Ev Delen
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evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Ev Delen
@evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
8 followers 4 following 280 posts
Human 🧍. Earthican 🇺🇳. Canadian 🇨🇦. Geek 🤓. Progressive ⤴️.

Currently a Data Scientist and Automation Specialist. Recovering Professional Political Operative […]

[bridged from https://mstdn.ca/@evdelen on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
@chris

The image is fake! (Although the sentiment is undoubtedly real)

It's a manipulation of one of these photos from August 2025:

https://www.euronews.com/2025/08/22/europe-kneels-before-trump-in-washington
Photograph from the Associated Press of European Leaders meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, 2025-08-22.
January 20, 2026 at 2:34 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
The BS, probably #AISlop generated, non-response-response from the Minister of Child Pornography Dissemination.

A positive, they aren't giving "Grok" agency by referring to it as a person.

That's the only positive though, the rest is just the same kind of […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Screenshot of the Auto-Response letter from Evan Solomon containing typical political BS pablum, reading in part (cut off due to length): Solomon, Evan - M.P. Thank you for reaching out to share your concerns regarding recent reports of deepfake images generated by the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok on the social media platform X. I want to be clear: deepfake sexual abuse is violence. Canadians should be able to participate online without fear that their image will be misused or manipulated without consent, particularly women and young people. Platforms and AI developers have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to prevent this kind of harm. Our government is continuing to advance the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence in Canada. A key part of this work is Bill C-16, which would amend the Criminal Code to clarify that non-consensual deepfake intimate images are treated as intimate images for the purposes of the offence of publication without consent. This legislation would strengthen protections for victims and help ensure that those who misuse these technologies are held accountable. In addition, the government is working on new online harms legislation focused on improving platform safety and accountability, as well as updated data and privacy protections that would give Canadians more control over how their personal data is used in the digital environment. ... blah blah blah
January 12, 2026 at 5:52 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
It's telling that the constituency office for the Minister in charge of Child Pornography Dissemination - that is to say, the minister who is explicitly refusing to even endorse investigating Xitter over their generation of CSAM - is sending 100% of calls to […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Contact Details for Evan Solomon, the Minister of "Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation" (that is to say, the Minister of Strung Together Buzz Words) Email: evan.solomon@parl.gc.ca Hill Office: House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0A6 Telephone: 613-992-1377 Fax: 613-992-1383 Constituency Office: 409 Parliament street Toronto, Ontario M5A 3A1 Telephone: 416-972-2030
January 12, 2026 at 4:13 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
@collectifission
USA: An opportunity to burn things!!!

(Source and explanation: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.4998834/why-chicago-s-commuter-train-tracks-appear-to-be-on-fire-1.4998840)
Chicago's Metra commuter rail agency uses open flames to keep the trains free of ice and snow. (Metra)
January 11, 2026 at 10:48 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Maybe all of this is one of Robin Hanson's Great Filters for the Fermi Paradox...

#showerthought
January 8, 2026 at 5:43 AM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Change My Mind:

Reece Martin of RMTransit is to Public Transit what RFK Jr. is to Public Health.

#rmtransit #topoli #toronto #onpoli #transit #publictransit #TTC
The "Change My Mind" Meme, edited with the following text: "Reece Martin of RMTransit is to Public Transit what RFK Jr. is to Public Health. Change My Mind."
January 2, 2026 at 6:37 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
This is a crime against humanity.

Yay or nay?
A computer keyboard where the arrow keys have been shrunken down to half-height, and including the page up and down keys, so turning what was previously a double height cluster of four keys into a cramped mess of six keys. Also, page up and page down are on the wrong sides, with page up above the left arrow key and page down above the right arrow key.
December 18, 2025 at 7:48 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
The argument is demonstrably disingenuous:

If their argument is that they cannot stop because it is detrimental to security, why is he in the White House or the West Wing at all at this time […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
In asking a Washington federal judge to reject an injunction, the Justice Department argued that stopping construction could create “security concerns” at the White House. “Improvements to the site are still needed before the Secret Service’s safety and security requirements can be met,” Secret Service deputy director Matthew Quinn said in a declaration included in the filing. “Any pause in construction, even temporarily, would leave the contractor’s obligation unfulfilled in this regard and consequently hamper the Secret Service’s ability to meet its statutory obligations and protective mission.”
December 16, 2025 at 3:37 AM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Another great day of providing the wheels for some meals.

I averaged 30.8 km/L / 3.25 L/100km / 72.4 mpg over a distance of 74.6 km.
Photograph of four large Meals on Wheels delivery bags filled with hot meals ready for delivery on a cart in front of a five door hatchback.
December 3, 2025 at 7:59 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
@chad
Only too happy to chip in!
Screenshot of the order confirmation page for a recurring $5/month Mastodon Canada contribution.
December 3, 2025 at 7:43 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Linked is a great write up by Andrea Houston summarizing a few of the scandals of the #dougford administration but there's one assertion (pictured) I have an issue with:

Doug Ford isn't copying #donaldtrump playbook.

#trump is copying the Ford playbook!

Rob Ford […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
The rise of right-wing populism, exemplified by figures like Donald Trump, has profoundly altered the political landscape. Trump campaigned on “draining the swamp,” yet his administration became associated with conflicts of interest and self-enrichment. The key insight: his supporters don’t care. In fact, some celebrate his blatant norm-breaking as proof that he is tough enough to fight a rigged system. Ford has adopted a similar playbook. He presents himself as an anti-establishment fighter who “stops the gravy train,” rails against Ottawa elites and defends the “little guy” — all while doing the opposite and running what opposition parties call a “circular economy” of donations flowing to the PC party and grants returning to wealthy donors. When challenged, he doubles down, hides behind legitimate SDF projects, and insists his government is supporting workers, all while distracting us with carefully planned announcements. Photo of Rob Ford (Red Circle) and Doug Ford (Blue Circle) after the opening ribbon cutting for what was then Trump Tower and is now the St. Regis Toronto building. The Trumps (Green Circle) are pictured exiting the elevators in the lobby after the event with Doug speaking to Trump and Rob preparing to shake Trumps hand. Source: https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2012/04/full-house-trump-toronto-ribbon-cutting.5332
November 22, 2025 at 6:24 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Reminds me of #dougford telling students and recent graduates to "try harder" to find a job.

#onpoli #ontario

OP: https://newsie.social/@royaards/115287414343703412
A cartoon depicting a luxury villa with an expensive car parked next to it. The driveway to the villa is a bridge; under the bridge sits a homeless man holding a sign saying "Help." From the driveway, the villa owner calls out to him: "Just work hard!" On the side, we see a cross-section of the land beneath the villa; the foundation is made up of money bags labeled "inheritance," "passive income," and "tax cuts."
September 29, 2025 at 11:53 AM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
A lot of meals got to where they needed to go thanks to these wheels today!

#mealsonwheels #volunteering #volunteer
Photograph of five large delivery bags of food to be delivered to Meals on Wheels clients in front of the car used to deliver them.
September 19, 2025 at 1:44 AM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Bye Bye #useconomy! It was nice knowing you.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/emerging/china-tells-tech-firms-stop-buying-nvidias-ai-chips-ft-reports-2025-09-17/

When your number one customer stops buying from you the product for which 60% of your entire economy is […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
A re-imagining of the comic from XKCD creator Randall Munro, https://xkcd.com/2347/ A large set of blocks stacked precariously such that if one block were pulled out it would cause everything to collapse. The entire set of blocks is described "Entire US Economy" while the single small block upon which the fate of all the rest of the blocks depends has an arrow pointed at it with the description "2023-2025 60% of US Economic Growth from 'AI'".
September 17, 2025 at 3:29 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
@christyceeck.bsky.social

Wow, that kind of a response to a media inquiry means a nerve has been touched.

Also, the use of the past-tense in the second paragraph, is that a tell?

#topoli #tocouncil #toronto #onpoli #ontario #ontarioplace #ontarioplacescam #ontarioplacescandal #ontarioplace4all
Excerpt from the originally linked article reading: “These risks are for the company and its shareholder to evaluate and manage, neither of whom have asked for the unsolicited opinions of these advisers,” Therme said. “Therme has had sufficient capital to continue its development projects.”
August 16, 2025 at 1:04 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
There's yet another angle on the #dougford grift by privatizing recycling collection across #ontario: get municipalities to pay the private, for-profit "Producer Responsibility Organization" to pickup recycling from "noneligible" properties under the privatization […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Excerpt from the linked article reading: The Ontario government has asked for public input on a proposal to amend the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act of 2016, which privatized residential recycling. The proposal would allow municipalities to negotiate, and potentially contract out the work, to the organizations now running the Blue Box program.
August 13, 2025 at 6:46 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Ironic considering Galen Weston Jr. has been so critical of efforts to make #toronto a more walkable city with more community spaces.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-08-11/trump-tariffs-and-jabs-push-canadians-to-exit-florida-enclave

#topoli #Toronto […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
An excerpt and photograph from the linked article. The photograph is of Hilary and Galen Weston (Photographer: Nick Harvey/WireImage/Getty Images) the 2nd generation head of the Weston family, the richest family in Canada. The excerpted text reads: "Weston and his wife, Hilary, hired the architects Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, who pioneered the New Urbanism school of planning, to lay out the village in accordance with their ideas around walkable streets and community spaces. "
August 12, 2025 at 6:47 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
I would love to see a study on how the retail sector has been in Quebec in the last 15 months.

My guess, better overall for the economy and society in the form of:
- More face-to-face interactions
- More street retail foot traffic
- Higher average wages for store […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Excerpt from the linked article reading: While Amazon said it intends to further appeal the latest decision, the progress on unionization has led to fears the company may pull out of B.C. — as it did in Quebec, following the unionization of a warehouse in Laval, Que., in May 2024.
August 11, 2025 at 11:22 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
This! 👇

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-worst-thing-mark-carney-could-do-is-make-a-deal-with-trump/article_31ad4ba4-c91d-4d98-9cec-cb988f6deb30.html

#cdnpoli #canpoli #canpolitics #canada #bcpoli #abpoli #skpoli #mbpoli #onpoli #quebec #nbpoli #nspoli #peipoli #nlpoli
Excerpt from linked opinion piece reading: "Signing on America’s terms will mean dropping our retaliatory tariffs and plowing billions into a Trumpian slush fund. Instead, let’s use those billions to harden our defences. We can and should buy up steel and lumber to build ships and homes; compensate sectors hard-hit; build new trade infrastructure to extend our economic reach elsewhere; and help small businesses manage the regulatory complexity brought on by this trade chaos. Carney has talked a good game about all of these things, and now is the time to turn more focus towards them."
August 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
John Lorinc really could have gone much further in this article:

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/we-should-all-be-demanding-to-find-out-whats-driving-doug-fords-tunnel-dreams/article_9bdb6511-b252-45d2-96f4-28dfd0eb4a8e.html

1. No engineer in their […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Three excerpted paragraphs from the linked to article. They read: 1. "The question is whether Ontarians were asking for an impossibly expensive solution to gridlock, or whether this a case of the engineering tail wagging the taxpaying dog." 2. "But in the run-up to the provincial general election earlier this year, Ford felt a need to brand himself as the anti-gridlock candidate, which he has tried with the Big Doug idea and his plan to tear out Toronto’s bike lanes (the subject last week of a scathing court ruling)." 3. "Flyvbjerg also point to the peculiar psychology of such politically freighted plans, which is that they tend to blind governments to cheaper and more easily executed alternatives. Such as, in the case of the 401: deploying outstanding east-west GO Bus service on dedicated lanes, which would cost a fraction of the Big Doug and provide some gridlock relief within our lifetimes."
August 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Can't wait to see this being exploited. While likely necessary, this also has a similar feel to the half-baked Recall.

https://apnews.com/article/bsod-black-screen-windows-error-page-9711e0e60d3b7e70d3285b7969506d86
Excerpt from the linked article reading: And for PCs that may not restart successfully, Microsoft on Wednesday also said it’s adding a “quick machine recovery” mechanism. The will be particularly useful for during a widespread outage, the tech giant noted, as Microsoft “can broadly deploy targeted remediations” and automate fixes with this new mechanism “without requiring complex manual intervention from IT.”
June 27, 2025 at 12:56 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Or, #daniellesmith, rather than shipping off raw materials - the least valuable part of the production chain - we could refine the oil in Canada (along with the jobs) and then produce high-value materials rather than just burning the stuff.

But we never see that […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Excerpt from the linked article reading: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has pushed heavily for a revival of the shelved pipeline, which would have shipped up to 525,000 barrels of Alberta oil per day through nearby Kitimat, B.C., and ultimately to markets in the Asia-Pacific region via tanker. Smith has said that the revamped North Coast pipeline should end at the Port of Prince Rupert, citing its close proximity to potential buyers in markets like Japan and South Korea.
June 13, 2025 at 11:06 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Well, the Rubicon has been crossed.

The Posse Comitatus Act has been undoubtedly and irreversibly violated.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-marines-carry-out-first-known-detention-civilian-los-angeles-video-shows-2025-06-13/

(h/t @Nonilex)

#uspol #uspoli […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
U.S. Marines detain a person outside the Wilshire Federal Building after Marines were deployed to Los Angeles, as protests against federal immigration sweeps continue, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 13, 2025. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
June 13, 2025 at 10:12 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Ah, perhaps #ratings and #airtime is why #dougford is going on a junket to the country that Economically Attacked #canada.

Doug Ford, who owns property in #Florida, could go to plenty of other places to drum up business for #ontario.

In fact there are >190 *other* […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Screenshot of an excerpt from the article linked in the first post reading: Along with another wave of appearances on American cable news shows to underscore the importance of trade with Canada...
June 13, 2025 at 8:49 PM
evdelen.mstdn.ca.ap.brid.gy
Channeling his inner #trump, #dougford is attempting to re-write history.

#canada didn't pick this fight!

They're called #trumptariffs for a reason!

What "deals" are he committing #ontario to with the country that economically attacked us?

As Neville Chamberlain […]

[Original post on mstdn.ca]
Excerpt from the linked article reading: “I’ve had an opportunity to speak to many governors and senators and congresspeople — Republicans or Democrats … (and) every single person I speak to says we can’t pick a fight with everyone in the world — and especially you can’t pick a fight with your number-one customer,” he said. “We need to move on.”
June 13, 2025 at 8:40 PM