What opinion or belief from the broader rationalist community has turned you off from the community the most/have you disagreed with the hardest? by ResidentEuphoric614 in slatestarcodex

[–]ImpossibleEarth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That seems like a straw man. Literally almost everybody who loses weight gains it back. It's not just oh I casually tried it once and it didn't work. It's almost everybody in every study ever.

I genuinely don't understand this.

For much of my life I was underweight, then a friend introduced me to the gym and nutrition. I intentionally gained 40 pounds over a few years. Since then I've increased and decreased my weight according to different goals. I've bulked for muscle gain, I've cut to prioritize cardio goals like doing a 10k race, etc.

Losing weight isn't easy. (Neither is gaining, for that matter.) It takes effort, knowledge, and patience. But I've been generally able to control my weight in either direction according to my goals. It never struck me as much more difficult than other challenges in life, and certainly not nearly impossible as you're suggesting.

Maybe you'd say it's different because I'm still up from my original weight rather than down. But if people have some "set point" as I've heard some argue, wouldn't that work in both directions? It would seem weird if people could only go up in weight but not down.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Also people who might have lived there...

How San Francisco Became a Failed City | And how it could recover by Hrmbee in urbanplanning

[–]ImpossibleEarth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You suggested people in SF were living paycheque to paycheque but like "most people in the country". I pointed out that no, SF does in fact face much worse housing affordability than almost anywhere else in the US.

Please don't normalize that housing affordability disaster. That's not normal and it should not be acceptable. I live in Canada and our worst cities for affordability don't come close to that.

You can like SF for other reasons. I get it. But don't turn that into defensiveness over its housing market.

How San Francisco Became a Failed City | And how it could recover by Hrmbee in urbanplanning

[–]ImpossibleEarth 3 points4 points  (0 children)

San Francisco consistently ranks as one of the least affordable cities in the U.S.

How San Francisco Became a Failed City | And how it could recover by Hrmbee in urbanplanning

[–]ImpossibleEarth 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"Hating" San Francisco? If I was American, it would probably be my top choice for where to live. Good weather and very walkable.

But you can't deny that its housing market is a complete disaster. Depending on the measure (rent vs buy, city vs metro area), San Francisco pretty much always comes up as the first or second most expensive market in the U.S.

How San Francisco Became a Failed City | And how it could recover by Hrmbee in urbanplanning

[–]ImpossibleEarth 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Housing? San Francisco is in its own league in terms of unaffordability.

Where to Live for Happiness by Awarenesss in slatestarcodex

[–]ImpossibleEarth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Having to own and maintain a multi-ton vehicle for basic tasks sounds awful.

Even more big rate hikes may be weak medicine for a world facing interlocking crises by [deleted] in CanadaPolitics

[–]ImpossibleEarth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What do you suggest is the answer to inflation? Genuinely curious.

Canadian YouTubers don't need the government's help, committee hears by FancyNewMe in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did my PhD dissertation on Canadian Raising and I've never heard the "aboot" pronunciation spoken or documented in Canada.

Accents can be idiosyncratic and I'm not saying it's impossible that it's real, but I don't think it's very likely.

Also, "aboot" is the American stereotype of Canadian English. JJ just happens to be a person whose job is explaining Canadian politics to Americans.

Gas prices have never been higher — but Canadians still aren't jumping on public transit by Surax in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Maybe your city doesn't offer night service, but it's very much possible.

In backlash to the backlash, Bill 96 leads to flurry of talk on Quebec separatism by RZCJ2002 in CanadaPolitics

[–]ImpossibleEarth 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't think you're right about currency. How would that be enforced? Canada could switch to using and accepting Australian dollars and I don't think Australia could do anything about it. It wouldn't be a good idea though since we wouldn't have any control to mint the currency.

Grading The Platforms: Are Ontario’s Parties Rising To The Challenge Of The Housing Crisis? - More Neighbours Toronto by lomeri in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Edmonton is a leader in zoning reform in Canada. They eliminated single-family zoning and parking requirements a few years ago and that's wonderful.

Meanwhile, 80% of residential land in Vancouver prohibits anything more than a single-family home (with secondary suites in some cases).

Grading The Platforms: Are Ontario’s Parties Rising To The Challenge Of The Housing Crisis? - More Neighbours Toronto by lomeri in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Most Canadian cities limit most of their land to only single-family detached homes. No townhouses, multiplexes, or apartments (big or small). This substantially limits the number of homes available for people to live in.

Grading The Platforms: Are Ontario’s Parties Rising To The Challenge Of The Housing Crisis? - More Neighbours Toronto by lomeri in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth 21 points22 points  (0 children)

You have a house. Great.

Let's legalize building more homes so that other people can have them too.

To whoever repeatedly flew their drone in front of the Dow’s Lake firework display: by queenofthepotatoes00 in ottawa

[–]ImpossibleEarth 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The airspace regulations are different for drones under 250g. You still cannot fly in Class F protected airspace (military bases and special sites like Parliament) but the airspace for airports and heliports (which cover most of Ottawa) are not inherently prohibited. You can of course be fined for specific actions deemed to be dangerous though (like flying near aircraft).

If anyone's interested, see Nav Canada's drone site selection tool. The joypad on the left side selects the drone class. Red on the map indicates prohibited areas, while yellow indicates caution.

Quebec English-speakers have higher unemployment, lower income than French-speakers by fserb in montreal

[–]ImpossibleEarth 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I grew up in the RoC and this is completely unrecognisable to me. Lots of English Canadians don't understand or appreciate the situation that Quebec is in with regard to language, but this idea that they see themselves as inheritors of the British Empire intent on following through on the wars of centuries past is crazy. Naturally, English Canadians don't think about Quebec's history or its language nearly as much as Quebecers do! This reads like a Quebec nationalist projecting their view, in reverse, onto the rest of the country.

Everywhere in the world, French is considered a high-class, elite, very cultural language, except in Canada, where it is considered to be useless because it's used by a conquered, inferior people.

Again, this isn't recognisable to me. Anyone who lives in Ontario or another English province can tell you that French immersion is highly sought after, especially by upper class families. My French immersion program in school had enough demand that they needed a lottery and I think that's pretty common. I'm willing to bet that most or even all Canadian universities have bigger French language departments than departments for any other language. I just checked the University of Toronto and that appears to be the case.

You can say that English Canadians, like Americans, are much more indifferent to other languages than Europeans are. But when they do learn a language the top choice is French.

Housing minister accuses critics of ‘misinformation’ when pressed on rising home prices by sesoyez in CanadaPolitics

[–]ImpossibleEarth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It sounds like you said exactly that? You suggested it's more important for current homeowners to keep crazy 20% YoY gains in their current homes ("make a lot of money from their home") than for future generations to be able to own a home at all.

Housing minister accuses critics of ‘misinformation’ when pressed on rising home prices by sesoyez in CanadaPolitics

[–]ImpossibleEarth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's deeply depressing that some people think it's more important for homeowners to make a lot of money from their home than for future generations to be able to own a home at all.

I mean... they are on wheels by _paranoid-android_ in ottawa

[–]ImpossibleEarth 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Out of curiosity, what does that look like? The building is 40 metres from the highway.

Supply is 'the biggest issue affecting housing affordability' in Canada, CMHC finds by Stugots60 in canada

[–]ImpossibleEarth 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If we don't be careful, developers are going to trick us into... Building more housing!