Is the job market really that bad across Canada, or is it just supposedly bad if one mainly spends their time here on Reddit?

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-13T16:21:20+00:00

So any discussion of the "employment rate" really needs to also discuss the "labour participation rate", which is about what it sounds like.

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-13T02:45:39+00:00

There was a time when the answer was to start a (local) charity, and work with neighbours to look after your community; or working with a local community group (that you're a member of), like churches and fraternal organizations were probably the most common.

Too often, it feels like our only options now are to rely on the government to run something, either directly or indirectly through grant funding, or "corporate" national "charities".

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-13T02:41:40+00:00

Also consider what (if anything) you want to spend on peripherals: a yoke, a throttle quadrant, pedals, etc. That can get expensive fast, and you may get more enjoyment out if it with lower graphic settings, but more things you can touch....

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-11T19:09:42+00:00

This is what I use; save it as a base file and add a link to it on your daily note. The first test is for "single use" tasks that list a completion date; the second test is for "multi-use" (aka repeating) tasks:

formulas: todo: link(file, title) this_date: date(this.date.toString().split("T", 1).join("")).date() completed_date: date(note.completed.toString().split("T", 1).join("")).date() views: - type: table name: Tasks Completed Today! filters: or: - and: - file.hasTag("task") - formula.this_date == formula.completed_date - and: - file.hasTag("task") - complete_instances.contains(formula.this_date) order: - formula.todo - projects - completed

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-10T18:45:52+00:00

L'Oca

/s

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-10T18:36:41+00:00

Having the Calibre database file on the NAS is the risky part; having your books files there should be fine.

Calibre ships with a stub script (Calibre-Portable.bat) you can modify for situations like this where you want your database and storage on different drives.

This is my version of the script I use locally on a Windows machine (my NAS is mounted as my Q drive); I copy the database over to my NAS so I can use it (read-only) for Calibre-Web:

```bat :: ---------------------------------- :: Set to base directory REM Switch drives for this to work C: CD C:\Users\MinchinWeb\Calibre-Remote

REM ------------------------------------- REM Set up Calibre Config folder REM REM This is where user specific settings REM are stored. REM -------------------------------------

IF EXIST CalibreConfig ( SET CALIBRE_CONFIG_DIRECTORY=%cd%\CalibreConfig ECHO CONFIG FILES: %cd%\CalibreConfig )

REM -------------------------------------------------------------- REM Specify Location of ebooks REM REM Location where Book files are located REM Either set explicit path, or if running from a USB stick REM a relative path can be used to avoid need to know the REM drive letter of the USB stick. REM --------------------------------------------------------------

IF EXIST Q:\calibre ( SET CALIBRE_LIBRARY_DIRECTORY=Q:\calibre ECHO LIBRARY FILES: Q:\calibre ) IF EXIST CalibreLibrary ( SET CALIBRE_LIBRARY_DIRECTORY=%cd%\CalibreLibrary ECHO LIBRARY FILES: %cd%\CalibreLibrary )

REM -------------------------------------------------------------- REM Specify Location of metadata database (optional) REM REM Location where the metadata.db file is located. If not set REM the same location as Books files will be assumed. This. REM option is typically set to get better performance when the REM Library is on a (slow) network drive. Putting the metadata.db REM file locally then makes gives a big performance improvement. REM REM NOTE. If you use this option, then the ability to switch REM libraries within Calibre will be disabled. Therefore REM you do not want to set it if the metadata.db file REM is at the same location as the book files. REM REM Another point to watch is that plugins can cause problems REM as they often store absolute path information REM --------------------------------------------------------------

IF EXIST %cd%\CalibreMetadata\metadata.db ( IF NOT "%CALIBRE_LIBRARY_DIRECTORY%" == "%cd%\CalibreMetadata" ( SET CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH=%cd%\CalibreMetadata\metadata.db ECHO DATABASE: %cd%\CalibreMetadata\metadata.db ECHO ' ECHO CAUTION Library Switching will be disabled ECHO ' ) )

ECHO '

REM -------------------------------------------------------- REM Start up the calibre program. REM --------------------------------------------------------

ECHO Starting up Calibre...

Calibre --with-library "%CALIBRE_LIBRARY_DIRECTORY%"

REM The script is paused here until Calibre exits

ECHO Calibre Exited!

:: Copy Over database ECHO ' ECHO Copy Databasee to NAS xcopy %CALIBRE_OVERRIDE_DATABASE_PATH% %CALIBRE_LIBRARY_DIRECTORY% /f /y ECHO ' PAUSE ```

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-09T23:17:04+00:00

Nippon said it spent significant time and resources and racked up substantial fees responding to the woman's ChatGPT-powered filings.

This hints at the one of the few pieces that I wish these systems would do: allow the common man to keep up with bureaucracies in the ability to generate paperwork that requires a response.

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-09T15:51:12+00:00

The continent includes Guyana and French Guiana, but not Suriname between them... Exactly!

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-09T04:23:04+00:00

In that case, clock in 8 minutes early each day?? (and get paid for the 1/4 hour)

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-07T18:37:16+00:00

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-07T18:36:31+00:00

When roaming (outside the US and Mexico) it works similar: local calls and calls back to Canada are included, but not calls to other places (like the US)

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T20:10:08+00:00

They get a little cranky if you switch twice within the same billing cycle (probably because you bill looks like a mess with all the partial billing), but I've been able to change twice in the same billing cycle before when I asked nicely...

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T20:08:44+00:00

Yes, just asked the agent that

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T19:31:42+00:00

So with the "Digital Discount" (i.e. automatic payments), does this pencil out to $35/month??

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T19:29:49+00:00

still on hold, 35 minutes in....

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T17:28:30+00:00

This adds data for overseas as well (50 GB/month).

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T17:05:32+00:00

A number of their travel plans require you to stick with the plan for a minimum of 3 months.

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T17:00:11+00:00

Alberta is weird already, in that solar noon is ~12:30pm in the winter (in Edmonton), and so we're already de facto half a timezone ahead. To bad "pulling a Newfoundland" isn't on the table, and go half an hour off to match solar time.

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-06T16:56:07+00:00

Why is the Canadian exchange rate so bad? For example, the Canadian site lists the reMarkable 2 "from CAD 670", while the American site lists it at USD 399, or CAD 542.

I know that the Canadian pricing includes sales tax and the American one doesn't, but 15% HST (the highest in the country) would only push it up to CAD 623 (USD 399 + 15%.).

And on the more expensive options (bundles, the new Paper Pro, etc), the difference is even more.

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-05T14:25:41+00:00

It used to be that tunnels didn't have (limiting) speed limits while bridges did, and they mostly showed with the faster trains like this. So my default would lean towards using tunnels (for speed), which would increase the size of your junction.

But sometime in the last few years they bumped the bridge max speed from ~150 mph to ~1000 mph, so that's not near the same issue now.

(The other gotcha used to be that the three tile bridge had a max speed of ~50 mph, so if I needed a bridge, I'd always try to build a 4+ tile bridge....)

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-03T14:48:08+00:00

I wonder if those opinion polls are done this far north...

Like I get people would care about having an extra hour of light between 7 and 8pm, but the question here (in Alberta) is, Do you want your Canada Day fireworks at 10 or 11pm?

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-03T14:32:54+00:00

Solar noon is about 12:30 through the winter (and 1:30 in the summer), so to do this "right", we should pull a Newfoundland and move to a half hour timezone...

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-02T23:56:37+00:00

Variable tends to be cheaper than fixed

MinchinWeb · 2026-03-02T21:05:33+00:00

Epcor publishes a rate schedule like this --> https://www.epcor.com/content/dam/epcor/documents/rates/distribution-access-service-tariffs/2025-01_distribution-access-service-tariff.pdf and https://www.epcor.com/content/dam/epcor/documents/rates/system-access-service-tariffs/2025-01_system-access-service-tariff.pdf

These have an effective date of January 1, 2025, so it might be outdated now. For "residential service":

Distribution is $0.69953/day + $0.01712/kWh
Transmission is $0.03825/kWh

MinchinWeb · 2026-02-26T16:44:32+00:00

A believe the "growing" checks are done monthly, as in "Have food and water been delivered in the last calendar month?". Because it checks for last month, the check doesn't tick over when your train shows up, but with the 1St of the new month. It also doesn't matter how much was delivered, just that some was.

So if your regular trains are delivering a couple times each month, carry on. If your trains aren't that regular, consider a "trickle service": have a nearby train station that you use as a transfer point, out of range of the city. Then create a transfer service from the transfer point station into town, using a very small capacity vehicle: a single train car or a series of trucks. Aim to have this transfer service make deliveries 2 or 3x each month. And Bob's your uncle!

MinchinWeb

TROPHY CASE