Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
@sambir.bsky.social
Geographer. Mostly harmless.
Mountains > oceans. Permafrost is cool. Rivers and lakes are pretty nice too.
Mountains > oceans. Permafrost is cool. Rivers and lakes are pretty nice too.
So rich we can afford the huge cost of keeping people homeless instead of saving money by ending homelessness.
This is a choice. It doesn't need to be this way.
All people need somewhere to exist. Police raids to shift tent cities solve nothing, they just move "the problem". Cruel, useless policy
This is a choice. It doesn't need to be this way.
All people need somewhere to exist. Police raids to shift tent cities solve nothing, they just move "the problem". Cruel, useless policy
December 4, 2025 at 3:50 PM
So rich we can afford the huge cost of keeping people homeless instead of saving money by ending homelessness.
This is a choice. It doesn't need to be this way.
All people need somewhere to exist. Police raids to shift tent cities solve nothing, they just move "the problem". Cruel, useless policy
This is a choice. It doesn't need to be this way.
All people need somewhere to exist. Police raids to shift tent cities solve nothing, they just move "the problem". Cruel, useless policy
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
A newsletter in Alberta’s Bow Valley is hiring a contract “reporter” to feed and babysit chat GPT. jeffgaulin.com/jobs/JobDeta...
JeffGaulin.com: Jobs
jeffgaulin.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:42 PM
A newsletter in Alberta’s Bow Valley is hiring a contract “reporter” to feed and babysit chat GPT. jeffgaulin.com/jobs/JobDeta...
Owner: Apply for this job delivering AI slop to our idiot customers. But no CVs, AI made them useless.
Hopefully this is the most embarrassing thing the Bow Valley Insider EVER puts in writing & they immediately retract. This hypocrisy & lack of integrity for your product ought to be career ending.
Hopefully this is the most embarrassing thing the Bow Valley Insider EVER puts in writing & they immediately retract. This hypocrisy & lack of integrity for your product ought to be career ending.
December 4, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Owner: Apply for this job delivering AI slop to our idiot customers. But no CVs, AI made them useless.
Hopefully this is the most embarrassing thing the Bow Valley Insider EVER puts in writing & they immediately retract. This hypocrisy & lack of integrity for your product ought to be career ending.
Hopefully this is the most embarrassing thing the Bow Valley Insider EVER puts in writing & they immediately retract. This hypocrisy & lack of integrity for your product ought to be career ending.
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
Der Spiegel: Commander in Sleep
December 3, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Der Spiegel: Commander in Sleep
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
BREAKING: Matt Jones, one of Alberta's health ministers, just said the private surgical facilities for Red Deer and Lethbridge have been cancelled. Those two projects are owned in part by Sam Mraiche.
December 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
BREAKING: Matt Jones, one of Alberta's health ministers, just said the private surgical facilities for Red Deer and Lethbridge have been cancelled. Those two projects are owned in part by Sam Mraiche.
Hey, congratulations @mountroyalu.bsky.social I see your current superficial, inadequate, and Byzantine accomodations system that requires students to jump through so many more hoops than their peers has been recognized.
You can and should do better.
You can and should do better.
Too many of the bigger issue is how many of these student services departments are just form assigning accomodations and have a very shallow toolbox to draw from. It's all CYA and rarely student centered actual support. And often kids are struggling so much more than they feel allowed to share.
December 2, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Hey, congratulations @mountroyalu.bsky.social I see your current superficial, inadequate, and Byzantine accomodations system that requires students to jump through so many more hoops than their peers has been recognized.
You can and should do better.
You can and should do better.
This contest is over. Dr. Amuly is my just discovered all time favorite PhD.
Congratulations to the runners up, many of you are also very good and I appreciate you. Yes, unfortunately several of the contestants don't or won't see the issue & have no hope of improvement but that's why you suck.
Congratulations to the runners up, many of you are also very good and I appreciate you. Yes, unfortunately several of the contestants don't or won't see the issue & have no hope of improvement but that's why you suck.
The problem is a huge amount of academics don't recognize that they thrived academically because they accidentally were adept at the exact kind of learning that was asked of them. That's just an accident, man! It doesn't make you better, or worthy, or any of that shit! ANYWAY HRGGHGH
December 2, 2025 at 8:52 PM
This contest is over. Dr. Amuly is my just discovered all time favorite PhD.
Congratulations to the runners up, many of you are also very good and I appreciate you. Yes, unfortunately several of the contestants don't or won't see the issue & have no hope of improvement but that's why you suck.
Congratulations to the runners up, many of you are also very good and I appreciate you. Yes, unfortunately several of the contestants don't or won't see the issue & have no hope of improvement but that's why you suck.
Is it a test of speed? No? Cool, do what you can to remove the time penalty.
I started every exam in university assuming, if I got everything right, the highest mark I could achieve was about 90% b/c I would not have enough time to complete the full exam. Accommodations level the playing field.
I started every exam in university assuming, if I got everything right, the highest mark I could achieve was about 90% b/c I would not have enough time to complete the full exam. Accommodations level the playing field.
I had a stats prof in grad school whose expertise was educational measurement, and he was a firm believer in removing the time constraint, so he booked a room for 3 hours for exams (which some people could complete in under an hour)
December 2, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Is it a test of speed? No? Cool, do what you can to remove the time penalty.
I started every exam in university assuming, if I got everything right, the highest mark I could achieve was about 90% b/c I would not have enough time to complete the full exam. Accommodations level the playing field.
I started every exam in university assuming, if I got everything right, the highest mark I could achieve was about 90% b/c I would not have enough time to complete the full exam. Accommodations level the playing field.
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
I have eaten
the planets
that were in
the inner solar system
and which
you were probably
saving
for living on
Forgive me
they were delicious
so crunchy
and so warm
the planets
that were in
the inner solar system
and which
you were probably
saving
for living on
Forgive me
they were delicious
so crunchy
and so warm
Elderly stars just get hungry, and orbiting planets are *right there.* 🔭🧪
New research from Edward Bryant @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social and Vincent Van Eylen @University College London, input from Sabine Reffert @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, story by @bowlerhatscience.org. eos.org/articles/pla...
New research from Edward Bryant @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social and Vincent Van Eylen @University College London, input from Sabine Reffert @uniheidelberg.bsky.social, story by @bowlerhatscience.org. eos.org/articles/pla...
Planet-Eating Stars Hint at Earth’s Ultimate Fate - Eos
A sampling of aging Sun-like stars demonstrates that they likely eat their closest planets.
eos.org
December 2, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I have eaten
the planets
that were in
the inner solar system
and which
you were probably
saving
for living on
Forgive me
they were delicious
so crunchy
and so warm
the planets
that were in
the inner solar system
and which
you were probably
saving
for living on
Forgive me
they were delicious
so crunchy
and so warm
The number of times I struggled to find any relevant articles for university assignments...😒
Meanwhile, my friends often found stacks of results. This is when I started to realize that my brain worked (& sometimes didn't work) differently. I couldn't match the search logic & dyslexia was a killer.
Meanwhile, my friends often found stacks of results. This is when I started to realize that my brain worked (& sometimes didn't work) differently. I couldn't match the search logic & dyslexia was a killer.
Search terms were constrained and needed to be phrased very carefully if you were going to find anything. Flexible operators and GREP weren't options. You needed to find exact matches in titles, abstracts or key words.
December 2, 2025 at 3:54 PM
The number of times I struggled to find any relevant articles for university assignments...😒
Meanwhile, my friends often found stacks of results. This is when I started to realize that my brain worked (& sometimes didn't work) differently. I couldn't match the search logic & dyslexia was a killer.
Meanwhile, my friends often found stacks of results. This is when I started to realize that my brain worked (& sometimes didn't work) differently. I couldn't match the search logic & dyslexia was a killer.
Thanks, I hate it.
Climate change does not follow the pendulum of politics & public attn.
Not a hot topic for news orgs at the moment but GHGs will continue to build in the background & again grab attention when the personal consequences are too dire to ignore.
Meantime, keep doing what you can.
Climate change does not follow the pendulum of politics & public attn.
Not a hot topic for news orgs at the moment but GHGs will continue to build in the background & again grab attention when the personal consequences are too dire to ignore.
Meantime, keep doing what you can.
🚨 Monday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the lowest on record (JAXA data)
• about 1,110,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,600,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,310,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,810,000 km² below the 1980s mean
More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
• about 1,110,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,600,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,310,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 2,810,000 km² below the 1980s mean
More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
December 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Thanks, I hate it.
Climate change does not follow the pendulum of politics & public attn.
Not a hot topic for news orgs at the moment but GHGs will continue to build in the background & again grab attention when the personal consequences are too dire to ignore.
Meantime, keep doing what you can.
Climate change does not follow the pendulum of politics & public attn.
Not a hot topic for news orgs at the moment but GHGs will continue to build in the background & again grab attention when the personal consequences are too dire to ignore.
Meantime, keep doing what you can.
Captain's log, star date 2512.01.
It is day 37 of black Friday. We have yet to discover when these words lost all meaning. There is growing concern that time became broken when boxing day leaked from containment and stretched first to seven days, and then advanced ahead of Christmas eve.
It is day 37 of black Friday. We have yet to discover when these words lost all meaning. There is growing concern that time became broken when boxing day leaked from containment and stretched first to seven days, and then advanced ahead of Christmas eve.
December 1, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Captain's log, star date 2512.01.
It is day 37 of black Friday. We have yet to discover when these words lost all meaning. There is growing concern that time became broken when boxing day leaked from containment and stretched first to seven days, and then advanced ahead of Christmas eve.
It is day 37 of black Friday. We have yet to discover when these words lost all meaning. There is growing concern that time became broken when boxing day leaked from containment and stretched first to seven days, and then advanced ahead of Christmas eve.
The giant gamble on AI is going to crash the economy when the bubble pops. These are hyped up gambles with no real revenue on the horizon because 90% of the use cases are not solutions to real problems that people have. And those non-solutions are garbage, unwanted or actively damaging for users.
Exxon-Mobil (current market cap): $488B
Norway GDP (2025 est): $517B
Dispersed by TARP to rescue the financial system (adjusted for inflation): $667B
Saudi Arabia GDP (2025 est): $1268B
Amount OpenAI is on the hook for that’ll ruin companies’ balance sheets if OpenAI can’t make good: $1400B
Norway GDP (2025 est): $517B
Dispersed by TARP to rescue the financial system (adjusted for inflation): $667B
Saudi Arabia GDP (2025 est): $1268B
Amount OpenAI is on the hook for that’ll ruin companies’ balance sheets if OpenAI can’t make good: $1400B
December 1, 2025 at 5:31 AM
The giant gamble on AI is going to crash the economy when the bubble pops. These are hyped up gambles with no real revenue on the horizon because 90% of the use cases are not solutions to real problems that people have. And those non-solutions are garbage, unwanted or actively damaging for users.
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
Passage
40” x 30”
Acrylic on canvas
2025
BEYOND THE HORIZON SOLO EXHIBITION CANADA HOUSE GALLERY
canadahouse.com/collections/...
40” x 30”
Acrylic on canvas
2025
BEYOND THE HORIZON SOLO EXHIBITION CANADA HOUSE GALLERY
canadahouse.com/collections/...
November 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Passage
40” x 30”
Acrylic on canvas
2025
BEYOND THE HORIZON SOLO EXHIBITION CANADA HOUSE GALLERY
canadahouse.com/collections/...
40” x 30”
Acrylic on canvas
2025
BEYOND THE HORIZON SOLO EXHIBITION CANADA HOUSE GALLERY
canadahouse.com/collections/...
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
The New Deal wasn’t built on a promise that there would be “no ceiling” for the richest Americans.
Quite the opposite, in fact. FDR knew its politics could only work if he singled out the rich as villains and knew that its policies could only work if the rich paid their fair share in taxes.
Quite the opposite, in fact. FDR knew its politics could only work if he singled out the rich as villains and knew that its policies could only work if the rich paid their fair share in taxes.
November 30, 2025 at 4:51 PM
The New Deal wasn’t built on a promise that there would be “no ceiling” for the richest Americans.
Quite the opposite, in fact. FDR knew its politics could only work if he singled out the rich as villains and knew that its policies could only work if the rich paid their fair share in taxes.
Quite the opposite, in fact. FDR knew its politics could only work if he singled out the rich as villains and knew that its policies could only work if the rich paid their fair share in taxes.
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
Andrew Coyne; ‘Just because you divide..1 line into 2 doesn’t change the # of patients or..the # of hrs in a dr’s day.All you’ve done is reshuffle the order in which the dr sees them,replacing medical necessity as the triage criterion with ability to pay’
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/d487a4a...
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/d487a4a...
Yes, the health care system is a mess, but Danielle Smith’s gambit risks failure
The solution to Canada’s health care woes is to create a market
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Andrew Coyne; ‘Just because you divide..1 line into 2 doesn’t change the # of patients or..the # of hrs in a dr’s day.All you’ve done is reshuffle the order in which the dr sees them,replacing medical necessity as the triage criterion with ability to pay’
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/d487a4a...
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/d487a4a...
Unhinged
So what work is the “U” doing in UCP? Because it doesn’t seem to imply unity in the slightest.
Danielle Smith gets booed at UCP convention after mentioning working with Canada
November 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Unhinged
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
Headlines like this are extremely dangerous. Because moms of young kids are the people who make the bulk of the vaccine decisions for famillies. And for a lot of them, "reading the news" looks like scrolling past headlines on social media in the spare moments of the chaos of caring for kids.
November 29, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Headlines like this are extremely dangerous. Because moms of young kids are the people who make the bulk of the vaccine decisions for famillies. And for a lot of them, "reading the news" looks like scrolling past headlines on social media in the spare moments of the chaos of caring for kids.
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
A study by Dayforce shows 87% of executives use AI for work, compared to 57% of managers and just 27% of employees.
I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
Execs are embracing AI more than their employees are, new research suggests
Research from HR software company Dayforce suggests that executives are leaning into AI far more than their employees.
www.businessinsider.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:58 AM
A study by Dayforce shows 87% of executives use AI for work, compared to 57% of managers and just 27% of employees.
I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
I think this explains the massive disconnect we see in how CEOs talk about AI versus everyone else. It also raises the question of how useful it truly is for frontline work?
Black Friday will continue until morale improves.
It's been black friday for three weeks, and I don't want anything
November 29, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Black Friday will continue until morale improves.
Learning things from experts in their field is turning out to be quite a bummer actually. 2/10, going to recommend anyway.
Re-upping this as talk of strengthening the industrial carbon price resurfaces in the forthcoming AB-Fed MOU.
Raising the headline carbon price does very little when tradable credits are oversupplied and trading at $29 per tonne…
To strengthen the market will require tightening the benchmarks.
Raising the headline carbon price does very little when tradable credits are oversupplied and trading at $29 per tonne…
To strengthen the market will require tightening the benchmarks.
As a reminder, whether it be $95 or $110 per tonne, the “policy price” for industrial emissions is largely moot right now.
Emitters can pay for compliance using emissions offsets and performance credits, which are currently trading bilaterally for under $29 per tonne.
Emitters can pay for compliance using emissions offsets and performance credits, which are currently trading bilaterally for under $29 per tonne.
November 28, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Learning things from experts in their field is turning out to be quite a bummer actually. 2/10, going to recommend anyway.
🤢 I think I've had enough magic science beans. Please, don't feed me anymore. If AI could manage that, I promise to say something nice about it.
I don't like this ride and I wanna get off of the cyber-stupid-i-o-cyclotron now please.
I don't like this ride and I wanna get off of the cyber-stupid-i-o-cyclotron now please.
anywho, changing focus to other things I talked about in the podcast, here's a great example of magic beans in science bsky.app/profile/erik...
"Runctitiononal features"? "Medical fymblal"? "1 Tol Line storee"? This gets worse the longer you look at it. But it's got to be good, because it was published in Nature Scientific Reports last week: www.nature.com/articles/s41... h/t @asa.tsbalans.se
November 27, 2025 at 7:31 PM
🤢 I think I've had enough magic science beans. Please, don't feed me anymore. If AI could manage that, I promise to say something nice about it.
I don't like this ride and I wanna get off of the cyber-stupid-i-o-cyclotron now please.
I don't like this ride and I wanna get off of the cyber-stupid-i-o-cyclotron now please.
Reposted by Sam Bird 🏔️🍁🇨🇦
“Rather than reinvesting those profits in the Canadian economy, the four companies paid out $79.7 billion in dividends and share buybacks, nearly ¾ of which went to foreign shareholders, including 62% to American shareholders.”
www.theenergymix.com/u-s-owned-oi...
www.theenergymix.com/u-s-owned-oi...
U.S.-Owned Oil Sands Giants Send Profits Out of Canada Despite Public Support for Resource Sovereignty
Canada’s biggest oil sands producers are sending a large share of their profits out of the country to their shareholders in the United States, the CEO of the Trottier Family Foundation warns in an opi...
www.theenergymix.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:19 PM
“Rather than reinvesting those profits in the Canadian economy, the four companies paid out $79.7 billion in dividends and share buybacks, nearly ¾ of which went to foreign shareholders, including 62% to American shareholders.”
www.theenergymix.com/u-s-owned-oi...
www.theenergymix.com/u-s-owned-oi...
Meanwhile, the oil companies will continue to layoff staff. The oil industry will not help job recovery in Alberta. Those days are GONE.
There are no more booms coming for workers no matter how profitable oil is. That money will only ever go to shareholders and CEOs from now until oil demand ends.
There are no more booms coming for workers no matter how profitable oil is. That money will only ever go to shareholders and CEOs from now until oil demand ends.
The MOU goes much farther than many people expected, giving Alberta's oil producers literally every item on their list of demands, while getting basically nothing in return. Alberta will negotiate a carbon price, something the province had already agreed to the last time Ottawa gave them a pipeline.
November 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Meanwhile, the oil companies will continue to layoff staff. The oil industry will not help job recovery in Alberta. Those days are GONE.
There are no more booms coming for workers no matter how profitable oil is. That money will only ever go to shareholders and CEOs from now until oil demand ends.
There are no more booms coming for workers no matter how profitable oil is. That money will only ever go to shareholders and CEOs from now until oil demand ends.