James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 10hWhat would Karl Marx have to say about Amazon putting out a paper catalogue? 140
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 15hComparing genAI use in academia to doping in sports. Yeah, certainly passes the smell test. 085
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 09/10/2026If you live in the east end of Toronto and are with the French public school board, CS Viamonde, you get to choose a school board trustee. Anna-Karyna is the one who helped us get a secondary school... hand has even more plans! #TorontoVotes 110
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Line ups at the four cash registers of the local grocery store. Manager at the cash: “Twenty years at the company and I’ve never worked the cash before. “ Followed by : “this is what happens when three people call in sick at the same time!” 073
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 02/10/2026We’re getting set to install antennas on the roof of the Ross building at YorkU. You can see he CN Tower from here. And the Vaughn skyline in the other direction. 020
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 01/10/2026FH: Ombudsman Bouchard is our resource. We will look to see if all the legislation is followed. FH is with the AFO (monassemblee.ca/mon-assemble...) 000
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Looking through the photo archive, this is the U of Alberta's Polar Bear robot, in 1999/2000 gathering neural net training data to learn how drive between painted lines. Jim and Kit are following close behind to make sure it doesn't run off course. 000
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Just checked. Not clear. There is a content agreement with medical publishers. That's a positive step. But I don't find "consent" or "ethic" anywhere in the blurb. www.openevidence.com/blog/model-f... 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026This ad for Douglas College got my attention. Speaking to the people who know they want to learn but aren’t sure what to learn. 031
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The “guardrails” that these kinds of people suggest are a fiction. They are the computational and managerial equivalent of a toddler’s comfort blanket. 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Bambu Labs has a new laser cutter. This video highlights why ventilation and filtration are both super important with laser cutters. If you aren’t careful w/ the dirty air from these laser cutters then you can hurt yourself and others (like coworkers next door to UR lab) youtu.be/_NB4T3xdRnY?... 000
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Stupid bot looks for keywords and has no idea about context. 000
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 23/09/2026At YorkU management has told students that these spy watches are valid ID devices. Students reasonably see this as a validation of these devices and this causes a constant problem with removing the devices during classes and exams to support academic integrity. This was a predictable problem. 000
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 22/09/2026FFS. Look at that name. The shell company used to bribe the politician uses EDI as a cover for its corruption. Society of Young Women Scientist [sic] and Engineers. Note the typo in the name. Scientist not Scientists. Source: www.propublica.org/article/fbi-... 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Agreed. I personally really liked my cargo trike when I lived in Strasbourg. And I've seen a lot of delivery vans in Vancouver and Toronto that are fully electric. We could also use more rail! There are alternatives. We need to have the courage to do better. 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 22/09/2026With all the "are you human" checks these days, it feels like I could get online work done faster if I were back to using a 56k dial up connection. Maybe that's what we need... an internet that is throttled back to a human pace that the AI trainers would be loathe to use. 150
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 22/09/2026"Promoting indoor air quality and normative temperatures can support creative work." So, reduce particulate matter and CO2 in the air and keep temperatures reasonable and you might see improved creative thinking in the classroom or workspace.😀 Or, I guess your employer could buy more AI tokens.😬 070
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The answer is a qualified yes. IKEA sells carbon filters for all of its air cleaners. But when you look at them they are full of holes, so it appears to allow many VOCs to pass through and possibly requires multiple passes. 220
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 21/09/2026You're right. I meant $3. Without coffee my brain was stuck in 2025. www.gasbuddy.com/station/65514 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Kid's hockey season is starting. Super excited! 150
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 19/09/2026When I see reminders of the Broncos hockey team, I wish that remembering would also result in improved bus safety for sports teams. Like seat belts. 071
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I hate how companies hide the choices for surveillance consent behind sliders that have no clear indicator for on versus off. 020
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 19/09/2026"East Germany" is the unofficial _English_ name of the DDR, a country that no longer exists. This is a historical fact and not a revision of history. I lived in Jena for two years and am familiar with this part of Germany. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Ge... 100
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 18/09/2026This would be next to impossible to pull off at York University since our Food Services department replaced plastic ID cards with a phone app for official identification across the university. Source: www.yorku.ca/yucard/ 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026This coffee mug embodies the aspirational elements of the cross-border "Eurodistrikt". The bottom combines phrases from English ("Coffee to go", French ("notre café"), German ("ihr Becher") and Alsatian ("Noch e Mol"). Because the region is a hub. It has brought people together for centuries. 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026I like the Dräger 1950 because it fits me well (real-world, personal… never been fit tested) but the elastic failure at the weld is a persistent problem. It’s not due to re-use as this one failed on the first try (as many have over the years). Fixable with a knot. 🪢 060
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Was going to wear my Dräger 1950 but the elastic snapped as soon as I put it on in the hockey rink. So it’s back to the 1750 in my back pocket. (I really wish the weld on the elastic didn’t break like this but it is a defect with this model of N95.) 5251
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Surprising number of masks in the airports in Vancouver and Calgary. 29610
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Why are our kids struggling in school? www.oecd.org/content/dam/... 210
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 13/09/2026Here's a really important paragraph: "These developments are part of a longer-term trend.... predates the COVID-19 pandemic... increased digitalisation, longer screen time and falling rates of reading ... coincided with weaker literacy outcomes." 010
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 13/09/2026I'm not sure. Here's what was on university vending machines in 2023. So, there is an understanding of the value of both a fit test and the N95. I suspect that how N95s and fit-tests were viewed during the worst of the pandemic colours how they are viewed now for non-COVID applications. 150
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I always want to refer to my favourite band, but I know it’s ancient music and I need to find something more contemporary. So far I’ve got Midnight Oil’s “Nothing Lost, Nothing Gained” 210
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 11/09/2026As I was reflecting on how AI is changing the learning landscape, my father-in-law showed me this page. This is why we learn. To be able to write our own names. 163
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Any other parent tired of having to monitor 14 different apps and websites that the school uses to provide information to us and our kids? Well, here's a small victory. My kid was given a paper agenda this week by his teacher. With checkboxes! 240
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 08/09/2026When we lived in Strasbourg, the city had a great ad campaign featuring a single word and an image describing life in the Alsatian capital. A wonderful city employee gave us copies of the posters and postcards to take back with us to Canada. My kid has decorated his dorm room with them. 030
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Clippy is pissed that we cancelled him. He's been biding his time. Now he's ready. 020
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Because this Cybertruck owner didn't think the thing was ugly enough already. 3122
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 06/09/2026This is the F35 flying over Lake Ontario during Toronto's 2025 air show. Admittedly, it's an impressive-looking jet and I understand why we used to think that it was a good idea for Canada to acquire it. But the world has changed. The F35 is no longer a good idea for Canada. #ElbowsUp 0100
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Here at YorkU, the management seems to be reading from this same playbook. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... 151
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Yesterday, my kid and I spent part of the afternoon optimizing our “pick a brick wall” spending at the Lego Store. The price per box is fixed so we needed to arrange the layers of Lego just right. #SabbaticalLife 161
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Here in BC they’re reporting on the police catching Tesla drivers sleeping at the wheel while their car drives. 072
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Got to visit the pinball repair store in Burnaby, BC today. “John’s Jukes” (because they all repair and sell jukes boxes) is a very cool place. John sells all kinds of parts that I think would be useful for my YorkU students’ pinball projects. Including this catalogue! #SabbaticalLife 141
James Andrew Smith @drsmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Yesterday I discovered that there is such a thing as an “Engineer Hammer”. 160
![Society of Young Women Scientist [sic] and Engineers.
Note the typo in the name. Scientist not Scientists.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:i5x3eb76crb4rousjkkk6i5l/bafkreicmtozxkqjx33odr2vqex7ecy5grrtd52jefwlvmjnpdjwnoutogi)
