[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

But they're gonna continue to consoom and drive their individual giant SUVs everywhere. Don't worry they will be electric so buy buy buy.

Anyway, AI running in datacenters powered by fossil fuel will surely find a technological solution to our consumption problems.

Surely we can't just stop consooming.

And don't forget to recycle!

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca -3 points 5 days ago

My nation has been under occupation by the English since 1760 and I have no special love for the actual country that was forced on us. The patriots tried to fight against the English; they were captured, and hung. One capitalist master over another, I'm not fighting for that.

We survived for 260 years in a country that was stolen and in a union that was forced on us. We will endure the Unitedstaters if they take over, as we endured the English.

Plus, an escalation and more spending on the military is exactly what the orange turd wanted in the first place. You are being played over FUD.

The world will be such a better place when the poor will fight one another for a line on a map while the rich pockets the money from military equipment sale. But at least everyone is employed and has a job!

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 days ago

What a wonderful way to keep people employed, by pivoting from engines destroying the environment and killing people to, well, exactly the same. It's certainly a win for them, and us to continue being paid to make death machines. Their union is smart to want to get a piece of the military budget pie.

Just like the US, let's have common folks earn a living from making military equipment, and depend on those jobs. Great idea. It's not at all contributing to spending public money on the military instead of useless social programs.

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Anything but reduce car usage or invest in public transit. No, the solution to everyone wasting energy to move a personal multi ton vehicle around, and prevent parking lots from worsening climate change, is to install solar panels on top of every parking lot and road.

Cars will one day be made by green energy, powered by green energy, recycled by green energy, and be entirely carbon neutral, of course.

They will still emit tons of microplastic particles but we'll eventually find a technoloical solution for that, I'm sure. They will still kill billions of animals every year but it's not related to climate so no biggie. They will still kill one human every 30 seconds but again, not a climate issue. They augment the risk of cardiovascular diseases and make people fat. They are also a source of noise pollution and stress for millions of poor people living near freeways. And they are also an expensive status symbol. But none of this matters because they will be electric, and have solar panels on top of parking lots, thus solving the problem once and for all!

Personally I'd prefer we get rid of parking lots and build housing on top of it but, where will people park their climate friendly cars?!

Anything but to admit cars are an environmental problem.

EDIT: Sorry about the abrasiveness. I did read a study a few months ago about installing solar panels on top of parking lots and they did have a positive impact, but it's just impossible to do this on every open air parking lot and road because of material and cost. Even if it could have a positive impact on localized areas, it's never gonna be enough to have an overall impact.

Just to give you an idea of how much parking there is in the world, you can look for those maps where parking lots are highlighted. This is for Flint, MI. This is for Philadelphia. I tried to do it for a town of about 80k people in Québec (Drummondville), and just gave up before being done. And that's just counting parking lots, not roads. How many solar panels do you think we should produce to cover all this?

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 days ago

Oh yeah. A car shows your social status and you want to impress others. If you drive an expensive car, of course women will want to be your girlfriend.

I wonder what his father drives? Did he also give his mother cookies because he didn't have the correct car to impress?

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago

Same but with the current geopolitical situation.

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 89 points 1 week ago

As someone not from the US, I can't say how much I appreciate the last part of his video. As much as I understand why YouTubers want to "keep politics out of entertainment", it's disappointing and makes me lose interest in some US content because it seems like they are ignoring what's going on around them.

And about the batteries, that's unfortunately an argument I sometimes hear from skeptics. "What are we going to do with all those batteries?" they ask. I explain that they can mostly be recycled and like to ask what are we going to do with all the CO2 in the air, but apparently it's different. Ironically one of those persons is my father, that has a cabin with a solar system that I installed for him. He originally bought a generator but since it's very noisy to run only for some lights, he prefers using the battery bank powered by a few solar panels on the roof. I'd show him this video but he doesn't speak English and it's probably a lost cause anyway.

We can only hope that at least a few people can be influenced by this video; both parts.

7
submitted 1 month ago by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/micromobility@lemmy.world

A recent post made me want to share and see how other people are carrying and towing voluminous stuff with bicycles. Show us your #carryshitolympics, or just regular hauls.

For example, I live on an archipelago and have a kayak and a SUP that I carry around with bike trailers. Depending on my destination and what I'm carrying, I use an Aosom trailer with a flat bed, but most of the times I can get away with a lighter Burley Travoy. Here are some pictures.

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 92 points 2 months ago

No. Nothing matters. He said it himself.

I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?

53
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

I can't imagine commuting with Via Rail. As someone using Via once in a while, I don't think it's more expensive than it was. If anything sometimes you can get some accepable deals if you reserve a few weeks in advance. But it sure is absolutely overpriced of you are last minute. It's $50 if I want to see my family tomorrow even if there are still seats in the train, but $25 if I plan the visit a week or two in advance.

It's the whole problem with their pricing system. They don't see themselves as a replacement for cars. You can't get a monthly pass for Via. They see themselves as a tourist attraction.

And unlike other rich countries, we don't even have regional trains. It could also help to have more than 5 trains a day. But again, they don't want to be a commuter service.

Sometimes I wish Exo and GO trains would cover Via rail routes in their respective provinces. It would be so much more convenient for everyone. And with Alto eventually coming, will Via ever be improved?

124
submitted 5 months ago by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/pareidolia@sh.itjust.works

In a Montreal exo commuter train.

42
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/whatisthisthing@lemmy.world

Went to a camping in the Laurentians in Québec (Ste-Agathe) and there were those things near some camp sites. The sites are only accessible by footpaths. No car access. And if you bring a bike, you have to walk it up a hill, so I doubt they are bike racks.

EDIT: I have sent an email to the park and they have been kind enough to reply. It's just a type of fireplace with a grate. They didn't give more info than just this. Thanks to everyone for pitching in!

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 77 points 8 months ago

I'm always a bit amazed of how things have progressed and on what Linux can still run.

This is an extreme example, but it's also possible to run a modern Linux OS on SBCs like a Raspberry Pi Zero, and still have something somewhat usable depending on your needs.

To have a computer half the size of a credit card with more RAM than my full tower rig from 2001 is amazing. And it can even run software from that era with dosbox or wine.

My 15 years old laptop is still supported and can still read 1080p on YouTube, using Linux.

Linux devs just recently decided to drop support for 486 CPUs and some early Pentiums.

There's just no competition.

63
submitted 9 months ago by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/bicycles@lemmy.ca

Spring has sprung, the cycling networks in Québec, the Route Verte and other regional or municipal paths, are now mostly open.

So it's again possible to explore or use the network to go camping, as part of touring, or just to get from point A to B.

And you should know that if you are touring or arriving on a bike, there is a program called "Bienvenue Cyclistes" where all national parks (provincial parks here) will offer you a campground for less than $10. Keep in mind you also have to pay entry fees that are around $10 too. About the same for some wood. This is also possible in some other establishments. Consult the map linked above.

You should also know that you can use public transit around Montréal to bring your bike with you. It's included in the ticket. So you can take the metro, but more importantly, the REM, and the commuter trains. There are also some exo buses with bike racks. So you can go to St-Jérôme for Le P'tit Train du Nord in a commuter train with your bike for a few dollars. From that trail you can also reach another park, Parc national du Mont Tremblant

Today I'm going to see my family from Montréal to the Drummondville region. In the other direction. The ~140 km to get there is entirely bike trails/paths. I cut the itinerary in two stages and stop in a small national park called the Parc national de la Yamaska for a night of camping.

The first part to get there is using a network of local bike trails. The first from Longueuil to Chambly is called La montée du Chemin de Chambly. Then from the other side of the Richelieu river there is a trail called La route des Champs to Granby. And from Granby to the park it's local trails. They have very nice cycling infra in that region.

Here are some pictures of La route des Champs and the local trail before the park.

Then tomorrow, I will use another trail connecting to the park called La Campagnarde. This one goes to Drummondville, entirely on small gravel, and sometimes very remote and quiet.

I do this multiple times a year so I thought I would share some tricks and adventures. And I've been encouraged to by /u/Evkob.

Have fun cycling everyone!

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 68 points 9 months ago

Ironically, saying thank you to machines is wasting energy and costing millions.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2025/04/22/please-thank-you-chatgpt-openai-energy-costs/83207447007/

[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 67 points 1 year ago

Hey, that's me. More or less.

I have been living paycheck to paycheck for about two decades but things changed during the pandemic. I got a substantial raise, stopped smoking, and kept the same micro apartment in a high rise for years. I also live alone, refuse to pay for a car, and don't have any children.

So I was able to put some money aside in the last years and now, I take extended vacations (I took 8 weeks this year), I travel, and treat myself with what I want.

My sister wonders how I can afford to take that much time off work to go to different countries and think that I just recently found interest in traveling but really, it's just because I can afford it now.

39
submitted 1 year ago by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca
[-] pedz@lemmy.ca 66 points 2 years ago

Back in the middle of the 90ies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a big thing and my mother thought it would be a good idea to gift my sister and I, a pair of red-eared sliders. I kept mine for years and eventually my sister gave hers to me. So I kept two turtles for decades. I have been known as "the guy with turtles" since I'm a teenager now.

One of them just passed away this spring, after more than 27 years, and she was not that old for her species, in captivity. The other one is still alive behind me, basking under the UV light, and it could be alive for another decade. And I like Mittens (his name) but he's taking a lot of space in my apartment. It's obvious both of them would have had a better life outside, in nature, rather than in my sometimes depressive care.

Don't gift animals.

320
submitted 2 years ago by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world

The last two upgrades have broken my audio setup.

First the options for Network Server and Network Access in paprefs were greyed out and my sinks disappeared after upgrading to bookworm. I just had to create a link to an existing file and it was working again but, it's weird that it was needed in the first place. Pretty sure it has something to do with the change from pulseaudio to pipewire but I'm not very up to date on that subject and I just want to have my current setup to continue working.

Then yesterday I just launch a simple apt-get upgrade and after rebooting my sinks disappeared again. The network options in paprefs were still available, but changing them did nothing. I had to create the file ~/.config/pipewire/pipewire-pulse.conf.d/10-gsettings.conf and stuff it with "pulse.cmd = [ { cmd = "load-module" args = "module-gsettings" flags = [ "nofail" ] } ]" in order to have my sinks back.

I know it's not only a Debian thing, as I can see this happening to people on Arch forums, but as Debian is supposed to be the "stable" one, I find it amusing that a simple upgrade can break your sound.

110
submitted 2 years ago by pedz@lemmy.ca to c/boostforlemmy@lemmy.world

Using Boost for Lemmy, I got an obvious political ad from the right asking to sign a petition to scrap the gun "ban" in Canada (it's a registry not a ban).

Now I understand this is an ad but I don't appreciate having propaganda from the right injected into my browsing on lemmy. Have better ads, or let us report them.

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pedz

joined 2 years ago