AI detectors are completely unreliable and useless. They are AI themselves, and rife with all the problems that other LLMs have.

Yes, even cheap clip on ones from a hardware store will do it. They also provide eye strain relief from watching tv and screen time, too

If in doubt, you can check your immunity along your normal bloodwork. I asked my doc to check, it was just an extra requisition/vial.

I had to get the full dose (two shots, not just a booster of one) because I had no immunity, even though I had both shots as a child. Immunity can wane over decades.

As a childless adult, it’s my duty to be part of other people’s lives and support families by being a trusted adult (trusted by parents and kids) and be a good role model for others’ kids.

Why? Because we live in a society. Today’s kids are tomorrow’s adults. There are, unfortunately, a lot of terrible social influences out there, and parents can’t battle society alone. Young boys and girls need to learn and develop healthy relationships with men and women alike, beyond just their parents, in order to have something to model themselves after and to learn how to treat others with love and respect.

And this is especially so for singletons. A lot of the bad and warped ideas about “relationships” and even self-esteem comes from unhealthy views of romantic relationships. Ideas like if you’re not good enough if you don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend. Or ideas that men and women cannot “only” be friends (objectification of other sex). Ideas that men are owed relationships and sex by women (incels). Ideas that it’s better to be with a bad partner than to be single (abuse).

Parents can’t fight all of that on their own.

ICE is even killing white American citizens in broad daylight while being recorded. You’re right that they should be recognizing treaties, but we should also be recognizing the reality that that’s something beyond America’s grasp right now, and that no one, but especially “exception” cases who are visibly non-white, should be going to the US for their own safety.

In-person only voting. If any party member from across the entire country couldn’t make it to Calgary in person on a weekday, they couldn’t vote.

I understand what you mean, but life is not binary and it doesn’t have to always be all-in. “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” We can still enjoy good things and incremental improvements even if they’re not perfect or ideal. A tool doesn’t have to be perfect for 100% of situations for it to still be useful.

Obviously, you don’t care for the device, and I’m not trying to convince you to get something you don’t want—and I note you haven’t tried. But I am saying we should (in life, in general) consider options for improvements even if they’re not perfect.

I can clear a double driveway with an electric shovel/snow thrower. It depends on the battery and, of course, the length of the driveway. But we’re taking Brampton, not an estate house.

The thing is you have to do it before the snow is higher than the face of the shovel, so you might have to go out twice or even three times (while it’s still snowing and once when it’s done) instead of only doing one pass at the end with a significantly larger snow blower.

There are other shortcomings compared to a snow blower, such as it only throws the snow in front of itself; you can’t direct it otherwise. So you have to think about how you’re going to physically do the task. Also, I find it’s not as effective when the snow is wet.

Overall, though, if a snow blower is not feasible for whatever reason, it’s a decent option for lessening the physical burden of snow shoveling, but definitely not eliminating it.

Around two or three years ago, I was on a sales call/app demo as a potential customer–not for TikTok, of course. It’s an American company and I’m based in Canada. I asked the sales guy about their data storage, encryption, privacy, and the like; he didn’t know. I said I needed to know that if our group uses the application to communicate internally about, for example, helping refugees, the government won’t be able to access it. The guy asked me if that really was a concern.

Well, you tell me now, sales guy, is it really a concern?

Turning off the targeted ads settings indeed prevents Google from showing you overtly targeted ads. It makes no claim that it prevents Google from harvesting the same data that is used to target ads

WestJet only reversing it because word started to get around and people were swearing never to fly WestJet again. If there were no possible alternatives for flyers, they would not have cared.

Your thinking wasn’t wrong, the problem was that the municipal and provincial police and governments abdicated their duties and abandoned their citizens. The federal government stepped in because the lower levels of government refused to do their duty for weeks. I don’t disagree that Trudeau stepped a foot beyond his jurisdiction, but in that scenario, he was being the only responsible adult who actively cared about the well-being of Canadians.

I’m glad it was done, and there was nothing in the execution that was heavy-handed or otherwise untoward. The people had more than ample warning to disperse, the line moved slowly (giving the people every opportunity to leave of their own volition), force was restrained and minimal. People got arrested because at that point they made the choice to be. It certainly was not the situation we currently see unfolding in the US right now (which, if we are honest, the convoyers would have wanted for their side to perpetuate, if they could).

Historically, the mongers of violence and war have only been ended by stronger violence and better war strategies and resources. The whole take the higher road and tolerance thing is what got America into this current mess in the first place. These assholes are cowards and only come out when there are no consequences, but go back into hiding when there are.

People should not be punched in the nose for their race, religion, sexuality, gender, etc., basically who they are. People should be punched in the noise for being assholes, their bad behaviour.

I don’t want to change my life to revolve around someone else.