@johncormier@mstdn.ca has moved

This account had moved to John Cormier 🇨🇦 (npub1ame…gfaz), effective March 21, 2026.

Website: https://johncormier.ca/
Location: Canada
I’d rather be: Biking

Public Key

npub1qh2qcpf7qg05et2wwqk4j2yfkusj37ta6k9yx3dz8nhrvflpvpus6sd9yl

NIP-05 Address

johncormier_at_mstdn.ca@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqt4qvq5lqy86v4488qt2e9zymwgfgl97atzjrgk3rem3kylskq7gprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqek8qj

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1qh2qcpf7qg05et2wwqk4j2yfkusj37ta6k9yx3dz8nhrvflpvpus6sd9yl

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Last Notes

2026-03-21 16:12:53 UTC

Looks like I'm going to need to park myself somewhere else, as mstdn.ca looks to be in peril. Is cosocial.ca still open to new members?

2026-02-16 04:59:19 UTC

I’m beginning to think the universe snuck a failsafe in our DNA that ensures that we self-destruct as a species before we populate and pollute the rest of it.

2026-02-07 19:04:47 UTC

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condemning 40 million Canadians so as to not condemn 1 million Albertans is certainly a telling choice.

2026-01-14 17:38:42 UTC

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umm no, I actually trust the Danes about a hundred billion times more than I trust USians to respect Canadian sovereignty

2025-12-23 20:40:41 UTC

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barf, no thanks

2025-12-20 17:24:35 UTC

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Used to work at NIST (2002-04), and there were large analog clocks inside each research lab, none of which agreed with each other. I always thought it was hilarious that we were supposed to be master timekeepers yet no two clocks displayed the same time.

2025-11-28 15:22:13 UTC

Tattoo ink impacts immune response. Interesting paper, surprised this hasn’t been studied before https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2510392122

2025-11-07 14:21:48 UTC

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Trying to imagine the insane amounts of pressure and hate that would be needed to force a MP to resign w/o so much as a word of explanation, mere months after the election. Life inside the Con tent must be so joyful rn 🤣

2025-11-06 23:38:01 UTC

Holy moly, another Con MP has quit the party. Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux is abruptly resigning from parliament. The Cons are down 2 MPs this week, the Libs now stand just 1 seat shy of a majority. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-matt-jeneroux-resigns-9.6970100

2025-08-05 14:59:03 UTC

Interesting and thought-provoking article on memory. https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-a-cell-remember-20250730/

2025-07-22 15:51:44 UTC

Hi everyone! My old introduction was getting a little stale so I figured it was time to write a new one. I’m John, and I now live on the east coast of Canada. I’m a 50-something physicist who invented a laser technology to detect diseases using exhaled breath, in addition to some holographic technologies. I love R&D but the best part of my career has been mentoring promising young scientists, engineers, and founders. I have a wide variety of interests that include music, art, science, health, photography, books, reading, video games, biking, hiking, gardening, and much more. I am a lifelong feminist and ally. When I came to Mastodon from Twitter in the fall of 2022, I had no idea that I was actually autistic. If you made it this far, please wave or say hello! #introduction #actuallyautistic #physics #science #Canada #startups #founder #mentoring #books

2025-06-02 23:34:56 UTC

Thank you Mastodon, for being there. Recently, there have been times when I just scanned my timeline silently, w/o commenting, boosting, or even liking. Although I left no trace, your contributions didn’t go unappreciated. I’m always grateful for your companionship, even if I don’t always know how to express it.

2025-05-26 15:35:53 UTC

It’s been a really hard month at work. On the one hand, I was delighted to be working in physics again, and I really enjoyed the collegiality of the physics students and postdocs. However, my supervisor was hard to get along with and saw things differently, bc today he let me go without warning. He didn’t give a reason, just said that it was time to give someone else a chance.

2025-03-01 15:34:04 UTC

Argh #mstdnca is now on day 3 of being down, broken, or unreasonably slow. I’ve been happy here for 2+ years, but it may be time to find another instance that is more reliable at this pivotal time in history. Any suggestions for a Canadian scientist with eclectic and wide-ranging interests?

2025-02-28 15:55:27 UTC

*blinks in the bright light* Finally crawling out of a dark hole, after a full day of the Mastodon Canada instance outage. #mstdnca #Canada

2025-02-20 17:03:11 UTC

Finding a depressing number of accounts by scientists that haven’t posted anything in months or longer. Please wave if you are scientist posting on Mastodon so I can make sure to follow you. 😊 🔬 #science

2025-02-12 22:46:38 UTC

Someone said this the other day, and now I can’t get it out of my head. Why have Canadians heard nothing from their head of state, the King of England, on the American threats to take over Canada? Dude, you had one job.

2025-02-12 22:37:50 UTC

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hmm just checked Apple Maps on my Mac, and the body of water between Mexico and Florida is correctly identified as the Gulf of Mexico. Out of curiosity, I checked my iPhone and it also identifies said body of water as the Gulf of Mexico. If I ever notice a change in the name, I will definitely report it.

2025-02-02 18:33:01 UTC

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In further conversations with my mom while we’re waiting for my dad to be discharged, she insisted that we are brother and sister, and that her mom is my mom. I’ve been trying to convince her that she’s my mom, but she doesn’t believe me. It’s definitely a harder day than I anticipated having.

2025-02-02 17:47:44 UTC

So this morning, I got a call from paramedics that my dad was in the ER. Having to coordinate some things with my mom has made it quite clear she has significant memory issues. Not quite as bad as my FIL, but bad enough that she really can’t do anything on her own anymore. Like, she went to their bedroom to get some clothes for him to wear, and she had a container of brown shoe polish for some reason. She also keeps insisting that she’s at the hospital for her mom (who died ~20 years ago).

2025-02-01 15:07:50 UTC

Tonite, we’re gathering as a family at my in-laws to enjoy one last meal together. My FIL will enter a care home for dementia on Tuesday. My MIL is making baked beans bc he’s become somewhat obsessed with farts as his Alzheimers progressed, and farts are the one thing that consistently makes him laugh. Gonna be rough going for the next few days.

2025-01-27 15:21:10 UTC

If all it takes to tank the market is a shadowy Chinese startup called DeepSeek claiming that it spent less than $6 million on AI compute to create a LLM that is competitive with top LLMs that have collectively spent more than $100 BILLION, then either investors are dumb as rocks or AI researchers are. Take your pick. 🤣

2025-01-26 22:58:00 UTC

Enjoying soup dumplings with the fam in Montréal’s Chinatown. The dumplings themselves are delicious and very recommended. Only quibble: why does every place we visit here have hot chili sauce that, well, isn’t hot?
https://cdn.mastdn.ca/media_attachments/files/113/897/123/040/246/773/original/55c3a659cad8e638.jpeg

2025-01-22 00:11:34 UTC

Hello Rush fans I need your help! I recall watching a Rush video in which there is a bit at the end where they tell audiences from different places around the world that they are from Canada. That’s all I have to go on. If anyone knows which video I’m trying to find again, please let me know!

2025-01-19 22:03:26 UTC

If I ate this lemon macaroon, that would count as a serving of fruit, right? 🍋

2025-01-05 22:53:45 UTC

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I didn’t mean to imply that the US was a better system, only that its machinations and motivations seem to be better known. For example, where I live in Canada, few people understand how healthcare works. When I was developing a new healthcare tech years ago, I was amazed how many of my fellow Canadians thought healthcare was free and accessible to all.

2025-01-05 22:26:32 UTC

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yup, recall reading an eye-opening paper several years ago that discussed the various decision trees and models that different countries use to effectively cap costs in healthcare. Everyone does it, though many are much less transparent than the US about the processes and values that they employ in throttling healthcare.

2025-01-05 19:12:48 UTC

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to clarify, the quoted figure of $1B/yr is revenue, not profit. Assuming a 50% gross margin, that implies just $8B in profit over 16 years. Since the R&D investments have to be repaid, that means the company would essentially just tread water (using those numbers). This is why multi-billion dollar markets are required for drug development to pay off.

2025-01-05 18:58:30 UTC

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this generally tracks with my own experience in the space. Was involved in a phase 1 study where the per-patient cost was around $15k per patient (net), however that research was heavily subsidized with public funds. Note that $1B/yr for 16y of patent protection is just $16B total, which is not exactly an amazing return for $8B invested but is enough to be considered a win.

2025-01-03 16:41:14 UTC

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for example, it does not surprise me that we are on the precipice of global war now that there are almost no survivors of the second world war still alive today. Memories have at long last faded away and the world is once again thirsty for blood. Apparently, pandemics work differently.

2025-01-03 16:36:45 UTC

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I expected memories to dim slowly with future generations, as direct word of mouth and lived experiences become scarcer and scarcer, slowly but inexorably. Never in my wildest years did I expect the forgetting to come from the very same people who struggled to stay alive during the first year of the pandemic. We are so fucked.

2024-12-24 18:29:58 UTC

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Good news! The ophthalmologist examined my wife and confirmed that her eye problem is not the serious kind. A huge relief. Now we can all get back to worrying about how we’re going to put up with the Trumper side of our family tomorrow.

2024-12-24 15:48:15 UTC

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Well, things are moving much quicker than I expected. She has an appointment in about an hour with an ophthalmologist. Fingers crossed it’s not something serious, but relieved that it’s being taken very seriously.🤞

2024-12-24 12:58:16 UTC

Early morning, Christmas eve 2024: I am woken up from a deep sleep by my wife, whose first words to me are: “I need you to drive me to the hospital.”

2024-12-16 12:58:29 UTC

In a few minutes, I’ll be heading into a meeting with the chair of one of the local uni’s physics dept about a return to academic research. Wish me luck! 😉

2024-12-10 17:08:30 UTC

As a former CEO who was harassed and threatened with violence by a clinically insane fucker and his sidekick years ago, I’m left speechless by folks on Mastodon who apparently see no issues whatsoever with post after post (sorry, toot after toot) advocating for the murder of executives. It’s deeply unsettling how this place lurches from warm and friendly cat photos one second, to downright terrifying threats of violence the next.

2024-12-05 15:15:18 UTC

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Ok. I must be a moron bc I STILL don’t see how to do this after spending 10 minutes trying to find where my hashtags are kept. I tried via the app I use (Ice Cubes), via the Mastodon app, via the web portal. I see lots of other stuff. But no hashtags.

2024-12-05 14:54:43 UTC

I would like to edit the hashtags I’m following, but I don’t see how to do this. I must be missing something obvious. How do you see your hashtags?

2024-11-29 15:59:41 UTC

I’ll say this: whatever Mastodon lacks in hype, it more than makes up for in community! Woke up this morning with more than 50 (edit: I was going to update this with the current number of 60, but as I started to type the number went up to 61. Unreal!) new followers, all because I made a post (ahem, toot) yesterday in which I wished for more science content in my feed. 🤩

2024-11-28 15:41:18 UTC

So I created an account on bluesky, curious to see if there was more science content (I was prompted to check it out bc of a science editorial I read). Verdict: I found it slow. About half the posts were obsessing about the latest user numbers, the other half of posts were obsessing about Elon Musk. It’s much better over here, but I guess I do wish I had more science content in my feed. If you are a scientist, pls wave, reply or whatever so I can follow you. 🔬

2024-09-28 23:17:13 UTC

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To trivialize the staggering amount of power consumed by “AI” with nothing more to show for it than the irreversible polluting of humanity’s knowledge base enrages me in a way that few other people ever have.

2024-09-24 15:47:02 UTC

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I’m scared to look, tbh. Prob sold my DMG for $5 at the time.

2024-09-23 22:14:02 UTC

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alas I have no notes and, sadly, none of the original books. A regret I carry to this day (my parents persuaded me to sell them when I graduated in 87).

2024-09-23 22:11:25 UTC

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omg, I did literally the same thing a couple years ago. Had to rely on my memory of the D&D/AD&D module covers to compile the list. Was a fun couple of hours.

2024-09-17 22:37:49 UTC

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Long ago, the Cdn govt contracted my startup to test the detection of such explosives using the tech I invented. I ran a proof-of-concept simulation first, which showed there was no way for us to detect the off-gassing vapours of the explosive material at normal temperatures. I jokingly suggested it would work better if we heated the sample. No one at the funding org saw the problem with this approach. In the end, they paid us in full and didn’t require us to do the test.

2024-09-16 22:34:07 UTC

Ngl, whenever I hear stuff about crowd sizes these days - no matter whose event it is - my mind invariably calculates the number of new cases/hospitalizations/deaths to be expected. 20,000 people attended your rally/event/concert/whatever? Congrats, you are responsible for 200 new cases, 50 hospitalizations, and 10 deaths. The actual numbers may vary, but the denial of responsibility is a universal constant. #COVID #WearAMask

2024-09-01 03:05:58 UTC

Dunno why but I clicked on the LinkedIn app on my phone and within a minute I felt my blood pressure rise. Just as I was about to hit the button to reply to someone’s odious comment about Kamala Harris in my feed, I realized that it was LinkedIn, not where I wanted to be. I exited the app and just like that, my blood pressure dropped back down and I was able to breathe properly again. Folks, don’t LinkedIn. Just don’t.

2024-08-31 01:45:54 UTC

Whoa whoa whoa.. wait a minute. You mean to tell me you can, as a country, decide that you’ve had enough of Twitter disinformation and just outright ban the platform in your country?!? 🤔

2024-08-30 00:27:59 UTC

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it may be less obvious, but money always finds a way. I may not be sure of much, but I am sure of this. Look at how tax rates for the wealthy have been steadily, inexorably declining for more than 60 years, regardless of govt. George Carlin was right: it’s a club and you’re not in it and neither am I

2024-08-30 00:19:13 UTC

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no matter who’s on the ballot, money always wins

2024-08-30 00:07:47 UTC

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I’d say that’s a very safe bet

2024-08-28 16:05:21 UTC

Jfc have I read that right? A number of US schools have closed less than a week after the start of the school year.. because of covid. The schools are closed to permit “deep cleaning” and when they reopen teachers will be required to “clean” students’ desks by wiping them down between classes. Not a word about masks or the fact that covid is airborne. 🤡 Thought for sure I was reading the Onion or some old news from 2020, but nope. This is the current reality in 2024. #covid #maskswork