Reposted by Brett FavaroStephen Schwartz @atomicanalyst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026“Annihilating Iran”—which can only mean the widespread use of thermonuclear weapons against Iran’s nearly 100 million citizens—is, I’m afraid, the Chekov’s gun of Trump’s second term. He has spoken too often and too explicitly about unleashing such wanton destruction for it to be an idle threat. 53776229
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I always thought cyberattacks were illegal but I guess not 0319
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 01/10/2026As a British Columbian this confused me for a moment. Eby taking on Florida next? 030
Reposted by Brett FavaroJimmy Thomson @jameswsthomson.com · 01/10/2026Gas prices aren't high because of taxes! Don't sacrifice billions of public dollars to fix what you didn't cause! 1346
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 01/10/2026What's with these cutesy headlines? Why isn't the headline "US software company caught launching a cyberattack against Canadian government" 24020
Reposted by Brett Favarokaren ward @kwardvancouver.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Strong Surrey is a suburb of Strongbadia 151
Reposted by Brett FavaroTimnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 30/09/2026Friends, while they're trying to talk about fictional machine gods, don't lose sight into what they're all actually powering in real life. You can browse the the entities on the website and use the API, and learn more about it on the DAIR project site: dair-institute.org/projects/sur....dair-institute.orgSurveillance WatchThis interactive map reveals the intricate connections between surveillance companies, their funding sources and affiliations. 3226142
Reposted by Brett FavaroAndrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 28/09/2026if i were a foreign government looking for an edge, id probably try to convince america that climate change is woke bull shit and combustion engines are for real men with penises, all while also convincing them to invest every dollar in bull shit tech while we take the lead on green energy 9639105
Reposted by Brett FavaroDr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they) @doctorvive.bsky.social · 28/09/2026our enemies are so well funded and organized, it physically pains me to think about it 14717
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Wait wasn't this guy a BC Conservative leadership candidate? 130
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Does anyone know what the deal is with Spookleys 4D Jamboree? The Vancouver Aquarium is playing it now, and everything about it felt like generative AI garbage. But it looks like it's a real show? Normally the 4D theater has cool stuff but this was shockingly bad 000
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026 "without their knowledge" feels like an important thing to say if you don't want to get in trouble 052
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Hey, Canadians - wondering why your favourite programs keep closing? This is why! International students don't take seats, they make seats. 152
Reposted by Brett FavaroDr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I’m so bored with all the discussion around AI. Can we talk about some useful technology, like heat pumps? 2326062
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Every night after everyone but me is in bed, our hamster Monoco demands a play session. She's been growing increasingly assertive... This is what I came down to last night 150
Reposted by Brett FavaroJames Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Fascinating new figures confirming old EVs with a lot of miles on the clock are much more reliable than their petrol and diesel equivalents. www.businessgreen.com/news/4536166...businessgreen.comStudy: High mileage EVs more reliable than petrol equivalentsAnalysis of 47.4 million MOTs finds electric cars are around 25 per cent less likely to fail than petrol models as mileage climbs 38559173
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026"elections cost money and are therefore bad!" <-- This is a horrible take, and it's so tiresome how it gets trotted out every time there's an early election Elections are very efficient in Canada and most of the $ just ends up recirculating back in the economy, as wages. No big deal at all. 1131
Reposted by Brett FavaroCharlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Not a good look: arresting seniors calling on Mark Carney to not walk back our climate obligations. In my last 2 years as MP I ran a gauntlet of threat, swarming and harassment everyday from conspiracy ragers. House security and Ottawa police just watched. Seems instructions have been issued. 44543231
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 23/09/2026What today has shown us, is the BC Conservatives really don't have substantive policy disagreements with one another. Something about KLFs leadership was noxious enough that it caused them to all run away, but the moment that changed everything basically snapped back into place. 1122
Reposted by Brett FavaroCorey Atad @coreyatad.com · 22/09/2026“If you are staring at an example of social disorder or social inefficiency, and the left refuses to explain either why it has happened or how they will fix it, then the right gets to point at someone in the immediate area and say, ‘That’s who did it.’” crazy how much Mamdani speaks my language 5951591223
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 22/09/2026www.parkrecord.com/2026/09/11/w... Tom Paris is running!! Have any other Starfleet officers held an elected seat before or would this be the first?parkrecord.comWasatch County Council candidate Robert McNeill values transparency, accountability - Park RecordHeber City resident and hopeful political newcomer Robert Duncan McNeill is stepping in as the Democratic candidate for Wasatch County Council at-large Seat A. 130
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Find out the KLF "Husband Tape" is just Brent Chapman calmly and coherently talking about how vaccines are actually good 030
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026When I was a teenager, my political views could best be described as Angry Young Conservative Male. Then the war in Iraq happened. It was part of what shifted my views 180 degrees. This was possible, in part, because we all had a basic understanding of what was happening. 140
Reposted by Brett FavaroSpencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026This is a really important story. You know how over reliance on AI makes you lazy and stupid? This shows how that’s happening within the military — a military, it cannot be pointed out often enough, that’s growing ever more reliant on AI. The children of Shajarah Tayyebah Elementary paid the price 291926810
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Expedition 33 captured something very well: That feeling where your life is in the hands of a far-away force, godlike in power, that somehow has utter control over your fate And it also captured how differently people react to it. Some give up. Some accept. Some fight, even if it's probably futile. 011
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026@whysharksmatter.bsky.social he's merging your thing and my thing! 220
Reposted by Brett FavaroPatrick De Haan @gasbuddyguy.bsky.social · 15/09/2026ALERT: #GreatLakes and #Rockies regions are likely to see another price hike this week, even with price jumps that happened already yesterday and today due to huge jumps in wholesale gasoline and diesel prices. Gasoline could jump 25-75c with diesel rising 55-85c/gal 935680
Reposted by Brett FavaroStephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I feel every few weeks there's a meticulously researched @stephenjacobsmith.com post that's like "here's this one dude in charge of the California Doorknob Industry Commission who has statistically caused 67k more people to be homeless" 539343
Reposted by Brett FavaroBrent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 14/09/2026‘It’s the best feeling’: how Copenhagen gave cyclists a green wave. “Traffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way.” If you want people to choose not to drive, make the non-driving trip better & easier for them. It’s as simple as that, really.theguardian.com‘It’s the best feeling’: how Copenhagen gave cyclists a green waveTraffic lights are synchronised so a rush-hour cyclist at 20km/h can catch green lights all the way 22830240
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 12/09/2026So let me get this straight - OpenAI releases a program that functions as malware - Malware attacks another company - Company calls the FBI - OpenAI, who presumably could get in trouble goes "ha ha oh my stars, look out our AI WENT ROGUE!! Whoopsie! (also means please don't arrest us)" 191
Reposted by Brett FavaroKetan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 11/09/2026Just trying a new marketing trick 211235263
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 11/09/2026One mistake university-based academics - including me - often make is we try to say things that are new, and then move on to the next thing. If you want to publish, you've got to advance the field. But in public-facing communications, simple, basic repetition is very important. 3225
Reposted by Brett FavaroDr. Jonathan Foley @globalecoguy.bsky.social · 10/09/2026A good piece of advice for science communication… If you want to connect with professions and experts, focus on writing. If you want to connect with novices, videos are probably best. Here’s some data supporting this: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...dl.acm.orgExperts prefer text but videos help novices: an analysis of the utility of multi-media content | Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 04822
Reposted by Brett FavaroSK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 10/09/2026"insiders say it's too dangerous, too powerful" yeah that sounds like an advertisement *for* the product to me, because corporate investors love the fantasy that they'll be the ones in control of something dangerous and powerful they famously wanna build the Torment Nexus 18710
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Another thing about this AI business... proponents point to these amazing scientific discoveries that LLMs will facilitate, and point to some recent achievements. But what if we contemplated another scenario: Just investing all this in science? 295
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Observation: The powers that be want us to feel deep fear about misaligned artificial superintelligence, something that may exist at some point, but currently does not. Those same powers do not want us to feel deep fear about climate breakdown, something that exists now. 1145
Reposted by Brett FavaroThe Author, Séamas O'Reilly @seamas.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Have seen this Nature piece about the effects of X's algorithm mentioned again and it bears repeating; exposure to a right wing algorithm makes you - measurably and predictably - more right wing, even after you stop using it. www.nature.com/articles/s41...nature.comThe political effects of X’s feed algorithm - NatureAmong users initially on a chronological feed, 7 weeks of exposure to X’s algorithmic feed in 2023 shifted political attitudes and account-following behaviour in a more conservative direction compared... 4239381776
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026I oscillate wildly between thinking AI will kill us all due to super intelligence, AI will kill some of us due to some sort of big debacle, and AI will just inflate and deflate leaving some weird mixture of wreckage and advancements in its wake 040
Reposted by Brett FavaroDavid Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 08/09/2026I think the way to read the UNEP report isn't "we'll miss the 1.5°C target so we need CDR to reach it", but "we'll miss the 1.5°C target, and we need to decarbonize ASAP because wherever we end up is where we will stay for a long time." www.unep.org/resources/li... 324071
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026I've been spending a little more time on LinkedIn because that's where all the Serious People hang out. And wow, it is a hotbed of centrist climate delay. The "I'm not saying climate change is fake but Canada is only 1.6% of emissions so we shouldnt reduce pollution" type arguments. 120
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026There was a running joke a couple years back about how anti-mask rhetoric would turn into, for starters, a tolerance for not wearing seatbelts Sigh 060
Brett Favaro @brettfavaro.bsky.social · 06/09/2026albertapolitics.ca/2026/09/ucp-... Reminder that the "true cost" of something is significantly shaped by policy choices. "Renewables will win by economics alone" is only true if A) you don't massively subsidize fossil fuels, and B) you don't explicitly penalize renewablesalbertapolitics.caUCP slaps ‘punitive tax’ on solar panels, opening new front in its War on Renewable Energy - Alberta PoliticsNever let it be said that the Alberta’s United Conservative Party government isn’t in favour of recycling stuff – at least as long as that can be used to create higher costs and more red tape to help ... 175