paulbusch

paulbusch, 1 month ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
100 years ago, on the 1st of April 1924, the prefix "royal" was officially adopted, and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) became a permanent component in Canada's defence force. From a humble beginning in WW1, when we sent a single aircraft to England, it has grown into the world's 27th most powerful air force (out of 145 ranked). We're not last!

#CanadaIsAwesome #RCAF100Years #AviationHistory
https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2019/04/01/history-canada-april-1-1924-the-royal-candian-air-force-is-formed/

paulbusch, 1 month ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
In March of 1906, Canada's oldest outdoor club was established in Winnipeg. The Alpine Club of Canada has grown to 10,000+ members and maintains the largest network of back country huts and shelters in North America. The original founders, A.O. Wheeler and Elizabeth Parker, allowed women to join and treated them as equals, both as members and climbers.

#CanadaIsAwesome #Hiking #mountaineering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Club_of_Canada

paulbusch, 1 month ago to news

This thread from Twitter prompted this rant (very long... sorry) on a potential solution for media in terms of how they are funded. The pay-per-article model, despite being tested over the past decade, has not taken off. I'll give my view on why that is later in this thread, but new models of journalism and new social media technologies can provide hope.
#News #PayPerArticle #Journalism #SaveJournalism #Mastadon #Fediverse

https://twitter.com/pamelacolloff/status/1771196812306559401?t=V_PsUX5ih3yzPjhfxQY8iQ&s=19

paulbusch, 2 months ago to random

Doug Ford trying to figure out a strategy that satisfies Ontarians who need affordable homes AND that makes his developer buddies rich.

#AffordableHousing #DougFordMustGo #onpoli

image/gif

paulbusch, 2 months ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
On 14 March 1793, Adam Vrooman violently bound Chloe Cooley, a Black woman he enslaved and transported her across the Niagara River to sell her in New York State. Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe used the incident to introduce legislation to abolish slavery in Upper Canada. Well, the new laws limited slavery and although Canada was the 1st colony to take action, it was another 40 years before slavery was abolished by Britain.

#CanadaIsAwesome #History
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/1793-act-to-limit-slavery-in-upper-canada

paulbusch, 2 months ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
The forecast for today in my tiny section of Canada is sunny skies and peak temperature of 16°C. No shoveling for me in the near future, but around this same time of year in 1888, one of the worst blizzards in history struck the northeast. Our cold artic air (sorry) slammed into a relatively warm gulf weather system. Canada suffered far less than most of the U.S. east coast where over 400 people died.

#CanadaIsAwesome #Snowmageddon #History
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/great-blizzard-of-88-hits-east-coast

paulbusch, 2 months ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
As I sit here this morning, still digesting the large portion of wings I had at the restaurant last night, I came across this article. Apparently Canada was recently ranked one of the world's healthiest countries. New analysis by the Global Wellness Index ranks Canada as the best country out of the 151 nations evaluated. Might have to exercise later today to help maintain our ranking.

#CanadaIsAwesome
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/smaller-countries-are-becoming-the-healthiest-1.1222946

paulbusch, 2 months ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
My daughters have commented that we'd all be better off if there was an International Men's Day and women ran the planet the other 364 days of the year. I'd have to agree.
But it's #InternationalWomensDay so let's celebrate some Canadian women trailblazers and powerful agents of change. Here's a timeline of notable events in Canadian women’s history and the women who improvd our society.

#CanadaIsAwesome #History
https://women-gender-equality.canada.ca/en/commemorations-celebrations/womens-history-month/women-history-canada-timeline.html

paulbusch, 2 months ago to random

TV Buddies...

#CatsOfMastadon #DogsOfMastadon

paulbusch, 2 months ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
You may not know that Canada is a world leader in the export of Mustard seed. In 2021 Canadian exports totaled $95M (USD), leading Russia ($71.5M), Germany ($31.1M), India ($28.2M), and Poland ($15.2M). Approximately 75% is grown in Saskatchewan.
So why is Subway in Canada removing Mustard as an option from its franchises? There's a conspiracy here and I demand that the RCMP get to the bottom of it.

#CanadaIsAwesome #Mustard #Subway
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/mustard-demand-canada-1.7123420

paulbusch, 2 months ago to Canada

Good Morning #Canada
Yesterday's weather here in #Caledon was interesting, particularly for February 27th. Three hours of thunderstorms with lightning, thunder, hail and heavy rain. It's appropriate, that on the day that numerous warm temperature records were broken across Canada, that The Weather Network released their Spring Forecast for the months of March, April and May. It's generally good news for all of us.

#CanadaIsAwesome #WeatherForecast #SpringIsComing
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/el-nino-s-final-stand-a-mild-but-moody-spring-across-canada-800449316.html

18+ dgar, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

#Dgar has a naive take on technology, politics, and the future. A thread.

1/3
I really want to be optimistic about the current technology revolution, but it’s difficult. There’s a lot of negativity surrounding artificial intelligence here on Mastodon, but AI takes many forms, and can be incredibly useful. Recently, I’ve actively been looking for genuinely positive stories about AI, because let’s face it, you can hate on AI all you like, it’s here now, it’s not going away, and it’s being developed at a phenomenal rate. I’d say that Pandora’s box has already been opened and it’s too late, but that would suggest that there was a box, and let’s be honest - no one was working on containment!
So I’m trying to see an optimistic future, and the positive possibilities of AI. But I also have thoughts about where I think it’s likely to take us.
Full disclosure, I’m a high-school dropout with no formal education on the things I’m about to ramble on about. So!
Google’s GNoME project is fascinating, discovering millions of new crystal structures, several of which may lead to more efficient batteries and solar panels, stronger and lighter building materials, and stuff we probably won’t think of for years yet.
AI is being used to analyse the mind-numbingly enormous amounts of data coming in from astronomical observatories, and bring anomalies and points of interest to astronomers, saving literal decades of mind-numbing scanning through reams of pages of data.
Some say Apple has been slack when it comes to AI, but I think they’re just being careful about how they implement it. I mean, I can search my iPhotos for “dogs” and I’m pretty sure it’s machine learning is behind those tricks.
The number of companies that are, right now, working on humanoid robots to be general-purpose household helpers really surprised me.
The language from supporters of AGI seems to try and covey the idea that technological advancements in machine learning and robotics will make everything cheaper, to the point where we can raise the standard of living for everyone on the planet, and that energy will be practically free in the future. While I understand what they’re trying to say, I’m also aware that it’s mostly billionaires and CEOs of AI companies saying it.
The biggest concern I have with this idea, is that no-one is laying out the plan to get from here, in our current reality, to this magical utopia of plenty for all. From where I’m standing now, the companies that are developing these technologies are some of the richest in the world, and they stand to only get richer as they sell their products to those who can afford them, usually to replace their own workers, and improve their own profits. So people lose their source of income, and food still needs to be bought, rent and utilities still need to be paid, and strangely enough, none of those are actually getting cheaper.