• 4 Posts
  • 197 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 8th, 2023

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  • It is a joke, and it’s funny because it holds a kernel of truth. “We laugh so we do not cry.”

    No tears shed for Maduro, but it’s pretty obvious that Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing and doesn’t have a plan.

    Staging a secret service raid to kidnap Carney is pretty out there, but then El Presidente Trump just talked about “doing something about Mexico” from the Southern Presidential Palace.

    It’s a joke, you should laugh, and you should also remember what the joke is referencing.



  • Those PlayStation supercomputers were wild. I don’t think it’s analogous to the various bits of Steam hardware coming out though, since Valve sells directly through Steam. You can’t order anything by the pallet.

    The other thing to consider is that the PS3 was used for clustered computing primarily because of the Cell processor. I have no recollection of why the cell processor performed better on certain types of problems. PS3 wasn’t being used for Excel spreadsheets, it was used for niche academic use and that one Air Force supercomputer. The Steam hardware though uses pretty standard hardware, AMD processor and Radeon graphics card.

    Considering the added friction of buying through Steam, i doubt it will have same draw.








  • I think one of the issues is that “meaningful consultation” has been very wishy-washy. In practice though, it works out that every band that might have any right to consultation can tie up anything in interminable lawsuits. In trying to avoid clarifying what constitutes “meaningful consultation” we’ve sleepwalked into this current environment where nothing can be built.

    I still remember the mess around the Wet’suwet’en “hereditary” chiefs infighting and vs. the elected band council.It doesn’t matter if you are pro-pipeline, anti-pipeline, whatever. It highlights what a mess “meaningful consultation” is. Who do you consult with? The traditional chiefs successfully ousted 3 traditional chiefs and won a court case saying they had to be consulted as well.

    Extrapolate this across the country and it’s a nightmare for any project that wants to respect indigenous rights.

    I expect some replies along the lines of “Canada’s an illegitimate country” and such, and good riddance, and there is some truth. Between the Proclamation of King George III, and a good chunk of BC First Nations not having treaties, it’s a bit of a pickle. I don’t know the way out. I like how the Nisga’a Final Agreement finally sorted all this out for the Nisga’a, but there hasn’t been any further agreements along this line since.



  • I think I got mine in the second or third wave or pre-order shipping. The right trackpad is worn smooth in the centre, I’ve replaced the joysticks with the Hall effect ones, not as an upgrade but because the originals finally failed. I upgraded the SSD to a 1TB. It’s been my constant companion for years now.

    One day, there will be a Steam Deck 2, and I’ll probably upgrade. In the meantime I’m excited to see the Legion Go, especially the Steam OS version, because it means the market is there.



  • If we had had^1 a RCB since 2015/16, you would have also seen a response in the orientation of political parties. The fracture between the old Reformers and PC in the federal CPC would probably have resulted in a split. Without the spoiler effect welding the party together I can’t see them surviving long.

    This also means that Erin O’Toole would probably be leading a more Centre Right PC-style party still, or Carney (who really seems like an old style PC in many ways) would have joined them.

    Close to ten years after a potential move to a RCB, the fundamental landscape would likely have shifted.


  • Generously, Trump put him in a bind. On the one hand around a third of his supporters would be down with being the 51st state, or are at least fans of what Trump is doing. If he came out too hard against Trump, he could have bled support to the PPC,

    Ironically, electoral reform would save the Conservative Party. It would probably split back into a more PC style centre-right party and a more populist Reform style party. I think an old Joe Clark style PC leader could have done better, but with ⅓ of the modern CPC Qonvoy supporting Trumpians, I don’t know that they could elect one. If they did, it would be Erin O’Toole all over again.


  • Four journalists had an opportunity to ask a question and follow-up of Carney. Only two were real journalists, and the difference was telling.


    • Q1a: Missed original identification and question, but apparently what budget cut will be made to make room for promised investments?
    • Q1b: where is the $500 billion coming from.
    • Q2a: Juno news: Was Justin Trudeau a good Prime Minister?
    • Q2b: How you reconcile (working with former LPC members who were part of Trudeau’s government)? The “odd” question.
    • Q3a: Canadian Press: New immigration targets?
    • Q3b: Pipelines take years, how does that protect Canadian sovereignty?
    • Q4a: True North: “How many genders are there?”
    • Q4b: Do biological women have a right to their own spaces?