I was light on the World Cup coverage because, well, I was busy watching. Not sure if I was genuinely hate-watching Argentina or rooting for Spain — but at this point, I feel like I need to learn Spanish so I can fully adopt my new home country.

The last few weeks of sports have been amazing, and now I’m bummed that I have to focus on life again — so here we are. I think we’ve established enough of a rapport here that I can start soliciting emails from users.

I’m short on words as we dive deep into the bosom of summer. Trying to manage moving across the country has taken much of my time currently; hopefully, once settled, I can dive back into my content-creation ways.

I’ll hopefully be able to spend the next week celebrating my newly adopted nation — Spain — with the harrowing stories I’m reading.

Maybe publish it on my own.

Till then though - be nice.

Culture

You don’t say…

I’m not anti-office. I actually sometimes missed the office culture at one of my previous employers.

I remember genuinely wanting to be there, and even now, I still hang out with many of those individuals.

But you can’t tell me these bosses wanting everyone in the office aren’t just driven by a need for control.

Boss wants you back in the office full time? New research suggests there may be personal motives behind it | CBC News

As more employees are being ordered back into the office full time, new research suggests the rationale may be more about bosses' desire for power and status than productivity.

Source: ["cbc.ca"]

However…

The Doritos Locos Tacos are still delicious.

Source: washingtonpost.com

As if traveling with kids wasn’t stressful enough!

Air Canada owes them a few free flights and complimentary access to their lounge.

Also, do cabin crews have cameras? Perhaps they should have cameras for easier review of incidents.

This Toronto mom says she reported a hostile passenger on her Air Canada flight, and then got kicked off — along with her kids 

Airline says crew made decision amid seat dispute

Source: ["thestar.com"]

Politics

Ouch…

Once scorned and twice shy, no one has love or trust for Bonnie Crombie.

I don’t blame her for going after the Premier role. However, losing it and then trying to reclaim her old job is a move often associated with opportunistic politicians.

It’s a move akin to those by Pierre Poilievre and Patrick Brown.

Poll: 80% of respondents won't vote for Bonnie Crombie for mayor of Mississauga | INsauga

A recent online poll suggests former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie faces a difficult road ahead as she attempts to return to the city’s top job. The poll asked readers, “Will you vote for Bonnie Crombie for Mississauga mayor?” and generated 2,290 votes. The results showed a strong majority of respondents are not planning to support […]

Source: ["insauga.com"]

Not having air conditioning ought to be illegal!

What the hell? How could a daycare provider even rationalize not having air conditioning for anything over 25 degrees Celsius with a room full of children?

With temperatures in the 30s Celsius, this is wild to me.

Cost-cutting has gone too far; they should pay the extra couple hundred a month to keep the air conditioning running.

Inside Toronto’s sweltering daycares, parents fight a frustrating battle just to keep their children safe

As temperatures soar, children in daycares across the city are enduring temperatures far above what physicians say is healthy.

Source: ["thestar.com"]

Sports

Never a dull moment with the fun guy.

My guess is there will be some fines, and the Clippers will absorb them.

Kawhi probably gets a one- or two-month suspension, but the deal will still go through, and he joins the Toronto Raptors in January.

The Raptors will then go on to win a bunch of games and be NBA champions once more.

NBA addresses the Kawhi Leonard investigation and who paused the Raptors-Clippers trade

The proposed deal, agreed to weeks ago, would return Leonard to the Raptors and send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and a handful of draft assets to the Clippers.

Source: ["thestar.com"]

Tech

No honor among thieves.

The ‘thieving’ AI giants accuse other ‘thieves’ of ‘thieving’ their data—theoretically.

AI giants learn what everyone else on the modern internet already knows

Anthropic's distillation complaints expose an awkward question: does AI's fair use argument cut both ways?

Source: ["businessinsider.com"]

Gaming

I’m super excited about this!

I loved getting video game magazines as a kid; the excitement of reading and staring at them, and then having them heavily influence whether a game was a rental or a purchase.

I’m going to subscribe as soon as we close on our next place.

Hopefully, my kids get the same enjoyment from them as I did.

JAMPACK

Independent, human-made gaming coverage in a premium quarterly print magazine.

Source: ["jampackd.quest"]

It happened. I missed a week. Just 4 weeks into this pseudo newsletter side project and I missed a week. An act so egregious that David Goggins has continued to call me a soft little bitch in my own head for the past 4 days non-stop.

I apologize - sincerely.

That said, what a friggen 2-week cycle we just missed. Canada makes the cut, gets to the round of 16 for the first time in God knows when, and then we get pelted out. I for one am proud of the boys… er, men, for all they’ve accomplished. I can only hope we get better from here. They didn’t necessarily defy expectations, but they didn’t do whatever the reverse of that is either.

We had Kawhi again - which I was pretty ambivalent about - and then we didn’t have him as the NBA said nah, we’re still investigating this fool. So I’m back to my ambivalence.

Lastly, OpenAI straight jacked trade secrets from Apple. The stealing company continues to steal. How shocking. At some point I need to frame my own thesis on AI; I’m still on the fence about it, but we’re always learning.

Also, Microsoft nuked any goodwill it was conjuring up with Miss Sharma gutting studios and staff, sending people to the EI line. Imagine acquiring one of the greatest and genre-creating gaming engines only to take it out back and give it the Old Yeller treatment. R.i.P. id Tech - until a crazy hipster indie game brings you back to life and Microsoft flips over backwards to license you into starvation.

Hopefully, we won’t make the mistake this week that we did last week.

Take care ✌️

Gaming

Small wins for the little guy.

A big problem with centralized digital ownership is that one bad move or a glitch and it’s all gone. Maybe there are ways around it, like some decentralized key store, but in reality, it’s all bullshit.

That’s why we need physical media. There’s no such thing as digital ownership.

Source: tomshardware.com

Xbox did gaming dirty.

All the talent they’ve culled and IP they’ve shelved.

The industry as a whole is just absolutely messed up.

How do you put a price tag on a legacy like id Software

If Xbox can

Source: ["pcgamer.com"]

Lame.

I mean, not as lame as Xbox for laying off thousands of employees or Sony for ending physical discs and PC game ports.

But still, it’s pretty lame for removing casually mindless games that were genuinely fun.

Major game companies not doing lame shit challenge: Difficulty level, IMPOSSIBLE.

Source: gamespot.com

If only Sharma could read this.

This has the voice, attitude, and empathy of someone who’s been there, and I respect it.

Probably the best article I’ve read regarding Xbox’s layoffs.

You Don't Have To Hand It To Microsoft For A Well-Planned Bloodbath

People are being laid off in a horrendous job market. You do not have to praise the muddled prose of the rich and insulated.

Source: ["aftermath.site"]

Le-sigh.

With Infinite matchmaking times climbing to five-plus minutes, I was hoping there’d be some positive Halo multiplayer news coming soon.

I guess I’ll be spamming away in Marvel Rivals for the undisclosed future.

Unannounced Halo Multiplayer Game Codenamed Project Ekur Has Reportedly Been Canceled

The rumored upcoming Halo multiplayer game codenamed Project Ekur has been canceled, according to a new report.

Source: ["twistedvoxel.com"]

I feel like we’ve heard this before…

Wasn’t XDefiant also supposed to be a player-centric Call of Duty created by the former Black Ops creative director or something?

I’m not even hating; I appreciate the goal. I look forward to the game and wish them success.

I’m just skeptical.

'Live Service Is Killing Development Teams' - Ex-Modern Warfare Creative Strategist Launches New Studio, Pushing Back Against Live Service Trends

Robert Bowling, the former creative strategist of Infinity Ward during the original Modern Warfare trilogy, is launching a new studio that pushes back against destructive gaming trends.

Source: ["ign.com"]

It was inevitable.

I think it sucks that we don’t truly own anything anymore. Everything is a subscription or license that can’t be used offline.

Our entire blip of time in history won’t be archivable once the servers stop responding.

We centralized all media, and it’s incredibly annoying 🎮.

Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles 

In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only.

Source: ["blog.playstation.com"]

How is anyone able to focus?

Not sure how anyone’s supposed to work knowing that they could be next.

Microsoft has proven that a successful release isn’t enough to cut it.

The way they’ve gutted studios is insane.

Console and subscription hikes are caused by their own AI investments.

Snake eat tail.

'We're Done Paying for Executives' Failures' — Unionized Xbox Developers Hold Press Conference to Make Their Point as Microsoft Reportedly Readies Massive Layoffs

Unionized Xbox employees are pushing back against the company's looming layoffs and have outlined various demands.

Source: ["ign.com"]

Tech

Not as creepy as Meta’s, but still seems far off from what would be actually useful.

Or at least, useful to me.

Smart glasses without a camera? Even Realities bets productivity beats recording everyone | TechCrunch

The glasses are targeted at people who might be constantly in meetings, giving presentations, and traveling to countries where different languages are spoken. 

Source: ["techcrunch.com"]

So you’re telling me that the company whose sole product only works off the unlicensed use of other people’s work may have possibly stolen trade secrets?

Tell me more 🤔

Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft | TechCrunch

Apple alleges the misconduct was directed by OpenAI's senior leadership, including a longtime former employee.

Source: ["spr.ly"]

Mr. Burns already tried this on The Simpsons.

Then he got shot.

Dimming the Sun Would Help Lower the Risks of El Niño. No, Really

As worries about a growing super El Niño mount, new findings suggest a radical solution to mitigating its impacts.

Source: ["wired.com"]

Win, I guess?

The right to repair should just be a given.

I hate everything about modern tech that makes you need to jump through hoops for it.

Hopefully, these precedents continue to shape all tech, hardware, vehicles, and machinery.

The FTC Settlement With John Deere Is a Huge Win for the Right-to-Repair Movement

After more than a decade of pushback, farmers and repair advocates have won access to equipment and services John Deere had long kept under its control.

Source: ["wired.com"]

Protocols over Platforms.

BitTorrent was one of the main catalysts that proved decentralized tech was worth fighting for.

Even now, so much of this work went on to act as the foundational theory for other decentralized networks, like Bitcoin, @atproto, and Nostr.

A great read.

BitTorrent’s disastrous, legendary, and controversial story

The file-sharing app launched 25 years ago and unleashed a wave of piracy that would shake Hollywood to its core.

Source: ["theverge.com"]

It’d be cheaper to just buy Jays tickets…

I mean, it’s almost $50 more a month for no actual feature benefit, so that’s what? $600 more a year?

A pair of Jays tickets is about $400?

Just buy the tickets.

Score a pair of Blue Jays tickets when activating a Rogers wireless plan

Rogers has launched a new Blue Jays ticket giveaway that allows you to get free Jays tickets if you activate a new Rogers phone plan.

Source: ["mobilesyrup.com"]

Sports

A sobering gut check.

“For a wealthy nation that likes to think of itself as a citizen of the world, Canada was once embarrassingly poor at soccer. Now we’re okay, and sometimes good. That’s the sweet spot. That’s more than fine.”

I would love for us to be better. I hope we get there. But really?

When it comes to soccer, this is as good as it gets for Canada

We will never have the layers of talent that Argentina or England have. We just don’t care enough

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

We were who we were supposed to be…

It’s easy to get caught up in the mess of it all, but we performed right about where we were expected to.

No crazy Cinderella story, no underdog fairy tale.

Yes, there were glimpses of brilliance, but glimpses don’t win games.

Here’s to continued growth 📈.

What World Cup media is saying about Canada’s exit: ‘No surprises,’ Jesse Marsch talking ‘nonsense’ and where was Alphonso Davies?

Canada’s return ticket from the World Cup was punched by Morocco in a 3-0 defeat. Here’s what the media had to say about our time in the tournament.

Source: ["thestar.com"]

Yeah, it’s hot, but this is a dogshit move. Lame as hell.

Setting up cooling stations or some kind of mist system would have been proper.

The Toronto fan fest has been fumbled big time compared to Vancouver, especially for a game this big.

Huge Toronto L.

Extreme heat prompts Toronto to cancel FIFA watch party at Nathan Phillips Square

Extreme heat has prompted the City of Toronto to cancel all FIFA World Cup match screenings at Nathan Phillips Square on Thursday as Toronto Stadium gears up to host its last match of the tournament.

Source: ["ctvnews.ca"]

Read this hoping to understand something about the trade.

Turns out, no one understands the trade, which in itself is good to know 🤷‍♂️.

I wonder how this ranks compared to the Luka trade. That one is probably still arguably way worse.

What the Hell Is This Jaylen Brown Trade?

Boston has some explaining to do. The Celtics-76ers blockbuster just doesn’t add up.

Source: ["theringer.com"]

My buddy called me a jilted lover for not being excited about this trade.

Maybe it’s just business. I suppose he liked us enough to want to come back, but it still feels seven years too late.

Then again, we’re no worse off for it, even if he only plays 50%.

So rationally, I get it. Just give me time.

Report: Raptors, Clippers agree to deal sending Leonard back to Toronto

Seven years after leading the Raptors to their only NBA championship, Kawhi Leonard is returning to Toronto.

Source: ["tsn.ca"]

Politics

50%?!?

“Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said in a radio interview that there is a ‘financial deal’ where the U.S. will see ‘up to half the revenue’ from bridge-crossing fees. He also said there would be joint determination of what the tolls would be.”

Getting hosed, their boys.

Gordie Howe bridge to open July 27 after Canada, U.S. reach deal

The opening had been postponed indefinitely at the behest of the Trump administration

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

Cowards.

That’s all. Sheer and utter cowardice.

Ottawa declines to say if working theory in Nijjar killing investigation still faults Indian government

Justin Trudeau accused India of being behind the murder three months after it occurred, triggering a diplomatic rift

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

Corporate welfare is wild…

“Please don’t tell me corporate tax breaks create jobs. It never trickles down.”

I get tax breaks to encourage sector growth, but there needs to be stronger labor rules attached to the funding.

Otherwise, the only employees benefiting from these are the lawyers used to discover them.

Bernie Sanders is mad about the Xbox layoffs

The senator from Vermont is pretty chapped about the price hikes, too.

Source: ["pcgamer.com"]

A Former Mayor and a Duck Farm?

If I were to get conspiratorial, I would speculate that this has less to do with animal cruelty but rather using xenophobia to force a hobby farmer to sell for pennies to move back to Scarborough so that a friend can pick up the land for cheap…

🤔🤔🤔

This Muslim family in rural Ontario fears for their safety, as an online conspiracy theory turns into real-world threats: ‘We are terrified’

A hobby farming family say they have been caught up in an Islamophobic lie and now fear for their safety

Source: ["thestar.com"]

NGL, I’d be shook…

“While relevant managers could be penalized up to $25,000.”

Imagine getting fined directly for a decision you implemented, even if it came down to you.

But we need more of this.

Then again, they’ll probably get a $40k bonus.

CRTC launches review into whether Big Three violated new ban on administrative fees

Canada

Source: ["ca.finance.yahoo.com"]

Culture

W, I guess? Madonna, Shakira, BTS, Bieber…

Add Bad Bunny, Central Cee, Ed Sheeran, and Diljit Dosanjh, and this would be the greatest international lineup.

Actually, we’ll need one more Middle Eastern performance for some balance.

Justin Bieber to join Madonna, Shakira and BTS for World Cup final halftime show

FIFA says the performance during the July 19 showpiece game at MetLife Stadium will be 11 minutes long.

Source: ["nyti.ms"]

As someone who chronically drops shows, two-plus year gaps between seasons mean I’ve mentally moved on. I want to get back into it, but it’s added to my list and it’s work to get reinvested.

Binge-watching shows doesn’t create routines.

Weekly releases create a routine, and routines are easy to return to.

Source: bloomberg.com

Wonder what happened to him…

In an era of trillionaire CEOs and layoffs, it’s cool hearing stories of CEOs who cared.

I’m always skeptical of how long that kind of thing lasts, though, or if it was just catchy PR and they gave themselves a healthy bonus the next year to make up for it.

Japan Airline Boss Sets Exec Example

CBS Evening News: What Could U.S. CEOs Learn? Plenty Of Frugality, As Japanesese CEO Demonstrates

Source: ["cbsnews.com"]

Oh, the horrors…

Fk this guy, fk everything about him.

Make him suffer. May he never know peace. May he be tormented every which way - sideways, up and down. May he be terrified of every corner, of every sound.

Fk him and fk his appeal.

YouTuber guilty of killing pregnant girlfriend appeals life sentence as he tops inmate “hitlist” - Dexerto

A YouTuber guilty of murdering his pregnant girlfriend is living in terror in prison and he’s lodged an appeal against his life sentence .

Source: ["dexerto.com"]

I don’t think I’ll ever truly get the Valley’s obsession with wanting to replace humans. Laying off people en masse, creating robots, pumping up fake and utterly useless stocks to make everyone in on the Ponzi rich, while we’re all left scratching our heads wondering what the rules were ever for.

Actually, scratch that, I could go in-depth on all of that, but I won’t here.

Funny enough, I’m all about the bread and circus and fully in on the World Cup.

Canada comes up big, first time making it to the round of 16.

Iran gets screwed bigly - you’re telling me we got VAR to the millimeter calculating offside, but the stoppage time clock, well that’s just a vibe? Dunno man.

Also - who doesn’t love a dose of Liberals being pansies - says this bleeding heart centrist who just wishes we could all be friends 😬.

“Anyway, here’s hoping this week of Futbol, Football, or as the purists call it - Soccer - is as fun as it has been.”

Tech

Humanoid robots are just egotistical. Why confine robots to two arms and two legs?

Why not robots with six arms or others designed to scale walls? Why apply the same physical limitations to machines?

This obsession to replace people is diabolical.

A two-year-old robotics startup with about thirty million dollars in revenue was just valued at more than fourteen billion, which is the clearest sign yet that the AI money has decided robots are next and that reliability can come later - Silicon Canals

Here is the rewritten reliability is a hardware problem, when in fact the unsolved part is autonomy in a world the engineers do not control. The Skild AI

Source: ["siliconcanals.com"]

I actually rate this.

The medical system can be opaque as hell. Using AI to figure out the right questions to ask seems a bit liberating in self-advocacy.

I would think acting on AI recommendations alone to be a bit cracked out, but as a sounding board for ideas, I am for that.

The fittest founder in the room got cancer. Here's how he used AI to fight back. | TechCrunch

When confronted with cancer, Conno Christou fed everything tied to his regime — blood results, scan data, wearable output, journal entries — into Claude.

Source: ["techcrunch.com"]

So, let me get this straight.

Tech Bros use a plagiarism tool to generate an app and get defensive when accused of plagiarizing from a free, open-source project. They blame the plagiarism tool for possibly plagiarizing, all while insisting they didn’t plagiarize.

Sounds to me they likely plagiarized. 🤔

Corgi, the buzzy Y Combinator-backed insurance tech startup, says it didn't steal an open source product | TechCrunch

Corgi became embroiled in controversy when Papermark accused it of stealing its software. Corgi says it did not, raising new questions about vibe coding.

Source: ["techcrunch.com"]

In ‘The Big Short,’ they explain how the housing financial crisis was caused by wrapping worthless assets in more worthless assets and pretending it had value.

That is SpaceX. It is just a matryoshka doll of Elon Musk’s failures and debts, one buying the next, buying the next.

The SpaceX Bubble Crash Is Worse Than It Looks

More Souls for the God Emperor Musk!The SpaceX IPO was doomed from the start, and the funny thing is that we've all seen this exact same episode before with ...

Source: ["youtube.com"]

So Kind of You, Sir.

‘I think once we realized it was something we had to do, we made the decision it was the kindest thing that we could do for the team to do as early as possible,’ Prince said.

Cloudflare saw a 34% year-over-year revenue surge to $639.8 million.

LOL. Fuck these cunts.

AI

Cloudflare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince sends a major warning on the job front.

Source: ["finance.yahoo.com"]

Ah, man…

I am so deeply saddened by this news. There is no way anyone ever saw this coming.

What heartbreaking news! My sincerest condolences to all those affected. If only there were signs, warnings, or safeguards to prevent things like this.

Hopefully, Elon recovers quickly.

SpaceX Stock Has Fallen So Far That Elon Musk Is No Longer a Trillionaire

Now that SpaceX shares are hovering just above the company's opening price, Elon Musk is technically no longer a trillionaire.

Source: ["futurism.com"]

Could You Make the Switch?

As much as I want to, and as much as I think I am not addicted to this thing, there are too many creature comforts to give up.

Maybe a side-burner phone for certain moments? Am I ready to go back to fully analog?

Probably not. Maybe that is more of a sign that I need to. 🤔

Commodore Made a Digital Detox Phone That Isn’t Dumb

With a retro look and T9 texting, the Commodore Callback 8020 smart flip phone taps into the nostalgic yearning for simpler days. It can run Spotify and Uber, but Instagram is blocked.

Source: ["wired.com"]

Was fun while it lasted.

Like woodworking and most other crafts, AI will replace most software development, while niche, bespoke software development will live on for highly specialized and valued cases where the Ikea-esque code will not fit.

Sucks. I have to find that pivot.

Software engineers are facing an 'identity crisis bordering on depression,' Menlo Ventures partner says

Some companies' push to maximize AI use is leaving some engineers fixing AI-generated code, fueling burnout and frustration, a VC partner said.

Source: ["businessinsider.com"]

Politics

Social Media Is The New Media, and it should probably be governed as such.

I got off X (formerly Twitter) because the race-baiting and the polarization became so extreme (it was tweaked to be so).

It is interesting watching racists and fascists adopt the language of civil rights movements and spin it as their own.

Opinion: Elon Musk uses his tech to foment violence and extremism. We could be next

It’s time to consider remedies, even in a world of free speech and social media

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

The Bait and Switch.

Most actual progressives have known about this bait and switch for some time.

It is the right-wing individuals who are in denial about it.

Liberals definitely get away with right-wing policies that conservatives know they would get killed for.

The secret to how Liberals con progressive voters

The Liberal Party has a secret to ruling Canada: campaign on the left, then govern on the right.From Mackenzie King to the Trudeaus to Mark Carney, Martin Lu...

Source: ["youtu.be"]

Monsanto Would Be Proud.

‘CropLife Canada urges the government to move quickly towards the implementation of the updated mandate.’

No kidding?

Food scarcity and optimizing yields are good things.

Using ‘cheat codes’ that can potentially poison us? Probably not.

Carney government passes law allowing authorization of banned pesticides | CBC News

The federal government has brought in major changes to how pesticides are regulated in Canada, granting cabinet the power to authorize the use of pesticides — even ones that Health Canada has deemed unsafe.

Source: ["cbc.ca"]

Sports

The Straits Never Getting Opened.

We had to travel a couple of hours for every game.

We were screwed on VAR by a last-second goal with a hairline offside call and a sneaky goalie.

We were eliminated after Austria scored in the last second of an oddly extended stoppage time.

This much misfortune makes one think. 🤔🤔

World Cup 2026: Iran unlucky losers after missing out on last 32

Iran had a place in the last 32 of the World Cup snatched away from them at the last minute not once but twice.

Source: ["bbc.com"]

Surprising… Kind of.

When you pre-book all the hotels, anyone traveling can’t get in, especially as prices spike, so they need to change plans.

Even if those rooms are given back later, people have already moved on.

Not to mention how stupidly expensive tickets were.

Anticipated World Cup economic boom more of a bust so far for Toronto hotels

Year-over-year occupancy rates drop in June for Toronto-area properties. Hotel association CEO say it

Source: ["thestar.com"]

Culture

YOOOOO!

Avatar is back! 😁😁😁😁

I had no idea this was coming back this year for some reason.

I thought it was slated to return over Christmas or something.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2 | Official Trailer | Netflix

Ready to rumble. Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 premieres on June 25, 2026 only on Netflix.Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender, only on Netflix: https://ww...

Source: ["youtu.be"]

Sorry I was busy.

But let’s get to it — FIFA World Cup fever has everyone forgetting that ICE are a bunch of clowns, that Trump is an alleged pedophile, and that AI is coming for our souls. But whatever, allow it for the two weeks that it’s here for since the games have been crazy so far and I’m enjoying my temporary soccer hooliganism until my interest runs out when all the teams I care about get eliminated.

That said, man, I really wish America was a sane place to visit again. I loved my time down there this past week and wish I could go back to not caring who was running their country and go back to enjoying travel down that way without feeling like a traitor.

Sports

A match of epic proportions… or however one might phrase it. It was such a fun match; I am still sitting back watching the highlights.

I am genuinely proud for Brampton and for Canada, and giddy at the prospect of Canada becoming a respectable football nation.

We have hockey. We have basketball. Now, soccer? Cricket also seems inevitable.

Canada’s history-making win becomes the most-watched group stage match ever, reaching 11.7M viewers

Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team made history on Thursday evening, securing their first-ever FIFA WORLD CUP™ victory, and the win electrified Canadian fans. Attracting a record average audience of 5.3 million viewers on TSN, RDS, CTV, Noovo, and Crave.

Source: ["tsn.ca"]

Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday.

They must have opted for the authentic ‘Murican’ experience.

Argentina fans ‘shot at’ in drive-by attack before World Cup match

A group of Argentina fans said they were shot at while being driven to their country’s 3-0 World Cup win against Algeria in Kansas City.

Source: ["yahoo.com"]

Tech

New ‘Creeper Glasses’ have dropped.

In a world where everything is content and everyone’s worth is measured by the dopamine they can spike in others, I can kind of see the appeal.

Especially for creeps, just creeping around wearing their ‘creeper glasses’.

I am not trusting anyone wearing these.

Meta’s Very Own Smart Glasses Go on Sale Today for $299

The new Meta-branded glasses have the same camera, microphones, and chatbot as the Ray-Bans. They come in three styles, one of which was codesigned with Kylie Jenner.

Source: ["wired.com"]

Politics

They are not the best-looking.

But I detest these individuals. They are stealing people’s property, seemingly because they were ‘born a few chromosomes short’.

The byproduct of a bad nut.

Shameful, shameful, shameful.

Stolen vehicles linked to organized crime ring found in Brampton raid: police | inBrampton

Three people have been charged after police say they found stolen vehicles with swapped licence plates linked to an “organized crime group,” police say. The investigation into a crime ring linked to stolen vehicles started in December, Peel Regional Police said in a release on Monday. Investigators say the group has been linked to multiple […]

Source: ["insauga.com"]

Culture

It was a good run.

A lot will be said about capitalism, national identity, and all that, but I am curious how the CBC pivots from this.

They still own the brand. Will they feature local smaller tournaments or leagues? Will they pivot and grow CEBL coverage?

CBC to stop airing NHL games after 74 years, marking end of free hockey on Canadian TV

The announcement means Hockey Night in Canada, which began airing in the fall of 1952, will cease to exist in its current form

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

No post celebrating the Canes because, well, I haven’t read one yet, but man, they killed it. Respect to the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Knicks for both winning their respective championships.

Let’s get it straight, though. Something about seeing James Dolan being handed the championship first, only to have it snatched out of his grubby hands, is just weird. I think the NHL and European sports have it right: the championship, first and foremost, belongs to those on the field.

Yes, the execs helped put it together and they’re an important piece of the complete puzzle—but not important enough where they should be the first ones to hoist the trophy.

With the last two major championships over, all my bandwagon fandom can now be directed squarely at the FIFA World Cup. Bear with me as I let my complete casual fandom loose.

Sports

I respect it.

In an age of milking every second for its commercial value, I respect them for sparing us the extra ten minutes, even if we get tossed a bone with picture-in-picture.

I say this like I’m watching Telemundo. I’m not.

But I respect them for it.

Telemundo will not be using World Cup hydration breaks to cut to commercials

NBCU has already sold out of World Cup ad inventory, Miguel Lorenzo, Telemundo Enterprises’ senior VP/sports content, confirmed.

Source: ["sportsbusinessjournal.com"]

He deserves it.

I thought this was going to be a cakewalk for the Spurs, but Brunson said, ‘Forget that!’

This was easily one of the most legendary playoff runs by a player who constantly gets written off.

I’m happy for Brunson, OG, and KAT.

Jalen Brunson, NBA champion and finals MVP, is officially the greatest Knick ever

Jalen Brunson has placed New York back on top of the basketball world, where it belongs. 

Source: ["nytimes.com"]

How have the Knicks only won two championships in their entire history?

What a fraudulent franchise!

The way they talk, you’d think they had past dynasties or something.

New York Knicks' NBA Championships

The Knicks have won 2 NBA championships—in 1970 and 1973—marking high points in the franchise’s storied legacy.

Source: ["nba.com"]

The YouTube Golf Prodigy Child.

I wonder how many videos I need to watch before I can break 90 this year.

My golf season has had a super slow start so far, and I’m back to having some serious club face issues yet again.

But this isn’t about me, now is it?

I wonder if he’d be down for a video challenge?

PGA Tour rookie Sudarshan Yellamaraju enjoys his RBC Open homecoming

A self-taught golfer, with some help from YouTube highlights, Yellamaraju has six top-25 finishes this season

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

How does that saying go? ‘A bird in hand is worth two in the bush,’ or something similar.

Either way, FIFA is a bunch of criminal slumlords for the way they price gouge.

Invest in a solid media room with great sound and a screen. Ditch the bootleg IPTV for a proper 4K stream and enjoy.

If you want the fan experience, go to BPs.

Is hope on the horizon for soccer fans priced out of FIFA tickets? One World Cup expert says yes | CBC News

Many fans have complained online about being priced out from Toronto World Cup games while hundreds of tickets remains unsold. But with resale prices dropping and one World Cup expert saying unsold ticket prices must go down if FIFA wants to fill its stadiums, fans could have a chance to snag last-minute seats.

Source: ["cbc.ca"]

Trump cursed it!

The Knicks, who held a commanding 2-0 lead coming back home to Madison Square Garden, had their playoff momentum stomped out by Donald Trump.

The Spurs are going into Game 4 with all the momentum now.

Dolan is going to be paraded out in the streets by Knicks fans after this inevitable collapse.

Trump booed at Knicks-Spurs game as he became first US president at NBA Finals

The catcalls came after ticketholders faced airport-style security to enter the venue at Madison Square Garden.

Source: ["bbc.com"]

Tech

I’m starting to think our ਬਜ਼ੁਰਗ (elders) were right about money.

It’s all bullshit.

What exactly is a trillion dollars? How does one amass wealth worth four commas while seemingly losing money?

If you can’t physically interact with it, is it even real?

Elon Musk Is the World’s First Trillionaire

SpaceX’s stock market debut has thrust the richest man in the universe into an unexplored frontier of wealth.

Source: ["wired.com"]

Have fun wiping this image out of your brain!

‘Grok – your pedophiles’ favorite AI.’ While catchy, I doubt it changes the type of people who use it.

I think as a society, things have gone so over the top that even when it’s true, people just shrug.

For example, there’s the guy trying to get a selfie pinching Elon’s nipple.

Massive Effigy of Elon Musk Raised Over Times Square to Protest Grok

Activists raised a 40-foot-tall inflatable Elon Musk in Manhattan to draw attention to the risk he allegedly poses to investors.

Source: ["wired.com"]

AI is in every part of the process.

Like it or not, it’s here.

Look at any open role for development; there will be an AI requisite.

If you want any job in modern development, you’ll get quizzed and judged on how you use AI, formally or informally.

Hopefully, market pressure changes things, but I’m doubtful.

For A Brief Moment, You Got To See How The Sausage Is Made

The wider public doesn't normally get to see PR coming in hot like this

Source: ["aftermath.site"]

Is this stealing Musk’s hype?

What if the goal here is to make consumers think, ‘Oh, hey, I want to save the stock money that Grandma gave me for Christmas, and instead of buying Musk’s turd, I’ll save it for Sam’s turd?’

It will be interesting to see how all these trillion-dollar IPOs pan out with everyone broke.

OpenAI confidentially files for IPO, prepping Wall Street for mega AI debut

OpenAI's confidential filing lands days before SpaceX is set to go public and a week after Anthropic announced its confidential disclosure with the SEC.

Source: ["cnbc.com"]

The AI bubble shall go ‘Blam!’

And we’ll all have sticky, goo-like residue stuck all over us as we wake up from the hypnosis that it was.

I love Ed Zitron’s writing on AI, maybe because I’m more ‘doomer’ than ‘boomer,’ and more resentful of everything I read on LinkedIn.

But their articles always hit the mark.

AI Is Slowing Down

If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA, Anthropic and OpenAI’s

Source: ["wheresyoured.at"]

Politics

This is getting a little too close for comfort.

Home invasions in the old neighborhood have me checking in on friends and neighbors.

Hopefully, they catch these creeps.

2 suspects sought after man, woman shot during Brampton home invasion

Police are searching for at least two suspects after a man and a woman were seriously injured following an early morning home invasion in Brampton. Police in Peel Region say the suspects entered a home on Brent Tree Crescent, near McLaughlin Road and Highway 407, just after 4:30 a.m. Sunday, and an altercation ensued with […]

Source: ["toronto.citynews.ca"]

Twerking for Bibi.

I wonder what Netanyahu’s poll numbers look like within Israel.

The man single-handedly set Zionist PR back three decades and got Trump to completely wake up the Anglo-fascist right-wingers to the Zionist control of the Republican party.

Netanyahu has long frustrated U.S. presidents but his dynamic with Trump is unique

No previous U.S. president has done so much of what the Israeli leader has demanded, nor so openly given him orders

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

Two in one week.

This is a little sad.

If cop dramas have taught me anything, there is going to be a lot of pain coming as they crack down on things.

Organized crime, tow truck wars, and waste management involved?

This situation is definitely going to get a documentary.

Raid that left Toronto police officer dead tied to wider shooters-for-hire probe

Network also linked to shootings targeting GFL properties, private residences and tow-truck companies, a source says

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

An endorsement for Ford.

The White House had complained to business figures in Washington, stating that Mr. Ford is viewed as a major problem by the Trump administration, according to one source.

With rumors circling about Ford’s eventual move to replace Pierre, this seems like the biggest endorsement one can get.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce event with Doug Ford cancelled after White House complaints, sources say

The Ontario Premier is viewed as a major problem by the Trump administration, according to one source

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

This week was heavy on sports. It’s always nice when both the NHL and NBA playoffs line up exactly with some of the best versions of each.

The NBA currently sits with the Knicks leading the Spurs 2-0, and more and more, this is looking like it’s going to be a sweep. The games are hella close, but also absolute domination. I didn’t give this Knicks squad enough — no, respect — prior to this series, thinking that whoever came out of the Spurs/OKC series was gonna prance in and just claim their prize. I was—respectfully—wrong. That said, if the Spurs do perform a miracle and come back from this deficit, then, well, I was always Team Spurs.

As for the NHL — damn, this has been fun. Not sure what’s better: Carolina fans chirping Hart (“No Means No”), or Mitch Marner having an absolute redemption season, leaving many Leafs fans — who were all so smug about getting rid of him last year — perplexed and in denial.

Culturally and in Tech speaking — all eyes are on the SpaceX IPO looking to crash and bring down our markets, and early investors are all looking pretty smart right about now (looking at you, Teachers’ Pension Plan).

That said, I’m still perplexed by the AI valuations and still sitting here somewhere between a complete boomer and a complete doomer, depending on which side of the bed I wake up on.

Full disclosure: the script that helps put all this together was AI-generated.

Ah well, anyway, have a great one, and till next week!

Tech

Holy Michael Scott!

You can’t cure stupidity, but you can nervously laugh at it.

For all the criticism we give AI hallucinations, I’m reminded of the sheer stupidity of many around us.

Woman Follows GPS Instructions, Somehow Drives Her Car Onto Railway Tracks and Into Train Station

A woman in Seattle took a wrong turn onto the tracks of a light rail line in the city after reportedly following her GPS instructions.

Source: ["futurism.com"]

AI Hypnosis?

To summarize, the AI hype about replacing work is meaningless and boosted by those who cannot demonstrate its actual return on investment, only their proclamations.

When this bubble inevitably pops, we won’t have anything of worth to show for it.

This is why Canada’s current strategy scares me.

AI Doesn't Have ROI

If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA, Anthropic and OpenAI’s

Source: ["wheresyoured.at"]

Playlists…

Instagram is bringing us the ability to group Reels into playlists.

Why this is considered such a novel idea and wasn’t included from inception still annoys me.

Why TikTok hasn’t given me the ability to do this yet also annoys the f*ck out of me.

Meta tests ‘Series’ for episodic Reels on Instagram and Facebook | TechCrunch

Meta told TechCrunch that it's considering ways to monetize the new feature, but didn't share specifics on what that could look like.

Source: ["techcrunch.com"]

Yes, that’s bad.

I’m all for digital sovereignty. Canada should control its own digital infrastructure, or at the very least, not be beholden to American oligarchs who do.

I get that scale will always be an issue, though.

I also think this AI play is going to backfire ‘bigly’.

3 U.S. tech firms own 85% of Canada’s cloud market, report says - National | Globalnews.ca

The federal government is set to release an AI strategy this week. It's expected to call for building a foundation for Canadian sovereign AI as one of its six pillars.

Source: ["globalnews.ca"]

Not gonna lie, this is kind of cool.

Also, a reminder to never leave your sh*t unpatched and publicly open.

I just wonder how fast and what resources the hosted AI models need; at some point, that bandwidth/CPU is going to cost them a pretty penny.

Also, I’m down with open-source, self-hosted AI models.

Source: nytimes.com

That’s really kind of them!

There’s a point when you realize just how out of touch ‘tech bros’ are with life. Then there’s the point where you realize that some are just absolute sociopaths.

The LinkedIn C-suite crowd is probably confused by why people would be bothered by this.

Meta will reportedly let employees take 30-minute breaks from its tracking program - Engadget

Workers can pause the all-seeing eye when they need to "check something personal."

Source: ["engadget.com"]

Who could have seen that coming?

Social engineering has been around forever, so I mean, maybe we give the AI bots some slack?

Or we don’t, and just recognize how dim-witted this entire thing is and how wild it is that we’re going back to 2003 levels of account trickery.

Zuckerberg deserves the slander.

Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked

The exploit shows the extreme risk of offloading technical support to AI.

Source: ["404media.co"]

Culture

Based Target Manager?

Pokémon card scalping is wild to me. Actually, all scalping is wild to me, including real estate, sports tickets, and even sneakers.

Let’s take something people really want or need, hoard it, and then profit.

Late-stage capitalism has everyone behaving like goofs.

Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé!

Wemby is out here trying to inject a bit of European sports culture into the NBA, and I’m here for it.

I’m not sure how well this translates, but I’m down for anything to make the games more fun.

Ultras in the NBA—is North America ready for it, or does it feel overly contrived?

Victor Wembanyama created his own fan section… and it’s INSANE

Whether you’ve been to a San Antonio Spurs game in person or caught them taking over your social media feed, you’ve heard them before.“OLÉ, OLÉ, OLÉ, OLÉ! Go...

Source: ["youtube.com"]

This was crazy.

I saw the smoke from this fire from 40 kilometers away.

It’s crazy that a scrapped metal car could burn like this; it’s literally scrap metal, that sh*t’s not supposed to burn like this.

Curious what happened.

Brampton crews battle ‘very stubborn’ fire at scrap yard

Crews are still battling a “stubborn” fire at a Brampton scrap yard that resulted in thick black smoke billowing across the skies of the Greater Toronto Area.

Source: ["ctvnews.ca"]

You know you’re old when something this viral and culturally significant has been happening for the last three years and you’ve never heard of it.

Maybe this is a sign that I’m not as chronically online as I once was.

Either way, I’ve got to add The Amazing Digital Circus to my ‘to binge’ list.

A Viral YouTube Show About an Unhinged AI Is Hitting Theaters. It’s a Big Test for Hollywood

“The Amazing Digital Circus” finale will hit more than 4,000 theaters around the world Thursday. Two weeks later it’ll be on YouTube, bucking Hollywood trends and testing the power of online fandom.

Source: ["wired.com"]

Politics

Congrats to the Chattha family!

One of the earliest—dare I say first—boosters of me making content (blogging) 30-odd years ago was my then-university roommate.

Nice to see them getting recognized.

The Chattha name is associated with the Chattha family, responsible for multiple development projects and community initiatives spanning over 40 years and four generations.

Brampton approves 10 new street names including Steelheads, Honey Badgers

Former public servants and individuals including developers are among the submission approved by city council.

Source: ["bramptonguardian.com"]

The ‘get back to the office’ crowd…

‘after sitting for just 30 days so far this year, taking an extended summer break.’

Well, isn’t that nice.

Ford government moves to shut Ontario legislature until October

Opposition charges move is meant to shield Premier from scrutiny

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

An absolute sh*t bag.

Stories like this make me think we should reconsider capital punishment.

You know he did it; he admitted to doing it. Why are we paying to keep him going?

What kind of reform are we hoping for this tw*t?

Source: news.sky.com

The Art of the Deal.

Oil prices are up, inflation is up.

‘A masterful gambit, sir.’

The theater of the Trump presidency keeps on giving, and those of us not living in America continue to deal with it.

Somewhere, he probably figures NATO will have to step in for their own interests, so f*ck it.

Iran stops negotiations with U.S., vows to 'completely' block Strait of Hormuz: State media

The report in Iranian state media homes in on Israel's military operations in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.

Source: ["cnbc.com"]

What a bunch of goofs.

I’m hard-pressed to think these guys aren’t a Government of India psyop to make everyone question the movement.

Nothing says ‘Punjabis want Khalistan’ more than crashing the biggest Punjabi artist’s show, an artist who has himself lent his voice to highlight the Sikh plight.

Sports

Absolute cinema!

I don’t even know what this was advertising, but I’m sold, and I want it.

Also, I need to see how this ends in theaters.

adidas Backyard Legends | The Greatest Football Story Ever Told

Where there’s a pitch, there’s a legend.Timothée Chalamet, Lionel Messi, Bad Bunny, Jude Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, and Trinity Rodman bring to life the grea...

Source: ["youtu.be"]

That Marner guy’s not bad!

Probably one of the wildest games I’ve sat through in a while.

• Carolina had two goals overturned,
• Mitch Marner with the natural hat trick (3 goals)
• A Penalty shot and a missed on at that, (by Marner)
• Vegas dropped a 4-0 lead in the third period,
• 3 of Carolina’s 4 goals scored were all in a span of 39 seconds
• 2 of Vegas goals including the OT were were own goals by Carolina.

Theodore wins it in 2OT | NHL.com

Shea Theodore lets go of a heavy point shot that bounces off the end boards, off the goaltender and into the net, winning Game 3 for the Golden Knights in double overtime

Source: ["nhl.com"]

I was definitely wrong. I clearly didn’t give enough respect to the Knicks, to KAT, to OG.

But, damn, this team is just flowing right now. They made big plays when they needed them. They’re playing unselfish basketball. It’s just so much fun to watch.

Knicks edge Spurs in Game 2 thriller, move two wins from title

The Knicks didn't have their best night. They still found a way to win. And now, they are two wins away from the championship.

Source: ["hoopswire.com"]

Guess the Knicks are legitimate?

I don’t know why I have a hard time showing respect to this Knicks team, and I swear it’s nothing personal. I have nothing against the Knicks; their winning would be a great story.

I just didn’t think they’d be able to keep up with the Spurs, but I’m feeling like I was wrong.

These New York Knicks Just Keep Finding a Way

The Knicks’ charmed playoff run continued in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, where they posed a riddle Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs were unable to solve

Source: ["theringer.com"]

Maybe once upon a time…

A few years ago, the thought of Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Curry together would signal parade planning for Golden State.

But at this age, and with their current bench, it just seems like too little, too late. Even if you add Giannis Antetokounmpo to that squad, it’s probably easier and better to just accept Wemby’s reign.

Clippers trade pitch sends Kawhi Leonard to Warriors for $110 million six-time All-Star | Sporting News

The Golden State Warriors would land a two-time NBA Finals MVP in a massive trade proposal.

Source: ["sportingnews.com"]

Gaming

Nah, I’m not down with this.

‘His estate and Snoop blessed it’? Pimping out the dead for a dollar in this way is corny as f*ck.

I just can’t get behind it, and no, I can’t articulate why.

Just no.

Nobody Is Happy That Yakuza Studio’s Next Game Is Performing Digital Necromancy On Tupac

"I love RGG, and I love hip-hop, and I absolutely hate everything they're doing with this angle"

Source: ["aftermath.site"]

Sounds kind of monopolistic… (Probably because it is.)

I like Steam. I like having a single storefront to manage my games in. I hate having my game library spread out across storefronts.

But I should be able to if I wanted to, especially if it means cheaper games.

Shame! Shame! Shame!

Valve Threatened to Pull Rainbow Six Siege from Steam Due to Pricing Dispute With Ubisoft, Report Says

Valve has allegedly gone to great lengths to maintain Steam's position as a marketplace titan on PC, including one example that reportedly saw it threaten to retaliate against Ubisoft by delisting Rainbow Six Siege.

Source: ["ign.com"]

Nah, it was awful.

I appreciate all the nostalgia from NES, SNES, and N64 Mario. I smirked when Yoshi showed up.

But the pacing of this movie was just bad. My kids got bored halfway through; I kept checking how much time was left.

The first one was much more coherent. 2.67/5.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s reception is a result of Nintendo fully prioritizing audiences over critics and accolades, Japanese film studies professor says  - AUTOMATON WEST

While The Super Mario Galaxy Movie received harsh reviews from critics, the film has been far more successful among regular audiences.

Source: ["automaton-media.com"]

Am I cheating by just using my Bluesky account? – Yes.

Do I care? – Kind of? Actually No.

Look, content - is well hard. There’s 50 platforms we’re constantly being told to use. How am I supposed to do all that and still have time to think about posts and essays? I mean you’re right, I don’t have too, but stay with me for a second.

This site has quietly transformed into my digital lockbox. The place all my content aggregates and lives together. My Bluesky ain’t bumping, likely because I’m not important enough to matter, or maybe I don’t really say anything of value, but to also leave that place as a silo seems wrong.

As far as platforms go though, I appreciate what it is, and what they’re trying to be. Even if the rest of the internet doesn’t agree. It’s open enough for me to want to post my content on there, without feeling like I violated some ethical HIPPA like compliance.

So we have this. A place where all my thoughts on articles I actually read will come together. I’m not just link spamming. I read every one of these and had a few thoughts. Enough that I shared the article with my one takeaway. Enough that I cared to share it in a way that it ends up here.

Eventually this will build and become the thesis for a newsletter that I can email out to everyone. But before we get there we need to get used to making the content.

The header will be the overall thought for the week. Maybe in the future this will act as the basis for a new podcast or video or something? I don’t know. I’m big on recycling content and repurposing it. Because time is of the essence and I’d rather find the most efficient way to share my shit, than to recreate it from scratch each time.

So if you happen to have read this, just know - I appreciate you!

Now on to the show!

P.S - Habs got knocked out and my post about it didn’t make the formatting cut so here it is -

Habs got the shit kicked outta them. And getting the shit kicked outta you is a lot different than losing. When you lose you can dwell about the ways you could have prevented the loss, things you could do to improve. But when you get the shit kicked outta you? Well then you’re just happy it’s over.

Tech

The Kids Are Going To Be All Right.

I loved watching Eric Schmidt get booed to hell, and I loved watching Wozniak talk about creativity and passion not being replaceable.

You just know the folks on LinkedIn are confused and blaming ‘woke liberal indoctrination’. But, eh, fuck ‘em.

Harvard Graduation Speaker Unloads on AI in Profanity-Loaded Tirade, Prompting Cheers From Students: "I'm Here to Tell You the Mission of Your Generation Is to Destroy AI"

Tapping into widespread frustrations, "The Daily Show" host Ronny Chieng issued a profanity-laden anti-AI tirade at Harvard.

Source: ["futurism.com"]

Big Smart.

‘Eigenpulse: Eliminating Demographic Bias in Pulse Oximetry and Remote PPG from First Principles.’

I won’t pretend like I understand what any of that even means, but kudos to Gurnoor Kaur. I’m happy to see my people being celebrated for positive things again.

Kitchener teen wins innovation award at Canada-Wide Science Fair, fixes 35-year-old problem | CBC News

Gurnoor Kaur, a Grade 11 student at Cameron Height Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, has won the best project award for innovation at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Edmonton.

Source: ["cbc.ca"]

Attack Of The Tool.

Tim Sweeney is a dull screwdriver—both literally and metaphorically.

Steam Deck pricing, though, is a loss, and you’d hope it weren’t the case.

But with AI bastardizing the supply chain for consumer tech, and Valve not subsidizing costs, gaming is going to be in for a rough five years.

Source: share.google

Congrats, I’m Happy For You?

Anthropic gets blacklisted by the US government after citing the emotional turmoil they suffered—forced to use their AI to bomb schools in Iran… err wait… they just didn’t want people dictating their model weights.

Yet, despite all that, they continue to melt numbers.

Anthropic surpasses OpenAI to become world’s most valuable AI startup

Anthropic has become the most valuable artificial intelligence startup in the world, surpassing OpenAI in market valuation. Following a new funding round, the valuation of the developer behind the Claude AI assistant has approached the $1 trillion mark, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.

Source: ["qazinform.com"]

Gaming

Everything Will Be Commoditized.

Not even mad about it getting a TCG. Just knowing, though, that 90% of those buying this are going to be scalpers and speculators hoping to make a couple of pennies on the dollar.

At least it’s not NFTs.

New Kpop Demon Hunters Trading Cards Are Officially Up for Preorder, Releasing This Summer Over June, July, and August

Kpop Demon Hunters is getting its own collectible trading cards that are now available to preorder, releasing over the next few months in June, July, and August.

Source: ["ign.com"]

Was Not Expecting That.

Gaming as a service (GaaS) isn’t all bad, but when games go offline and there’s nothing left? Yeah, that’s terrible.

So why not just allow stripped-down community servers? Or go back to built-in LAN access?

There’s no reason games, even MMOs, can’t exist within their own communities.

Stop Killing Games Gains Momentum After Bill Passes California State Assembly Vote

The Stop Killing Games movement has reached yet another major milestone after the California State Assembly passed a bill protecting games from being pulled offline.

Source: ["ign.com"]

Politics

My Current Gauge for Stupidity Is Musk Fanboy-ism.

Musk realized with Dogecoin that the more you yell ‘moon,’ the more the ‘heavily regarded’ will rush to their knees in front of you.

Pushing to change laws and protections to push this ‘Ponzi’ is wild, but yell ‘moon’ enough and it will happen.

The SpaceX IPO is the clearest sign yet of a bull market at its peak

The sheer implausibility of the deal allows us to gauge just how gullible investors have become

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

Kubek The Hero We Need?

Interprovincial alcohol tariffs are one of the most bizarre trade restrictions we have.

We can safely import from America but not British Columbia?

Likely an economist is ready to ‘well, actually’ me, but this is borderline absurdity. The Feds need to step in on this, not just pass the buck.

Blown deadline for provincial alcohol shipments bodes poorly for broader internal trade push

Only two provinces allow their residents to freely buy booze directly from other parts of the country

Source: ["theglobeandmail.com"]

Sports

Arsenal?

I’m not sure if there’s any other sport where a team and a fan base can be chirped relentlessly for losing, while simultaneously getting chirped for winning.

Yet, the things I’m being exposed to in some of the group chats are… wow.

How PSG bested Arsenal to win UEFA Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain are your UEFA Champions League winners for the second year in a row as they bested Arsenal on penalties. Here

Source: ["espn.com"]

Culture

I Hated Summers…

I hated sweating on impact as soon as I went outside. I hated needing the refuge of AC during the day.

Then I started golfing, and while I still hate most of those things, it made me despise being locked indoors in winter more.

Give me perpetual spring and fall over winter.

Navneet Alang: After 37 years in Toronto, I’ve finally found a reason to love summer

For decades, summer felt like it was for others. It seemed to me as if it belonged to the popular, the young, the thin, the desired.

Source: ["thestar.com"]

Attempt Number 1 - When downloading the installer from Black Magic website and trying to install it normally I ran into a bunch of library errors. The advice I read was to move out some deprecated libraries, but that was a no go.

cd /opt/resolve/libs
sudo mkdir disabled-libraries
sudo mv libglib* disabled-libraries/
sudo mv libgio* disabled-libraries/
sudo mv libgmodule* disabled-libraries/

Attempt Number 2 - Installing from AUR (sudo yay davinci-resolve-studio) my laptop would eventually churn away but just die while trying to install qt5-webkitengine.

After several failed attempts I was able to manually install this dependency using:

MAKEFLAGS="-j6" yay -S aur/qt5-webengine

The MKFLAGS option limited it to fewer processes. The advice I read was 2 gigs for every processor. So in my case 6 cores ~ 12GB (16GB ram total).

However then trying to just install davinci-resolve-studio resulted in this error (I still had the davinci resolve installer, in the same folder I was running my install from):

==> Retrieving sources...

  -> Downloading DaVinci_Resolve_Studio_20.3.1_Linux.zip...

curl: (3) URL rejected: Bad file:// URL

==> ERROR: Failure while downloading file://DaVinci_Resolve_Studio_20.3.1_Linux.zip

    Aborting...

Found this advice which looked to have resolved that:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/davinci-resolve-studio.git
mv DaViniResolve*zip davinci-resolve-studio
cd davinci-resolve-studio
makepkg -si

My installed version and the one from the AUR were the same it just required some finessing which looks to have worked.

Posting this in case I gotta do this over again and in case and of ya’ll run into this problem.

Take, for example, my 7 year old recently falling into deep cataclysmic despair, where he questioned the fairness of his younger brother getting just a few more minutes of screen time. Never acknowledging the circumstances that led to him getting the additional 4 minutes and 30 seconds of Bluey in the first place - spoiler it was his battery.

But never once thinking that him even having a tablet of his own in the first place was monumental, or appreciating the hour or so of screen time he was enjoying prior to it being so egregiously shut off, let alone recognizing that the screen time he was so heartbroken and agonizing over was during a drive out to a family resort up in cottage country for a weekend away.

And therein I saw a glimpse of myself, of my own emotional fragility, as someone who I sometimes find complaining and commiserating over all of life’s injustices that I may at times feel burdened with, all the while living with more means than most turn-of-the-century monarchs. Living a life that is safer, more stable, and by all measures better than most could even dream of in parts of the world today. Occupying a reality that would exceed even the dreams of most who ever lived in our short but vast human experience.

It’s here that I think of that 7 year old crying, where I recognize and see my own flaws and am reminded of my own ingratitude and lack of perspective. At least, in his defense, he’s only 7.

The 4th branch of government, the media / A propaganda machine that’s spreading lies to the youth, see / White supremacy on the rise, it’s no mystery - Immmortal Technique, The 4th Branch

Ya’ll know the age ol’ saying - “If it walks like Nazi, tweets like Nazi, salutes like a Nazi, then it’s probably just an autistic duck high on ketamine.”, or something to that effect?

Elon Musk had an interesting choice of gestures during his speech at the Trump inauguration.

Many in mainstream media have raised an eyebrow at what they’re deeming to be an innocuous gesture, referencing the controversy surrounding it without actually suggesting what the gesture itself may be. Leaving it to bozo’s like myself on social media to call it for what it was, a Nazi Salute. Historians specializing in Nazi Germany, all saw it as a Nazi salute. Nazi’s and white nationalists from all over the world seem to think it was, yet there are those who really insist on giving Elon the benefit of the doubt here. It seems like no one wants to say or suggest he’s a Nazi out loud any more, well at least not since him and his boy Trump got elected in December.

The ADL had no problem suggesting he was antisemitic back when he tweeted - “You have said the actual truth”, in response to a tweet decrying the erasure and hatred towards white people by Jews.

The ADL at the time added this to a string of complaints that they had about Musk and his platforming, and also lack of censorship of white nationalists, and antisemitic rhetoric. In this case Jonathan Greenblatt CEO of the ADL decried Musk’s tweet saying -

Yet, after Musk got in trouble for what those defending him alleged to be a “Roman Salute” at the Trump inauguration the ADL seemed to have softened its tone on Musk posting -

The ADL giving Musk a hall pass was interesting considering the tension between the two in the past, but I’m sure an election and his proximity to Trump have nothing to do with it. The ADL wasn’t alone in giving Musk a free pass on the matter. Israel’s Prime Minister took a break from leading his genocide and bombing of Gaza to tweet -

Maybe if this gesture was a first, it would be easier to look past it, but this seems to be on par with Elon these days. For a guy who’s not racist and loves everyone, it would seem off brand that Musk recently also endorsed the AfD, a far right nationalist party in Germany, posting -

Even more recently speaking at their rally in Germany.

The AfD is best known for their hate of immigration into Germany, particularly Muslims. With one of their core policies being the fight against the “Islamization” of Germany. They’ve adopted a very “German” first approach. Sounds a bit similar to another historic German first party back from World War 2. But we’ll exclude those guys for now, who oddly also opposed the rise of a different ethnic group within Germany.

But maybe there’s just some other policies that the AfD has that Elon really agrees with. Even though he’s spoken at length about countries losing their cultural identity because of immigrants. Speaking at a conference in Italy he spoke at length on a panel that immigration policies directly lead to cultural erasure particularly of Europeans.

But maybe there’s other policies outside of the popular ones. Like maybe they also believe in baking cookies on Sundays or something. Having a political opinion or agreeing with some policies apart from the nationalist ones doesn’t make one a Nazi or fascist does it?

I mean there’s also the case of Musk’s support for Tommy Robinson. A far-right activist, (that’s what they call racists so to avoid defamation), who’s currently serving a quick jail stint. Robinson similarly has a disdain for a particular ethnic community having founded the EDL, who oddly seem to have a particular uniform shade of white to them.

Maybe Elon just hates Muslims, and immagrants or as his proponents may argue is just keen on maintaining a historic race unformity to not just these particular countries, but Europe as a whole. Which I guess that suggestion alone kinda seems a bit, how the kids would say, nazi-ish…

Or maybe he is just a quack?