I’ll trade you some for some QC cheese curds! Lol

Matrix, XMPP, SimpleX, Molly (signal fork without closed source blobs) lots of good opensource options out there.

Same in BC. Prices magically go up exactly the amount of insert current rebate as soon as they go into effect

If they are shipping those with steamOS now that’s a great option too, and avoids Valve.

If they are still shipping windonts versions I wouldn’t bother yet.

Yes I realize that, unfortunately I believe the pros outweigh the cons when you consider Valve within the video game industry, especially vs Nintendo.

• Valve: US company, BUT privately owned by a great guy. Atleast Gabe Newell hates the US and lives in New Zealand. He fought tooth and nail against even going back to go to court against one of these other videogame companies if I remember right. Also the only reason it hasn’t been enshittified is cause its not publicly traded. Worship GabeN folks.
• Nintendo: umm ya tons of US investment firms own it actually… checks notes… 2nd and 3rd largest investors are US investment funds. JP and BlackRock. Many more on the list.

• Valve: uses profits to launch the steamdeck so you can escape the abusive relationship of the switch. Steamdeck has been the biggest boost to linux and opensource gaming in history, thanks to Valve’s efforts. Your (reasonably priced) money goes towards improving an opensource product, opensource OS (now used on ASUS gaming portables too, more soon to come), and opensource game development in general as linux marketshare grows.
• Whereas Nintendo uses their outrageous profits to snuff out small studios, C&D opensource indie devs working on expanding and keeping alive 40 year old abandonned IP, killing any aftermarket product a third party invents to make their shit equipment more usable. Oh and most importantly, enshittify your experience to ensure those American investment funds keep seeing their line go up.

• Valve supports indie development whereas nintendo does not.

• Steamdeck: Steam has PC gaming prices, ie. Regular massive discounts, especially on games a year or two old. Steamdeck also has access to alternate marketplaces, emulators, sideloading, etc. Want to buy from itch.io, GOG, etc? You can! Its a fully functional linux computer too!

• Switch: locked into nintendo’s store. Games rarely go on sale, never for much off. Charges $89.99 for a reskin of their old IP in literally every series and can’t even be arsed to atleast hire voice actors for that price??? These games require ZERO effort on nintendo’s part, zero imagination, and they continue to rake you over the coals like they are putting out AAA games. Closed off areas in supposedly openworld? Lame. Fog instead of rendering a beautiful landscape? Lame. Maybe if the switch wasn’t made to be as cheap as possible and struggle with low fidelity graphics it would have a reasonable render distance.

• Valve: online play is free for everyone since… ever? You already pay for internet why tf would you need to pay a membership to access online play, its not 2009 still is it? xbox live?

• Nintendo: Ah yes, greed, thats why. $45 CAD/year for a “family” switch online membership, that increases every year, and you are still capped at 8 accounts? What if you have 7 kids and 2 parents that want an account nintendo? Think of the children.

I mean I could keep going on but do I need to? For any product/company in any market its worth thinking critically about what the options on the market offer, support, and represent. Not just oh I had a switch, better get a switch 2.

Valve may be US based legally, but they are certainly less of an abusive asshole murikkkan company than Nintendo IMO, who fully embraced US capitalism in every sense of the word.

Nintendo sucks. Both as ethically as humans and the quality of goods and games they put out.

Just get a steamdeck (or any linux (steamOS) handheld) and stop paying $89.99 for the same rehashed games from 1996. Plus absolute crap components on switches not designed for repair.

Can run emulators for any Nintendo IP you want to play without giving them another $90 everytime to feed their lawyers.

Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for cast iron but I’d be interested too if anyone else knows a brand as I’d like to acquire a cast camp oven.

Have you tried a carbon steel skillet? Similar performance/use case for skillet sized stuff IMO but lighter. Not sure if there’s a Canadian brand for commercially available carbon steel skillets either honestly; but plenty of euro options, or a local blacksmith could make one. I plan on attempting a small skillet myself once I get my smithy setup this spring.

Air horns aren’t the problem, assholes in Grand Forks are.

And if your excuse is a remote area, Amazon is so slow at delivering knockoff goods, you might as well get anything you’d normally buy from amazon directly from Aliexpress et al if you can’t afford made in Canada for some items. Atleast then you save 60% off Amazon, it arrives in 2 weeks with choice shipping, and Bezos doesn’t get to be the middleman.

Maybe Canadian publishing houses should make the books in Canada intead then? You don’t get a pass just cause you are an important industry IMO. The point is to cause change; without any outside motivator there is no reason for publishers to change.

For small bookstores idk maybe pivot to independent authors and whatever subset of Canadian publishers print in Canada in the meantime?

I’m gunna have to try the flour… I tried with canned chick peas and they were grainy and fell apart.

I’ve had dried chickpeas in my pantry for years but rarely find the time coordination to soak and prep a day beforehand too 🤷‍♂️

Don’t need to go that far just vote PP if you want no more healthcare!

Air-gapped local security system if you give a shit about privacy at all.

Home assistant and many other options to provide a nice interface.

Anything hooked up to the internet and “insert company’s” servers is a privacy nightmare and more trouble than its worth

There should be a discounted rate for island residents and atleast 25% reserved space for residents. Our taxes pay for this shit and its essential travel. We can’t even get to and from our home without beating thru a crowd of tourists.

Wouldn’t tariffs encourage people to shop local small businesses instead? Right-wing fear mongering

CO-OP’s house brands co-op gold and centsibles are often Made in Canada.

However, I just checked the bag of their raisin bran cereal I have in the cupboard and unfortunately it is a product of the USA… probably made in the same plant as Two Scoops. I imagine we may see more of their line shift to Canada now though.

Ya holy fuck tell the kids no once in awhile folks

Dang I just checked and it looks like they do not have a mini offering yet; however, Rolgear screwdrivers were invented and made in Canada! Incredibly smooth ratcheting and high quality bits. They carry them at KMS tools so test one out next time you’re there, its a cool invention!

No. Next question.

Ya seems needed IMO.

Still feels good to be downsized to a fully offgrid small solar setup finally though. Really made me realize just how power hungry some NA households can be.