Chris Trottier

Wow. Just wow. The Trump Administration wants Canada to gut bilingual labels, strip French-language requirements from electronics and manuals, and put a leash on subsidies for French culture and French media online. No wonder Carney walked. Good. Some things are not sitting on the bargaining table with a price tag tied to their ankle. That’s the part the USA never seems to understand about Canada. We’re right next door, but sometimes they look across the border and see nothing but meat on a butcher’s scale: language, culture, identity. They just see numbers, statistics, and leverage. Something to carve up if the deal is fat enough. Then Canada says no, and suddenly Americans look surprised. Sorry. Culture and language are not for sale. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-counter-tarrif-response-9.7316934#:~:text=The%20prime%20minister%20revealed%20that%20the%20U.S.,would%20not%20have%20been%20acceptable%20to%20Canadians.%22

According to @dansup@mastodon.social: #Loops has a dead man’s switch. If an admin does not log in for a week, open registrations close. This might seem like a small thing but it’s huge for trust and safety. #Fedicon

I can now confirm that this brand new MP3 player has a REAL clickwheel! Not just a mechanical wheel. An actual wheel with a touch pad that clicks for song and file navigation! And yes, the centre is a button that clicks too! Why am I excited about this? As we all know, Apple stopped making iPods. The iPod Classic, Nano, and Shuffle was discontinued long, long ago. And very few non-Apple MP3 players since have had clickwheels. This one was bought off Amazon for $83.99 and has a 64GB of storage—which is slightly more than what my iPod Classic had right before it was stolen. This also uses Rockbox firmware, which gives it an intuitive iPod-like UI and functionality. You can look at photos and watch movies on it—even read books, but who would read books on this thing? Whatever, it’s here. But there’s more! This MP3 player can play lossless .flac files. Which is something my iPod couldn’t do. It also has Bluetooth connectivity. And it sports an FM radio. How does it sound, though? Well, I’m listening on Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones—plugged right into the 3.5mm jack—and it sounds great. As good as an iPod, perhaps better. This thing purports to have 25 hour of audio playback with wired headphones at half volume. I’m not sure about this, but I’m testing it. Nevertheless, this is where my old iPod Classic has the edge because it offered 30 hours of audio playback. One further benefit: it works with Linux. Nothing like iTunes is required. It’s just a matter of dragging and dropping files onto the device—which makes it way more useful to me than an iPod since, well, I like to use my Bazzite desktop PC for CD ripping. If this just acts like an iPod, I am very happy. And yes, since this is cheap, I expect there to be “surprises”. But so far, this is a suitable—and cheap—iPod replacement! For all of you wanting the link, here is where I found it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0GX9H3CPJ RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/dcbea8c1-6685-4dcb-95e1-99026e5a1fd5

Final night for #Fedicon (but not #FOSSY) Speakers and panelists are meeting for one final meal at Big Way Hotpot. Nobody here (except @julian) has yet had hotpot.

You know what’s a great way to make friends in Richmond, BC, Canada? Sit in a park with a gongfu tea set. Get out a kettle full of hot water, a teapot, pitcher, some cups, and some tea leaf canisters. Hang around and do nothing. Eventually, someone will come over and talk to you.

The process of building Angine de Poitrine’s double-necked microtonal guitar/bass is quite inspiring. https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/electric-guitars/angine-de-poitrine-godin-custom-guitar

Early Saturday morning. The sun is up, the birds are screaming. Yes, screaming. Seriously, I had a dream about sharing French toast with Jerry Garcia and he was screaming loudly in a panic—enough to wake me up, and I realized it was a sea gull above my window wailing and screaming its heart out. To hell with that bird. And I had to SCRAPE MYSELF OUT OF BED like something they found stuck to the floor of a slaughterhouse. Back to FOSSY. Back to #Fedicon. My carcass wanted sleep. My brain wanted darkness. But somewhere out there a bunch of beautiful internet freaks were already gathering, so I poured myself into some clothes and joined the living. And so far at FOSSY? Great. I’ve met people from all over the world. Different countries. Different accents. Different projects. People building things, breaking things, rebuilding things, and arguing passionately about extremely specific pieces of technology that 99.999% of humanity will never know exist. In other words, my people. Some are perfectly respectable, some suspicious, some absolute freaks. Freaks like me. The good kind. The kind who get obsessed with some strange little corner of the universe and start digging until their fingernails come off. So here I am, early Saturday morning, running on fumes and whatever electrical impulses are still jumping between the wet wires in my skull. Fedicon at #FOSSY. The freaks have assembled. And somehow I made it out of the crypt in time to join them.

So, on social media, why aren’t husbands more forthright about how amazing their wives are? I can’t speak for other men, but I can tell you why I’m leery. Whenever I publicly compliment my wife on social media, I run the risk of five things happening—and none of them are good. First, I get people who hate when I express happiness. They feel like I’m rubbing it in their faces, and that I’m mocking their unhappiness. And to them, this cannot stand. Then I get people who nitpick—find something to critique. Maybe one of us isn’t attractive enough or virtuous enough or we’re just “wrong”. I have to also contend with creepy dudes. Assholes who ask way too much information for their own puerile needs. Then get testy when I tell them it’s none of their business. As well, there’s women who see marriage as a challenge. So they rush into DMs to test the waters. And it’s embarrassing. Finally, if you keep talking up your wife, after awhile it feels like a performance. And it’s no fun to perform a relationship in public. Marriage ain’t an act. I suspect lots of men have this same experience. So they shut up. And that’s why those who don’t like their wives tend to be the loudest on social media.

My daughter is learning about the joys of dedicated—and offline—MP3 players. Though technically, this FiiO X1 also plays lossless files too, but I digress. There’s something freeing about not being distracted and just hearing the music.

In the context of the 90s, “boy power” meant something totally different from “girl power”.

Something Europeans don’t realize about Americans because there’s a societal disconnect: Americans aren’t stupid. They want to demonstrate that they don’t care. And the ultimate way to demonstrate that you do not care is to feign ignorance. That something is so unimportant to you that you’re oblivious towards it. That it has such little impact, it’s beyond consideration. It doesn’t matter that demonstrating ignorance makes them look stupid. What matters is that they can afford to not care. Because in the USA, apathy is a status symbol.

@bcasiello@floss.social @alice@lgbtqia.space Okay, but can it? Because the last HP laptop I bought had overheating problems.

Now I remember why I loved this Kalami Assam black tea from Ahmad Tea! This is everything I love about Assam. I first made it the recommended way—the Western way—by putting in 2g of leaves into a 250mL teapot, and steeping with rolling boiled water for 7 minutes. It’s great. It’s malty, brisk, tannic. The long brewing time leans more towards bitterness and astringency, but perfectly fine without milk or sugar. It’s when we go with gongfu brewing that things get very interesting—turns it into something special. I put 5g of leaves into a 120mL teapot, added water heated to 95C, and did a short steep for 30 seconds. Now we have very little bitterness and astringency, and some other elements come out: grapes, stone fruit, peaches, apricots, chocolate, vanilla. It’s as though this is a fruity tea blend. But it’s not! At first, I thought this was my imagination. Have I been using the same teacup with all my teas? So I brought forth another cup. Gave it a long smell. Not my imagination—it indeed smells like freshly picked fruit. With another sip, there it was again: the fruit, the malt, the chocolate. Everything. And it was delicious. The wild part? This isn’t even as good as it could be. For while this is loosely tea, it is also loosely cut with a few stems hanging around. If this was actually whole leaf, imagine how amazing it would be. Yet, even as it is, it is so good. Just for a moment, looks at the way those leaves expanded before and after steep. The way bubbles collect on the surface of the steep. The deep amber colour of the brew. It’s beautiful. Understand that this is cheap tea—but that doesn’t mean it’s terrible. On Amazon, it costs C$14.99 for 454g. Which means it’s less expensive than most fannings and dust stuffed in teabags. It also makes me wonder what would happen if I got my hands on whole leaves. Would it be that much better? Or would it be a matter of paying a premium for diminishing returns? Perhaps some day I will find out. But today, I will enjoy this tea. RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/ede27d27-9963-4a37-a889-a8fe40883686

The 2010s was such an odd decade for rock music. People think it died. But I don’t buy that. It’s more like the innovators of rock music were no longer white hetero dudes. For example, you can’t tell me that St. Vincent isn’t one of the most incredible guitarists of all time. And she is clearly making rock music because what else could this possibly be? If St. Vincent isn’t a rock star, then neither is David Byrne or Kurt Cobain. Yet people pretended that rock music was “revived” when Greta Van Fleet (LOL!) showed up—a band that just retreaded 70s cliches. Now I’m not saying a retread is inherently wrong because there’s plenty of people who weren’t alive in the 70s and thus haven’t discovered Led Zeppelin yet. But they certainly did “revive” rock music. Also, to anyone who cares: The Weeknd makes rock music too. If Kajagoogoo, Flock of Sea Gulls, and A-ha make rock music, so does The Weeknd. https://youtu.be/TAdARF4rGcQ

The plain I’m boarding has nearly 50 Eastern Orthodox priests, monks, and nuns on it. Hopefully, that’s enough spiritual power to keep the turbulence and lightning at bay.

@futurebird@sauropods.win I’ve been there in that, in the past, I’ve used AI to “soften” the tone of my posts so that they wouldn’t result in unforeseen conflict. However, my stance is that your thoughts should be your genuine thoughts if you are presenting them as your thoughts. And for this reason, I’ve also lessened my use of AI because I don’t need it to write for me—just make sure that what I write aligns with my intentions.

Why do singers nowadays sound like 19th century Dickensian orphans?

No tea review today because I’m at a tea cupping event where I’m sampling well over a dozen black teas. All these teas are from Taiwan and China. No Assamica, though Assamica grows in China as well. So far, the winners are Dianhong, Lapsang Souchong, and Ruby 18.

For the first time in a while, nobody on Reddit has accused one of my long effort posts of sounding like AI. My secret? I took my normal writing style—the one you’re reading right now—and told ChatGPT to make it sound like a Redditor. Lowercase. Apostrophes ripped out. Barely any punctuation. Short paragraphs. Simple words. No polish. Nothing too clean. And suddenly I’m more “authentic.” Which is funny as hell because I’m clearly not. Apparently, sounding human now means making the writing shittier on purpose. But congratulations. Less “slop.”

This #WorldCup Final is brutal to watch! Maybe it would be better if you’re a Spain or Argentina fan. But so far, there’s nothing beautiful about this game. #soccer

I’m gonna let you all in on a secret: the world is actually getting better. It just gets better SLOW. Then, in between, things can get worse fast and ugly. But if you plan for the crises, the drop doesn’t hit quite so hard. Stairs up. Elevator down.

I am NOT joking. The White House just released arcade.gov. A collection of browser-based video games to push MAGA propaganda. That is a real sentence I just had to write.

Today’s tea is dandelion leaves, grown and harvested in China, sold by D.M.D. Bridge Brand. It is possible to brew the flower, but this is only the leaves. And once again, this is not actually tea because all tea comes from the tea plant. Rather, it is a tisane. Which means these are leaves you can infuse with hot water. Not many people know this, but yes, you can drink dandelion. All those “weeds” you see sprouting in your yard? You can pluck the leaves, dry them out, and make a hot beverage out of them. Nevertheless, when you look at the leaves in their dry form, they have some similarity to tea in how they wither and curl. The scent, however, is drastically different. As it should be since this is from a flower. Compared to tea, this is extra pungent. Dry In terms of taste, dandelion is quite complex. It starts off as earthy, grassy and vegetal. Then when it hits mid-tongue, it gets bitter but not astringent—it’s more of a clean bitterness. But after you swallow, there’s a lingering sweetness. Like tea, dandelion is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is said to aid digestion, act as an anti-inflammatory, and regulate blood sugar. I’m not a doctor, this is just its purported benefits. It should also be mentioned that dandelion has no caffeine. In fact, there are no psychoactive compounds in it. There is Taraxasterol, which seems to validate TCM’s belief that dandelion helps liver function. I’ll be brewing this in my Kamjove teapot. I’ll be 5g of leaves, heating water at a rolling boil, and steeped for a solid 10 minutes. I like tea, I don’t have to worry about overextraction of tannins with dandelions since there isn’t any.

Cave Verde was the only team to not lose to Spain. #WorldCup #soccer

Fine! I will watch the #WorldCup Final—even though I dislike both teams! Though I will admit that I dislike Argentina more than I dislike Spain. #soccer

Wait. The EU are now enemies of the US? When did that happen? And who are the US’ friends?

Now hearing “Blogging on the social web” by Matt Baer, the man behind Write Freely and write.as. I keep wondering if I should get started on that or if Akkoma is simply good enough. #Fedicon

@KitsuneVixi@sakurajima.social Maybe the real problem is notifications and the temptation to scroll.

Hey, anyone remember Wildebeest? That was Cloudflare’s Mastodon killer. #Fedicon

This is how I remember the 2000s, and it’s strange that this music is mostly forgotten. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiqpkTFjsMQ

Common English words that most men don’t understand: bodicepeonyflouncingtaupewisteriaprogesteronedecoupagemascarponeflouncybottlebrushtressestaffeta The only words I knew from this list are peony and flouncing. Peony because there’s such a thing as white peony tea, and flouncing because it is what it sounds like. You’d think I’d therefore know what flouncy meant—but no. What words did you know?

I’ll be honest. Argentina does not deserve to win the #WorldCup. They’re not even trying to score. The only reason they haven’t lost is because their goaltender has made god-like saves and denied Spain over and over again. #soccer

Premier David Eby just called a BC provincial election. I’m not happy about this. It seems like a crass move to strike while opposition parties are in disarray. And as much as I don’t like BC Conservatives / CentreBC / OneBC / The Aristocrats… we don’t need this election. So I’m thinking about voting Green. Emily Lowan might be 25-years-old, but at least she cares about things. https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/bc-provincial-election-called-voting-day-oct-24-live-updates-here/

@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de And it’s not as though people who hate long posts can’t just skip them and read something else. But I think the people who complain about long posts are largely status-driven and see long posts as a threat. They see effort as an attempt to establish authority. But rather than countering each point—because that would take effort—it’s easier to just dismiss effort as pedantic, self-important, and “sounds like AI”.

Hey Argentina fans, your team didn’t lose because of bad refereeing. They lost because Argentina DID NOT SHOOT THE BALL! https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/why-more-60-000-argentina-154932332.html #WorldCup #soccer

@PanNindyk@wspanialy.eu @KitsuneVixi@sakurajima.social Why are you telling me this? I have a DAP. Many of them. Here’s two that I’m holding at the same time. I also have a Walkman, and I’m reporting what people tell me when they see my Walkman. And by the way, a DAP does not replace a Walkman because a DAP does not play cassettes.

I’m tired of Americans saying Trump’s anti-Canada rhetoric is “just a distraction”. It seems like a distraction for you because—quite simply—you don’t want to care. And the reason you don’t want to care is because you believe it won’t impact your life.

And to top it all off, Brent Chapman just left the BC Conservative Party to join OneBC. I think he’s bitter that his wife, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, was forced to resign as leader. And then there are the rumours about secret tapes that allegedly show Chapman in a particularly bad light. So yeah, that might be part of it too. https://www.sitkamedia.ca/breaking-brent-chapman-leaves-bc-conservatives-to-join-onebc/ RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/19a3ae2c-c094-4fac-ac1b-777fde57041a

I’m convinced performative liberalism on social media helped wreck the American Left. Republicans figured out that a lot of people don’t actually want the fight. They want the dopamine hit of looking like they’re fighting. They post, they grandstand, they get to feel righteous for five minutes, and there’s the dopamine rush they came for. And once people got that dopamine from a screen, they had less reason to get out in the street and demand actual change.

I support Canada’s efforts to diversify away from Starlink. Now if only the government would diversify away from X / Twitter as well. https://cultmtl.com/2026/09/canada-confirms-plan-to-diversify-away-from-elon-musks-starlink/

My mother always warned me about the dangers of sax and violins.

@mayintoronto@beige.party You should return on May Day.

It’s hilarious. I walk outside with a Walkman and somebody always does a double take. “Wait. Is that a Walkman?!” Yeah. Then comes the next question: “Is that actually a cassette?” Like maybe I’ve stuffed an iPhone inside an old plastic shell and I’m running some nostalgia scam. Then: “Can you open it and show me?” So I pop the sucker open. There’s the tape. Real cassette. Little wheels and a plastic shell. And then they usually tell me the same thing: they wish we could go back to Walkmen. Put on music and just LISTEN without all the other crap crawling out of the phone every time you try to hear a song. And yeah, I get it. But tactile, physical music never went away for me. And nobody has to have to wait for it to come back. You can pick up the damn thing right now.

Absolute FIFA boondoggle by Gianni Infantino! Selling stakes in the #WorldCup to private equity—to Joshua Kushner, no less—looks dead in the water. No UEFA, no World Cup. That simple. Because that’s where most of the best teams are. And now CONCACAF—North and Central America’s governing body—outright rejects it too. https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifa-ownership-infantino-uefa-anger-july28-9.7287575 #soccer

WHOO! 3rd blood and urine test in less than a year! Don’t you all just love getting your arm pricked and then peeing in a cup while undergoing a 12 hour fast?

After today, I want no more medical stuff. No more tests. No more obtrusive check-ups. No more fasts. It’s been three months of this constantly. It’s been incredibly disruptive. And they’ve found NOTHING. I’m sure someone in the comments will finger wave and tell me that I should be grateful. Fine. I’m grateful for the medical system here. Now put that finger away and realize what I’m actually saying. This is very stressful, tiring—and my God, I’d like to go back to enjoying life and being laser focused on things.

The Robert Smith of bird species.

I’m so old, when someone just mentioned they’re an HP fan, I thought they were referring to Hewlett-Packard. And I thought, “Who, in this day and age, loves Hewlett-Packard?” Turns out “HP” means Harry Potter.

@dansup@mastodon.social 🤔