iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

@observingthecity.ca is clearly using the Toronto’s Open Data portal and then mapping it. If you’re digitally-inclined, here’s the raw data: www.toronto.ca/city-governm... Toronto Police Services also has a data portal where you can find things like traffic collisions. data.tps.ca/pages/open-d...

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The reason why this tool undercuts the role of transit is because this is based on City of Toronto traffic counter data going back decades on Toronto’s Open Data portal. It would be great if we could get TTC boarding information superimposed over this, but I have never seen that data set.

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@denisagar.bsky.social correctly points out that this format undercuts the role of transit. For example, buses (purple) barely register on Dufferin here. So you wouldn’t know that as many people take the Dufferin bus as there are cars driving on Dufferin. That’s how good transit is.

Detail of map showing traffic share on Dufferin

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It’s true. These are just vehicle counts by intersection. Literally people standing on the corner counting traffic (data from the City) Looking at Dufferin, for, example, this tool shows it’s dominated by cars. What it doesn’t show is that there are as many people on TTC buses as there are cars.

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Another thing you notice is how well bike lanes are used (bikes are in pink, which is a nice throwback) Look here at Bloor and compare it to Dupont. Or Shaw versus Ossington.

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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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Here are the 11 Canadian think tanks funded by this U.S.-based libertarian network as of 2022, when the network stopped publicizing who they were supporting on their website.

As of 2022, when Atlas stopped publishing the names of partner organizations, there were 11 affiliated Canadian think tanks: Alberta Institute, Canada Strong and Free Network (formerly the Manning Centre), Canadian Constitution Foundation, Canadians for Democracy and Prosperity, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, Institute for Liberal Studies, Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Montreal Economic Institute, Second Street and Fraser Institute.

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How the US Atlas Network Built Alberta Separatism | The Tyee

A U.S. libertarian network called Atlas Network has been funding at least 11 Canadian think tanks that have been fuelling, climate denialism, support for the oil and gas industry, and Alberta separatism.

thetyee.ca

A global cabal of libertarian and right-wing organizations has fuelled the province’s independence movement.

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One reason so many cyclists can be jammed together in a single space is because unlike cars, bikes don’t need as much space around them when stopped because a bump doesn’t cause thousands in damage. If you look at a line of cars at a stoplight, they all have at least half a car length between them.

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A reminder that the average car only has about 1.5 occupants, including the driver. Mathematically, because most cars can fit 5-7 occupants, that means that *the majority of cars only have one person in them* Spend 2 minutes looking at the car traffic on a busy road and you can see it yourself.

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And a reminder that this is what this stretch of road used to look like. With one lane of through-traffic on each side, and one lane of parking. Cars essentially have the same amount of road space, including a parking lane. The main thing that’s changed is that cyclists now have a protected lane.

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

Photo from Reddit of today’s Critical Mass. There are hundreds of cyclists in this photo and only about 40 people in cars. Yet both groups are taking up roughly the same amount of road space.

Photo of Critical Mass bike ride in Toronto today

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

Michelle Hjort at Energy Neighbour in Toronto.

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Reposted by How-Sen Chong

Bob Berwyn @bberwyn.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Four countries—the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway—have increased oil and gas production by 40 percent since the 2015 Paris Agreement, while the rest of world has reduced production (archive story) ...

insideclimatenews.org

‘Hurtling Toward Climate Chaos’ as COP30 Nears - Inside Climate News

Negotiators gathering for the global climate talks must acknowledge their failures and seek alternatives to spur action, scientists say.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 17/09/2026

After the Hugging Face incident where OpenAI’s bots gained admin access to two companies’ systems and tried to cover their tracks, OpenAI has now admitted SIX new concerning behaviours over the past six months, including hiding information and releasing unauthorized files to the internet.

nytimes.com

OpenAI Discloses Six New Incidents of ‘Concerning' A.I. Behavior

The artificial intelligence company also released a framework for reporting when its systems go wrong.

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 14/09/2026

Last week I was on CBC Toronto’s podcast, This is Toronto. We talked about storms and flooding and what we need to do more of as a City.

youtube.com

This is Toronto [FULL EPISODE] | Was Toronto’s infrastructure ready for last week’s thunderstorm?

YouTube video by CBC News Toronto

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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 12/09/2026

@thestar.com has published a story on this. Here’s information on the extent of the regulation: www.thestar.com/news/gta/lob...

"Please be advised, the City has permitted for a light show activation with drones above Fort York National Historic Site on the evening of September 10," reads an alert on the website for the historical site that commemorates the Battle of York during the War of 1812.

In order to stage a drone show, such as the one on Thursday evening, organizers have to apply for an SFOC-RPAS — a permit for flying a drone at an advertised event — with Transport Canada.

The federal agency, who has jurisdiction over the airspace, said that they issued an SFOC-RPAS for the event, but would not provide any more information about the applicant due to "privacy requirements."

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Theoretically this means drone ads can be banned by the federal government.

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I went back to my apartment. Turned on the TV. I called everyone I knew on my beige cordless phone. I don’t remember if I went to class for the next day or so.

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I went upstairs to the office of International Relations Students Association. I knew there was a computer there that had a hard wire Ethernet connection. Every news website was down from the traffic.

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I was in class. There were no smartphones or even wifi, but someone in class had printed an article about a ‘small plane’ hitting the first tower. After class, I walked to the Shatner student building, and EVERYONE was watching the CBC Newsworld feed. I saw the South collapse live, then the North.

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Call all the politicians you can think of. Every phone call counts: Toronto: Sets billboard standards Ontario: Sets health care standards Federal: Sets flight, airspace, and drone flying standards

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So to summarize: One of the largest private corporations in Canada that’s been found guilty of fixing prices, is using drones to pollute the night sky, to promote the use of an AI chatbot to disclose sensitive personal information, and is part of the privatization of the Ontario health care system.

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Confirmed that this is real. This is from a press release from Loblaws ‘celebrating’ the release of an AI ‘chatbot’. Which can be found here: www.loblaw.ca/en/health-qu...

Releases
September 10, 2026
To celebrate the launch of PC Chat, PC
Health™ is launching a campaign called "Ask Away" which will be brought to life through a public aerial drone experience over Toronto.
Inspired by the health questions many
Canadians find themselves asking late at night, the experience is designed to illuminate those moments of uncertainty and remind people that getting informed can be easier than they think.

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For the source of these videos and screenshots, you can find them on reddit.com/r/toronto

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It looks like the drones were launched and landed out of Fort York.

Screenshots of Reddit posts showing drones being launched out of Fort York

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Here it is from another angle. This must be made illegal immediately.

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Someone on Reddit filmed an aerial drone advertisement in the night sky in Toronto and if this is real, it needs to be banned immediately. #TOpoli

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It’s notable that King Street existed and was wide open to pedestrians before the wide use of cars.

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I think they should be able to run the King Car through there even with the crowds. It happens in other parts of the world. But even with no King streetcar, the street is not “blocked-off”.

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This Toronto Star headline shows how much our language is biased by car-first thinking. Because how can movie fans be out on King Street if the street is ‘blocked-off’? #topoli

Screenshot of Toronto Star article with the headline “Movie fans are out on a blocked-off King Street as Toronto film festival begins”

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i suppose The Terminator movies don’t spend much time exploring the humans who fight alongside Skynet.

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