up taxes to build infrastructure and to provide sober governance over the whole country. They deserve to be treated with respect.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Albertans ... vote for this and watch businesses flee.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

I've got a growing list. And they'll none of them be missed.

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Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

There aren't many columnists in this country better than @sproudfoot.bsky.social, and she was especially good in this piece. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Another book club scam: "In Private Grief, Public Mourning, you reveal a tension between lived immigrant memory and its literary transformation into a stabilizing cultural narrative for children." No. No, that's not it at all and now you're creeping me out....

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André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Let's talk about hantavirus. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a virus spreading on, and off, a cruise ship might seem like a burgeoning nightmare scenario. But this is not COVID or measles or the flu, by @deonandan.bsky.social medium.com/@deonandan/l...

medium.com

Let’s Talk About Hantavirus

Raywat / blog, epidemiology / 0 comment

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Matt Parreira @mattparreira.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Hopefully this clears it up for anyone still not understanding what the US is after. They are not looking to trade - they want to take absolutely everything and bleed us dry. They want us in the dirt begging for scraps. You cannot negotiate with someone who is looking to rob you.

cbc.ca

Trump offers immediate tariff relief to Canadian aluminum and steel companies that commit to U.S. expansion | CBC News

The Trump administration is now offering Canadian and Mexican aluminum and steel companies immediate tariff relief if they commit to moving production to the United States in the future.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

The Vancouver Historical Society is hosting a very noisy evening of Expo 86 show and tell right now!

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

@kellyblack.ca is a dogged and scrupulous historian. This is a tidy description of the kind of research that historians juggle among other projects, always with one eye open for that scrap of evidence that settles the question. Short read, enjoy it.

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Cameron Maltby @cameronmaltby.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

@cityofnorthvan.bsky.social what’s stopping you, now that you’ve been shown where you can find the space?

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

He's still courting the vibes....

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A tight article about America's descent into evil. The sinking of the Dena, an unarmed Iranian frigate with a crew of cadets, by a US submarine has been met with American gloating. Even the refusal of Americans to rescue drowning Iranian sailors is applauded. Time to be the porcupine, Canada.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

This is how Peter Magyar defeated Orban!

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Why they changed it I can't say.

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Also a good time to buy your city better transit-only bus lanes!

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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Yeah, actually, you do. If you're the biggest military power on earth you strut around with your be-medalled chest puffed out, picking stupid fights and regularly -- that is, historically -- expect your friends to show up. See: Canada not going to VietNam and all the shit we caught for that.

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Brandon Yan 甄念本 @brandonyan.com · 10/04/2026

Weird how mayors can actually do things that make a city better

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