Exactly, is just straight up for fun. I'd argue they're safer too. You pay way more attention in a stick shift, looking ahead timing shifts with traffic flow, leaving space and coasting to red lights, and the extra speed control on steep windy mountain roads is amazing especially in the winter.

Was lucky to get a 2021 Crosstrek in a manual, which I guess Subaru doesn't do in Canada anymore, so it'll likely be the last ICE car I have. If I'm joining the zombie horde of alternating mashing gas or brake depending what's happening 10m in front of me I better at least get some torque out of it.

Believe it or not Kodak very much still exists. Film photography is in a resurgence, and plenty of movies are still shot in it. Also a large chemical division. Still nothing compared to its glory days though.

Where do you live, Chilliwack? Lol. I get it though heat sucks. I'm in Kelowna and bike whenever I can, but I'm not showing up to dinner or a meeting drenched. Errands or casual hangs though sure why not. It is a little less soupy humid here so even 40° isn't awful as long as you're moving and have a breeze.

Absolutely go do it! Riding a bike is one of the simplest joys in life once you get the hang of it. I live ripping around doing all my errands on it. I have a reasonably nice vehicle but really I only drive in the worst of the winter, or to get out of town to do some activity. In the summer that activity is usually mountain biking, go figure!

Knocking on the door of 40. I spent this week moving into my own new place after a decade of toxicity, so this one resonates with me as well.

And still is. I shoot a fair bit of black and white film. It's cheaper, I can develop it at home, it produces a silver negative that will last centuries. The medium itself had been around for a century, so it imparts a sense of timelessness. I appreciate a good photo that you can't tell if it's 1924 or 2024 until you notice some dude with a cellphone in the background.

There are also many ways to build a more efficient building envelope and insulation is one of the cheapest things that goes into a house. That makes the heat pumps even more viable in more climates.

I also love how people love to hate on heat pumps when there's so many shit box homes with electric baseboards wasting tons of power.

That's a good point actually. If meat and animal products weren't ridiculously subsidized and the price at the cashier reflected the true cost then there would be an overnight surge in veganism. Nobody would have the political will to completely tank massive well lobbied industries though, regardless of any long term benefit.

They changed the comic to point out veganism being a meaningful change compared to meatless Monday. While I agree it doesn't fit the context or intent of the comics original message, they aren't wrong. Like it or not at some point we all need to acknowledge that animal agriculture is one of the worst things we do to this planet. All they did was point that out and suggest that hey, maybe we should not do that.

The only attack is your reply. They didn't call you out as a self important, smug carnivore who huffs pig farts. It sounds more like you're being defensive at the notion that something you do has a negative impact, and it's easier to go "vegans preachy radical ideology, hurr durrr mah bacon!" than it is to confront the inconvenience that there are very real and surprisingly easy things you can do to bring about actual change in the world.

Thin sliced tofu, fried crispy in a skillet, tablespoon of both maple syrup and soy sauce, and a few drops of liquid smoke. I call it tofakeun. Seriously, try it.

Crosstrek is pretty awesome though. It's basically just an off-road lifted Impreza. I mountain bike and climb a bunch and some times get onto some pretty questionable roads. It's great to have something that handles that, but also feels more or less like a smallish 2.0l hatchback the rest of the time.

They are definitely getting bigger though this last year, and sad none of them are manual anymore. Luckily got the last model year that was

I'm an architect. It's nice having the project I'm actively working on always active on one screen, with design sketches, marked up revisions, email with comments from client, renderer etc. active on the other. Sure it only saves a second not having to tab back and forth, but if you're doing it non stop all day it makes a big difference. Also just less effort.

Nice view! Curious, what kind of insulation you're adding? To the interior it exterior?

Check out Fenix. I was super happy with my Fenix headlamp, so when the time came for a new bike light I was pleased to find they make solid options. Removable battery, good brightness, good adjustability to not blind others, used it road and mountain biking at night. Easily unclips from bar when you're leaving your bike locked up somewhere.

A bit vague but there's a handful of areas that more or less meet that description around Canada.

Snowboarder. It's just my favourite thing to do going on 15 years now. It's influenced where I chose to live, the friends I've made, sparked a passion for outdoors that lead to also being a backpacker, climber, mountain biker, and realize my whole thing is really just having fun flowing through nature.

Photographer. All that time in nature puts me in pretty places so I wanted to take landscapes. That's still my favourite genre, but I also go for random photo walks, am my social groups go to wedding photographer, document my own kid and family, collect and shoot old school film cameras, develop my own film even. I'm that random weird friend always walking around with a camera.

Sadly code minimums for newer builds haven't really changed drastically in decades. It's all just 2x6 with batt and poly, fundamentals the same as it has been since the 1970s. My 2019 build just had the shower lines freeze because they're against an exterior wall (-30 cold snap, but still).

You're probably right though that a heat pump is a better investment. Redoing the entire building envelope is a big ask if it's not deteriorating and needing work anyway.

That's a very good point, I'm sure most Israelis are lovely wonderful people despite the government and atrocities being committed. I bet most Palestinians are equally wonderful. Maybe we should be against indiscriminately killing them?

Damn there's a throwback. Annnnd I feel old now hah.

Yes, but also no. There are a bunch of other factors that contribute to a windows performance; manufacturer, type of gas used in the cavity, spacer material conductivity, thermal bridge free frame design, low e coatings and solar reflectance, and the quality of the installation matters most. Then there's the windows efficiency relative to the rest of the assembly. If it's a building code basic 2x4 wall from 1970 then you're absolutely right, it would be overkill putting some triple pane krypton filled window in. But if you've got a foot of exterior insulation and are pushing a u value of 0.13 on your wall assembly then you need windows to match.

Source: certified Passive House designer, the most demanding energy standard for buildings available, that originated in ..... yup you guessed it, Germany.

"gluteal crease" that's a new one for me, well done.

I think this is a huge part of the problem. Rental property owners are just a liability buffer for the banks. There should be mortgages at a 1% down payment for first time buyers with a proven track record of making rent payments on time. Maybe the rates are a little higher, with the extra interest giving the banks motivation for taking on the extra risk. Then after the first term the owner can renew with a normal rate.

Doesn't help with the demand issue, but maybe all the rentals will flood the market after nobody is being punished for not having $100k laying around because they're busy paying someone else's carrying costs.

I want to agree, and still do for some of their items, but personally have found a lot of their products have gone downhill in the last few years. Quality control is all over on the gloves nowadays, sent two pairs back with weird stitching and a single pencil point tapered finger on liners. I originally liked the vigor midlayer fleece stuff as a budget R1 but it's pilled and worn super fast and just isn't that warm anymore.

Their alpine merino base layer stuff is pretty awesome though, and found the ascent shell touring jacket nice and breathable for backcountry stuff. For the most part I'll just spend a bit extra and go for Patagonia moving forward, which of also consider a BIFL brand.

Got my grandpa's Minolta XE7 in the bag on my way to visit my daughter for the holidays. Not my oldest camera, but he's not around anymore so there's some nice sentiment capturing family moments with his camera. Security hand checked the film, no questions asked, so that's nice. Couple rolls of HP5 to push for inside, and some Gold 200 if we get some sunny weather.

Almost all desirable towns in BC are the same way. Revelstoke is another example of being a victim of its own success. Growing up I remember it basically being a truck stop off the highway. Now it's an outdoor playground mecca with housing prices rivaling Kelowna and Victoria.

Canada, and yeah when it comes to how we build we are definitely behind. Oil and gas is so entrenched in the economy, especially western provinces, that any going against that is blasphemy to a significant chunk of the population. It will get better though. We can already do better, the incentive just isn't there.

I'm a certified passive house designer and I'm always jealous of all the products and materials available in Europe!

It's not a distraction so much as it's the bait. Gas cooking gets the utility serviced to the building, which enables the gas furnace vs electric heat pump conversation. Gas furnace is cheaper up front, so that's what goes into suburbia.

Builders and developers will always do the absolutely cheapest thing possible to stay competitive, and will only do better when they're either legislated to or consumers demand it. Home builders associations lobby to keep minimum requirements ... minimal, and most consumers just see pretty showers and big kitchen islands, so this is why we still build houses like it's 1980.

Always amuses me how many people care about gas mileage on a $50k car but couldn't give two shits if their $2m home is efficient.

Source: I'm a home designer who frequently has this conversation and that's usually how it goes down.

Photography, mostly landscapes. Something satisfying about capturing the essence of a beautiful view and being able to share it with others who couldn't be there to savour the moment. Sometimes a fancy digital camera, sometimes old timey film cameras my grandpa got me into. I'm also into backpacking, climbing, splitboarding, and otherwise just spending time in the mountains so there's no shortage of views to capture.

I always find climbing and running to be such complimentary activities. Strength and cardio both covered between the two of them, and at their core all you really need is a pair of shoes for each.

Kitchen table is 1880ish? My mom got it from one of her first palliative patients who got it from their parents and had nobody else to leave it with when they passed. Use it daily and have it paired with some modern steel chairs ... it's a little eclectic around here.

I've got some straight razors as well. Pretty sure some of the Swedish ones go back to 1700s.

Yup, aka Shaggy Manes! Definitely edible, but they really do start to disintegrate into that inky black grossness soon after picking. Luckily they pop up in my yard all the time, so if I happen to notice they'll find their way into whatever I'm frying up. One of the few wild mushrooms I'm comfortable with eating since it's so distinct.

You're right, I sure hate my ghetto fourplex unit. For the price of a condo I have a small yard and garden that doesn't take all my time looking after, three bedrooms, a garage, street level access, and all in an established character neighborhood close to bike lanes and breweries. I'd totally rather be living in a box in the sky with no space and be aspiring to one day own a suburban single detached home that I'll probably never afford. Plus I hate that it offers density within the existing city footprint and infrastructure, I definitely prefer either concrete towers or massive homes sprawling out into nature. Affordable in between options that provide reasonable living situations utilizing resources we already have are definitely not a fix and should be banned!

/s on the hating it part if it wasn't obvious, I love my fourplex unit. Sarcasm aside, in what way is this not at least working to part of the solution? It took decades of investment properties, corporate buying, speculation holding, population growth, with a dash of COVID inflation to get us in this mess. There's no magic bullet solution, so anything that helps and without any apparent negatives can only be a good thing?

Edit: words are hard

Don't let this discourage anyone from trying. Yes it sounds absurd when put that way, and yes the costs are getting out of hand at most major resorts, but it can be an absolutely amazing sport/hobby/passion/lifestyle.

The first few times add up cost wise, hard to get around that, but once you figure out what you're doing and make the decision the sport is for you then it gets better. With a season pass and my own gear I'm <$30cad a day on the hill, and that's at a major BC resort.

Still a big wad of cash for gear and a pass up front, and definitely coming from a privileged lens to say that it's affordable, but lots of people spend way more than that on take out, coffee, booze, streaming services, etc. All about priorities!

I don't see why not, provided you have the geography to make it work.

So a water source heat pump tapping into mine shafts, neat. Run the heat pump off wind or solar, have a decent thermal envelope to lower overall demand, voila emission free heating and cooling. Sounds promising to me.

It's like the odd time I drive an automatic after decades with a manual ... always mashing the floor and popping it in neutral by accident.

Film photography. With smartphones having taken over the roll of point and shoots and covering the majority of people's photography needs, it's quite a different experience breaking out a half century old camera. Everything is more tactile, your shots are finite, and the result is a 100% determined by your decisions. Different films produce different results, and if you get into developing your own film you get to play mad chemist in the bathroom.

There's a learning curve, but if you're already into photography and understand the basics it's really not that hard. Labs still exist to develop for you if you'd rather not go down that rabbit hole. The results may surprise you!

A few more for you that I don't think I've seen mentioned: Kalaido Tycho Worakls The Cinematic Orchestra

Wildfires had my place on evacuation alert, the garbage dump was on fire with 800+ AQI index, so I said fuck this and got out of town for the weekend. Two hours later I got the Amazon delivery notification. World was burning and couldn't breathe, but Amazon finds a way.

I'm sure the picture I'm creating in my head is way more majestic than the reality was, but It's beautiful. Sounds like after the fanny pack and socks he just said fuck it and leaned into it hard.

Lower Manitoba 😂 so that makes Saskatchewan into Northest Dakota and the Okanagan is Upper California?