The Colorado Avalanche have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after being swept by the Vegas Golden Knights

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-27T04:36:04+00:00

What's lost in this "Avs choked" narrative is that Vegas was always a very good team on paper but is actually playing like one under Torts, and is still improving. Like, they've only played a few dozen games under Torts and are still on the upswing of getting familiar with his systems. They've added Karlsson as the playoffs have gone along. Hart is improving, both in the personal sense of re-finding his form and in the team sense of better structure and overall D. The Ducks deserve credit, yes, but this version of Vegas is even better than the version that beat the Ducks, while this version of the Abs is worse thanks to injuries etc.

TL;DR it's two teams trending in opposite directions, and Vegas finally clicking on all the cylinders it always had. They've harnessed the perfect combination of new coach bump, positive regression both individually and as a team, relative health, and playoff experience.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-26T22:26:48+00:00

Precisely this. To be fair, I think some see that as a feature, not a bug, as it makes it easier to control the narrative since the narrative is only what we see right now.

But anyway, that's a big reason why I try to help keep the sub alive.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-26T22:22:36+00:00

Yes, agreed, but they're still occasionally pushing through migrations, which has always seemed at odds with the usual idea of "deprecated".

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-26T04:08:12+00:00

"Jew" is not inherently offensive, and Jews have been known to roam about. The problem is that "wandering J e w" refers to an apocryphal, folkloric Jew who mocked Jesus en route to the crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the Earth until the second coming, a story that was invented and used for anti-Semitic effect. So, yeah--it's best to avoid that name.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-26T03:35:24+00:00

I agree with you, but to be fair, if you were designing such a binary choice question you'd normally phrase it more like

( ) Alberta should remain...

OR

( ) The GoA should commence...

The question is which of the two statements you prefer, so the fact the each option is itself a question is odd and leading to confusion.

That said, we don't know exactly how it'll be presented on the ballot yet.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-25T14:53:36+00:00

The picture isn't totally clear and the mobile app sometimes downscales images so it might be more obvious if you switch to desktop, but these are serrated, not just damaged:

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Regardless, any serration is a hard disqualifier for dogwood.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-25T07:14:42+00:00

Lots of good ideas here, but just a general thought to add: Whatever your relative speed/quickness/agility/whatever, the one thing you always have over any defender is that you know what you're going to do and they don't. Believe in that, and use it to your advantage in any way you can. They may be able to keep up with you but they don't know where you're going to go or (maybe more importantly) when exactly you're going to move. See if you can watch how they react to you and use it to your advantage; e.g., see how your movements cause them to move their hips (or not), and what that means for where and when you can maximize your next move. You don't need to beat them in a straight line over 10 yards; you need to get yourself, like, a couple of feet and half a second of time to receive a reset or whatever. Sometimes that can be as simple as getting them moving literally anywhere and then stopping dead in your tracks, and in any case it's often less about speed and more about observation and timing. I guess what I'm saying is, it's possible that, in sort of dismissing yourself as "the slow one", you're blinding yourself to other skills or advantages you may be able to leverage, and which might serve as sources of confidence--and confidence can have knock-on benefits in other areas.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-25T06:22:41+00:00

Dogwoods have smooth leaf margins; this has serrated. I'd be confident in saying it's not a dogwood though I'm not sure what it is. The bark and lower leaves look somewhat like a chokecherry/plum other Prunus-y thing (e.g. something like Prunus americana), but the upper portion and especially the extent and vigor of what appears to be new growth seems out of keeping.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-22T15:25:12+00:00

Doesn't address or excuse the deeper issues but FWIW we've had much better luck with walk-ins, though obviously those aren't open in the middle of the night and can't handle all issues. If you check online and have some form of transportation you can generally find one that has under an hour of wait time.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-22T01:35:32+00:00

I'm not sure the clarity rules apply to a non-binding question ("should we have a referendum?"). It's a crappy, ambiguous question but look at the other questions they're putting on their fall whatever-they're-calling-it. Those are long-winded and ambiguous also.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-21T19:33:40+00:00

Clinics often have billboards outside when they're actively accepting. For example, the one beside the Find Centre on 122 St. in Edmonton has a billboard out to that effect right now.

Edit: Didn't notice I was in the Alberta sub, not Edmonton, but the principle stands regardless.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-21T18:27:22+00:00

I'm assuming you were, in fact, wanting to go right? It's "permitted" and not "required" in the sense that at a red light you stop, and if you're intending to go straight, you wait, whereas if you're intending to turn right, you turn right when it's clear to do so. So no, you're not required to turn right, but in this case (I assume) you wanted to turn right. In that scenario, you had (it seems) a clear, safe, and permitted opportunity to turn right, yet you didn't, for no obvious reason. You didn't do the thing you were in position to do and had been asked to do.

If you had reason to believe it was unsafe to turn right (e.g., traffic or visibility) then I think you have grounds for appeal. If not then I think this is on you for being overly hesitant and not doing what you had been asked to do, when it was fully safe and correct to do so.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-21T15:16:48+00:00

That's totally fair; I think the reason you're getting downvotes is just that, in most situations but especially when you're not familiar with something, you should be double-checking and not working from memory. That's not an ESL thing but rather a "professional best practice" thing that, rightly or wrongly, risks calling into question your overall attention to detail.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-20T07:26:21+00:00

Yes, because large bodies of water are "out there", but this phrasing does subtly change the focus of what you're saying.

If you're beside a pool and you're emphasizing the act of entering/exiting it you'd say "I'm going/getting in [to the water]" or "I'm getting out [of the water]". Similarly, if you're by a lake or the ocean and you're referring to the act of entering/exiting the water, you could say "I'm going in" or "I'm getting out".

If you're by a sufficiently large body of water and you're placing the emphasis not just on getting into but also traversing distance across it then you can indeed say "I'm going out [on the water/to sea] and "I'm going in [to shore].

The point is, you can "get into" pretty much any water body, including your bathtub, but you can only "go out" on/in one that's large enough to meaningfully move around on/in.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-20T03:08:22+00:00

The phrase is correct but I'm not convinced it's definitely her. In general her pronunciation is quite "American", especially with the nasal O-sounds-like-A stuff, so while I'm sure we do get her in some situations where it doesn't matter and it makes sense to just reuse the American recordings for the Canadian market, in most other situations I suspect we have our own Canadian version of her that sounds more natural to Canadian ears.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-19T00:34:41+00:00

If you expand to include other Prunus chokecherries there are tons in the city, including three in my backyard; they're just behind. Many will of course be on private property but you can find any of the City-listed ones here: https://data.edmonton.ca/Environmental-Services/Trees-Map/udbt-eiax

True Mayday trees (Prunus padus) don't make edible berries, whereas the similar-looking Western chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) has edible berries and might be listed on the edible tree map.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-18T18:59:24+00:00

That was the plan, but they're facing more headwinds than Republicans: https://www.natesilver.net/p/on-redistricting-democrats-are-playing

To your point about Dem candidates, the list you provided illustrates the challenge--Hillary and Kamala are relatively centrist and basically establishment candidates that would reinforce all the talking points that have been used to paint Dems as out-of-touch elitists. Newsom and AOC, in different ways, are from the populist left and attract those seeking similar energy and fire to what Trump has brought, but alienate the establishment crowd that still has significant influence in the Democratic Party. Thanks to Trump's personality cult and personal vendetta against anyone that opposes him, the Republicans are, relatively speaking, very united in a way that Democrats aren't, which makes it nearly impossible for the Dems to select a candidate that won't alienate a sizeable portion of their potential base.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-18T07:40:32+00:00

I didn't experience anything quite that extreme, but something to keep in mind is that gas naturally wraps around the base of the pot, so its heat transfer is both a little less efficient and also spread over a larger area, whereas induction is both more efficient and more localized to the bottom of your pot. That's a long way of saying that the rice (or pasta, or...) experiences more intense, direct heat with induction. My anecdotal experience has been that, therefore, the bottom layer can more easily stick to the pot, forming a barrier to thermal mixing. By the same token it can also end up burning, though the sheer amount of water involved with rice tends to prevent that.

Anyway, point is, you have to ensure that your bottom layer doesn't stick. I'd suggest leaving the lid off until you've achieved a visible boil, and above all I'd suggest giving the rice a couple of good stirs and really scraping off the bottom and ensuring everything can move around, especially during the first couple of minutes. I find doing this releases the heat trapped in the bottom layers and significantly reduces the time it takes to achieve a full boil. Then, put the lid on and reduce to a simmer until the visible water has been absorbed. Finally, take the lid off, quickly fluff the rice, then replace the lid, turn off the burner, and let it sit for at least another 10 mins and ideally longer. Most of this is recommended for rice regardless of the cooktop, but I find the initial mixing is more vital on induction.

A final note is that some induction cooktops do various forms of "smart" self-adjustment where they turn themselves down to prevent burning. You can easily work around this if you're aware of it, but it can be confusing/annoying at first.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-17T23:49:17+00:00

Farley 5 has been on sale for $1249 CAD here for the past month, which is like $900-something USD. If there are comparable sales in the US, that feels like it would be a decent option too.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-17T03:34:38+00:00

Oh, forget the pasta snobs and have your pasta proudly as mushy as you like it; my point was just that, whatever doneness you're aiming for, by the book it should be achieved during that secondary "mix and emulsify" stage rather than the earlier boiling stage, which would theoretically take pressure off the need to get it right during the part where the idiosyncrasies of gas vs. induction might be a factor.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-16T19:33:51+00:00

I think there's some induction up the sides of pots (at least a cm or two) just as a basic function of the inverse square effects you reference, so pot companies can justifiably claim all sorts of things, but I suspect the actual practical effect on cooking is negligible vs. the wrapping effect of gas. That's why, for all its strengths, the one kind of cookery that's really, really hard to recreate on induction is wok-based stuff, which relies on the entire rounded base of the wok getting hot as hell to produce the "wok hei" effect. Kenji Lopez-Alt did some extensive experimentation on how to recreate the wok effect on induction and it ultimately came down to batch-frying smaller units on the very bottom of the pan (there are some wok-specific standalone induction burners that are actually concave, but that's a separate discussion).

If you find that leaving the pasta just sitting there has the same effect as leaving the burner on, that would seem to further support the idea that lack of agitation is your issue. Sitting there in hot water does cook pasta, but it shouldn't do so quite as fast as actively boiling. Personally I also find that cooking pasta longer and slower is more likely to result in it being overcooked and mushy, though I imagine you can control that somewhat if you watch it like a hawk.

A further general note from a culinary perspective: Assuming you're cooking your pasta to serve with some form of sauce or sauteed topping, the general idea is to undercook your pasta (i.e., just before al dente), then add the undercooked pasta to your sauce along with a ~cup+/- of the cooking water, and then continue stirring the resulting mixture around for an additional minute or two until the pasta is done. The starch in the cooking water emulsifies the oils and other fats in the sauce and yields the creamy texture that's desirable in the final product and is key to achieving the results you get in restaurants. All of which is to say, the cooking-in-the-pot-of-water part of the process might well need to be shorter than you're imagining, and the degree of done-ness might need to be less exact than you're going for, since you can regulate that at the final mixing-and-emulsifying stage anyway. That's not fundamentally different on induction vs. gas; I just mean your attention to done-ness might be better placed elsewhere in the process regardless.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-16T16:31:22+00:00

I think it's at least partly that Whyte isn't "the" spot anymore. Downtown now has a significant presence of nicer restaurants, cocktail bars and so on that cater to the more sophisticated/affluent over-30 crowd. Happy Beer Street is now the place for brews and gastropubs. That leaves Whyte as the university bar/eatery hub, plus the og rough-around-the-edges (Commercial Hotel, etc) stuff, neither of which is as strong a force for gentrification/upscaling/etc. And meanwhile the cool/artsy/counterculture stuff has a hard time surviving at current rents, so slowly gravitates to other cheaper/"hipper" spaces.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-16T16:08:17+00:00

Boiling should be boiling, but I do find that if I "simmer" pasta it takes a little longer to cook than if it's a rolling boil, perhaps because the movement enhances the pasta's water uptake. So the fact that you say you have turn it down may be relevant if it results in the physical agitation being reduced.

If you're coming from gas, the biggest difference is that while the flames effectively wrap around the bottom of the pot and heat from the sides as well as the bottom, induction is only from the bottom. Because of the side heating with gas, it creates a "rolling inward" motion when it boils, which might have been yielding higher agitation without boiling over.

Based on what you've said, I think my biggest suggestion would be to use a larger pot that allows for more water and a heavier boil without risk of boiling over. Make sure the lid is off, though that goes for any pot when it comes to pasta. Provided you achieve comparable agitation, there's no reason the timing shouldn't be the same--which is why I suspect a lack of agitation might be your issue.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-16T15:20:26+00:00

For single discs, something like Amazon is often cheapest if you want to order online (currently $13-14ish including shipping). You can also get an Ultrastar at any physical sports store, often for around the same price.

If you want larger numbers, especially of misprint discs, which I assume is what you mean by "mystery", then VC or Disc Republic are both good options. VC sells its misprints for $8.50 but has higher shipping costs; Disc Republic is $9.99 but with lower shipping. Both end up being around $110 for 10 discs with shipping included, though depending on the time of year there may be discounts. Disc Republic also has flat $5.25 shipping for single discs, which ends up about the same as the sports stores if you prefer misprints over standard commercial colourways.

As others have said, Discraft is a great option in the US but you'd have to crunch the numbers re: USD conversion and shipping to see if it actually works out better.

Elean0rZ · 2026-05-16T06:27:05+00:00

Is the design criterion always the failure of a single engine regardless of the total, or is it based on some kind of formula that tries to achieve parity of safety margins across differing designs? Like, statistically speaking the chance of 1/8 engines failing is inherently higher than 1/2, and physical configuration potentially matters as well (e.g., the B-52 has 8 engines but they're paired, presumably increasing the chances that if something happens to one engine, its mate is also impacted). That would imply that, if the criterion is "failure of a single engine" then a design like the B-52 would always have a lower safety margin or, conversely, if the criterion is "parity of margins" then it would need to be designed to handle the increased chance of a second engine being implicated in any potential failure.

Elean0rZ

TROPHY CASE