gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 17hIt wasn’t. I’m sure it is Stephen Harper’s fault somehow. 010
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 17hBeen there. We are still trying to figure out what causes it… 010
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 17hI know it started to decline in the 90s as fax use grew, and the early 2000s with email. But does the courier culture actually exist any more?!? 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 17hIs the cycle courier still around in downtown Calgary? That used to be a major part of the downtown oil company culture in the city. Several company’s, lots of physical paperwork that needed to be transported and a lot of oil companies in this space. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hI found two sets last year at thrift stores… one was unopened. 0130
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hWhat other places are missing today? Record store? Gaming spots? Hair salons? What is gone that you remember? 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hThere was a magic to need stands… a forum of interests, similar to Brooklyn barbershops. People hung out. Cigarettes were bought. Sometimes arcade games were played. I won’t say it was just progress that killed these physical forums… but they have died and been replaced… by something. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hOnline blogs grew but the residual stuff alongside them, the ads, the artwork, the letters to the editor. All just disappeared. And over time those blogs did, too. The new distributors are the engines like Wordpress or tumblr or accumulators with individuals that have nearby interests 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hMore shifts toward the 2000s. Chapters and indigo replaced newsstands. The questionable “rags” under that large slanted mirror disappeared. Voices were … silenced… but more because of the market. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hStore owners who knew exactly what you were looking for. Every shop ordered directly… but that shifted to a provincial distributor for “convenience” That shifted the tide of what was available to what was carried by the distributor. The thousands turned to hundreds. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23hnarrow halls of tall shelves and magazines for every interest or hobby. At one time I had video game magazines. Somewhere I have the first issue of Amigaworld. In the 90s there were isolated pockets of magazines in Calgary. Used bookstores with piles cascading from shelves. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 23h… in the 90s there were newsstands. Spaces of information that people would go to for magazines dog interest. In Lethbridge, in the 80s there was a newsstand in a deep old building, and the entire back wall had a slanted mirror to catch people stealing… 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I made it to the laundromat today, put my clothes in, went for coffee came back and found mybunopened box of detergent on top of the machine. Oops. Thankfully I am not really “messy”… a rinse should be enough for most of what I wear. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 08/10/2026Spending the morning listening to a notebookLM podcast built from a reading list that focuses on methodologies used in the source material. Alongside this is sporadic dipping into the material for more insight. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Craigie hall as well… somewhere in the main floor was a place to eat. Science A too…. Before coffee was bought and carried away it was bought and drunk nearby. I wonder if there is an anthropology of buildings for the u Calgary campus… 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 07/10/2026This was before the indoor hallways linking buildings, so every building most likely had a space for meals and coffee. The collection of tables in science B, separated by metal railings and planters, may have had a cafeteria kitchen nearby. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Something I noticed while @ucalgary.bsky.social has shared archival photographs from the early years was… there are no coffee cups in photos of students in classrooms… It implies people went to places for coffee, and I have been wondering wheee those places were. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 06/10/2026This looks interesting: dornob.com/shack-crazed...dornob.comRecycled Shacks & Shelters by Ethan Hayes-ChuteShacks occupy a strange place in society. On the one hand, outdated and dilapidated dwellings come to mind. On the other hand, such otherwise-sad shanty structures conjure visions of peace, quiet and ... 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 06/10/2026This place is in my bucket list: www.ckom.com/2026/10/05/w...ckom.comWhy is this extraordinary art collection in rural Saskatchewan?Tucked away near St. Walburg is the century-old studio of Berthold von Imhoff, filled with massive religious paintings, portraits with eyes that seem to follow you and a family legacy worth preserving 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Anyone else notice how engagement in social media platforms has just… disappeared?!? I used to get comments on instagram andvteitters, now it’s the occasional like and silence. It’s a diffusion of interests and accumulation of bots… 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Well. 8 pm and no dizziness. As long as I don’t touch my right ear I should manage to avoid anything like last night. Around 7 hours of vertigo… the whole roller coaster and too Much cotton candy. And tonight mostly nothing… hopefully nothing tomorrow too. 110
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 04/10/2026I never really delved into what happened with Ikon Offuce Solutions before I left in the 90s. They had a suspicious investment strategy for retirement savings I never took advantage of. It sounds like I missed a sinking ship… I left in 98. The company was gone by 2008… 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Why have these spots disappeared? Did they exist because people felt compelled to stay and built interesting spots? Are kids/families more internally entertained through mobile devices/DVD players in the past/self-directed music? Is the land and taxes too high now? 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Was it the younger a family was the more likely to stop at these spaces? Was it the more difficult roads that led to needs more breaks? Or was it the distance between fills that needed more stops? 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 04/10/2026My research involves a lot of selfreflection to understand components of the past and the be that constantly comes to mind are the road trips and tourism spots in the past. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 04/10/2026About five months ago I stopped carrying my two SSD drives with me. It wasn’t because I didn’t use the data on them, it’s because they are the easiest things to resell, only requiring a wipe to become $700 on the black market. New ones are around $800… Mine cost ~250 each. A bit over a year ago. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 03/10/2026It’s a rare failure of the Apple to have an appointment start 25 minutes late… kind of annoying. Just want to know how long I would be without an iPad if the glass needs to be replaced. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I am so TIRED of media outlets burying the lead at the end of long irrelevant texts to increase ad counts. Especially when, at the end of of a long article, they contradict the article title. I really wish Google would allow you to assign a rating to reduce that sources credibility … 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I have been queasy all day. Woke up dizzy, stayed in bed until noon and made it to the university. It may have been the bento sushi I had yesterday…? I had a similar issue a month or so ago. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Just found the background noise feature on my iPhone… apparently you can match your frequency for tinnitus and “overpower” it, effectively calming your brains tendency to overcompensate. And the background noise can also be added to music you play. Works best with AirPods… 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026For the purpose of my writing, everything in the past is fair game, but I need to be a lot clearer I. How I describe my motivations. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Second: the way Walter Benjamin uses it to refine how history is adjusted by victors or governments to control narratives of the past is a fantastic example of reusing historical contexts to support modern arguments. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026First… the fact Amazon is using something so deep to define a modern format for their system is kind of astounding. I never realized the significance of that term. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 01/10/2026So Amazon has this thing called The Machanical Turk… a way to hire others to do things for you through their system. It’s based on a hoax for a mechanical chess player in the 1770s That hoax was used by Walter Benjamin to discuss how history is manipulated by religious/messianic thinking. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026My dentists like me because I make sound effects, and that I blame everything that goes wrong during my visits on Stephen Harper… 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Random photos from thrift stores. There might be a story in this sequence. Use your imagination.… 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This is really cool. I see so many Barbie dolls at thrift stores… finding alternative uses for their material makes sense. I would kind of like to see 3d filament made, though… or injection molded doll houses… Maybe that’s my next artwork… designwanted.com/barbie-x-gom...designwanted.comWhen Barbie melts down: gomi's Childhood Memories collection and the limits of toy circularityOn the 24th of September 2026, the Brighton-based design studio gomi launched a range of bluetooth speakers, power banks, chargers, 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Do you really expect vestment firms to be… ethical?!? globalnews.ca/news/1208151...globalnews.caEdmonton condo owners accuse investment firms of ‘predatory’ takeovers | Globalnews.caSome Edmonton condo owners say investment firms are making individual offers on multiple units at the same time, in order to gain enough control to turn the property into rentals. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026An interesting article about a studio we all took for granted… fstoppers.com/historical/r...fstoppers.comThe Rise and Fall of Mall Portrait Studios | FstoppersHow penny pictures evolved into a billion-dollar industry. Explore Olan Mills' empire, CPI's Sears studios, and why 2,000 portrait studios closed overnight in 2013. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Who knows. I think my warranty is up… should have bought carcass-care like I do for my phone. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Twice now I have had the beginning of dizzy spells at school but managed to make it home. Found an email from the hearing Centre for an “audio therapist”… It’s a quirky thing. I adjusted my ear which could have impacted my hearing… or just lost Ning to music for twenty minutes. Or I had bad meat. 100
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Well this seems like a shti show… Investor-driven rentals with no actual maintenance done by the rent collector… www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...cbc.caOntario investigates condo management company as investors scramble, tenants left confused | CBC NewsOntario's condominium management regulator is investigating SIREG Management after the company told investors it could no longer guarantee rent payments, leaving some owners scrambling to collect rent... 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026“A proverb, one might say, is a ruin which stands in the site of an old story and in which a moral twines about a happening like a vine on a wall” Walter Benjamin - The storyteller. 000
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026I want to say this is obviously Ai… but is it?!? 001
Reposted by @gersart.bsky.socialkenofseattle @kenofseattle.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The Chehalis tribe of Washington State just south of Olympia have retaken possession of land along the I-5 corridor. This is how they repurposed the billboard facing the freeway. 14278551079
Reposted by @gersart.bsky.socialJaycee Crawford / Vision Logic Images @jaycee-visionlogic.eurosky.social · 26/09/2026'Paddle to the Sea' (2026) -- Wharton's Point / Maquoit Bay, Brunswick, ME #Scape ✨ #ForestFriday ✨ #BWFri ✨ #Stunday ✨ #PaintByWords ✨ #BlueSkyMonday ✨ #TidesOutTuesday ✨ #BlackAndWhite #Monochrome #ClassicMono #ECK #JayceeCrawford 3450182
Reposted by @gersart.bsky.socialLady Haha @lensman23.bsky.social · 26/09/2026An actual cartoon from Dutch cartoonist Siegfried Woldhek. 375136123884
gersart.bsky.social @gersart.bsky.social · 27/09/2026www.ckom.com/2026/09/24/h...ckom.comHotel Senator sign lost for decades resurfaces on MarketplaceYou never know what you might find on Facebook Marketplace. In this case, it was a Hotel Senator sign that owner Chris Beavis thought had been sent to the junkyard 35 years ago. 000
