This happened to a young man I knew who was trying to get into HVAC. He had to start all over again and find someone new who would actually sign his hours. He eventually did, but I could just add easily imagine if it didn’t happen.

I have an American friend who is terminally ill, and it’s possible I may never see them again 😞

Not medical advice, but a suggestion of easy things to ask your doctor to check for if you have insomnia, and inexpensive to address if they are the culprit: taking taking B12 and D supplements gave me (back?) my ability to sleep. I’ve never slept better in my life.

A tenet of Taoism is that nothing is constant and everything changes. We can have peace and be clear-minded by moving with, around, even redirecting the changes, rather than directly resisting them.

I’m not a taoist, but I think that’s pretty damn wise.

The US Coast Guard has stopped their search. What a tragedy.

People may call you a racist, mysogynist, homophobe, and/or transphobe if you act like a racist, mysogynist, homophobe, and/or transphobe.

The better question is why shouldn’t they? Are prisoners not human?

I had the good fortune of meeting the owner and some of the staff recently (not as a patient). They are very kind, caring people. They didn’t use the word “family”, but they sure felt like one, with the way they talked with and about each other. They’re not a very big outfit, with just a handful of planes. I can’t imagine the devastation they must be going through.

You realize that you’re talking about “buying Canadian”, but dissatisfied that the Canadian broadcaster doesn’t have American shows, yes?

Yes, it is unfortunately only available thru Amazon.

The River Saints https://www.goodreads.com/series/356333-the-river-saints Canadian author, but printed by Amazon. Series is not yet completed, but the author is much younger than GRRM and, barring a very unfortunate accident (knock on wood), I expect he’ll actually complete it.

No, the choices to upload your own thumbnail or to select from a random three frames are still there. I was just curious to find out what “Suggest a thumbnail” was, since I figured the random ones were already essentially a “suggest a thumbnail”. So I totality, the options are you can upload your own, three random frames, three gen-AI images.

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.

The other day I uploaded a video of a recorded meeting, and I wondered what “suggest a thumbnail” did, so I clicked it. It’s three AI-generated images based on the video. That’s when I realized that all those YouTube thumbnails that look the same are made from that function.

Modern trucks are just emotional support vehicles for the egoistically challenged.

I’m currently looking for work and yesterday I saw a job posting that listed “extensive use of generative AI” as one of the job responsibilities. I noped that one right away.

I mostly eat meat when it’s served to me, but if making my own food or eating out, it’s mostly vegetarian. At the same time, though, I fish and eat the fish I catch.

A friend of mine makes faces at me when I mention fishing and says stuff like how she feels bad for the poor fish. When I point out she is not a vegetarian or vegan, she just straight up says she tries not to think about it. But “poor fish” when I look at my kill directly and gut it with my own hands. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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.

Thank you for your useful contribution to the conversation. /s, in case that was necessary.