Still my all-time favourite social media post
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@johncormier@mstdn.ca has moved
@johncormier@mstdn.ca
mastodon 4.8.0-alpha.3+glitchThis account had moved to @johncormier@cosocial.ca, effective March 21, 2026.
86 Followers
1144 Following
18 Posts
Joined November 18, 2022
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@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz Used to work at NIST (2002-04), and there were large analog clocks inside each research lab, none of which agreed with each other. I always thought it was hilarious that we were supposed to be master timekeepers yet no two clocks displayed the same time.
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@timbray@cosocial.ca it’s hardly a rush, the discussions to migrate away from mstdn.ca go back more than a year. I just had other things going on and hadn’t prioritized it as I probably should have.
@stephanie@ottawa.place @ECityMom@mstdn.ca I lost no followers, and lost just a few (presumably inactive?) accounts that I had been following. Was quick and painless.
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Could some kind person please send me the latest bestest instructions for hopping to another instance? I just went through all my bookmarks because I'd sworn I'd saved it, but I don't seem to find it.
@Remittancegirl@mstdn.social I’d also highlight the experience of the UK (which I was reading earlier today) in WW2, which could perhaps be summed up as “in war, there are no allies, only self-interested countries”. PM Churchill begged and pleaded with President Roosevelt for destroyers to attack the Nazi U-boats who were sinking the merchant fleet and starving the UK. Churchill sent an insane number of letters to Roosevelt that all went unanswered. In the end the Americans grudgingly sent the UK a small number of rusted obsolete destroyers that did nothing to help turn the tide. Lesson: do not find yourself in a position where you must depend on allies. Canada would be wise to take note.
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@CelloMomOnCars wow, this is amazing! Spent many years developing novel technologies for human breath analysis. Though I had considered applications for companion animals (many people are prepared to spend money on pets that they wouldn’t spend on themselves or even a loved one), it never occurred to me that there might also be applications with marine mammals like whales and dolphins.
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@CelloMomOnCars ooh field work in the Mediterranean sounds perfect right now! Unfortunately I don’t work on breath analysis anymore. (Like you, it would never have occurred to me that whales could catch infectious diseases. Nature is endlessly fascinating!)
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@elliek@zeroes.ca Thank you, Ellie!
@NMBA@mstdn.ca from work I was involved with about 20 years ago (natural gas pipeline leak detection), I seem to recall that the transmission and distribution networks in the US were old and poorly maintained and were estimated to lose about half of the natural gas that entered due to leaks.
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@buffyleigh@mas.to for sure, me too! Very glad she’s found ways to continue making art
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@buffyleigh@mas.to I did not realize she had a new album out!
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@sephster@fosstodon.org I quit LinkedIn last year. Haven’t regretted it one bit.
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@nixCraft holy crap, I’m the same age yet I’ve done nothing that remotely compares in significance to what Linus Torvalds has done
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@kissane thank you for an excellent and thought-provoking essay! It’s given me much to think about.