Truly, I don’t understand why, but there are fully grown adults who believe that anything an LLM says is true. Maybe they think computers are unbiased (which is only as true as programmers and data are unbiased); maybe its the confidence with which LLMs deliver information; maybe they believe the program actually searches and verified information; maybe it’s all of the above and more.

I know a guy who routinely says, “I asked ChatGPT…”, and even after having explained how LLMs are complex word predictors and are not programmed for factual truth, he still goes to ChatGPT for everything. It’s a total refusal to believe otherwise, but I can’t fathom why.

Did you apply for your passport from outside Canada? The current price of that is $260.

Yes, even cheap clip on ones from a hardware store will do it. They also provide eye strain relief from watching tv and screen time, too

If in doubt, you can check your immunity along your normal bloodwork. I asked my doc to check, it was just an extra requisition/vial.

I had to get the full dose (two shots, not just a booster of one) because I had no immunity, even though I had both shots as a child. Immunity can wane over decades.

I, for one, am a fan of bringing back the ascot. (but perhaps not during the height of the summer months.)

It’s possible for the switch behind the knob to fail. They’re called selector switches or rotary switches (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stove+rotary+switch). In my case, some plastic from the casing melted and became a conductor, so the element could not be turned down or turned off. This is also an easy replacement.

Turn off the breaker, unplug from outlet, open up the back of the stove/oven (take a pic or mark the wires to remember where they go), remove the offending switch and look for a model number on it so you can search for and order a replacement online. All I needed was a phillips screwdriver. You can still use the rest of the stove top elements without the broken switch until your replacement arrives.

ICE is even killing white American citizens in broad daylight while being recorded. You’re right that they should be recognizing treaties, but we should also be recognizing the reality that that’s something beyond America’s grasp right now, and that no one, but especially “exception” cases who are visibly non-white, should be going to the US for their own safety.

I understand what you mean, but life is not binary and it doesn’t have to always be all-in. “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” We can still enjoy good things and incremental improvements even if they’re not perfect or ideal. A tool doesn’t have to be perfect for 100% of situations for it to still be useful.

Obviously, you don’t care for the device, and I’m not trying to convince you to get something you don’t want—and I note you haven’t tried. But I am saying we should (in life, in general) consider options for improvements even if they’re not perfect.

I can clear a double driveway with an electric shovel/snow thrower. It depends on the battery and, of course, the length of the driveway. But we’re taking Brampton, not an estate house.

The thing is you have to do it before the snow is higher than the face of the shovel, so you might have to go out twice or even three times (while it’s still snowing and once when it’s done) instead of only doing one pass at the end with a significantly larger snow blower.

There are other shortcomings compared to a snow blower, such as it only throws the snow in front of itself; you can’t direct it otherwise. So you have to think about how you’re going to physically do the task. Also, I find it’s not as effective when the snow is wet.

Overall, though, if a snow blower is not feasible for whatever reason, it’s a decent option for lessening the physical burden of snow shoveling, but definitely not eliminating it.

Turning off the targeted ads settings indeed prevents Google from showing you overtly targeted ads. It makes no claim that it prevents Google from harvesting the same data that is used to target ads

WestJet only reversing it because word started to get around and people were swearing never to fly WestJet again. If there were no possible alternatives for flyers, they would not have cared.

Your thinking wasn’t wrong, the problem was that the municipal and provincial police and governments abdicated their duties and abandoned their citizens. The federal government stepped in because the lower levels of government refused to do their duty for weeks. I don’t disagree that Trudeau stepped a foot beyond his jurisdiction, but in that scenario, he was being the only responsible adult who actively cared about the well-being of Canadians.

I’m glad it was done, and there was nothing in the execution that was heavy-handed or otherwise untoward. The people had more than ample warning to disperse, the line moved slowly (giving the people every opportunity to leave of their own volition), force was restrained and minimal. People got arrested because at that point they made the choice to be. It certainly was not the situation we currently see unfolding in the US right now (which, if we are honest, the convoyers would have wanted for their side to perpetuate, if they could).

Not exactly the same, but in a similar vein, I stopped watching Doctor Who because it felt like everything was always end-of-the-universe. I liked Old Who where they just had to be clever (without the sonic screwdriver and Tardis saving the day) to solve the problem they were in, not save the galaxy all the time.

There were Jews for Hitler. These people really think they’re “one of the good ones”. They’re just useful labour until the labour part is done, then they’ll get tossed in with the rest of the Jews/Hispanics.

Historically, the mongers of violence and war have only been ended by stronger violence and better war strategies and resources. The whole take the higher road and tolerance thing is what got America into this current mess in the first place. These assholes are cowards and only come out when there are no consequences, but go back into hiding when there are.

People should not be punched in the nose for their race, religion, sexuality, gender, etc., basically who they are. People should be punched in the noise for being assholes, their bad behaviour.

Ask your doc to check for it with you bloodwork. Its just one more vial/tube of blood to be drawn.

DefinitelyVaccinated adults should get their immunity checked, its possible to lose immunity over decades (I did).

Why should Canada Post be a corporation at all? It is legally managed to serve all Canadians. Corporations otherwise are not legally required to serve this or that place or demographic. Yet Canada Post must deliver to as far as Grise Fiord. It cannot be profitable while legally obligated to service extremely unprofitable regions. It can either serve all Canadians as a service, or be a real corporation that can make decisions like target demographics and operations, but not both.

(To be clear, I think everyone deserves mail service, including the people of Grise Fiord, so it should be a service and not a corp.)

Libraries are indeed targets of malware and ransomware. In Ontario, at least Toronto, Hamilton, and London public libraries have been ransomwared. The idea is nice, but I think the risk would be too high for libraries with increasingly slashed budgets. Even with an air-gapped system doing the formatting, I can’t imagine library IT devoting the time to do this.

From the article:

The answer to how I became sick may lie in what’s called secondary vaccine failure, which happens when a vaccinated person’s immunity decreases over time until they are no longer protected. This can take place when an immune system doesn’t receive the “boost” it needs from encountering the virus.

“There is evidence to suggest that in the absence of these boosts, the immune response that is induced by the vaccine isn’t lasting as long,” said Janna Shapiro, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases in Toronto. That means even those who were fully vaccinated as kids can lose their immunity.

This was me. I was at the doctor and he was having me get some bloodwork done. I asked him to check my measles immunity status, too, because I’d previously seen online of the possibility mentinoed above. My parents did have me immunized when I was a child, but I thought why not check? The results: I had no immunity.

It was free (to me, the patient) to get the shots. My doctor had to order them in. It’s two shots a month apart, and then another blood draw another month later to check. I’ll be honest, it was the second most painful vaccination I’ve ever had (the first was shingles), but totally worth it. Ask your doctor to check the next time you’re getting bloodwork done.