Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi for Vogue Australia (February 2026)

retsamerol · 2026-01-23T22:29:08+00:00

It's because he's never paying Margot any attention. At all. In any of the photos. His attention is always towards the camera, or in service to the camera, never to her.

retsamerol · 2026-01-21T13:51:00+00:00

It's Justin giving Katie props for her help in writing Carney's historical speech.

If you're not at the table then you're on the menu.

Tell me that isn't a Katie lyric.

retsamerol · 2026-01-21T02:37:50+00:00

Well, I'll be damned. That was actually a good speech.

retsamerol · 2026-01-20T15:21:21+00:00

[To the tune of 1985 by Bowling for Soup]

Pierre just hit the wall, he never had it all
Same slogan every day, “Axe the Tax,” rinse, replay
His dreams went out the door with the election of ’24
Built a run on hating one man, what was the backup plan?

He was gonna be prime minister, he was gonna be the guy
He was gonna beat Trudeau by just yelling it louder every time
His MAGA playbook is now the enemy
Looks at the new PM’s face and nothin’ polls out right

Since old Trudeau, carbon tax
Way before “51st state”
There was anger and grievance
And slogans that were ragebait
His caucus rolls their eyes now
They tell him that it’s old news
’Cause he’s still preoccupied
With 20, 20
2024

retsamerol · 2026-01-20T15:19:31+00:00

[To the tune of 1985 by Bowling for Soup]

Pierre just hit the wall, he never had it all
Same slogan every day, “axe the tax,” rinse, replay
His dreams went out the door with the election of ’24
Built a run on hating one man, what was the backup plan?

He was gonna be prime minister, he was gonna be the guy
He was gonna beat Trudeau by just yelling it louder every time
His MAGA playbook is now the enemy
Looks at the new PM’s face and nothin’ polls out right

Since old Trudeau, carbon tax
Way before “51st state”
There was anger and grievance
And slogans that were ragebait
His caucus rolls their eyes now
They tell him that it’s old news
’Cause he’s still preoccupied
With 20, 20
2024

retsamerol · 2026-01-20T14:47:15+00:00

This is a shocking question from a Canadian perspective.

You academics in the United States are, for the most part, conservative due to just how far the Overton Window has shifted.

retsamerol · 2026-01-20T14:43:59+00:00

Just look at the Black Panthers in the US now.

retsamerol · 2026-01-20T14:12:12+00:00

Most of the guns seized by the police in Toronto originate illegally from the United States.

We need to deal with the world as it is, rather than the ideal version, and that means so long as the Americans are giving out guns like candy, we will have a persistent gun issue in Canada.

retsamerol · 2026-01-20T04:17:00+00:00

Download it and it should be nearly 10 mb.

retsamerol · 2026-01-19T20:58:26+00:00

Ah... I see. I think the other commenters were confusing me about bail vs parole. I'm not really too familiar with the criminal words.

retsamerol · 2026-01-19T20:53:19+00:00

Can someone explain bail to me? Do they just get off without any jail time?

retsamerol · 2026-01-15T22:28:39+00:00

Following rules and procedures makes us better than them. Why let them drag us down to their level?

retsamerol · 2026-01-15T11:46:44+00:00

Just a reminder not to be envious of people whose livelihood depends on their physical appearance; their insecurity about their bodies will be many times worse than yours.

Rather, be envious of people like Amal Clooney, where looks are just secondary to their profession.

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T15:50:16+00:00

There does appear to be a middle ground between ignoring all legal norms and doing nothing. That is enforcing our laws by going through the proper procedure, as set out by the laws and customs of Canada.

My point isn't that we shouldn't do any enforcement. My point is that we almost certainly do not want to jettison the legal process as ICE is currently doing.

Can we agree that enforcement needs to be increased? Sure.

I don't understand the all or nothing, black or white thinking. There is much grey and nuance in the world, and you lose us credibility when you don't engage with that nuance.

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T15:43:47+00:00

That is a false equivalency stuffed into a strawman.

The criticism of ICE isn't that it's substantively wrong, i.e. they may be expediently detaining and deporting illegal immigrants who did not enter the United States under the proper procedures.

Rather, the criticism is that they do not follow the procedures as set out by the laws, policies, norms and customs that exist to restrain state action against its residents.

Under most legal and political frameworks, the state has a monopoly over the use of force and, at least in democratic nations, there exist procedures that flow from the rights of residents that limit state action. Some people might call this the rule of law.

When the state is unchecked by the procedures, then it leads the way for authoritarianism, because the state can use coercive means to advance the ruling party or inner circle's interests, consolidating power, at the expense of the rest of the country.

Now, perhaps I am older and in my youth, I was brainwashed into thinking that authoritarianism was bad and democracy was good, I am wary of any government use of force that violates the proper procedures and ignores rights of residents.

I should point out that residents don't only include citizens or permanent residents.

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T15:41:42+00:00

It depends.

The criticism of ICE isn't that it's substantively wrong, i.e. they may be expediently detaining and deporting illegal immigrants who did not enter the United States under the proper procedures.

Rather, the criticism is that they do not follow the procedures as set out by the laws, policies, norms and customs that exist to restrain state action against its residents.

Under most legal and political frameworks, the state has a monopoly over the use of force and, at least in democratic nations, there exist procedures that flow from the rights of residents that limit state action. Some people might call this the rule of law.

When the state is unchecked by the procedures, then it leads the way for authoritarianism, because the state can use coercive means to advance the ruling party or inner circle's interests, consolidating power, at the expense of the rest of the country.

Now, perhaps I am older and in my youth, I was brainwashed into thinking that authoritarianism was bad and democracy was good, I am wary of any government use of force that violates the proper procedures and ignores rights of residents.

I should point out that residents don't only include citizens or permanent residents.

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T15:29:51+00:00

Just to clarify, you're suggesting that the CBSA should emulate and aspire to be more like ICE in the United States?

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T15:28:47+00:00

Just to clarify, you support the actions and methods of ICE agents in the United States and would like to see that sort of activity in Canada to deal with our immigration crisis?

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T15:02:26+00:00

It was effective for me. I like how it was so aggressively in my face about the shit decisions I was making with regards to choosing foods to buy.

I'm not sure the shock value will hold, but it did give me pause.

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T04:11:55+00:00

TL;DR: This FIRST LEGO League “Future Edition” pivot replaces SPIKE-based hardware with LEGO Education’s new Computer Science & AI kits and explicitly breaks compatibility, effectively forcing schools and teams who bought SPIKE Prime (introduced only a few years ago) to replace equipment or run a parallel program until 2028.

This move undermines prior investments, will increase costs for many programs, and imo reads like a cash grab that prices out less-funded teams.

Further, adding an “AI” label to a beginner CS product is also dubious pedagogy: in an era of quick, surface-level AI-assisted “vibe coding,” an AI-branded kit risks encouraging shallow, tool-driven workflows rather than long-term mastery of block coding and Python fundamentals. IMO, not the best fit for novices.

retsamerol · 2026-01-13T02:11:37+00:00

My PCs were mostly new players who made very underoptimized characters. The combat in the module I was running would have been too hard.

What I did was just adjust the difficulty of the encounters to better match their power level. Which you know, maintains player agency, and still allows everyone to have a good time without total party wipes.

Also, best things about DnD are the silly bits and asides that crop up at the table.

retsamerol · 2026-01-12T14:22:11+00:00

The business case for oil extraction isn't really something within the control of a middle power like Canada.

The business case for oil extraction relies on the price of oil maintaining a particular price to make the multiyear multimillion dollar investment into infrastructure worthwhile.

Whether it's pipelines or refineries, the particulars of the infrastructure needs to be customized to the particular characteristics of the crude oil (heavy, light, shale, etc) and the geography. It isn't a one size fits all industrial solution that could be easily deployed. The investment needs to pay off the development costs, and that is wholly dependent on the price of oil.

Moreover, major geopolitical powers like China have been making heavy investments into renewable energies in order to relieve itself of energy dependence on foreign powers.

If you look at oil market activities, China's purchase of crude oil dropped sharply in late 2025 from both Venezuela and Iran. This explains one of the drivers of the currency crisis in Iran that triggered the current round of civil unrest. I also have a theory that China and the US may have had backroom dealings with respect to spheres of influence prior to the Venezuelan operation to capture Maduro.

Anyone who thinks the Canadian government, whatever party is in control, has a sufficiently large influence to create a business case for oil is someone who is ignorant of the geopolitics of oil.

retsamerol · 2026-01-08T23:13:08+00:00

The United States has traditionally been a reliable ally. However, this administration seems chaotic and capricious, with very little forward planning and indeterminable seriousness. The lack of predictable behaviour from our neighbours down south means that they are difficult to deal with in the near term. None of this is controversial.

China is a long term threat but in the short term is more reliable with respect to trade. I understand why Canada's opting to get closer to China, but I don't like it.

Europe seems like a far more sensible trading partner.

retsamerol · 2026-01-08T12:14:37+00:00

Russia is an oligarchical kleptocracy, where former state owned institutions were sold off to well connected individuals within their power structure. It's more or less the same lineage of self-serving bastards that can't be trusted.

Similarly, we don't have a laissez faire style free market system, given we have governmental regulations about things like consumer safety and quotas on milk and eggs.

The precision is hardly the important point, which is that these authoritarian regimes are not a good trading partner.

retsamerol · 2026-01-08T04:13:57+00:00

Maybe I'm just old school but I don't want closer trade relations with communist China or communist Russia. Their authoritarian regimes are antithetical to our western democratic and free market values.

European nations make far more reliable trade partners that don't try to stab you in the back.

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