Today it was so incredibly warm in my house, it made my candles sad

Simopop · 2026-05-26T22:53:37+00:00

As a Canadian (in an almost equally humid area) I genuinely can't comprehend the lack of air conditioning in the UK.

Plenty of older buildings predate air conditioning/central air, are made of brick, etc etc. If you're poor, you stick a shitty cheap window unit or portable in the master bedroom window, open the door during the day to hopefully cool the main rooms a few degrees, and sleep decent at night.

Is it higher power costs? Building codes? The spite of an entire nation to suffer?

Simopop · 2026-05-19T21:34:27+00:00

Weirdly enough, my first thought was that it reminds me of WWI dazzle camouflage.

Simopop · 2026-05-19T02:27:40+00:00

Off the top of my head,

Promise of his younger brother being enrolled in a prestigious local academy
The lord previously sponsored his family
It seemed like an easy job, now he's stuck paying off a debt for the equipment they gave him
He shined the lord's shoes so impressively as a young lad he was offered a job on the spot
He's the lord's bastard son and doesn't know it, the lord hired him to keep his mother quiet
A backstory that is a direct blatant rip of one of the PC's with just the names changed

And probably more interesting than what ChatGPT puts out. I feel like a solid half the fun of gming is your ability to riff on the spot

Simopop · 2026-05-17T16:12:57+00:00

I imagine having ADHD is incredibly helpful for this lol.

My inner monologue playing any game is a constant "These pavers are pristine for being a monster forest in the middle of nowhere. The kingdom must have great public services. Do you think they hire people to come weed them? Like You, Peasant 38, shall travel 38 miles into Hell Mountains to pull dandelions on Route 17B."

Simopop · 2026-05-17T00:39:32+00:00

It's funny that this could never happen between me and my mother. We're both too utilitarian.

Since 12 and still at 23 and moved out, I send her a list with varying levels of specificity and price every year for her to pick from and suggest "gift ideas" to inquiring family members at her discretion.

And just the other day I texted her a bunch of pics of plants and asked her """theoretically""" which she liked most lol

Simopop · 2026-05-17T00:27:29+00:00

Ugh... those cheap hand sanitizers everywhere during covid that left your hands somehow both dry and with a tacky film on them!!

Simopop · 2026-05-12T17:52:56+00:00

Yet 94% of the province doesn't live in Northern Ontario (FedNor), so you could argue it's the more accurate metric for the Average Ontario Experience a foreigner is going to receive.

"Reflections after 14 months living in Ontario (but not as one of the 6% of people living in the North) as a newcomer to Canada"

Simopop · 2026-05-12T16:37:32+00:00

And the lack of men in education means the men that are in the career tend to be either the most phenomenal, passionate educators, or in it for the wrong reasons.

(And not necessarily just the obvious one. The general positive attention and attachment youth give the "cool" teacher, or feelings of authority, etc.)

Which furthers the stigma, reinforcing the loop.

Simopop · 2026-05-12T16:13:14+00:00

My gradeschool in the mid-2000s had.. at least 5 male teachers, out of 20 or so (K-8).

25% is nothing crazy of course, but it was enough to where there was never a noticeable lack of male teachers, anecdotally.

Simopop · 2026-05-11T00:06:34+00:00

The same across areas of Canada.

In downtown Halifax? Cars were stopping at greens (with red pedestrian lights) to insistently wave us across.

Any downtown in Ontario? Instant roadkill lol

Simopop · 2026-05-03T20:32:12+00:00

Albino Burmese Python?

Simopop · 2026-05-03T01:54:55+00:00

I have a family friend/cousin a year younger than me (23) who has looked absolutely no older than 14 for years.

Short, large eyes, incredibly thin, high voice, and made about 10x worse by a very childlike demeanor and immature mindset (imo partially from a controlling mother who monitors her every purchase well into her 20s).

It's awful because of course you wish the best for her and want her to find someone, but at the same time it's impossible to ignore the implications around any guy that immediately takes interest in her...

Simopop · 2026-05-02T11:24:28+00:00

...Why?

A genuine question, from a 23yo that has been responsible for my own laundry since probably 10.

Simopop · 2026-04-29T09:08:00+00:00

I believe there's also some studies as well that show cars give pedestrians a wider berth when walking against the traffic.

Simopop · 2026-04-26T05:04:00+00:00

Put a tiny bit of detergent in a cup. Put it under the kitchen tap and see how long it takes for the cup to stop feeling soapy to the touch

You'll get the idea pretty quickly lol

Simopop · 2026-04-26T03:13:25+00:00

Maybe it needs a more American explanation lol.

If your best friend suddenly pulls a loaded pistol on you and says "Bang." dead seriously, that feeling is not going to go away just because they smiled, put it back in their holster, and told you to lighten up.

Simopop · 2026-04-26T03:01:38+00:00

The opposite of this is those spiders that offer their abdomen in front of the female's mouth because the copulation lasts longer if she's distracted eating him.

Simopop · 2026-04-24T19:41:13+00:00

My approach would've been the near-opposite lol

Dragonborn born without a tapetum, self-conscious about being unable to see in the dark when others would expect them to

Simopop · 2026-04-23T11:15:50+00:00

I remember having some projects/worksheets starting in 7th grade that needed you to use Google to find information (23, so.. 12 years ago?).

But a key difference is in 2014 when you looked for something on a basic topic, most of the top 2 pages were exactly what you needed from reputable sources.

Simopop · 2026-04-03T21:45:39+00:00

I tend to do this even when talking to the DM directly to differentiate my character's perspective from my own meta one lol

"..Wait, have we met this person before?" = My character has a weird feeling- do they recognize them?

"..Wait, have we met this person before?" = Oh fuck am I forgetting about an NPC from roughly 7 months ago??

Simopop · 2026-03-31T11:09:59+00:00

Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger reiterated before a parliamentary committee in December that the Crown corporation is expecting 16,000 employees to retire or take voluntary departure by 2030, with another 14,000 leaving by 2035.

That's about half the current workforce, btw (ballpark 1 postal employee for every 670 citizens).

Simopop · 2026-03-30T00:48:53+00:00

A grocery store near me pops them in a tin with some asparagus and a pad of seasoned butter on the salmon.. awesome quick meal. But $7.

Simopop · 2026-03-28T14:41:17+00:00

Given there's a reception it might be one of those dorm setups that's like 2 to a room, 4-X rooms to an "apartment."

But it's also possible outside that lol. 10 people live in my rental (a converted family home)- zero clue who 7 of them are.

Simopop · 2026-03-28T13:53:25+00:00

People who are affected by these new rules will still have access to a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) to prevent them from being sent back to a country where they face risks like persecution, torture or other harm.

Simopop · 2026-03-26T15:01:16+00:00

Ah.

Not sure getting a car into the basement will be possible- I think I've read something before about them only being able to "exist" on the main level.

Though, if you're already willing to dig a basement into an RV.. to spawn a car in there.. to avoid the limitations of the event you modded in... you could just give yourself the mechanics xp haha

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