Tim Fennell

@greatplainspress.bsky.social

I've been playing around with using a Spirula render engine as a render engine within Blender 5.3 now that blender has some support for 3DGS. Here I'm using it to relight a bee model I made. It's on GitHub.. github.com/timfennell/b... #3DGS

Tim Fennell reposted

Great Plains Press

📚 From the Jury 2026 Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award nominee 🎉 We’re delighted to share the jury remarks for "That’ll Never Work Here" by Patty Wiens.

superspl.atBee Extra Large (2.72 million splats) - SuperSplatI captured this scan using 226 focus stacks with a rig I built on a Raspberry Pi. I creates software to drive the capture of all the stack positions. The cap...

Here is a Gaussian Splat model I made of a bee specimen. 2.72 million splats assembled with Spirula Studio and scanned using a rig built. #entomology #3DGS superspl.at/scene/7b64ea2c

Georgina Sabesky hand picked by John Orlikow to replace him is running in River Heights with his old election campaign site. Couldn't even be bothered to update all the photos when she took over the website... sabesky.ca#vision web.archive.org/web/20250623...

If you are looking for a quick list of who not to vote for this municipal election, the current EPC is a good place to start. Vote them all out. (Note Lukes isn't running)

andrewkohan.comAndrew Kohan for Trustee in WSD Ward 2. Look Out for Kids!

Vote for Andrew Kohan if you are in Ward Two.

Andrew Kohan@akohan.bsky.social

Hey everybody, I’m taking the advice of every elected official I’ve ever yelled at who’s said “if you think you could do such a good job why don’t you try running for office”. Schools are super important for all of us, not just those of us with kids in the system, and I’m excited to fight for them.

winnipegfreepress.comGillingham pledges growth office to speed up projectsScott Gillingham says a new Winnipeg growth office would maintain a “shovel-ready” list of projects with the greatest potential to boost the city’s economy, if he’s re-elected as mayor.

22 Sept

Remember when in June 2024 there was an HR audit at city hall that reported that 67 per cent of the city's workers had not completed a formal job performance assessment and J Lukes said it was "just earth-shattering," and we never heard about it again? Let's add a new ill defined department.

Winnipeg Free Press@winnipegfreepress.com

Scott Gillingham says a new Winnipeg growth office would maintain a “shovel-ready” list of projects with the greatest potential to boost the city’s economy, if he’s re-elected as mayor.

mhca.mb.caMHCA Members Breakfast Features Conversation with Mayor Gillingham – Manitoba Heavy Construction Association

21 Sept

In case there was any doubt about who Gillingham works for during election season. He works for the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, not for the people of Winnipeg. mhca.mb.ca/mhca-news/mh...

Tim Fennell reposted

Andrew Kohan

@akohan.bsky.social

17 Sept

The whole point of daylight “savings” is that the summer months have a surplus of morning daylight that can be moved to the evening to reduce lighting costs. But the winter months have a shortage of daylight in the morning already, so this is just spending further into debt, with lives on the line.

Andrew Kohan@akohan.bsky.social

Looking forward to solar noon around 1:30 and civil twilight *starting* at 8:45

At what point do conservative voters start asking if we are getting enough value for the hundreds of millions of dollars we are spending on the WPS each year?

View full thread

Of course, we should consider the police can't solve the underlying issues we are experiencing in downtown Winnipeg. (And across the city) Poverty, homelessness, access to mental health support, and addictions. Police are not the right tool to solve these problems.

Finally, at city hall they measure the success of the WPS based on the number of calls they responded to. (And allocate funds accordingly) As if responding to more calls is good. We are solving for the wrong metric. At this point our money is better spent on reducing the need for calls.

At what point do conservative voters start asking if we are getting enough value for the hundreds of millions of dollars we are spending on the WPS each year?

@savestandard.bsky.social

Interestingly we have one of the highest rates of spending on police among large cities in Canada, but we have a below average number of police per resident when compared to those cities.

Tim Fennell reposted

Save Standard Time

15 Sept

“Study after study, in every way, shows circadian rhythm would be improved by [permanent Standard Time], and it would benefit health outcomes, across the board, in every level.” —California Assemblyman Joe Patterson (R), in support of SCR-7 👏 Thank you!

14 Sept

Creating a 3D Gaussian Splat model of a bee specimen on 226 images. This is really the first full workflow test run using the multi background triangulation matte process that removes backgrounds and sensor dust. My process combines 27000+ source images into 226 focus stacks with alpha channels.

14 Sept

Next I want to try a much smaller specimen. Maybe an ant or something in that range.

superspl.atBig Bee - SuperSplat

15 Sept

Here is the 3D Gaussian Splat model I've been working on... superspl.at/scene/d29a49b7

1 Sept

Views from the ViaRail Canadian between Armstrong and Allanwater Bridge Ontario. This is Thunder Bay wildfire 36. Which is actually a few fires that merged. 3012 square kilometres burned and still not under control.

29 Aug

Making macro focus stacks with an alpha channel that was created using multi background triangulation matting. Hopefully this will improve my 3D Gaussian splat model creation. #macrophotography #entomology #3DGS

loc.govA Map of the five Great Lakes with part of Pensilvania, New York, Canada, and Hudsons Bay Territories &cRelief shown pictorially. Scale ca. 1:6,750,000. LC Maps of North America, 1750-1789, 220 Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. Vault AACR2

27 Aug

www.loc.gov/item/73694803/ From the Library of Congress on a map that is older than the USA... Yes it's Lake Ontario and will always be Lake Ontario.

Hillary Rodham Clinton@hillaryclinton.bsky.social

It’s Lake Ontario.

27 Aug

cbc.ca'Earth-shattering' report finds gaps in City of Winnipeg workforce reviews, accountability | CBC NewsThe City of Winnipeg has released what one councillor called an "earth-shattering" report on workforce management that found the city lacks adequate processes for reviewing staff performance and measu...

20 Aug

Just a reminder that two years ago there was a report at Winnipeg City Hall that most managers had no record of a performance assessment and many had no job description. All the members of the EPC were shocked and appalled, and we never heard about it again. #wpgpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

2 Aug

WestJet should pay its employees starting when they arrive at the airport for work. Anything less is wage theft. The government should be stepping in and correcting these unfair practices.

westjet.comThe WestJet Group announces the appointment of Heather Stefanson to its Board of DirectorsThe WestJet Group is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Heather Stefanson, former Premier of Manitoba, to its Board of Directors.

2 Aug

Also, just in case people forgot where Heather Stefansan went... www.westjet.com/en-ca/news/2...

Tim Fennell reposted

Jay Hightman

@jay.hightman.org

24 July

@tomflood.bsky.social

21 July

I made these mosaics with an app I've been building. My plan is to eventually draw these designs onto paper using a plotter. #penplotterart #mosaicart #penplotter #algorithmicdrawing

youtu.beTommy Douglas on Future of Medicare (1983)YouTube video by languagevirus

12 July

youtu.be/C2oUInTUlAM?...

2 July

Boarding the #viarail Canadian on Canada day feels appropriate. #canada

cbc.caWaverley West Coun. Janice Lukes won't run for re-election | CBC NewsWaverley West Coun. Janice Lukes won't run for re-election this fall, ending a three-term tenure at Winnipeg City Hall.

24 June

"I want to go out on a high note of doing good work," In the last term Lukes voted to reduce funding for roadway safety, voted to reduce funding for new bus acquisitions, voted to reduce the scale of the new bus garage, delayed reduced speeds, oversaw a failed launch of the new transit system...

Andrew Kohan@akohan.bsky.social

Don’t fuck with the radical bike lobby

24 June

Along with her partner in crime the Mayor, Failed to meet the modest roadway safety strategic plan of 20% reduction in roadway deaths and serious injuries, (the rate actually increased by 7.5%), failed to reduce raw sewage outflows, failed to develop a plan to meet transit accessibly laws.

How do we measure the success of a city? #winnipeg #wpgpoli What are the metrics that signal we are becoming the city we want to be both short term and long term? Perhaps in Winnipeg we have not been setting goals for the right metrics to achieve the outcomes we desire.

Example. I want my city to be a place where kids feel comfortable and safe riding their bikes. If kids aren't riding bikes, that is a sign our neighbourhoods are not safe. If we want our city to be a place where families want to raise their kids, make it so kids feel safe on their bikes.

Example. The WPS measures their success based on calls they responded to. We inform our police spending by the number of calls. Our goal as a city should be to get the number of calls to police as low as possible.

Example. Speeding tickets issued in school zones. We want this number to be zero. The fact we are catching people speeding is a sign that we have failed to make it safe. Our goal should be to have zero revenue from speeding in school zones.

nyti.msShe Was Dying of Cancer. How Should She Live?Thanks to new treatments, some patients with the disease are living longer — leaving them in limbo for years.

12 June

Elon Musk is now worth over a trillion dollars. To help put that scale of wealth in perspective... A million seconds is about 11 days. A billion seconds is about 32 years. A trillion seconds is about 31,688 years.

Tim Fennell reposted

The New York Times

@nytimes.com

12 June

Twenty years ago, “Stage 4” almost invariably meant “end of life.” Thanks to new treatments, some patients with Stage 4 cancer are living longer — leaving them in limbo for years.

drive.google.comReduced Speeds Pilot - Google Drive

10 June

Continuing the saga for information about the Reduced Speeds Pilot. I asked for more information... Interestingly one of the items they shared was titled. "Excerpt from the City of Winnipeg Reduced Speed Neighbourhood Pilot Final Report (January 2025)" drive.google.com/drive/folder...

10 June

It raises the question. If they have a document called "Final Report" dated January 2025. Why did it take until March 2026 to share an abridged version of information from that report with the public? #winnipeg #wpgpoli

Winnipeg's failure to come even close to meeting the modest safety goals of the Road Safety Strategic Plan is a massive failure of Mayor Gillingham. The plan was supported by council unanimously in 2022, but never supported with adequate funding or political will by Gillingham. #winnipeg #wpgpoli

View full thread

Interestingly while the Road Safety Strategic Plan sets a goal of 20% reduction by 2026. It didn't actually say a target number. This is the baseline the document was working with though... "Between 2012 and 2018, 98 people were killed and 1,113 suffered major injuries"

That would give us a baseline starting point of 173 per year. We can only assume that is our starting point. Based on that goal success would have been 138.4 by 2026. Our rate has actually increased by 7.5% over our baseline and we are missing our target by 34.4%.

WPG road Death (21) and Serious Injuries (165) in 2025 was 186. Pretty much the worst it has ever been.

It's wild to me that the City of Winnipeg spends public funds telling drivers to slow down but our leaders will do anything but actually reduce posted speeds. #winnipeg #wpgpoli

ctvnews.caThousands avoiding fare payments for Winnipeg Transit: new dataThousands of people try to avoid paying for transit every week, according to new data from the city.

5 June

Between Jan 1 and April 20 the attack on the poor recovered 1,168 bus fares. 30+ people working full-time for 4 months to "recover" around $4030 seems like a disaster of a policy. #winnipeg #wpgpoli www.ctvnews.ca/winnipeg/art...