Amanda Rose

“Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.” - George Orwell, 1945, The Freedom of the Press

@shiralazar @shortyawards @mcuban @WhatsTrending No one deserves it more than you. xx

I won a @shortyawards 🎉 Creator Advocate of the Year and presented the award by @mcuban It’s been a while since I’ve won anything. After starting @whatstrending in 2011, we won a bunch of awards and then it was heads down in the work.

@mattgurney Refreshing to read such a balanced take. It’s exhausting being constantly fed content from grifters trying to rally their "side" on here. Thanks.

"From Trump’s perspective, ending the defense board is just about perfect. It embarrasses us, costs him nothing (at least nothing he cares about) and puts Canada on notice. We have been reminded of our weakness and dependence on American protection." readtheline.ca/p/matt-gurney-…

My latest column is up at @the_lineca — I actually think Elbridge Colby's comments about Canada's defence failures were fair. I've been saying the same thing for years. We did this to ourselves. But the question is "Why do this now?" And it's obvious. We're being softened up.

@elevatereport You certainly live in your own reality.

@amanda Reality is tough, I get it.

The Warning Shot has been Fired. The United States is Pausing the Joint Board on Defense with Canada. It’s about to go from bad to worse for Mark Carney if he doesn’t start working for Canadians and advocating for Western Values.

@destraynor @agupta Or just too early. youtube.com/watch?v=-LywX3…

@amanda @agupta 100% correct. The assumption here is that you believe your business is venture backable. An often correct conclusion is "good product, but not a big business"

This is ridiculously bad advice. You should change your idea if users don’t want it. Investors are a lagging indicator.

@destraynor @agupta Not all companies should be taking investment. If 100 VCs won’t invest, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a bad idea. It could just mean your business isn’t the moonshot they’re looking for. It could still become a very profitable company.

It’s chicken and egg. If you can get users to want it, then you’ll get the investors. If you can’t get the investors, then it’s logical to assume you can’t demonstrate user demand yet, and you’re therefore asking for a massive bet from the investor. If 100/100 of them aren’t willing to take it, then it’s probably best to re-examine your idea. Do you disagree?

@internetvin In the days after the Haiti earthquake in 2010, we crowdsourced donations of BlackBerry phones for nonprofits like @Concern working on the ground. Aside from satellite phones, they were one of the few ways to reliably communicate.

How BlackBerry’s technical architecture allowed people to send messages during the terrorist attack on September 11th in NYC, when other systems were failing.

@VasRealEstate It's going to save the condo tens of thousands in future maintenance repairs to just have a location on each floor instead. Ask anyone that's sat on a condo board. Chutes sound great, but people throw the most ridiculous things down and it gets stuck constantly.

Buyer purchases condo for $810k, gets appraised at $435k, finds out there is no garbage chute - every night becomes a silent elevator ride holding a leaking garbage bag beside a neighbour holding their vomit. Toronto precon, the gift that keeps on giving:

@idiom_bytes Kudos for putting in the work 👏

Democratic participation shouldn't be limited to a ballot every four years. Your MP votes in your name every week. On housing. Healthcare. Rights. Trade. Most Canadians have no idea how this measures up to their values... Not because they don't care, but because parliament, government proceedings, and the outcomes are hard to make sense. I don't believe that's an apathy problem, but rather an accessibility problem. I've been building Canada Central to create civic-tools that make it easier for anyone to understand what's really going on, without the politics. But, looking at dashboards and reading reports is too passive. We need tools that help Canadians engage civically and help provide guidance to their elected representatives. And so, we're building it. An app that lets any Canadian vote on policy, and then discover the gap between their values, and our elected representatives. Coming soon to Canada Central.

@donnelly_b When did the Dominion List actually start? It’s much easier to track the last couple years vs 20 years ago. That’s not to say it’s not increasing as it becomes easier and cheaper to create tech companies, but I wouldn’t buy into the hype that there’s some sort of sudden exodus.

Good question

@valdombre That’s not a Blue Jays slogan. ‘Diversity Our Strength’ is Toronto’s official motto.

Why are the Blue Jays pushing "Diversity Our Strength" propaganda?

@MatinaStevis Agreed. We can be optimistic, but there’s still a lot more to do. There is a way to "say it", which @build_canada sums up in their recent memo. buildcanada.com/memos/say-it

@shashj @BratiTano Underspending on defence, which others in NATO did as well, is not a reason to threaten Canada's sovereignty. I think you're downplaying this.

Stop taking advice from people who've never built anything. If they haven't put something on the line, their opinion on your risk isn't worth hearing. The people who judge the attempt are never the ones making one.

When simulation becomes the norm, it weakens the human capacity for discernment. As a result, our social bonds close in upon themselves, forming self-referential circuits that no longer expose us to reality. We thus come to live within bubbles, impermeable to one another. Feeling threatened by anyone who is different, we grow unaccustomed to encounter and dialogue. In this way, polarization, conflict, fear and violence spread. What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth.

@MatinaStevis @AnaSwanson This gives me confidence we have the right negotiators in place for Canada.

@mark_collins09 @sethbannon 1. that you don't speak for most Canadians 2. you're confusing arrogance with opinion

@amanda @sethbannon What argument are you even trying to make?

Our closest ally now despises us.

@mark_collins09 @sethbannon It's not arrogance. When you live next to a superpower, you’re constantly compared to it, so you define yourself against it. I think you need to expand your social circle, Mark.

What are you even talking about? I'm 36. Born in 1990. In that entire span of time, almost every Canadian I've talked to has had a negative opinion of the US and a significant superiority complex. Even when Obama got elected and people were excited about it, the attitude in Canada was "we're still better than the US because...reasons". The only difference between now and then is that it's more openly talked about. But the attitude is the same.

@briangarrett There's a propaganda machine working to get Americans to hate Canadians. Or create some scary socialist narrative. It's gotten even worse in the last year. I'll let you draw your own conclusions why. We are not a perfect country, but I feel very lucky to be Canadian.

Canada has been a blast so far 👍 I don’t really understand why the country gets so much hate 🤔 After actually coming here and seeing Montreal, Toronto and Niagara Falls it’s a beautiful place with friendly helpful people, great food and lots of amazing views 🌁

"We are a mirror, reflecting you." Artemis II mission specialist Jeremy Hansen discusses ways that the crew worked together and supported each other throughout their lunar mission.