Akuchimoya
This is just one example of why Canada should not cozy up to China, as some have suggested in recent weeks. China is not an ally to Canada, to freedom, to democracy, or to human righta. We should never forget that their government held Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig hostage. That’s just what they’ve done to specific Canadians, they’ve done much worse to other people groups (Tibetans, Uighur) and their own citizens. As far as feasible, we should be avoiding China the way we are avoiding the USA. China is more enemy than friend.
I don’t believe nothing will change. I do believe Musk will capture communications and use it to monitor people he believes are his biggest enemies, then use it to best-case blackmail them, worst-case have them arrested in trumped-up (no pun intended) charges.
Random unknown people are being kidnapped, tortured, and sold internationally as slaves by the government. These are the cases we know about because they are getting to the media. How many are not getting through the Right-supporting media? Do we really think actual opponents aren’t just waiting targets?
Librarians go to school to learn how to manage information, whether it is in book format or otherwise. (We tend to think of libraries as places with books because, for so much of human history, that’s how information was stored.)
They are not supposed to have more information in their heads, they are supposed to know how to find (source) information, catalogue and categorize it, identify good information from bad information, good information sources from bad ones, and teach others how to do so as well.
I had to tell a bunch of librarians that LLMs are literally language models made to mimic language patterns, and are not made to be factually correct. They understood it when I put it that way, but librarians are supposed to be “information professionals”. If they, as a slightly better trained subset of the general public, don’t know that, the general public has no hope of knowing that.
I never really got into tea because I always found the flavour disappointing compared to its aroma. But I recently tried yerba maté, which isn’t a tea but definition, but is similar. It’s made from the leaves and stems of Holly and has a strong, bitter flavour that definitely does not disappoint. It’s enjoyed in places like Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil. Now I start my day with a mug of coffee, then sip on maté the rest of the day.
This is insanity. I’m glad she’s safe here in Canada and edit: HOPE she will be granted status to stay and complete her PhD that she’s almost done. It sounds like Srinivasan is the kind of person we want to welcome here: intelligent, hard working, slides with justice.
I hope Canada will continue to be a safe place for people who work hard for a better life not just for themselves, but others also.
Personally, I’m not sure we can assume there will be an election in four years. Or if there is one, that it won’t be an “election”, like in Russia.
(Likewise, if the US ever did take over Canada by force, I’m sure we would be a territory like Puerto Rico and not have a vote.)
I had a booking/confirmation number and everything. I even showed the CC statement from my phone, which also had the booking number, too, but the counter agent didn’t have the ability to change it even though he could see my name and seat on the flight. I had no time left, so I paid again and ran to security and then to the gate.
At least the the counter agent gave me a voucher for the trouble. I got myself a beer on the plane with it, because I needed it at that point!