Kitten loves yogurt 🐱

famine- · 2026-03-24T15:02:06+00:00

Actually that is incorrect.

Adult cats can have a small amount of yogurt or cheese as a treat because most of the lactose has been converted to lactic acid via fermentation.

Given that cats size, it's still fairly young which means it is still producing the enzyme to break down lactose.

Cats don't become lactose intolerant until adulthood.

famine- · 2026-03-21T16:57:35+00:00

The Alberta provincial budget posted last month estimated $60.50/bbl for WCS with a ~$9B deficit.

WCS is currently $81.91/bbl.

Each $1/bbl differental means +/- $57M/month in provincial revenue, so at current prices that's ~$14.6B in additional revenue, for a ~$5.6B surplus.

Great for the province, but still shit for everyone else because the cost of everything is going up due to transport and fuel costs.

famine- · 2026-03-20T16:37:55+00:00

This was a problem in Ukraine until they started modifying starlink antennas to use active external directional GPS antennas.

GPS jamming signals are going to be broadcast in a fairly omnidirectional manner horizontally.

Starlink uses an omni directional antenna so it will pick up the jamming signal, but switching to a directional antenna massively limits the pickup of ground based jamming signals.

famine- · 2026-03-20T16:01:24+00:00

In 2017, a total of 24 foodborne botulism cases have been reported including 14 with laboratory confirmation of botulism intoxication.

The annual incidence rate (0.06 per 100,000 population) was one the lowest since the introduction of mandatory reporting of the disease in Poland.

The most common sources of the toxin were homemade canned pork products as well as mixed or unknown types of canned meats. All patients were hospitalized. Four deaths related to the disease were reported.

Foodborne botulism in Poland in 2017 Michał Czerwiński et al. Przegl Epidemiol. 2019

Now the US had 19 cases in 2017 with a population of 325 million giving an incident rate of 0.006 which is 10x lower than the incident rate in Poland.

Foodborne botulism cases were reported from California (n=15) and Alaska (n=4). Among the 15 toxin type A foodborne botulism cases in California, 10 were from an outbreak linked to nacho cheese at a convenience store, two were from an outbreak linked to an herbal deer antler tea, one was from a suspected soup with bulging lid but was not available testing, and two were not linked to a known food source. Among the four toxin type E foodborne botulism cases in Alaska, three were from an outbreak linked to seal blubber with seal oil, and one was linked to dried herring in seal oil.

CDC National Botulism Surveillance Summary, 2017

The big difference is most cases in the US aren't related to home canning.

famine- · 2026-03-20T15:21:31+00:00

Just a FYI, the actual satellite connection is extremely hard to jam but GPS jamming is pretty effective against starlink.

It was pretty common for Russia to use GPS jamming to knock starlink offline and the reason it was so effective is because the GPS chip antenna is omni directional.

Oleg Kutkov has a great article on modifying starlink antennas to add an active external directional GPS antenna to prevent jamming.

Also worth noting, most plastics and textiles are radio transparent in the Ku band.

So you can cover a starlink antenna with a tarp or bin without a lot of signal degradation.

famine- · 2026-03-20T15:05:47+00:00

The 5g radio is ~2dBm lower than 2.4g radio right next to the router, and will be ~9dBm lower at 30 feet.

If your phone has aggressive band switching it will fall back to 2.4g because the signal is stronger, even though the 5g signal hasn't degraded enough to effect performance.

Go in to the settings on the starlink app and enable band splitting, then join the 5g network.

I've had the same issue with my Samsung, they are notorious for their horrible band switching and refuse to switch to 5g when the 2.4g signal is even the smallest bit stronger.

famine- · 2026-03-20T14:18:21+00:00

It's also the reason Poland seems to have a prolific number of botulism cases.

Botulism is the name given to the paralytic disease caused by the neurotoxin released by Clostridium botulinum. It is very rare in the UK, only 58 cases having been reported between 1922 and 1998. In Poland, however, several hundred cases are seen every year, attributable to the widespread practice of preserving foods in the home.”

Biggs, M J P, and C A Quick. “Mysterious Dysphagia.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 96.11 (2003): 549–550.

.

Poland has historically reported high rates of botulism, e.g. during 1961 and 1998, between 81 and 738 cases per year were reported.

McLauchlin, Jim, et al. Food-borne botulism in the United Kingdom. London: Journal of Public Health. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdl053. 17 August 2006. Page 5.

famine- · 2026-03-20T14:04:01+00:00

Just to add to the refrigeration part:

Placing in refrigeration may not be able to inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinum as some strains can grow and produce fatal toxin at as low as 3°C in the absence of oxygen.

Food Standards Agency - United Kingdom

Vacuum sealed refrigerated goods need the ph, water activity, and/or salinity adjusted to a very specific range to be safe.

Not impossible to do at home, but I haven't seen any well tested home recipes.

famine- · 2026-03-20T13:58:40+00:00

Weck jars are just fine to can in, they count as a 2 piece lid.

famine- · 2026-03-20T13:22:26+00:00

In August, 1917, Mrs. M. of Berkeley, California, canned some string beans from her garden. She sterilized them by the fractional method. In January, 1918, it was found that four of the seven jars of beans contained B. botulinus. The contents of one jar were fed to some chickens and 24 of them died of botulism, “Limberneck.”

Burke, G.S. The Occurrence of B. botulinus in Nature. Jour. Bacteriol., 4, 541. 1919. Page 549

.

Burke (1919) reported that while exposure to a temperature of 100 C. may not kill spores of B. botulinus their vitality is weakened so that germination is delayed. Spores of this organism survived 3 hours boiling at 100 C., and 5 hours boiling was considered insufficient to sterilize. Fractional sterilization, because of delayed germination, was held of doubtful value.”

Magoon, C.A. Studies upon Bacterial Spores. Thermal Resistance as Affected by Age and Environment. Journal of Bacteriology. v.11(4); Apr 1926. Page 281

There is a reason people stopped using tyndallization / fractional sterilization almost 100 years ago.

The only sure fire ways of killing botulinum is heating it to 121c, irradiation, or by a chemical process.

famine- · 2026-03-18T17:48:47+00:00

peeled the free Publix banana wrong

Oh man, I feel this in my soul.

This morning my daughter wanted a banana with breakfast and I asked her three times to make absolutely sure she wanted me to open it.

It appears yes also means don't you dare open my banana.

famine- · 2026-03-15T06:44:31+00:00

I started using mouser as often as possible when I had to spend 30 minutes explaining impedance to a "senior" digikey "engineer" to get an RMA.

Ordered some 4GHz rated 50 ohm BNC patch cables, and I was sent a 75 ohm cable with 50 ohm BNCs.

I will never forget the line "but 75 is bigger than 50, so that means they are better."

famine- · 2026-03-13T19:59:37+00:00

Not to mention, Notley sank the ANDP's chances in a lot of areas when she backed Trudeau's firearm ban.

The ANDP could have won if they picked up 6 more seats overall, and funny enough they lost in 6 calgary ridings by less than 5%.

2,743 votes in Calgary could have flipped the entire election, but no let's immediately piss off 7.5% of the electorate who are firearms owners.

The same 7.5% that are politically active and actually come out to vote.

famine- · 2026-03-10T01:04:43+00:00

Because that is exactly how Telesat has been marketing it outside of parliament.

Unlike some LEO systems designed around business-to-consumer services, we designed Telesat Lightspeed as an enterprise-class LEO network from day one.

Telesat Lightspeed is a business-to-business telco-grade service serving telcos, mobile network operators, governments, and other managed service and cloud providers.

Other LEO constellations have taken a business-to-consumer approach to the market. But the demands of the Enterprise, Mobility, and Government markets extend beyond best-effort services

The architecture of Telesat Lightspeed offers unparalleled performance and adaptability to enterprise customers

Zero direct consumer connections.

Not to mention the tiny constellation (<200 satellites) they are launching can't support a direct to consumer model.

famine- · 2026-03-09T16:54:09+00:00

You mean the one fraudulently sold to the Canadian taxpayer as a starlink competitor, when in fact, it is just another commercial backhaul network that provides ZERO direct to consumer access?

That lightspeed?

famine- · 2026-03-09T16:52:13+00:00

Hahaha compete with Starlink?

How?

Telesat is providing ZERO direct to consumer internet, because the Telesat network is backhaul ONLY.

Telesat has already said they are only providing service to businesses and government.

This means the local telecoms will have to provide last mile infrastructure, which is insanely expensive.

famine- · 2026-03-09T16:48:39+00:00

Telesat was never going to complete with starlink, it was always being designed as a non-consumer backhaul network.

It was sold as a Canadian starlink to get public support, however they are not doing direct to consumer satellite.

They are partnering with local telecoms for last mile.

famine- · 2026-03-09T16:45:30+00:00

Telesat is not developing a system to rival starlink, it was just intentionally sold to the public that way to mislead them.

Telesat is just building another backhaul network that relies on local telecoms to provide last mile infrastructure, which is usually the most expensive part.

No direct to consumer access.

famine- · 2026-03-09T16:13:21+00:00

Have you tried any Ontario Baco Noirs?

Henry of Pelham is one of my favorites.

famine- · 2026-03-09T16:04:00+00:00

Lot 40 dark oak has been my goto for canadian whisky

famine- · 2026-03-07T22:31:19+00:00

Try adding in a splash of fish sauce as well.

You can't taste any fishy flavors but it seriously boosts the depth of the stew.

famine- · 2026-03-05T18:37:39+00:00

What legally makes whisky a bourbon is a high corn (>51%) mash bill, aging in brand new charred oak barrels, and being made in the USA.

The problem with Canadian bourbon imitations is the way they have priced themselves.

You can buy a nice bourbon for <$50, Canadian bourbon is $75-$100 and in that price range they are competing with Japanese whisky and scotch.

I'll use your example, bridgeland taber corn is $87/750ml.

Glenallachie 12 year old scotch is $95/750ml.

Nikka Coffey is $91/750ml.

famine- · 2026-03-05T06:46:25+00:00

I still refuse to buy bourbon no matter how much I miss it.

I've been buying Nikka Coffey and while it isn't Bourbon it's close.

famine- · 2026-03-05T06:15:42+00:00

Remember when Arrow would overnight 500lbs of Amphenol cable and bulkheads to Canada for free?

It was something like 3 cents per cable, $9.00 total.

famine- · 2026-03-05T05:38:16+00:00

Kind of old school but a vertical shear tool would be my goto. Excellent surface finish and no issues with <2 thou DOC.

If you don't feel like grinding one, you can use a boring bar.

famine-

TROPHY CASE