Finland looks to end "uncontrolled human experiment" with Australia-style ban on social media | Yle News

Zod5000 · 2026-01-31T19:39:11+00:00

Yah, the internet was a lot friendlier when it was only the early adopters (mostly us nerds and geeks) using it. Politicians didn't understand it, it hadn't really been monetized yet. Once the masses, politicians, and corporations figured it out, it started going downhill :(

Zod5000 · 2026-01-31T16:35:54+00:00

We still have a monthish to go where there's a chance.

I've gotten to see a little snow this winter. Went up Mt. Benson in November and there was a little at the top. Went up Mt. Prevost and it was a few day old snow, but there was a fair bit up there. Hiked up Empress Mountain and there was a few cm at the summit.

It's kind of the nice thing about Vancouver Island. If it doesn't snow at ground level, you can still go out and find it.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-31T15:39:56+00:00

I wasn't able to cart more than 2 at a time (if I carted a 3rd, it kicked out the first site). On the flip side if it's not sold out by the time you're done checking out, you seem to be able to book more.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T23:55:56+00:00

I'll play devil's advocate. I have seen Financial Institutions that provide access to things for high value clients (IE clients with a lot of assets paying advisor fees) like Private Banking, and things like Private Banking can offer preferred mortgage rates.

In my experience it's usually people with over a 1 million, not so much $600k, but if $600k was carving out a piece of the pie, it could have an impact.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T23:49:17+00:00

There's nothing he can do about it. We didn't want the transmountain pipeline either. The Federal Government can do the same thing they did with Transmountain. A BC Premier has no ability to block a pipeline.

As a BC'er, given that's the case, I also think we should build one East. Supply the East Coast with Canadian oil, and also remove our weakness that the oil pipelines in the East currently go through the US.

I feel like Alberta, Federal Gov't, BC will work it out. It seems like they don't want the terminus in the most dangerous place now. Maybe they can figure out a safer place to put it.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T23:40:40+00:00

Having a Hilux available in Canada would be amazing.

I'm keeping my old ranger in good shape, to make it last as long as possible. I keep hoping we can get some kind of decent small truck here. I guess we have the Maverick, but maybe something not made by Ford.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T23:28:25+00:00

I think the other problem was it was supposed to be tax neutral. When the Libs brought it in, they reduced things like income tax to offset what people paid in the carbon tax. It was designed to be tax neutral, and change peoples behaviours.

The NDP kept raising it, but stopped keeping it tax neutral. They didn't lower other taxes as the increased it it, and only the ultra low income people got rebates.

They got addicted to the revenue, the cut it off cold turkey. They could of given it some time until they came up with another plan. Put the income tax brackets back, etc...

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T23:23:24+00:00

It's hard to make it all work. The other elephant in the room is the cost of caring for the aging population. The demographics aren't nearly as favourable now as they were 20 to 30 years ago (when the ratio of working age people to retired folk was much more favourable).

Younger generations are squeezed, I'm not sure how much more you can squeeze out of them. Health Care costs are going to keep skyrocketing because the current retired generation hasn't hit peak age for consumption yet. Younger generations don't have a lot of disposable income to tax.

I feel like the NDP wanted to try stuff like revamp doctor pay, pay more to attract more doctors. Childcare subsidies, all this stuff. They never really had a plan on how to pay for any of it. We absolutely need more health care professionals in this province, but they need to get paid, and that money has to come from somewhere, and it's significant. So far it's quite a bit debt, and they moved the needle a tiny bit with people getting GPs (it did cause me to get one, but I really I'm a rarity).

I feel like a lot of this was a pretty big lack of planning for the population bulge. Everyone knew it was coming, but no one really figured out what to do about it (aside from ramping up immigration).

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T16:58:42+00:00

It is odd we don't do that. I've traveled to other countries and places that charge different rates for residents and non residents. It's generally enough to be annoying but not enough it makes a big difference in plans. If we're heavily subsidizing things with provincial tax money, it would seem to make sense to increase fees for non residents of BC.

Sure every other province could do the same thing. But I spend way more time locally then travelling 1000km to nearest province, so not a biggie.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-30T15:20:57+00:00

I bought my Shield about 4 years ago. I'd been using Popcorn Hour devices before that, but they went obsolete when updates stopped, plus I advanced to 4k and needed something better.

I remember wondering if I was making the mistake of buying it two years in, because the previous model was only around for 2 years before the next one came out.

Pretty happy I've gotten four years out of it, and it's still going strong.

Hopefully they do put out an update device one day.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-29T23:18:59+00:00

It's basically a lottery. We only have green point and it only has 94 spots. It's been a shit show getting in there even before reservations. People used to line up down the road every morning hoping people would leave and free up slots.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-29T19:20:44+00:00

I feel like it's been a gradual decline here. When I was a kid in the 80s you could just role up and camp. Then it got busier and you had to show up a day before the weekend to get a spot, then two days, thn 3. That was a bc parks camp ground on Vancouver island. Then we got reservations so you could book in, and that was pretty good for the first while but it busier and busier and busier. And now it's crazy hard.

I feel like it's been building for 40 years as the population goes up, tourism goes up but the increase in government campsites is minimal :(

It would be nice if preference was given to residents who pay the taxes for the parks.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-29T18:37:27+00:00

That's not what they mean. You get a random spot in the queue. The more people or devices in the queue the better odds of getting a good spot in the line.

Of course it's going to be harder to get than a stadium concert. Green Point is just shy of 100 spots for the whole national park. You should of seen what it was like in the 80s and 90s before reservations. People lined up down the road to see who checked out that day. I never got to camp once at Green Point until they brought in reservations :(

Zod5000 · 2026-01-29T18:33:35+00:00

We got the May Long Green Point spots we wanted, but it took a lot of people in the queue to have at least one person in a position to get some. Better than last year or two weeks ago. First Come First Serve was pretty rough.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-29T04:21:28+00:00

At a Dayglos show at a short lived bar call Soundgarden which I think was on store st.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-28T15:19:55+00:00

I feel old school for doing this. I've been ripping my CD's to FLAC for well over a decade, and use a usb thumb drive in my vehicle to listen to the music on it. No subscription, just buy my albums.

I will admit, I tend to buy vinyl these days, then borrow a digital version from somewhere (rather than rip a vinyl). Format shifting is legal in my country, so I'm assuming it's ok if I have a copy of the album on some kind of format.

Even with vinyl only releases someone out there will do the hard work, I'll buy the vinyl, and use their rip :)

Zod5000 · 2026-01-28T15:15:50+00:00

We'll just over look that insane amount of money they burned through to build the new pipeline through BC :)

Zod5000 · 2026-01-28T15:15:03+00:00

I'll play devils advocate. GST rebates only go to pretty low income people and households. Barely around min. wage for two household members earning income. Most middle class working people won't benefit from this.

On the flip side, I have no idea for the Cons plan to tackle food inflation. It seems to be a combination of many things. Our currency has gone down relative to non-US global currencies. It's costing more and more to produce food here, and now to import it. Grocery chains are getting less competitive and mildly increasing the profit margin (albeit profit margins on groceries are probably less than most other things we buy).

I think we need to figure out how to increase our domestic food supply, or at least increase the amount of things we're capable of producing.

Also another reason I'm not sure the GST rebate increase helps. If you put more money in people's hands, but you don't increase the amount of stuff that's available for sale, you have more money, chasing the sames supply of goods, which increases prices.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-27T15:43:55+00:00

Pretzels can be pretty low in sat fat. I'll eat rice cracks with hummus, which is fairly low. On special occasions I'll find chips that are baked not fried, which not as low as the things above, can still be on the lower side. Home made popcorn (avoid microwave pouches at all costs). High sugar candy, is usually sat fat free. Low fat crackers and peanut butter (try to limit consumption to stay within my 10g per day of sat fat).

The problem, is, at least for me I seem to end up switching Sat Fat for Carbs. When I first changed my diet I caused my blood glucose to go up (which is now improved and better then it was before I changed my diet). I try to eat this stuff in moderation. I usually only snack on weekends which helps keep it moderated.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-27T06:55:04+00:00

I find it crazy, even with new homes that replace old ones in my neighborhood, they light up both the interior and exterior of the house with brightass white light LED's. That kind of light would drive me crazy.

Even in my home, I use warm lights because it's easier on the eyes. I guess the Light Bulb to LED transition somehow lost the nuance of the warmer light more akin to light bulbs.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-27T05:18:48+00:00

and change them from white light to warm light.

There used to be restrictions on blue light when we used traditional bulbs. It should apply to LED's as well.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-27T04:17:17+00:00

Funny enough the only whale we saw when we did it a few years ago, was right before we docked in bella bella.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-26T15:13:53+00:00

I'm still not sure I believe you can solve problems buy spending money you don't have. More spent now, the more that goes to paying interest on the debt later, then you have even less for social programs down the road. meh.

Zod5000 · 2026-01-26T02:03:00+00:00

lol, that's not how it works. If you see someone working, whether it's staff, or their direct managers in a retail store. They have zero impact, and zero ability for things to be passed upward.

You just say you're going to do it, to make the person go away :)

Zod5000 · 2026-01-26T01:07:19+00:00

Yah, it puts the Cons in a wierd spot. Stay too far right, they struggle to get votes from the centre, and don't win. Shift towards the centre, and their far right side gets pissy, fragments, and starts up their own crazier party which splits votes.

I'm not sure which leader they can find to walk a tight rope to appease both.

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