Martin Grasdal 🍁
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mgrasdal.bsky.social
Martin Grasdal 🍁
@mgrasdal.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1.4K following 2.5K posts
Old IT guy, nearing retirement. Living proof that a degree in Engl. Lit & Philosophy is far from useless. Lover of fiction (including sci-fi & fantasy), history, classics, etc,. Classical music lover.
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mgrasdal.bsky.social
Jill Stein, leader of the US Green Party, having dinner with Putin and Mike Flynn in 2015. Totally normal.
Photo of Jill Stein sitting at a dinner table with Vladimir Putin and Mike Flynn in 2015. Mike Flynn was paid 45K to attend the Moscow Gala dinner.
February 11, 2026 at 2:27 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Where do these quislings and low-information voters get their information from? Primarily alternative media sources and events hosted by the Alberta Prosperity Project. Not surprised by the number of quislings who get their info from friends and family, given this is AB, after all.
Graphic showing the distribution of media sources preferred by leavers or remainers. The question is "When it comes to the issue of a potential referendum and Alberta separation, where would you say most of the information you learn about this issue comes from?" There are 4 columns, from left to right: Media Source, All Alberta, Leave, Remain. Mainstream Media sources: Alberta, 56%; Leave, 28%; Stay, 71% Social Media: Alberta, 43%; Leave, 37%; Stay, 45% Conversations with Friends and Family: Alberta,31%; Leave, 45%; Stay 28% Alternative Media Sources: Alberta, 28%; Leave, 50%; Remain, 18% Events hosted by Alberta Prosperity Project: Alberta, 8%; Leave, 23%, Stay, 1%
February 9, 2026 at 6:58 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Ski day!

View from the top of the Knob chair lift in Jasper National Park, AB, Canada.
View of a long, steep ski run. White snow capped mountains in the distance, contrasting with a deep azure blue sky. View of a long, steep ski run. Sunlit white snow capped mountains in the distance, contrasting with a deep azure blue sky.
February 5, 2026 at 8:09 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Ski day!
Top of the Knob chair lift at Marmot Basin in Jasper National Park.
January 29, 2026 at 8:10 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Ski day.

Here's a track from my ski playlist.

youtu.be/QoWt67NKES4?...
View from the top of Eagle chair lift at Marmot Basin in Jasper National Park. An empty string of chairs on the lift is visible in the foreground. In the background is a broad mountain valley. The town of Jasper is visible at the bottom of the valley.
January 22, 2026 at 8:15 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Going to find a distraction today.
Early morning view from the top of the Eagle Express chair lift at Marmot Basin ski hill in Jasper National park in Alberta, Canada. View shows an empty, snow covered ski run overlooking a broad mountain valley. In the distance, you can make out the townsite of Jasper, Alberta. Ski conditions are great. Lots of snow. Weather is overcast, but visibility on the mountain is good. Temperature is around -10 C.
January 9, 2026 at 4:29 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
The CD I am currently listening to. Bought it 3 dollars a little while ago at a used bookstore. Great purchase.
Picture shows the cover of the 1959 album, Back to Back, featuring Duke Ellington and Jonny Hodges. Some fantastic playing.
January 1, 2026 at 12:43 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
At least I could successfully avoid Spotify. It's very much harder to avoid AI, as it is becoming ubiquitous in devices and in Windows. I could switch to Linux, but that would be a challenge for most people. I know there are good use cases for AI, but for the most part it sucks hard.
HSBC projects that even if OpenAI is making $200 billion by 2030, it would still need a staggering $207 billion in funding to stay afloat. As OpenAI scales, so does its costs. Its expensive frontier models like Sora 2 and GPT-5 cost millions of dollars a day to run, requiring enormous amounts of compute. These models are given away at cost in attempts to drive adoption, create lock-in, and essentially alter human behavior. You can think of it similarly to Spotify, which spent well over a decade completely unprofitable until it had basically re-written the way humans consume music and how labels distribute music. OpenAI is trying to achieve a similar result on a far, far larger, and potentially far more damaging scale. Spotify collapsing wouldn't have had any impact on the global economy. But, if we get to a point where it seems the economics of "AI" and LLMs simply don't work — it could have a similar impact on markets to the dot com bubble or the credit crunch. There's simply so much invested in these companies and initiatives right now, that inability to service the debt would trigger a wave of instability.
November 30, 2025 at 3:24 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
This might be a more suitable profile pic
The Borg Queen, played by Alice Krige, from the Star Trek franchises,
November 15, 2025 at 8:47 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Aurora Borealis visible in the middle of Edmonton tonight.
View of the northern lights in a residential district in Edmonton, Alberta. View of the northern lights in a residential district in Edmonton, Alberta
November 12, 2025 at 2:23 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Very good blog post on the hysteria surrounding an edit of Trump's comments. if BBC and other broadcasters, both public and private, can't stand up to the lies and pressure from the right and vested interests, we are in a dark place. BBC is both bulwark and bellwether in this moment.
There have been real and appalling scandals in the BBC’s recent history. This is not one of them. Any sane political/media environment would treat it as what it is: a minor, to the point of trivial embarrassment. Instead the reaction has been hysterical. The edit in question was clearly a mistake. It was unfair to Trump because it gave the impression of his saying something that he did not. But how much does it matter? Did the edit fundamentally mislead the viewer about the events of that period and Trump’s role within them? Can anyone credibly claim that the overall subject and critique of the documentary was not based in truth and fact? 1) Donald Trump lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and continues to lie about it until this day. In so doing he introduced a toxin into American politics which will take a generation to exorcise. 2) Trump did incite the mob on January 6th. Put simply, had he not lied about the election, they would never have been there in the first place. The conclusion that Trump was instrumental in that violence is borne out from the impeachment House and Senate votes, which though below the threshold of conviction were bipartisan, and the subsequent Congressional inquiry into the events of the riots which set Trump’s role out in meticulous detail. Trump then proceeded to make clear how un-seriously he took the violence by pardoning everyone involved, many of whom have spoken to the authorities and explicitly said that the only reason they were there that day and did what they did was because of Trump. These aren’t opinions, these are facts and if the BBC cannot robustly defend itself on that basis then it is truly lost.
November 11, 2025 at 9:06 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
The Second Sons group, founded by Jeremy MacKenzie. For those with short memories, here's a picture of Jeremy MacKenzie, along with Pierre Poilievre.
Picture of Jeremy MacKenzie, founder of the racist groups, Diaglon and the Second Sons, posing with Pierre Poilievre. Both have a fist raised to shoulder height and bothe are grinning. MacKenzie's left hand in PP's back. They look like they are great friends.
October 27, 2025 at 8:10 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Mickey Amery will provide details. What a joke.

I wish Albertans had better understood the regulatory capture, privatization, and separatist agendas that were the true goals of the Smith & the UCP before the last election. These are not the people you want deciding who can best represent you.
Schow said he’d refer details to Justice Minister Mickey Amery, who will bring in the bill. Amery wasn’t at the briefing. “As a voter, I think it’s important that people have been able to go to the ballot box and have a general understanding about the candidates and what they represent,” Schow said. “We’ve seen instances in the past where the message has been a little bit unclear, to say the least, and we’re taking steps to bring clarity and transparency to the election process.”
October 21, 2025 at 3:10 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Trying to give Vance a run for his money.
The homepage of https://clearsky.app showng the top 5 blocked accounts in descending order. JD Vance Whitehouse-47 Jessie Singal Nowbreezing Brianna Wu
October 19, 2025 at 3:27 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Looks like the block party is continuing apace. It is sad to witness the wholesale destruction of trust (with ample cause) in government agencies that are meant to serve their citizens.
List of the top 20 accounts shown on @clearsky.app that have been blocked in the past 24 hours. Almost all of them are official US government accounts that appeared on Bluesky within the past day or two. At the top of the list is the @whitehouse-47.bsky.social followed by accounts for DHS, Defense, HHS, State, Commerce, and others.
October 18, 2025 at 2:36 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
I wonder if meeting with the Project 2025 Premier of the Province of Alberta caused him to fantasize about violence. Maybe it had something to do with his company, the odious Jordan Peterson and the felonious Conrad Back.
Picture of 4 notorious asshats. From left to right, Jordan Peterson, Danielle Smith, Tucker Carlson, and Conrad Black.
October 17, 2025 at 1:01 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Danielle Smith's threats are on par with this one. Sorry to say, though, someone did shoot Cheeseface, the dog used as the model in the photo, 3 years later.
A National Lampoon cover from January, 1973, showing a dog with a gun pointed at its head. The caption reads, "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog". For the back story on this iconic cover and the sad fate of the model, Cheeseface, see https://www.sevendaysvt.com/news/who-shot-mr-cheeseface-the-vermont-demise-of-a-famous-mutt-23671435/
October 8, 2025 at 11:04 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Here are some pics from the earlier rally in Edmonton.
Crowd of protesters at rally to support teachers and public education on October 5, 2025 at the Alberta Legislature grounds. Was a very good turnout. Lots of people came with signs . Crowd of protesters at rally to support teachers and public education on October 5, 2025 at the Alberta Legislature grounds. Was a very good turnout. Lots of people came with signs . Crowd of protesters at rally to support teachers and public education on October 5, 2025 at the Alberta Legislature grounds. Was a very good turnout. Lots of people came with signs . Crowd of protesters at rally to support teachers and public education on October 5, 2025 at the Alberta Legislature grounds. Was a very good turnout. Lots of people came with signs .
October 6, 2025 at 12:06 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
I had a very good public education in Alberta. I want other generations to have the same or better.
Rally for public education to support teachers at the provincial legislature in Edmonton, Alberta on Oct.5, 2025.
October 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Nuts.

I am sure any EA employees with options are going to exercise them and start polishing their resumes.
The transaction will be funded by a combination of cash from each of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners as well as roll-over of PIF’s existing stake in EA, constituting an equity investment of approximately $36 billion, and $20 billion of debt financing fully and solely committed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., $18 billion of which is expected to be funded at close. Each of PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners plan to fund the equity component of the financing entirely from capital under their respective control.
September 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Waiting for the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry at Galena Bay.
View of Upper Arrow Lake on a sunny day at the Galena Bay Ferry dock.
September 28, 2025 at 9:23 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
You certainly are.
View of the lake and mountains from the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry. View of the lake and mountains from the bow of the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry, approaching Galena Bay. View of the lake and mountains from the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry. View of the lake and mountains from the stern of the Upper Arrow Lake Ferry leaving Shelter Bay.
September 27, 2025 at 4:14 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Saw a pileated woodpecker on a walk today on a day that suddenly felt like Fall.
Pileated woodpecker on a branch of a tree.
September 22, 2025 at 12:14 AM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
New Yorker cover for September 29.
The New Yorker magazine cover for Sept. 29, 2025. A tiny hand emerges from a big suit. The hand grasps a TV remote with a thumb hovered over a button. The other button on the remote read Power Mute Pause Stop Stifle Silence Shun Sack Banish Oust Muzzle Axe Dimiss Torment Deport
September 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM
mgrasdal.bsky.social
Bluesky Alt Text rating for my account. Score lists the number of post I have made that have images with alt text against those without. My rating is 100% .
September 12, 2025 at 5:32 AM