Eric S. Smith

Having vacationed somewhere immediately beside GO tracks, I can confirm that trains passing at line speed are An Experience. It’s pretty reasonable to wish that they were electric (they’ll still be loud). https://www.thetrillium.ca/news/municipalities-transit-and-infrastructure/metrolinx-told-them-the-trains-on-their-doorstep-would-be-quiet-and-electric-it-didnt-say-when-12231710

“The Trump administration is now offering Canadian and Mexican aluminum and steel companies immediate tariff relief if they commit to moving production to the United States…” …to be threatened with seizure in a future shakedown. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/american-offer-canadian-aluminum-steel-companies-tariff-relief-9.7176321

“…an unconditional, non-political, personal gift.…And it will ensure I can be safe for the rest of my life.”

Ah, yes, Nigel Farage carrying on Nigel Faraging in perfect safety forever, clearly a completely apolitical thing to facilitate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jv8xl17l8o

“The Liberals’ spring economic update on Tuesday referred to crypto ATMs as a ‘primary method for scammers to defraud victims and for criminals to place their cash proceeds of crime.’” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canada-crypto-atm-ban-scammers-9.7180642

“Poilievre said his strategy would be to ‘build up a massive strategic reserve of our energy and our minerals and use that as leverage…’”…to get concessions from Trump, who says he doesn’t want our energy and minerals? Not clear how. https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/carney-should-state-what-leverage-canada-has-in-trade-talks-poilievre-says/

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a false claim about the military in his testimony to the House on Wednesday.” Shocking; he’ll have to step down for sure. 😶 https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/04/politics/hegseth-biden-2024-troops-voting-locations-fact-check

“A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest of a Hmong American man by federal officers that was captured on video as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, officials announced Monday.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/minnesota-authorities-ice-arrest-investigation-9.7162123

The ones that I don’t use remain obscure, the ones that I do use all look worse. Calendar is now just the number 31, for God’s sake. https://9to5google.com/2026/04/26/gmail-google-gradient-redesign/

“Bhutan's mining operation was viable when difficulty was lower, and bitcoin traded above $90,000. At current levels near $71,000…hydropower that made Bhutan's operation novel may now generate more revenue from electricity sold to neighboring India…” https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/04/11/bhutan-has-sold-70-of-its-bitcoin-in-18-months-it-may-have-stopped-btc-mining-too

Old Timey Republicans have wanted to bomb Iran for generations, going on the Sunday shows and invoking “the mad mullahs” and their “terrorist theocracy.” And now it’s finally happened, and the guys doing it are frothing at the mouth about the will of God and casually threatening to end civilization.

“…you can feel the pull of the narrative that seduced the NYT: a scrappy founder with a rags-to-riches backstory, two brothers taking on the world, AI tools stitching it all together…almost none of it holds up to even the most basic scrutiny.” https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/07/the-new-york-times-got-played-by-a-telehealth-scam-and-called-it-the-future-of-ai/

“Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in bitcoin…” It takes a lot longer than a few seconds to confirm a Bitcoin transaction, so let’s hope that’s not literal. https://futurism.com/future-society/iran-demanding-bitcoin-payments-pass-strait-of-hormuz

“Rather than simply issuing alerts, the FBI…remotely sent commands to compromised routers in the U.S. to remove malicious settings, restore legitimate DNS resolvers, and block further access by the Russian actors.” https://www.newsweek.com/americans-reboot-internet-routers-nsa-11810909