The difference between now and 18 months ago is that the shape of the dems had already formed. The groups on the different tracks were already tied down.

Who is the 2028 candidate?

There is time now to pressure the dems to pull Palestine off thier leg of the track.

It isn’t the trolly problem… yet.

It’s fair and appropriate for you to be urging caution, and to be sharing how high the stakes are. I do sincerely appreciate it.

I had a buddy in Finland telling me AB separation is making news… in FINLAND.

In an era of a crazy doom news cycle, I just want to try and put this one to bed. This particular story isn’t worth the sweat, especially with all the other things that are.

And who knows. Maybe something will take a left turn and suddenly this becomes realer. Just right now, it isn’t.

Lol

Greenland polling had twice as many people in definitive support for joining the US than AB has of becoming independent. Nobody was interpretating that result as a “close enough to be concerned”.

It’s also worth noting, that since the USA has piped up on the topic of AB separation, support for separation has actually gone down.

I’m not necessarily trying to diminish your stance, only trying to put it into a more global perspective.

People making Brexit comparisons… I don’t think it’s a reasonable comparison based on the popular concept of identity. While the benefits of membership were contentious between stay/leave camps, “identity” was not really a factor… across the board, a negligible amount of anyone, stay or leave, saw the EU as part of thier identity. Identity is complex in the UK as it stands, are you more British, Welsh, English? A londoner? There already was less competitive identity space for an EU identity.

In contrast, Albertans broadly identify as Canadian. Even in the slivers of percentages of people who aren’t fully committed to staying, it’s still high. To leave would mean sacrificing part of thier identity. When push comes to shove, that’s generally a non starter, regardless of the topic.

There will be no separation. Honestly, I’d be surprised if it even manages to get to the point of referendum. The referendum would be AT LEAST a supermajority “stay”. You can’t Sabre rattle once you’ve shown the world you have no Sabre. The leverage afforded by the threat is the political value. Why throw one of your best political tools in the garbage?

Just because it’s not confusing to you, because you have access to additional context, doesn’t mean it isn’t intrinsically confusing.

What is written is essentially “go online to go offline”.

I frequently ask my people to shout out thier ideas to brainstorm. “The first idea will be the worst. We’ll iterate on it. Let’s get the worst idea out quickly”

This message smacks of “the first, worst, idea”

I’ll propose a second idea:

“Sign in to decrypt offline files”

Is it good? Still no. Is it better? Probably. What would you propose as a third iteration?

AB separation is such a non story.

“Definitely leave” is at 8%

“Definitely stay” is at 57%.

Even if all “lean leave” “lean stay” and “unsures” magically end up saying “leave”, there is still a healthy majority saying stay.

Nobody should be talking about AB separation as if it’s a serious thing.

That’s true.

I think it did well with insufferably impractical billionaire man-children who have no qualms with associating themselves with people who throw heil hitlers around. Gonna be real, my inner man-child loves it. Unfortunately too practical, a man of limited funds, and a strong distaste for Nazis put it out of my zone.

I think they just really forgot that when you pick “the person” they shouldn’t suck.

Maybe “The very reverse of anything agreeable”?

It’s an interesting concept/principle that can be generalized.

Games, software, vehicles, etc etc… usually turn out best if they’re made for someone specific.

If you try and make a vehicle for someone who frames houses, a poor college student, a soccer mom, AND a high power coke snorting stock broker who uses material possessions to signal wealth… what kind of vehicle to you end up with? One that doesn’t meet any of thier needs. Trying to please too many people results in a bland product that delights no one.

If you can pick a few people, and delight them with your design, and accept that it’s not for EVERYONE… you might end up being surprised by how many people you didn’t even expect will love it too.

It’s a hard sell once you go corporate. Saying “fuck 'em, the game isn’t for X” is a tough sell if corporate says “yah well X has money to spend, and we want it”

I’m fine with arbitrary units but I demand a rigorous justification of the error methodology

To be fair, what a lot of these athletes do in the pool (for artistic events) don’t really look like swimming, either.

I feel like regardless of the experience of the lifeguard, the earliest definitive assessment that the athlete is in distress would come from thier trainers or coaches. It’s thier job to analyze every movement of the athlete.

The other skills of the lifeguard… physically trained and skilled to retrieve someone quickly and safely, that’s what they’re bringing to the table.

How many total felony convictions?

Hockey go fast curling twirl good

Ah I posted it but under my own comment like an idiot.

I’m Canadian.

I was visiting a friend in Texas in 2015. They were out for the day so I was just kinda wandering around in the afternoon.

Found myself belly up to a bar, chit chatting with the bartenders. Shooting the shit, having a great time. Trump came on the TV and I commented what a knob he was.

The bartender said something somber, like “Yeah if he wins, we all are gonna have to go home”

I sincerely didn’t understand why. I was like “What… he’s going to close the bars??” The guy was like “No… we will have to go home”

Again, I was like “what the fuck are you talking about”

Buddy looks at me like I’m from outer space. I look at him the same way.

He just slowly says “We’re… all… Mexican”. The whole body of staff is gravitating towards the unfolding scene.

“How the hell was I supposed to know that?” I asked. He was like “Isn’t it obvious?”. No? Like they had dark hair. Is everyone with dark hair Mexican?

He was like “did you walk by any construction sites today?”. Yes, I had. “Think back, did the foreman look different than everyone else?”. Now that is really thought back… yeah. He was like, ginger.

At this point, like 10 of the staff are watching me come to the realization, in real time, that I’ve been surrounded by Mexicans like the whole day and no part of my brain registered it.

I don’t even really remember exactly what I said next… but it would have been along the lines of “I’m from Canada. My brain isn’t even wired to distinguish a Mexican from anyone else.” I’m really confused. I’m basically apologizing.

At that point they just burst out laughing. Basically surrounded at this point. They poured me a shot. Then another. They told me my bill was covered. We kept shooting the shit for a few more hours. They kept teasing me for not being able to recognize a Mexican. A relatively famous band was playing there later that night, and they snuck me back to listen to them warming up.

To this day, I still don’t really understand how Americans can distinguish Mexicans. It must be a learned “skill”. It was pretty eye opening talking to them… the fatigue of being treated as “lesser”… even “distinct”. We had a good time.

Americans apparently have a very learned eye to distinguish who’s white or not.

Had a bizarre interaction in Texas once where I couldn’t tell an entire staff was Mexican? My bad. Hijinx ensued. Owner was on the hook for my meal/drinks.

Ugh, wanted to buy… but I am Nanni

Why would it?

This pattern has existed since before Trump in that district. Leans right at federal level, leans left at state level.

Assumption is slowly sliding more right at the federal level… but also sliding more right at the state level. At 38% of the vote Daigle had the best republican showing in 20 years.

This result isn’t a directional divergence. That would maybe raise an eyebrow.