iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And just around the corner, another winning use of public space. So appropriate to have dumpsters in the mix… #Autowa #BywardMarket

Photo of Ottawa’s Byward Market, this time along the main square, and once again lined with parked cars—and a couple dumpsters in foreground.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Made additionally so by the fact that I wasn’t allowed to park my bike to a signpost—but apparently it’s fine to *checks notes* drive a truck through.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There’s something painfully fitting about a Petro Canada truck rolling by and interrupting the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation ceremony on Parliament Hill. #NDTR #FossilFuelDeath

Photo of a Petro-Canada tanker truck rolling past a crowd toward East Block on Canada’s Parliament Hill.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Interesting layers! Also looks to me like those steps were redone between the two photos.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Ah: this 👆 makes the most sense. Just my failure to perceive beauty in the mundane.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Reminds me of a setup I saw a couple times at the Chinatown mid autumn night market over the weekend: essentially an industrial floor fan blowing grease smoke into the sky. And yes, these fans were greasy…

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I believe it’s a restaurant setup? Not sure how legit…but several restaurants in this place’s history.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Certainly a strange decoration. By the same token, though, why keep the former entryway, if there’s so little usable space? Turn it into porch or something…

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I would’ve thought the house was built nearer the turn of the century, and that it was originally brick!

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ah, yes: the geometrical necessities of subdivision make sense as a reason to change the entrance.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Thanks! I’ll be looking at entrances more closely now as I stroll older Ottawa streets.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Ha ha, can’t believe I never noticed that brick work. But it also looks strange to me as an entrance; are there any others like this in Centretown? Or are the arches a later addition? And would the owner have moved the entrance just to create waste storage, or something else between these phases?

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

OK, historical urbanists et co.: what used to be here—that is, before it became waste storage? Feels too small for a commercial display and too large for a shrine… #Ottawa

Photo of a small covered area with an arch and lights over top in front of a brick house.

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Walking Eagle News @theeagleist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Feds tout trickle down reconciliation

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🤦‍♂️ Good thing there’s a cycle track there: if not, where even would they park??

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Sometimes I wonder why #OttBike facilities are so bumpy and uneven. Anyway, cool trucks, eh?

Photo of two large trucks parked in the middle of a cycle track while two lanes for cars remain wide open next to them.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Something about these curbs tells me a couple are @ncc-ccn.gc.ca and others @en.ottawa.ca… #OttBike

Photo of a cycling facility with curbs in foreground concrete and those in middleground granite.

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Katie Hodges-Kluck, PhD @klhkhistorian.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights** Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight.

From meteorologist Eric Snitil

**Lights Out Alert Sunday & Monday Nights**

"Heads up birders, I would not be surprised if the biggest bird migration night of the year happens over the next 2 nights. Birdcast is estimating 300-400 million birds will be in flight. That is a lot, but the pattern could not be better for migratory birds. A massive area of high pressure will turn the low level winds from the northeast to the southwest across most of the US. The last time we had anything similar to this in the fall was early October last year when a record 1.25 billion birds were in flight. I doubt we get to that level, but I suspect the number will top 500 million especially Monday night which looks to be the bigger of the two nights. You can help by turning off those outdoor lights on big migration nights, and the next 2 nights is about as big as it gets."

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Reposted by William van Geest

Walking Eagle News @theeagleist.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

In bid to spur investment, Carney offers businesses chance to screw over Indigenous community of their choice

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The new articulated buses are electric, correct? Looks that way on the slide, but I know getting electric articulateds was difficult.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Thanks for the great explanation. Sounds like a deeper factor in enabling better queueing areas is truck routes, so the the radii can be tighter? Or expropriation. Not sure which is more difficult…

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Oh, this one was redone with the Albert-Slater-Queen-Bronson project—after it had all opened (in 2021, IIRC)?

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yeah, Bay is maybe the worst for this. IIRC among the first protected intersections in #OttCity?

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

@emmettproulx.bsky.social will this be improved in future protected intersections, do you know?

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

On a few there’s essentially zero queuing space.

Overhead photo of a less obscenely large protected intersection where there’s essentially no room for queuing.

Overhead photo of a more moderately sized protected intersection where there’s basically no room for queuing.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

It’s kinda hilarious/sad when traffic planners assume only a handful—or fewer—people will use infrastructure at once. This is one downfall of (#OttCity-style) protected intersections: usually the queuing area fits 1-3 people without blocking those passing through. One of the most generous:

Overhead shot of an oversized intersection (stroad v. stroad) with cross rides and crosswalks and room for 1-3 people queuing, depending on the corner.

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Matthew Lewis -- living in the era of cults and consequences @mateosfo.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

If the climate movement paid more attention to what Americans want, it would realize that we don't even need subsidies to dramatically reduce the average carbon footprint. Americans will *pay much more money to drive less.* But the climate movement needs them to drive more for EV math to work.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Cool thing about ecological metaphors is they’re essentially not metaphors: everything is always already participating in an ecosystem, the ecosystem.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

New one for me: a pedestrian lane. Sure beats having to pour cement and all! Strangely, I haven’t seen many people use it…

Photo of a standard suburban stroad with a narrow painted lane with the marked “PED ONLY” and an image of a person.

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Senator Chris Larson @senchrislarson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Instead of fighting senseless wars, we should be fighting climate change. Instead of building data centers, we should be building housing. Instead of corporate welfare give us universal healthcare.

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 17/08/2026

The same climate experts whose model overestimated the potential of geological carbon storage have repeatedly underestimated solar power — one of the energy technologies that would allow more oil to remain in the ground. ➡️ Read our full story w/ @drilledmedia.bsky.social: propub.li/4gdTCBc

Two line charts are depicted. At the top, the line chart is labeled "Carbon Capture Capacity." The y-axis is "megatons" and the x-axis is years (2010-2040). More than a dozen blue lines show a steady increase from the left edge of the chart to the right edge of the chart. Some of the blue lines exceed 4,000 megatons between years 2030 and 2040. The blue lines are labeled "Projections". A maroon line is at around 0 megatons from 2010 to 2025. The maroon line is labeled "Actual carbon storage".

The second chart is labeled "Solar Power". The y-axis is "terawatt-hour" and the x-axis is years (2010-2040). Dozens of blue lines increase from around 0 on the left side of the chart, showing moderate growth from 2010 to 2040. The blue lines are labeled "Projections". A maroon line starts at 0 in 2010 and rises sharply to over 2,000 in 2024. The maroon line is obviously increasing much faster than the blue lines. The maroon line is labeled "Actual solar electricity production."

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Fun framing by the judges: expert advice is somehow just a “preference”…

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Ah, so people who bike should just stay home—got it 👍 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

So @viarailcanada.bsky.social trains really do hit 160 km/h! Wish they did a bit more often. Incidentally, I do like the public speedometers…

Photo of a screen attached to a ceiling in a train that shows train information, including a speed at 160 km/h.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Snow is actually the one thing I think may be a barrier, since snow would accumulate in the middle of the sidewalk (assuming the awning only extends this far), so an accessibility issue. But maybe you’d remove awnings in the winter anyhow—eg, to let in more light.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Something I’ve increasingly noticed in photos of Ottawa past is the awnings. There’s every reason for them—principally shelter from rain, sun, and snow. Why don’t we do awnings anymore? (Photo of Elgin south from Wellington, and posted on Old Ottawa and Bytown Pics FB group.)

Old photo of a street lined with 3- and 4- storey buildings, several of which with awnings.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

A couple things I think AI got right for query responses but I haven’t heard acknowledged is a) the right level of detail (eg, Wikipedia is usually TMI), and b) a simple format—none of this graphics and ads and flashing crap, just some legible and clearly articulated (if questionably reliable) info.

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

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William van Geest @wvangeest.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

When the city said they would pursue innovative car-parking solutions to ease commute pressures downtown, it didn’t occurr to me to open lots under bridges. Points to #Autowa for creativity! 🫠

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