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 😞

My father exactly. He’s Asian, so I think he feels more removed from the situation, but he worked in the US for over a decade before retiring back here. He’s still 100% pro-Trump, even though we are feeling the negative effects of his tariffs (“He has to put tariffs, he had no choice, look at their economy”), and he even admits things like Good thing I retired before Trump became president otherwise I probably couldn’t get a work visa now. My dad would vote Trump if he could vote.

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.

Telling a conservative they’re incorrect is oppression to them.

This was the big discussion back when I still worked in insurance while years ago. The discussion was that insurance companies would not accept liability for the owners of self-driving cars because its not the driver creating the risk, but the car company and its programmers, but that car producers would have to insure their own vehicles. The discussion was how the industry will have to adapt to survive this change.

Current models of insurance (and prices) is based on statistics, including the driver’s age, gender, location, and characteristics of the vehicle (make, model, age). Some companies give discounts if you are willing to give them telemetry on your driving habits. (Personally, I’m not willing, but at least that’s based on you individually rather than a statistical average version of you. )

Those all to out the window when the car is self-driving. Driving behaviour is determined by the competence of the programmers who programed the car, which is entirely opaque to the public and insurers. An update can totally change the driving behaviour anytime, in ways no one can know. That is not an acceptable risk to a risk-calculating industry.

When I was still around the industry, the current issue was exactly when did policy coverage start and stop for ride share drivers (the moment they accept a ride in an app or when a passenger enters the vehicle?). I have not seen a policy for a vehicle that has some autonomous mode, but I would imagine that, in these years since, wordings have been added that state a policy does not cover the owner when FSD is engaged. But I also haven’t seen that car companies are actually offering insurance either.

So, owner or car company? Maybe both, but there’s a reason that Tesla specifically states that drivers have to maintain control of the vehicle, for exactly this reason: to disclaim responsibility.

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.

A friend of mine had a neighbourhood event started by one site neighbour. He owns his home every month for conversation. There’s a topic each month, and there are rules about listening, being respectful, no phones allowed, etc. It’s strictly for having open conversation. My friend loves it.

Thank you for sharing that, though it seems it’s still speculation. It’s still interesting to think about.

Can you please enlighten me about Waze?

I can’t wait to find out how they will blame the woke left for this very thing they were warned about.

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.)