Nicholas Smith
@nicholassmith.bsky.social
Making good things easier and bad things harder. I love to be wrong. Really into counting. Montreal (formerly Richmond+DC). EN/FR.
Oui il y a du blâme pour Waze/Google et la ville, qui devrait créer des culs-de-sac en U ici, mais c'est les automobilistes qui décident avec de la volonté de détourner les artères en utilisant des rues locales pour sauver quelques minutes. On devrait les empêcher, mais c'est leurs choix.
November 29, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Oui il y a du blâme pour Waze/Google et la ville, qui devrait créer des culs-de-sac en U ici, mais c'est les automobilistes qui décident avec de la volonté de détourner les artères en utilisant des rues locales pour sauver quelques minutes. On devrait les empêcher, mais c'est leurs choix.
Des travaux dans Mercier-Est obligeant les automobilistes à emprunter des secteurs résidentiels 10 km à l'ouest dans Sainte-Marie? Obligeant? Sherbrooke/Notre-Dame et Papineau ne sont pas des secteurs résidentiels. Les automobilistes ont choisi, eux-mêmes, les rues du quartier.
November 29, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Des travaux dans Mercier-Est obligeant les automobilistes à emprunter des secteurs résidentiels 10 km à l'ouest dans Sainte-Marie? Obligeant? Sherbrooke/Notre-Dame et Papineau ne sont pas des secteurs résidentiels. Les automobilistes ont choisi, eux-mêmes, les rues du quartier.
Cute theme for a remake of the classic Labyrinth (1986). It's a solid game. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12...
Labyrinth
Hunt for treasure in an ever-changing maze. Will you open a path? Or block a rival?
boardgamegeek.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Cute theme for a remake of the classic Labyrinth (1986). It's a solid game. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12...
Mettrais-tu le 14 sud sur Saint-André ou juste annuler la ligne peu fréquentée complètement?
November 28, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Mettrais-tu le 14 sud sur Saint-André ou juste annuler la ligne peu fréquentée complètement?
And it actually had a rotating light that worked! Just not in the area at night to capture it and it didn't show well during the day.
November 28, 2025 at 2:40 AM
And it actually had a rotating light that worked! Just not in the area at night to capture it and it didn't show well during the day.
It was advertising NB previously, with an Acadian lighthouse.
November 28, 2025 at 2:39 AM
It was advertising NB previously, with an Acadian lighthouse.
Can you imagine if a US state tried to draw two Congressional districts where one had over double the population of another? Same state! And all the overpopulated ones are urban, often minority, and underpopulated are rural? This is how our nonpartisan commissions draw, with Supreme Court approval!
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Can you imagine if a US state tried to draw two Congressional districts where one had over double the population of another? Same state! And all the overpopulated ones are urban, often minority, and underpopulated are rural? This is how our nonpartisan commissions draw, with Supreme Court approval!
There are so many rules like this that when I tell people they often don't believe it's legal. 25% deviation from the average as a baseline (meaning 67% larger), but can deviate further generally and moreso if you deem it a special case? Provincially! Windsor West is >2x pop of Kenora. Federally!
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
There are so many rules like this that when I tell people they often don't believe it's legal. 25% deviation from the average as a baseline (meaning 67% larger), but can deviate further generally and moreso if you deem it a special case? Provincially! Windsor West is >2x pop of Kenora. Federally!
I won't get into apportionment, but just the redistricting rules here would be struck down even by SCOTUS. Or the law that allows property owners and business owners with an office to vote in municipal elections, once per municipality, so you could vote in 100 municipalities.
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I won't get into apportionment, but just the redistricting rules here would be struck down even by SCOTUS. Or the law that allows property owners and business owners with an office to vote in municipal elections, once per municipality, so you could vote in 100 municipalities.
And the deviations are huge. In the Verdun borough the two districts are 27,841 and 21,061 electors (we draw prob maps using electors not residents). And the border isn't a natural feature, it's a random residential street in a grid; if moved to the closest major street pops would be closer.
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
And the deviations are huge. In the Verdun borough the two districts are 27,841 and 21,061 electors (we draw prob maps using electors not residents). And the border isn't a natural feature, it's a random residential street in a grid; if moved to the closest major street pops would be closer.
And then everyone up the chain just passed it as is; no changes necessary because it was already done how they liked. There was a very similar process in Canada. In Quebec the provincial commission reviews compliance, but it's only "does this fit the maximum deviation?"
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
And then everyone up the chain just passed it as is; no changes necessary because it was already done how they liked. There was a very similar process in Canada. In Quebec the provincial commission reviews compliance, but it's only "does this fit the maximum deviation?"
When I suggested larger changes based on communities of interest and ignoring incumbent homes (they must live in the district) he said the goal was to keep that intact as is. The Hispanic concentration was split between two districts so I suggested making that whole with opportunity district. Nope.
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
When I suggested larger changes based on communities of interest and ignoring incumbent homes (they must live in the district) he said the goal was to keep that intact as is. The Hispanic concentration was split between two districts so I suggested making that whole with opportunity district. Nope.
But the map drawer started with the current map and then mostly took advice from the registrar, who cared most about removing split precincts by conforming the districts to the precincts, not vice versa. So everything resulted in little change.
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
But the map drawer started with the current map and then mostly took advice from the registrar, who cared most about removing split precincts by conforming the districts to the precincts, not vice versa. So everything resulted in little change.
The smaller you get the more of a challenge it can be.
Municipal redistricting really left a bad taste in my mouth wherever I've seen it. In Virginia it's the governing body that passes it (for their own districts), and mine gave the task to a map drawer who held meetings.
Municipal redistricting really left a bad taste in my mouth wherever I've seen it. In Virginia it's the governing body that passes it (for their own districts), and mine gave the task to a map drawer who held meetings.
November 28, 2025 at 12:27 AM
The smaller you get the more of a challenge it can be.
Municipal redistricting really left a bad taste in my mouth wherever I've seen it. In Virginia it's the governing body that passes it (for their own districts), and mine gave the task to a map drawer who held meetings.
Municipal redistricting really left a bad taste in my mouth wherever I've seen it. In Virginia it's the governing body that passes it (for their own districts), and mine gave the task to a map drawer who held meetings.
The video has been set by the creator to only play from YouTube, not embedded in other apps or sites, so it's possible that causes the card to fail.
November 27, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The video has been set by the creator to only play from YouTube, not embedded in other apps or sites, so it's possible that causes the card to fail.
Wait is Sam the urbanist WHCA dinner Obama? youtu.be/n9mzJhvC-8E
C-SPAN: President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner
YouTube video by C-SPAN
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Wait is Sam the urbanist WHCA dinner Obama? youtu.be/n9mzJhvC-8E
That's fair. Though I would add that local electoral districts are sometimes drawn by politicians in Canada; I remember writing a letter to my local paper complaining about drawing districts with large deviations (and proposing a better map) and hearing there was a lot of consternation internally.
November 27, 2025 at 12:28 AM
That's fair. Though I would add that local electoral districts are sometimes drawn by politicians in Canada; I remember writing a letter to my local paper complaining about drawing districts with large deviations (and proposing a better map) and hearing there was a lot of consternation internally.
And politicians do set the rules. Quebec politicians have worked hard to keep Gaspé having more seats than population would allow, giving less representation to Montreal suburbs. Northern Ontario has more seats than it should. Etc. There is absolutely political interference in redistricting here.
November 27, 2025 at 12:09 AM
And politicians do set the rules. Quebec politicians have worked hard to keep Gaspé having more seats than population would allow, giving less representation to Montreal suburbs. Northern Ontario has more seats than it should. Etc. There is absolutely political interference in redistricting here.
No *partisan* gerrymandering, but Saskatchewan has had fights over their rurban districts (splitting up Regina and Saskatoon and combining part of each city with a rural quadrant). Also we have big disproportionality, esp in QC, where it's ±25% and sometimes more, which would be illegally in the US.
November 27, 2025 at 12:07 AM
No *partisan* gerrymandering, but Saskatchewan has had fights over their rurban districts (splitting up Regina and Saskatoon and combining part of each city with a rural quadrant). Also we have big disproportionality, esp in QC, where it's ±25% and sometimes more, which would be illegally in the US.
Matt Shearer is undefeated, great kicker. And I'm sure @probablyalissa.bsky.social will appreciate the two pinball machines, among other oddities.
November 26, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Matt Shearer is undefeated, great kicker. And I'm sure @probablyalissa.bsky.social will appreciate the two pinball machines, among other oddities.
Looking at a tracker, yes, Thalys are taking the old line via Leiden (while EC and ECD are taking HSL Zuid), and currently all trains are taking the new Belgian HSL via Noorderkempen, so even with the stops the ECDs are faster. Plus there are huge delays, and many of the Thalys are ending at R'dam.
November 26, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Looking at a tracker, yes, Thalys are taking the old line via Leiden (while EC and ECD are taking HSL Zuid), and currently all trains are taking the new Belgian HSL via Noorderkempen, so even with the stops the ECDs are faster. Plus there are huge delays, and many of the Thalys are ending at R'dam.
Ok, so it seems this mess is due to the Belgian train strike; normally Thalys is faster. Trains are running via Roosendaal, and the ECD waits in Antwerp for Thalys to pass it. But then Thalys takes an hour from Rotterdam to Schiphol, maybe because it misses its slot, my guess is it goes via Leiden.
November 26, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Ok, so it seems this mess is due to the Belgian train strike; normally Thalys is faster. Trains are running via Roosendaal, and the ECD waits in Antwerp for Thalys to pass it. But then Thalys takes an hour from Rotterdam to Schiphol, maybe because it misses its slot, my guess is it goes via Leiden.
No one here is cooking.
November 26, 2025 at 6:10 PM
No one here is cooking.
And they say Americans don't make things anymore....
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 AM
And they say Americans don't make things anymore....