sbv

joined 2 years ago
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[–] sbv 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Only if the Centurions get laser point defense systems.

[–] sbv 5 points 1 day ago

Not cried, but I felt shaken and sad when Iain Banks died. His writing isn't important to me the way a few other authors are, but I read his stuff at a very specific time in my life. I think his death got me thinking about my own mortality.

I didn't find out about Toren Smith's death until a few years ago. It's sad that he died so young. I felt the same way when Nigel Findley died.

Both of them created worlds that I ran TTRPGs in. I think that makes me feel a weird connection with them. They didn't know that I exist, but I still built on what they gave me, and that makes me feel a kinship (and admiration) for them.

[–] sbv 5 points 1 day ago

Parker says the Green party and NDP in Ontario and nationally have put forward practical solutions to tackle different aspects of housing and why it's become unaffordable, including building non-profit housing on public lands, implementing vacant home taxes and using inclusionary zoning, which require private developers to include a certain percentage of affordable units within new, multi-unit housing developments.

Those all sound fine. The article doesn't dig too deeply into what those solutions would actually look like, but I don't think anyone would disagree that starting with them is a good idea.

Inclusionary zoning is interesting. The City of Ottawa has been doing that for a while (not really, but there are affordability requirements that builders will agree to in order to get zoning exemptions), and I haven't seen any stats or anecdotes saying it makes a difference or helps anyone.

Maybe they exist and I missed them. I hope that's the case.

[–] sbv 4 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Aren't non-primary residences already taxed in that way?

[–] sbv 8 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Minimally, requiring bids to be in the open would go a long way. And price history to be included in listings. And taxing sale profit as income.

There are so many little things that could lower prices.

[–] sbv 3 points 1 day ago

When asked, Carney did not disagree with Robertson either. The Walrus has a really interesting analysis of Carneys explanation.

I would summarize it as "young Canadians may find it easier to buy houses over time" - but that doesn't mean soon. Nor does it mean they intend to push market prices down, rather they may be trying to stabilize market prices and hope salaries catch up, thanks to inflation.

I believe we've discussed this a few times, and I think we've drawn different conclusions from similar evidence.

Suffice to say: I really hope Canadians see a substantial improvement in housing costs before the next election.

[–] sbv 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's more about how we see ourselves. Do we build strong services and utilities for our own population, or do we keep shoveling money and opportunity to our incumbents?

We used to have a pretty strong telecom industry. We had decent manufacturing and ship building, if you go far enough back. If there's decent infrastructure, tax codes, and investment incentives maybe we could have those again.

[–] sbv 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It feels like Carney is interpreting his mandate as reinforcing the status quo when it comes to winners and losers in the current economy.

When his housing minister was asked if house prices need to come down, he replied:

“No. I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable. It’s a huge part of our economy,” said Robertson on his way to the first meeting of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet

So they are planning to maintain current prices, but there may be more choice, and they are promising to build some affordable housing (for sale? Rent? Who runs it? How affordable will it be?).

[–] sbv 1 points 2 days ago

Not to be confused with the struggle bus.

[–] sbv 1 points 2 days ago

I don't think about it at all.

[–] sbv 13 points 2 days ago (11 children)

The next day, after his final news conference of the campaign, Carney stopped by a cafe in Newmarket. There, he was approached by a woman who said she was a realtor, and who urged him to get rid of the Liberals’ increase to the capital gains tax. It was causing investors a lot of problems, she told him.

“I got rid of it. I know it was a dumb idea. As soon as they did, I was like, ‘This is a stupid idea,’” Carney told her. “And I’m sorry about that, but I wasn’t there so I couldn’t prevent it. But now I can.”

le sigh

 

TD isn't fixing its money laundering problem because of Canadian penalties, but because the US regulator wouldn't put up with their shit:

It had become clear TD needed a new leadership team to usher in the sweeping changes required to fix its anti-money-laundering failures, which in October resulted in U.S. regulators announcing more than US$3-billion in fines by the Department of Justice and a host of non-monetary penalties that will carve deep trenches in the bank for years to come.

Money laundering has pushed up costs in our real estate sector and enabled the drug crisis. It's bizarre that we haven't done more to stop it.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-td-bank-raymond-chun-ceo/

 

The Eight Laws of ~~Robotics~~ Calmness:

  1. Technology should require the smallest possible amount of attention.
  2. Technology should inform and create calm.
  3. Technology should make use of the periphery.
  4. Technology should amplify the best of technology and the best of humanity.
  5. Technology can communicate, but doesn’t need to speak.
  6. Technology should work even when it fails.
  7. The right amount of technology is the minimum needed to solve the problem.
  8. Technology should respect social norms.

I'm a little suspicious about a certification body that's paid for by producers, but it's fine if they can make it work.

58
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by sbv to c/[email protected]
 

Interesting podcast about the measles outbreaks in Alberta and Ontario. I got:

  1. The outbreaks are primarily among unvaccinated Mennonite communities.
  2. Heard immunity (thanks to vaccination) among the general population has prevented exposures from turning into infections.
  3. Provincial health ministries are avoiding talking about Mennonites because they want to avoid stigmatization.
  4. Provincial health ministries aren't holding regular briefings for political reasons.

But it's a podcast (and I'm too lazy to read the transcript) so maybe I got some of that stuff wrong.

Edit: Fixed the link to the transcript. Thanks @[email protected]!

1
mod me! (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago by sbv to c/repostbot_comm
 

this one

0
token frame 1 (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago by sbv to c/repostbot_comm
 

original. Should not be modded.

 

In version 0.1.4, mods can now configure the repost-bot to watch a community and complain when a user reposts an image too often. The mod configures the community by PMing the bot with something along the lines of

{"https://sh.itjust.works/c/repostbot_comm": { 
  "action": "comment", 
  "minRepostIntervalSeconds": 60, 
  "allowRepostsFromOtherCommunities": false 
}}

You can see an example of this groundbreaking behaviour here.

Next up: adding reporting and removal of posts.

 

are you gonna ignore this, bot?

-2
second image (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago by sbv to c/repostbot_comm
 

catch me bot

-2
test: initial image (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 weeks ago by sbv to c/repostbot_comm
 

go bot go

 

Former parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page said there isn’t enough time left before the summer recess for the government to produce a full budget with new policy announcements, but he said the Liberals should at least produce a fiscal update before the summer that shows where things currently stand. He said campaign platforms didn’t fully account for the various U.S. tariff moves that have disrupted the Canadian economy.

“They are out of date,” said Mr. Page, who is now president and chief executive officer of the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy. “Parliament will be asked to approve spending authorities without a reasonable planning framework.”

and lil context:

Federal governments almost always release a budget early in the year. One rare exception was in 2020, during the pandemic, when the government didn’t table one.

The absence of a budget would leave Canadians without a clear picture of the new government’s spending plan, or how recent economic events have affected Ottawa’s bottom line.

Original: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-new-energy-minister-hodgson-planning-western-canada-trip-as-carneys/

 

I think Kershaw is trolling in this op-ed, but it's hard to tell. He's saying that the $14 billion planned increase to OAS for seniors will subsidize many people who are already well off. So he suggests younger Canadians (who don't get to participate in the housing market) should get a similar amount:

Millennials and Gen Z deserve a greater share of the $1.5-trillion windfall generated by rising home values since boomers were young adults.

A $1,000 annual payment to every adult aged 18 to 39 would be a start. The simplest way to deliver this compensation would be through a refundable tax credit, claimed when young people file their annual returns. Governments seeking more visible credit might directly deposit $250 every three months into young people’s bank accounts, clearly labelled as a housing wealth dividend.

I know $1,000 doesn’t stretch far in today’s housing market. It may only cover a few weeks of rent or mortgage payments. But over 21 years, that same annual payment adds up to real money that can help with costs.

Of course, there are less spendy alternatives:

Options include eliminating outdated Age and Pension Income tax shelters, which could pay for half the cost. The other half could come from beginning the Old Age Security clawback at $100,000 of household income, rather than continuing to provide the full $18,000 subsidy to retired couples with $180,000 in income.

I think Kershaw is using the $1,000 per year "you were born too young to get a house" tax rebate as an illustration of the amount of cash going to retirees. But maybe he isn't.

Original: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/young-money/article-carneys-housing-fix-needs-a-dividend-for-millennials-and-gen-z/

 

A really fun comparison of some sample hacking/decking/netrunning runs in Shadowrun (1st, 4th, 5th), Cyberpunk (2020, RED), and a couple of systems I'm unfamiliar with.

It's interesting to see the ludic philosophy for each system:

  • Shadowrun seems to value stealth for deckers, meaning cybercombat only occurs when something goes wrong.
  • Cyberpunk seems to expect netrunners to steamroll everything in the system they're attacking.

I have a personal attachment to the Shadowrun style, and I'm trying to figure out how "sneaking" works in Cyberpunk RED. I think the short answer is it doesn't, and I'll have to figure out what an alarm means in this system and how it should be triggered.

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