sbv 22h ago • 100%
I'm GMing Cyberpunk right now. Battlemaps are reskinned screenshots of Google Maps or floorplans of actual businesses.
I still burn tens of hours translating them into a gridded map, but still. It is sort of easier.
sbv 22h ago • 100%
OP is talking about building communities. IRL interactions are situated in a context: a group of friends/neighbours/coworkers or an explicit community meeting.
When people are talking in that context, they think about the opinion of the rest of the group. Saying something unacceptable will burn bridges. Being impolite can do the same thing.
But interacting online typically doesn't have that risk. We split off into our echo chambers and align with people who share our beliefs, so there isn't a cost to saying something unacceptable.
sbv 1d ago • 100%
Thanks Nukebama.
sbv 1d ago • 0%
The app now needs to validate the response from the back end. If the attacker can bypass the purchase check, what prevents the attacker from bypassing the response from the back end?
sbv 2d ago • 0%
A great example of what this Lemmite said is the fact that they got downvoted without a response.
In a face to face setting, the downvoter would need to interact with the speaker out they'd have to bad-mouth the speaker behind their back. Those are more social actions:
-
Interaction with the speaker would make it easier to find common ground.
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Badmouthing the speaker would open the downvoter to criticism from other people in the conversation.
sbv 2d ago • 100%
We need to lower our greenhouse gas emissions. And we need to do everything we can to mitigate the effect of climate change.
So yes.
sbv 2d ago • 100%
My driving instructor said leaving 4 seconds of distance was safe for highway speeds. Ok busy highways the best I can get is a few car lengths.
sbv 4d ago • 100%
I thought I just did. 😞
sbv 4d ago • 98%
Mods, can you lock this post? Responses are entirely too credible.
sbv 4d ago • 86%
You have been weighed; you have been measured; and you have been found wanting.
sbv 5d ago • 100%
Less than $200 with a screen and batteries? It'll be great if they can make it happen.
sbv 6d ago • 100%
Isn't that link an ad for TunePat? It looks like a ripper that pulls tracks from Spotify.
I'm facing the exact same problem. My guy isn't used to computers yet, so I'm trying to figure out how to get music onto the device in a way that works for him. I'll probably end up buying and copying stuff by hand. 😞
It'd be great if there was a decent offline hardware option.
sbv 6d ago • 75%
Still plenty of nature to kill before humanity cannot survive
I think there may be debate on this point. Climate change may be self perpetuating soon (if it isn't already) due to thawing meant reserves, etc.
I'm not sure if anyone in the scientific mainstream thinks that'll push the climate to a point where we can't survive, but that probably depends on our behaviour over the next few decades.
sbv 6d ago • 100%
I was in a similar situation.
I configured the Mac to use my expected shortcuts when possible and got used to the stuff I couldn't change. I believe the mouse/track pad behaviour is pretty customizable, so you should be able to convert it to what you expect.
Congratulations on the new job.
sbv 7d ago • 100%
what if the spores get thirsty?
sbv 7d ago • 100%
We lived downtown, so there weren't a lot of kids around. I'm hoping the burbs will be better.
sbv 7d ago • 100%
Google is removing features from Fitbits so people have a reason to buy Wear devices. Running a bespoke OS they're able to get 5+ days between charges and had (roughly) the functionality of Wear.
Like another poster stated, Garmin seems like a better option.
sbv 1w ago • 100%
https://338canada.com/about.htm
OP should probably post a link to the source, but 338 is pretty well known. The dude that runs it aggregates polls and provides predictions. He has a pretty good track record, iirc.
A motion from the Bloc will increase benefits for affluent retirees, to be paid for by younger (and poorer) Canadians. The advocacy group for Canadian seniors has proposed a much fairer alternative; > [Canadian Association of Retired Persons's proposal] would strengthen OAS, help younger Canadians, reduce the deficit and save Parliament. This would enable MPs to make the most significant improvement to generational fairness in the federal budget in my professional lifetime – rather than play political games by proroguing Parliament or launching an early election. ... > In my previous column, I costed out some options. The government could start to claw back OAS at an individual income threshold of $70,000 or a household income of $90,000. These alternatives would free up $12-billion and $48-billion, respectively, over the next five years. Original link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/young-money/article-a-plan-to-strengthen-oas-help-younger-canadians-and-reduce-the-deficit/
www.theglobeandmail.com
The federal Liberals and Conservatives want to "solve" the housing crisis by making it easier for builders to build new units. Sadly, with interest rates and construction prices at current levels, it seems unlikely that private companies will be able to provide the [3.5 million houses we need to restore affordability](https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/blog/2023/estimating-how-much-housing-we-need-by-2030). We need all levels of government to start building housing, not just wait for white knights from the private sector to ride in and save our middle class dreams. > Residential property developers are facing rising insolvencies as they struggle with higher borrowing and construction costs – and industry experts warn the trend is likely to worsen as interest expenses remain elevated. ... > At this pace, Canada is on track to reach about 240 real estate insolvencies this year, which would be 57-per-cent higher than 2023 and 13-per-cent higher than 2009, when a wide swath of businesses ran into problems owing to the financial crisis and global recession. ... > And that does not include the number of developers and projects that have been forced into receivership for not paying bills. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy does not include receiverships with its publicly available bankruptcy statistics. However, insolvency experts say they are seeing more projects go into receivership. > So far this year, the real estate sector accounts for 55 per cent of the receiverships recorded by Insolvency Insider Canada, a website that tracks the largest insolvencies in the country. That compares to 30 per cent last year and 33 per cent in 2022. ... > Today, the cost of residential construction is 81-per-cent higher across Canada’s major cities compared to 2017 and more than double – up 107 per cent – in the Toronto region, according to Statscan data.
I try to collect conversation starters so I have things to talk about with people I like. Some of them are general and work on anyone, like: "I'm moving soon!" or "how was your weekend?" or "did you see that ludicrous display last night?". Others deal with shared interests or common friends, so they're person specific. What's a word to describe collecting conversation starters? Borrowing from other languages is legit.
... some kid in the daycare has lice. We went through this a couple of years ago: one kid had a tonne of lice in his hair, my wife got infested and ended up shaving her head. The other kid and I lucked out. Regardless of what happens, we've got some short summer haircuts in our future.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15835822 > Door of Durin by poppel > > https://teia.art/objkt/769117/listings
www.theglobeandmail.com
> The family is moving to find more financial flexibility. Owning their current home is a financial burden, and the stress would only get worse with a mortgage renewal coming up soon. ... > Proceeds from the sale plus a cash top-up will mean they can live mortgage-free in their new three-bedroom townhouse. Current mortgage costs are $3,965 per month. > > As well, Ms. Deane has estimated that her family will save on electricity, heating, insurance, property taxes and maintenance. Even with strata/condo fees of $710 per month at the new place, Ms. Deane calculates overall savings of $4,640 per month. Props to them for making a smart move.
ottawa.ctvnews.ca
> "The evidence establishes that the City knew that its failure to properly enforce the 2012 Bylaw would likely cause harm to the taxi industry. > > "A multinational giant was invading Ottawa, and because of the City's unpreparedness and its lack of efforts to develop a plan to enforce the 2012 Bylaw, the City's enforcement efforts against Uber drivers were ineffective."
www.theglobeandmail.com
> Nurse practitioners could help fill the void, advocates for the profession say, if more provinces would adopt policies to integrate them into primary care and pay them fairly for their work. **Some physicians’ organizations have pushed back against that approach**, arguing that NPs don’t have as much training or education as family doctors and therefore should only be funded publicly when they’re embedded in interdisciplinary teams with MDs. Aren't these the same organizations that have been dragging their feet on recognizing foreign credentials? I've been seeing a nurse practitioner for the last couple of years. So far, she's provided the same level of care I'm used to from family doctors: prescriptions, forwarding me to specialists when appropriate, providing the usual advice during checkups. It's fine. https://archive.is/PkAdd Edit: took out my grumbly summary, since our healthcare spending seems to be middle of the pack, compared to peer countries.
jacobin.com
> In 2022, Global News said the quiet part out loud: poverty is driving disabled Canadians to consider MAiD. Those “some” who are driven to assisted death because of poverty or an inability to access adequate care deserve to live with dignity and with the resources they need to live as they wish. They should never, ever feel the pressure to choose to die because our social welfare institutions are starved and our health care system has been vandalized through years of austerity and poor management. > > Given the way our institutions and economic and political elite create and perpetuate poverty in Canada, particularly among disabled people, we should be particularly sensitive to the implications of the country’s MaiD regime for those who are often ignored when warning about the dangers of the law. ... > While MAiD may be defensible as a means for individuals to exercise personal choice in how they live and how they die when facing illness and pain, it is plainly indefensible when state-induced austerity and mismanagement leads to people choosing to end their lives that have been made unnecessarily miserable. In short, we are killing people for being poor and disabled, which is horrifying.
Is anyone else boycotting Loblaws? I don't have many alternatives, but I'm doing my best to take my business elsewhere.
www.theglobeandmail.com
US regulators have found evidence that TD's anti-money laundering fraud detection is insufficient > For months, analysts have predicted a fine in the range of US$500-million to US$1-billion, but that’s now jumped. “We believe cumulative fines could easily hit $2-billion,” Mr. Dechaine wrote. Meanwhile, in Canada, [TD is facing record fines](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-td-bank-fintrac-penalties-anti-money-laundering-controls/) ([archive](https://archive.is/yBUld)) from Canadian regulators. https://archive.is/e0SGA
www.theguardian.com
> The octopus is one of nearly 5m Lego pieces that fell into the sea in 1997 when a storm hit a cargo ship 20 miles off Land’s End, Cornwall. While 352,000 pairs of flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, and 92,400 swords went overboard, the octopuses are considered the most prized finds as only 4,200 were onboard.
ottawacitizen.com
The Ottawa Carleton District Schoolboard is winding up to drop early French immersion. wtf
www.theglobeandmail.com
> Let’s start with one of the highest-voltage [third rails] in federal politics: **Old Age Security**. > > OAS only begins to be clawed back once a senior’s income exceeds $91,000. And payments aren’t zeroed out until income hits $148,000 – or $154,000 for those 75 and older. Senior couples earning a quarter-million dollars a year, and living mortgage-free, are getting cheques from younger and (much) lower-income taxpayers. > > That has to be fixed. The OAS threshold should be lowered – to, say, $60,000 – and the clawback sharpened, with benefits tapping out at $100,000. ... > **End the capital-gains exemption for principal residences.** It’s even more untouchable than OAS. It’s also more economically harmful and inequitable. > > It pumps up housing prices and pushes more and more national wealth into housing. It’s dumb economics, plus the tax break only goes to the two-thirds of families who own a home. And the richer you are, and the more home you own, the bigger the tax break. It adds up to a hyper-regressive policy to make Canada less productive. ... > **Let’s restore the two percentage points of Goods and Services Tax** the Harper government cut. Our tax system is too tilted to income taxes, and away from taxes on consumption. And the cut to the GST costs Ottawa about $20-billion a year. > > If the GST were raised, some of the proceeds could beef up the tax credit for low-income Canadians. There's some good stuff in there. https://archive.is/GDzQG
www.theglobeandmail.com
Interesting article on growth in public sector jobs over the past decade. What I got from it: lots of people were hired during the pandemic to handle pandemic-related initiatives; aside from that, lots of people were hired in general; governments appear to hire in times of economic uncertainty (e.g. growth under Harper during 2008+); federal unions argue staffing levels are returning to "normal". But the killer is the last section where the author tries to figure out if we're getting value for money. The answer is short and sour: Canadians don't think so, and internal targets aren't being met. > **Are Canadians getting bang for their taxpayer buck?** > > ... One way to gauge that is through surveys, which doesn’t leave Canada looking good relative to its international peers. The OECD polls residents at its member countries on their satisfaction with public services such as health care and education, and between 2017 and 2022, Canada experienced the largest decline in satisfaction among G7 countries for education (from 73 to 67 per cent) while the drop in health care satisfaction matched that of the United Kingdom, but to the lowest level in the G7 (from 69 to 56 per cent). > > ... The share of respondents who said their provincial government had done a “good” or “very good” job fell overall from close to half in the first quarter of 2019 to 30 per cent at the end of 2023. Both B.C. and Quebec, two provinces that have seen public-sector job growth rise particularly quickly, registered some of the worst declines. > > ... the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) reviewed four years of results reports to see how the government measured up against nearly 3,000 performance targets it had set for itself. The assessments weren’t promising. For fiscal 2021-22, roughly 25 per cent of targets were not met, up from 20 per cent in 2018-19. But that didn’t capture the full scale of the performance shortfall. One-tenth of performance targets included no information on results, while another one-third stated results would be achieved at some point in the future. Yeah, that mixes provincial services with federal ones. https://archive.is/m0qtc
What's the next wave of dystopia in popular culture? I think the classic CRTs, mirrorshades, and black synthleather look of cyberpunk doesn't really work with our expectations in 2024. In the 70s and 80s, we expected acid rain, ozone holes, and lawlessness to fill our future, as companies took over from (relatively) responsible governments and civility/civilization collapsed. The outfit fit with that: keep the burning rain and sun off, while protecting against looters and raiders. Meanwhile, writers didn't see how technology would shrink and get *better*. In 2024 we expect our dystopia to be hot: the world is heating up, so black synthleather is out. Maybe mirrorshades stick around. Corporations aren't taking over any more, governments are becoming corrupt/evil (e.g. Hunger Games). And technology is tinsy tiny, verging on invisible. I'm thinking of the Hunger Games and Upload. (And the first five episodes of Fallout)
www.theglobeandmail.com
It's good to see some kinda/sorta/almost direct spending on affordable housing being announced: > Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the creation of a $1.5-billion rental protection fund that will provide a combination of loans and grants to help non-profits buy affordable rental apartments when they go up for sale. It's nowhere near enough, but it's better than the neoliberal tHe FrEe MaRkEt WiLl SaVe Us shoveling that both the Liberals and Conservatives have been pushing. The article explains how the number of homes affordable to people making $30k annually is crashing across the country (but less so in Quebec). https://archive.is/ocuud
www.theglobeandmail.com
Canada: three oligopolies in a trenchcoat. > Bank service charges and overdraft fees can infuriate consumers, and more choices could lower their temperature. > > From the perspective of investors, though, Canada’s cozy network of oligopolies – in which a few players dominate one sector – can look very different. Slim competition can keep upstarts out and profits in, driving strong shareholder returns and attractive dividends over the long term. > > “We have a handful of oligopolies that are able to fend off new entrants (whether regional or foreign) without needing to destroy profits for an extended period of time, or where we need a government financed solution,” Ian de Verteuil, head of portfolio strategy at CIBC Capital Markets, said in an e-mail. https://archive.is/1BPVW
www.theglobeandmail.com
> Whenever I hear politicians propose to cut the carbon price, I can’t help but think back to my childhood growing up with divorced parents. > > On the rare occasions my dad took me for weekends, he would offer me candy and let me stay up late. > > “Why can’t you be more like him?” I’d yell after returning home as my mom made me do my homework, eat vegetables and go to bed on time. > > So it is with proponents of Axe the Tax. They offer us candy, when the federal government, like my mom, expects us to live responsibly. ... > But a politician’s promise that pollution can be free is no more realistic than my childish fantasy that I could live on candy alone. > > We are all entangled in an energy system that helps and harms our children. While it enables us to taxi our kids around, and keep them warm, it also poisons the air they breathe, evaporates the water they need to drink and burns the forests in which they play. ... > To preserve summers without smoke, winters when our kids can ski, water they can drink and forests and wildlife with which they can live in awe. > > That’s why we pay for our pollution. This dude gets it. We need to do so much more, but walking back the carbon tax is a terrible idea. https://archive.is/kpZQu
www.theglobeandmail.com
> Toronto-based Canadian Health Labs, had inked contracts with health authorities in Newfoundland and New Brunswick, and charged rates that in many cases worked out to more than **$300 an hour per nurse. That is roughly six times as much as nurses earn in the public health care system**. We've systemically underpaid nurses for decades. We've failed to train enough nurses. Their real pay has shrunk, while their workload has grown. It isn't surprising nurses have left the public system for less shitty jobs. Canadaland Commons has a [great interview with a nurse](https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/work-2-state-of-emergency-rooms/) who has seen the decline.