CitizenVectron

While I think that Poilievre will win the leadership of the CPC (and move the party into full Trumpian territory), I think that Patrick Brown actually has the best chance of an upset victory, not Jean Charest. It's an open secret that Brown is basically just going to try sign up new members on his way to victory, focusing specifically on the south-Asian communities of the horseshoe. He won OPC leadership in the same way, so I won't count him out. And honestly, he would be far preferably to Poilievre and his dog whistles. You can tell he is going in this direction (and trying to openly tie Poilievre to Trump/White Replacement Theory/Convoy/etc): It's good that Brown and others forced Poilievre to publicly denounce WRT, but that doesn't change the makeup of Poilievre's supporters, and their beliefs.

That's great and all, but the real moral move would be companies refusing to base operations in those states.

We're known for our toxic monkeys.

And wet nurses.

Because the constitution doesn't protect it.

Jason Kenney, worst premier in Canada, announces he will resign after only garnering 51% support in leadership review. This is good in one way, but bad in two others: Good because he is the worst premier in Canada by far, and his handling of almost every file justified his booting. It's bad because he will almost certainly be replaced by someone worse ideologically (think MAGA type), and also because the NDP were certain to defeat him in the next election, he was so hated in the province. Now the Conservatives have a chance again.

"I wish everyone would move past COVID!"

They should be as common as women want.

It appears the OPC drop is real, but it remains to be seen if the OLP can actually capitalize on it. The OPC vote is quite efficient; the only way the OLP win the most seats is by basically sweeping the entire GTA, which is not likely. True, they are polling near-40% in Toronto (which will swing a few seats) and they've closed the gap in the rest of the GTA to 4-5% difference, but that's not enough. I think the final vote might end up something like: OPC: 34% OLP: 31% ONDP: 25% And the OPCs will have a strong plurality. What remains to be seen is if the OLP and ONDP will form some kind of government in that case. It's also entirely possible with vote splitting for the OPC to win a majority with only 34%, depending on how individual ridings go.

That's...not a good comparison.

Because Christians (especially evangelicals and those associated with them) love to think in absolutes. If something isn't with God, then it must be evil, and people will be doing the most evil things.

Haha, no, I created it years ago when people were coming up with the D1P logo. I said it wasn't easy enough to make phallic, and suggested D2P instead.

Canada has officially banned Russia Today from the country, and Russia has responded in kind:

I had a No Fear t-shirt when I was a kid in the early 90s that said "He who dies with the most toys, still dies" and I remember one of my mom's friends being very offended by it, the basic idea that I, as a child, was exposed to the concept of mortality and that accomplishments don't matter once you are gone. Very strange. EDIT - Now I am listening to my favourite song that deals with death the and irrelevance of existence: If it were 2004 I'd be updating my MSN tag to include the lyrics.

Can't wait until all of basic medical science is challenged by the right under the guise of "well I never heard that before!"

They re-used the same framework for multiple days in a row with different judges. e.g. the game might have been something like "pull an item from a magic hat," and they are given a random item by the judge. So for multiple days in a row (with different judges who hadn't been there before), they would use an identical framework. Something like: Oh wow, we pulled this car from the hat! I will take the car to school and all my friends are impressed. Oh no, I am getting detention because I used the car at school! Oh wow, we pulled this Geiger counter from the hat! I will take the Geiger counter to school and all my friends are impressed. Oh no, I am getting detention because I used the Geiger counter at school! Essentially the skit was rehearsed and scripted, with just the actual improved item being shoved in with no change to the structure.

Quoting myself to add: However, while fulfilment is imo one of the greatest feelings due to the way our brains are wired, I do not discount that a simple state of non-struggle is also good. Being able to be born, live a life with no violence or random disasters, and then die without any major challenge or accomplishment is a great thing, as existence goes, in an uncaring universe. If the majority of people could live such a life, then imo we have succeeded as a species. It's the whole "may you live in interesting times" thing. No one asks to be born, so if you can provide a safe existence then you are doing a good thing.

It's almost like nominating someone who actually seems to connect with and give a shit about people works, in terms of motivating people to come out and vote.

I think there's a credible argument that technological progress is passive and fairly continual...but only in the sense that people have an urge to try and improve things so they need to do less work. It's not the case that it will always improve, just that there is a drive to improve it. However, even if it always improves, that doesn't mean that quality of life does. I do believe that there is some level of technology that would allow happiness to increase exponentially (probably at the point where you can manipulate matter and energy itself, including your own structure of mind/thoughts), but until then we're just a bunch of fleshy animals playing with sticks. It's entirely possible that some peasant family in 14th-century France led a happier life than any of us on this board. Perhaps they experienced more "random" and earlier death in their lives, but they could have had a greater sense of fulfilment (which I think is more important than happiness).

This facebook news post is a great example with what is wrong with the coverage of this event: The issue isn't that he called her not beautiful (though obviously he's a dick and uses his fame to hurt others), it's that he insisted that her beauty was being forced by some authoritarian conspiracy on society. But this type of framing (in the article headline) generates outrage in the comments and gets people to share. Lots of people going "hell I'm free to say I think fat chicks are ugly!" but that's not what the issue is about.

Yikes. There are a few comments online saying that the units are likely relatively unscathed, and hopefully that is the case. As someone has pointed out, both armies have found good uses for drones...and both lack the ability to stop drones. I imagine the US is watching this war with intense interest, and realizes that while drone warfare is great, the need for anti-drone (and infantry carried) tech is paramount. Especially since smaller nations can more easily afford drones than fighter jets, so it's something the US conceivably will find themselves facing.

Tatiana is really talented, so I'm sure I'll at least check out the first episode to get a feel. We grew up in the same neighbourhood (same age) and we actually competed in the city's improv championships in high school. Her team effectively cheated and won, unfortunately, and then went on to win the nationals (not her fault, her coache's). So now every single time she is ever brought up in conversation, I insist that her career could have been mine...including She-Hulk. She's very nice and deserves the success! In terms of my excitement for the show itself...it's odd—I've enjoyed the MCU shows up until now (especially Hawkeye), but I also grow less excited for each one.