It’s more expensive than SPF, but I spring for cedar - I built my planter boxes, garden beds, and patio furniture out of it. No staining required, zilch upkeep. I built a 3m x 1M raised bed planter several years ago and it’s required zero upkeep so far. Ditto my patio set built five years ago.

I way prefer the wood for what it’s worth. I love weathered wood - it ages beautifully, lasts for years and years, and the environmental impact of cedar (assuming that’s what it is) is far lower than concrete too.

Concrete is the plastic of things that aren’t plastic. Produced mostly with fossil fuels, huge GHG associated with production, and will sit as a lump of trash forever-ish once the next person decides they prefer a different look.

Make your own decisions obviously - I’m aware that I’m particularly carbon footprint averse.

I live down the street from a school in Calgary. I’m building a ‘little free banned library’ that I’m going to be filling with every book the government bans

Perfect is the enemy of good only if you WAIT for perfect. I eat minimal meat, get my veggies from a local farm share, have solar panels, an EV that charges only off excess solar production, a heatpump, have re-insulated the attic, ditched the gas range for induction that runs off solar, etc. My footprint is less than anyone around me, but probably still way higher than your average individual living in the global south.

I’m trying to hit net zero and once I hit it, I’ll keep going because Canada (where I live) is rich and I want to continue to reduce my footprint (the dream is net negative in my life) because I’m privileged and have the resources to push harder. I make it a game - figure out what’s my best opportunity to reduce my footprint, do it, move on to looking for the next thing I can do.

Giving up (most) red meat and patting yourself on the back is severely minimizing what you COULD be doing. I’m a long, long way from perfect, and am exceedingly lucky to have the resources to play this game - but carbon reduction is a way of life, not a checkbox IMO.

But seriously, what IS vibe coding?

Totally agree and I try to avoid posting National Post properties. In this case, at the time of posting I didn’t have an alternative (better) source in the moment.

Legitimately one of my favourite YouTube channels. Tech deep dives (generally on extremely esoteric topics), sarcasm, and interesting insights.

Friendly reminder that getting vaxxed is free. My partner has a shitty immune system so I got two rounds of boosters.

Here in Alberta all you need to do is call 811 and they can book you in with a vaccine specialist.

What emulators do you recommend? I have an S23 but am about to try swapping it for a Fairphone running e/OS

To be honest - that’s probably the dream setup. The challenge is that android games seem to all be low-effort ad delivery systems.

My happiest place is turn-based strategy and RPGs. XCOM, Total War: Warhammer, anything Baldur’s Gate, 4Xs that sort of stuff.

I have several hundred hours killing time on Unciv on Android. Mindustry is fun but cramped. Polybridge was great until I finished it.

I had a decent PC back in the day (I grew up in the era of building my own water cooling systems) but as a casual gamer I can’t wrap my head around around modern graphics card prices and I rather be able to play on the sofa for five minutes while I wait to pull something from the oven.

I’m old.

Joysticks need to be replaced again, battery life is becoming tragic so that needs replacing too. Any time I pick it up at this point, the battery is dead.

Biggest issue to be honest is that I want a bigger screen and that isn’t the device’s fault.

I’m going to order a whack of parts from ifixit and spruce it back up for those Nintendo exclusive hankerings.

There’s a SteamOS version too, right?

Mine (2025) rattles when twisted.

I suggested Maxime Bernier running to some friends as a joke. Bernier is AWFUL - but it would be hilarious to see Poilevre lose again. Poilevre is trying to avoid that risk by picking an extremely right leaning district - so no risk from the left, but farther right? Rural Albertans have a history of not forgiving screw-ups…

I got a 2025 Ioniq 5 too and absolutely love it.

Except for the lack of hitch availability. Ecohitch and Stealth Hitch are the only two options available at the moment and they’re both made in the US.

WindowsXP

I always appreciated the old adage about Canadian politics that the outcome will always be the most boring option. This was not that.

John Timmer does an incredible job with with articles like this.

Thank you so much for providing the source! I LOVE THIS.