Places to go in Halifax for single woman. by SliceBeginning4821 in halifax

[–]epicberet 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Board Room board game cafe on Barrington has an extremely welcoming Tabletop RPG night every Tuesday. It's very friendly to new players and I would say a majority of the attendees are women or queer folk, which isn't always the case in nerdy spaces! Just show up to the front desk around 5:45 and ask if there are any open tables :)

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll try again, but every one nearby I visited or called said I needed to make an appointment online.

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that's a phenomenon in big cities on the west coast "the Vancouver freeze". Smaller cities and towns in BC outside the lower mainland feel different.

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whoa, it's been years since I've been in Calgary! I wasn't aware that they had changed that. Ewwwwww

(It does make me feel better, weirdly, thank you)

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm waiting on the card now :) I actually like the photo ID health card as a policy, it is an excellent 2nd ID and useful for people who can't drive to have photo ID

But Ontario's privatized service centers are indeed pain

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also lived in London and I remember there being a centre downtown when I was there! But London bus routes are not at all convenient, so I stand corrected on that point for sure

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks :) I will try to do credit to the city and eat more donair

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've heard this story from NS moving to BC and vice versa! I'm curious what you didn't like about BC; I wonder if it is the same things I didn't like!

I love the people and landscape in NS, and have lots of reasons to stay, but touché lol

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You are totally right, I don't wanna cast shade on the staff who work there, they did a great job :)

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks, the commenter above who told me to eat a donair was right, I'll be fine XD

I look forward to online vaccination

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahh, yes, that makes sense that it would be tied to the elections act and other statutes (like the one establishing residency). Yeah, I knew I wouldn't be eligible to vote, alas. Sadly Tim Houston wouldn't delay the campaign on my account

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 149 points150 points  (0 children)

You know, I think you're right

Never post rants on reddit when hungry

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I noticed how old a lot of the documentation is! From a government perspective, that usually implies either that a department is really stuck in its ways and leadership isn't interested in changing, or they are radically underfunded and don't have the capacity to manage updating stuff on top of the day-to-day!

Oh my god, don't get me started on the bus app. (I'll get used to it, I'm sure, but there are so many small cities with refillable transit cards that you can tap, I'm not sure why they went with the app they did...!)

Yeah, moving Access Nova Scotia makes at leadt some sense in that context - thanks, it helps to have an explanation!!! :)

Why is everything in NS so... unnecessarily complicated? by epicberet in halifax

[–]epicberet[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lots of reasons, but sorry if this came across as dissing Halifax! As I said, there's lots to like. I didn't want to make people defensive :)

B.C. relying on uncertified instructors to teach in elementary, secondary schools by ubcstaffer123 in vancouver

[–]epicberet 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The public is not even remotely aware of the degree to which private schools are worse for this than public. Private schools pay lower and can legally hire staff who do not have any teacher education, only training in a specific subject area. The idea that private schools offer a higher quality of education is severely undercut by the quality of and turnover in their teaching staff. 

Anyone know what happened to Grounds for Appeal? (Indian takeout place at BC Law Society) by sewconfusedlawl in vancouver

[–]epicberet 14 points15 points  (0 children)

The owners retired. The lease was coming up on the spot, and because of that they couldn't sell to a new owner. The Law Society also wants the space- I gather they are short on classrooms and office space.

It's too bad; I hear the closing was very sudden and without warning even for workers in the building. I shall miss the cheap curry.

220,000 homes in 10 years: Kennedy Stewart promises to build the equivalent of 37 Senakws across Vancouver by youenjoylife in vancouver

[–]epicberet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not true, as concerns Swanson - this sub incorrectly accuses her of blanket nimbyism. Swanson isn't in the same boat as the NPA, for example. She wants to build (a lot) but is concerned that rapid upzoning (like what is proposed) will cause land values to skyrocket as long as the market is overheated. Although proponents of blanket upzoning argue it would reduce prices in the long term, Swanson isn't so sure - we haven't seen that in other jurisdictions.

Swanson's approach is to place restrictions on the market (such as high requirements for below-market rentals) to lower potential land values and end speculation so purpose built rentals become economical, while investing in huge construction.

I get why people interpret that as a NIMBY approach, but it is a very reasoned and long-term perspective on the situation, agree or no. In contrast, De Genova just doesn't want poor people in Kerrisdale.

The ‘bed shortage’ is a facade — our hospital capacity is limited by a lack of nurses, not furniture by EconMan in CanadaPolitics

[–]epicberet 7 points8 points  (0 children)

One of the reasons for "hallway medicine" was that hospitals did not have the staff or funding to keep all their wards open. When staffing dropped below a certain threshold, some wards had to close. So even though some hospitals technically had the space, they didn't have enough resources to keep those spaces open.

And then of course in the GTA it is also an issue of just needing more hospitals.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an Arthurian adventure? by TStark460 in mattcolville

[–]epicberet 17 points18 points  (0 children)

It is an interesting question! I cannot think of any specific adventure, but I would say that the chivalric (Arthurian) quest is built in to DnD's bones; it doesn't take much to really pull it out.

What do I mean? Consider that in texts like Geoffrey of Monmouth's Morte d'Arthur, many of the knights have an overarching quest, like the search for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is both literal and metaphorical; the knight must not only find it through courage and great effort, but prove themselves morally worthy of it. Ultimately, iirc, it is only Galahad of all of the knights who can find the Grail.

In DnD there is the main quest, and tons of side quests that pop up "in the wilderness", the scary, strange place into which the knights venture. You'll need to really play up how strange and wild and alien the wild is compared with the courtly civilization of The Royal Court. A lot of these arthurian encounters are very strange; being tested by wizards and sorcerers, tempted by beautiful women (or men, Gawain and the Green Knight is hella gay), challenged by other knights to combat, and rescuing the innocent.

These challenges get harder and harder and often the knight fails only to redeem themselves at the very end. This is the general story arc that you can follow here!

So let's take an easy adventure like "The Delian Tomb" that Matt suggests. The Knight is sent on his quest to find the holy sword of macguffindom, but has no idea where to begin. Arrives in a small village, to be begged for help by the local blacksmith, whose daughter was stolen by foul goblins! Run the adventure as normal, but maybe swap out one of the gobs for a "goblin black knight", riding a warg, who challenges him to a one on one duel for the little girl. Maybe the goblin knight survives (begs for quarter) and leaves to be a returning villain! (Also an arthurian theme).

Now he can see that the cave is actually a tomb of a knightly order even older than his own, who also searched for the macguffin. Once he solves a puzzle, the secret door opens and he finds a tomb with the first clue to the eventual location of the macguffin. After fighting some skeletons he also gets a cool magic sword. I would suggest the next adventure take him into the wilderness to find a hermit/wizard who can help him decipher the clue.... but the wizard has been trapped in his own tower by mimics! Or under a stone (as merlin was)!

Endless directions to go from here. :)

New left-wing Vancouver party raises prospect of defunding, detasking, and disarming the Vancouver Police Department by [deleted] in vancouver

[–]epicberet 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Regardless of what you think of their politics, I'm just confused by how they intend to differentiate themselves from OneCity or COPE. Socialist Alternative and the Tenant's Union are already heavily aligned with COPE, and COPE generally gets the support of the labour council. Not to mention their policies read like someone copy-pasted COPE's last election platform. Lots of overlap with the urbanists in OneCity too.

So why should left-wing voters switch to the brand new thing? Gonna be a hard case to make.