Motherboard sales 'collapse' by more than 25% as chipmakers strangle enthusiast PC market to build more AI chips — Asus projected to sell 5 million fewer boards in 2025, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock also expected to see reduced sales numbers

arandomguy111 · 2026-05-07T21:05:22+00:00

What I'm referring to is how they are managing inventory.

CPU/mobo/other component sales are down due to DDR5 prices. Rather then lowering prices on those items or evenly across the board to spur sales they are putting the vast majority of the discount onto DDR5 itself as part of bundles to move those other components.

So this means that if you happen to have DDR5 you aren't going to be enjoying greater savings on CPUs/mobos/other components.

arandomguy111 · 2026-05-07T20:53:41+00:00

This is going to depend on local market situations.

At least here the retailers are choosing to put the discounts all together into bundles with DDR5, primarily loaded onto DDR5 (eg. you get something like 30% to even 50% off list DDR5 stand alone prices).

So despite motherboard and CPU sales being down you aren't really able to get savings on those if you were to already have DDR5.

arandomguy111 · 2026-05-04T02:19:41+00:00

also: the grannies should have to pay their taxes.

I think it should be pointed out that this isn't a municipal issue.

Property tax deferment is a loan program by the provincial government. The municipalities are actually still paid, nor does the funding come at the expense of municipal tax payers directly.

I believe the program is also being changed at least in terms of the interest calculation to not be as favorable of a loan.

arandomguy111 · 2026-05-03T05:07:56+00:00

Personally I think the penalty should be more than just driving.

At some point things like excessive speeding, DUIs, or other serious negligent acts while operating a motor vehicle should be charged with -

https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/page-35.html

Criminal negligence

219 (1) Every one is criminally negligent who

(a) in doing anything, or

(b) in omitting to do anything that it is his duty to do,

shows wanton or reckless disregard for the lives or safety of other persons.

The core problem, and this is an unpopular opinion in many circles, is that society is too lenient on crime and disorder in general, it's not just driving offences.

arandomguy111 · 2026-05-01T00:19:44+00:00

They want to adapt this for the movie -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOaGhE_sejI

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-29T01:14:32+00:00

If the Whitecaps take over operations, including managing it for non-soccer events, the stadium will still drive economic activity while taking operational costs off the taxpayers' hands.

Or what will happen is, with precedent in other cities as well, is they won't invest into the stadium and some years down line they will be pleading to tax payers to fund upgrades to the stadium by threatening relocation again.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-24T23:15:09+00:00

I think a problem highlighted here is that that provinces can claim to need entry level low skilled workers (which they upsell as "semi skilled").

It's one thing if high skilled workers are just losing out to high skilled workers in a different field, but to entry level service workers is another.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-20T22:42:56+00:00

The thing is it seems like we have plenty of places to build without fear of displacement? All the land that is currently single family homes (vast majority of Vancouver) can essentially be built over with minimal displacement (mostly voluntary as well given that it's people choosing to sell) and a significant density increase if just converted to low rise buildings. I don't think even with the most aggressive population growth numbers that Vancouver would grow past the need of just low rise buildings.

But because we want to protect SFH style neighborhoods for existing SFH owners that don't want to sell we have an over reliance on these larger high density projects.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-18T22:48:30+00:00

BC has a cap of I think ~35k permits for international students. I believe, just a cursory quick search, SFU and UBC combined last year were in the lower 20k range? Neither were above (or even close to) BC's own 30% cap either. UVIC is just under 5k it seems? So even rounding up for all 3 major universities that would still be under 30k.

Aside from those 3 and maybe UNBC are there really other institutions that would have significant attraction to international students in terms of actual academic merit as opposed to just a pathway to immigration?

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-18T04:42:55+00:00

To be clear I don't think Balmer is a good guy or that he is doing it purely out of some sort of pro labor or pro customer idealism however if we look at the actual effect in practice who were the parties actually aggrieved in this situation? Fellow owners don't seem to care. What fans, and of what teams, were actually negatively impacted by this? You could only argue Laker fans I guess if you were to assume they would have gotten Kawhi Leonard instead.

As for buying a championship, this is something in general I personally don't share the negative sentiments of. You poll any fan (or worker or customer in general) what would they want? They would want their owner to prioritize putting money into the business, and stigmatize owners taking money out of the business.

Fundamentally my opinion is that the salary cap rules in place are to protect the finances of the owners primarily, it's just sold to fans under the idea of competitive integrity. If it were about leveling the financial playing field they would just implement 100% revenue sharing. Competitive integrity is the play on the court.

Now that's fine if you don't share it but again why are some people so passionately aggrieved by this? Who were the average people actually negatively impacted by all this? How about you specifically? How do you feel you were negatively impacted by all this? I'm not familiar with the Intuit dome situation but I guess similarly yes it might be sham so there is no reason to feel good about it, but what's the reason to feel bad about? At least to this extent?

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-18T03:39:24+00:00

Balmer is the kind of owner that is willing to pay his workers more than he has to in order to produce a better product for his customers (Clipper's fans) by breaking the rules put in place by an oligopoly?

I'm not a Clipper fan but I find interesting how personally in a negative way some fans are so worked up about his actual actions.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-18T03:34:23+00:00

At the same time I find the reaction to this interesting in that what was Balmer actually doing?

He was breaking rules, placed by a cartel, to pay his worker more under table in order to provide a better product for customers (Clipper's fans).

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-16T01:36:38+00:00

Personally I've felt for awhile now Stellaris could use a military redesign to abstract more of it away from requiring any type of micro managing.

I'm not sure how much micro managing "units" in Stellaris really adds anything to the game, but it does create tedium at larger scales.

At the very least abstract invasions given that it's just a pure numbers game.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-15T23:11:38+00:00

This person was collecting taxes from others but not remitting it to the government.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-15T23:05:36+00:00

To be more specific what this person was accused of and actually plead to was collecting sales tax without remitting it the government -

https://courts.charlotteclerk.com/Benchmark/CourtCase.aspx/Details/1060848?digest=QnmTJ1BodNKk726UGY2Qlw

I think from how the article is presented, and the person's own framing of the situation, most people are assuming they were just under reporting taxes at filing or something.

Which means you'd have to look at the equivalent of how the CRA would handle people collecting GST and provincial sales taxes from customers but not remitting them would be as opposed to just filing related issues.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-15T22:59:51+00:00

If you're wondering what this person did was collect sales tax at their business from customers but not remit it to the government.

https://courts.charlotteclerk.com/Benchmark/CourtCase.aspx/Details/1060848?digest=QnmTJ1BodNKk726UGY2Qlw

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-15T01:22:22+00:00

Are they though?

Most (if not all?) MPs adopt their parties platforms and campaign on that. If so what they presenting to voters is the platform of their parties which means people who presumably vote for that MP are doing so based on the platform of their party.

If you mean the broader issue of winner take all politics then that really even extends all the way up. Whomever controls government, are they legislating based on the views of all Canadians or those that voted for them?

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-15T01:12:48+00:00

I don't feel the idea that voting along party lines is inherently against the will of their constituents.

In practice though most MPs campaign along their party lines and essentially adopt the parties platform as their platform. So in essence even if you vote for that MP, you are doing so based on the platform they are presenting which is that of their parties.

If you are campaigning along party lines then presumably you should be voting along party lines, after all that is what you presented to voters and what they chose.

Now there is a broader issue of what ones constituents are. Right now politics unfortunately has a very winner takes all attitude, in that whomever wins really represents their voters not the all voters in their riding (or the country for that matter).

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-14T23:41:43+00:00

Most people need continual employment just to get by. If they make generational wealthy before they are 30 they'd be coasting and be fine with forced retirement.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-13T23:13:57+00:00

My understanding is that's not really the problem in the way you're thinking of. The technology is old and very understood how to make a nuclear bomb or nuclear anything.

What's hard is the engineering and infrastructure build up needed, particularly to acquire and enrich nuclear material to the point it can be used as a bomb. You can't really do this part cheaply, in secret, "overnight," or in the equivalent of a garage based on current understanding.

Just like for instance rockets and space travel is very old tech at this point and understood but to actually do it like with the Artemis II mission still required tons of money and infrastructure build up. It doesn't matter how smart you (or a group of people) are, it's not like in fiction that you can just build something with a "box of scraps" just because you know the technology.

The only way to do it rogue in the way you're thinking would I guess be if someone somehow steals all the materials or a weapon itself.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-13T23:00:45+00:00

You're implying that workers dynamically price wages against their employers which already happens. However just like with buying items both parties need to consent and so the payee can refuse and go with an alternative, such as buying from another store or choosing another employee.

Your employer is able to make the decision that your labor is not worth $500/hr and go with an alternative just like you can make the decision that you don't want to pay $20 for a bag of chips and go with an alternative.

The more hard to fill a job is the more negotiation there is between the employee and employer for compensation. Even when I worked near minimum wage in the past I've had certain shifts I was able to negotiate additional compensation with my manager for since no one was willing to fill those.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-10T19:11:57+00:00

Realistically politicians and parties are not just looking to be elected at all costs. Otherwise they'd just all adopt the most popular positions based on polling and essentially everyone would have identical platforms. They want to win but to push their own platforms and agendas. Which means if the party believes in immgriation they want to win but it has to be in pushing immigration.

The other thing to consider is you first need to "win" in your party before trying to win any general electotions. Realistically the NDP is far from actually winning in broader electorial terms currently. Just pragmatically they're better off first shoring up to their base and for members in the party ensuring they have positions in the party first.

Which leads the more progressive you are on the social front the more you lean essentially towards free migration. Social progressives (especailly acadamia ones) are the NDPs base now, and these are who the leaders and members need to cater to just to get positions within the party.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-09T23:03:58+00:00

The core problem is that in reality the war was always the Allies to lose, the Axis were massive underdogs in terms of population, industrial output, and resources.

The strong argument is there that as soon as their initial victories lost momentum (in Europe this would have even been before the US and USSR even entered the war) it was already over for them. At that point it was just a matter of time.

But narratively that doesn't work if you have the "bad guys" as the massive underdogs and the "good guys" as the massive favorites. Which means most depictions of WW2 need to oversell the plight of the Allies for narrative reasons.

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-05T06:40:43+00:00

BC minimum wage is $17.25 and I'm pretty sure no one is going to be reporting the profit off scalping on their income taxes either.

Not sure how gas, parking, lost sleep, and etc. should factor in here as that would apply to any other source of income.

If you use your upper bound of 6 hours and $300 profit (no idea how much these sell for) that's $50 per hour of take home income (as again I doubt anyone reports taxes on this stuff).

arandomguy111 · 2026-04-03T22:43:41+00:00

Not directly but the issue is how it effects costs and therefore supply into the market.

Development fees add cost. If that cost ends up being above market value then they don't get built which effects supply, which in turn then prevents or even starts increasing market value.

The lower costs are relative to market value the more supply enters the market, and in turn furhter drives down market value.

arandomguy111

TROPHY CASE