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Colin Foster

@colinfoster.net
147 followers 332 following 234 posts

Software. Tools. Epistemology. Birbs. Support independent news: www.unfettered.ca

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Reposted by Colin Foster
Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I have a duty to the children to raise my library voice and say, "Free Palestine." It is not too dangerous to say. It is human decency. Palestinian people are worthy of tomorrow. We are human.
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Lydia Kiesling @lydiakiesling.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
You have to be a better reader than a lot of people are lately to glean from this article the extent to which Finland's housing-first policy was wildly successful until a racist right-wing government derailed it by gutting funding and services. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Finland tried to end homelessness. What can we learn from its runaway success – and recent failures?
The Housing First policy led to the number of homeless people in Finland dropping by half. Those with firsthand experience explain why it worked
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Larry Neufeld @larryneufeldsk.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
We Are Not Going to Evict You: What “Stolen Land” and Land Back Actually Mean juliefrancella.substack.com/p/we-are-not...
juliefrancella.substack.com
We Are Not Going to Evict You: What “Stolen Land” and Land Back Actually Mean
For the people who get angry when they hear that they are living on stolen land.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Our understanding how our brain ages and why our memory begins to slip around age 50 have been completely revamped through 2 new landmark studies involving the microglia, the brain immune cells erictopol.substack.com/p/why-our-me...
erictopol.substack.com
Why Our Memory Slips After Age 50
Landmark independent studies challenge longstanding dogma for brain aging
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Sam Ulmschneider @samulmschneider.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Normally I just appreciatively read @jamellebouie.net 's columns-sharable video content just isn't my bag. But this is a very, very, very trenchant piece of commentary that captures a lot of how I increasingly understand the disjunction between the commentary environment and on-the-ground politics.
youtube.com
The pundits have completely lost the plot
YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
There's something that is so much more persuasive and inspirational about just knowing what your business is and being about it, rather than chasing around people who are opposed to any changes and openly pandering to them by validating their worst impulses. Is this obvious? It seems obvious.
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Digital Brain @yourdigitalbrain.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Her name is Sister Rosetta Thorpe. Known as the "Godmother of rock" that inspired Elvis.
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Philip Bump @pbump.com · 06/08/2026
A central part of why it seems like powerful, rich people live in a consequence-free world is that the social incentives to hold them to account have withered. www.ctinsider.com/columnist/ar... 𝟏𝟐-𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞-𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬
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The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart @weeklyshowpodcast.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
🚨 New episode on YouTube with Cory Doctorow @doctorow.pluralistic.net! 🚨 We discuss: ➡️ The Real AI Threat ➡️ The Reverse Centaur ➡️ Capital vs. Labor ➡️ 107 Days till the Midterms? Watch now: youtube.com/watch?v=-dAIJRjb-Bw&feature=youtu.be
youtube.com
AI and the Enshittification Era w/ Cory Doctorow | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
YouTube video by The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart
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🦋 Still Standing 🦋 @imstillstanding.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Well…isn’t this a little gem. @jenpsaki.bsky.social did you know about this?
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Yep. @polphilpod.bsky.social and I made this point in this essay on Elon Musk's real fascist worldview, which all of you should read if you haven't yet, because (we immodestly insist) it breaks new ground. Also see the interview with one of the authors of "Muskism." newrepublic.com/article/2119...
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 22/07/2026
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
We built an external HRV air filter that’s currently taking our outdoor smokey air @ 400ppm down to around 30ppm. (Measured using an AtmoTube placed inside the HRV ext-in quadrant.) In case it’s of interest to anyone else, here’s what we did. (Sorry I didn’t take more pics.) #firesmoke 1/14
A plastic storage box is being held  against the side of a house, oriented vertically, with its bottom flush against the wall and the mouth of the box facing outward. A hole approximately 8” square has been cut in the bottom of the box. The hole is the same size as the vent-cover that comes out of the house wall and the vent cover is protruding slight into the box through that hole.The box from the previous photo is in the same position but the mouth of the box now has a furnace air filter filling the mouth of the box. Clear packing tape seals the edge of the box to the cardboard of the air filter. The lid of the storage box has been turned sideways and placed on top of the box to make a ‘roof’ that might might protect the filters from rain. A bit of window-screen mesh has been tacked to the outside of the air filter to keep larger air particles such as dandelion fluff from blocking up the furnace air filter.
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Reposted by Colin Foster
David Roberts @volts.wtf · 14/07/2026
An amazing quote from Lindsey Graham in this Atlantic story. It really captures an essential truth about politics that too few people ever really come to terms with. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
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Michael Scott Balch, PhD @uqprofessional.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Trump announces new alliance with the storm god Baal, promises 1000 year reign of blood.
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Taylor Lorenz @taylorlorenz.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
What these people are actually supporting is total and complete removal of anonymity from the web, and cutting off millions of vulnerable kids lifelines and ability to get news and information abt the world, all for zero benefit and lots of harm
pewresearch.org
Majority of Americans support banning social media for kids under 16
Across major demographic and partisan groups, more Americans support than oppose banning those under 16 from using social media.
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Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
The arm on NBA star Kelsey Plum, who throws a rolled-up jersey to her dad sitting in the upper bleachers. www.reddit.com/r/AbsoluteUn...
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
My God, this thread:
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Charles Johnson @charles.littlegreenfootballs.com · 14/06/2026
Sir Ian McKellen.
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Richard Meredith @rtm223.me · 12/06/2026
"We're shipping so much more code with AI!" "Good, stable code?" "Oh heavens no. No no no. not at all. We couldn't possibly"
Various graphs related to AI coding adoption, titled "The Acceleration Whiplash"

Epics (features) : +66.2%
Features: +33.7%
Pull Requests: +16.2%
Code Churn: +861%
Incidents (per PR) : +242.7%
Monthly incidents: +57.9%
Bugs per developer: +54%
Bugs per PR: +28.7%
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Hawaii just passed the first state law in the country banning corporations from making political donations in state elections. Now a Koch-backed legal group is suing to overturn it. Big Money won't get out of our politics without a fight — one that we the people must win. (via @levernews.com)
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@FrankeJames 🇨🇦 @frankejames.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
ICYMI: An analysis of PM Mark Carney’s climate policies and their adverse impacts on Canada 🇨🇦 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney is not the climate guy you thought | Seth Klein
While Canada may be clinging to fossil fuels, much of the world is moving on
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Jon Douglas @atranscendedman.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Hiroshima University studied 6.2 million matched people in Japan. COVID was linked to 4.14 times higher TB treatment risk, rising to 14.7 with prior TB. This points to possible reactivation, not proof of cause. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
COVID‐19 as a Potential Trigger for Tuberculosis: Insights From a Large‐Scale Japanese Insurance Database Analysis
In a nationwide propensity score–matched cohort study using Japanese insurance claims data, prior COVID-19 was associated with a fourfold higher risk of subsequent active tuberculosis treatment initi...
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
We are collectively experiencing a slow drift in our mental habits, one that is mostly invisible to us because we experience it as the world becoming more orderly and making more sense. But its effects on us and society have been profound and will get worse.
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Arrête Mark Carney ⚜️ @lalegault.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
The single law maker standing up for Canadians in this surveillance-AI hellscape is Premier Kinew who is rejecting data centres. “I reject the idea we have to be slaves* to surveillance capitalism in order to participate in the modern economy.”
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
OMG. “I found a second vote.gov — and it’s registered to the White House *** Either DOJ lied to a federal judge, or the studio is building a replacement for the country’s voter registration site without telling the agencies whose work it would replace.” 5/26/26 … 1/
open.substack.com
I found a second vote.gov — and it's registered to the White House
There is a moment in every investigation where the thing you have been looking for finds you instead.
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OpenMedia @openmedia.org · 20/05/2026
#BillC22 is going to change your rights to #privacy. Friends from OpenCivics put together a quick walkthrough and explained why we need Canadians to stop it together now! 👉 dontsurveil.me/c22.html #cdnpoli @openmedia.org
dontsurveil.me
Canada is about to end private digital conversation — Bill C-22
Bill C-22 would force every messaging app in Canada to build a backdoor — and track all your activity for one year. Apple says no. Signal says they'll leave.
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 18/05/2026
Lewis Carrol taught mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, for twenty-six years. “Alice in Wonderland” is an extended joke about base-numbering systems, non-Euclidean geometry, and abstract identity, smuggled inside a story about a small girl falling down a hole. storica.club/blog/alice-i...
storica.club
Alice in Wonderland is mostly math jokes — Storica
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson taught mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, for twenty-six years. He wrote textbooks defending Euclid and treatises on symbolic logic. The children's book he is now famous fo...
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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
There's a major civil rights protest taking place in Selma, Alabama, right now in response to the SCOTUS decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act and the ongoing attack on Black Americans’ political power (video: defiancedispatch/IG)
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Cartoon by Nick Anderson. (Follow him on Substack: nickanderson.substack.com)
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Feeling overwhelmed with all of this. LISTEN. Another Louisiana resident (Marshawn is the only name we have) testifies against the state’s racial gerrymander, speaking truth to power up and down the hearing room and predicts how this story will end. Speak your truth, fight and believe.
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Mary Gillis @marygillis.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
It's always so telling which politicians don't see themselves as stewards of the public good, but as its auctioneers.
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greenlightening.bsky.social @greenlightening.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
"When people try to sell you on the idea that the future is already settled, it is because it is deeply unsettled.” - @tressiemcphd.bsky.social
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Arrête Mark Carney ⚜️ @lalegault.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Put your partisanship aside for a moment and listen to our lawmakers on Bill C22. It is dangerous. It must not pass. Canada 🇨🇦 must stay Canada. #cdnpoli
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Arrête Mark Carney ⚜️ @lalegault.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
This is an excellent & gentle explanation as to why Canadians are so taken with Carney despite all evidence, and why they double down. #Canadasky #cdnpoli 🇨🇦
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Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
People find politicians' speech alienating but it's not because it's overly caveated, precise, and syntactically complex; it's because it's vague, platitudinous pablum that fails to condemn injustice, fails to chart a path towards a brighter future, and is unaccompanied by concrete action.
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OpenMedia @openmedia.org · 04/05/2026
🇨🇦's #BillC22 is entering committee study this week - and we're hearing it may become law by end of the month. We never say this: but this is the worst, most privacy-breaking bill we've seen. It MUST be stopped. Speak up against it and read on to learn more: www.openmedia.org/StopC22-bsky 1/
openmedia.org
Stop the Surveillance State: Stop Bill C-22!
🚨 Bill C-22 forces every Canadian internet provider, messaging app & cloud service to build surveillance backdoors and store a year of your data. Foreign state hackers exploited similar legislation in...
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Cara Giovanetti @idontevencara.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
If you had to design an efficient way to breathe, what might you do? Would you model after human lungs? Fish breathing? An iron lung??? Hands down, I would model after bird respiratory systems. Here’s why. 1/6 ⚛️🧪
Photograph of the author's favorite bird, a small black-capped chickadee perched on a thin branch with a blurred gray background. The bird features a black cap and bib, white cheeks, and soft gray and white feathers, highlighting its delicate and fluffy appearance.

By Jocelyn Anderson - Imported from 500px (archived version) by the Archive Team. (detail page), CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71469372
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Jenny Kwan @jennykwan.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Norway uses public oil profits to build a $2T wealth fund for its citizens. PM @markcarneyforpm.bsky.social wants to use your tax dollars to subsidize private projects for big oil and gas. This is just plain wrong. The Liberals are standing with corporations, not everyday Canadians. 🇨🇦
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Fair Vote Canada 🗳️🍁 @fairvote.ca · 23/04/2026
To sum up: Doug Ford used a majority won with a minority of the vote to ram through a law hiding his cellphone records after a court ordered him to hand them over. We need proportional representation so politicians cannot use artificial majorities to conceal corruption.

A screenshot of a post on X by Colin D'Mello | Global News (@ColinDMello). The text reads:

NEW: The Ford government has called a late night sitting to pass the budget during legislative off-hours.

If it gets 3rd reading tonight, it could be law as early as tomorrow.

Rendering the court decision for the Premier to hand over his cellphone records moot.

#onpoli
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André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
The Human Cost of Failing to Name COVID ‘Airborne.’ Safety laws are being sidestepped. One doctor’s nightmare shows how health-care workers pay the price, by @jvipondmd.bsky.social @dickzoutman.bsky.social @smbilodeau.bsky.social thetyee.ca/Analysis/202... via @thetyee.ca
thetyee.ca
The Human Cost of Failing to Name COVID ‘Airborne’ | The Tyee
Safety laws are being sidestepped. One doctor’s nightmare shows how health-care workers pay the price.
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Me and a small nugget of love. 🇸🇪♥️🇺🇦 @mnotme.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
The human circulatory system, before and after proper cable management.
two images of the human body's circulatory system. One of them with good cable management
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Mary Grace @emgeekay.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
🧵 The Canadian federal government’s 2025 budget has allocated: More business tax breaks including for fossil fuels sector $925 million for AI $81.8 billion over 5 years for military However, this comes at the expense of cultural heritage.
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Vanelle 🦋🇨🇦 🎹🎤 & Buy Canadian Warrior @vanellemusic.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Some tips for travel north this summer! For those that may need a break 😉 Come Visit Us In Canada! open.substack.com/pub/canresis...
open.substack.com
Come Visit Us In Canada!
Some things to know about coming north for a holiday
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Canada too.
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Meanwhile in Canada, Carney is cutting the Public Health Agency of Canada by 19% and the Department of Health by 11%. www.statnews.com/2026/04/03/t...
statnews.com
White House proposes 12% cut to federal health agencies in 2027 budget request
Congress largely ignored President Trump's previous budget proposal, instead boosting federal health spending.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
Trump advisers think the age of imperialism ended because of wokeness, not because 1) colonized peoples made colonialism untenable 2) technology made territorial empire unnecessary. They thought mere brutality and perceived genetic superiority would make wars against countries like Iran easy.
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Shawn Micallef @shawnmicallef.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Share this one w your people who don’t read the news much or are passive consumers of information. A secret govt should resonate. If secret over “small” things like bike lanes - what else is there. This should resonate. It should (famous futile words).
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Dr. Art Garfunky @chimpvsdog.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Elon Musk had DOGE defund USAID, the largest humanitarian organization in the world, causing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of deaths from starvation and disease - and Trump GLEEFULLY approved it. It’s the single most evil act in US history. Cartoon by Mike Luckovich
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