Nick P
npilon.bsky.social
Nick P
@npilon.bsky.social
Dartmouth, NS dad; software engineer; fan of giant robots in many contexts, board games, RPGs. Queer rights are not negotiable. (He/Him)
Reposted by Nick P
We're at the part of the cattle cycle where the number of cattle is down, so prices are up. That's… literally just how the cattle market works.

Throw on top of that a very consolidated, cartel-like beef packing industry, & screwworm (so we can't import much from Mexico), high prices are the result.
November 26, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Nick P
The US cattle herd gets larger & smaller on a pretty predictable 10-15 year cycle.

When there are more cows, that pushes cattle prices down.

When there are fewer cows, that pushes cattle prices up.

The laws of cattle supply & demand are simple & finite, any 4H girl would have known
November 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Dalhousie should be allowed to buy up and redeveloped the trash bungalows that surround campus if it cannot redevelop campus buildings. HRM wants to block both, and there’s no consideration for what to do instead
November 26, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Canada's weather warning system has changed.
The new colour-coded, tier-based warnings will focus more on weather impacts and how you should prepare.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

#halisky #nsstorm #nbstorm #nlwx
Canada’s weather warning system has changed. Here’s how | CBC News
Canada's weather warnings have changed to a new colour-coded, risk-tiered system implemented by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The three alert levels — yellow, orange and red — are based on th...
www.cbc.ca
November 26, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Not only are there a metric buttload of great games in here (Monster of the Week! Blades in the Dark! Thirsty Sword Lesbians!) but if you dig down into the Gate section, in the Worlds in Shadow book you’ll find Crimeworld, which is me puking out Heist and Con 101, for #ttrpg use or whatever you want
As the year winds down we want to take a moment.
2025 marks our twentieth year in business. We are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed to our little company with their time, money, or talent. Thank you!
To celebrate, we've put our whole catalog on sale.
evilhat.com/roleplaying-...
November 26, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Nick P
BREAKING: Famed Chicago brewing school is moving to Canada due to regulatory uncertainty caused by the Trump administration. "The Toronto-Montreal corridor will power the Great Lakes century. It is only fitting that we depart Chicago for this", said no one actually, but they probably thought it.
World-famous brewing institution leaving U.S. for Canada
A renowned American beer brewing school is heading north and getting ready to settle in at a new address in Montreal.
www.ctvnews.ca
November 26, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Nick P
This story has been updated with a response from Katie McIntyre Mills, one of the founders of Save #DartmouthCove

#NovaScotia
November 26, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Of course, they left out the part where I said that some people think the bollards are better than nothing and others feel they are so narrow that we would be better off without them. I talked about the broader issues of seasonal maintenance on all bike lanes as well (thus the photo on Almon).
November 26, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Nick P
HRP & MADD did Operation Christmas stops today, handing out bus tickets while reminding people not to drink and drive. People on facebook are predictably mad about it.
November 26, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Colleen Jones was a Canadian icon and trailblazer for women in sports — a two-time world champion, six-time Canadian champion, and an esteemed reporter with CBC for nearly four decades.
 
My thoughts are with her family, her community in Nova Scotia, and her fans across Canada.
November 26, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Just heard that the UCP may be trying to restrict Public Libraries like they have School Libraries.

Complete with defunding if we don't comply and/or the removal of local boards. This is...bad.

Anyone got a Library System IT job opening outside of Alberta?
November 25, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Nick P
You would think this can't be real. But I personally witnessed this in Halifax. A man stood up and said "I live next door on the 24th floor and anything over 12 stories isn't appropriate for here, nothing in the surrounding area is that tall"

HRM counsel nodding in agreement at those sage words
Nearly gagged over this zinger of a headline and then this:

"This is not about being a bunch of NIMBYs, because we’re supportive of housing,” said [one] critic... who lives in a 19-storey building nearby."
In Waterloo’s downtown, residents in tall towers fight a plan for even taller towers
Disagreements over height, heritage and density have led some neighbours to oppose twin towers that would be the tallest in the city.
www.therecord.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Nick P
The projections circa fall of 2015 looked like this:

www.canada.ca/en/environme...
November 26, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Nick P
If you got in a time machine, went back to 2015 and told people that by 2025 we would be on course to reduce emissions by 31.5 to 33.5% below 2005 levels, would anyone have complained?

www.pbo-dpb.ca/en/publicati...
November 26, 2025 at 4:14 PM
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/car...

We'll all see what's in the MOU released tomorrow but the quotes in this article are pretty unambiguous.

"We believe the Government of British Columbia has to agree. We believe that First Nations rights holders in this country has to agree and support."
Carney says B.C. 'has to agree' on pipeline plan from Alberta
OTTAWA - British Columbia "has to agree" on any pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific coast, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday, as his government edges closer to unveiling the
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca
November 26, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Up to 50 cm of snow expected in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County #Waterloo #Guelph #WellingtonCounty #Ontario

Environment Canada warns of heavy snow, strong winds and near-zero visibility beginning Thursday

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Up to 50 cm of snow expected in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County | CBC News
Heavy snow and strong winds are expected across Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County, creating hazardous travel and near-zero visibility.
www.cbc.ca
November 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Ugh CBC this is sort of a silly article anyhow, but no don't just ask ChatGPT - especially since you're already interviewing actual experts.

"So we asked ChatGPT" is *NEVER* news!

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
November 26, 2025 at 12:09 PM
substack.com/app-link/pos... - while the whole piece is a good explainer…

“the demand for houses is strongly affected by mortgage rates.”

It is! Which is why it’s infuriating that so many housing policy types in Canada refuse to consider the impact of interest rates on the market!
Warning: The Fed Can’t Rescue AI
Lessons from the dotcom crash
substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Rain nearing CB early this am with a wintry mix over N NB. Rain persists today then tapers to showers/drizzle tonight & Thurs am followed by clearing. 15-25mm rain (closer to 10mm Ann Valley); 5-10cm snow extreme N NB.
Fine start Fri then onshore rain/snow showers in gusty W winds late Fri & Sat.
November 26, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Nick P
Today marks the beginning of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. 
 
Every Canadian deserves to be free from violence. This is not just a moral imperative — it is key to building a safer and more equitable Canada for everyone.
November 26, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Instructions unclear, dedicating $120BN of public funds to construct a human-scale pneumatic tube system covering the entire GTA.
Public Transit has a marketing problem in Canada. Not to customers (who love it) but to senior governments (who are apparently not even aware it exists). May I propose:

"Transit. It's like a pipeline, but for people!"
November 25, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Pretty ok "respiratory virus season" from Dr. Brown VIA HRCE.

- Mentions both COVID & flu
- "we invite everyone to get both vaccines free of charge"
- recommend masking "if you feel sick" and staying home if possible
- emphasizes MMR & pertussis vaccines plus grade 7 set
November 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Reposted by Nick P
tech bro: i have made Artificial General Intelligence

programmer: you fucked up a perfectly good calculator is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Nick P
Every single AG report in Halifax is almost beat for beat: Great plan, but it's all vibes, I could find no costing and no implementation plans, no way to assess the plan's success and generally no accountability structure. The plan's PDF is great, but that PDF is all there is, which is not great.
November 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
As Max has laid out in some of his other columns, the economics of fossil fuels are bad and getting worse. It doesn't really matter how much LNG export capacity Eby builds, or how big of a pipeline Smith gets - the answer to "how can we most cheaply add a unit of power?" is "solar or wind".
November 25, 2025 at 4:22 PM