Its a lot of promises of intentions without a lot of specifics. The one that does look more solid is the invitation to the PM to their summits. I assume it means no vote, but giving Canada a presence is a good signal to start, anyway.

No, a realist wrote it. You can do things like write letters and petitions, attend protests, etc., and I’m not even saying people shouldn’t or that those things were bad. People should exercise what little rights we do have before they’re taken away, too. But I am saying that, ultimately, it cannot stop anything, which is the question being asked. The system is functioning exactly as intended: power and authority concentrated by and to the few.

Trudeau, whom I would still choose over Poillievre 10/10 times, showed us that exactly. He won by talking election reform, then dumped it in the trash as soon as possible without even having any actual exploratory consultations, surveys, etc. Power cannot and will not be given back to the people by polite elections twice a decade. Because the problem is that I still would vote for Trudeau or Carney 10/10 times instead of Poillievre, because that’s the best our system gives us. (Let’s just be honest and say there aren’t viable alternate contenders even if the system technically allows for it.)

Here’s the fun part: you can’t. They can do whatever they want. The only pressure we can (legally) put on them is at the polls, and Poillievre is so irrelevant right now, that is no threat at all. The senate isn’t even voted for, so they can do whatever they want without even the hypothetical pressure of polls.

Right, and analogies and metaphors should never be used because no analogy or metaphor will ever be normal. Would you be more satisfied if it were simply changed to “best friend”?

If an ex breaks up with you, and you later start dating a new person, you should be excited about and looking forward to the new relationship instead of fixating on the bad one that’s ended.

Well, maybe your ex is also your neighbour (literally happened to me). It’s not practical to not think of your ex at all anymore, because they still have a presence and effect on your life. So you still have to manage that and be civilly neighbourly, but they should not have any bearing or space in your new relationship.

This has also unintentionally put a huge, unprecedented strain on archives and archivists across the country, with people looking for records to prove ancestral citizenship, at a time when the governments (all levels, but especially provincial) have been slashing culture budgets and cutting workers.

Personally, I am very pleased with my Max Lumi (which has been superseded by other models). It was quite expensive, though, but I can say I have used it very often for five years and expect many more of it, still. However, because of its size, I don’t often bring it out with me. I primarily use it for studying at home.

But if you don’t need the largest size (13"), the smaller ones are less expensive. If I were to replace mine, I’d probably go for a 10" one. I think that seems the right balance of size for writing notes and portability.

I don’t know exactly what you mean by “comparable”. They’re both e-ink tablets. If you’d like actual comparison, may I suggest checking out MyDeepGuide: https://www.mydeepguide.com/articles/categories/e-ink-devices (also search for him on youtube).

This dude started reviewing a few e-ink tablets, and then he became THE guy for reviewing e-ink tablets.

You may be pleased to learn about he 13. 3" Boox Tab X. I got it’s predecessor (Max Lumi) specifically for PDFs. https://shop.boox.com/en-ca/products/tabxc

You can install other reading applications, like Kindle, Kobo, Libby, Hoopla, etc to greatly expand your reading selection.

Migrants do have the right to protest. People who are no longer in the country legally do not have a right to stay in the country. People were not taken into custody for protesting, they were taken into custody because their visas have expired. The two are entirely separate issues.

Canada produces good content that we should be enjoying. CBC Gem is free with ads or for a reasonable, low cost ($7). CTV also carries Canadian stuff, though not as much as CBC. It also has some free offerings (not sure the subscription price). It is part of Bell, of course, but at least it is a Canadian conglomerate and not an American one. And both are available over the air, if you are in an area that receives their signals.

Speech-to-text (a type of AI) has been around for a fair good years, but now they’re being paired with generative AI. This is the kind of thing that shouldn’t be paired with a generative LLM. A language model to identify words? Yes. Generative? No.

Good for Pankiw and Herron. I hope more people while rejected roles in any side of the camera speak up.

It’s disappointing how many high profile people have signed on to this project. I understand that the story was integral to many people’s lives (myself included) and, yes, the career opportunity is huge, I’m sure the pay is good… But there’s a very direct line from these jobs to harming innocent people.

I quit my job boss was lying and enriching himself, but at least he wasn’t really directly harming people. Without exaggeration, I think nothing would make Rowling happier than if trans ladies were killed or killed themselves because of her influence. How can people support that? It’s a moral bankruptcy.

“Unfounded attention”, says the company that “was issued a non-compliance rating at one of its Winnipeg sites” and because a Health Canada inspection found they “did not carry out sufficient corrective and preventive actions when required.”.

The fact they will take plasma twice a week from a person compared to Canadian Blood Services’ once every two weeks tells me enough of their care and concern for those selling plasma.

Why should Canada Post be a corporation at all? It is legally managed to serve all Canadians. Corporations otherwise are not legally required to serve this or that place or demographic. Yet Canada Post must deliver to as far as Grise Fiord. It cannot be profitable while legally obligated to service extremely unprofitable regions. It can either serve all Canadians as a service, or be a real corporation that can make decisions like target demographics and operations, but not both.

(To be clear, I think everyone deserves mail service, including the people of Grise Fiord, so it should be a service and not a corp.)

Libraries are indeed targets of malware and ransomware. In Ontario, at least Toronto, Hamilton, and London public libraries have been ransomwared. The idea is nice, but I think the risk would be too high for libraries with increasingly slashed budgets. Even with an air-gapped system doing the formatting, I can’t imagine library IT devoting the time to do this.

From the article:

The answer to how I became sick may lie in what’s called secondary vaccine failure, which happens when a vaccinated person’s immunity decreases over time until they are no longer protected. This can take place when an immune system doesn’t receive the “boost” it needs from encountering the virus.

“There is evidence to suggest that in the absence of these boosts, the immune response that is induced by the vaccine isn’t lasting as long,” said Janna Shapiro, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases in Toronto. That means even those who were fully vaccinated as kids can lose their immunity.

This was me. I was at the doctor and he was having me get some bloodwork done. I asked him to check my measles immunity status, too, because I’d previously seen online of the possibility mentinoed above. My parents did have me immunized when I was a child, but I thought why not check? The results: I had no immunity.

It was free (to me, the patient) to get the shots. My doctor had to order them in. It’s two shots a month apart, and then another blood draw another month later to check. I’ll be honest, it was the second most painful vaccination I’ve ever had (the first was shingles), but totally worth it. Ask your doctor to check the next time you’re getting bloodwork done.

I’m by no means against reduction or modification of service to match the reality of less mail being sent and delivered. Reduction of service and tax funding are not mutually exclusive.

But a legal mandate to serve all Canadians and a mandate for “solvency” based solely on postage are mutually exclusive in a country as geographically large as Canada with all our small, rural and remote (i.e. Unprofitable) communities.

Why should Canada Post be “solvent”? It’s mandated to serve every Canadian address. Have you considered what that means? It means it has to send mail to the furthest reaches of Grise Fiord (look for it on Google Maps). A business would never deliver there, and they don’t because it’s not profitable. A non-discriminatory mail service is not a profit business, it’s a public service of the government. Firehalls ans library systems have budgets, but no one expects them to be solvent because they’re services supported by public funds (taxes), not businesses.