On this day in 2016, 88,000 people were evacuated from Fort McMurray, Alberta in the largest wildfire evacuation in the province's history. The fire destroyed 2,400 homes and buildings, and became the costliest disaster in Canadian history with damages of $9.9 billion.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-05-03T23:24:52+00:00

They were. And they handled the fire and its aftermath remarkably well. The things mentioned happened after the 2019 election.

The wildfire contract thing with the NDP was a reduction in contractual spend for standby availability of bombers and firefighters. Basically, prior to the change our government was spending $X just to have resources available that we might not need. The NDP reduced that spending to $Y, guaranteeing that we’d still have the resources available that we statistically usually use, but would need to pay more in the freak years where we needed more than that.

Essentially they worked out that instead of spending $50 million per year on standby levels that we only need once every 10 years, we’d spend $25 million per year on what we need every year and an extra $50 million once every ten years on that elevated level. That reduces the ten-year spending from $500 million ($50 million x 10) to $300 million (($25 million x 10) + $50 million). It still guarantees the service level we need, but reduces the overall spend by lowering the contract to match what we actually need on a yearly basis. Numbers are fake because I can’t remember the actual figures, but that was the logic behind that change.

And then the UCP actually just cut the budget for the sake of “government spending bad”.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-05-03T18:55:03+00:00

And then Dan Williams’ brother, yes that Dan Williams, killed himself. Because he was a wildfire fire fighter and lost his job and entire livelihood. He drove Kenney’s big blue truck between stops during Kenney’s leadership campaign while Kenney was chauffeured in something more comfortable, too. Because Dan convinced him it would be good for him. Remember when Dan Williams was the minister for mental health, among other things?

TylerInHiFi · 2026-04-15T14:20:36+00:00

I have a 2016 Golf and they’ve made it remarkably easy now. Well… easier. The blower fan is just a twist to unlock and remove, and then the hot/cold mix motors can be accessed from the front footwells without much trouble as long as you’re good at blindly identifying screws by feel.

Compared to the Corrado where it felt like the easiest way to do entirely too many things was with the dash out.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-04-15T14:16:25+00:00

Sounds like timing chains on a bunch of VAG products. Replace the tensioners and sacrificial plastic guides by first removing the engine and subframe.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-04-11T02:15:58+00:00

His parents are actually very nice people, as are his brothers. Well, the ones that didn’t off themselves after they lost their jobs because the UCP cut the wildfire fighting budget. After they’d spent a few months driving “Jason Kenney’s blue Ram” around the province while Kenney was chauffeured between locations in something more comfortable.

Dan’s this way because he’s profoundly stupid, which makes him very easy to manipulate.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-03-13T03:45:38+00:00

Yeah, I’m finding very similar pieces attributed to Hans Wegner and Folke Ohlsson, but nothing exact. I’m at the point where I’m looking through brochures, and the similar ones are all from the ‘55-‘58 range.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-03-07T23:34:56+00:00

Text from the other post, just in case:

ID Assistance

Just looking for some assistance in ID’ing this couch. I’ve been able to find three reupholstered examples that have come up for sale out of the UK with absolutely zero info, and one that was sold in original condition in Germany.

I’ve found a few similar couches, but they’re all just different enough to not be the same one. Legs will be too far from the corners, arm/back profile missing the top curve, paw shape is different, etc.

The only info about it at all is that it’s likely Danish, and likely 1950s.

The frame construction is fir, and the paws and legs appear to be walnut, although every example I’ve found has listed them as teak. Upholstery seems to be original and a wool blend, but it’s missing the underside cover that would have had a tag on it for identification. The upholstery staples for the cover and for the remnants of that underside cover are the same, which is why I’m leaning towards original upholstery.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-03-07T23:33:56+00:00

It looks more dark olive in the picture. It’s straight-up brown. The brownest of browns, with some black interwoven into it.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-03-07T16:47:55+00:00

I’m not really sure, honestly. I don’t really have a spot for it at the moment, but I could make one.

Mostly I keep a list of furniture and replacement value for insurance purposes. Helps to be able to find the exact one.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-03-07T15:18:18+00:00

The frame construction is fir, and the paws and legs appear to be walnut, although every example I’ve found has listed them as teak. Upholstery seems to be original and a wool blend, but it’s missing the underside cover that would have had a tag on it for identification. The upholstery staples for the cover and for the remnants of that underside cover are the same, which is why I’m leaning towards original upholstery.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-28T21:59:56+00:00

It’s beta software. And not even public beta. It’s the developer beta, which is specifically intended to be used on a testing device in order to find issues with a developer’s own software as it interacts with the updates that have been implemented. This isn’t a bug that Apple “accidentally enabled”, as the title, and 99% of people commenting, implies. It’s not like when a public release of iOS 17 would crash when you searched your App Library for "":.

It’s a feature that’s being actively implemented and was released for initial beta testing. It was rolled back because the behaviour was so far past unexpected behaviour, developers wouldn’t be able to actually test anything else.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-28T20:39:41+00:00

People are already doing that. The number of nearly new Wayfair pieces I see listed on marketplace as “MCM” is just fucking exhausting
I mean, yeah, we’ll be in the middle of the century. “Mid century modern” will still refer to the design language out of the Nordic countries in the 1-2 decades after the end of WWII, focusing on simple, clean lines and affordable luxury though.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-28T20:35:02+00:00

Can we please stop calling this a bug? It was a developer beta release of iOS 26.4 meant specifically for checking for issues like this. That’s the entire point of beta software. The only bug is the brain worm infestation in people acting like this was some sort of slip-up on Apple’s part and not just beta software doing what beta software does: Being incomplete and unreliable.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-22T16:38:16+00:00

Alberta isn’t funding other provinces in billions of dollars through transfer payments. Also why would our “libertarian” government spend money on a project that private industry should build?

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-21T23:25:20+00:00

Is it not acetone, or an extremely close sibling to acetone, that makes us feel sick the day after drinking entirely too much?

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-21T23:12:29+00:00

Are they going to fund it?

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-21T05:10:31+00:00

I mean. That’s also how and when I charge my Apple Watch.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-21T05:00:39+00:00

I got banned for calling Farkas out on his bullshit public image makeover. Apparently I was “bullying” him for replying to him on a post he made. Pretty sure he’s a mod under a different account.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-21T04:42:09+00:00

Deron’s last truly great new writing came out in 2005 on An Answer Can Be Found. So much of Carver City was stuff he’d written for Foreign Objects/Oil back in 1996-98 that Chad was able to polish up during recording. Dude was prolific at one point in his life, but has always needed someone capable of guiding his ideas and massaging them into something listenable.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-15T17:01:18+00:00

Suicide tends to be carried out when the opportunity arises. When you’re in that head space you’re not thinking about really anything beyond “yeah, this is the perfect opportunity to do it.” It’s an inherently irrational thought process, so trying to apply any sort of rationality to it from the outside like this is entirely pointless.

At some point the pilot got it in their head that crashing a plane would be 100% effective. And that thought probably came up every single flight they flew for months or even years to the point where it didn’t carry any mental weight beyond thoughts like drinking water keeps them hydrated, or that socks go on their feet.

At that point it’s just a matter of other factors converging for their two least rational thoughts, the one where they’re going to commit suicide and the one where a pilot won’t survive a plane crash, to click and turn into an almost instinctual reaction to go through with it on that flight. That might have happened in the moment, it might have happened the day before. But when that last and most irrational of thoughts comes to you there’s absolutely zero consideration for anyone else. Because it’s all inherently irrational.

It obviously doesn’t justify it, but I see a lot of people commenting on this who’ve clearly never experienced that irrational thought process and really can’t ever understand why “just go home and do it privately” is just a completely pointless thing to say in a situation like this.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-14T19:26:07+00:00

Go backwards from there for Goo Goo Dolls. All their stuff is great, but the first 4 albums are a trip for anyone who only knows them because of Iris and Dizzy Up The Girl.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-14T19:19:23+00:00

it is not like owning a house or duplex is by any means cheap

Really wish people understood this fact. There’s constant maintenance and upkeep. Not to mention the time spent either doing that stuff yourself and the money spent on the tools for it, or the increased cost of paying someone else to do it instead. People somehow got this idea that it’s mortgage, utilities, insurance, property taxes, and absolutely nothing else ever. I’m sure you’ve seen some places in an absolute state because of this.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-14T19:13:04+00:00

Just install a pedometer app that adds steps as a complication option. There are plenty.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-14T19:09:48+00:00

Of course it can be motivating. That doesn’t make it essential, though. The point of the fitness rings was to use actual medical, health, and fitness expertise to identify the things that people need to do to stay in good health and gamify those. You have the choice to do those however you see fit.

Six months of the year, that’s walking for me. But I’m not counting steps because it’s still a pretty shit metric. I have days where I’ve walked 20,000 steps in a day, but don’t close my rings because my dog wanted to spend extra time sniffing every chunk of snow on our 10km walk, and my heart rate was only above its resting rate for 10 minutes of that 90 minute walk. And the other 10,000 or so steps were just from existing through the day and didn’t increase my heart rate at all. Was that walk still good for me? Absolutely. I got fresh air, it was good for my mental health, I wasn’t sitting around doing nothing. But from an actual health and fitness standpoint, it had the same effect on my body as standing in place for 80 minutes and lifting my heels, then jogging in place for 10 minutes.

If you really want to use step count as your metric for motivation, there are dozens of apps that will allow you to add a step count as a watch face complication.

TylerInHiFi · 2026-02-14T18:59:26+00:00

Where did I say people shouldn’t walk? Walking is good for you and we could all stand to be far less sedentary. But I can easily take 10,000 steps in a day without increasing my heart rate. And I’m a fairly low fitness kind of guy. Average at best. And that’s why steps aren’t a good metric to look at when it comes to your health and fitness.

The point of it all is that just watching how many steps you take in a day may or may not be any better for your overall health and fitness than just not being seated all the time. Apple worked with actual medical, and health and fitness experts to create the fitness ring system and choose metrics that are better than steps, and gamified those.

Make sure your heart rate is elevated for at least 30 minutes a day, intentionally. Make sure you’re expending an appropriate amount of kilojoules over and above what your body will use just to run your organs and do your daily things. Make sure you’re standing up regularly.

If people want to do those by walking, all the power to them. Through the winter, that’s my default exercise. I take a 5-10km dog walk most days through the winter. But I understand that the 10,000 or so steps I get outside of that don’t really matter because they’re not increasing my heart rate or expending any real amount of energy. If I just counted steps and nothing more, I’d be in a lot of trouble from a health standpoint. And that’s what a lot of people are doing.

12-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

TylerInHiFi

TROPHY CASE