I can’t believe it took Starfleet that long to figure out what Nustopher took. Do they not have inventory in the future?!?!

I’m pretty sure Caleb didn’t mean the things he said to Darem and Genesis. He was trying to convince them (and himself) to leave. That’s why Sam said he’s full of shit.

Truly, I don’t understand why, but there are fully grown adults who believe that anything an LLM says is true. Maybe they think computers are unbiased (which is only as true as programmers and data are unbiased); maybe its the confidence with which LLMs deliver information; maybe they believe the program actually searches and verified information; maybe it’s all of the above and more.

I know a guy who routinely says, “I asked ChatGPT…”, and even after having explained how LLMs are complex word predictors and are not programmed for factual truth, he still goes to ChatGPT for everything. It’s a total refusal to believe otherwise, but I can’t fathom why.

Did you apply for your passport from outside Canada? The current price of that is $260.

To be pedantic, Ake was there, too. (She said the Doctor and Sam were not the only ones who spent 17 years on Kasq.)

But to be not pedantic, I thought the exact same thing. What kind of resilience building experiences could she have had in that environment? Falling and hurting her knee? I feel that one is the biggest tantrums (some) kids have are over food, and Sam doesn’t even eat. Reading does increase people capacity for empathy, so there is that opportunity for her, but even so, there’s a vast difference between sympathy and resilience.

I hope they actually fill this in in a reasonable way. Even though this episode was beautiful in some ways it still had some glaring problems.

You’ve written into your mind that he was a competitive asshole before the academy, but the entire point is he was not like that until he got to the academy. He had to be perfect for his parents, not an asshole. You’ve decided that perfect = asshole, but that is not supported. You can watch that episode again and listen to what he says about his parents.

We’ve known very little about Khionian society till now. Darem was competing hard with Genesis because his parents would, if we believe he was being truthful, leave when he made a mistake. That’s what that episode was about: him dealing with the insecurities caused by his parents’ neglect (and realizing there was another way). He and Genesis had a bonding moment over living up to their parents’ expectations. They wouldn’t even call him back, hence his going to Reno saying his PADD was broken as it wasnt receiving calls. And Reno saw through the situation and talked about people who do show up for him, referring to Genesis.

I understand why they didn’t want to put all the time (and money) into everyone’s make up, but, story-wise, that was pretty inexcusable.

I mean, have you really never met anyone who’s one way around some people, and another way with others? We should all be so lucky! I’ve had co-workers who are total assholes to colleagues, but become simping ass-kissers in front of higher-ups. Or kids who are angels at home and absolute terrors at school. Or the other around: they’re angels at school and terrors at home.

Darem was sweet, deferential, and dutiful for Kaira (and his parents’ approval), and then he let himself loose for the first time at the academy when he didn’t have any of that baggage on him. That’s not at all different from kids who grow up in strict homes, then basically go hog-wild when they go off to college, and then later grow out of that wild phase.

Personally, I hope Jay-Den and Darem become/stay close friends. I think boys and men need more close, intimate, platonic friendships as a whole.

The change in Darem was the whole point of the Calica/prank episode. He went from needing to be the best (because of his parent issues) to apologizing to Genesis, supporting her as their team leader (with the prank as well), and telling his parents he’s found another way.

With the Miyazaki episode, he immediately gave Genesis credit for the idea of how to find the cloaked ship, and while he didn’t have lines for it, when she was getting frustrated with the search, his body language and gestures were essentially encouraging her.

Yes, even cheap clip on ones from a hardware store will do it. They also provide eye strain relief from watching tv and screen time, too

Hello Karim, what are you most recommended/most stay-away-from-this experiences in Toronto (and area) so far?

If in doubt, you can check your immunity along your normal bloodwork. I asked my doc to check, it was just an extra requisition/vial.

I had to get the full dose (two shots, not just a booster of one) because I had no immunity, even though I had both shots as a child. Immunity can wane over decades.

I, for one, am a fan of bringing back the ascot. (but perhaps not during the height of the summer months.)

I understand where you’re coming from, but, to put it plainly, this show is not meant for you. Media reflects the times; Enterprise is the way it was because of 9/11. Academy is for the young people of today who have grown up in and are facing an increasingly bleak and hostile future. They will have to fight for a better future, because the one that is being handed to them is a dumpster fire. A show that shows them a better future is attainable and models how to do it is what they need, not a fantasy that is unobtainable.

ICE is even killing white American citizens in broad daylight while being recorded. You’re right that they should be recognizing treaties, but we should also be recognizing the reality that that’s something beyond America’s grasp right now, and that no one, but especially “exception” cases who are visibly non-white, should be going to the US for their own safety.

I understand what you mean, but life is not binary and it doesn’t have to always be all-in. “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” We can still enjoy good things and incremental improvements even if they’re not perfect or ideal. A tool doesn’t have to be perfect for 100% of situations for it to still be useful.

Obviously, you don’t care for the device, and I’m not trying to convince you to get something you don’t want—and I note you haven’t tried. But I am saying we should (in life, in general) consider options for improvements even if they’re not perfect.

I can clear a double driveway with an electric shovel/snow thrower. It depends on the battery and, of course, the length of the driveway. But we’re taking Brampton, not an estate house.

The thing is you have to do it before the snow is higher than the face of the shovel, so you might have to go out twice or even three times (while it’s still snowing and once when it’s done) instead of only doing one pass at the end with a significantly larger snow blower.

There are other shortcomings compared to a snow blower, such as it only throws the snow in front of itself; you can’t direct it otherwise. So you have to think about how you’re going to physically do the task. Also, I find it’s not as effective when the snow is wet.

Overall, though, if a snow blower is not feasible for whatever reason, it’s a decent option for lessening the physical burden of snow shoveling, but definitely not eliminating it.

Around two or three years ago, I was on a sales call/app demo as a potential customer–not for TikTok, of course. It’s an American company and I’m based in Canada. I asked the sales guy about their data storage, encryption, privacy, and the like; he didn’t know. I said I needed to know that if our group uses the application to communicate internally about, for example, helping refugees, the government won’t be able to access it. The guy asked me if that really was a concern.

Well, you tell me now, sales guy, is it really a concern?

Turning off the targeted ads settings indeed prevents Google from showing you overtly targeted ads. It makes no claim that it prevents Google from harvesting the same data that is used to target ads