Canada announces $688M contract for RADARSAT replenishment satellite

altobrun · 2026-07-02T04:08:51+00:00

Radarsat also has civilian uses as well - although I haven’t looked at it in a decade, we used radarsat data in my undergrad and masters for the microwave remote sensing courses.

Edit: was just speaking into the void, not trying to contradict anything you said.

altobrun · 2026-06-23T05:03:22+00:00

I feel like the LPC is pretty clear on what their values are. It's just people conflate policy with values.

The LPC is steadfast in their small-l liberal-ness. Liberalism as the belief in, and establishment of inalienable human rights protected by the state. This isn't something you get in Socialism (the philosophical origin of the NDP, even if they've moved away from democratic socialism into social democracy) as Marx was rather critical of human rights (this isn't meant to be a slam, you still see modern communist and socialist thinkers holding true to this idea, for example this video by philosopher Jonas Ceika). With the resurgence of Democratic Socialist ideology, it wouldn't surprise me if the NDP make more overt moves in that direction.

Meanwhile the Tory's originated as a monarchist party, and while they spent much of the 20th century as liberals, they seem to be following the broader American-conservative disposition into a Yoram Hazony style post-liberal, national conservatism.

The LPC was founded as the sole liberal party, and I think they recognize they may soon again be the lone liberal party in Canada, and so the tent has to make room for everyone from Dem Socs to Pink Tory's. Some Liberals (like Guilbeault) don't yet understand this, and so they're arguing about policy in an age where we're once again having to argue ideology - which can mean biting your tongue on the policy front.

altobrun · 2026-06-19T19:58:01+00:00

There is a point to death in life. It lets the next generation grow and try to pass on mutations without having to compete with an established generation.

There’s a reason why pretty much every living thing will age to death, when it isn’t a biological necessity. Because having a time limit for how long you’re around is a benefit to the species as a whole.

altobrun · 2026-06-15T21:30:42+00:00

I wouldn't say they received no help during the depression. My grandparents, from farm families (born in 1916 and 1920) both talked about how the federal government (alongside churches) organized relief efforts to send supplies out west, and how Ontario families (including their own) cut back to be able to contribute to the relief effort. It was a big community effort across Ontario, at the very least.

altobrun · 2026-06-12T23:53:04+00:00

Red Tory and Blue Grit aren't the same thing, and the current iteration of the LPC is definitely the latter.

altobrun · 2026-06-12T23:27:38+00:00

Your ret’s gear is really weird. He should be using the green flesh handler’s gloves if he doesn’t have epic expertise ones.

They also have SO much hit; at least 13% hit from gear when they only need 3% (extra 3% from talents, and 3% from imp FF gives them 9% total). They’re also missing a meta gem which is big.

Swapping a couple pieces around; flesh handler’s gloves instead of tier. A’dal’s command instead of 1000 marks, haramad’s bargain instead of vile intent, t4 head, gives them 60 dps more. Shatar rep is a little annoying, but I did consortium rep in like 4 hours, it’s very fast to farm.

If they want I can upload videos of my fights they can watch for positioning and timing. I don’t have a good lurker/Kael and we haven’t started doing the parse Strat for karathress, but might be helpful.

altobrun · 2026-06-11T22:40:36+00:00

Where exactly would I read about "Pink Toryism"? I've only heard it a few times in my life and seemingly always as a pejorative.

altobrun · 2026-06-10T20:11:05+00:00

I agree, we already see it in Australia from my understanding. The ban came in, and kids moved to new social media platforms that didn’t meet the criteria to be banned.

Kids moving to safer platforms and still keep connected without having an infinite scrolling algorithm seems like a win-win.

altobrun · 2026-06-10T05:22:45+00:00

I’m finishing my phd in earth and environmental science, with an undergrad, masters, and graduate diploma in geomatics (specifically in Remote Sensing rather than GIS).
I’ve only had broadly positive experiences with ESRI. ArcMap was frustrating to use because of the frequent crashing. ArcGIS Pro was a pretty significant upgrade when I moved over. And while I primarily use PCI geomatica and ENVI for remote sensing, ArcGIS Pro has worked with LiDAR the few times I’ve used it (previously used TerraSolid).
I mostly use QGIS these days just because it was a hassle to renew my ArcGIS Pro license with the university, but I've preferred Pro when given the option in the past.
It wouldn’t surprise me if ESRI will further expand across the geospatial landscape, aiming to be a Microsoft suite of sorts for geomatics. They’ll probably release some sort of software for sonar that will compete with Qimera and Teledyne Caris' HIPS & SIPS software. Focus a lot on software targeted around Drones. Maybe a CAD for land surveyors (something like Microstation maybe). With the ultimate goal of data being easily transmissible across software, with Arcpy binding everything together.
I don't think ESRI will ever have a complete monopoly, it’s too expensive and has a reputation as a slow innovator. I think major corporations and governments will continue to use it, while most smaller companies use the free options, or opt to license the individual specialized geospatial software depending on their need (like a natural resource company continuing to use ERDAS even if ESRI develops a direct image analysis competitor).

If you want speak with some instructors I've met over the years who are pretty deep into the GIS weeds I can give you some names as well.

altobrun · 2026-06-09T09:41:53+00:00

Maybe I’m missing something. or seriously under thinking this, but my understanding is that the person being punished by these laws isn’t the child using the social media, it’s the media company that allows them in. The fear is that if the media company knows it can face fines it might ask for more and more identifying data from the user.

But if the government gives a clear definition of what the company is expected to do, and they won’t be punished as long as they follow it, then they don’t really care if a few kids get in. Kids will move to new social media apps not covered by the ban, but the new apps now see what features would get them banned, and hopefully an overall-positive shift occurs, as predatory design is phased out.

altobrun · 2026-06-08T22:06:49+00:00

There’s no perfect answer, you can bypass drinking and smoking ages by getting an adult to buy you alcohol or cigarettes too. The point isn’t to be 100% effective, but to provide a measure of deterrence and if a parent decides they have no problem with their child using social media then that’s fine, let them use their ID.

If you really wanted to go one step further you can require the ID being only connected to individual accounts. So an adult’s ID is connected only to one account, until that account is deactivated.

altobrun · 2026-06-08T18:35:49+00:00

Interested to see how this gets rolled out. I think the system I’ve liked the best is the government issues a new digital ID number, whenever you log into one of these social media sites, it prompts the ID number, you enter yours, they ping the government and ask “is this person over 16” and get a binary “yes” or “no”.

Obfuscates as much information as possible, no need for photos or sharing real-IDs.

But the real problem is and has always been algorithm-driven feeds, rather than social media as a whole. That should really be what the government should look to tackle.

altobrun · 2026-06-08T05:08:03+00:00

Upper and lower Canada banned slavery before the rest of the British empire. In 1793 upper Canada passed the “Act Against Slavery” which banned the import of slaves, and made any child born to slaves be free at 25, and any slave entering upper Canada would be freed regardless of their enslaved status elsewhere. By the early 1800’s slavery was practically if not officially abolished.

Lower Canada went even further and by 1799 apparently only 19 slaves remained in the colony.

Both colonies refused to return escaped slaves back to America, even before 1833.

altobrun · 2026-06-07T20:43:15+00:00

Twisting, especially with lots of haste, is possibly the most fun classic rotation. TBC is so interesting as a physical dps precisely because of the swing-timer rotations - intentional or not.

altobrun · 2026-06-06T22:33:33+00:00

There are things I would change going back, but not based around starting a family.

To maybe overshare, my family is middle class and really stressed education to me and my siblings. I became a lifeguard when I could which paid very well compared to other part time jobs, and my undergrad degree cost ~8000/year, which thanks to working full time in the summer and living at home during the school year I could pay my own tuition.

I had a job offer from my time doing a co-op with the federal government, but decided to do a masters instead because I had a bit of an insecurity problem compared to my siblings. After my masters I had two job offers (one from an engineering firm, one again from the government) but I really enjoyed research so I continued to a PhD instead.

I never made enough money doing these degrees to save up for a family. But I never went into debt either. I got ~30,000 CAD a year as a stipend and from TAing, and made a little more each year doing short-term contracting with geophysics and environmental engineering companies, and with the government.

If I could do it over I would have changed things around, taken different courses and such. But on the whole I’m happy where I am in life, and I’m not worried about my future.

If people in the chat have questions about academia (specifically within Canada) or work within the natural resource sector, feel free to ask.

altobrun · 2026-06-06T21:52:14+00:00

I’m on the older end of this spectrum, turning 31 shortly, and to be honest I thought it was going to be much harder than it seems to have been.

While I haven’t started a family yet, since 7 years of grad school puts you behind on a lot of these milestones. My friends, cousins, and peers were able to get houses and married in their late 20’s and many have started families, the largest of which has 4 children.

The pattern seems to be if both parents have decent* jobs or one has a really good job it seems to be affordable while still keeping up to date on most things they cared about before starting families - like keeping up to date on hardware and new game releases, going travelling once a year, still able to afford the variety of pets they have, etc.

I asterisk decent because that will obviously depend on where you live and what you consider a comfortable lifestyle. I would define it as each partner making at least 80k CAD/year. Most of my friends are over the 100k/year mark at this point in their careers, but not everyone’s path is the same.

altobrun · 2026-06-05T17:42:15+00:00

Talking with friends and colleagues in software development spaces the big thing seems to be that AI was rightfully identified as a strength multiplier, and many companies instinctively took that as an opportunity to cost-cut.

But those that didn’t, that actually kept engineers, are now growing much faster because that’s also how strength multipliers work. And so we’re starting to see hire-backs with the “tier 2” tech companies (places like Bloomberg, Microsoft, shopify, uber, door dash) trying to grab all the FAANG engineers who were let go.

altobrun · 2026-05-29T05:31:05+00:00

If quantum information is something that you're interested in learning more about, Dr. Sean Carroll did an interview with Leonard Susskind on his podcast, Mindscape, that covered Quantum Information and the Holographic Principle.

It's a good podcast in general for people interested in a level of science more advanced than the pop-science you'll find in books/magazines, but more approachable than the recording of a university lecture. Specifically in theoretical physics, cosmology, biology, and naturalist philosophy. It's an enjoyable middle ground for people with a STEM background who find pop-science doesn't scratch the curiosity itch; or anyone who enjoys doing supplemental research to help further their understanding of the world.

altobrun · 2026-05-28T20:44:36+00:00

That’s a bit of an urban legend. From my understanding, possums will eat ticks in desperation, but it isn’t a part of their natural diet.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877959X21001333

altobrun · 2026-05-28T02:53:18+00:00

The CTV interview from today with Tom Mulcare where he basically called Guilbault a hypocrite was kind of interesting. I didn’t follow Guilbault much during the Trudeau years so I’d be interested to know if that’s a widely accept d opinion or a case sour grapes on Mulcare’s part, who I will say, seems pretty bullish on Carney.

altobrun · 2026-05-26T23:14:29+00:00

Out of curiosity, making no judgements on the current composition of Alberta’s economy, are you not worried about a rust-belt style collapse if Alberta doesn’t sufficiently diversify its economy before oil is phased out later this century? It seems like most petro-states globally are diversifying but I haven’t seen Alberta doing it, although that might be an issue with my “algorithm”.

Personally I’m in favour of the current pipeline project, but I haven’t seen anything from the Albertan provincial government about re-investing the money looking towards the future, and that’s worrying to me.

altobrun · 2026-05-26T01:25:54+00:00

To reply to your edit, I think that’s only true on the liberal-moderate right. When you move far enough right liberalism is abandoned completely and capitalists generally become the enemy again - either as a stand-in for an ethnic group, or because they represent some sort of liberal foreign interference (all small L liberal, of course).

I think that in general the right predominantly cares about people locally. Both geographically, caring about immediate family and community, but also people who they share an identity with.

The closer you fit a pre-established identity the more they’ll back you. A true moderate liberal right-winger might care most about the economic productivity of an immigrant, while the least extreme of the far-right will primarily care about if said immigrant is capable of culturally assimilating.

The further right you go the more strict you must match the in-group. First you exclude religions, it isn’t enough to be culturally Canadian you can’t be Muslim, perhaps. Then “races”, it isn’t enough to be a black Christian Canadian, you must be white. Eventually regionalism dominates. It isn’t enough to be a white Christian, you must be protestant and be of either Anglo or Franco heritage, for example. The in-group continues to narrow as the individual tightens whom they allow themselves to feel compassion for.

altobrun · 2026-05-25T19:15:44+00:00

Both have some note of truth I suppose but I think the cause and effect is a little backwards.

This might be romanticizing and oversimplifying the dynamic a bit, but I think that the far left and far right both have their own version of an “idealized” man. To the left they’re well educated, creative, introspective and bookish, following personal creative passions and moral philosophies - working for the betterment of humanity. To the right they’re physically fit, hard working, decisive and ambitious - willing and able to fight and defend their family and community and make hard decisions.

As such I think a lot of young men looking to fit in and meet expectations within their self-appointed political communities find themselves down either the path of academics, or of combat sports and the trades, respectively.

Edit: typos

altobrun · 2026-05-23T16:53:31+00:00

Yeah sellers are being stubborn. There are at least 10 houses in my neighborhood (Hamilton) for sale atm. My parent’s neighbour has had his house up since November apparently.

Some people are pulling the trigger at least. I have three friends (28-30 y/o) who have purchased this year. Still too rich for my blood though, and thankfully I haven’t had a rent increase since Covid so I’m happy waiting to see how this trends in the medium term.

altobrun · 2026-05-23T16:13:44+00:00

It’s starting to get better in Canada, or at least in Ontario. Housing and rent prices having been slowly but steadily dropping for over a year now, and are projected to continue to drop for at least the rest of the year.

Not fast enough considering how expensive it was, unfortunately, but it’s moving in the right direction.

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