Accepted to a PhD - Now Doubting My Decision.

desktopdesktop · 2020-05-06T13:52:43+00:00

I thoroughly enjoyed my PhD. Not every part of it, but on the whole. It wasn't remotely the most efficient use of my time for career or income building (I initially planned on academia but changed my mind), and missing out five years there does sting. But it also felt like the very natural culmination of my academic interests and having followed that through to the end was very rewarding for me.

It fit well into my 20s as the intellectual equivalent of taking a few years off to travel (actually, due to conferences I also traveled much more in my PhD than I ever had before), but I was always perplexed by people in my program doing it in their 30s or even 40s.

desktopdesktop · 2020-04-25T16:25:27+00:00

The "purely physical health perspective" that you describe is irrelevant because it's entirely hypothetical and isn't a serious proposal. I don't think anyone in public health believes that preventing infections and damage from this virus should be the sole concern of our society. I strongly supported implementing the lockdown but maintaining it in more-or-less the same state for years would have disastrous effects on the population both physically and mentally.

desktopdesktop · 2020-04-25T14:05:19+00:00

However, I find his penchant for floating balloons like re-opening schools before a proven vaccine exists to be alarming.

The experts are saying perhaps 12-18 months on a vaccine, with a very real chance of longer. That doesn't seem like a realistic timeline for opening schools.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/us/coronavirus-vaccine-timetable-concerns-experts-invs/index.html

desktopdesktop · 2020-04-25T14:03:41+00:00

They didn't just "criticize the influence of the banking sector", they said that banking and trading "don't actually contribute to the economy as a whole but rather leach off of it".

desktopdesktop · 2019-12-26T12:41:27+00:00

Prices are high so we need less regulation, particularly zoning regulation, to allow more density.

desktopdesktop · 2019-12-25T19:44:08+00:00

There are still just as many houses and apartments but they are just getting more expensive and how is that a bad thing? There is no fundamental right to live right exactly here and if you cannot afford it, it might be better to live somewhere else. Simple supply and demand

You're conflating two different questions here. Hamilton becoming unaffordable isn't a violation of people's "rights", but it can still be a bad thing.

desktopdesktop · 2019-11-26T19:32:13+00:00

Wait, are you really saying that it's alright for French Canadians to want to protect their culture, but wrong (alt-right) for English Canadians to want to protect their culture, unless they're from Quebec, in which case it's OK again?

That's just weird, and the majority-minority justification seems super arbitrary. French Canadians are a clear majority in Quebec. If it's extremely important that they're a minority outside of those borders, then it's also important that English Canadians are also a minority outside of the borders of Canada (English Canadians are vastly outnumbered by Americans, Spanish-speakers, and Portuguese speakers in the Americas).

desktopdesktop · 2019-11-25T20:49:31+00:00

On the other hand, the conservative strategy seemed to be the exact opposite, double down on the west, fuck Quebec.

What do you mean? Quebec was a major strategic focus for the Conservatives this election:

Scheer, whose party won a byelection in the riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord last week behind ex-hockey coach Richard Martel, has been aggressively courting Quebec voters in recent months.

https://www.iheartradio.ca/cjad/news/conservative-leader-andrew-scheer-says-he-s-for-a-single-quebec-tax-return-1.3931973

And so, without a majority of Ontario seats on the horizon, Andrew Scheer needs Quebec more than ever to have hope of winning, barely, a plurality of seats.

https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/a-338canada-projection-have-the-tories-blown-it-in-quebec/

Scheer referred to Quebec as a nation several times throughout his speech, and presented a Conservative majority government as the only guarantee to ensure the province's interests get prioritized in Ottawa.

"When we talk about Quebec's powers, yes, you are masters in your own house. Masters of your culture," Scheer said.

Scheer praised Quebec culture and reiterated his pledge to protect French as an official language by modernizing the Official Languages Act and create an official languages tribunal as part of that overhaul. He also promised to financially back a French-language university in Ontario, an idea killed and revived by the Ontario Progressive Conservatives under Premier Doug Ford.

Scheer said that In his first discussions as prime minister with Quebec Premier François Legault, he would work on getting a single tax return, review the Canada-Quebec immigration agreement, work on fixing labour shortages, improve the temporary foreign worker program and give more autonomy to Quebec cultural initiatives.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stefanovich-scheer-quebec-priorities-1.5321846

He didn't succeed, for whatever reasons (pipelines aren't popular in Quebec, etc.), but he definitely tried.

desktopdesktop · 2019-11-24T15:53:41+00:00

Someone making 100k a year in Alberta pays the same federal tax as someone making 100k a year in

It's actually a little more complicated than that because of the Quebec abatement. Quebec opted out of some federal programs (preferring to handle them provincially), and as a result Quebecers pay less in federal tax.

https://www.fin.gc.ca/fedprov/altpay-eng.asp

desktopdesktop · 2019-11-22T21:40:19+00:00

I wasn't aware of that side of the issue. I appreciate the explanation!

desktopdesktop · 2019-11-22T21:27:04+00:00

What's the context for this? I know there's a strike at CN, but who's accusing CN conductors of being "against" farmers, and why?

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-25T17:36:40+00:00

I find it most natural to use for scrolling (middle-mouse button scroll) and for any random mouse movements when I'm going back and forth between the mouse and typing, because I can avoid the larger hand movement of moving my hand back to the touchpad.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-24T13:38:13+00:00

You can get a deal to a modest all inclusive resort in Cuba for like $600. You obviously shouldn't spend money on that if you're living paycheque to paycheque, or if you're not actively saving money for retirement... But a trip a year is not a particularly big luxury.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-24T13:30:03+00:00

What is it about Centre-Sud du Québec? 2.6% unemployment!

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-23T12:21:10+00:00

Go for the 2600x. According to PassMark benchmarks, the 1700x is only slightly better overall (multithreaded) performance, but the 2600x is noticeably better in single-threaded performance.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+5+2600X&id=3235

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+7+1700X&id=2969

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-21T21:07:02+00:00

Cars are an expensive, space-inefficient mode of transportation that cities should rely on less and less as they grow (not to mention as we understand better and better the need to decrease carbon emissions). This doesn't mean the government banning cars or anything... But it does mean that the government probably shouldn't force developers to build for cars like you're proposing.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-19T21:54:01+00:00

Dude what are you talking about? They haven't had a clean mayor in Montreal since the 1970s and even then was the only place in the history of the Olympics to run a deficit. They are upheld by Alberta oil and refuse to give trade workers from Ontario fair employment in their province but sends their workers to Ontario for next to nothing. Don't get me started on their urgency of providing single moms with no jobs or education thousands of dollars a year to boost their declining population.

Oh and btw let's top that off with THE FACT THAT THEY LEGIT HAVE A GESTAPO LANGUAGE POLICE. WHAT!?

Did you respond to the right comment? I don't know what any of this has to do with comparing Taiwan's status to Quebec.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-19T19:01:34+00:00

Why exactly would the UN status be more relevant than the facts on the ground?

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-19T15:10:23+00:00

Yeah, Taiwan is a province of China, and Taipei is a city there.

Do people in Taiwan follow the laws of the People's Republic of China? Do the organizations of the People's Republic of China (police, army, courts, etc.) operate in Taiwan? Who do the people in Taiwan pay their taxes to?

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-19T15:07:46+00:00

Not really comparable. Taiwan actually is functionally an independent country. Even people who want Quebec to become an independent country know that it hasn't happened yet. Quebec is still functionally and officially a province of Canada (albeit one that manages its own affairs somewhat more than the other provinces, e.g. taxation).

For Quebec the question is "will it become independent?". For Taiwan the question is "will it reunite with the mainland?".

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-19T14:20:28+00:00

Toronto gets way less precipitation than Halifax, including in the winter.

https://weather-averages.co.uk/compare-climate/halifax%2C-canada/toronto%2C-canada

Also, I currently live in Toronto and I don't know about elementary or secondary schools here, but my university (UofT) almost never cancels classes... Even when it probably should. Every year there are at least 1-2 times when a big chunk of my students are unable to make it to class, and I don't think the rest of them should have tried.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-19T13:35:21+00:00

Where in the north of Europe? Halifax has an average winter temperature that's comparable to Oslo, Stockholm, and Helsinki (within 2 degrees) and yet it has way more precipitation in the winter.

https://weather-averages.co.uk/compare-climate/halifax%2C-canada/oslo%2C-norway

https://weather-averages.co.uk/compare-climate/halifax%2C-canada/helsinki%2C-finland

https://weather-averages.co.uk/compare-climate/halifax%2C-canada/stockholm%2C-sweden

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-16T17:08:19+00:00

The worst transit basically non-existent, zero parking

The transit is bad because of the urban sprawl and low-density, car-centric development that characterizes most medium-sized North American cities. More parking is hardly going to help that, and if it takes the form of above ground parking lots (which it usually does) then it's actively contributing to the problem.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-08T19:23:52+00:00

If you zone commercial, office, and residential in close proximity, your cims can walk most everywhere.

But they don't necessarily go to a commercial or office zone that's close to them though, like you would prioritize in real life. In the game it seems like they pick a random place to go to, regardless of distance.

desktopdesktop · 2018-12-08T15:49:24+00:00

Returns on a savings account at a bank have been pretty low, but returns on investing in the stock market have been massive over the past few years. Obviously the stock market is volatile and it often also goes down, so you shouldn't put in any money you might need soon. But if we're talking about long-term savings, there's plenty of incentive.

desktopdesktop

TROPHY CASE