iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

It is so painful now that magic is gone. We are all blessed beyond measure that she was in our lives. That we all remember her magic. Her art.

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Violet was an artist. And a great one at that. She wielded a sort of magic, it always seemed to me. It is the kind of magic that when you are around it, it lulls you into taking it for granted. Like it has always been there and it will always be there for you.

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Can you imagine what the world would be like if more people were like Violet? People caring that much about how to treat people? How to do better? How to be kind?

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Violet took such delicate care with people too. She cared so deeply. She’d worry that she’d hurt or offended people.

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That’s because Violet was magic.

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Her precision and care was right there in everything she did. For my wedding, she made intricate, delicate crocheted doilies by the 100s. Every tiny, white stitch was perfect. She did all this while being legally blind.

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Violet was an artist. She wielded a sort of magic, it always seemed to me.

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Her magic was in making a home. Making a meal. Baking. Crocheting. Making you feel important. Making you feel welcome. Cared for.

Violet was an artist. She wielded a sort of magic, it always seemed to me.

Her precision and care was right there in everything she did. For my wedding, she made intricate, delicate crocheted doilies by the 100s. Every tiny, white stitch was perfect. She did all this while being legally blind.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

💐This thread is for my friend, Violet Elva Derouin (nee Thomson) 1935 - 2026 who we lost this month. 🪻Violet was meticulous. Violet was an artist. Her artistry was in everything she did. 🌷Her magic was in making a home. Making a meal. Baking. Crocheting. Making you feel important.

Violet was meticulous. Violet was an artist. Her artistry was in everything she did.

Her magic was in making a home. Making a meal. Baking. Crocheting. Making you feel important. Making you feel welcome. Cared for.

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This reality is going to prove a challenge for #postsecondary long-term. The solution? Online learning. Online learning works. #distancelearning #remotework #remotelearning #digitalskills #highered #universities

“Successfully working from home is a skill, just like programming, designing or writing. It takes time and commitment to develop that skill, and the traditional office culture doesn’t give us any reason to do that.”
– Alex Turnbell

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Given these realities, there is little wonder that 70% of first-generation students choose online as their single most-preferred class structure. I also have heard from multiple students sharing they had to drop in-person courses because of conflicting job responsibilities.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

I'm hearing from so many students who are struggling to make ends meet right now. Many are working multiple jobs to survive, or they are accessing courses from their places of work. As a low-income, first-gen university student myself, I deeply sympathize with their struggles. I lived them.

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I never thought something like this would happen at a #Canadian #university. But it did. It is a scandal I will never, ever get over. These are the times were are living in.

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The end result? I was shouted down in meetings. And finally an HR official stripped me of my access to my PhD research, my e-mail and I lost all work there. The senior leader was quite right to warn me. But my conscience would not let me be silent.

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I, a contract employee, tried for several years at this employer to push for better workplace safety for my colleagues. I wrote letters, I spoke up in meetings, I attempted to work with my union. To no avail. I shared stats like these.

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I had a discussion with a senior leader at a university I used to work for. The senior leader confessed to me, off the record, she didn't feel safe working there because of air quality concerns ["everyone is getting sick" she said]

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🥚 Hey #ElonMusk, did you think Helen of Troy's birth was an historical account too? Helen of Troy was created through a divine and highly unusual birth. She was hatched from an egg. Zeus, the king of the gods, fell in love with Leda, the beautiful queen of Sparta and appeared as a magnificent swan.

The painting Leda and the Swan by Correggio

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🧚 Helen of Troy is a fictional character, folks. She's made up. 🧚‍♀️ In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy (originally Helen of Sparta) was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, renowned as the most beautiful woman in the world. Her elopement with the Trojan prince Paris triggered the decade-long Trojan War.

El Juicio de Paris by Enrique Simonet, c. 1904. This painting depicts Paris' judgement. He is inspecting Aphrodite, who is standing naked before him. Hera and Athena watch nearby.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

🏦 🦢 ⛵ Sometimes, the abject and breathtaking stupidity and the illiteracy (aliteracy?) of the folks in the #MAGA #Trumpist movement take my breath away. #ChristopherNolan #representationmatters

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📌 💔 I remember the 42 students who have died at #TorontoMetropolitanUniversity since 2021. They were my classmates and colleagues. 🖼️ I care about these young people. I think about them all the time. Some of them were my friends.

📌 💔 Today, my heart is heavy. I am remembering the 42 students who have died at hashtag#TorontoMetropolitanUniversity since 2021. They were my classmates and colleagues.

🖼️ I care about these young people. I think about them all the time. Some of them were my friends.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

🎸 🍁 Derek created Operation CanCon, a love letter to both #CanadianMusic and an era of great #Canadian record stores. The first of the trilogy, Operation CanCon 80s lets you relive what it was like to shop #Toronto's iconic #YongeStreet strip in the 1980s, shopping for physical media.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

🗓️ The past year and a bit has been a breathtaking display of ferociously hard work. I'm in awe of Derek. He has not only written a jawdroppingly 10 INCREDIBLE #gamebooks but has actually refined and innovated upon the #interactivefiction genre. I'm not kidding, this stuff is next-level.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

🗓️ 23 years ago last week, I met a guy at an Ottawa-based #tech company. He was quiet. He took notes. And I soon discovered ...he was BRILLIANT.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

🤯🎹🍁Okay... THIS IS A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE DEAL!!! One of #Canada's leading Canadian music luminaries, DJ, author and creator of the Ongoing History of New Music, Alan Cross, just gave #OperationCanCon a shout out!!!! #Gamebook #InteractiveFiction #ChooseYouOwnAdventure #ElbowsUp

With Cancon in the news these days, there’s a new book on the subject.
June 10, 2025
Alan Cross

The Canadian Government and the CRTC are finally looking at the definition of Canadian content for the digital age. The last time anyone seriously talked about this was in 2005 (when nothing was done) and before that, 1996 (before the internet took hold). Add in the debates over Bill C-11 (which would require streamers to chip in for Canadian content development and news coverage), Cancon is going to be in the news a lot for the balance of the year.

Derek Schraner has a new book on the subject which is part of a trilogy of books on Cancon–but it’s not a stuffy academic book. Instead, it gamifies things in an interesting way. Here’s Derek talking about Operation CanCon: Canadian Classics Music Shopping Gamebook.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

100% I haven't set foot in the U.S. since 2016. I've turned down speaking opps, a fully paid for trip to #MIT, guest lectures, etc. I will not go to the #USA for any opportunity or for any amount of money. It isn't safe. It isn't right. The world agrees with us.

Fewer international tourists are
visiting the U.S. - economic losses
could be 'staggering,' researchers
estimate
PUBLISHED WED, MAY 28 2025.6:00 AM EDT I UPDATED WED, MAY 28 2025.12:59 PM EDT

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

I'm incredibly proud of my partner and this love letter to #Canadian music, bands like the Tragically Hip, Grapes of Wrath, Chalk Circle, Rough Trade, National Velvet, etc. The #interactive #game addresses the threats to #Canadian identity, culture. You play a hero attempting to save #Canada.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Do you miss shopping at gone-but-not forgotten #Toronto #musicstores like #HMV #SamTheRecordMan and #TowerRecords? Me too. This solo #gamebook is your chance to recapture the feeling of bin-driving for physical media in a mission to save #Canadian culture and #identity from those.

An image of Sam the Record Man storefront with the big record neon sign.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

📀💿☎️Another one! Operation CanCon: Nineties Released! As a lone collector on a mission, your goal is to target a checklist of tracks scattered in iconic #Toronto music shops. Part interactive fiction, part solo roll-and-write #game, every visit is a gamble, whether for ten minutes or a campaign.

Launching Operation CanCon 90s Edition. Celebrate the brilliance of Canadian music and save Canada

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

⚡ ⚠️ 🚨 🍁 One thing is clear. #PierrePoilievre who ran on the slogan, "Canada is broken" does not seem to care much for #Canada. I've been watching #podcast interviews like this one, and I was struck by how much the current leader of the #CPC seems to dislike our country.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Want to #timetravel back to #YongeStreet and its record stores in the #1980s? Now you can with this new solo #Canadian #gamebook This slice of pure #Canadiana has already hit the No. 31 slot on #Canadian #history #bestsellers. This is a gameifed way to celebrate #Canada and its culture #ElbowsUp

Operation CanCon already #31 on Amazon Canadian History Best Sellers

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

This was written in response to @charlieangus104.bsky.social #PledgeforCanada initiative because #Canadian #culture is spectacular, and must be preserved and celebrated. You play a Choose Your Own Adventure game loaded with retro Canadian 'Easter Eggs' that Canadians will recognize. #strongasfuck

The cover of Operation CanCon A Canadian Eighties Music Shopping Gamebook.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

The strangest, most personal roll-and-write #game ever made about living like a hermit? Yes. #Swiss #Canadian author Derek Schraner presents Hikikomori, an immersive “lucky lockdown life simulator” inspired by the social isolation. #remotework #boardgame lockdownludonaut.com/2025/03/08/h...

I don't tend to like surprises even the good one without some warning.

Hikikomori
https://lockdownludonaut.com/2025/03/08/hikikomori-released/

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

🍁💯#Canadian music and musicians are the best in the world. My partner, inspired by the groundswell of national pride in our #Canadian culture, wrote a #Canadian #music #shopping #gamebook for anyone who remembers #YongeStreet record stores in the 80s. P.S. And we are 100% voting for you!🍁#ElbowsUp

A Mission to Save the Music and the Future of a Nation

Dive into the interactive world of Operation CanCon, where your mission is to collect Canadian Content. Navigate Eighties music stores in search of iconic songs. The hope of a country’s future will depend on preserving its cultural artifacts.

Using dice and a checklist, take your chances with the Sweep minigame, a treasure hunt where every roll reveals another hit. It’s not all random chance, however. Your decisions really matter. Choose which tracks to target, which stores to visit, and how long to search. How will you spend your limited time in Toronto? Whether you play a single game or a multi-day campaign, you’ll discover opportunities for tactics and strategy. Advanced modes, tweaks, and New Game Plus provide even more challenges.

Perfect for gamers, music lovers, and fans of Canadiana, Operation CanCon is a new take on nostalgia. With an interactive narrative, flexible gameplay, and customizable goals, it’s more than a game, it’s a retro celebration.
Sample https://lockdownludonaut.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250303-occ-sampler-20250330.pdf

https://lockdownludonaut.com/works/

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

You can get in on Amazon now. www.amazon.ca/Hikikomori-l...

Hikikomori: A Lucky Lockdown Life Sim captures the boredom, despair and joys of a life led in quiet resistance to a world that uses and discards people to accelerate the rise of the New Robber Barons.

This ground-breaking game book, art experiment and conceptual worker protest captures the repetitive daily grind of basic survival in a world gone mad. While you play, you will uncover and capture glimpses of the designer’s real life, laced through the game play like whispered secrets. You will experience a life spent in safe and often happy isolation …but your time is running out.

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

I am so proud of my partner. They have published their very first gamebook, entitled Hikikomori: A Lucky Lockdown Life Sim. It is by Swiss-Canadian game designer and author Derek Schraner. #gamebook #rollandwrite #postcapitalism #hikikomori #COVID19 #boardgame open.substack.com/pub/drtanyap...

The game Hikikomori: A Lucky Lockdown Life Sim by Swiss-Canadian game designer and author Derek Schraner is a post-capitalist meditation and gamebook on the drudgery of daily survival in a world of extreme income inequality, epidemics and pandemics.

https://www.amazon.ca/Hikikomori-lucky-lockdown-life-sim/dp/B0DZWCH5JX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=11L73FLHZP7ZY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.qZm5cUMcd0oL1hNmycSU7Q.9aKHcy3WFxAor5fazVQWgJV5lEdQW7MOLHQrLWYOauw&dib_tag=se&keywords=hikikomori+schraner&qid=1741978183&sprefix=hikiko%2Caps%2C104&sr=8-1

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

🗳️🗺️Ontario is a province of nearly 16 million people (15,996, 989 in 2024) people, and 2 million (2,158,952) Ontarians have decided their future. #DougFord, the #Ontario #Conservatives, is the premier for the third-straight election.

2,158,952 Ontarians Voted
for this.

https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/ontario/2025/results/#/

Progressive Conservative
40.740.7
75 5 80 2,158,452 43%
New Democrat
23.623.6
25 2 27 931,796 18.6%
Liberal
24.124.1
13 1 14 1,504,688 29.9%
Green
66
2 0 2 242,822 4.8%
Independent
0.40.4
1 0 1 54,278 1.1%

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Dr. Tanya Pobuda @tpobuda.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

🗳️Please, #Ontario, #vote today. Yes, I know this is a snap election during the worst time of year in Ontario. 🥶Yes, I know, it is icy and the weather is horrible on election day today, Feb. 27, 2025, 9 AM to 9 PM EST. That was the point.

They want to prevent you from voting.
Ontario, Please, Fight back and Vote.

232

💰 Reason 12 to #Vote in #Ontario: #DougFord has defunded #public #healthcare in the province, and is now paying for-profit hospitals and clinics MORE in an effort to divert funds away from public healthcare. 🤑A chief of surgery said: "The overpayment for these minor things is egregious." #OnPoli

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🍁 Reason 9: #DougFord REMAINS a hashtag#DonaldTrump MAGA supporter. I am reupping this video clip was recorded *last week*. Doug Ford said he was "100% happy that Donald Tr*** won the 2024 election. The #Starlink deal for $100 million to #ElonMusk is STILL moving forward. #OnPoli

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🗳️Reason 8 to #Vote in #Ontario: Ontario's unemployment rate now is 7.6%, higher than Ontario's long-term average of 7.37%. 🔓DougFord's leadership has been a disaster for jobs creation in #Ontario despite the slogan: "Ontario: Open For Business". Under #Liberal govt, unemployment rate was 5.4%.

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⚡ 🔌Reason Seven to #VOTE: Doug Ford ran on a campaign of lowering home energy and electrictity costs. Now, these costs to Ontarians are higher than ever and they are about to get WORSE. Ontario #Energy Board (OEB) has approved a 20% increase, resulting in spiking energy bills.

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🚨 🚨 🚨Reason 6 to #VOTE:🔌❌ Doug Ford premier of #Ontario has pulled the plug on #wastewater #surveillance, a program that only cost the province $15 million in 2023-24. Now all #Ontario government-funded #wastewater analysis ended six months ago in #Ontario 🚨 🚨 🚨

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Reason Five to #Vote in #Ontario: #DougFord ran on a campaign promise of eliminating #hallway #healthcare. Instead he made the problem SIGNIFICANTLY worse. Now, hallway #healthcare is UP DRAMATICALLY under Doug Ford. There are now 2,000 patients a day experiencing 'hallway healthcare' under Ford.

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