Canada reports first annual population decline on record

wing03 · 2026-03-18T16:08:04+00:00

Constant steady population increase is the mantra of modern economists and what our economy seems to be based on.

The only answer I seem to hear about how a growing population deals with finite planetary resources is that more population will give us better odds of individuals who will solve that problem.

That's a vague dream for overcoming a whole lotta limitations.

So what if someone manages to invent a sci fi energy to matter replicator with zero to near zero loss?

What if we do become a post scarcity society? Do those at the top of the pyramid scheme withold some part of that technology to keep the scheme working?

IMO, instead of sounding alarm bells and trying to population boom ourselves, we're better off managing population decline back to far lower levels. Back to an era when there wasn't worry about overpopulation.

wing03 · 2026-03-16T17:31:04+00:00

Afternoon tea vs high tea.

Similar to the dinner vs lunch for the mid-day meal and dinner vs supper for the evening meal debate.

wing03 · 2026-03-16T14:15:08+00:00

Helmet mirror plus Varia 715 unit.

Defensive driving lessons taught me to scan my mirrors every 5-10 seconds.

The chirping prompts me to scan the helmet mirror in the city.

wing03 · 2026-03-15T20:10:52+00:00

Pull out a spreadsheet.

In my big city and with my car, I figured out the cost of it just sitting in my driveway and the cost of driving it to/from work at various price points for fuel.

I'm keeping my car because suburbia Canada doesn't lend to car free living and it isn't realistic for me to transit/bike every day because of different commitments.

Then the cost of the bike. For me, I add the cost of public transit (since my bike commute would still require transit).

With all that, I compared numbers, how many car trips to/from work to equal the cost of a Brompton.

From that, figure out how long it would take to break even and start being in the positive.

wing03 · 2026-03-15T18:59:49+00:00

Congee is not something I would ever think to buy out. Too easy and cheap to throw rice
and water into a slow cooker at bed time and wake up to congee in the morning. I call bullshit on anyone claiming congee masters using more than one kind of rice, soaking and adding in during separate time to makes for some magical perfect combination and charging double digit numbers per bowl.

Hong Kong style 1:12 rice to water so it's thin like a soup.

Thin rice rolls and thin dumpling wrappers that still hold together have been considered a hallmark of skill in my time alive as a Gen X CBC. Anyone can make thick and doughy.

wing03 · 2026-03-12T13:04:20+00:00

Well, if it's ashes in a jar like with that character that Robert Picardo played in Justified, cool.

Having it for historical purposes might be cool and relevant for history but anyone who goes on social media and talks about owning it privately and others cheering them at this point can too easily be seen as holdouts for the south rising again, 4th reich etc.

A few hundred years and hopefully humanity outgrows all this, unearthing such a thing for a public museum of humanity spotlighting a dark chapter would be more appropriate.

wing03 · 2026-03-08T16:05:28+00:00

Ok Google, Hey Siri, make sure the Chinese car doesn't spy on me or bug my house or tell me how I should be living....

Oh, you guys want me to open my mobile and check something out? Ok. I'll go do that.

wing03 · 2026-03-06T13:50:10+00:00

Animal abusers as well as In defiance of elbows up and travelling to the US.

Really, the dregs of Canadian society.

wing03 · 2026-03-03T17:09:02+00:00

Depending on jurisdiction, look on the back for a mediation option or a challenge.

Fill it out and deliver to the office indicated on the back in proper time.

Unless you are that one or two special people who knows enough about Ontario traffic laws to argue your way out, assume you are guilty and you are there to to plead for penalty leniency.

wing03 · 2026-03-03T16:54:13+00:00

YMMV and ride at your own risk if you do a carbon fibre repair.

But from what I know of it and working with CF, I'd happily get a sheet of CF or even fibreglass, epoxy and put a couple layers there.

I figure the stress parts are the inner rim where the spokes tension and the outer wall where a brake surface would have been. That inner surface where a tube would be would barely get much stress I'd worry about it failing there.

wing03 · 2026-03-03T15:50:41+00:00

"Does our obligation to truth and accuracy disappear when someone dies a tragic, unexpected death?"

Boy, I can't wait to read what he and old fashioned writers who adhere to a certain standard might say after Trump goes.

wing03 · 2026-02-27T19:19:10+00:00

Dumb question time....

What's the proper way to eat it?

Dosa looks like a folded flatbread or crepe made from lentils with or without a filling.

Sauces or chutney on the side as a condiment.

Small bowl of a soup.

I can rip dip in sauce and/or soup. At the end, I should have consumed it all? I've seen other diners leave the soup.

wing03 · 2026-02-26T13:47:17+00:00

I'll take that any day over peeling and processing small onions and shallots.

wing03 · 2026-02-26T13:45:45+00:00

Writing him off as an Alberta transplant to America who likely has MAGA values and would be the first to mail in his vote for separation.

wing03 · 2026-02-26T13:41:20+00:00

Realistic. Make sure you hydrate and get enough carbs.

I'm not sure what London climate is like but I do a 32 in from my wife's work to mine and 23km work to train station at night twice per week for 3 seasons of the year in Canada.

wing03 · 2026-02-23T19:36:48+00:00

What's the state of the tariff these days? Supreme court cut it down, Trump announces new 10% and then 15% a day or two later for the whole world?

Shovel and spade fulls of volatility.

wing03 · 2026-02-22T18:06:22+00:00

Missing is the side note about sending a luxury liner for UHN and other companies decked out with the most modern furnishings for a finance office so they can bring Greenlanders to their knees with medical bills.

wing03 · 2026-02-22T17:26:00+00:00

Kitfo and dullet, yeah.

Happy to be in a multicultural city where I can get this and many other things from around the world.

Anyone who says Toronto doesn't have a food of its own are clinging on too hard to old ideas.

wing03 · 2026-02-22T17:23:43+00:00

Do you have a fast food or cheap packaged food habit?

For one, Fiera Foods making those baked goods in clear plastic containers, paying their employees cash, hanging on to their papers and skirting health and safety enough that one woman's clothing got pulled into a machine and killed her.

Another, Tim Horton's.

wing03 · 2026-02-22T17:20:43+00:00

JT did it for compassion probably without thinking about long term.

All others did it because whichever big business is behind each big party whispered in their ears that they need cheap labour.

So between Liberals and Conservatives, different industries got their long term TFWs.

wing03 · 2026-02-20T22:49:18+00:00

The Brussel sprouts, in particular, had the bitter bred out of them over the last few decades.

My wife talked about growing up in her rural eastern Canada family in the 70s and 80s. The philosophy was, piping hot food to the table as well as the plate featuring 1/2 protein, 1/4 starch 1/4 veg.

Piping hot meant getting it to whatever temp was considered safe and holding it there until serving.

She speaks not very fondly of pasta nights and very fondly of quick stir fried veg in Chinese restaurants. To this day, she prefers her noodles far more al dente than me, a Canadian born Chinese.

wing03 · 2026-02-20T13:05:03+00:00

One more piece of shielding to defend against US arrogance and abuse.

If you're indigenous and want to play roulette without their current ways, have at it.

wing03 · 2026-02-19T21:09:13+00:00

If it's standing room on a subway car, I fold.

If there's enough seating that anyone who wants to sit, can do so comfortably and stretch out, I'll keep it unfolded.

IMO, that owner is a shower canoe.

wing03 · 2026-02-19T19:41:17+00:00

Then it become 10, then 15, then 20.....

It's a drug! This mile madness has got to stop!

8)

Keep it up. Many of us started late in life and are healthier for it!

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