sbv

I thought I was being clever, putting the litter box on wheels so I could slide it out from under the stairs, but I have inadvertently created a Mad Max-esque vehicle which my cat uses to roll around the house, dragging himself with his front paws, the entire time shitting.

I got suckered. I saw some posts about how men don't take care of their skin, and how it has more of an effect as we age. So I thought, what's the harm? Let's give it a try!

Welp, after five days of putting a tiny bit of moisturiser on my face, I have a couple of tiny pimples on my nose. I haven't had zits in decades, and here we are. I stopped applying the moisturiser a couple of weeks ago and I'm still getting those zits.

Thanks skincare.

I was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful motorway. Six months into my incarceration, this is what I have learned

Not directly related to climate change, but Just Stop Oil has been in the news a lot.

Briefly describes why:

as a rule, the older you are in Canada, the more likely your income is higher than the previous generation’s at that age; and the younger you are, the more likely your income is lower than the previous generation’s at that age. Therefore, it’s just as reasonable for a young Canadian today to believe they’ll end up poorer than their parents’ generation as it is for their parents to believe they’re entitled to live better than their predecessors did

Which leads to

young Canadians, are gloomier than ever, with so many feeling so down about their economic future that they’re turning against democracy. Surveys reveal that increasingly, young people are showing greater openness to authoritarian leaders who threaten to break a system they already see as failing them. This echoes research in many developed democracies, revealing a growing radicalism and anti-system sentiment among young voters.

Original: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-why-youre-miserable-weve-grown-too-comfortable-on-the-booming-riches/

Money laundering has been an embarrassing part of the Canadian economy for decades, and contributed to the Vancouver housing bubble (at least). Weirdly, we seem to be making money laundering one of our exports.

Here's a quote:

Canada’s role in the international narcotics trade has been a subject of intense domestic scrutiny over the past decade. In 2022, the Cullen Commission warned about the “enormous volume of illicit funds” being filtered through the British Columbia economy, an amount estimated in the billions of dollars. Yet money laundering charges are rare, the commission found, because “police conducting investigations into profit-oriented criminal activity, such as drug dealing, are not investigating these offences.”

Original link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-canada-border-trump-drug-crime/

I'm looking for an electric heater for my office. Ideally it'd be really quiet. The office is well insulated, so it doesn't need to get too hot.

Can you recommend a brand and model?

I remember someone posting a great Android recipe app a while ago, but I can't remember the name of it.

The feature that caught my interest was being able to download a recipe from free form pages.

Anyone got a suggestion?

A motion from the Bloc will increase benefits for affluent retirees, to be paid for by younger (and poorer) Canadians. The advocacy group for Canadian seniors has proposed a much fairer alternative;

[Canadian Association of Retired Persons's proposal] would strengthen OAS, help younger Canadians, reduce the deficit and save Parliament. This would enable MPs to make the most significant improvement to generational fairness in the federal budget in my professional lifetime – rather than play political games by proroguing Parliament or launching an early election.

...

In my previous column, I costed out some options. The government could start to claw back OAS at an individual income threshold of $70,000 or a household income of $90,000. These alternatives would free up $12-billion and $48-billion, respectively, over the next five years.

Original link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/young-money/article-a-plan-to-strengthen-oas-help-younger-canadians-and-reduce-the-deficit/

The federal Liberals and Conservatives want to "solve" the housing crisis by making it easier for builders to build new units.

Sadly, with interest rates and construction prices at current levels, it seems unlikely that private companies will be able to provide the 3.5 million houses we need to restore affordability.

We need all levels of government to start building housing, not just wait for white knights from the private sector to ride in and save our middle class dreams.

Residential property developers are facing rising insolvencies as they struggle with higher borrowing and construction costs – and industry experts warn the trend is likely to worsen as interest expenses remain elevated.

...

At this pace, Canada is on track to reach about 240 real estate insolvencies this year, which would be 57-per-cent higher than 2023 and 13-per-cent higher than 2009, when a wide swath of businesses ran into problems owing to the financial crisis and global recession.

...

And that does not include the number of developers and projects that have been forced into receivership for not paying bills. The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy does not include receiverships with its publicly available bankruptcy statistics. However, insolvency experts say they are seeing more projects go into receivership.

So far this year, the real estate sector accounts for 55 per cent of the receiverships recorded by Insolvency Insider Canada, a website that tracks the largest insolvencies in the country. That compares to 30 per cent last year and 33 per cent in 2022.

...

Today, the cost of residential construction is 81-per-cent higher across Canada’s major cities compared to 2017 and more than double – up 107 per cent – in the Toronto region, according to Statscan data.

I try to collect conversation starters so I have things to talk about with people I like.

Some of them are general and work on anyone, like: "I'm moving soon!" or "how was your weekend?" or "did you see that ludicrous display last night?". Others deal with shared interests or common friends, so they're person specific.

What's a word to describe collecting conversation starters? Borrowing from other languages is legit.

... some kid in the daycare has lice.

We went through this a couple of years ago: one kid had a tonne of lice in his hair, my wife got infested and ended up shaving her head. The other kid and I lucked out.

Regardless of what happens, we've got some short summer haircuts in our future.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15835822

Door of Durin by poppel

https://teia.art/objkt/769117/listings