There are still advantages to a fixed platform like the Steam Deck. It makes a fixed hardware platform to optimize for. Anything that runs on Deck should also run on another PC.

Likewise, a Steam Box that was popular enough would provide a target hardware platform with higher spec.

Most hardware manufacturers will have too high paced a release schedule, so unlikely to provide a stable hardware spec.

Shopper+, it’s not as extensive and no third party resellers, but they’re pretty good.

https://www.shopperplus.ca/

I’ve got so many Golden Keys for opening Ultra-Elite chests in BG3, but it won’t give me the exclusive Golden Helm of Baldur with the alternate mod slot unless I upgrade my golden Keys with exclusive in-game currency.

</s> is a conversation I’ve never heard around BG3.

Listening to David Eby speak after the Trump Tariffs were announced made me so thankful Rustad wasn’t elected.

Seeing his subsequent takes on the topic reinforce the feeling.

Apologies to any Rustad fans reading this.

Their new expansion set…

Developing more stable trading partners as well. The US is closer, and will always be next door, but I think Trump 2.0 has shown us that we should not integrate our economy with theirs at all, rather just trade with them “opportunistically”. Long term partners should be developed elsewhere.

EU (CETA), Asia (CPTPP) and CANZUK need to be focused on.

There are a few of causes for hope.

First, Trump has surrounded himself with loyalists and sycophants, not competence. On the downside, this is how Putin ended up on year 3 of a 3-day “special military operation” in Ukraine. Trump is going to make incredibly stupid mistakes not just because he’s stupid, but everyone he has surrounded himself with will be telling him how wonderful and clever he is. On the other hand, this is a good way to get clobbered by reality.

Canada and Mexico have responded with targeted tariffs and are also planning ahead to next steps. Heck, Canada just finalized a trade deal with Ecuador. Sure it’s not going to replace the US, but it shows many competent people are out there working for Canada. Meanwhile the US government apparatus is going to be gutted of competent people.

Second, Canada does export a lot of raw materials, which should be easier to shift to other markets. Also things like hydo power and oil can probably absorb a fairly high increase in cost without being substantially effected. Hydro power as an example, can easily eat a 10% increase and still be the cheapest source of electricity. Canada could probably slap export tariffs on oil, hydro electricity, and potash and the US will just have to eat it.

Finally, Trump will probably continue tariffing the EU and other countries as well, further triggering retaliatory tariffs. This means Bosch, Samsung and LG will need to make more dishwashers to replace the Whirlpool and Maytag dishwashers that aren’t going to be sold outside the US (as an example). It’s going to suck, but Canada already has CETA and CPTPP to build on, and should be deepening CANZUK ties. The world is bigger than the US, and the US looks set to isolate themselves from everyone. Being on the outside in that case is better.

no one wins trade wars, but the kid who never stands up for himself always loses and for a long time

• Scotiabank Daily Points

I would have capital investment to the private sector. More just sign some deals, such as long term pricing or export permits, whatever. Trump is obsessed with oil and gas. If we signed some deals it would send a pretty cheap signal.

Premier Eby made some similar comments wrt approvals for mines and such. Slightly different, but if there is a global market and construction is going to take a while, might as well get building now.

The day before. Mixed feelings about being a member of a political party, but give it a whirl for a year I guess. Probably about to get bombarded with hyperbolic fundraising spam.

Just think, soon you can have ever more expensive graphics cards without having to wait for be graphics cards!

I bit the bullet and joined the Liberals just to support Mark Carney. I also think highly of Chrystia Freeland, but Carney’s background is exactly what I’m coming around to thinking this country needs right now,

It’s kind of too bad, I think Chrystia would make a good first elected female PM, in addition to just being a good PM, but Carney’s history with BoC in 2008 and later BoE along with what I’ve heard him say just seems what’s needed right now.

Heck yeah! If USMCA/NAFTA2 is out the window, ditch all that IP BS. Cory Doctorow is so correct!

Disappointingly true. We should absolutely fast track LNG and oil export deals overseas. Slap on an export tariff onto oil and Hydro.Trump already kind of blinked by only putting 10% on Canadian energy, so one of his oligarchs is begging. Double it to 20%, or equalize it to 25%. At the same time increase exports to the west. Prior to the Transmountain expansion, we were doing a “pipeline by rails”. It’s suboptimal, but no one wins in a trade war but not responding means you’re going to loose worse.

Trudeau is too scared of Danielle Smith’s wannabe Vichy Canada administration.

Hence my quote:

no one wins trade wars, but the kid who never stands up for himself always loses and for a long time

Scotiabank Daily Points

Copypasta my other comment:

The bulk of Canadian exports to the US are oil. We can certainly tariff US goods, but export tariffs on Canadian oil and hydro electricity to the US will probably be a big component of the Canadian response.

Even with a big increase on hydro power exports to the US, it’s still cheaper than most other sources of electricity, so they’ll still happily pay it.

As to oil, there are some refineries in the US that are set up to process Canadian bitumen. Canada’s long history of just exporting raw materials and re-importing finished goods give a pretty outsized room to manuever here. This refineries will probably just pony up and pay more.

Where the damage will come is in areas like the auto sector, where there are tightly coupled supply chains.

Paul Krugman points out in his article The End of North America that there is probably already damage done to the concept of North American manufacturing.

Trump is going to do a whole lot of damage, we’re going to take some of that damage, but my favourite quote on the topic:

no one wins trade wars, but the kid who never stands up for himself always loses and for a long time

Scotiabank Daily Points

The bulk of Canadian exports to the US are oil. We can certainly tariff US goods, but export tariffs on Canadian oil and hydro electricity to the US will probably be a big component of the Canadian response.

Even with a big increase on hydro power exports to the US, it’s still cheaper than most other sources of electricity, so they’ll still happily pay it.

As to oil, there are some refineries in the US that are set up to process Canadian bitumen. Canada’s long history of just exporting raw materials and re-importing finished goods give a pretty outsized room to manuever here. This refineries will probably just pony up and pay more.

Where the damage will come is in areas like the auto sector, where there are tightly coupled supply chains.

Paul Krugman points out in his article The End of North America that there is probably already damage done to the concept of North American manufacturing.

Trump is going to do a whole lot of damage, we’re going to take some of that damage, but my favourite quote on the topic:

no one wins trade wars, but the kid who never stands up for himself always loses and for a long time

Scotiabank Daily Points

That’s exactly why I always enable the Compose key. It’s the fastest and easiest way to just type a variety of Unicode glyphs. The key combinations trend to be intuitive as well.

There’s a good chance the default config file will have a pretty decent selection. Although I have edited the config in the past, I haven’t done it under KDE. The KDE article on setting up the compose key seems to say that KDE uses a different config file anyways.

Turning on the Compose key is pretty straightforward as I recall, just another setting under Keyboard settings. Finding that config file is still useful if you can’t guess the right combo for your desired glyph.

Very useful for using character common in math and science.

Not exactly what you may be looking for, but one of the first things I set up in Linux is the “Compose” key. Sun keyboards in the 90’s had a dedicated Compose key, and you can enable the functionality still. I usually set it to Right Alt.

The Compose key is kind of like an extended shift key, so ‘Compose’ + “c” + “/” for example will give you “¢”.

The key combinations and characters can be edited in a config file (can’t remember off the top of my head).

Not as versatile and an “Emoji picker”, but allows quick insertion of Unicode glyphs into text. Useful for ¢£€¥™×° type characters.

Australia? New Zealand? UK? Is CANZUK going to be a thing? Kind of got to know quick, Germany, France and Denmark just asked us out.

In all seriousness, I think this would be a great idea, with two caveats. First being, we aren’t that close to the other EU countries, because we aren’t in Europe. I don’t know how that would interact with the hypothetical benefits of EU membership. Being able to take a high speed train from Spain to Germany has as much to do with geography as it does EU membership. Sure, political reality means you can’t take a train from Poland to Belarus, but geography also means you can’t take a train from Poland to Sweden. Actually, I think there is a bridge/tunnel across the Orseund now. Point being I don’t think there is going to be a bridge from Canada to the EU anytime soon. Besides there

My second concern is that there is some risk to tying ourselves to the EU. Short term, we have seen per capita GDP stagnate in the EU and Canada. Assuming we also join the Eurozone, we also loose control of our own currency, offset by joining the second most “powerful” (Fungible? Useful?). This is a double-edged sword, but I think we are offering a lot of stability to the Eurozone, especially when compared to some other Southern/Eastern EU countries.

On balance, I think it’s worth it to pursue. Despite the drawbacks, Canada historically has been an exporter of raw materials, a “country of lumberjacks and hockey players”. Having a built in market for Canadian goods the size of the EU is just a plain benefit.

For sure. In the right hands you could do so much. Even without a plot as such, or much lore, just imagine the material for a “Game Theory” video. Why is the “Mad Forest” now a dumping ground for evil? What was it like before the vampire? Does the Astral Stair connect to the Tiny Bridge? What is the Legacy of Moonspell? Where is the fried chicken?