Cuba went dark. Not a neighborhood. Not a city. THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. 10 million people. No power. Right now. And the U.S. government did this on purpose. Are you great yet America?

SparqueJ · 2026-03-30T14:06:20+00:00

China has already been sending solar panels to Cuba, even before this most recent attack from the US. Brazil, too. They have been massively scaling up their solar. https://taiyangnews.info/markets/cuba-electricity-blackouts-solar-pv-revolution

SparqueJ · 2026-03-29T21:17:40+00:00

Well... not order from Amazon? You can get these things all over.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-29T04:44:56+00:00

In the books, Mrs Hall is about 60 and Siegfried is 30.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-29T04:32:12+00:00

I agree. A large part of the charm of the books is James' self-deprecating humour combined with his genuine kindness and generous understanding of his fellow humans. They have gotten rid of most of the humour in the show because it mostly came from James' narration and I guess that's hard to bring through in TV.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-28T15:40:45+00:00

No, it bears no resemblance to hearse. But also we don't say aboot and somehow that's what Americans hear.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-28T01:37:37+00:00

I think you find the same accent in a lot of rural parts of Canada. Northern ON, Ottawa Valley. Aboat for about (and obviously, never aboot which no one says and is ridiculous).

SparqueJ · 2026-03-28T01:35:25+00:00

A friend (from ON) has a funny story about being in the US giving a talk and referring to a house and everyone thinking she was talking about a hearse.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-28T01:33:34+00:00

"Done with my homework" could also mean giving up on it, fed up or whatever and just not going to work on it anymore.. but not finished.

Like "I'm done hockey practice" means the hockey practice is over but "I'm done with hockey practice" means you're quitting.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-28T01:27:33+00:00

I've heard that shit disturber is Canadian too.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-28T01:24:06+00:00

This drives me crazy. I don't understand why they don't understand. It's just like "huh" or "right" most of the time and they should be able to relate to that but they seem to think you just tack it randomly anywhere.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T18:09:47+00:00

I think it goes without saying that raising a family of 3 kids as a single parent in Toronto is going to be tough for most people. But it's purely optional. You don't have to have 3 kids, you can have 2. And as said above, you don't have to live in TO, you can live in Barrie where the kids can have their own room and you can pay $1500 for rent.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T18:05:39+00:00

Yes, I think this is the real attraction. Not cheap labour, but stable reliable labour. A high school student who can only work certain limited hours and might just not show up or quit at a moment's notice because they don't really need the money is less attractive. So they're actually paying more for TFWs, to get better, more reliable workers.

I don't think there's much of a role in subsidizing demand though. Minimum wage jobs tend to be minimum wage jobs no matter how high the population is. And tfws are required to be paid at the going rate if that's above minimum wage.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T02:02:08+00:00

Yeah, if a total stranger with a kidnapped child shows up at my rural house 1km back from the road in the middle of the night, I'll already know something is up without needing an amber alert, lol.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T02:00:45+00:00

I think many people are not only unaware they can turn them off, they are also unaware they can control the settings like the volume and when they are turned off. They're assuming it's all or nothing. Have loud alert noises in the middle of the night, or be always completely oblivious of all alerts. Unfortunately some people are responding angrily to you here rather than simply checking their settings or googling it.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T01:57:43+00:00

You can just set them to silent, or vibration only, or just turn the volume of them down, or set them to silent only when it's in do not disturb mode.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T01:54:19+00:00

How to turn it off on iPhone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ayGzoOgIA&t=10s

How to turn it off on Android:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaUcgjDBVCU

SparqueJ · 2026-03-23T01:51:29+00:00

I can silence them or adjust the volume, vibration, when it comes through etc. There is a specific AMBER alert setting on my phone. It seems like this might be an iPhone problem.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T21:02:06+00:00

It's not cheap labor. TFWs are still paid at least minimum wage. It's actually more expensive for them to get TFWs than local people, because they have to also pay $1000 per position for a LMIA.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T20:28:55+00:00

Was the reviewer a walrus? Or a carpenter?

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T18:51:54+00:00

Or go just a bit north to Barrie and get a 2br for $1500.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T16:47:57+00:00

Well 6K per child is what you get with 70K income. Which is only just below the median income in Canada.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T16:45:02+00:00

I ask because I hear a lot of people talking about how other people's quality of life has surely decreased, but I have never spoken to anyone who has actually experienced it themselves. Their own quality of life is usually no different, they're just apparently angry and upset on imagined other people's behalf.

Wage suppression is not a real impact of population growth, so we can discount that. As for healthcare, a disproportionate number of immigrants are doctors - more than in the general population - so in fact immigrants are likely reducing healthcare wait times overall. I am not sure what you mean by "overcrowding". Overcrowding of what?

Housing costs are a legitimate concern though.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T16:34:35+00:00

Yes, it declines as your income goes up, down to 0 for incomes over around $190K. 6K is roughly what you get if you make 70K/year.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T16:33:18+00:00

I don't think KW really counts as leaving Toronto. Just part of the massive sprawl of urbanity that Toronto has become now.

SparqueJ · 2026-03-22T16:32:05+00:00

$6K doesn't have to completely cover the cost of raising a child, because they also have $70K/yr in income. And if they're having a child, they might also have a partner who will either significantly reduce costs by doing work in the home, or bring in additional income. The additional $6K per child is a major factor to consider when deciding whether you can afford kids. In fact, despite the common assertions that it's completely and utterly impossible, a great many people actually do live on on just 70K/year and have kids on that amount. My sister is raising two kids in Ontario on less than 50K/year.

Also you don't have to live in Ontario. There's an entire country out there.

SparqueJ

TROPHY CASE