Xavier @ Xavier @lemmy.ca

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2 yr. ago

Unfortunately, once we reach a point where one half of the country is burning and being smothered by heavy forest fire smoke while the other half of the country is drowning from weekly once-in-a-thousand-year flash floods and the freak hurricane that went out of track and is on its way to make landing on Nova Scotia, we might perhaps collectively agree to finally actually maybe do something about it.

It will probably far too late far too little, and everybody will be too angry looking for their favorite menu du jour scapegoat to burn at the stake for all their misfortune and their nostalgia for the good old times.

We are currently too busy with balancing inflation and deflation, the housing crisis, the international geopolitical chain of powder keg situation, the opioid crisis, the mental health crisis, the skyrocketing cost of living, the nearshoring of manufacturing, the collapse of fisheries and illegal fishing, the prevalence and soaring increase of misinformation without any repercussions, the constant and multifaceted foreign interference by several countries/organizations and private individuals, the numerous environmental issues (from untested insecticides/herbicides, invasive species, innumerable toxic spills/burial/contamination of soil/groundwater/rivers/lakes, pollution, etc.), the constant lack of qualified personnel in every fields in every provinces and territories (teachers, doctors, nurses, judges, daycare attendants, technicians, specialist, etc.), the reconciliation with aboriginals, the accelerating increase of undocumented migrants, the lack of access to basic necessities in our remote regions/villages/reserves, the list of urgent requests that need immediate and continued attention is endless.

Of the above non-exhaustive list of priorities, every Canadian will have their own order of priorities and their particular pet peeves on what is important/urgent and what is unnecessary/superfluous. Nobody can agree, everyone wants to delay and put on ice whatever they perceive as personally non-beneficial or not pertinent from their point of view.

The reality is that we have to accomplish all of them and so much more simultaneously. We could if we decide to cooperate/trust/verify without hindering each other.

Whether that happens or not only time will tell. The hyperobject that is Climate Change is not waiting for anyone.

Wow, thank you for expanding my vocabulary in ways I did not imagine possible.

I did not need to know that 🤢.

Perhaps it may come as a surprising opinion but I have met and known a lot of great Americans that are kind and polite to a fault while knowing some Canadians that are petty warmongering ignoramus.

Nevertheless, I can understand that I probably haven't met enough Americans from every States to have an overview of the ignoramuses that exist accross the border (beyond what is depicted, often exaggerated, in the media and memes — excepting the whole neverending Trump & Friends saga). Not that I absolutely want to meet them either, I have enough to deal with easily Facebook duped and misinformed relatives and sometimes colleagues.

I somehow felt like sharing my general experience after seeing that funny comparison of perceptions.

Here we go again… 🤣

https://lemmy.world/post/5730713

The result last time:

Sad to see another country descending into perpetual civil war and slowly turning into a failed state (hopefully not, and I'm completely wrong).

The people deserve better, but old power cannot let go of their darn solid gold toilet (metaphor).

Good for them for fighting back, but it should not have gone this far. As too many innocent are being sacrificed.

In Canada, Apple is taking most of the increase, I wish Linux was more prevalent but I'm happy to see the downward slope for Windows:

Please freeze your credit file at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. It's free and you can unfreeze it anytime you want (or whenever you judge its a valid credit check for something you actually requested yourself).

Whether you have a low/medium/good/perfect credit score and are satified with the credit cards and mortgage/loans you already have or lived without ever having a credit card and loans, it is of utmost importance to freeze your credit files to preempt any future identity theft from becoming a life upending disaster.

Some helpful links:

American Express | How to Freeze Your Credit at All 3 Bureaus—For Free

nerdwallet | How to Freeze Your Credit

Federal Trade Commission | What To Know About Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts

For the fellow Canadians reading this, freezing your credit file has been enshrined in law in Québec since February 2023. I have frozen mine on the first week of February. However, I am unaware of the availability of that option in other provinces, please check with your bank or provincial service bureau (equivalent to Services Québec here) or directly contact Equifax and TransUnion.

Hmm… some interesting things to perhaps review :

In total, these four provinces provided at least CAD 2.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies in fiscal year (FY) 2020/21 and 1.5 billion in FY 2021/22 (as of December 2021)

Source: Blocking Ambition: Fossil fuel subsidies in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador by the International Institute for Sustainable Development

based on recent data from governments and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the leading research organization analysing data on fossil fuel subsidies in Canada, there is a conservative estimate: the combined federal, provincial, and territorial fossil fuel subsidies in Canada total at least $4.8 billion annually in 2018 and 2019, and most were given by provincial and territorial governments. Federal subsidies tend to take the form of grants, but provincial and territorial subsidies are often from tax programs such as waivers and breaks as well as uncollected or under-collected resource rents or royalties

Source: Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Canada: Governance Implications in the Net-Zero Transition by the Canada Climate Law Initiative

These are simply about explicit funding by different government bodies in Canada. However, there are larger implicit annual subsidies (externalities born by government, society and the environment which tend to be completely ignored by most vested interest) of:

US$ 36 billion

Source: IMF Fossil Fuel Subsidies Data: 2023 Update; annex III. Total (Explicit and Implicit) Subsidies

Compared to the portion of government funding received by CBC•Radio-Canada annual report (2022-2023, p.27) :

Government funding: This year, operating funding was $1,174.9 million, capital funding recognized in income was $92.9 million and working capital was $4.0 million

I dont mind cutting funding/subsidies where there is inefficiency/mismanagement. However, shouldn't we start with the most obvious mismanagement? Why does our government pay subsidies (not loans, not investments, not shares, which I completely excluded for my comparison above) for large very profitable multi-national corporation?

I got Dragonborn (middle-ish) and druid (right) while parsing vertically.

Does that combination even work 😯?

Excellent writeup! With constant updates to boot 🥳

I'm saving it for future reference.

Thank you for putting your time and effort on this.

The future I want to foresee is one where everybody runs and keeps their data locally (or their dedicated VPS):

• where everyone has access to at least 10Gbps symmetric fiber optic connection to the internet at their home/apartment at affordable price (doesn't have to be unlimited, but pricing per TB of bandwith usage needs to be less than USD $1 as it is the actual cost of operating & peerage)
• whereas net neutrality is a prerequisite to any corporation/organization/government/municipality getting network backbone peerage with other network operators
• whereas registering to a website or service actually creates a local secure database/bucket/pod where that website/service organizes/sort/manipulates our data and stores all generated modified data/metadata within our local personnal server, every time we interact with that same external website/service it gets access to the database/bucket previously created. Look into the Solid protocol specification to get a better idea (it doesn't have to be that specific protocol)
• whereas FIDO2 or WebAuth or their successor is widely accepted for passkey implementation or just multifactor authentication
• whereas all communications are direct peer-to-peer without transiting third party servers (as in not managed by either communicating party)

Moreover, even better would be to teach everyone from elementary school various concepts (from simpler to more complex gradually) of science, programming, critical thinking and empathy.

If I may dare to push even further, with technology (secure authentication, work from home familiarity, collaborative softwares, digital signing, distributed version control), give every citizen (from the age of 12 or earlier; because one has to start learning early to make mistakes, understand and form good habits) the ability to vote/abstain on every proposition, motion, new/modified law and decision regarding their own country. Have a publicly accessible historical account of every vote by everyone (excluding secret ballots obviously). Most importantly, every year end, 4 years, 10 years, 25 years, 60 years have a collective review/retrospective of past motions/decisions that were implemented and let everyone vote on if those were overall beneficial or harmful for the country/state/municipality. Empower those who tend to regularly vote and tend to historically vote beneficially (at least 70% of their votes after they reached 25 years old) for the country/state/municipality to become a local representative.

I know it's getting wordy and perhaps a bit complicated but keep up with me. Give accredited/qualified individual in very specific fields the retractable/overridable power to have their votes on certain very specific motion/law/decision be inherited by active delegation by any other citizens up to a limit of ~290 (Bernard–Killworth number) per qualified inviduals. For example, a citizen could separetely delegate his/her votes:

• relating to healthcare to their own family doctor if they like/respect their judgment or even a familly member who is licensed for medical practice, it doesn't matter who as long as they are qualified for the subject matter
• relating to renovating a specific bridge to their neighbor who is a general contractor or their nephew who is a civil engineer
• relating to military procurement to their veteran uncle still with a sharp mind and keenly informed with world event or even their weekly indoor hockey teammate who is a unstoppable adventurer exploring every part if the world but also a office worker and a reservist

All while always preserving the option to change their vote anytime for any reason; by delegating to someone else for specific issue/concerns or voting on their own (always takes priority over delegation).

Well… I am being too hopeful and probably pushed things far beyond what is realistic, but it is nice to make thought experiments on what may be possible with technology.

I want that‽ 😆

When I'm old and decrepit with an out of sync heart, I would like to go with a nuclear pacemaker.

I could then say that I am henceforth Plutonium powered 😎.

I like the concept but I want something I can run locally (and update by myself) in a docker container or a Virtual Machine. I'm tired of online service changing their products for the worse or increasing prices because they feel like it.

I don't know what you read and where you read from but:

The most recent triennial report by the Office of the Chief Actuary confirmed that the CPP is financially sustainable for at least 75 year [emphasis are mine]

That means, some 18 years old today could retire at 65 (in 47 years) and have guaranteed pension until at least he/she reaches 93 years old. That was limited to only as far as the report went (“at least”). You are certainly older than 18 if you already pay into the Canada Pension Plan. Therefore, you are guaranteed a pension until you are 93+. Complain to someone else if you know you will live to be 120 years old.

Moreover, a recent research comparing hundreds of pension, endowment, and sovereign wealth funds showed Canadian plans outperforming their international peers on all fronts over the past two decades. Source: The Canadian Pension Fund Model: A Quantitative Portrait — Alexander Beath, Sebastien Betermier, Chris Flynn, Quentin Spehner

Beyond that, I cannot help you if you wish to hold onto your falsehood as sacrosanct.

Can I get the reverse?

I know some-tiny-bit of history (enough to see we are repeating too many mistakes) and sure wish I was born way into the future after we've solved climate change (or simply just accepted it and therefore adapted/reduced everyday life to it) and also after the next potential world war as things seem to be getting more and more spicier geopolitically.

Wondering if waiting/delaying the eventual purchase of F-35 ended up being more expensive for Canada overall? Or did it become less expensive per "plane" (including servicing/maintenance contract, training, etc.) considering the manufacturing processes have been streamlined since then?

I think it is too late to avoid the workforce and demographic squeeze.

Considering the following simple thought experiment:

1. Even if every abled, capable and freely willing women in China were immediately given:

• 1.a. unlimited financial support
• 1.b. complete freedom in choosing their partner
• 1.c. flexible maternity leave (2 to 5 years)
• 1.d. readily available at home cleaning and at home cooking/cartering services
• 1.e. best in class psychological and medical services and follow ups
• 1.f. excellent daycare and world class education;
  2. the first children born the following year won't be able to work and contribute to the economy until 18 years later (or whenever they enter the workforce; at best 14 and ideally at 23-25 after university).

Hence, I am inclined to suppose that, at best (least controversial), the Chinese Com·unist Part.y could do is to try and attenuate the economic slowdown and decay. How? I do not know.

At worst, they implode on themself and/or start a looks-like-we-are-doing-something war.

It is fairly easy to differenciate DNA samples from different species and exclude them. Since it has always been an issue to have contamination by foreign DNA (bacterias, fungus, virus, plancton, fauna and flora of all sorts, etc.), tools/methods/protocols are specifically made to quickly separate out (amplify the DNA we are interested in) from whatever is not to focus of the current study.

Moreover, a random anonymous sample without associated information can quickly be analysed and compared against large libraries of genome datasets/maps to ascertain and corroborate what it is from, closest species, even family trees of related inviduals and most importantly get an overview of multiple phenotype of interest.

From the day the full human genome map had been declared complete in 2003 (at 85% of the genome), research has only accelerated in improving the map while understanding the various functions of many different parts of our DNA.

You may have misunderstood my focus, I agree that current nuclear reactors are designed with utmost safety and redundancy on top of redundancy. However, all those safety measures multiply feasibility, development and operating costs while also increasing the surface area of things that may be mismanaged/ignored/forgotten and not be immediately detected by external auditor/inspector if there is any at all.

As I have written previously:

Theorically, we all know and understand that following all the baseline protocols and maintenance schedules rigorously will keep a nuclear fission power plant working without environmental/health/safety issues for its entire entended life cycle.

Obviously, I absolutly hope and want nuclear technology to develop further. However, I do not think currently available options are cost effective and durably suitable for a world of increasing climate change perturbations. Governments, institutions and organizations will be stretched thin and thinner by multiple factors while increasing demands and sequences of societal and climatic events will test their ever changing priorities.

Nevertheless, one fission technology that may show promise in an increasingly turbulent world are small self-contained reactors. From my understanding, they are deployed in situ and buried providing energy to a nearby facility until its fuel has reached a predetermined end-of-life cycle. The self-contained reactor is then dug out and replaced by a new one while the EOL reactor is returned to be "recycled" and redeployed elsewhere. It seems simpler, hopefully also cost effective and a smaller safety concern overall.

As you have also pointed out with Fukushima having been slated to be decommissioned, political prerogative pushes thing far beyond what was intended. Be it old bridges collapsing way beyond their lifespan, or old submarines killing their crew from a fire onboard, or old fleet of gas guzzling trucks still belching a mix of burnt and unburned fuel particles, the list goes on forever. Even if we built the safest, most redundant, almost completely automated nuclear power plant that could last a hundred or two hundred years, how future governments deals with the decommission is entirety subject to their whims and changing political context.

And we can already witness hiccups of various degrees in every single countries since even before the pandemic, with changing political situation due to several interconnected factors in which climate change is a threat multiplier.

Nuclear fission based reactors should be left for beyond Earth's orbit; for space exploration, space mining, etc.

On earth, it's more of a liability with multiple security/safety concerns that engineers, architects, scientists and risk management specialists have to contend with, thus making any project exponentially and unnecessarily more expensive. Theorically, we all know and understand that following all the baseline protocols and maintenance schedules rigorously will keep a nuclear fission power plant working without environmental/health/safety issues for its entire entended life cycle.

However, we live in an imperfect world where important things gets postponed, rescheduled, ignored out of inconvenience, forgotten due to changing priorities or changes in personnel/chain of command, or mismanaged simply due to political interference/apathy/nepotism/ignorance. All this is internal to its regular operation.

Externally, we have to constantly/actively monitor and react to natural disasters, accidents, terrorism, climate change (e.g. input water temperature), etc. So as to ensure operational integrity at all time.

In contrast, nuclear fusion based reactors have the potential to solve alone all our energy needs for the foreseeable future in a carbon neutral (even carbon negative) manner. However, the resources assigned to make a scientific breakthrough in that field is largely insufficient if not scrawny/famished. It is indeed several magnitudes more expensive, supply chain constrained (special custom equipments and parts), rife with delays, constantly over budget all while still trying to understand the fundamental science with experiments and scientists spread throughout the four corners of the planet.

We could accelerate the progress towards nuclear fusion power plants similarly to how we accelerated COVID-19 vaccine research & production, but it will require several times more financing into each potential fusion reactors designs and each of their successive prototypes (tokamak, stellarator, spherical tokamak, inertial confinement, liquid metal mediated magnetized target fusion, magneto-inertial fusion, etc…)