A week ago we were on a 400km drive. In that time there were 2 completely separate fatal accidents along our route. Both were caused by excessive speeding. Not just 10 or 20km over the speed limit but excessive. One was figured to be going more than double the speed limit. One of the assholes took another innocent driver with them. I have changed by opinion on speed cameras and red light cameras because even on city streets so many drivers think that whatever speed they want to do is ok and they don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else on the road. Unless drivers improve, I think every technological means necessary should be used to tackle them.

Since half of Americans are functionally illiterate, how would they read for fun?

They need to get their timing right so that the red states can’t sneak in even more redistricting.

Since Trump has decided that no US laws apply to him, nor does the Constitution, and the Supreme Court tends to back him up, it is strange that Americans think that they have any legal rights. The law now exists only to further Trumps personal wishes.

Whatever it takes for me to be able to get away and nothing beyond that. That could be a single punch, it could be a gun shot. All depends on the circumstances at the time. The point is “only what is necessary for me to escape”.

Yeah that’s how American children get killed “breaking” back into their homes after sneaking out.

One of my pet peeves is how many new things do not come with a manual and I have to go and find one. I am one of the fortunate ones who can learn by reading and then trying. It seems that many cannot.

Given that the (Norwegian) Fish Farms on the coast of BC almost annihilated the natural salmon due to the lice and other ecosystem damage, something to destroy the lice might be a little bit helpful. Although it might only be helpful to the penned fish and not the surrounding environment.

Anyone surprised?

I tried watching South Park years ago and it wasn’t for me. Funny though that many of the more conservative people I know, who embraced the show for years, now think it isn’t funny since they are on the receiving end of its humour.

USA should be white. They don’t even get up to light blue status.

As a non-American I sum it up as this: For the last 50 years (that I am old enough to know about) Democrats don’t have the answer so they are bad. Republicans don’t have the answer but will lie to us every minute of the day to keep us happy so they are good. Then Americans wonder why their country is about to implode.

I really hope that many companies, not American ones of course, decide that the 100% tariff is fine for Americans to pay, and create all their chips in any other country in the world for the rest of the world to use.

I’m none of those however I believe they are right to view it negatively. The rest of us should be just a wary.

Skill to do a job is important. However it seems that many younger people do not believe that interpersonal skills are a necessary skill because they haven’t learned them. Some have much more difficulty learning them or are completely unable to learn them due to neuro differences. They have a choice to either learn interpersonal skills or find work that is isolated where others don’t have to interact with them directly in order to do their jobs. Workplace accommodations can only go so far in helping if other people must interact with them in order to do their jobs. People in the workplace have always had to figure out how to work effectively with others. If they cannot, they have had to find other types of work that don’t require working directly with people. What’s new is expecting others to conform to individual needs instead of individuals conforming to the groups needs. Could you take a socializing class to learn the basics and get out of your current comfort zone? Your coworkers don’t need you to become their best friend but they do need to feel that they are not working with a robot. (I say this as someone who had to figure it out pre-internet. I was labelled Officious & Cold in one of my first employment reviews.)

Is the article wrong? Biased?

I had friends 40 years ago in their early 20s that were adamant that they never wanted kids. Some of them stayed that way and are going into retirement childless and most of them are happy with their decision. A few aren’t but can’t do anything about it. The others discovered, that with with right person, they did want kids and are just as happy. Hard to say which you will be. I know a few young women banking eggs in case they change their mind 10+ years from now and want to have biological children. Can you bank sperm to hedge your bet?

Trump has been “sinking” trade negotiations with Canada every week with whatever excuse he makes up at that moment. He isn’t negotiating. He’s trying to force us to join his awful country. Why have an agreement anyway? The last one, that he negotiated and said was the best ever, he blithely ignored as soon as he wanted to. I expect he will honor all the new agreements in exactly the same way. There is a long line of contractors in the US that can attest to the fact that he never honours his agreements.

Personally I believe the world was a better place before the Internet existed. It was more personal, more local. The billionaire tech class was created by the Internet and are actively damaging the world for their own personal gain. Good mental health is almost non-existent for those who are always online - and that is a purposeful construct so that they will be online more and create even more revenue for the tech billionaires. The initial romantic notion that the internet would provide education and information and connection has been dwarfed by the damage it has caused. The most ‘internet raised generation - Gen Z’ is notoriously disconnected and isolated compared to previous generations. In short, if the Internet ceased to exist tomorrow, a decade from now the world would probably be a better place.

I really wish I knew that when I was in my teens and 20s holding down 2 jobs to barely make ends meet with 40% of my income going to my share of a shitty illegal basement suite’s rent and another 25% going to students loan payments at 12% & 15%, that I was a “have”. Eventually things started to pay off in my 30s and at 60 I might be able to retire at 65. It has felt like 45 years of continuous slog so it feels really off that some kid is complaining that after going to their ‘dream university’ and ‘travelling the world on cheap flights’, and ‘door dashing every meal’ with a ‘continuous supply of Amazon or Temu’ being delivered, is the hard done by one. Or maybe, not everyone in every generation is in the same predicament. I know plenty of people older and younger who have done exceptionally well and plenty who have scraped by their whole lives. If you buy into everyone older than me had it easy, you will never be happy in life. Every generation has it’s own struggles. Every generation has people who never struggled.