CitizenVectron

Just finished Blindsight by Peter Watts. Wow. It's a story about first contact, and human consciousness. It specifically deals with the issue that in most pieces of fiction, aliens are at worst just humans with weird bumps or colours...or at best, analogues of other Earth animals (insect-like, etc). But what if they are so different from us that we have no basis for communication and comprehension? No common ground for any shared experience, except that we both exist? It heavily deals with themes of self-awareness (consciousness), psychopathy, and survival in a cruel universe. It is the best first contact story I have ever read.

So about those generals and admirals that signed the letter saying Biden was unfit and should be removed...

And it crashes because the helicopter pilot loses control whilst peeing into a bottle due to no breaks.

This pandemic has taught me that if another viral pandemic comes along in the next few decades and has a 5% or 10% mortality rate, we are doomed.

So does DC stand for Discovery Comics, now? And can we expect Shark Week to be a cross-issue event?

My province vaccinated 3.5% of the pop in the last two days. Crazy.

It's not about being loyal to the politicians that put them there (I honestly don't think any of SCOTUS is)...it's about having the same regressive beliefs as the politicians that put them there.

Centrists love nothing more than complicated rules attached to money that is meant to help people.

"A young person living in the area where terrorist group Hamas launches attacks against Jewish people is no longer living after a bullet entered their body."

I think that's more out of inability to plan than inability to host. We are fairly certain that life will be back to sort-of-normal by July/August (especially as far as outdoor events go). But how certain? Certain enough for non-profit festivals to risk spending all their money to buy and prepare things, only for the event to be cancelled at the last second, and potentially go bankrupt? This is risk management. There might only be a 5% or 10% chance that government doesn't allow some things to happen in August/September...but if that occurrence would permanently harm an organization, they aren't going to take that chance.

A few assumptions here (that we will not level off at the same point as Israel, for example), but it looks like Canada will take the lead in single-dose vaccinations for OECD countries in the next few weeks, and we'll see how well that strategy works (in terms of lowering case counts and hospitalization counts):

Then SCOTUS sends in their army!

Just wait until the current SCOTUS says otherwise!

My local SARCAN (bottle return) has started doing contactless drop-off and e-transfer. You submit an online form, drop off your stuff outside their loading dock, and then a few hours later you get an e-transfer with the cash amount. It's great, you don't have to go in or deal with unbagging the cans and bottles, etc. We gave away a lot of bottles to fundraisers during the pandemic, but we've still had a few trips.

Deliveries keep ramping up for Canada. That's giant, equivalent to 40 million doses in one week for the US. Here's to hoping demand stays high. Along with this: Partially vaccinated Canadians can socialize outdoors this summer, Tam says | CBC News WWW.CBC.CA Canadians who have been vaccinated with one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine can socialize with close family and friends outdoors over the summer months, Canada's chief public health officer said Friday. Definitely going to have our parents and close friends over for outside hang-outs in the backyard, this summer (all have at least one dose so far, and most should have both by mid-July).

I also use buddy, guy, and friend.

Our federal government in their new budget just promised universal, subsidized daycare for the entire country, and it looks like the Liberals will likely win a decisive third-term victory this late summer/fall.

I will never use y'all or y'alls. It just sounds too...bumpkin? I know it's common in the US south (and elsewhere in the states), but here it feeds into the stereotypes of the US south, and how the accent sounds. If I need to use a genderless term for "everybody," I just say everybody, everyone, or all of you.

Good. Right to assemble ends when it endangers other people's lives.

Protester accused of assaulting COVID-19 isolation unit employee with sign LEADERPOST.COM Police have charged a protester with assault with a weapon after an employee at a COVID isolation unit was allegedly struck with a sign. Good. My city has a hotel set up to house COVID-positive people that have no safe place to isolate (homeless, etc). Anti-mask protesters found the location and began protesting outside, and accosted and then assaulted one of the health workers there. Glad the guy is being charged with assault.

The accelerating trend of using the word "folks" (or folx) in place of "people" is something I hate, and I blame Obama for it.

CDC has released sex guidelines for the Summer of Fuck.

Whoa. Good news for me, I guess! Seems like the actual protection might not be much different, but the duration of the immunity may be longer as a result.