iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 30/09/2026

The new AI chatbot on America.gov seems to be glitching.

AI chat asking "How much of the Epstein Files have been released to the public" with the answer "Chat is unavailable right now"

AI chat asking "Is the USA at war with Iran" with the answer "Chat is unavailable right now"

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 23/09/2026

Wow. So many people did join us that we couldn’t get them in the room!

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 07/09/2026

Big “Are we the baddies?” Energy.

D trump truth we social post of US SPACE FORCE uniform

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 03/09/2026

Seems like a good week to think about open source, free to use software.

OpenStreetMap screen grab showing Lake Ontario

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 31/08/2026

Lake Ontario? @openstreetmap.bsky.social is not confused. www.openstreetmap.org#map=9/43.714...

screen shot of OpenStreetMap's map, which shows "Lake Ontario"

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 20/08/2026

Last year I wrote about how it was the most dangerous times for aid workers. Today, I checked the most recent stats. The Aid Worker Security Report 2026 notes: "Despite the fragile ceasefire, Gaza remained the deadliest context for aid workers in 2025". humanitarianoutcomes.org/sites/defaul...

Chart showing increasing number of aid workers being victims of violence, with 2025 being the worst year.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 16/08/2026

This book is good antidote for anyone who thinks neurodivergence is a flaw.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 06/08/2026

You can scroll back in your Apple Callander to the year 1. Before the year “1” it starts to count up again.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 03/08/2026

Donald Trump’s net approval rating has fallen to a record low of -25, ...strikes on Iran in mid-July might be to blame. The war remains deeply unpopular with most Americans....60% of them think the administration is spending too much money on the conflict. www.economist.com/interactive/...

Chart showing Donald Trump's Net Approval Rating of -25 percentage points

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 02/08/2026

Quite annoying that Pizza Hut email me for my thoughts when they could just follow me here or subscribe to my blog where I share my thoughts chrishouston.ca/stories-of-p...

Email from Pizza Hut: “Share your thoughts with us”

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 02/08/2026

A pleasure to give Paul Jenkins, mayor of Bancroft a tour of the @canadianpeacemuseum.ca today. Glad he got the note about khaki shorts.

Museums director Chris and mayor Paul Jenkins in front of the “Canadian Peace Museum” sign

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 01/08/2026

This post attracted 666 comments

Facebook post about banning religious expression in military.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 31/07/2026

Everyone is sick of AI slop, and it seems LinkedIn got the message. You can now report posts for seeming like "AI slop". Let's hope this is the start of a bigger trend of social media companies rejecting the deluge of AI diarrhea that fouls our screens.

LinkedIn drop-down menu that shows a option "Seems like AI slop"

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 30/07/2026

Is this a Trump thing, or do many Americans not know what a windmill is?

An image showing a wind turbine and a windmill

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 23/07/2026

The safety risk of someone very slowly moving around in one of these vehicles is different on almost empty sidewalks or very wide quiet roads. Preventing intoxicated drivers, moving fast in huge trucks would have more positive impact.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 16/07/2026

Current scenes here in Toronto.

Blade runner movie screen shot showing an orange polluted sky

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 15/07/2026

1986 "Hand of God" 2026 "Head of God"

Argentina player Lautaro Martínez headers a goal into the England net

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 14/07/2026

Grateful to live in this beautiful, imperfect, country.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 13/07/2026

Scottish profile pics this week be like:

Count Binface wearing an Argentina football top

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 12/07/2026

Source: x.com/lindseygraha...

Lindsey Graham Tweet (2016) “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.”

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 10/07/2026

I’m so much happier with an event poster made in a word processor. All your AI posters look the same and hurt my soul.

Power-point made poster that simply says “England World Cup” with the date and time in simple fonts.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 06/07/2026

You know your corruption has reached a special level when it’s criticized by Sepp Blatter!

Sepp Blatter tweet “Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies. If a U.S. President intervenes with the FIFA President — and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match — the question is unavoidable: Quo vadis, FIFA?

Football must never become a playground for political power. #FIFA #WorldCup #GianniInfantino #DonaldTrump”

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 06/07/2026

Remember: it’s important not to rush construction of stone arches.

Spinal Tap (parody musical group) on stage with a very small model of Stonehenge.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 06/07/2026

3️⃣ NATO members will collaborate to resist armed attacked 4️⃣NATO members will consult together if any member feels there has been threats directed towards them

Article 3

In order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this Treaty, the Parties, separately and jointly, by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack.

Article 4

The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 06/07/2026

The NATO treaty says nothing about spending targets. Here’s some things they do say; a thread: 1️⃣Article 1: Resolve disputes peacefully 2️⃣Article 2: Support organizations, promote stability and well-being

Article 1

The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.

Article 2

The Parties will contribute toward the further development of peaceful and friendly international relations by strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded, and by promoting conditions of stability and well-being. They will seek to eliminate conflict in their international economic policies and will encourage economic collaboration between any or all of them.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 02/07/2026

What’s missing is important. The UK has four nations, but only three have “territorial offices”. England (unlike Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland) doesn’t because it’s not a “territory” it is the base.

Penny Mordaunt celebrating UK’s three “territorial offices”

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 01/07/2026

A helpful map of Manchester’s location in the UK.

Map of the UK with arrow pointing to Manchester, in the lower half of the UK

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 01/07/2026

Where’s Waldo? USA 250th TrumpFest special edition.

A typical “Where’s Waldo?” scene (crowded group of people in busy place) but with only a handful of people and Waldo therefore easy to spot.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 28/06/2026

Both the Facebook and the BlueSky accounts of @canadianpeacemuseum.ca have had unusual jumps in followers. Not sure why. But I’m delighted. Maybe the recent @futureofgood.bsky.social story? futureofgood.co/fundraising-...

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 26/06/2026

OK. Who did this??🤣🤣🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

A traffic pylon/cone places on top of the “Canadian Peace Museum” sign

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 26/06/2026

Rubio is so close to realizing something important x.com/statedept/st...

Rubio wishing Iran didn’t spend so much money on weapons

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 24/06/2026

I’m sad if I accidentally used one of my genie-in-a-bottle moments for this outcome.

Newspaper headline about how a decline in share value reduced Musk’s wealth to $956.6 billion

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 20/06/2026

Four Seasons Total Landscaping to fix the reflecting pool

Trump standing at the Four Seasons Landscaping press conference

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 19/06/2026

Let’s go, Kirin Cup 2006 Champions! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Screen shooting Scotland v Morocco football match

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 17/06/2026

A map of the U.S. Midwest Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest...

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 16/06/2026

And yet this.... www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/202...

Trump below a slogan "Become Ungovernable" at the Libertarian National Convention

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 16/06/2026

The US Department of Justice is cracking down on someone who posted on Facebook "Become Ungovernable" In 2024, Trump spoke at a conference where that same phrase was the theme: www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/202...

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 16/06/2026

In 2024, Trump spoke at a conference where the theme was "Become ungovernable". www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/202...

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 14/06/2026

Australian footballers at the World Cup outperforming their freestyle breakdancer at the Olympics.

Australia beating Turkey 2-0 at football

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 12/06/2026

The 2026 Global Peace Index is out. The 5 UN Security Council permanent members did not score well: 🇨🇳 China 118th 🇫🇷 France 99th 🇷🇺 Russia 163rd (the lowest in the world) 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 39th 🇺🇸 United States 134th

World map titled “The State of Peace” showing countries colour-coded according to their level of peacefulness. A legend at the bottom ranges from Very High (dark teal), High (light teal), Medium (yellow), Low (orange), Very Low (red), and Not Included (grey). Northern and Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of East Asia are shown as highly peaceful. Many countries in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe and Asia are shown as having low or very low levels of peace. Russia is highlighted in red (very low peace), while Greenland is grey (not included). The map presents a global comparison of national peace levels.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 11/06/2026

We list their criteria on the front page of the @canadianpeacemuseum.ca website and yes, those factors are in scope. I suspect the analysis was done before recent pledges to ramp up Canadian militarisation, and I suspect they measure actual spending, rather than pledges. Report therefore lagging.

Researchers increasingly distinguish between "negative peace" (the absence of violence) and "positive peace" (the attitudes, institutions and structures that create flourishing societies).

The Institute for Economics and Peace identifies eight pillars of Positive Peace:

Well-Functioning Government
Sound Business Environment
Equitable Distribution of Resources
Acceptance of the Rights of Others
Good Relations with Neighbours
Free Flow of Information
High Levels of Human Capital
Low Levels of Corruption
Together, these pillars encompass many of the things that help communities thrive: democracy, education, health, equity, inclusion, human rights, transparency, social cohesion and economic opportunity.

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Chris Houston @chrishouston.ca · 10/06/2026

The 2026 Global Peace Index has just been released. Canada, which in recent years moved down the index, climbed one place to the 14th most peaceful nation. The U.S. dropped four more places to 134th www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/u...

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