Mastodawn

Spill in St. Clair River 'contained,' according to Suncor in Sarnia
The refinery says it 'immediately deployed' equipment including booms and vacuum equipment.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/st-clair-river-spill-oil-sarnia-9.7125317?cmp=rss

Jonathan Emmesedi Oct 6

https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/victorian-rail-mania-has-lessons-ai-investors-2024-07-12/

I don't know enough about AI to decide if the Victorian rail mania analogy holds or not.

What's worrying is that I suspect that many of those talking up AI are not that much better equipped than I am to make an informed assessment .

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #RailwayMania #Booms #Bubbles

Nicole Hennig Sep 17, 2025

🫧 Is AI a bubble? https://www.exponentialview.co/p/is-ai-a-bubble (long read but worth it. I like the historical comparisons) #AI #forecasts #economy #booms #bubbles

Nicole Hennig Sep 17, 2025

🫧 Is AI a bubble? https://www.exponentialview.co/p/is-ai-a-bubble (long read but worth it. I like the historical comparisons) #AI #forecasts #economy #booms #bubbles

Snowbird of Paradise Sep 5, 2025

Changing Industrial Infrastructure

A few days ago I described seeing thousands of European Starlings on and near a rail dock. Well, maybe there were only hundreds, not thousands, but they were very noisy so it felt like thousands. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to the structure they were perched on, so today I went back to take a closer look and, to my dismay, all the birds had gone. There was one solitary crow cawing loudly, but otherwise the building was bird-free.

I decided to take some more pictures of the rail dock because it seems now to be disused. At least, it doesn’t look as though it has been used for some time; grass is growing on the wooden boards, and the metal towers need a coat of paint. I should add that I have no idea what this building is formally called, so I am calling it a rail dock with gantries. It may have once served the now-defunct coal industry, and it may still serve the lumber industry.

What I saw today contrasts quite considerably from the satellite image on Google Maps. There it shows a lot of lumber in floating booms waiting to be loaded on to freight cars, a couple of dozen trucks and trailers in the parking lot, and a similar number of cars parked nearby. None of those things was there today. Instead, the city has placed several (maybe thirty) lovely flower planter beds around the empty parking areas, and a city worker with water tanker truck was watering the plants as I passed by.

The rail line connects to a railroad freight yard nearby where there are multiple train tracks and I wonder where they all go to. It did not look very busy when I passed by. There must be an opportunity here for tourism to nearby parks and to other cities on Vancouver Island, but currently it is not set up for passenger traffic.

Now I am wondering about the history and the fate of this structure. As its original purpose seems to be diminished or gone, perhaps it will be abandoned. I don’t know who is the owner or if the city has responsibility for it. If any reader can add insight into this, I will appreciate it.

#booms #changing #coal #decline #dock #GoogleMaps #industry #infrastructure #lumber #Nanaimo #parking #Photography #rail #technology

steev hise Jul 30, 2025

This rant by Ed Zitron is SO GREAT.
(it's a rant but with receipts)

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-haters-gui/

#ai #datacenters #tech #broligarchy #scams #cons #bubbles #booms

“And remember that you, as a regular person, can understand all of this. These people want you to believe this is black magic, that you are wrong to worry about the billions wasted or question the usefulness of these tools. You are smarter than they reckon and stronger than they know, and a better future is one where you recognize this, and realize that power and money doesn’t make a man righteous, right, or smart.”

The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble

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