Skye

So glad they cancelled the capital gains tax. That will really improve my life

Great I love living in permanent austerity neoliberal hell

49% of average snowpack on Vancouver Island going into a very warm period yikes

Concerning

Seattle's Critical Mass Unity Ride for Alex. Biggest impromptu ride I've been a part of :O

braver than me

Pybus public market in Wenatchee WA pop. 119,943

Let's gooooo

Maybe someday we'll even get a permanent covered farmers market like Wenatchee

Signal path between me and Mt Lolo MeshCore repeater showing a mountain in the way

The MeshCore app has some great tools built in, like Discover Nearby Nodes that shows the repeaters you can directly communicate with, and Line of Sight that shows signal path between any two points to check for obstructions

People are treating this like it's inevitable. It's not.

Laws are what we, as a society, decide what is and is not harmful.

Regulate AI now.

Solar powered Meshcore repeater in a 3d printed enclosure

The beauty of this mesh radio system is that expanding coverage is just a matter of installing more low cost repeaters - nothing to configure, it discovers other repeaters and expands coverage automatically. And it's so low powered that it can be solar powered and installed almost anywhere.

There are huge meshes running right now all around the Puget Sound/Salish Sea, in the UK, Europe, California, all over the place, and they are slowly getting connected to each other. It seems to be scaling quite well, because it uses routing unlike Meshtastic (a different, incompatible system)

You can also send direct messages to other online users, which are end-to-end encrypted. There's a bit of a learning curve, but it works incredibly well for a project that's only about 3 years old.

The Meshcore app allows you to post in a Public channel, which is then rebroadcast to everyone else that is online in your mesh, or post in a "room server", which is like a bulletin board or BBS where you can leave messages that offline people can see later.

Map showing the location of Meshcore repeaters and room servers (message boards) visible from Kamloops as of Jan 2026

I'm not in a great location for radio communications, but within a few hours I saw the contacts list on the Meshcore app update with local Kamloops repeaters, and through the repeater on Mt Lolo, several more as far away as Salmon Arm and Falkland.

Heltec v3 companion radio for Meshcore

I got a $25 Heltec v3 companion radio off Aliexpress, requires a little bit of assembly, then you have to flash it with the Meshcore firmware from a computer.

How do you know if you're near a repeater? This map shows a lot of them (not all), the Meshcore network is growing very rapidly, if you're in any city there's a good chance you'll be able to connect to a repeater
meshcore.co.uk/map.html

To get connected, you need:
1. To be within about 10km of a "repeater"
2. A "companion radio" - it acts as a bridge that connects to the Meshcore network over radio (910.525 MHz in Canada), and to your phone over Bluetooth
3. The Meshcore app on your phone to send & receive text messages

In fact, MeshCore was developed by in the wake of the tropical cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 that devastated the North Island of New Zealand, which was cut off from all communications.

I can easily imagine a scenario where Canadian cellular services and internet were down (or shut down?)

This week I've been experimenting with Meshcore, an interesting new mesh communications technology designed for off-grid, low-power text communication without relying on cellular networks or internet. It's easy to setup, and could be very useful in case of natural disasters or other emergencies.

Have you heard? Today is the last day to buy an NDP membership to vote in the leadership race.

Now go tell your friends. And your friends' friends. And your co-worker's roommate's pickleball club. And everyone in between!

Join by midnight tonight. Let's get this done: https://avilewis.link/join

"Disconnected" is the word I want to highlight here. Percolation Theory 101 says in order for something/someone to move from point A to point B through a network, there must, at minimum, be a connected, continuous path for them to traverse. If that path doesn't exist, then the trip doesn't happen.

Yeah no

It's totalitarian social control when you can walk or bike to run errands. It's freedom when you have to buy a $50,000 car and fill it with gas every week.

The "cars everywhere always" people are sounding increasingly unhinged. This is the response to a traffic calming and congestion proposal for downtown Oxford.

It's the algorithms, they are tuned to reward toxic behaviour

Are they going to go after Signal? It wasn't that long ago that governments were trying to ban strong encryption and install backdoors for "national security" reasons

December Pedestrianized Pike Place Pilot numbers are in, and drum roll please…
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Sales are up again! (7.1%). Sales at the market have beat expectations every month of the pilot so far. Take a moment of zen and join me this video stroll down the festive street last month.

Looking for a TikTok alternative built on open standards?

If you've donated to the federal NDP, you might not be eligible to vote in the leadership race if you're not on the membership list by Jan 28.

You can check your NDP membership status here:
act.lewisforleader.ca/membership-c...