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Steph Taylor

@smtaylor.bsky.social
73 followers 185 following 29 posts

Ocean modeller / scientific programmer. ❤️: enviro science, physics, plants, weird critters, textile arts.

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Reposted by Steph Taylor
Michael Druker 🇨🇦 @mdruker.app · 22/08/2026
I know I’m preaching to the choir but now would be a great time for Canadian governments and agencies to stop using X as a primary social platform
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Avi Lewis @avilewis.ca · 22/08/2026
5/5 What brings us together and makes us strong is how we take care of each other in hard times. That’s the Canada the NDP will fight for in this crisis moment and those to come.
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
If you don’t think much of the government’s regulatory role in the first place, sacrificing the ability to regulate doesn’t seem like a bad deal. Said otherwise, what in everything that Carney has done suggests that he thinks strong state regulation is important?
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Jeffrey Vagle @jvagle.me · 21/08/2026
It seems we need a reminder that the Luddites did not hate technology. The were, in fact, technology experts who objected to the dehumanization and abuse of workers by investors and factory owners through new technologies.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 17/08/2026
14 hours later and my mentions are still full of angry treatises about badly behaved cyclists. Bike lanes are not a reward for good cyclist behavior! They are infrastructure proven to make cities safer for ALL ROAD USERS. Whatever way cyclists have wronged you is irrelevant to the discussion!
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Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
i love when they recover some 3000 year old clay tablet and its something totally relatable like “i hope this tablet finds you well but the group project is a disaster…”
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Johnny Normality (Spooky Mode) @probgobl.in · 14/08/2026
EVERY STORY ABOUT BEAVERS FOR THE LAST DECADE READS LIKE: WE RELEASED A DOZEN PADDLE TAILED LITTLE FREAKS AND THEY IMMEDIATELY BEGAN A TERRAFORMING PROJECT THAT REVERSED A CENTURY OF ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE IN THREE WEEKS.
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Michael Lobel @mlobelart.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Sometimes I feel close-minded or uncharitable for being so anti-AI, and then something like this happens and I'm like, "Nope, it's the absolutely right thing to do"
Series of Bluesky posts that point to the duplicity of an account "run" by so-called agentic AI
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Jared Pechaček @vandroidhelsing.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Medusa but her hair is an anaconda
Medusa with a single anaconda for hair. She wears a grey chiton and stubbornly strides to the left, dragging the heavy snake, which trails sullenly along behindMedusa with a single anaconda for hair. It is completely coiled around her, leaving only her angry yellow eyes visible, and a single hand lifted to flip off the worldMedusa with a single anaconda for hair. She wears a grey towel and is scrubbing the snake. A bar of soap sits in a small puddle off to the leftMedusa with a single anaconda for hair. She sits, drumming her fingers impatiently, while in the background the anaconda digests some large prey
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New-Cleckit Dominie @ncdominie.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b
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Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
We have been conceding our nation in instalments. We appointed a fentanyl czar. We dropped the digital services tax. We reopened the bridge deal knowing we were getting screwed over. Now it's forced labour or smoke. Canada either stands up or becomes a vassal. www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
thestar.com
Éric Blais: Trump’s economic attacks on Canada look like a shakedown. They are not — it’s a takeover
Trump is not shaking down Canada, he’s talking it over
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Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
People claim to be doing progressive work and then do ad reads for the platform that literally keeps Canada’s bargain bin Elon Musk loaded. I get most Americans don’t think about Canada hardly ever but could you please, this once, think about the impact your actions have outside your borders?
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Rachel Gilmore @rachelgilmore.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Very cool that Shopify’s CEO thinks the poor should have far less of a vote than the rich. Still worth that ad read money, folks?
Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke says “good system.” In response to the following proposal: 

“Interesting... what about weighted voting proportional to the level of income tax you pay? (no income tax paid - O vote, $1-100k - 1 vote, $100-200k 2 votes and so on... cap it at 5 votes for $500k+. For those that constantly complain about the wealthy not paying tax/fair share they'd have nothing to worry about right? Why not reward representation of taxation and build a democracy around those that foot the bill?”
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JayIsPainting 🍁 @jayispainting.earthskyart.ca · 17/07/2026
Ok. As promised, a thread about supply chain food safety vulnerabilities in the food industry. Buckle up. It's a long one.
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 24/06/2026
Every time I make the typo "grabity" part of me wants to argue that it should have been called that all along.
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Dr. Jen M @awesomebiota.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The most wild cargo ship is pulling up the harbour to Fairview Cove right now. Her name is the Neoliner Origin, and she is a SAIL-POWERED ro-ro cargo ship.
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Bruce Arthur @brucearthur.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Just making it official, really
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
NSF has ordered the instruments to be removed starting this month. So what can we do? Congress ultimately controls appropriations; they need to hear that the OOI isn't wasteful spending, it's public infrastructure that's just as important as our roads, weather forecasting, and emergency management.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
This is the playbook: cut observation systems, reduce monitoring, shrink scientific capacity, and then claim there's insufficient evidence that there's a problem. Without data, you cut regulations and legal pathways off at the knees. Turning off the instruments doesn't actually make the world safer.
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Steph Taylor @smtaylor.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The Ocean Observatories Initiative that’s been ransacked is a critical monitoring program, with long time series of data essential for tracking changes over time. Deep ocean moorings are a monumental engineering challenge, and OOI’s Irminger Sea array is used to monitor overturning circulation
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
In the latest play from Project 2025, the Trump Administration has announced plans to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a $368 million network of more than 900 instruments that continuously monitor the ocean. This is a deliberate destruction of critical scientific infrastructure.
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John J. Cullen @johncullenocean.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Someone who doesn't know much about oceanography asked me if the dismantling of ocean monitoring capabilities was stupid and/or evil. It is stupid AND evil. The War on Science continues. As more people see it and push back, maybe the tide can be turned. 🌊🧪 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Dismay as Trump officials to dismantle key ocean monitoring system
Ocean Observatories Initiative, $368m network that has provided crucial climate data, latest victim of Trump cuts
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Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
“Content” also insidiously shifts significance and validity to the platform, not the substance — content is contained, what defines content is the existence and form of the container
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Josh Gondelman @joshgondelman.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
My crankiest old man take is that referring to all art/entertainment/journalism/criticism/comedy/advertising as “content” helped pave the way for broad-ish acceptance of AI slop.
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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
This came across my IG feed and it's too good to not share here
A pie chart labeled "benefits of staying in academia after PhD" where the categories are salary, wellness, stable mental health, and confidence for your future. They are each associated with a different color. The pie chart has four pieces of different sizes and colors. But the colors in the pie chart do not match the colors Associated with the four items supposedly being visualized here.
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Oregon Zoo @oregonzoo.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
This flouf is one of 15 healthy California condor chicks to hatch at our conservation center this season. A new record! #Condorable #KeepCalmAndCarrion
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
🧵 Public science in the US has taken some heavy hits over the last year, but the White House OMB is proposing a series of changes that will result in a TKO for science as we know it unless we fight back. Here's what's happening, and why it matters. 1/n
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Sarah Tuttle @niais.cryptoanarchy.network · 30/05/2026
Please take a few minutes and file a comment against this terrible new plan - not just for science, but for every funding agency in the US. fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/163...
fight2win.standupforscience.net
Stand up for Science
Stand up for Science
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Ross Floate @rossfloate.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Oh my. This is spectacular. sinceyouarrived.world/taken
sinceyouarrived.world
taken.
A web page that tells you what your browser gave away the moment you arrived. No login, no form, no permission. Most pages do this. None of them tell you.
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kit spooks 👻 @kitsparks.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
happy May Day, friends!!! would you like to buy a nail polish? i made some and then i made a website where you can buy them luckylacquer.com
a pic of my nails painted red (Lucky Lacquer in “Hawberry”) with the wordmark and cloud-shaped logo for Lucky Lacquer in white on top, on a jade green background
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Simon Hammann @simonhammann.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.
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Sarah Faber @sciencebanshee.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I don't have a lot of faith in the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation portfolio. "Move fast and break things" is, at best, a lazy ethos when it comes to disrupting....laundromats or some shit. But it's downright irresponsible as government policy.
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Steph Taylor @smtaylor.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Here, here. Excellent thread (scroll up) on result of the woefully badly constructed AI-in-government survey from last fall
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Sarah Faber @sciencebanshee.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
As a reminder, back in October, there was 30 day public consultation on Canada's AI strategy. There were...impartiality issues: bsky.app/profile/scie...
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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
This is largely by design. If we stop thinking about AI as simply technology and instead as part of a political and economic program, its chief function become easier to see: namely to erode interpersonal trust so that ultimately we give up on forms of agreement & negotiation arbitrated by people.
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Donovan Schaefer @feelingtheory.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
It brings me great pleasure to inform you the word "blurb" is named after a made-up woman named Belinda Blurb whose job is to tell everyone how great a book is
The word blurb was coined in 1906 by American humorist Gelett Burgess (1866–1951).[2] The October 1906 first edition of his short book Are You a Bromide? was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner. The custom at such events was to have a dust jacket promoting the work and with, as Burgess' publisher B. W. Huebsch described it, "the picture of a damsel—languishing, heroic, or coquettish—anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel".

In this case, the jacket proclaimed "YES, this is a 'BLURB'!" and the picture was of a (fictitious) young woman "Miss Belinda Blurb" shown calling out, described as "in the act of blurbing." The name and term stuck for any publisher's contents on a book's back cover, even after the picture was dropped and only the text remained. The original Belinda Blurb
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Lori Emerson @loriemerson.net · 25/03/2026
OH MY HEART...the Oberlin Luddites Reject "The Year of AI Exploration"! 💚
photograph or a poster on cream colored paper. "Dear President Ambar,
we are writing to you on a typewriter that is over 70 years old. This is a
machine that we all know well. With it, we misspell words without the crutch of spell check or generative AI and we think intently about every phrase we pound out. As we force ourselves, for once, to slow down, we engage in a cognitive dialogue with ourselves. We do not seek perfection because we know that education is about the growing and challenging of our young minds' potential, not the chasing of institutional 'gold-star' approval. We do not believe that your so-called 'Year of AI Exploration; providing enterprise ChatGPT and Google Gemini subscriptions to every Oberlin student aligns with our college's founding principles. You claim that this year will be one of experimentation, not adoption. But even just one semester of accepted (encouraged even) chat bot use will jettison our student body down a lazy and irredeemable tunnel of intellectual destruction. We are a college grounded in learning and labor, which now risks straying from these rooted ideals. With ChatGPT at the helm, our emails, essays,and discussion posts will be generated for us, not by us. And let's not fool ourselves. This is precisely what these platforms will be used for by our busy, anxious student body. We see your vision for this year as.advancing the college's 'businessification'--an alarming trend also seen in the takeover of our beloved library cafe by a 'bookstore' with no books in stock and an app replacing customer service. In one instance, the college assumes we want efficiency at all costs through automated rather than hand pulled coffee. In the other lies the false belief that we simply desire to turn in an essay, regardless of how little we've written of it." there's more that doesn't fit in the 2000 character limit :(
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Canada's own foreign policy makes advancing an open, rules-based trading system a priority. That's a value! That serves Canada's interests! It is in our interests that the countries we work with play by agreed rules, treat their people well, and don't do idiotic stuff that harms everyone
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
The flaw in the Carney doctrine is the idea that countries can only advance values when they are economically sovereign That only when there is no economic risk, can a country afford to talk about values It's not just defeatist, it misses the point that values are how you get economic security
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
As @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social notes, international law isn't a principle to be sacrificed on the altar of hard-headed self-interest: it's a core Canadian national interest, and should be defended as such. bsky.app/profile/ldob...
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Stewart Prest @stewartprest.ca · 28/02/2026
If your perspective is that Canada should only voice support for international law when it has an narrow self interest in doing so, we're no longer discussing international law.
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Stewart Prest @stewartprest.ca · 28/02/2026
Several points: 1) Iran's regime is odious. Its citizens deserve support. 2) That does not mean an attack will help. 3) Canada will find it hard to be so selective in its support for international law. 4) Canada does not benefit from a US administration unbound by the US constitution.
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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
I absolutely refuse to believe that the pheasant who regularly visits my mum and dad’s garden is real and has not in fact been crocheted.
Left side profile of the pheasant who regularly visits my mum and dad's garden on the day he first became a pheasant monk and got a tonsure.The pheasant who regularly visits my mum and dad's garden, looking straight on us while daring us to suggest he is partly made of fuzzy felt.A more relaxed side of the pheasant who regularly visits my mum and dad's garden, but where he still looks like he is the product of an industrious afternoon from a local fibre arts group.
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Derek Simon @dartmouthderek.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
What doesn’t seem to be on the table: it’s obvious the existing scheme of having the urban core pay for suburban sprawl, and have new home owners and renters pay more taxes than long-time home owners isn’t working. But they will try literally anything but fixing that
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Derek Simon @dartmouthderek.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
The list of things council is considering cutting in order to keep taxes “flat” is insane. (From Sam Austin’s website). Call your councillor and tell them you won’t support them if they support these cuts.
Someone please show me how to do alt text when I am sharing text only photos without having to type it all out BCD
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S. Ashleigh Weeden, PhD @ashleighweeden.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
*staring directly at the current Canadian federal policy agenda*
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Blayne Haggart @bhaggart.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
The biggest challenge Canadians face right now involves the utter disconnect between Carney’s rhetoric and his actual policies. It makes it so difficult to even begin a debate about what actually standing up to the US would look like.
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Daniel Munro @dkmunro.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Canada has relied on U.S. science for decades - for health info, drug review, food safety, weather monitoring, and more. As the US dismantles its science ecosystem @ntusikov.bsky.social argues Canada’s civil service cuts will put public heath at greater risk. policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/12/trum...
policyoptions.irpp.org
How Trump’s regulatory cuts threaten Canada’s safety
Trump’s dismantling of U.S. science agencies puts Canadians at risk. Canada must boost regulatory capacity to protect health and food safety.
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Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
If I were a PM who believed we were at a global rupture moment, upending decades of international order, and requiring totally new relations with the world, I probably wouldn’t cut my foreign affairs staffing and budget by 15%
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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
A pair of happy hammerhead sharks (ca. 1735 Edo period Japan)
Paintings of hammerhead sharks depicted in the "Oki National Products Illustration Notes". From Japan, Edo Period, ca 1735
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