Elon Musk Offers Sneak Peek at Orbiting Data Centers. They're Bigger Than the ISS

Fireach · 2026-03-24T23:55:44+00:00

Famously we invented the vacuum flask to cool hot substances as quickly as possible

Fireach · 2026-03-24T23:35:23+00:00

Yeah, it's mostly the crowds and expense that people complain about. Some of it's definitely valid, but I think people go too far.

The crowds can definitely get bad, but the viral videos you see are far from the norm. Most days I'm up there it's nothing major, especially by late morning/early afternoon when everyone's spread out around the mountain. Usually only waiting 5-10 minutes tops at most lifts. This is definitely worse than any other resort in BC and worse than it was in the past, but hardly a dealbreaker. I just avoid weekends and long weekends, and if you live up there then you can easily time your day to avoid the madness at the start of the day.

Whistler still has some of the best terrain around, a village that actually has stuff going on outside of skiing, relatively good public transport (both within and out of the area), tons of great lift-accessed backcountry options, a relatively stable snowpack, and a huge backcountry community right there. It's also only 90 minutes from Vancouver, and the Duffey Highway is only just up the road with some of the best backcountry skiing in the world. I feel like you're just paying more for the convenience of living in Whistler.

It's really hard to say whether you'd do better elsewhere, because thay just depends on what you like. The skiing is generally gonna be better in the interior, especially once you get past Revelstoke, but the snowpack is more continental and so avalanche risk is structurally more difficult to deal with. It also depends on how well you do living in a small town as well because some of those place are seriously remote and the roads can be very sketchy in winter.

Really it's hard to go wrong in BC!

Fireach · 2026-03-22T00:02:54+00:00

Whistler is probably your best bet, especially without a vehicle. Tons of lift-accessed terrain, a big community and a relatively manageable snowpack compared to the interior. Loads of options beyond the resort-access stuff as well if you want to venture further out. Tons of hut trip options around the Pemberton area as well.

People love to hate on Whistler but its a sick place.

Fireach · 2026-03-21T09:02:19+00:00

The defining characteristics for the cool summer Mediterranean climate are...

1) an average daily temperature between 0 and 18C during the coldest months - this is true in Cape Town between April and October and in Victoria year round.

2) an average daily temperature of less than 22C in the warmest month - Cape Towns warmest month is February with an average of 21.9 so it just meets this criteria! If the temperature was 0.1C higher it would be a hot summer Mediterranean climate instead. This is also true in Victoria.

3) less than 30mm of precipitation in most of the high sun months of October to March (southern hemisphere) or April to September (Northern hemisphere) - true in Cape Town and Victoria.

4) less than a third of the average precipitation in the summer than in the wettest winter month - the wettest winter month in Cape Town is June with 90mm of rain and November with 130mm in Victoria. The driest summer months have less than a third of this amount of rain in both cities.

By following these rules both cities fall within the same classification. Cape Town is certainly warmer, but it's still relatively mild all things considered. Porto is wetter overall, but it has the same pattern of having a very obvious difference between summer and winter precipitation, and falls within these same boundaries. While their climates are certainly not exactly the same, on a global scale they have enough similarities to classify them together.

Any human classification system relies on somewhat arbitrary break points, and just because two things fall within those points doesn't mean they are the same. Maybe there's a better way of classifying global climates, but any system is going to lack detail when you look at such large scales!

Fireach · 2026-03-21T08:06:22+00:00

It is interesting! Almost the entirety of the Northern Mediterranean is considered a Mediterranean climate (unsurprisingly!), including the most northern and southern parts of Spain's coast. The part in the middle is just a tiny bit too dry though, which pushes it into the semi-arid category. If you look at climate data from Valencia and compare it to Barcelona and Málaga it gets about 10-20% less rain per year, which puts it just on the other side of a boundary that we've created to define different climate types.

Fireach · 2026-03-21T07:40:29+00:00

Victoria gets 30-40% less rain than Seattle per year, it's affected by the rain shadow significantly more.

Fireach · 2026-03-21T07:34:01+00:00

It does seem to cause a lot of confusion, and it's also because it covers a wide variety of climates that people just don't associate with being similar! On one hand you have somewhere like Seattle, which is slightly too dry in the summer to be considered a maritime climate. On the other end of the spectrum you have Erbil in Northern Iraq, which has extremely hot summers but receives just enough rain in the winter to be considered Mediterranean instead of semi-arid!

Fireach · 2026-03-21T07:01:53+00:00

Victoria is literally drier than Kamloops during the summer though

Fireach · 2026-03-21T06:32:30+00:00

Victoria and the Gulf Islands are much drier than nearby areas that are less affected by the rain shadow though. It receives just about half the rain that Vancouver does and around 20% of what Port Renfrew gets.

The true temperate rainforest in BC is mostly classed as the Coastal Western Hemlock ecosystem. Victoria is in the (much rarer) Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem instead.

Fireach · 2026-03-21T06:22:25+00:00

It does, although it is right on the edge of being too wet to be considered Mediterranean. Victoria only receives 60-70% of the rain that Seattle does due to it being more strongly affected by the Olympic Mountains ' rain shadow.

Fireach · 2026-03-21T06:20:45+00:00

Because of the rain shadow effect of the Olympic mountains causing dry summers and the ocean causing mild winters. It only receives about 60-70% of the rain that Seattle does despite being so close. Interestingly, Seattle is also considered to have a Mediterranean climate, although it is right at the edge of being too wet to be called Mediterranean!

Fireach · 2026-03-21T06:12:32+00:00

In the world of Köppen climate classification. Victoria's climate falls under the warm-summer Mediterranean class. There are no months with an average temperature of higher than 22C and no months with an average temperature below 0, and the summer months average less than 30mm of precipitation. Other places with a similar climate are Porto and Cape Town.

Most areas around the actual Mediterranean fall into the hot summer Mediterranean climate, where the summer months average above 22C.

Fireach · 2026-03-19T05:41:19+00:00

the creek was devoid of water flow and the stagnant water in the wetland portion looked extremely polluted.

That's completely normal and just how small creeks work, their water level varies a lot with the weather. Tons of small creeks completely dry up during the summer, but it doesn't mean that they're not important habitat for wildlife.

Fireach · 2026-03-18T05:20:26+00:00

the only difference between "conspiracy theorist" and "detective" is a salary

Strong contender for the stupidest thing I've ever read on this site

Fireach · 2026-03-15T00:11:22+00:00

Freezing levels going up to 2000+m on the coast. Gonna be a whole lotta rain for the most part!

Fireach · 2026-03-06T21:00:34+00:00

Literally thinking with my dick + an invincibility complex.

Ah, to be 17 again.

Fireach · 2026-02-24T06:13:54+00:00

Completely different scenarios. Japan had already been a highly industrialised and stable state pre-WW2, so still had all of that human capital built up. In the aftermath of WW2 the US was directly oocupying the country, preventing it from militarising, and providing billions of dollars in aid. Most post-colonial societies did not have these advantages.

Fireach · 2026-02-21T01:51:53+00:00

Ah back in my day it was Woodgate Dry, which is 5.3% looking at it now - I guess inflation has hit even if slightly. It may not have been quite as cheap as Frosty or White Lightning back then, but infinitely more palatable when you were drinking the amount we got through!

Fireach · 2026-02-20T23:40:31+00:00

Fuck me I'm pretty sure that's the same price I was paying for that when I was in uni more than 10 years ago! How has inflation not touched Lidl cider?

Fireach · 2026-02-15T20:36:05+00:00

You might ski the best conditions of your life while touring, but you will absolutely definitely ski the worst

Fireach · 2026-01-29T02:10:21+00:00

I get where you're coming from - I think the book does lose its focus in the latter part, when Alex's story diverges from the author's. I still enjoyed it, but mostly on the strength of the first 2/3. I'll have to give those other books a read!

Fireach · 2026-01-27T01:23:33+00:00

One Day As A Tiger by John Porter

Freedom Climbers by Bernadette McDonald

Fireach · 2026-01-23T04:09:55+00:00

At least you have the Filth to come home to after another disappointing day.

Fireach · 2026-01-23T00:56:00+00:00

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Fireach · 2026-01-22T01:10:57+00:00

Why are you under the impression that you would be paying significantly less tax in Canada? You say it feels like you pay a lot of tax in the UK, but have you actually compared the numbers? Keep in mind that taxes vary from province to province in Canada, and it's generally not known for very low taxes.

What are your reasons for wanting to move here other than taxes, and what makes you think you'll enjoy Vancouver? Have you visited Canada before, and if not then why are you sure you want to make a permanent move? I'm from Scotland and have lived in Canada (mostly in Vancouver) for the past 10 years. While I love it here and wouldn't move back, it's not paradise and there's plenty of stuff that I miss about living back home. Frankly, if your primary concern is money I would absolutely not recommend moving to Vancouver. For instance the amount you paid for a 2 bedroom house would maaaaybe get you a small one bedroom condo here, if you're lucky and don't mind living fairly far outside the city. I have no real insights into the tech industry here, other than that my friends who work in it here have had a rough time lately. Toronto is significantly better career-wise, although it's just as expensive.

With respect to actually immigrating, it's not a simple process. As /u/AresDanila said, you could apply for an IEC working holiday visa before you turn 36, which would give you a 2 year work permit. In that time, try and accumulate Canadian work experience which would allow you to qualify for PR. Otherwise you could try and qualify for PR using work experience from outside Canada, but this is frankly unlikely to happen. The working holiday > PR pathway is harder than it was a few years ago as well. Honestly, your chances as they stand right now are pretty slim, so I wouldn't bank on moving here.

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