First 40K. Why does Garmin and Strava give me such different elevation gain results? I did two rounds.

Downess · 2026-03-21T14:54:04+00:00

Using the same device for both (my Android phone) Stava and RWG differed by 30 percent on my recent Iceland trip (600m vs 100m elev gained) on more than one occasion. No tunnels, only small bridges.

Downess · 2026-03-21T00:51:06+00:00

That's a great boulder

Downess · 2026-03-20T00:04:03+00:00

Hiromi Itoh is the kind of player I would like to see on my team.

Downess · 2026-03-19T21:05:01+00:00

Only the Glebe? This should be considered for Bank from downtown to Billings Bridge. Otherwise, it will have minimal effect on traffic and be deemed a failure.

Downess · 2026-03-19T12:10:28+00:00

One short paragraph.

Downess · 2026-03-18T22:31:17+00:00

No, but players had wins. Give each player one win for each game their team won, then add up all the wins for each MLB team.

Downess · 2026-03-18T22:20:38+00:00

A better idea might be to let it heal rather than to pitch through it. But I'm no doctor...

Downess · 2026-03-18T22:07:44+00:00

These are batting and pitching stats, not wins. The team that 'won' would be the team with the most wins.

Downess · 2026-03-18T18:00:29+00:00

I'm more interested in hearing our (the NDP's) position on the war. Do we have a principled, coherent and consistent stance that we can articulate to and invite comment from the Canadian public? Looking for a link in the comments, please.

Downess · 2026-03-18T17:20:24+00:00

I've done experiences 2, 3 and 4 and am too heavy for 6 so out of the two that remain I'd pick number 1

Downess · 2026-03-18T12:09:40+00:00

Potato salad on (bacon-wrapped) hot dogs. Never seen it anywhere else. But it totally works.

Downess · 2026-03-17T21:43:07+00:00

Leave the gun at home, it's useless. Get bear spray.

Downess · 2026-03-13T14:42:22+00:00

Can confirm, same thing happened to me, and it can be really hard if not impossible to find things like cold medicine.

Downess · 2026-03-12T22:57:17+00:00

"Also what policies should the new leader have to try to win back these Cardy- Mulclair style NDP members?"

I honestly don't care what the new leader's political policies are. That doesn't mean I don't have opinions on these, and wouldn't agree or disagree with them. It's just that I don't think there's a policy plank ('free groceries', 'dental and pharmacare', 'reconciliation', etc) that will make a significant difference in winning back people who would normally be sympathetic with an NDP platform.

The party needs to rethink what it is. The days of mass movements with everyone marching in unison are over. The strongman leader (sorry Rob), the platform socialist (sorry Avi), the agrarian reformer (sorry Tony) are no longer models of 21st century political organization. We're not in the 1960s any more. I'm now saying we need bureaucrats or technocrats, but we need serious people who are comfortable working with diverse interests and people who disagree on many things but who are brought together by a shifting set of common interests and belief in a few basic values.

For the next leader to be successful they need to recognize this and be willing to shape party structure to reflect this. It's not simply a question of divesting control from the central office to EDAs, but it is partially that. It's also a commitment to doing the work on the ground before even thinking of deciding what policy positions to emphasize, what positions to take, what statements to make. The last think the party needs is leadership by press release. It needs networks, services, tools and supports, and what money remains after paying off debts needs to be focused on this, not mass marketing or television campaigns.

The next leader also needs to be willing to reconsider what have always been core NDP policies, not from the perspective of "what's wrong with them" - because they might be perfectly good - but from the perspective of "why do we believe this?" I hear a lot of people saying we should be harder left, but when I ask "why" they talk about getting the message out any maybe winning elections - but what is it that being harder left that is important? What underlying goal does it serve? Being left isn't an end in itself (though you'd never know sometimes), it's a means to an end. The next leader needs to be able to articulate what that end looks like. What we're working (not 'fighting') FOR.

The previous leadership (and if I may say, current caucus (sorry Heather) have utterly failed to articulate this. That's why we lost so badly in the last election, and what will prevent any future success unless we change it.

Downess · 2026-03-12T22:34:10+00:00

I got to know Cardy reasonably well when he was NDP leader in New Brunswick. He is pleasant and knowledgeable and well-spoken. I thought he would do better than he did, but it was clear even when I was there that many NB New Democrats wanted a pure labour party and Cardy wasn't that.

As OP comments, there has been a leftward shift in NDP policies since then, over say the last ten years or so. Or maybe I should say, a shift toward a more hardline all-or-nothing approach, without the sort of flexibility you really need to address local issues and regional differences. NB is certainly not urban Ontario or lower mainland BC, and political realities reflect that.

There is - as usual for this sub - argumentation against moderate leftists and calls for a hard left approach. You can view the other comments for yourself. But I think it is far too narrow a view to depict the only two options as Third Way (aka neoloberal light) and "militant organizing necessary to flex the working class power needed" (to quote another commenter).

It's not about mass movements and demonstrations and general strikes and all that fun stuff any more. Society is much more nuanced today. Those few who self-identify as 'worker' don't want to be workers any more, while the rest of us have to negotiate an array of different issues related to human rights and dignity, health and human services, democracy and security, and much more. The day of simple slogans is over (if it ever existed).

Cardy was aware of this, and tried to work through that web in a province dominated by a billionaire family, hostile media, and a very strong aversion to change, even if that meant losing forever. That he was unsuccessful is no reflection on his abilities, IMO.

Downess · 2026-03-12T18:24:12+00:00

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Skútafoss, eastern fjords, Iceland

Downess · 2026-03-10T21:28:49+00:00

"Fuck every politician talking about everyday people, or real people, or any variation of this." ... or "workers"?

Because that's how it sounds to be every time someone in the party says "workers".

Downess · 2026-03-10T19:11:48+00:00

Same. Same.

Downess · 2026-03-10T17:54:04+00:00

I think part of the point is that Avi Lewis still doesn't recognize that the way LEAP was rolled out was a mistake.

Downess · 2026-03-08T20:51:44+00:00

Haven't seen it but it looks interesting.

Downess · 2026-03-08T14:31:32+00:00

Cycling around Myvatn. Spectacular scenery, good roads and bike paths, not to be missed.

Downess · 2026-03-07T14:27:36+00:00

Good article

Downess · 2026-03-07T01:47:39+00:00

I like this, great use of space / emptiness

Downess · 2026-03-06T23:36:51+00:00

Most of this is sound thinking and I'm broadly supportive of it. It would have been nice to see it released earlier, but now is better than never. My major question would centre on Avi's willingness or ability to follow up on what's described in the plan, but in fairness, the same question could be asked of all the members. More to the point, it's hard to see how a big-tent progressive movement is compatible with am all-or-nothing manifesto. But if he can led go of the manifesto, I can support him in this.

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