Alice Atkin
@westcoastalice.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Fellow at York University, studying sensorimotor feedback, perception and action, driving, video games, and more. Fond of tea, cats, and stories. She / her.
recommend. top 10 life experience
October 8, 2026 at 2:23 PM
recommend. top 10 life experience
Reposted by Alice Atkin
i was fortunate enough to profile Margaret Hamilton in 2019. A really kind and curious person. This was my favorite story she told me:
October 7, 2026 at 11:07 PM
i was fortunate enough to profile Margaret Hamilton in 2019. A really kind and curious person. This was my favorite story she told me:
Reposted by Alice Atkin
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton.
she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back.
news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back.
news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
October 7, 2026 at 9:09 PM
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton.
she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back.
news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back.
news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
Reposted by Alice Atkin
First time catching a sunset in a squirrel eye. Might make this a thing.
October 3, 2026 at 3:30 AM
First time catching a sunset in a squirrel eye. Might make this a thing.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Reposted by Alice Atkin
It's pretty funny to say this right now, when the world's dictators and aspiring dictators are demonstrating their extreme non-benevolence and commensurate inefficiency. Was invading Ukraine efficient? Were the gulf princelings cheerleading the disastrous Iran war efficient?
“Democracy has been hailed as, like, the holy grail for the last couple hundred years, but democracies are inefficient,” said the crypto billionaire. “If you get a benevolent dictator, it’s actually extremely efficient."
Hmm, where have I heard this before?
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/b...
Hmm, where have I heard this before?
www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/b...
Inside a Billionaire’s Paradise With Crypto’s Most Powerful Ex-Convict (Gift Article)
Changpeng Zhao, jailed in the United States for a financial crime and pardoned by President Trump, is now living a gilded life in the United Arab Emirates.
www.nytimes.com
October 5, 2026 at 5:45 PM
It's pretty funny to say this right now, when the world's dictators and aspiring dictators are demonstrating their extreme non-benevolence and commensurate inefficiency. Was invading Ukraine efficient? Were the gulf princelings cheerleading the disastrous Iran war efficient?
Reposted by Alice Atkin
ok whos gonna port Doom to viscous incompressible flows
October 7, 2026 at 1:48 AM
ok whos gonna port Doom to viscous incompressible flows
Reposted by Alice Atkin
open weights model? no I said open Waits model. it just makes vague growling noises and talks a lot about New Orleans.
October 7, 2026 at 5:26 PM
open weights model? no I said open Waits model. it just makes vague growling noises and talks a lot about New Orleans.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Haha, this fucking sucks.
October 6, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Haha, this fucking sucks.
Goodnight, Toronto! 💙💖
October 7, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Goodnight, Toronto! 💙💖
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Erasing A Landmark.
What started as a soap factory in the 50s transformed into BMW's main Toronto dealership after stripping the building down to it's structural frame and rebuilt as a 6 story modernist glass-clad showroom. It's now being demolished as part of a flood protection plan for the area.
What started as a soap factory in the 50s transformed into BMW's main Toronto dealership after stripping the building down to it's structural frame and rebuilt as a 6 story modernist glass-clad showroom. It's now being demolished as part of a flood protection plan for the area.
October 7, 2026 at 1:05 AM
Erasing A Landmark.
What started as a soap factory in the 50s transformed into BMW's main Toronto dealership after stripping the building down to it's structural frame and rebuilt as a 6 story modernist glass-clad showroom. It's now being demolished as part of a flood protection plan for the area.
What started as a soap factory in the 50s transformed into BMW's main Toronto dealership after stripping the building down to it's structural frame and rebuilt as a 6 story modernist glass-clad showroom. It's now being demolished as part of a flood protection plan for the area.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Fun fact: From a sufficient elevation on a clear day, it's possible to see across Lake Ontario and make out the shapes of the hotels in Niagara Falls.
And sometimes when weather conditions are just right, the plume from the falls looks kinda like the city just got nuked.
And sometimes when weather conditions are just right, the plume from the falls looks kinda like the city just got nuked.
October 6, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Fun fact: From a sufficient elevation on a clear day, it's possible to see across Lake Ontario and make out the shapes of the hotels in Niagara Falls.
And sometimes when weather conditions are just right, the plume from the falls looks kinda like the city just got nuked.
And sometimes when weather conditions are just right, the plume from the falls looks kinda like the city just got nuked.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Just saw someone say their AI runs their fantasy football team and I can’t stop laughing. Like, I’m sure everyone’s doing it or something but it’s very funny to me that pretending to be a team manager was so hard that you needed to pretend to pretend to be a team manager
October 5, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Just saw someone say their AI runs their fantasy football team and I can’t stop laughing. Like, I’m sure everyone’s doing it or something but it’s very funny to me that pretending to be a team manager was so hard that you needed to pretend to pretend to be a team manager
I'm a neuroscientist, so, all of them
(except Total Recall, that shit's real. I do that all the time)
(except Total Recall, that shit's real. I do that all the time)
name a film that got your job entirely wrong.
October 6, 2026 at 2:06 AM
I'm a neuroscientist, so, all of them
(except Total Recall, that shit's real. I do that all the time)
(except Total Recall, that shit's real. I do that all the time)
Reposted by Alice Atkin
This is the animating principle of my YIMBYism.
I'm not sure if she's aware of it but this 2022 @rebeccajtiffany.bsky.social tweet is basically an article of faith at @liberalcurrents.com ( @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com quoted it in www.liberalcurrents.com/feminism-wit... and I've referenced it countless times ever since)
October 4, 2026 at 10:34 PM
This is the animating principle of my YIMBYism.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Anand is the best (and I'm doing an event with him at, yes, @cityartssf.bsky.social Thursday, for his new book Man in the Mirror). Couldn't agree more that cities are refuges or places of last resort for people kicked out of rural/suburban/pseudo-idyllic America.
October 5, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Anand is the best (and I'm doing an event with him at, yes, @cityartssf.bsky.social Thursday, for his new book Man in the Mirror). Couldn't agree more that cities are refuges or places of last resort for people kicked out of rural/suburban/pseudo-idyllic America.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
this is my favorite genre of social media post and I am soliciting links or screenshots to your favorites
October 5, 2026 at 3:44 AM
this is my favorite genre of social media post and I am soliciting links or screenshots to your favorites
the people yearn for trains
Ontario - "The government is spending $4b to plan Alto, a new 300 km/hr high-speed rail line connecting Toronto to Quebec City. With an estimated cost of $60-$90b and a completion date of 2041 or later, do you oppose or support this project?"
Support: 55%
Oppose: 31%
Mainstreet / Sept 29, 2026
Support: 55%
Oppose: 31%
Mainstreet / Sept 29, 2026
October 5, 2026 at 6:33 PM
the people yearn for trains
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Yesterday the cafe I work at packed up its CafeTO patio. Immediately, someone parked where the patio used to be and the spot was basically occupied all day m. It made me think of the bike lane removal thing. All those “freed up” lanes will just be parking. It won’t ease car congestion at all.
October 5, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Yesterday the cafe I work at packed up its CafeTO patio. Immediately, someone parked where the patio used to be and the spot was basically occupied all day m. It made me think of the bike lane removal thing. All those “freed up” lanes will just be parking. It won’t ease car congestion at all.
Reposted by Alice Atkin
"If you were to completely cancel and refund all of the money spent on bike lanes, even in the last 10 years in the city of Calgary, you wouldn't even barely be able to afford just one single interchange that's built in the suburbs," -Mayor Farkas @jeromyyyc.bsky.social
#yycbike #Calgary
#yycbike #Calgary
Councillor wants Calgary to pause new bike lanes ahead of upcoming provincial legislation | CBC News
With the province expected to take more authority over municipal bike lanes in the months ahead, one Calgary councillor wants the city to pause any new bike lane projects in the meantime.
www.cbc.ca
October 5, 2026 at 12:45 PM
"If you were to completely cancel and refund all of the money spent on bike lanes, even in the last 10 years in the city of Calgary, you wouldn't even barely be able to afford just one single interchange that's built in the suburbs," -Mayor Farkas @jeromyyyc.bsky.social
#yycbike #Calgary
#yycbike #Calgary
Reposted by Alice Atkin
Gorgeous video that sums up so much truth about how we live today...and how we could live differently.
The street you live with is not the street you have to keep.
livestreetsmart.com
livestreetsmart.com
October 5, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Gorgeous video that sums up so much truth about how we live today...and how we could live differently.
kinda neat when someone you've met personally wins one of these things
For their research into brain activity, Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel win the Nobel Prize in medicine.
Nobel medicine prize goes to 3 scientists for research into brain activity
The Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded to three scientists for their work on how the brain switches nerve cell activity on and off.
bit.ly
October 5, 2026 at 3:31 PM
kinda neat when someone you've met personally wins one of these things
truthfully? the Lion King 😅
those grinning, slobbering hyenas? Mufasa dying? the elephant graveyard?
the first half of that movie is pretty upsetting, if you're 5
those grinning, slobbering hyenas? Mufasa dying? the elephant graveyard?
the first half of that movie is pretty upsetting, if you're 5
In honor of scary media month: what is the first piece of media you remember truly frightening you as a child?
October 5, 2026 at 1:44 AM
truthfully? the Lion King 😅
those grinning, slobbering hyenas? Mufasa dying? the elephant graveyard?
the first half of that movie is pretty upsetting, if you're 5
those grinning, slobbering hyenas? Mufasa dying? the elephant graveyard?
the first half of that movie is pretty upsetting, if you're 5
A little café in Kensington
October 4, 2026 at 11:44 PM
A little café in Kensington
I love that she cares but my Aunt has never actually learned what it is I do, which is why the most recent job ad she shared with me was for an electrical engineer (??) in Antarctica (????)
October 4, 2026 at 9:38 PM
I love that she cares but my Aunt has never actually learned what it is I do, which is why the most recent job ad she shared with me was for an electrical engineer (??) in Antarctica (????)