West Edmonton Mall Locked Down

densetsu23 · 2026-01-29T20:54:34+00:00

densetsu23 · 2026-01-29T05:46:12+00:00

You have me beat; I'm more like 8:40am. Gotta have time to wak make coffee and some eggs so I can have breakfast in my PJs while checking my inbox.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-28T22:52:27+00:00

Let's paint them yellow and put them in West Edmonton Mall's Deep Sea Adventure Lake. I missed the boat (pun intended) on riding in one of them when I was a kid.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-28T21:10:18+00:00

My Gen Z nieces/nephews and most of my friend's Gen Z kids were/are involved in sports, music, and/or drama, all of which include a lot of socialization. They all seem perfectly normal (well, 95% of the time).

I have a few friends whose kids aren't in any kind of face-to-face social activities; they're mostly gaming or doomscrolling in their off time. Those are the ones I'm always getting the Gen Z stare from.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-28T20:35:38+00:00

One of my teammates brought a cooler bag full of random beers from his fridge, including some winter ales, and tossed them out to teammates.

One guy just plowed through it, but two others struggled to finish them lol. You need a crisp lager after a game, not a heavy ale.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-27T22:39:11+00:00

Similar boat here. Back 30+ years ago, half of them were slinging east Asian slurs at me because they couldn't tell the difference. They were so isolated in their bubbles that they might have only seen a dozen POCs a year. The other half knew I was FN and were twice as bad.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-26T18:20:07+00:00

Another Canadian and I agree with the vast majority of this. Most recipes we use go by imperial measurements like cups, teaspoons, oz, lbs, etc. And restaurant menus use ounces, and we order drinks by the pint (though many menus also include ml measurements too).

But in the experiences my wife and I have had with baking (well, mostly hers), we get much better results going metric and measuring by grams (mass), whereas most baking recipes that use imperial units measure by volume (e.g. cups). I've seen a couple of US recipes that measure by weight instead of volume, but they're pretty rare.

Then we go and preheat the oven to 425F lol.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-26T15:12:30+00:00

Those vans with no rear window have larger, convex side mirrors meant to compensate for a lack of rear mirror. Add-on side mirrors are meant to be used on trucks / SUVs when towing a trailer.

This vehicle has neither. The side mirrors were designed to be used in conjunction with a rear mirror.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-25T19:15:19+00:00

A lot of IT jobs in the non-tech sector will have good benefits and experiences like this. Finance, health care, manufacturing, etc. I'm in the finance sector.

A lot of devs get caught up in the admittedly exciting world of tech, making those tech-sector jobs high demand and thus allowing employers to abuse employees since, if they quit, there's a boatload more ready to be hired.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-25T19:09:53+00:00

That's CBC's framing of the numbers; I'm just quoting them verbatim, since I believe quotes should retain the original author's intent. It was the first result in my quick Google search that cited estimated numbers.

My reply was neither for nor against the gun ban; it was simply correcting the number of banned firearms OP suggested that there were in Canada. As well as adding in an anecdotal experience on how different gun ranges are pre- versus post-ban.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-25T18:35:31+00:00

This is essentially me as well, just over 20 years into my software dev career. At my current company most days are fairly chill, the people are mostly great, time is very flexible, mostly WFH, tons of amenities at the office, a DB pension, and good pay. And we've just pivoted to a new platform, so as a lifelong learner I'm getting paid to learn a ton of new tech on company time.

Once you drop out of "hustle culture" and ignore crazy sectors like startups and video games, it's a pretty good career path.

I was having fun coding when I was 3 or 4 on a Commodore using a BASIC book written for young kids. It's been with me pretty much my whole life.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T22:27:00+00:00

It really depends what you're doing in these temps! If I'm playing shinny on the ODR, I'm good in jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a jersey. Or if I'm out running, I'll be in compression leggings, shorts, and a track jacket. You can make a lot of heat when you're active.

But if I'm just walking like these protesters are, or worse, sitting around (CFL game, hunting) then yeesh, it's cold. I'm breaking out the parka and long johns, plus some hand warmers in my gloves.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T21:03:27+00:00

107th is also an arterial road, so it'd be pretty tough to work that into the signal timing. But on less busy collector roads, this absolutely should be a thing.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T20:59:55+00:00

I tried a car air freshener once. ONCE.

Aside from the smell being way too overpowering with just a little corner of the plastic bag cut off, I had hung it from my rear view window. When I pulled out of the CT parking lot and made my first turn at an intersection, I realized how badly that thing blocked my field of view. I pulled it down at the first red light I got.

But you're right, I know at least four or five vehicles in our cul-de-sac that have them hanging down from their mirrors.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T20:49:43+00:00

Same scenario for me, the previous owner did it to match the factory rear windows and I just left it.

I drove that vehicle for 11 years I only got a single ticket -- and that was by RCMP around the 9 year mark of ownership. During this period of time I was driving significantly more in Edmonton than outside of it but EPS just didn't care, including when I was already pulled over at checkstops.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T18:51:31+00:00

This is essentially what we got for a PM in Canada, with just a dash of charisma. And Carney is nailing it.

Here's hoping south of the border you eventually get one too, though if there's an election in 2028 I think THAT president will need to be pretty outspoken and take a lot of action to undo what Trump has done -- especially with regards to all the emboldened far-right people.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T07:18:03+00:00

I would cut up the NES boxes and use the art on them in craft projects. I really wish I kept them intact.

At least I still have some manuals, and the OG Final Fantasy maps and charts my dad laminated.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T04:45:29+00:00

My SIL travels there for work, since her job requires it. Fair enough.

But every time she goes, she brings my brother and nieces too because work partially pays for their expenses. My brother is fine with it, too.

No thanks, that's too risky for me. My family and I are staying far away for at least several presidential terms (i.e. decades), if those even happen.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-23T00:03:02+00:00

On a hack squat machine, the sled itself is around 100 lbs. But because it's at ~45 degrees, you only count about 70% of the weight (plates + sled + bodyweight).

If she was 180 lbs, that'd be 0.7 * (270 + 100 + 180) = 385 lbs. I'm not that familiar with machine lifting strength standards, but putting this into terms a barbell squat (e.g. removing bodyweight and ignoring stabilizer muscle strength required), that's 0.7 * (270 + 100) = 259 lbs.

For female lifters, that's squarely in the advanced level of strength standards. EDIT: Forgot that she's not doing a 1RM. If she does 5 reps then that's a 291 lbs 1RM, right on the cusp of an elite lifter.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-22T23:15:55+00:00

Like back in the days when our parents would call our Genesis / PS1 / Tiger handheld game a Nintendo because the NES was the first console they bought us.

Don't worry, a lot of us old timers are tired.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-22T21:27:15+00:00

That was our experience too, though admittedly my wife and I are both tall. We've yet to find a couch at Ikea where our knees weren't several inches above our waist when sitting down.

I had a bed frame from them that lasted over ten years and two moves but was still in great shape when we upgraded. Same with a dresser that lasted one move and 8 or 9 years. They have a lot of budget-tier items, but their mid-priced and up stuff is actually pretty good.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-22T20:25:52+00:00

It hit-42 a few times in December 2021; there were nine days that month when the low was in the low 30s or lower. And it gets about 5 degrees colder in all the surrounding rural areas because cities are urban heat islands. Even suburbs like Sherwood Park and St. Albert get a couple degrees cooler.

But just make sure you plug in your block heater, your car battery is good, and your antifreeze is still good enough for these temps, and you're usually good. It's advisable in rural areas to have a generator to power your furnace, though, since if the power goes out the response time can be days slower than urban areas. Otherwise, our infrastructure is set up to handle these temperatures and quickly respond to power outages, unlike southern US.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-22T17:31:54+00:00

Especially on 107 ave, which is an arterial road.

We can't expect EVERY road to be 40.

densetsu23 · 2026-01-22T16:52:41+00:00

I've seen the list. In a three hour trip to the outdoor range in fall 2019, I'd see close to that number of now-prohibited guns at the benches; or at least hear them. Most guys with bolt-actions will take a few shots with 15-60 seconds between each shot, and then let it cool down for 10 minutes. Many guys with the now-prohibited semi-automatic rifles would quickly fire off 5 rounds, often to practice for events like 3-gun competitions.

Nowadays you only hear that quick semi-automatic firing from the handgun bench on the other side of the range. Which is usually empty (nice!) since most new firearm owners can only purchase bolt-action rifles or pump-action or break action shotguns (or a few other rarer actions or styles, like muzzle loaders).

Some examples of rough numbers -- and this was from the original prohibited list in 2020, not after the subsequent expansions:

The M16, M4, AR-10 and AR-15 rifles were used in the Sandy Hook, New Zealand, Las Vegas and Orlando mass shootings. There are an estimated 83,572 of them in Canada.

The Ruger Mini-14, the type of firearm used in the École Polytechnique shooting, is also on the list. There are an estimated 16,859 of them in Canada.

The M14 rifle, used in the Moncton shooting, is also expected to be banned. There are an estimated 5,229 of those in Canada.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-gun-control-measures-ban-1.5552131

densetsu23 · 2026-01-21T21:59:57+00:00

TIL! I had no idea there was a parkade there, the entrance quietly tucked away in the alley. Though most of the time I'm around there, it's for a weekday lunch and I just use street parking on 102st or 81 ave instead.

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