iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Really worth reading this one. A running theme throughout is the tension between government control and flexible crisis response - and how different structures have different limits.

The cover of Allan Levine’s “The dollar a year men” (subtitle: how the best business brains in Canada helped to win the Second World War). The central image is an airplane assembly line in greyscale, with the title above and subtitle below in black bars

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It’s a really simple geometry problem, put in stark terms. Infrastructure costs scale with area served. You need to add enough revenue capacity in that area to pay for the infrastructure OR you need surplus revenue over costs somewhere else.

The cover of “You’ll Pay for This!” By Michel Durand-Wood

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Of course Robert Fife is a Havana Syndrome truther. Incredible stuff here. Breaking: the government has not investigated whether the operation of a Russian newtype “psycommu” weapon was responsible for mysterious reports of “ringing noises - like a bell?” 🙄

A manga panel from a Gundam manga, with a ziptone and line drawing of Char Aznable, a masked man in an orange fash-y uniform. His speech balloons declare: “no more about this. Do not share your views with me.”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hm. Yeah. Hm. (It's a really good comic! Just... A lot for a five year old)

The cover of Marvel's The Transformers issue 5. Shockwave, an angular purple robot with a single yellow eye, stands in front of a cracked metallic wall. The barrel of his left hand is smoking, and he has seemingly used it to amend the title by carving "Are All Dead" into the wall

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The civics reading continues!

The cover of Unparliamentary by Charlie Feldman with a Halifax public libraries barcode. A silhouette of the Canadian parliament stands against a pastel gradient sky, with its windows lit in yellow

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

They’ve somehow managed to wind up with a parallel but unrelated misunderstanding of supply and demand.

A screenshot of a comment from a flipper communication channel probably discord. The text reads:

“I've been flipping for the last 10 years and can tell you, this is the end of Pokemon.
When Nike started releasing too many Jordans, everyone stopped wearing them.
During covid, when Walmart started selling too many inflatable pools... everyone stopped going there. When Rae Dunn pottery became overprinted, all the white women stopped buying. Over printing is the sign of a failing business, and Pokemon is on its last legs. As for me, I'm going to try and return all this inventory. It's useless and no one is buying. Plan on shifting to reselling power tools next. Extremely untapped market and builders have infinite money.”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Yup, that’s because of this; Kenora there is about 2h from Winnipeg and 6h from Thunder Bay, which itself is about uh maps doesn’t want to tell me right now but 12h from Sudbury.

A screenshot of Apple maps showing the Ontario / Manitoba border, zoomed so that Winnipeg is just visible at one side and Kenora at the other

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Please tell me that’s a geocoding error on the northern Labrador border there

A screenshot of a map of Canadian winter time zones zoomed in on the northern Labrador border with Quebec, where time goes from -4 to -5 to -4 again as you move north.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Is this picture showing pollinator-friendly activity or is it encouraging folks to go on Facebook and rant about how their neighbour’s lawn has visible clover and dandelions and their property should be confiscated?

A screenshot from the HRM PSA above, showing a lawnmower being used to obliterate a field of short cover plants, including a bunch of lovely clover.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It was also in his budget survey and was clearly one of those “haha you don’t actually mean that” items since naturally there’s absolutely no way a new bypass highway would be subjected to this standard.

A screenshot of a survey item from Andy’s HRM budget survey. The text for the checked checkbox reads: “Considering the full cost of a project, including future operating and
maintenance costs, before approving”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I know he’s talking about the forum and buses but actually doing this would devastate our ability to spend money on overbuilt roads.

Checkbox beside option text reading: “Considering the full cost of a project, including future operating and
maintenance costs, before approving it”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Contributing additional old train content

A framed 1980s via rail poster showing the Canadian - a passenger train consisting of mostly stainless steel rail cars with one or two blue cars with yellow stripes - traveling alongside a road. A solitary car drives on the road. The Rocky Mountains are visible in the background.

Flash glare obscurs some of the train because the photographer was not being careful with his phone

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

www.cbc.ca/news/livesto... Yeah you know I’m not sure most Canadians would say that suggestion/ that Trump trade talks aren’t completely dead in the water are “glimmers”. More like “dire omens”. But here’s Mike Crawley from CBC’s capitulation desk trying to gin up that narrative.

A snippet of the CBC trade live feed, text reads:

“There's a call scheduled today between U.S.
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S.-Canada Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
However, Canadian officials expect the conversation will be largely about how the U.S. intends to respond to today's Canadian retaliation, a source familiar with the discussions told Radio-Canada.

While Canada needs to brace for the possibility that the response will mean even more U.S. tariffs, there are a couple of glimmers suggesting talks are not completely dead in the water.

The source also said Canada expects Greer and LeBlanc to discuss "next steps" today.

There were several informal exchanges between the two over the weekend, another source told Radio-Canada.”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Played a round of @asmadigames.bsky.social Mystic Curling Club with the family - 6yo managed to do just fine and the kinetic element of sliding dice made the ups and downs easier to bear. Very funny that this game basically reinvents Crokinole.

A photo of a kitchen table with a board game set up on it. A long cardboard rectangle coloured to resemble ice has four nested rings at each end and a scattering of D12s are distributed around the far side. Smaller player boards are scattered around the table, and the rulebook is on top of the box

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Nova Scotia politics is basically this over and over again.

A pair of screencaps from the anime G-reco, showing Klim Nick, a white dude with long hair wearing a heavily padded white helmet sitting in a couch I. Front of screens. The first reads “I am a genius!” And shows him looking smug. The second reads “oh no!” And his expression has shifted to alarm

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Made in Canada product post: Happy Place double IPA from burnside brewing. At 8.5% this is definitely a “strong” beer

A picture of the Happy Place double IPA can being held up in front of a flower-pattern tablecloth. The can shows a smiley face meeting form the two halves of a skull

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Theres this is that what you’re thinking of?

An except from the NS MVA

Overtaking and passing
114 (1) Except as otherwise provided in Section 115, the following rules shall govern the overtaking and passing of vehicles:
(a) the driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle pro-ceeding in the same direction shall not pass until after he has given a suitable and audible signal, and shall pass to the left of the overtaken vehicle at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the highway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle;

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I was briefly worried about my laundry but probably not

A screenshot of the WeatherCAN radar map showing a line of pretty intense rainstorms starting in Kennetcook and marching through Truro

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Absolutely silly overreaction to what appears to have been at worst some rambunctious heckling from the gallery. Pictured: Tim Houston’s enemies list.

The muppets Statler and Waldorf, two puppets that look like old men wearing suits, in a red velvet lined opera box at the muppet show. Their faces are turned inside out, indicating extreme anguish

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

“The suspect could have been near sunnyside mall in Bedford or he could’ve been attacking some horses in the middle of the ocean. No way to tell!”

A screenshot of the emergency alert zone for a “Halifax” alert from the “NS Alert” app. The affected zone includes all of HRM, which is itself quite extensive, and also sable island

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

These WotC “Mooniverses Beyond” themes are getting out of hand.

A picture of the front of the “Dungeons & Cows” shirt from the humorous Canadian ice cream chain. The title is written in the usual font, and an anthropomorphic cartoon cow holding a spear and shield, wearing armor, stands in front of a menacing red dragon.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Hmm let’s zoom those graphs out.

Graph of Amazon stock performance from the past year, showing its recent spike returning it to April highs

Graph of Microsoft stock performance from the past year showing the recent spike leaving it below last December

Graph of Google stock performance from the past year showing it well below its April high

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Replacing the structure from the 2013 street view with the structure from the 2017 street view took five years, and ultimately occurred only after a court ruling that the city could not block it.

A street view screenshot from 2013 showing a dilapidated former car dealership at the corner of several main streets in the theoretically pedestrianized downtown of theoretically picturesque Sebastopol, California

The same site in 2024- the old building has been torn down and replaced by a brick facade CVS pharmacy. The pharmacy has nice set-backs and landscaping.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

This was very surprising - very pronounced haskap flavour

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

If www.flightaware.com/live/flight/... is accurate it looks like he flew over Greece, Italy, and France too. And possibly Turkey. Total provocation.

Screenshot from flightaware showing 4X-ISR’s “great circle” flight plan from July 27th, seemingly flying over four countries where a passenger would be arrested if the aircraft landed

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Yeah uh even if they have nice results on the benefits of social connections I would just NOT cite someone employed at Brigham Young University. Find another researcher.

A panel from a Gundam manga, don’t know which one. Char Aznable, a masked gentleman in a space fascist uniform, boldly declares “no more about this. Do not share your views with me.”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

After a digression into fiction I’m back on my civics bullshit

The cover of Curbing Traffic by Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett. It shows a street lined with midrises and trees, on which people walk, play, and cycle, in a sketchy, almost childlike style

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Clearly a play cow, which is really a goat

A spread from Robert Munsch’s Playhouse. The text on the left reads:

"No problem," said Rene. "How about you give me a goat and paint it so it looks like a cow, and then I will have a play cow!" So Rene's father got her a goat and painted it so it looked like a cow. Rene put her play cow, which was really a goat, in the play barn, and she felt like she had a farm of her own - but not quite.

On the right is an illustration by Michael Martchenko of Renee’s father, a bearded white man in jeans and a sweater with a baseball cap, painting black dots on a white goat. Renee, a small girl, looks on. In the background is a barn, and some chickens and a rooster engaged in shenanigans

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

[citation needed] www.aar.org/wp-content/u... (AAR is philosophically opposed to non-diesel electric motive power, so this can be considered a worst case scenario, possibly to a hilarious degree. Canada would be a tiny fraction of this cost.)

A screenshot of the executive summary from the linked report which concludes:

Catenary electrification of the Class / railroad network across the U.S. and Canada is estimated to cost between $870 billion and $1.1 trillion.

For comparison, the six Class I railroads generated approximately $24 billion of combined net income in 2023.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Incidentally this bit confused me and I wound up going up to Norm Newman and down from that entrance. Is that trail entrance supposed to be closed or is the accessibility just shit?

A picture of the entrance (maybe?) to the Russell Lake trail system at 76 Baker. The entrance appears to be barred and padlocked

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Oh ffs you’re right - pretty sure this is current? nslegislature.ca/sites/defaul...

Overtaking and passing
114
(1)
Except as otherwise provided in Section 115, the following
rules shall govern the overtaking and passing of vehicles:
(a)
the driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle pro-
ceeding in the same direction shall not pass until after he has given a suitable and audible signal, and shall pass to the left of the overtaken vehicle at a safe distance and shall not again drive to the right side of the highway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle;

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

So funny thing 🤔 If it’s not good enough we can randomly dynamite more of the south end I’m sure that’ll work

A screenshot of Apple Maps showing the CN rail line through Bedford, along the Bedford highway, through the rail cut, and down to Pier 21

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Actually this is even funnier to me because I’m pretty sure my grandparents used to go to this church. I have no idea whether they’d hate this or not, but do it anyway.

The sickos meme only it’s Calvin’s dad getting ready to go for a bike ride outside the window. He’s still saying “yes … ha ha ha … yes!”

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Dear Apple Store what the actual fuck is this?

A “select your rating for service” selector except instead of a 1-5 scale it starts with 5 as poor and has two 4s at excellent

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Amazing new development in the topic of this thread

A picture of the label on complements extra lean ground chicken showing may contain egg

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I’m wearing my pre-budget consultations shirt!

A photo of the chest area of a blue t-shirt. Yellow script reads “Tax me, daddy!” And below it in smaller text “Proud supporter of public services”.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Somehow the Great Pirate Era returned to Halifax.

A picture of a Cows Ice Cream shirt on a mannequin bust. The shirt shows a parody of Monkey D Luffy’s wanted poster from One Piece only the pirate captain is a cow and the poster reads: “Wanted - Dead or Alive - Moonkey D Luffy - with a bounty of 3 billion.

Helpful side text informs the viewer that this shirt is a parody.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Housing crisis remediation in progress.

A picture of the Halifax waterfront taken from the Dartmouth side. A good dozen cranes are clearly visible, presently idle but during the week clearly tasked with glorious infill.

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I **wonder** why people think crime is a problem in Canada. It couldn’t possibly be because journalists are constantly telling them it is! 🤬 And this is our “progressive” newspaper I’m not even dipping into Postmedia rags.

A screenshot of the homepage of the Toronto star. Of the top four articles three are “the world is a super dangerous place and criminals are going to kill you at any second” bait

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Canada health transfers, ok! Let’s start there. Here’s page 245 of budget.canada.ca/2025/report-... “the CHT growth guarantee of at least 5 per cent for five years (in effect from 2023- 24 to 2027-28), after which it will grow in line with a three-year moving average of nominal GDP growth.”

A graphic showing the Canada health transfer spending from budget 2025. The first column is FY 24-25, the second FY 25-26, etc. The transfers increase every year, from $52.1BN to $65.0BN in FY 29-30, a 3-5% increase per year

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Nick P @npilon.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I see you and raise you the seventh circle

A humble arterial surface road in Rohnert Park and/or Cotati, California. Three lanes of traffic arrive at a four-way stop; one lane turns left, on the other side one of the two straight lanes immediately vanishes. A similar two straight plus one left arrangement occurs on the other side. The cross streets are just one lane each way but all four are absolute units.

Oh yeah and there’s crosswalks too. It’s an intersection that’s basically designed to kill people

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