There is a pervasive idea on the internet that the popular vote is the “real” vote, compared to constituency-based voting. I don’t find that to be a helpful attitude, especially when applied selectively. We live in a representative democracy, not a direct democracy. The House of Commons is a constituent assembly, which is a valid and reasonable form of democratic representation. The election system could be changed to better reflect the popular vote, but the popular vote is not automatically more valid than the constituency-based system. There are pros and cons to both, with constiuency-based voting typically giving somewhat more weight to under-populated areas.

The fact is that the UK voted for Brexit, directly and indirectly, multiple times and in multiple ways using its long-established voting system. There is no way to escape responsibility. Indeed, being a democracy, the citizens of the UK are ALSO responsible for their own voting system.

No, I didn’t know that was an option. Cool idea, though. No pun intended, but I’ll take it.

I just had to buy a new gas furnace and air conditioner, so, with my mind on global warming, I asked the furnace guy what it would cost to put in a heat pump. He said he has put in quite a few, but the costs have gone way up. He also said that in our climate I would need an electric back-up furnace for winter because a heat pump loses efficiency quickly at temps below -15C. The cost was going to be around $30,000, compared to $15,000 for the new gas furnace and AC. Also, electricity in Ontario is an incredibly expensive way to heat, so that would be a big extra monthly cost in the winter. An in-ground geothermal system would be about $65,000, he said.

It isn’t hard to see why gas is still popular, and that it will continue to be far into the future unless we undertake some kind of national project to replace our fossil fuel infrastructure with nuclear for the needed electricity and then convert our cars and homes over to full electric.

David Cameron may have gambled on the referendum but he still only had one vote in it. The citizens of the UK as a whole own the results. Also, as I recall, there were two elections after the referendum in which UK citizens doubled-down on Brexit by returning the Conservatives to government with landslide victories.

Also, anti-EU sentiment is one thing and may be common in various EU countries from time to time. However, voting for separation is quite another.

In any case, with such sustained support for the Tories post-referendum, it’s hard to lay the blame for Brexit at anyone’s feet except the UK citizenry itself.

HRTO certainly has a large backlog. The backlog has doubled in the last 6 years to 9,527 cases according to the latest HRTO annual report. To put that backlog number in context, only 40 cases received a substantive final decision in 2023/24, and that was actually a large percentage increase in decisions compared to the previous few years. Prior to the pandemic, though, the HRTO was making about 100 decisions per year, so one wonders if the backlog itself has slowed down the ability to make substantive decisions because staff are too busy managing the backlog and trying to clarify a massive number of low quality claims.

Many COVIDiots filed human rights cases that clogged up the system a few years ago, though I’m not sure if those cases are still in the system or if the HRTO disposed of them en masse at some point. The annual report showed that dismissals without hearing have also doubled. Regardless, human rights complaints about mask mandates and vaccination were well-publicized and made people realize that the HRTO could be a vehicle for all kinds of new complaints.

Unlike a civil law suit, making a human rights complaint is free and does not expose the complainant to civil liability for costs. Nor do most complainants need or avail themselves of legal representation because the HRTO provides a lot of free assistance to complainants. (That said, the amount of support provided has also decreased recently due to the backlog, so the number of abandoned claims has also increased.) In any case, it is easy to make frivolous and vexatious claims with no legal advice because there is no cost and no risk in doing so. At the same time, the backlog and pressures in the system make it equally difficult to get legitimate claims adjudicated in a timely fashion. While we obviously need a barrier-free system for making legitimate human rights complaints, such systems are easily abused. With no costs or risks, the current system is the perfect vehicle for making unfounded accusations to intimidate defendants, cast aspersions, and entangle them in legal proceedings.

As I said above, we need barrier-free (or at least low-barrier) systems for human rights claims, but barrier-free systems always break down when they are gamed in large numbers. Backlogs create serious problems for legitimate claimants as they block access to timely justice and create administrative barriers for unsophisticated and unrepresented claimants. I’m not sure what the solution is, but the current system isn’t working for anyone.

I just started playing Caves of Qud. It has two modes: rogue mode with perma-death and rpg mode where it saves at a checkpoint you can set. Having both options is nice.

I like this style of game, so I’ll definitely be trying Moonring, too.

Fair enough. I chose to read it as Nordic rather than Scandinavian given the extent of the map.

Yup. I had no problem with snaps or Ubuntu until I saw that underhanded bullshit.

Finland. Because they were total bad asses in the Winter War. Finnish ski troopers versus thousands of Soviet tanks in -40 weather? Fuck yeah.

Also, the Finnish sauna is the best sauna.

Yes, you are right. I had never put it together that Dutch and Deutch are so close, but it’s obvious now that you pointed it out. Thanks for the info.

Dutch is the English name for the dominant language of the Netherlands, and in English we often name people after their language. The Netherlands is also called Holland in English, even though Holland is just the most economically-dominant sub-region of the Netherlands, and the location of its main trading ports, rather than the whole country. Which makes sense if you are an English sailor who only knows the Netherlands through its trading ports and has little need to go inland.

My apologies. It was not my intention to be condescending. Perhaps it is my writing style. Anyway, didn’t mean to offend. Have a good night.

Sorry, are you saying that rain barrel water is recommended? Rain water does contain some dissolved and suspended material that it picks up in the atmosphere. Rain is one of the main ways that atmospheric dust, micro-organisms, and some gases are deposited back to earth. However, not all of the suspended material is electrically conductive. That’s why your rain barrel water can be green-tinted but still have low EC. Sometimes rain barrel water also contains harmful things if the water is collected from your roof, such as E. coli from the faeces of birds. That’s why you aren’t supposed to drink it.

Rain barrel water is good in that it is free, and is also preferable if you have a salt-based water softener. Tap water varies by city. Calgary’s tap water is quite neutral. Some cities have a pH that is much higher, and many people still have lead service lines so may not want to use their tap water.

For growing weed, you ideally want to start with neutral, low-EC water and then add your nutrients. If you are growing outdoors in a garden with amended soil, you don’t typically need anything except plain water, whether from the tap or from a rain barrel.

That isn’t surprising. Both the dissolved solids in the city’s water supply and the chlorine they use to disinfect the water will increase electrical conductivity.

I want to do the same, but I’m on the fence between Nobara and Bazzite.

The act of transmitting a digital file does not directly cause harm to anyone, but by creating a demand for it, you are in turn driving an industry that violates the rights of people in order to keep supplying it.

We already know that people are killed in order to feed the black market for transplantable organs, so why would we allow an industry with all of the same risks to exist purely for the sake of art?

I think you may be making a logical error here. Wanting or needing a transplant, or buying sneakers, or any other consumer product for which there is a legitimate and legal supply chain, does not make you responsible for any parallel illegal/unethical/immoral supply chain. There are black market supply chains for everything from food and basic necessities to luxury goods. There is no fool-proof way to ensure that ANY product you purchase didn’t derive at least partially from an immoral supply chain. It is impossible to track all products that closely. The fault is not with the consumer but rather with the immoral supply chain participants. Don’t take away the agency of those who participate in such things.

Could be. I’ve seen a copy the original one, which may have just been called Brass. I can’t quite recall.

Brass: Birmingham - the art quality and dark Victorian aesthetic of the board and cards are evocative of the early industrial revolution. This game also gets the “most improved” award, when compared to the original edition. The add-on iron clays are fantastic. The other components are very average though.

War of the Ring - beautifully painted over-sized cards

Pax Pamir: top notch, unique components and a cool cloth board, but the card design could be better.

Everdell for the card art, of course. They give you the feeling that there is a story behind the game.

Beyond the Sun. Just kidding. It’s a great game but the art is pretty much non-existent.

Sometimes the manager/foreman/supervisor is just the team member who is willing to be that interface between the frontline workers and senior management. The best middle managers are those who can thread that needle to the satisfaction of both groups.

I agree with you thst managers shouldn’t consider themselves smarter than anyone else. Quite the opposite. Particularly when managing professionals or others with extensive knowledge, I’m a big believer in the concept of servant leadership. That’s where you lead by inspiring the group to come up with ideas and then shaping, coordinating, and supporting those ideas through to a successful outcome.

I will never understand why these corporations spend big bucks on this cringe. I’ve been to one such event and I was shocked. What’s worse is that long-serving people said you had to act as if you were enjoying it or else you’d hear from your manager afterwards. Imagine a bunch of middle-aged men at a sales conference shaking their hips and pretending to enjoy a cheesy rap battle. What an utterly soul crushing, suicidal-thought-inducing experience. I can’t tell if senior management actually believes that this sort of corporate cringe is inspiring, or if they do it purposely to crush your soul and make you into a servile automaton. Are they out of touch or is it an Orwellian power move?