iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by fern k hahn

How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 27/09/2026

This tool from @observingthecity.ca is fantastic. It shows the traffic mode share by intersection using City data. Many downtown areas are dominated by pedestrians (in green). Yet *we still give most of the space to cars on almost every street.* www.observingthecity.ca/intersection...

Map of downtown area of Toronto. Pie charts show the mode share at every intersection.

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Michael Andersen @andersem.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I have a confession to make. The townhomes I & others spent most of a decade trying to legalize are popping up all over Oregon & elsewhere...and I love that...but they're a problem in one big way. (get ready for a twisty thread about the housing report @sightline.org just published)

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Ben MacLeod 馬志斌 @benmacleod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I've been shown around parts of Toronto by @auguststreet.ca and @fernkhahn.com so it was nice to reciprocate over one very fun week. This particular outing to downtown Dartmouth also included ice cream.

Fern and August, both visiting from Toronto, enjoying the ferry ride from Halifax to downtown Dartmouth. Fern is giving a peace sign hand gesture. August is smiling and wearing a Blue Jays ball cap. The office towers of downtown Halifax are in the background.

August and Fern stand on the footbridge over the outlet of Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth on a nice day. They are gazing at the pond. An apartment building is under construction in the background.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/09/2026

do i have any followers in big ice cream? i am begging for a mint ice cream with no chocolate. mint chocolate was my favourite flavour until i developed chocolate intolerance and now i can't get my fix anywhere!

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/09/2026

ok, the chorus of "pur" by cocteau twins has handily earned its spot in "cathartic shoegaze moments" alongside that one part of slowdive's "when the sun hits". i don't think most of you know what i'm talking about, but i feel strongly enough about this to override that.

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august 🍂 @auguststreet.ca · 21/09/2026

44 seconds of "transit signal priority" on toronto's line 5 and kitchener-waterloo's ion LRT

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 19/09/2026

The people on the sidewalk: a) significantly outnumber the drivers in cars and b) are here to spend time and money in this neighbourhood. The drivers in these mostly empty cars are: a) trying to drive AWAY from this neighbourhood as quickly as possible, and yet b) are given most of the road space

Photo of two lanes of car traffic and lots and lots of pedestrians on the sidewalk on Spadina Avenue in Toronto

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Robert Zaichkowski @rzaichkowski.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Not surprised that speeding on Parkside increased 560% since last year's speed camera ban by the Ford government. Combined with the bike lane ban via Bills 212/60, residents there have been denied the right to a safe street. #shame #BikeTO #WalkTO #TOpoli #ONpoli toronto.citynews.ca/2026/09/16/s...

toronto.citynews.ca

Speeding on Parkside spiked 560% in year since speed camera removal: Safe Parkside

Safe Parkside called the latest data culled from the City of Toronto's “Watch Your Speed” electronic sign on Parkside both "frightening" and "predictable."

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 16/09/2026

well, this is embarrassing. what are we doing here?

Subway train door opens directly into a metal platform edge barrier. Alighting passengers squeeze out on the yellow platform edge to get around the barrier.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 16/09/2026

good to see small fire trucks hitting toronto's streets

A small Toyota Yaris hatchback car parked on a street, painted red with yellow Toronto Fire branding.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 15/09/2026

the group chat liked this one

Screenshot of a message including a selfie of Fern. Fern is wearing thin-framed, rounded sunglasses, and their wavy, shoulder-length hair is down. The message reads, "i'm like if john lennon and yoko ono had a child". There are four heart reactions and a laughing reaction.

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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · 09/09/2026

There's a reason the center of gravity of the Bay Area's LGBTQ community is shifting to the East Bay (it already has for lesbians and trans people): San Francisco's LGBTQ neighborhood is mostly houses and 2-story buildings, and hasn't really changed in the last few decades.

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Jonathan English @englishrail.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Liverpool's Merseyrail was one of the earliest modern regional rail systems, but it never ended up becoming a national model. It's an unfortunate wrong turn because UK cities tend to have very extensive local rail networks to convert. infrastory.substack.com/p/englands-m...

infrastory.substack.com

England’s Model Should Have Been Merseyrail

A wrong turn in the 80s can still be corrected

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Jake Berman @lostsubways.com · 08/09/2026

In a lot of ways, the environmentalism of my parents' generation didn't ask anyone to sacrifice anything. People still drove (but it was a Prius), lived in the burbs (but with a beautiful garden), bought supermarket food (but bought organic). It was an aesthetic choice as much as anything. 🧵

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 05/09/2026

sometimes i miss the convenience of living downtown. other times i'm very grateful to live beyond earshot of fireworks and obnoxious aircraft

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 02/09/2026

it's been four years since i moved from oakland to toronto, and i have yet to understand in what world winter is our worst season. continental summer is mucky at best and evil at worst

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 01/09/2026

an absolutely delightful week in and around halifax. like, "i got to pitch my map to a transit agency" delightful (outcome pending). i certainly won't go another 18 years without seeing the north atlantic. many thanks to @benmacleod.bsky.social for taking the time to show august and me around!

Selfie of Ben, Fern, and August at Halifax Transit offices. Fern holds three of their own Halifax Transit rider guides, and August holds one open, showing the system map inside. All three are masking.

View of Halifax's skyline and suspension bridges from across the harbour. Resting on a glass railing at the Woodside ferry terminal, August admires the skyline. Conditions are moody and overcast, and there are ripples in the water.

As a small, cable-hauled car ferry crosses the LaHave River, Fern walks away from the camera along the rocky riverbank. A clear, late-afternoon sky casts orange light and long shadows.

August leans on a curious seating installation to photograph the pedestrianized Granville Street in downtown Halifax. The street is adorned with quaint paving and ornate four-storey buildings, which give way to modern office and residential towers in the background. It is not busy as a grey sky threatens rainfall.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/08/2026

misleading — this is completely bus, and not even slightly metro

A SORTA Metro bus, branded "go METRO", at a bus stop in Northside Transit Center.

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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I would personally propose: 1. Mid-rise (5–10 storeys) allowed on every residential lot in Toronto 2. Gigantic towers allowed within walking distance (15 mins) of any subway or GO train station

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 18/08/2026

it's neat that the bay area gets one of the four inaugural women's professional baseball teams, but they really should have named it after oakland if they're all playing in springfield anyway

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kue @kue.glitch.paris · 10/08/2026

I find beauty in the simple drain pipe. Effective and cheap, therefore able to be produced for all the people. Function can have beauty in how it affects the world.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 10/08/2026

my benchmark for a few years has been to recall 600 places in california, since that has proven to be my rough limit. it's a slightly different set each time… but somehow, i've still got it

Screenshot from a web game titled "How many U.S. cities can you name?". Dots scattered on a map zoomed into California represent the places I named. Below the map window, text reads: "You named 600 cities, with a total population of 30,899,016 (11.85% of the national urban population in 2020)."

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 05/08/2026

hmm, i've about had it with the bloor street "car lanes" experiment. literally no one uses these things. how can businesses expect to survive when there's no space for customers to linger?

A commercial street in old Toronto with two bike lanes, two general traffic lanes, and a row of parallel parking. Apart from some parked cars and a bicyclist, the street is mostly empty. Oncoming cars are visible in the distance.

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Marta O'Brien @archhistory.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Toronto still obsesses about "shadows" from buildings. We need much more shade along streets & in all public spaces. Bring back awnings along high streets!

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 04/08/2026

mirvish village is going to be awesome. what if toronto could have nice things?

Soon-to-open pedestrian lane in Mirvish Village, Toronto. The lane is flanked by buildings taller than the lane is wide, adorned with hanging signs for small shops, restaurants, and the like. Beyond, a new residential tower rises into the blue sky.

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工an Monroe 🚰 @eean.dev · 31/07/2026

Imo California should make Spanish a more official language though I know it'd be super normal and a PITA. But Spanish should be like Swedish in Finland, everyone is required to learn it in school etc.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 30/07/2026

i love reading the poems scattered among the overhead advertising on the subway, even if plenty of them, uh, go over my head

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 26/07/2026

traditionally, this situation is called "guerra paternofilial"

MLB play-by-play screenshot of Boston pitcher Guerrero facing Toronto batter Guerrero Jr.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 25/07/2026

well, dylan cease gets his complete game after all. shame about the lone hit again

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 25/07/2026

hank green and i finished today's game at the same time and i beat him by a decent margin. i am so obsessed with this game

Bluesky feed screenshot of two consecutive Smush game scores, both posted 31 minutes ago. Hank Green scored 772 points on his first perfect game. Posted on my game account, I scored 1070 points on a perfect game and an 11-day streak.

My score tally: 384 points for 6 words smushed; 50 for a clean plate; 25 for no hints; 5 for beating the robot; 5 for beating today's average; 10 for 30th percentile; 25 for finishing in only 6 words; 20 for average word length >1 letter above today's average; 11 for 11-day streak; and 2x multiplier for a perfect game (pangram first, clean plate, no hints). Non-scoring achievements include double pangram and personal best.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/07/2026

[spoiler] yes thank you, i sure am

Screenshot from my perfect Smush game. Definition card for "scintillating", for which I scored 64 points, reads: "brilliantly sparkling, or dazzlingly clever". My word pile: nostalgic, scintillating, scants, oncological, tongs, nag.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/07/2026

amused that english gets the ampersand while french, whose word for "and" is literally the two letters that compose the ampersand, gets their word written out

A small tub of fine herb & garlic cream cheese product. The flavour is translated to French as "fines herbes et ail".

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Infrastructure Weak @infrastructureweak.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Now out! Part 2 on the Geary metro, discussing its East Bay connection, downtown alignment, and yard location.

medium.com

Geary metro, purpose-built for SF

Part 2: East Bay connection, downtown alignment, and the yard

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Jedwin Mok @jedwinmok.com · 21/07/2026

Honored to be featured in Building Beautifully’s latest video about transit construction costs! Sharath puts it best: “We keep treating cost blowouts as inevitabilities instead of looking to the rest of the world out of misguided notions of exceptionalism.” Watch now! youtu.be/iIET6M3phqA?...

youtu.be

The English-world is TERRIBLE at building transit. This is why.

YouTube video by Building Beautifully

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 21/07/2026

come for the pragmatic, forward-thinking look at one of north america's premier urban rail opportunities; stay for the graphics by fern k hahn (and the next three parts)

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GOLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 19/07/2026

this is an incredibly difficult story to read, told well and told true and with the emphases where they need to be.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 17/07/2026

i really like the full-train ontario gaming adverts asking people to gamble responsibly. seems like an effective solution to the problem and a sign of a prospering society

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TTCriders @ttcriders.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

We hear far too many horror stories of near-misses from streetcar riders. Automated camera enforcement is just one part of the equation. We also need safe infrastructure that prevents incidents from happening in the first place! The solution already exists. Fund more platforms like this, please!

Raised platform installed on King Street. it is a rainy day, as riders board the streetcar. the raised platform extends from the sidewalk and has an area for people to wait and space for bikes to pass along the platform.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 16/07/2026

those queens boulevard services, always changing. so EFMRal

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Lanrick Bennett @lanrickbennett.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Cars buy ZERO stuff “For the first time in four years, St-Denis Street has lost its pedestrian-only status and is open to cars for the summer. Business owners and event organizers say the decline in foot traffic is disrupting operations during what should be a busy season.” youtu.be/DymPPZufAQM?...

youtu.be

Businesses feeling the impact after Montreal street opens up to cars this summer

YouTube video by CBC News Quebec

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Sean Marshall @seanyyz.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Why I’m a fan of the Oxford comma.

TORONTO STAR
BOOK REVIEW
Sylvia Plath, a New York vigilante and Shah of Iran featured in latest historical fiction

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Karen K. Ho @karenho.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

I am seeing reports of wildfires, which reminds me that air purifiers and high-fitration masks also work on smoke. However, you need to change your filters regularly, run the air purifiers on all the time, and make sure the masks fit properly on your face.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 15/07/2026