Peter Newbury

@polarisdotca

Educational developer at Red River College Polytechnic in Winnipeg, Canada. Happy to chat about active learning, inclusive teaching, and ⚾. Building a mid-Century modern house, accepting donations of Eames chairs 😉. He/him.

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Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· 6d

My neighbour said, rather disparigingly, that our street can be a thoroughfare for *some people* between the Seine and Red Rivers. (Unhoused folks often find refuge living in greenspaces along the banks.) Hmm, I thought, like people have been doing for 10,000 years when they *portage la prairie*?

Google Map of my Winnipeg neighbourhood. A dashed green line connects the Seine River and -- imagine that! -- the closest point of the Red River which is also very near the junction of the Red and Assiniboine. That junction, known locally as The Forks, has been a meeting place and trading place for Indigenous people for thousands of years. It is why Winnipeg is where Winnipeg is.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· 7d

Echoes from a century ago when downtown Winnipeg was the center of industry. The Can•D•Man reminds us Nutty Club can fulfill all our candy, nuts, peanut butter, and pancake syrup needs! Manitoba Historical Society has all the deets! www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/s...

Big ‘ol 5-story stone and brick building in downtown Winnipeg. Giant letters painted on the building announce (in all-caps) “NUTTY CLUB CANDIES - NUTS”
The next line is very faded but you can still make out “PEANUT BUTTER - PANCAKE SYRUP” Finally, there’s a painting of “CAN•D•MAN”, a jaunty man with a top hat and a body made of candy canes.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· 23d

Watching them finish the outside of this building and thinking, if that cherry picker had some smarts, I bet the worker could toggle left right up down and the bucket would move parallel to the wall. Prolly just need distance and angle between base vehicle and wall? Oh, and bucket/wall gap.

Photo from across the street of an apartment building under construction. A construction worker is in the bucket at the end of a very long hydraulic arm that stretches, uh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 YIKES stories above the wheeled base on the ground. No, thank-you!

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· 27d

Can't wait to catch The Odyssey this weekend.

Still from the movie, Field of Dreams. Seven old timey baseball players are emerging out of the cornfield on a perfectly manicured baseball diamond

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jul 10

Last week, I moved to St. Boniface, the French neighbourhood of Winnipeg. It’s the oldest part of the city, full of clues about French Catholic settlement and Riel Rebellion. I’m enjoying the bilingual signs, like this one: la Promenade Taché / the Taché Promenade 😂

Two large, stone monuments sit next to each other along a sidewalk that follows the tree-lined Red River in the background. One monument says “PROMENADE TACHÉ” and the other says “TACHÉ PROMENADE “

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jun 2

Kiddo’s graduating from University of Manitoba today. All the #ProudDad feelz 🥲🥲🥲

Out-of-focus pic of a sea of graduates. Black robes, white stoles, square mortar boards. Kiddo’s in there somewhere!

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· May 24

The boys of Summer are back in town 😁 So are the Jumbo Diamond Dogs, fries, and Angry Fish pilsner! Close game so far between Winnipeg Goldeyes and the Milwaukee Milkmen

Blue Cross Park, home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes, from 16 rows above the Goldeyes dugout on the third base line. Emerald green grass, caramel-coloured dirt, and bright white chalk lines.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Apr 13

Don't you love those unique things about your city? Two big rivers, the Red and Assiniboine, join in Winnipeg (that's why the city is where it is.) Every spring, there's risk of flooding. The height the Red rises is measured in "feet James" on a gauge on James Ave in the oldest part of the city.

A graph showing the height of the Red River is 13.11 feet James on Sunday, April 12, 2026.

The horizontal axis is labeled by the date, from March 1 to April 12. The vertical axis is the height of the river above "Baseline winter ice level" and runs from 0 to 25 feet. Three special heights are marked: River walk (8.5 feet James) is the height of the public sidewalk at the nearly Forks park. A Minor flood occurs when the height is 15 feet James. 20 feet James and higher is Major flood territory.

The graph itself is a line graph showing the water level has been rising steadily from just above 0 feet James at the beginning of March to 13.11 feet James on Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 12:00:00 am.

The City of Winnipeg is the source of the data and the graph appears in the Winnipeg Free Press on Monday, April 13, 2026.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Feb 21

Fully committed to not buying anything from the US #FuckOff51stState but I’ll make an exception for something as unique as this: An Educator’s Guide to ADHD by @karencosta.bsky.social

Photo of the cover of “An Educator’s Guide to ADHD” by Karen Costa

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Feb 10

@analog-ashley.bsky.social @grimalkina.bsky.social By this time next year 🤞 I'll be living in my new house. Sad to leave behind my Little Free Library, though. Well, until this morning when I listened to you talking having a party to open yours! I will build a new one! We will have ☕🍩!

Photo of my Little Free Library. It's a rectangular box built around a stainless steel medicine cabinet. The Library is about 2' wide, 3' high, and 1' deep and it sits on two sturdy 4x4 posts. It's Christmastime and the Library has twinkly lights, decorations, all covered in a peaceful sprinkling of snow. There's a "Little Free Library" sticker on the door and some holly.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jan 26

My new old cabinet is an Electrohome “Riviera A” Radio-Phonograph Combo c. 1955. The red disk I found inside is the adapter that lets you play 45’s. It pops into the big hole on a 45 so the record fits snugly on the record player’s center post.

My new old Electrohome Radio-Phonograph Combination. It’s a white oak cabinet, 30” high, 36” wide, and 16” deep. The right 2/3 of the front is a speaker covered in groovy brown cloth with a grid of white and brass lines. A door on the left 1/3 opens to reveal an AM radio with a beautiful glass faceplate, 4 knobs, a turn table on a sliding shelf, and storage for your records.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jan 25

I bought a 1960’s cabinet that I’m transforming into a bathroom vanity for my new Midcentury Modern house. I found this inside. Can you guess the cabinet’s original purpose?

I can’t say exactly what this is or I’ll give away the mystery. I’m holding a red plastic, circular disk, maybe inch and a half in diameter. The disk isn’t solid, though. There’s a hole in the middle and then three curved, springy arms connected around the middle hole.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Dec 24

Spent the morning in the basement workshop turning a big slab of lumber into many, many small and precise pieces. Building another one of these dining room lights for my new house! #HappyPlace

Large dining room lights made of wood. It’s very geometric, with two dozen rectangular panels and nearly 40 thin rods flaring off thick horizontal ribs. It’s made of maple, stained a dark caramel colour. The lights inside cast all sorts of beautiful shadows onto the ceiling.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Dec 16

Coming soon, my timeline filled with a new house with a different style: Mid-Century Modern. I’m sooo excited cuz I’m gonna do a bunch of the finishing touches like built-in cabinetry, wooden screens, lights, stone fireplace,…Construction starts this Spring!!!

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Dec 16

Like the fireplace? Yeah, I’m really pleased with the transformation. I made the columns to match the newel post on the staircase, and inserted Arts & Crafts “tulip” motif. Came out really well! It has an electric insert with very realistic LEDs.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Dec 15

I will not use my new laser level on my Christmas tree. I will not use my new laser level on my Christmas tree. I will not use my new laser level on my Christmas tree. I will not use my new laser level on my Christmas tree. Oh, c’mon, of course I will 🤣

A fresh cut Christmas tree standing perfectly upright in the corner of my living room. A green laser beam is painting a line across the living room floor, then vertically up the trunk, through the branch at tip of the tree, and onto the ceiling.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Dec 13

Incredible sundogs in chilly Winnipeg today, with a feature I’ve never seen before! *Horizontal* band of light - parallel to the horizon - nearly 360 deg around, with bright concentrations more than 90 deg from the Sun (I should’ve measured the angle!) Is this some kind of double sundog OMG!

Panorama photo taken around noon in Winnipeg. Top 2/3 is bright blue, nearly cloudless sky. Bottom 1/3 is the ground with cars and storefronts nestled in the snow. The wickedly bright Sun is at the center. There are bright sundogs on either side showing a rainbow of colour. The sundogs are part a full halo that encircles the Sun. Surprisingly, there’s a horizontal band of light running through the Sun and sundogs that extends fully across the sky from left to right. Far along the band of light, at least 90 degrees from the Sun, there are additional bright concentrations of light. Kind of a double sundog OMG situation!

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Dec 3

I see your chilly *liquid* water and raise you chilly *frozen* water 🥶

Photo looking down onto the frozen Assiniboine River in Winnipeg. A snow-covered grassy island is surrounded by the frozen river. The surface is very rough, with blocks of ice that piled up as the surface froze over last week. Brrr!!!

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Nov 27

We're running a student experiences survey where students rate their agreement on a 6-pt LIkert (no neutral). I'm so excited to #DataViz using Stephanie Evergreen's Diverging Stacked Bar Chart. Notice how the agree/disagree boundaries are aligned *chef's kiss* stephanieevergreen.com/diverging-st...

#DataViz called a diverging stacked bar chart created by Stephanie Evergreen. The chart is titled "20% of respondents don't feel they can manipulate Excel effectively. Let's coordinate training." The chart shows the % of people who strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree to 3 statements. The percentages are shown in a bar next to each statement. Importantly, the line between agree and disagree is aligned for all 3 statements, quickly revealing the overall level of agreement and disagreement with the 3 statements.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Nov 6

Winnipeg Goldeyes: Uh, what?!?

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Nov 6

In CRED ible northern lights over Winnipeg right now! Here’s the view with a cellphone camera and all the city lights!

Sparkling green waves of northern lights above a busy city landscape at night. The Manitoba Legislature is lit up all orange with The Golden Boy shining at the top.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Nov 1

Just your friendly neighbourhood scorekeeper for the trick ‘r treaters!

Open front door on the front porch. Glowing orange Halloween lights strung to one side. A white poster on the door has the box score from the Dodgers / #BlueJays game. Dodgers lead 3-1 after 8 innings.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Oct 31

Well, I’m * pretty predictable * pretty pleased how this 🎃 ⚾️ turned out! Let’s go, #BlueJays 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

A dark room with a glowing orange jack-o-lantern carved to look like a baseball.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jul 23

@analog-ashley.bsky.social @grimalkina.bsky.social FFS. I'm angry with how my institution is diving headlong into GenAI. I whisper the word "dissent" to trusted colleauges. After your Andor episode, I feel an obligation, even a responsibility, to use the trust and access granted me to speak up.

Rebel alliance symbol from Andor. Is it a bird? a star rising behind a planet?

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jul 22

Thought-provoking and hard-hitting column by @shawpsych.bsky.social about Gen AI in #HigherEd. I particularly like this point using LLMs to get your work done faster 🔥 www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-...

Screenshot from Stephen Shaw’s column in Psychology Today:

You can use LLM to take shortcuts. What are you taking shortcuts from? Being a credible professional? Thinking? Working? Innovating? Being yourself? Humanity? Living?

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jul 18

Ooh ooh, can I play, too? The Goldeyes are our American Association team here in Winnipeg. That’s an independent league with no affiliations to MLB teams. There’s been a goldeye fishery in Manitoba for 100+ years and the logo neatly incorporates the gold-eyed fish into the Capital G.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jul 7

Done! Can't wait to read it 😁

Screenshot of electronic receipt from Routledge:

Order Confirmation
Dear Peter: Thank you for your order. We have receive your order successfully.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jun 26

Me: Oh c’mon, who piled all this stuff right inside the office door where you can trip on it 🤬 Also me: Oh, wow, look how the boxes *perfectly* align with the cabinet 😍. Yeah, ok, if you gotta store these boxes somewhere, this is the right place

A stack of brown cardboard boxes piled up just inside the door to the office. Six smaller boxes are sitting on three large ones. The three large boxes are nestled next to a storage cabinet. They’re exactly the same depth as the cabinet so the front of the cabinet and the front of the boxes are perfectly aligned.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jun 14

My reno goal is to restore the original mouldings that have been slowly stripped out of my 1923 house. In practice, that means a shit ton of mouldings. All this is for my 8’ x 6’ bathroom! 2-part baseboard, 2-part window and door casing, crown, and shoe adds up to a lotta sticks. #ThisOldHouse

A workbench in a brightly-lit basement covered in 8-foot and 10-foot white, er sorry, ancient ivory, moulding. There’s wide baseboards, narrow crown, and lots in between, somewhere around 20 pieces.

Peter Newbury@polarisdotca· Jun 13

There really is something nice about coffee breaks during a work from home day 😌