WTF-Beta

I’m with Jon and Adagio. I much prefer reading on my Kobo (similar to Kindle, but not Amazon tied) to paper these days largely due to my eyesight. I tried reading on my iPad for years and my reading dropped significantly. Eventually realized that even though I turned off all notifications while reading just having the iPad in my hand messed with my focus. With my kobo I have the exact same focus as I do with physical books but I can actually see the print without eye strain. Also, I suffered from tendinitis for years (clarinetist hazard) and for a time holding a book open was painful. While that’s no longer the case it is nice to have that lighter Kobo rather than a heavy book.

All that said I love the idea of beautifully bound books in a physical library. But in practise I am down to a small barristers bookcase of books I keep for nostalgia.

I’m rereading Project Hail Mary. I’m enjoying it more the second time. It’s still not as good as The Martian, but pretty great! I’ll see the movie when it comes to streaming.

The photos the came back after the flyby yesterday are amazing. For what it’s worth, I’m ignoring every photo on social media and only trusting those directly from NASA. But they are pretty spectacular.

My favourite:
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/art002e009288/

I turned on the livestream at about 11 this morning and have had it on all day. The fly by was fascinating! Can’t wait for the photos from Artemis.

I do check the comments before hand and sometimes I use the suggestions! I don’t use them all, based on what I know about our tastes, but I definitely check!

“It was the first time outside of the pandemic lockdown period that Canadian travel abroad outpaced ground trips to the U.S. since at least 1972, when Statistics Canada began keeping records, the agency said.
In January, 1.5 million Canadian residents returned from overseas, a jump of 10.6 per cent from the same month a year earlier. By contrast, the number of residents crossing back into Canada from the U.S. by automobile fell 26.3 per cent to 1.3 million over the same period.”

Excerpt From
“Canadians flock to overseas travel as U.S. boycott deepens”
Jason Kirby
The Globe and Mail
https://apple.news/AuXdbCJhETvqkGtwVTQmGeg

Canada Post is facing the same struggles. There have been multiple strikes over the past couple years because Canada Post employees want zero cuts in hours or jobs but it’s losing so much money. I am an advocate of keeping Canada Post because in rural Canada no one delivers mail to people except Canada Post because they are required to. That includes packages and official mail. So it is a necessary service. However, I don’t believe daily letter mail should be a requirement and a reduction in the number of post offices would make sense. They did eventually come to a settlement that Canada Post employees hated but they are still in operation.

We are going to Florence this summer and seeing the Vasari corridor is one of the things we have booked already!

The second season of The Pitt is what I look forward to watching every week. It is so excellent. We have been watching the new season of Shrinking, as well, though it isn’t as good as previous seasons. Still good, though! Unfortunately the new season of Hijack is terrible, and the new season of Paradise is only okay.

@andyd I have watched the Cumberbatch and Freeman Sherlock so many times! It’s excellent!

Thanks so much for the well wishes, all. Kiddo’s girlfriend has a very good friend who is epileptic, and one of his coworkers has a seizure disorder as well, so they at least have folks around them who know things. I’m hopeful the anti-seizure meds will work, and that there isn’t anything more horrible going on. I’m also very thankful for our medical system. While it hasn’t been perfect, so far the cost of this adventure has been $113 ($45x2 for ambulance, $23 for medication), so I’m grateful we don’t have to worry about the financial ramifications of a serious medical issue on top of everything else.

Not me. The kid. Just for context he’s 24 and lives with his girlfriend so she is his first line of support day to day but I’m still worried mom.

Three weeks ago he had a full blown seizure. Taken to hospital by ambulance. He realized that he had been having smaller seizures (focal seizures?) for months, but didn’t recognize what they were. CT scan came back clear. He has a neurologist appointment scheduled for April 6. On Tuesday he had a second seizure while waiting for his food at a local fast food place. Ambulance back to hospital. They gave him a prescription for anti-seizure meds before they discharged him after the second seizure which has made him feel a bit better about the situation.

Anyone have any experience here to share? I’m assuming epilepsy, but I have zero knowledge in this area.

I’m so sorry this is happening. Sending lots of positive thoughts your way for a full recovery for Mr WTG!

@ShiroKuro said in What happens to a car when…:

@Bernard said in What happens to a car when…:

automatic headlight hi-lo beam switching.

How does that work?

Hmmm… over the past two years I have noticed far more people leaving their high beams on until they are way closer than they should be, rendering me pretty much blind as the oncoming driver. Now I am wondering if those cars just have this new technology and they take too long (in my opinion) to see the oncoming car and switch?

The V&A was one of my favourite places in London! I would be interested to visit the storehouse!!

@jodi yep - that story is a common one.
There was an amazing IMO Canadian comedy musical group in the 1990s called Corky and the Juice Pigs. In 1993 they released a song called Americans. Near the end the lyrics are
We are Americans
We are Americans
We carry great big guns
We are Americans
We all wear
Canadian flags
When we travel
On our bags

If you want to listen to the song it’s on YouTube

Great work, Cindy!

@wtg said in Who is the biggest threat to world peace?:

@dolmansaxlil - is it as bad from the Canadian perspective as this poll indicates it is?

In a word, yes.

I live in an EXTREMELY right wing socially conservative area. People who were part of the stupid convoys during COVID and who cheered when Trump won. Even folks here have soured on the US. In more urban areas, it is even more pronounced. It’s actually pretty great for many Canadians. Small businesses are doing better than ever and “buy Canadian” matters. When we grocery shop we buy products produced in the USA only as a last resort. Our grocery store doesn’t carry much US produce anymore. Many friends (including us) refuse to cross the border even though, at less than an hour door to door (including border traffic) Detroit is incredibly convenient. His recent nonsense about the new Gordie Howe bridge has gotten everyone in our area riled up again because we payed for the construction of the damn thing - on both sides of the border.

The other thing to keep in mind is that many Canadians never LOVED the US. It has always been a grudging respect because they were the bully next door so we have always been resigned to just being under the shadow. But Canadians biggest point of pride is NOT being American. It’s pretty much our national identity. So I think public opinion is just as terrible as your article shows, but also, I don’t think the US was as loved by Canadians as many Americans think it was prior to this.

I wear an Apple Watch. I appreciate the health functions, as well as the workout functions and how it pairs with Fitness+. The battery is going on it, so I may need to replace it soon. That is definitely a drawback - they don’t have much longevity.

@wtg My parents cottage isn’t too far from Lake Nipissing! Their cottage was at Lost Channel (see arrow on map). Now they are about 5 miles down the road from there.

And this is a picture of the kid, circa 2009, feeing the chipmunks at said Lost Channel cottage.

I wish we had chipmunks in our residential neighbourhoods here. They do live in forested areas here, and a few hours north (where my parents have a very modest cottage) they are everywhere! They are ridiculously cute - way better than squirrels!