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Jamieson Roberts

@jamiesonroberts.bsky.social
331 followers 176 following 1K posts

Father, geek, gamer, beer aficionado, coffee enthusiast, and sci-fi junky. Full time code monkey aka web developer. #ldnont • Joined in 2023 jamiesonroberts.com

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Reposted by Jamieson Roberts
Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
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Cedric @cedricrichards.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Voting for Josh Morgan does not make me any less of a progressive. Having consistent leadership is important to me, and it’s not something that progressives should cede to the right.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The US government is channeling its inner hitler AND mussolini now.
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How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 02/10/2026
Listen: I don’t want to minimize the danger of high e-bike speeds. But if the problem here is that stores sell e-bikes that can drive faster than legal limits, then where’s the story about how literally *every car dealership has been doing the same thing for decades*?!?
cbc.ca
Hidden cameras show some stores unlocking speed limits on e-bikes, selling e-scooters that go up to 120 km/h | CBC News
A new hidden camera investigation by Marketplace shows how some stores are selling e-scooters and e-bikes with top speeds much higher than provincial speed limits and with recommended rider ages young...
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
You know what's really frustrating. Finding an actually good Canadian VPS hosting company. All of the big ones are either US, or EU with no Canadian data centres or like OVH charge WAY too much. And any of the Canadian ones I've looked at so far do not inspire confidence or "just work".
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Doing what’s right when it’s hard is the sign of your values. The only values that Carney is showing a devotion to capitalism, not something that actually benefits Canadians.
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Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 01/10/2026
Throwing billions in public money behind a pipeline at a time of climate breakdown – while sweeping aside environmental protections, meaningful Indigenous consultation and workers’ right to strike – is absolutely not in the national interest.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Here are jobs for you, hope you don't expect to live in the city that is going to keep burning down because of the climate change the jobs are creating.
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This Fat Mom Bikes @vocame.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
OH OH OH! THIS is what I was looking for the other day #ldnont!!
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Tech industry is laser focused on solving the problem of humans enjoying each other’s company bsky.app/profile/down...
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kathynavackas.bsky.social @kathynavackas.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
All new car manufacturers do this, not just China. The fears about China having your information should be the same as your fears about all vehicle manufacturers having your information.
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Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 29/09/2026
Seriously, just do not use muse
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
If the US Dems want to improve things with Canada, they are going to need to give a lot more than before. We shouldn’t give much in return, many of them have already said they want to see tariffs stay in some regard. So either they want our stuff and are willing to pay, or they can go stuff it.
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
People love threatening to murder people for legally riding bikes. Of course drivers regularly hit cyclists riding in painted bike lanes or shoulders. It's almost like motorists don't need any excuse to inflict violence upon bicyclists.
A Facebook comment that includes a comic of a car mowing down a group of cyclist with the text, "Cyclists! Move over and it won't happen!"
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Hyper-fast acceleration is dangerous as well as pointless. As I wrote in 2024, the 0-to-60 metric is outdated and needs to die. No driver on a public road needs to go from 0 to 60 mph in under 8 seconds. Even the slowest car on the market is more than quick enough.
fastcompany.com
How fast can a car go from 0 to 60? It really doesn't matter
The auto industry has pushed this metric for decades. But cars—especially EVs—are so fast that comparing the decimals is pointless and dangerous.
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Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The literacy crisis is not just referring to people's ability to literally read and write. It's also people's inability to read for context. I've been a public educator for over 20 years and I have never, ever seen it this bad.
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Tod Maffin 🇨🇦 @todmaffin.com · 25/09/2026
Thinking of visiting the US? Consider it carefully, as they’re going to seize your phone and look at everything you have on it.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You can't be creative, or ingenious without fine intellectual dexterity. If everything is magic that just works, then when something doesn't work you are completely lost. And computers, for as wonderful as they are, have so many failure points, down to the external power sources they require.
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Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ezra Klein asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about AI making kids worse at math and reading. Huang’s reply: “Does it matter?” Then he said he doesn’t know his own address or phone number. “We’re going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...
So the message of this research out of China, where you were seeing a lot of kids using A.I. to help them, was that when they were using the A.I., they were getting things done faster. But it turned out that the skills they were learning were not holding, that their actual personal performance, at least in the way we traditionally measure it, was degrading.

What do you think when you hear that?

The last part — I completely agree. Try to get a kid to do long division right now. The multiplication table is starting to be forgotten. Doing square roots, my goodness. Basic math is being forgotten. Does it matter?

That’s my question for you.

Yeah. I don’t think it does. I don’t think it does.

But there must be some set of skills that matter.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But maybe not those. We’re going to discover new ones. Just maybe not those.

There are a lot of skills that don’t matter. My first confession, I actually don’t know my address.And I ——

I don’t really believe that to be true.

It’s completely true. Janine will tell you and Lori will tell you.

One day I had to pump gas — it was a few years ago. They needed my ZIP code, and I panicked. I didn’t know my ZIP code. I don’t know my telephone number. I forget these things. I can live with it.

But let me take the other side because I don’t want to fall into a thing where, because some skills can be safely offloaded ——

Yeah.

I also can’t get anywhere without a mapping system now. Never could, frankly. But I’m a big reader. And one of the skills I really value, one of the capacities I have that I really value is an attention span formed on physical books.

You’re a big reader. I’ve read about the kind of reading you do. And there is, prior to A.I., a lot of concern and noticing among college professors and others that the way people use the internet has probably shortened attention spans.
Some skills can be safely given away. Others are valuable. They are capacities that are needed for that flexibility, for that creative thinking, for that focus. It can’t be the case that everything can be traded off.Some skills can be safely given away. Others are valuable. They are capacities that are needed for that flexibility, for that creative thinking, for that focus. It can’t be the case that everything can be traded off.

Yeah. Well, I think that we’re going to lose some finer intellectual dexterity, but we’re going to be better systems thinkers.

Today’s engineers are far better systems thinkers than I was when I graduated from school. But I was a much better transistor thinker.

What do you mean by systems thinker?

They think of large systems. Today’s computers have trillions, hundreds of trillions of transistors in them. When I first graduated from school, the first chip I worked on had 200 transistors. I knew every one of them by name. No engineer does that today. Most engineers now work well above the transistor, well above the functionality, and they’re cobbling things together to do things.

So you need to think much more about systems and interactions of systems. So some of the lower-level knowledge is gone.
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Zac Trolley @zactrolley.com · 25/09/2026
Power corrupts. The billionaire class has had humanity stripped from them. They fundamentally do not understand the human condition.
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🔫🎃Scott Martian Invaders 🎃🛼 @youcaughtscott.com · 25/09/2026
Carney: The rules-based international order is crumbling. International Criminal Court: As a participating member you are required by the rules to arrest those with a warrant if they pass through your territory. Carney: Fuck you.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Either we are for a rules based order, or we are not. We should not be allowing Bibi to transit our airspace, and the second he does enter our airspace, his plane should be being escorted and forced to land so he can be put in leg irons and handcuffs and delivered to The Hague.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Big shout out to @davidferreirafor13.bsky.social for having canvassers in apartment buildings. As a tenant in an apartment building it often feels like we are second class citizens for most elections, so it always stands out when candidates like David send their teams into apt buildings! #ldnont
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
When thinking about things when it comes to marketing and e-commerce, I think we need to take a firm stance and ban the practice of personalization. It obfuscates the ability for customers to discern a brands core values, if they are being presented the optimal "sales" version of a brand.
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Haus of Decline @hausofdecline.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Carney is truly the Reagan of Canada. A calming, paternalistic figure in a period of apocalyptic uncertainty who galvanizes the economy with short-sighted right wing fiscal policies. And like Reagan, every disaster that Canada encounters in the future will be traceable to his administration.
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Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Haus of Decline gets it!! ⬇️
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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 22/09/2026
Two Dictators
The strongman and the tech oligarchy. Each feeds the other.
The oligarchy gives the strongman reach
The Strongman Weaponizes the law
Information
Chaos
The Tech Oligarchy Power. Pace. Control:
The strongman gives the oligarchy protection
No conspiracy needed. The incentives align: chaos pays them both.
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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 22/09/2026
74% of the world is under dictatorship. Most elected democratically.
How Democracies Die
The Deconstruction Model
1. Narrative Warfare
Lies spread faster than facts
2. Institutional Dismantling
Hollowed out from within
GATEKEEPERS SIDETRACKED
Press
Sued, defunded, discredi
Courts:
Packed, pressured, ignored
Congress
Corrupt, coerce, co-opt
3. Kleptocracy
Power used to steal
Philippines, 2016. Now, the world.
Accountability is possible. It is not inevitable.
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Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Workers are losing their right to strike and Canada is being sold for parts so naturally Canada’s columnist class is focused on what really matters: Why the only prominent progressive voice in politics right now is Evil for criticizing a literal genocide
Robyn Urback, sharing her Globe op-ed, writes: “Avi Lewis' foolish statement should be disqualifying for the leader of a major political party.
However, because he is leader of the NDP, and because his target was Jews, it very well could boost his internal support by five points.”Gary Mason, another prominent Globe and Mail columnist, shares Robyn’s post and writes: “This is the best and most important piece I have read today. My colleague nails it. I hope Avi Lewis reads it and responds appropriately.”Stephen Maher, sharing Robyn’s op-Ed (which is titled ‘Opinion: Avi Lewis's foolish statement on 'Jewish people' should be disqualifying’) writes: “I think Lewis is in many ways impressive, and Carney is creating conditions for an NDP revival, but I must agree with this.”
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Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Not a good look: arresting seniors calling on Mark Carney to not walk back our climate obligations. In my last 2 years as MP I ran a gauntlet of threat, swarming and harassment everyday from conspiracy ragers. House security and Ottawa police just watched. Seems instructions have been issued.
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âpihtawikosisân @apihtawikosisan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Capitalism creates a violent, parasitic system that forces people to create spaces outside exploitation, only to have venture capitalists swoop in and take over those spaces in the name of shareholder profit. It doesn't matter how pure your intentions are when building something.
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This Fat Mom Bikes @vocame.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Where’s that venn diagram? I hope the residents of #ldnont realize that voting for tax freezes also means voting for services freezes. We won’t get any resolution to homelessness, addiction, or even the additional police you think you need (you don’t) without additional funding.
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Bruce Arthur @brucearthur.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This column by @althiaraj.bsky.social is a good summation of the red flags around this bill. And I say that as someone who has been raising alarms about our particular moment in history for a while. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
thestar.com
Althia Raj: Whatever good is in Mark Carney’s Building Canada Strong Act is poisoned by the toxic rest
The Mark Carney government frames this law as part of its “Canada Strong” plan — and frankly, some parts are good — but toxic with good is still bad.
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Bruce Arthur @brucearthur.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
My personal rule is, always vote. Pick the least worst candidate. Pick the best referendum answer. The worst people don’t want you to vote. Vote
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
And while we are at it we should ban Apple's upcoming versions of watches that feature always on microphones, and/or ban the software features.
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Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The ultra-Far Right/neo-Nazis are joining forces in Europe, which should worry anyone with even a passing acquaintance with history. Germany’s AfD and Italy’s Future Nationale have announced a partnership. Everything old is new again.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
John Ternus kicked off his tenure as Apple CEO by announcing the long-awaited folding iPhone. But behind the scenes, it looks like products and services are going to get more expensive to please shareholders and he’s ready to sacrifice privacy on the altar of AI.
disconnect.blog
Red flags at the start of Apple’s John Ternus era
Under the new CEO, products are more expensive and AI comes with more surveillance
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 21/09/2026
Every big tech company is attempting to normalize some form of always listening, recording, and/or watching. It’s the only way to sell a product that people largely don’t want but companies are heavily invested in.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
So far, Apple has been slow on pushing AI features. But that also appears poised to change under Ternus, starting with a new set of Apple Watch features that necessitate it constantly listening to you and the people around you. disconnect.blog/red-flags-at...
It appears one of the big initial Ternus pushes will be more comprehensively integrating generative AI into Apple’s products, following the slow deployment under Cook. It’s most visible in a series of new features for the Apple Watch that record everything said around it to recognize sounds and music, provide a recap of your conversations, and allow a “Live Rewind” where you can see a transcript of what was said around you in the past 15 seconds.

At a moment of people freaking out about Meta’s “pervert glasses,” this is Apple moving to make the fear of your devices listening to everything you say a reality that’s openly championed as a new feature. The company is promising it will all be done in a way that respects privacy and security, but that’s what companies always say as we experience a progressive degradation in those very things.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
@todmaffin.com I love the unplug list, but as a software dev I wish you gave slightly higher ranking to things that are open source. Right now they are listed as purely “not Canadian” which is not the same as, you can do what you want with it cause it’s open, so you can make it Canadian.
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Jamieson Roberts @jamiesonroberts.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
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B @monnomdeguerre.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Being an annoying linux user I was fascinated at how the Ontario government spent $1B on "e-health" that amounted to nothing. If they had started an open-source project for electronic records back then and invested $1B, Ontario would have the best electronic health records system in the world.
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This Fat Mom Bikes @vocame.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Has anyone written about the death of browsing? It feels like everything is designed for people to search and get exactly what they want (in theory) instead of like, a discovery process that leads them to new things.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 17/09/2026
“We examined all 14 federal, provincial and territorial domains. Of these, all 14 rely on Microsoft 365. … The problem with this arrangement is quite simple: One company, headquartered in one country, operating under one country’s laws, carries the email of an entire G7 nation’s governments.”
proton.me
87% of Canada’s largest companies run on US tech | Proton
Our latest research found that 87% of Canada’s largest companies and 100% of government domains rely on US-owned email infrastructure.
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Zac Trolley @zactrolley.com · 17/09/2026
This is a huge security risk for us Canadians.
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Chancer On A Bike @darrenhayes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It’s unimaginable to most drivers how the stress levels just ebb away the minute you turn into somewhere where you are protected or there are no cars
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Dale Smith @journodale.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Democrats keep trying to guilt-trip Canadians into backing down. Fuck off. Deal with your own mess. This is your problem to solve, not ours. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Gallego, the Arizona senator, said the two sides need to figure out how to mutually step down from the current trade tensions, adding that it appeared both Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney were playing politics when trade talks fell apart last month.
"I'm not asking Mr. Carney to just bend at the knee and give in, but this is the role of diplomacy," Gallego said. "You figure out how to actually start bringing the heat down little by little to a point where you can get to the negotiation table."
Likewise, Maine's governor, Mills, said there need to be "serious negotiations on both sides," and she hopes a third party can sit down with the two countries and make it clear a tariff fight damages both of them.
"The retaliatory tariffs, I can understand why that's happening," Mills said. "I can't say it's not damaging our economy, though."
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Daniel Ansari 🇨🇦 @numcog.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Americans do not take Canada seriously. They think of it as a small, irrelevant place that can be poked fun at without any cost. I have encountered many Americans over the past 18 months who think the 51st state thing is kind of funny and something to joke about. They do not get it.
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This Fat Mom Bikes @vocame.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I think our new default answer should just be “less than your car!”. Most people I tell the cost of our cargo e-bike tell me they could buy two used cars for that and I’m thinking “maybe in 1990?!” They are so out of touch. Plus the maintenance and gas on this is way less than a USED car.
A longtail cargo e-bike on snowy concrete, loaded with groceries.
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