iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Another missed opportunity to show a picture of a truly spectacular mountain in the Canadian Rockies, Mount Assiniboine, which, if you squint sort of looks like the Matterhorn.

View of Mount Assiniboine with a lake in the foreground.

Source: https://pin.it/2mJCwsdLH

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Lots of things to do in the winter. Find something you love to do outdoors in the winter. For me, it's skiing. But there are lots of other options.

View of Marmot Basin ski resort from the top of the Knob Chair in January 2026. Picture shows ski runs descending in the foreground toward the bottom of a broad valley. On the opposite side of the valley is a range of mountains covered in burnt remains of trees that suffered in a catastrophic forest fire a few years ago. Sky is partly cloudy. Beautiful conditions for skiing.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I'm old enough to remember when "Mission Accomplished" came to symbolize overconfidence and declaring success too early. The phrase, plastered on a banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln (the irony) haunted GW Bush for the rest of his presidency.

An infamous picture of George Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where he delivered the "Missing Accomplished" speech in the early days of the Iraq war. A banner that uses the colours of the American Flag and reads "Mission Accomplished" in large letters can be seen on the control tower of the ship behind the president, who is smiling and giving a thumbs up gesture.

The speech made Bush look foolish and damaged his reputation when it became clear the war in Iraq was far from over. No such worries with Trump. He is already widely seen as foolish, demented, and insane. That makes no difference with his base.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Given Toyota's performative promises over the years to keep consumers and regulators happy, while also largely abandoning EV production and lobbying against regulations to decarbonize vehicle emissions, I think the chances of this occurring are about as likely as seeing this reach consumers.

An image of a Mr. Fusion reactor (based on a coffee grinder) that was a visual joke used in the movie Back to the Future.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Other effects of the AI driven censorship of university curricula include professors preemptively censoring course content. Ya, I think he might have gotten into trouble for teaching this.

Dr. Bell removed two weeks of study about Viking men and women. He said Viking mythological poems often featured gender-changing gods like Loki and Odin, material he no longer felt comfortable teaching.

When asked about Dr. Bell’s case, Mr. Creighton suggested that professors not make pre-emptive decisions and rather submit materials to the university system for review.

Dr. Bell went a different route. He believes that future Texas Tech students will be “unprepared to deal with normal people in the world that they’re going to interact with.” He recently accepted a new job, at a public university on the East Coast.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

It's a great photo. North of Rogers Pass, on another highway in BC, is Mount Robson. There's a reason for the motto on BC license plates, which read "Beautiful British Columbia".

View of Mount Robson from the south. A large snow capped mountain, framed against a blue sky of a clear summer day, is visible at the end of an empty highway.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Trump demonstrates his unfitness everyday. He takes Putin at his word and fails to fully grasp that, even if this were true, that does not preclude other forms of assistance to Iran that are harmful to the US and it's military. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, told Congress this week that China and Russia were helping Iran to some extent. But Donald Trump contradicted him on Friday, saying Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin had personally assured him that they would not sell weapons to Iran.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Since both versions leave out the story of Odysseus' encounter with Nausicaa on the final leg of his voyage home, this is the only historical accurate film version of the Odyssey.

A poster advertising a 1967 film version of James Joyce's Ulysses, directed by Joseph Strick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(1967_film)

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

So, the Israeli Ambassador rebukes the provincial NDP leader who apologized for posing in a picture with him at the Calgary Stampede. Really? What's unacceptable is murdering large numbers of innocent people and stealing their land.

Screenshot of Twitter post from the Israeli Ambassador to Canada. The text reads

STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR IDDO MOED:

“Friendship should never be controversial.”

At Calgary Stampede with a 6-person tech delegation, I reconnected with Albertan friends old and new, and saw firsthand the growing strength of the Israel–Alberta partnership.

But it’s unacceptable for hate to creep and fester into a space built on hospitality, undermining the respect and empathy that should define it.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Much of the GOP and their supporters, sadly, are the products of a failed education system and dumb as rocks. Look at a map. Canada has 285 million hectares of forests. Some of these fires are over a 1000 Kms from any settlement and most of them are remote and have no road access.

Shaded relief map of North America showing the distribution of various types of land cover. Of note, is the large swaths of green in Canada showing the continuous boreal forest biome (approximately 280 million hectares) that comprises much of Northern Canada.

Source: https://infographic.tv/map-jakub-marians-land-cover-map-of-north-america-2000x2460/

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

It has become something of a Stampede tradition that this moron does something that embarrasses himself and his party. Remember when he was photographed with some other fool who was wearing a straight pride t-shirt.

Pierre Poilievre at the 2023 Stampede. Wearing a black cowboy hat, he is posing for a picture standing between a man and a woman. The man is wearing a green Straight Pride t-shirt.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Post one (1) photo of a painting you took with your very own hands

Guernica. 1937. Pablo Picasso. Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.

Picture portrays in black, white, and grey the suffering, violence, and chaos created the by the bombing of Guernica, a town in the Basque region of Spain, in 1937 by fascists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(Picasso)

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Thanks, @bonnieraitt.bsky.social and your band for a great concert in Edmonton. Been a fan for many years. She's still on tour. If you're able to see her and her band live, you won't regret it. Wonderful person. Wonderful band. Fabulous songs.

A picture of Bonnie Raitt and her band at the end of her concert on June 23 at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. Not the first time she has played this venue. She's been coming to Edmonton for many years. I hope she comes for many more.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

This is really something coming from Rob Anderson, Smith's Chief of Staff. The UCP is currently trying to gerrymander ridings to ensure they win by choosing their voters. Hardly fair and square. The UCP promised to fix health care, not break it through privatization, which is what they are doing.

Mr. Anderson, an author of the separatist “Free Alberta Strategy” who seems to grow more obnoxious by the day, continued: “If you don’t like the policy Naheed, explain why to Albertans and run your election campaign on it. We’ll beat you fair and square. But don’t whine to Ottawa and ask them to oversee and interfere in our provincial affairs. Grow a spine dude …”

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

How I wish this very funny paragraph did not make perfect sense in this essay you should read by @mitchellab.bsky.social. womenofabpoli.substack.com/p/this-week-...?

Finance Minister Jason Nixon explained that the legislation states either a reduction in gas taxes or a rebate are acceptable ways to protect Alberta taxpayers from paying for services provided by government. I paraphrase.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

New moon and Venus at twilight. Jupiter will be visible soon down and to the left of Venus.

A picture of a clear sky at twilight with dark low mountains in the foreground. Above the mountains in a darkening sky a sliver of the moon is visible. A single star, Venus, appears down and to the right of the moon. As the sky darkens later, Jupiter will become visible to the right of Venus at the 4 o'clock position.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Spain's economic success is caused, in part, by immigration.

The new arrivals injected life into the Spanish economy. By filling labor shortages, they allowed existing businesses to expand to serve more customers, which, in turn, created the need for even more workers. The migrants were also, of course, consumers, who bought goods and services. Many also started their own businesses. Rather than harming native-born workers, the immigration surge seems to have helped them. The unemployment rate for native-born Spaniards has plummeted while incomes have risen by double digits; the poorest workers experienced the largest increase. A report from the Bank of Spain estimates that a quarter of the rise in the country’s per capita GDP from 2022 to 2024 could be attributed to immigrants.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Danielle Smith is still an embarrassment to the province and a liar. One bright spot is that CBC added clarity and shone a light on much of the disinformation she spreads. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Around 700,000 Albertans signed citizen-led petitions pertaining to Alberta's spot in Canada. About 400,000 signed the Forever Canadian petition which was seeking a legislature vote on if Alberta should stay in Confederation.

Pro-separatist group Stay Free Alberta said it has collected around 300,000 signatures, though these haven't been verified by Elections Alberta. The petition asks for a separatist referendum question. The future of that campaign is now in doubt after a judge ruled earlier this month that Alberta's chief electoral officer made an error in law when he approved the citizen initiative petition.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Well, I think we can all agree that Smith is most dishonest and corrupt Albertan politician in anyone's lifetime. Might be a bit of a stretch to match her up against the competition that MAGA is putting on, but I'm sure she would be competitive. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Even the separatists, the people Smith meant to appease, hated it. Because the vote is both vague and not binding, many saw it as a betrayal of their efforts. One prominent separatist leader said Smith “looked every Albertan in the eye and lied to their faces”, calling her “the most dishonest and corrupt leader in my lifetime.” Another wrote that Smith had “betrayed” her base.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

"China builds high-speed rail, ports, and power grids while we argue about gas stoves." cbwrong.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-...

Trump's mocking of clean energy has helped China dominate the future of green technology. While Trump has mocked renewable energy, pushing us to be more dependent on oil. China became the world's #1 producer of solar panels. China has also become the world’s #1 producer of batteries and the world’s #1 producer of electric vehicles. These are the industries of the next century. China built them. We argued about windmills.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

The whole announcement smells. Something is rotten in the province of Alberta.

Arthur Green, Mr Ellis's spokesman, did not acknowledge questions about when the RCMP deputy provided the government with the information about separatists and foreign interference, how the information was communicated, whether the minister is satisfied with the RCMP's assessment, or why neither the Mounties nor Alberta disseminated the information publicly.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Lol. On this day, over 20 years ago, Bush delivered the now infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. Is this some kind of weird anniversary celebration?

Picture of George Bush delivering a speech on the aircraft carrier, USS Lincoln, on May 1, 2003, proclaiming the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Behind him a banner reads, "Mission Accomplished".

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

It's a sad day when we have to hope that the courts will protect us against our governments using the powers granted to them by voters to take away our Charter rights.

“The existence of parliamentary consensus, such as a unanimous vote on any measure, cannot serve as justification for a violation of a Charter right,” the appeal court said in a summary of its decision.

Three conservative-led provinces, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan, supported Quebec in court. The provinces all argued that the Supreme Court should defer to legislatures on questions of voters’ effective representation.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association was an intervener at the Supreme Court. Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, a director at the association, said that while the Quebec situation isn’t gerrymandering, elected officials drawing electoral maps is a clear sign of apparent bias.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I read that book over 40 years ago. It's one of the best retellings. For Greek Myths, I'm a big fan of Edith Hamilton. antigonejournal.com/2024/03/reme...

Cover of The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland, published in 1980 by Andre Deutsch.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

This account posts AI slop that purports to be views of planets, the moon, other astronomical objects. The account has 210 K followers.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

In case anyone is wondering, what Smith is talking about is the option to add two more ridings to increase the number from 89 to 91, under conditions that are specified in the final report. Expect more chaos and shenanigans to favor the UCP, just on a smaller scale.

Recommendation 5: In the circumstance that the Legislative Assembly of Alberta finds that it cannot concur in the proposals of the majority of the Electoral Boundaries Commission in its final report to remove two
electoral divisions from areas outside of the Cities of Edmonton and Calgary, the majority of the Commission
recommends that the Assembly make amendments to the Electoral Divisions Act, increasing the number of electoral divisions from 89 to 91 for the next general election, and restore the two electoral divisions that this Commission has removed. The rest of the province as we propose must be maintained to the extent possible.
This would need to be studied by an all-party Select Special Committee or other equivalent Legislative Committee in accordance with its Standing Orders. However, restoration of the two electoral divisions should:

a) have no impact on any electoral division in Airdrie or containing territory south of Airdrie’s
southernmost border, with the exception of Drumheller-Stettler;

b) have no impact on any electoral division north of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton;

c) result in all electoral divisions south of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton reverting to the map outlined in the interim report, with the possible exception of including Nisku in Edmonton-South
East if the all-party committee wishes to restore Leduc and Beaumont being in the same electoral
division; and

d) consider restoring an electoral division mostly consisting of Clearwater County and western Mountain View County as an electoral division with s. 15(2) status under the Act.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Wtf. He does realize, I hope, that Iran still has lots of missiles and drones? Iran has likely targeted important and irreplaceable bridges in the surrounding countries, along with other infrastructure. If he did this, the consequences would be very bad for everyone. Insanity.

Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Why not? Could the workers not be unionized and paid wages and benefits that are comparable to other auto workers? Isn't that better than no workers? The NA auto industry can resist, but they will ultimately lose this battle against low cost EVs.

In an interview with CBC News in Dallas, Texas, Ford said such a deal would undermine Ontario autoworkers.

"It's unacceptable. It's everything against what the federal government told the auto workers here in Ontario," Ford said.

"We can't have cheap Chinese parts and kits coming over to be assembled," he said. "We're dead against this."

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

This is cool. Not bad for these old rods and cones. www.keithcirkel.co.uk/whats-my-jnd/

A representation of score showing colour discrimination. My Just Noticeable Difference (JND) score is 0.0064. The lower number the better. The average score is 0.0253. But this is a game, not a lab score. Still, fairly content with this score. Here's a link explaining the game/test.

https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/too-much-color/

Anyway, very cool.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Lol. Manning, for once, gets something right. The separatists are an "ill-informed group cowboy yahoos".

Manning has responded by calling Rath’s comments “highly inaccurate,” and telling The Tyee that Rath’s appearances on CBC and other media create an impression that “western secession is mainly being pushed by an ill-informed group of cowboy yahoos.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Julie Crôteau, Canada's envoy to Greenland, in her first interview after assuming her post, did mention the mental health toll that Trump's threats have on the local population. www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/politics/in-...

Crôteau said Canadians should keep in mind that Trump's comments have "real human implications."

"We hear a lot about the geopolitical situation, and it seems very kind of far away, but it has real impacts on people and on their feeling of safety and well-being."

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Andor was such a great show. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-featur...

"You get out your Fascism for Dummies book for the 15 things you do, and we tried to include as many of them as we could in the most artful way possible,” GIlroy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “How were we supposed to know that this clown car in Washington was going to basically use the same book that we used? So I don’t think it’s prescience so much as the sad familiarity of fascism."

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Jill Stein, leader of the US Green Party, having dinner with Putin and Mike Flynn in 2015. Totally normal.

Photo of Jill Stein sitting at a dinner table with Vladimir Putin and Mike Flynn in 2015. Mike Flynn was paid 45K to attend the Moscow Gala dinner.

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Where do these quislings and low-information voters get their information from? Primarily alternative media sources and events hosted by the Alberta Prosperity Project. Not surprised by the number of quislings who get their info from friends and family, given this is AB, after all.

Graphic showing the distribution of media sources preferred by leavers or remainers. The question is "When it comes to the issue of a potential referendum and Alberta separation, where would you say most of the information you learn about this issue comes from?"

There are 4 columns, from left to right: Media Source, All Alberta, Leave, Remain.

Mainstream Media sources: Alberta, 56%; Leave, 28%; Stay, 71%

Social Media: Alberta, 43%; Leave, 37%; Stay, 45%

Conversations with Friends and Family: Alberta,31%; Leave, 45%; Stay 28%

Alternative Media Sources: Alberta, 28%; Leave, 50%; Remain, 18%

Events hosted by Alberta Prosperity Project: Alberta, 8%; Leave, 23%, Stay, 1%

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Martin Grasdal 🍁 @mgrasdal.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Ski day! View from the top of the Knob chair lift in Jasper National Park, AB, Canada.

View of a long, steep ski run. White snow capped mountains in the distance, contrasting with a deep azure blue sky.

View of a long, steep ski run. Sunlit white snow capped mountains in the distance, contrasting with a deep azure blue sky.

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