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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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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 05/09/2026
Could we just *tell* the billionaires that there's an imminent climate catastrophe? "Oh don't worry about us. We'll sacrifice ourselves by staying out here but you must shelter in your bunker for... let's say 100 years. Yes, right now! Truly, the future of humanity depends on you staying in there."
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 23/08/2026
bsky.app/profile/lydi...
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Reposted by Colin Foster
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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Reposted by Colin Foster
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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Reposted by Colin Foster
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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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 06/08/2026
This interview with Cory was also excellent. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dAI...
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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Reposted by Colin Foster
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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Reposted by Colin Foster
🦋 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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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 24/07/2026
If you go to "Chrome: About Google Chrome" menu, it should show version 150. If not, redownload from G's website. (But maybe switch to Firefox for long term support.) AND install an ad blocker since many attacks come in via ad-javascripts. (If sites won't clean-up/stop ad-attacks, this seems fair.)
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Reposted by Colin Foster
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 were successfully filtering our indoor air, but since our HRV was off (no air coming into the house from outside), the CO2 levels were going way up. Here's what we did, if it's of help to anyone else: bsky.app/profile/coli...
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
We were successfully filtering our indoor air, but since our HRV was off (no air coming into the house from outside), the CO2 levels were going way up. Here's what we did, if it's of help to anyone else: bsky.app/profile/coli...
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
Alternatives: - I thought about trying to attach the box to the house from its side and have the mouth face downwards to better protect the air filters from rain. - It would be nice to get this moved inside, and into a box where I can replace the filters without re-taping. 14/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
Results: CO2 went from 1500 to 1200 over about 2 hours (and should continue to drop). I expected the internal air quality to get a bit worse but Internal PPM stayed the same. I guess the furnace recirculation-fan is keeping up with whatever the external filter misses. 13/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
9.) I removed the internal air filter from the HRV since the external filter was much more efficient and it might make things a bit easier on the fan motor. I turned the HRV back on, onto the 'medium' setting. 12/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
8.) I placed the filters into the box and completely sealed the edges of the filters to the edge of the box with packing tape. This sometimes took 2 rows of tape but the important thing was to make sure air had to travel through the filters to get to the HRV intake vent. 11/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
7.) Since I had some window screen mesh available, I cut a piece to the size of the filters and used thumbtacks to attach that to the filter. The hope is to prevent large floating debris (dandelion fluff, etc.) from clogging up the fine mesh of the air filter. 10/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
6.) I stacked the two air filters together and taped their edges. (The tapered shape of the box I was using meant I could have gotten one 16 x 25” filter and one 16 x 24” filter but 16x24” was what they had.) 9/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
5.) I used packing tape to completely seal the box to the edges of the air intake vent. I also needed to seal some ventilation holes the manufacturer had added to this particular model of storage box. 8/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
3.) I cut a square hole in the bottom of the box that’s was about the same size of the air filter cover coming out of the house. 4.) I positioned the box over the vent and attached it to the wall, with tapcon screws and washers (to help distribute the load on the plastic box). 7/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
2.) I figured out how I would support the box once it was attached to the vent, so I could know where to cut the hole in the next step. I didn’t want to box to just rest on the ground to avoid having rain splash into the filters. I decided I’d just bolt the box to the brick wall of the house. 6/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
Here’s what I did: 1.) I traced the HRV vent line from the inside to determine where it exited the house, and then confirmed that by turning on/off the HRV to see if air was being drawn into that vent. 5/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
Parts: - Two 16 x 24 x 1 Furnace Filters (MERV 11+ or MPR 1500+) - Plastic storage box (I used Canadian Tire Part# 142-6045-0. Whatever you use make sure the filters fit inside the mouth of the box as in the 2nd photo.) - Packing tape - Window screen mesh and thumb tacks 4/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
An HRV fan motor is not designed to have to pull air through dense material (like the *two* furnace air filters we wanted to add). But since a 16” x 24” filter has a little over 10x the surface area of the round 6” vent the HRV uses, this hopefully removes any extra strain on the HRV fan. 3/14
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Colin Foster @colinfoster.net · 17/07/2026
Why: We had our HRV off, and furnace recirc fan running with a MERV 13 filter to gradually bring internal air pollution down to ~20ppm, but with HRV off our CO2 levels were up. We could get CO2 down by turn on the HRV but that would bring in the smoke particles we’ve been trying to filter out. 2/14
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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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