So they would have to have a white-list for Ukraine and a process for getting on the white-list. That doesn’t seem that complicated. Somewhat intensive, sure, but a very simple solution. And I would think militarily advantageous equipment would be more controlled in a war zone than normal.

Most people don’t feel loyalty to the country they betray. It isn’t a requirement to be a traitor.

Geolocation is very different when you use an omnidirectional antenna passively listening to multiple signals rather than a directional antenna connecting to a satellite for a bidirectional communication session. And all of this ignores the simple fact there are sanctions against some countries and a war going on in another. They are the seller of their antennas and could easily limit who is allowed to change the region of their antenna to work in the white-list zone. Starlink knows the exact equipment I bought from them, and they will know if I move it, and if I change ownership to another person (who actually uses it). Yes, none of this can happen without some administrative or programming work, but that’s the case for many companies if they don’t want to break the law.

Tough place to be. Really, who’s going to give away a working Brother printer?

…any I happen to get for free and I have no other working printers. I have a Brother color laser, so they have nothing I want.

There are some linked articles that provided more information. The superintendent was fired days before a pride parade that was promoted by the division and the MMF. There are a number of conflicting claims surrounding his dismissal, which will probably get ironed out in court. The usual reason for banning flags is the suppress the promotion of something you don’t like, otherwise taste and relevance would be sufficient. Someone needs to start finding perfectly legitimate flags to be flown that don’t meet their criteria, such as city flags, sister city flags, flags for Saskatchewan in towns near the border, etc., until the rule is made to look completely absurd or they say out loud exactly what they are bigoted against. If nothing else, it will tie them up dealing with inane topics so they don’t have as much time to do more harmful things.

My guess, based on the related articles, is that they want to ban the MMF and/or pride flags.

I honestly never thought of Xi as a hothead. This could be my bias or lack of awareness. I’d say he has a fragile ego, sure. Do you have any examples to show why you believe that?

The suicide bag uses a similar process as the suicide pod, but is very much DIY. Shouldn’t be too uncomfortable unless you’re claustrophobic.

There were almost literally no other options. Cable ended service one mile away. Third-party cellular stations were blocked by terrain and would require a 30’ mast (quotes were about $2k for the mast install), Bell wasn’t offering cellular service at the time (and I don’t know if they do now), geo satellite has the worst latency you can get, and caps that make it almost worthless. The only options with less than $1k upfront costs and sub-second latencies were DSL and Starlink. Trust me, I wouldn’t have sat on the Starlink waiting list for 9 months if there was a better option.

I specifically said borderline shady because I didn’t think you were trying to be shady. I also tried to find a source for the cancelation of the $1.3 billion, and all I have is the single line in the posted article about it. Not surprising that neither Telesat nor the government are going out of their way to announce the deal fell through, but I’d prefer it if they did, and I imagine you would, too.

The national security angle doesn’t mean you can’t use foreign services, it means you don’t have to use foreign services, especially when you consider a major user will be NORAD bases. This is particularly relevant given the shenanigans Musk has played in Ukraine.

While I think it’s easy to argue that internet connectivity is a necessity if you want to participate in the modern world, clearly water is even more important. We have seen decades of neglect on that front.

Your Telesat review is very biased. I didn’t know who they were until today, but they’ve been operating geo satellites for 60 years. They also don’t manufacture satellites, so their track record will have less bearing on how those satellites are made. Also, it says in the current article that the previous $1.3 billion deal didn’t go through. I tried to find more info, but the closest I got was Telesat’s press release that mentioned it being subject to various conditions, which may not have been met. That actually increases my confidence, since before they were going to just give them some money if certain conditions were met, and not they’re just getting a loan. Now, whether they actually pay it back… I’d be unsurprised to learn that part of their preparation for this was going public in 2021.

I’d be a little concerned about the manufacturer, MDA, who has gone through a number of mergers and spin-offs over the decades. I’m not certain, but it’s possible that Telesat and MDA had divisions that were spun off into each other at one point. They could have a strong core, or it could have all been sold off and the key people moved on. The fact they still have the Canadarm team and were selected for the first phase of Canadarm 3 gives a little hope, but has no bearing on their capability to manufacture the satellites needed for this array. That said, they do have some history with the antennas and such required for this project.

In short, neither of the key players in this satellite project are new entries, and in fact have had many successful projects over decades. Hopefully this project takes them to new heights.

I live within 20 kilometers of a major city. My options for high-speed were 5/1 DSL for $75 or Starlink, with the costs you described. I suppose 5 megabits would be enough if I limited myself to non-streaming services or only one person using those services at a time, but anyone who thinks that was a reasonable alternative in 2023 probably isn’t participating in the modern technological world, either.

This is where I am. If he just stepped back and followed the laws for whichever region he was providing service in, I wouldn’t have a problem with it being provided by an egotistic asshole. But he has done other than that a number of times, and that’s a problem. All this ignores the national security issues, which people should have gotten a refresher on during COVID with the N95 mask issues.

Sometimes the more expensive option just makes sense if national security is a factor.

I’m pretty sure you’re conflating the American situation with the Canadian one. America gave various telecoms about $4 billion to expand their networks, with which they did nothing. Canada did other stupid things, such as put a program in place to increase rural broadband in 2019, which is really late to the game, or, in Manitoba, where I live, just give a fiber network laid by a government-owned utility to a local ISP.

Sodium ion batteries are really just hitting the mainstream. Prior to now, they appear to have been more from pilot projects/factories, but a couple large factories are being built now. I expect they will be very popular for stationary use in a couple years.

And then there was a giant inquest where a judge said using special powers wasn’t necessary, but didn’t say “…if the authorities who should have dealt with it had done their jobs”?

Yeah, the Google Maps equivalent that you’re flying around in is the massive amount of data. The flight sim part isn’t insignificant, but the massive amounts of canned data will be all those maps.

The people who sell electricity are surprisingly happy to sell you electricity. If you happen to do something horribly wrong and don’t burn your house down, an electrician will be happy to do the repairs. If you have 200 Amp service and draw the full 200 all year long, the most significant reaction would probably be getting a personalized Christmas card.

Isn’t it at meme levels when YouTube games have their screen go black and they mention Nvidia crashing?

Not a problem. It’s essentially rolled into our taxes for the most part in Canada. You may have health insurance on top of that, but that isn’t a guarantee and usually is a top-up of our universal coverage. This usually covers things like drug prescriptions, glasses, and hospital conveniences such as semi-private or private rooms. I agree with the general idea, though, that we as a group pay for everyone who is covered. My original point at the top of this thread is that removing people’s eligibility simply because of risky behavior can be very tricky and likely harmful to society.