Grimpen @ Grimpen @lemmy.ca

Posts

5

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398

Joined

2 yr. ago

I've been advocating joining GCAP, an effort by Japan, UK and Italy to make a 6th gen fighter. It isn't scheduled to deliver the final design until 2035 though, so we would still need a stopgap.

Still, it would send a pretty strong signal and also allow as a path to reinvigorate our domestic aerospace defence industry.

Good point on the consistency. Timmie's coffee is very consistent. Regardless of your personal opinions on Timmie's coffee in general, you can be certain that the coffee you get tomorrow in Kapuskasing will be the same as the coffee you got yesterday in Kitimat.

<sniff>

The irony will take the sting out if a Liberal-NDP split lets the Conservatives skate up the middle.

I don't know about amazing… but perfectly adequate.

Their doughnuts are fine, and are always fresh with the Always Fresh™ system, but not as good as in the old days, or old Robin's Doughnuts. But they're fine, and pretty cheap. You can probably get much better doughnuts at a local bakery, but it will almost certainly be somewhat more expensive. They ditched the Long John though! An insult to BC. Typical Ontario based chain.

Some coffee snobs will dump on their coffee, but it's okay. You'll rarely hear any sincere complaints from habitual coffee drinkers. There is some stiff competition on the fast food coffee front though, McDonald's scooped their old coffee supplier, and lots of people do seem to prefer McDonald's coffee now. I still give the nod to Timmie's though.

Overall, I figure Timmie's is a solid B+ among fast food chains. There are a few gems on their menu though, their steeped tea is solid. I guess technically you could get better tea at David's Tea, but there is only one of those left, and besides for a basic "builder's tea" it's just a good value.

Dan Mangan - Call Me Up High (English)

• Released in 2024
• Official YouTube video

I got to hear the song live before it's official release at Red Bird Brewing in Kelowna, a cool little venue.

Dan Mangan has been a BC fixture for years, but I think he's been Canadian successful back east as well. At least he's played Massey Hall and gets coverage on CBC and plays at the Polaris awards. Still, the "international hits" rules sounds a bit squishy, and Dan is only Canadian famous.

Bonus Dan Mangan, Robots live, at Granville Island.

I keep advocating for GCAP (Global Combat Air Program), a partnership between Japan, UK and Italy to develop a 6th generation fighter. We can't pull off an Avro Arrow 2: 2Fast2Arrow any more, our domestic aviation industry has atrophied too much. Even if it hadn't, it's just getting too complex.

Joining our more reliable allies, even as a junior partner we can reinvigorate our domestic aerospace industry and get a 6th gen fighter out the back end.

There is a problem, GCAP isn't scheduled to deliver until 2035, so we still need a stopgap. F35 is the most capable, but also most expensive. It's also in progress. I like Gripen personally, but it would mean starting again from scratch pretty much. Granted with a more basic craft, so maybe even faster to upgrade as a stopgap? Past my pay grade, but GCAP seems an obvious way to signal a long term commitment, with very attractive benefits along the path ^(the real 6th generation fighter was the domestic aerospace industry we reinvigorated along the way). Plus it draws us together with more reliable allies.

There is an alternative to GCAP, FCAS (Future Combat Air System), a partnership between France, Germany, and Spain. It seems less urgent, with a scheduled delivery of 2040. Plus it's all EU+NATO, so something about eggs and baskets… although I trust the EU and other NATO countries more than the US right now.

It is. I would say (in my entirely non-expert opinion) that any naval spending now is worth more than any navy spending later, simply because it gets the ball rolling sooner.

I think we need to have a more robust military, a more resilient supply chain, and more reliable equipment. These frigates have been being planned for a while, dragging it out longer just differs cost, and military capability is built capacity; your military does missions with the equipment is has, not the equipment it will have.

The best time to build these frigates was probably years ago, then we would be in a much better position. The next best time is now.

Are these frigates perfect? Probably not, especially with the newfound unreliability of our historic friend, ally and brother nation the US. Thing is, I don't think there is a perfect solution to this. Plus never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Also, we live in a more dangerous world, and Canadian prosperity will suffer. Being a robust partner to our reliable allies and being self reliant on defence will reduce that loss of prosperity. Defence spending should be seen as an investment, or more akin to an insurance policy.

#ElbowsUp

I agree.

GCAP includes Japan (CPTPP partner), and they seem very motivated to not dawdle with getting a modern fighter. GCAP also includes the UK (CANZUK + NATO) and Italy (CETA/EU+NATO).

FCAS is France, Germany and Spain, off the top of my head, and has much less urgency. Of course that could be changing. They're all EU and NATO, so more eggs in a single basket, but more reliable than US.

One other edge to GCAP is that Sweden had considered joining GCAP, but backed out. They might get back in maybe? Saab is pretty damn competent as well. It would be an even better team. Plus if we went with Gripen and already had some cooperation with Saab, could be even easier to work together.

Perun had a good video a little while back… here it is https://youtu.be/TTjdEtHYDJ4

Gripen might be a stopgap, but it is an older platform. At least with updates it's at least considered a "4.5" generation fighter. F35 is pretty much the best option atm.

Planning ahead though, Canada needs to get involved with either GCAP (Global Combat Air Platform or FCAS (Future Combat Air System).

We can't realistically pull off another Avro Arrow with modern 5th/6th generation features by ourselves. We can partner with more reliable allies though, and help bolster our own defence aerospace industry at the same time. In either GCAP or FCAS, we would be the junior partner though.

The copypasta I've been tweaking since this topic keeps coming up. Yeah I know, it mentions Lemmy, and we're already here, but it's the prepared Copypasta and talking about it now instead of scrolling through and editing is easier.

Consider making an account on a Canadian Mastodon instance. Mastodon is a decentralized open-source social media platform similar to X/Twitter. There are several Canadian based general interest "instances" where you can make an account: Mstdn.ca, TheCanadian.Social, CoSocial.ca or SocialBC.ca.

There is no one company fine-tuning an algorithm to entertain you, sell you crypto, and radicalise you, so you'll need to do some work on setting up your feed. Check out Fedi.Directory, Interesting Accounts to Follow on Mastodon and the Fediverse and Fedi.Tips- An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse.

For some Canadian themed news sources, I recommend the following Mastodon follows:

• CBC News
• Global News
• The Tyee
• PressProgress
• Meanwhile In Canada
• Winnipeg Free Press
• The Narwhal
• Cory Doctorow
• Michael Geist
• Senator Paula Simmons
• Canadian History Ehx
• Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Following #Hashtags is also a good way to stay in the loop on a topic. For now, I'd suggest #Canada and #CdnPoli .

There are also Canadian instances and other Federated services, but Mastodon is probably a good gateway. If you would like to explore the Canadian Fediverse further, join the discussion over at Lemmy.ca or Sh.itJust.Works (kind of like Reddit) or check out the scenery at Pixelfed.ca (kind of like Instagram).

Even if it isn't your primary social media, at least you'll have a backstop of news and a way to connect without the algorithms manipulating what to show you. Hope to see you out there.

We banned RT from cable. A bit different mind.

I agree though, just tighten up privacy and reduce the ability to manipulate.

A car that was bought and paid for years ago is not supporting someone who had only really gone off the rails in recent years. Drive it or not, Tesla has already been paid. I guess you could argue parts or charging might continue to support Tesla, but that's marginal. Most people charge at home, and parts often come from wrecked cars as well.

I'd add Saskadon.ca to Canadian instances as well, but it appears to be invitation only. I was excited by the Beaverton, but there are no posts. I followed personally though. I'll add the Star Phoenix account though.

Thanks for the tips!

Join GCAP (Global Combat Air Program) or FCAS (Future Coma=bat Air System). They are both multi-country projects to develop next gen fighter jets. Off the top of my head, GCAP is UK, Japan and Italy where FCAS is Germany, France, and... I'd have to look it up, and I'm feeling a bit lazy.

Assuming there is no schedule slippage, they won't deliver aircraft until 2035 and 2040 respectively though, so we would still need a stop gap. I'm partial to Gripen, and Sweden has flirted with joing GCAP as well, so that might be a good way to reivigorate Canadian aerospace, in cooperation with the other GCAP countries and Sweden.

Exactly. With a Presidential Monarchy, no deal or treaty can be trusted past the next election (assuming they'll still have those).

More than more Trump, we are also seeing a complete abandonment of the US much vaunted system of checks and balances. You simply can't deal with them except in 4 year periods.

But it is literally the truth. Even Mandatory Palestine wasn't "Palestine" as in "Free Palestine!" More importantly it's irrelevant to Canadian sovereignty.

Honest question, although I don't expect an answer, more food for thought. Should Canada invest more into our domestic defence industry? How picky should we be about who we sell weapons to? How about who we do business with? I think the answers will vary based upon how seriously you take Trump's "jokes" about annexation, and there is certainly going to be lots of disagreement, but this is something we all should consider.

Another more pertinent consideration, how important is a politician's commitment to Canadian sovereignty? I've been reflecting on this since Doug Ford won the Ontario election again, and contrasting him to Pierre Poilievre. I don't know what your political preferences are, but would you consider Canadian sovereignty more important than say, education? What compromises and how much sacrifice is acceptable for continued sovereignty?

I'm sorry if I come across as aggressive, but Canada is getting knocked down a step on the metaphorical Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for Nations. Certainly I support more trade with the EU and our CANZUK brothers. But what about China? I support Taiwan's continued existence as whatever it is, but should we deepen trade ties with China if it helps support Canadian sovereignty? If so, how much?

It's still early days, but we have to get our heads in the game. Again I don't know your political inclinations, but I'm pretty sure for me, if you support Canadian sovereignty, than right now we're allies no matter what else. For me there are limits on my questions above, but I don't know where they are, they're pretty far out. I'll row on the left or right side of the boat, I don't care so much right now so long as we are all rowing together.

One beneficial side effect of the informal US products boycott in grocery stores is that many stores have already started trying to source other products. It's tough to change on short notice, and businesses often aren't very…future focused. The boycott has already started to push grocery stores in my area. There were Moroccan oranges advertised for sale last week. That means there's already a Moroccan exporter/importer already set up to clear customs, who is probably already increasing capacity.

The other thing to consider is where in the production chain the tariff is applied. Canada is unlikely to tariff the inputs into Canadian producers, just finished products with Canadian or friendly alternatives.

Supposedly there are a bunch of WWE and MMA fans. Maybe it's time for Patrick "Brass Knuckles" Brazeau and Justin "Papineau Pugilist" Trudeau to team up.

The increases border security was announced back in December, but the "Border Tsar" was new.

I think at this stage, we could make a proclamation that "Governor" is an acceptable informal title for the Governor-General or something. This is already the stupidest trade war ever, and we already are suffering from the uncertainty. Buy us some time to further diversify.