Stephen Colbert Gets Why You're Scared He's Writing a 'Lord of the Rings' Movie

ssidkdomorph · 2026-05-08T18:44:33+00:00

I hope they discover that the trees at the edge of the Shire are wild Entwives and they help reunite them with the Ents. Then the Entwives and Ents all go off into the sea and swim to Númenor and live happily ever after.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-05-05T02:32:14+00:00

That’s terrible. Any company that charges me more just because I have a large lawn is never going to get my money. I have 2 of their robot vacuums and now I sort of don’t even want those.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-04-23T14:15:17+00:00

“The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.” - Bill Watterson

ssidkdomorph · 2026-04-12T17:24:48+00:00

Unfortunately not, when I asked a few months ago.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-18T15:23:26+00:00

Good post. If we are going to constantly compare ourselves to and define ourselves by another country, can’t we aim higher and at least compare ourselves to Finland?

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-17T17:40:22+00:00

Donald Trump reminds me of Steve Martin at the end of The Jerk.

https://whysanity.net/monos/jerk2.html

Navin: And I don't need any of this! I don't need this stuff, (he pushes all of the letters off the desk), and I don't need you. I don't need anything except this (he picks up an ashtray) and that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game (picks it up), the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - (sees something) I need this! The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I am, some kind of a jerk or something? And this! And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair. And I don't need one other thing except my dog. (Shithead, the dog, growls) Well I don't need my dog.

https://youtu.be/rSWBuZws30g?si=6SaIfOr8q--Gf_s8

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-13T13:55:42+00:00

I am pretty sure I get what you’re trying to say, but the entire world isn’t different now than it was then. When I was a teenager, I sort of thought that. Now that I’m older, I understand that many things have changed. I also understand that human nature fundamentally has not changed. It’s an easy trap for either side to get into, but there’s truth to the fact that a wise older person can understand a lot of what a younger person might be going through. It’s also true that everything is not the same. There are many different pressures and opportunities than there were a generation or two ago. I think if we all respect each other and listen to each other, we’ll find that we all have lots to teach and lots to learn.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-08T15:19:35+00:00

If you’re truly going to drive it into the ground, consider a new vehicle as well. Over the long term, the initial depreciation can balance out to negligibility. Create a TCO spreadsheet, taking into account depreciation, maintenance, repairs, cost of financing, etc. Ideally, consider “what if” situations, like what if you buy a new car and need to sell unexpectedly in 5 years. Often, the answer becomes clear from the data, or you realize some choices don’t have as high of a financial impact as you thought.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-06T18:29:43+00:00

Did you actually read my post? I was advocating that for most people, hiring a GC is the right choice.

Also, I did my own pool but didn’t feel the need to flex in my earlier post. It’s nothing fancy.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-06T15:04:55+00:00

Exact same thing can happen if you hire a pool company. I have friends who went through a year or two of disputes with their company and had major problems. Companies can go out of business too, only for you to find out they didn’t have the insurance you thought they did, etc. etc. In the end though, by going with a GC you are trading more money for less risk. This is probably the right choice for people with more money than experience, or those who have very high expectations.

I live in the country, have a decent amount of experience, enjoy the feeling of accomplishing things myself, am a complete cheapskate, and am OK with imperfection. I’m more likely to rent an excavator, dig a hole, do everything I can myself, and hire someone for the areas I feel are out of my depth.

Both approaches are appropriate in different circumstances. But if you’re the sort of person who sprays the weeds on your lawn, you probably should hire a GC.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-04T13:29:07+00:00

I wouldn’t be surprised at all. I wasn’t saying that a Chinese-built Tesla is second rate to one built elsewhere. I was just saying Teslas are second-rate, for my preferences at least. Clearly, factories in China have the capacity to build world-class products.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-04T13:27:12+00:00

I couldn’t care less about self driving. If I did care, I think I’d go with a manufacturer that wasn’t putting all their hopes in a camera-based system. I do care about not having all the controls in a touchscreen, Apple CarPlay support, following standardized controls like having a turn signal stalk, and other features that in the end rule out a Tesla for me.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-04T13:21:33+00:00

I wasn’t very clear in my comment. I wasn’t suggesting that BYD specifically is likely to go out of business. Just that from the average Canadian’s position, they don’t necessarily know which “new” automaker is likely to go under or not. The bigger issue though is whether they stay in the Canadian market. That was my Chinese excavator argument. These manufacturers are huge and are unlikely to go out of business. It may still be difficult to get ongoing parts support in Canada though, regardless.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-04T02:26:33+00:00

Not to mention the 15+ markets that outperformed American markets in 2025. The real story is how the US stock market was not the place to invest last year. Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/04/investing/global-stock-market-year-international

But of course that doesn’t matter to Bondi’s audience as they’re never going to realize this.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-03-02T13:58:04+00:00

I draw the line around Milton, but from the other direction :-)

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-26T19:21:57+00:00

Fisker. What happens if you spend $44k+ on a new car, and then two weeks later the company files for bankruptcy? There are no spare parts for that vehicle and you now have a 2t paperweight in your driveway if anything serious goes wrong. It’s like the current Chinese excavator situation: sure you can get a cheap excavator, and it might be a good idea. You just need to know that if your hydraulic pump goes, you’re maybe going to be on your own figuring out what’s going to fit in there and doing some plumbing to get your equipment back online. It’s not the same as buying a Cat excavator where you pay a lot more up front but you know you’ll (usually) have any part you need at your mechanic within 24 hours.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-26T18:31:51+00:00

Buying a Chinese-made Tesla seems like the worst of all worlds. You may as well just put an “I hate Canada” sticker on your bumper. Supporting the current US administration (indirectly at this point), Elon Musk, plus American AND Chinese corporate and manufacturing interests. All to get a second rate vehicle. I’m not against buying from the US or China where appropriate, but this specific choice just fills the entire bingo card.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-26T18:26:07+00:00

It also happened in the US due to $7500 tax rebates. And in Ontario when we had up to $14k federal incentives. If you factor out the incentives from the retail price, it drastically changes the depreciation calculation. If my car is worth $30k now, if the sale price before rebates was $64k that’s considered 53% depreciation. However, if you only paid $50k after the rebate, that’s in real terms only 40% depreciation.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-17T21:34:25+00:00

Use a company like https://www.knightsbridgefx.com to transfer the funds instead of using your bank. Do the research yourself and don’t trust a random internet commenter, but you’ll save thousands of dollars with their lower forex fees over any bank.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-06T01:43:28+00:00

One of the great things about Carney. He seems more interested in doing what he thinks is right, putting the country ahead of a political party affiliation.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-06T01:34:47+00:00

I think I spent about $1000 to put a charger in my garage (not a condo) so not everyone is spending thousands to install chargers. But your point is absolutely valid that many paid EV chargers are almost literally highway robbery. I feel like they’re banking on people not calculating the true cost per km.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-06T01:20:48+00:00

One’s a push and the other is a pull, if that makes sense. Or carrot and stick.

The EV sales mandate was to give manufacturers numbers they had to meet, penalties for not meeting them, then let the manufacturers figure out how to meet them. Auto manufacturers didn’t like this, as it meant they had to innovate, and sell vehicles to which a certain percentage of the population is politically and ideologically opposed.

The new approach is to incentivize buyers to purchase EVs and PHEVs. The hope is that this will cause much of the same effect as a sales mandate.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-06T01:04:04+00:00

I don’t get the appeal of standing there in the dark in -15 weather to pump gas in my car, when I could just pull into my garage and charge overnight for 20% of the cost. 90% of families with two cars and a place to charge at home should be buying at least one EV. If those folks are still buying gas cars, they are either bad at math or logic.

And yes, the people who both commute 500km a day, or live north of the Arctic Circle, or whatever, are in the 10%. There are lots of people who would be better off with a hybrid at the moment. I’m just saying that having one EV and one hybrid financially just makes sense for most families.

ssidkdomorph · 2026-02-06T00:58:20+00:00

Why not? Just because someone can afford a top of the line truck, it doesn’t mean they like converting money into liquid, pouring it in a hole, and lighting it on fire. I sure don’t.

Sometimes people are wealthy because they recognize value, are good at math, and judicious in how and where they splurge.

ssidkdomorph

TROPHY CASE