iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 02/03/2026

"Belly trap." We know it well, except for us it's both cats in one and you have to guess which it's going to be this time.

A dark grey cat wrapped fuzzy light grey blanket, snuggled up against his small, light-blue & pink elephant stuffie. He has cracked one eye to stare directly at the camera, giving the impression he does NOT want to be disturbed.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 24/01/2026

This one likes to hide in the linen closet and jump out to wap us, just as a reminder: "I could have killed you there. Never forget that."

A person lying on a couch with a large dark grey cat, asleep-on and lying-entirely-across, their chest.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 06/12/2025

Ha! I suspected it was a/your cat. Our 16lb bruiser (so tough he sleeps on lego) sounds like a lawnmower when he's purring. :-) Thanks for the tip!

A big grey semi-awake cat looking towards the camera while stretched out across a long but shallow bucket filled with lego, with his head leaning into the edge of the bucket. This cannot possibly be comfortable, but somehow...

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 21/09/2025

I love being able to cool down my feet mid hike (Slim Bay @ Charleston Lake Provincial Park) while keeping them totally dry! Thanks for the super comfy, 100% waterproof boots @keenfootwear.bsky.social !

Foreground: A person's ankle and booted-feet 2/3 submerged under water at the edge of a lake. Background: the water surface, reeds and forest on the other side of the lake a few 100m away. The water is mostly transparent, fully showing the Keen boots standing on a sparkly sandy bottom with some small plants growing around.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 07/07/2025

Time to nerd this post up with a little backyard science. Readings taken 1-1:30pm & 4:30-5pm in Toronto. (Cloud cover wouldn't allow for a noon-time reading.) Phone’s compass set to true north. (First reading should probably be 2-3° if my phone had been straight.) So: 10° off in the afternoon!

Photo of an iphone on the ground showing the compass app situated so it's pointing perpendicular to two rocks. A straight red line has been drawn onto the photo connecting the tops of the two rocks to illustrate the line we're trying to point perpendicular to, in order to find true north (by this technique). The phone's screen shows it pointing to 4° instead of 0° if it was pointing to true north. Note that the phone is not perfectly perpendicular to the red line and would probably have read 3° or 2° if it had been perpendicular. Other information on the phone screen includes the longitude & latitude, elevation of 90m and location of Toronto, ON.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 07/07/2025

Huh. That's where I'm seeing it's most off-north. The "point shadow trace" view of their dial shows the path of the shadow at the summer solstice. That arc flattens out and eventually (helpfully!) goes concave so two points always point north. But morning and afternoon in summer would be far off N.

Screenshot from the sundial simulator show the position in the middle of Canada, close to the southern border. The diagram shows a strong convex arc for the path of the sun at the summer solstice. The line perpendicular to this arc would point NNW in the morning and NNE in the afternoon.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 05/04/2025

Kauai love-fest. I'm in! Lumahai Beach, 2006.

A woman in the distance is running towards the camera, through the receding waves of a sandy beach. In the far distance is a tall tree line. There is a large rocky outcropping in the water as waves crash nearby.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 03/02/2025

Playing a little Bohnanza with dinner tonight was a nice reminder that everyone does better when there is more free trading at every opportunity, instead of only trading when it serves a narrow short interest.

A top-down view of a dinner table with plates of food to the side and assorted lines of bean cards from the card game "Bohnanza" in front of each person's place. The cards have cartoonish figures on them including a Black-Eyed Bean drawn as a boxer in a boxing ring, a Chili Bean lighting up a cigarette while leaning back on a leaking can of gasoline, and a Green Bean that looks like its going to be sick.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 31/08/2024

If you see this, quote post with a beach photo from your gallery

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 04/05/2024

Does anyone know how to valid if 3M masks are real? Box arrived w seal broken. Box looks "used". There's a QR code, but it validates the box, not the contents (it may have come from a dumpster). The mask serial# matches the sticker on the box, but the sticker is also easy to fake. Any guidance?

Picture of semi-disheveled box of 3M 9502+ masks with the seal broken. Cardboard looks like it's bent from use, and torn down one corner.

Two clear-film wrapped packages of 3M N95 masks, each holding two masks. The left package shows the 3M impression in the mask along with a lot of fine print: "3M 9502+ N95 NIOSH...". The package on the right has a lot of fine print starting in what appears to be Chinese adn switching to English for a WARNING about proper use. There is a green sticker with the initials "LA" and a serial number in the lower right corner #E22344161216260.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 28/02/2024

The tone is a good stress-test for whether they really want to hear the news you're covering. Without it, they might casually read one of your articles and have their head just explode.

Meme photo of a guy seemingly under huge stress with several veins bulging from his forehead and neck.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 05/02/2024

Every day the quiet tap from my monitor's off button results in our sleeping cat launching himself from a bed on the 2nd floor, a rampage down the stairs, and into my office in hopes of snagging some treats & a belly rub before we head up. (Attached: the goober taking a nap in his Lego lounger.)

A large dark grey cat (chartreux) lying flat inside an even larger, shallow bin of Lego pieces with his head and one paw hanging over the edge

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 25/01/2024

I actually logged back into my account at the other place just to see if these were real and... yup! His separation from reality should be a clinic diagnosis of... something.

This is an image of 3 posts:
A (verified) post from Scott Adams on Twitter says: "I'll bet there is not a single academic paper on the likely impact of DEl on straight, white American men.
Because no one cares until we leave.
We probably need to start a new country. That should be feasible within ten years. On the sea."

BlueSky's Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) quoted this post and replied:
"Somewhere, beyond the sea
My incel's waiting for me..."

A 'liked' reply to that post says "I'll kickstart that shit, someone send me a link."

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 22/12/2023

Government testing of the BTNX covid tests we have in Ontario suggests they are prone to false negatives except when someone is "highly infectious." (The story covers many aspects of how we got here but the one I'm immediately concerned with is told in the last two columns of this chart.)

Image of a chart comparing privately funded studies for BTNX covid rapid-tests to the results of those same covid rapid-tests when performed by governments/regulators.

For "very high" viral loads, the results are similarly high: 100% in private-testing vs 91% to 100% for regulator-testing. For "High" viral loads: private-testing suggested 90% to 100% accuracy, but government-testing suggested 10-33% accuracy. For moderate viral loads: private testing suggested 40% to 82% accuracy but government testing found 0% - 10% accuracy.

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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 02/11/2023

⬇️ How it started. ⬆️ How it's going.

Photo of a space-suited astronaut standing on the moon, looking at the Earth as a meteor crashes through one side and explodes out the other, taking half the planet with it. A speech bubble beside the astronaut says "Oh God, the economy!"

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