Melatonin is quite commonly used as a sleep aid for children on the autism spectrum, or with ADHD, etc. Disrupted sleep, or insomnia can be a big problem and lead to a greater difficulty for children to handle stress or stimulus and can lead to a lot more meltdowns or difficulties with things they can otherwise handle. We used it regularly with our son (as recommended by a doctor) and it made a world of difference for his sleep and then his ability to handle the next day.

“Its in the game!”… Ads, that is.

Awesome! Isn’t that always the way. People, agencies and governments love to put their name on new and shiny projects, but never want to fund labor or upkeep. I work for a non-profit and a big part of my job is begging for money to help us maintain the amazing infrastructure we have, but get very little support to upkeep.

I’ve spent a lot of time visiting Roseau and Warroad in my life, so it’s always nice to meet an American neighbor in the wilds of the internet. Manitoba is actually a cool place to visit, and your dollar goes a lot further. Come up to Winnipeg for a weekend and you’d be surprised how much more there is to do now than even a decade a go. It’s food and music scene is awesome.

Howdy Neighbor, you could always move a little further north. We’ve got lots of people driving EVs up here in Winnipeg! I’m kidding, but there is at least some charging infrastructure coming rurally here in Manitoba, and you are starting to see a lot of commuters using them for 100+ km (one-way) commutes. That being said, we have similar issues if you need to drive long distances between rural centers, but the government subsidies to help install L2 chargers seem to be making a difference as more and more municipalities are installing at least one charger somewhere. I can understand how people are still hesitant about winter, with -20C (-5f) to -30C(-30f) being not uncommon (for now…).

The majority of fairy tales (as told throughout human history) do not have happy endings. They were typically told to teach or reinforce hard social truths to prepare young people for the world. The “fairy-tale ending” is really an anachronism of modern, capitalistic story telling. Happy fantasy sells, and reinforces myths that benefit the elite, such as upward social and financial mobility (see Jane Austin, or every Disney movie), and the opportunity to become part of the landed gentry. The belief that everything always works out is itself a major piece of the capitalists propaganda machine, and because we fall for this, we keep making decisions against out best interests - We are all just one fateful encounter away from becoming rich or famous after all.

This is the superior combat mechanic.

Its not too late to become a lighthouse operator! British Columbia is desperate for them, even the CBC (Canadian Public Broadcaster) was basically advertising for them to try to drum up willing workers. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/looking-for-lighthouse-keepers-1.7085280

The article claims “despite taking precautions”, but practically everyone I know in the trades who works with this stuff doesn’t wear a mask when cutting it. When I was a tradey in NZ (painting) we would often see guys refinishing concrete floors mask-free, just inhaling all of the concrete particulate all day. When you are 19, you would rather look cool even when nobody is around than wear a mask, because you are going to live forever! Rather than ban the product (placing more pressure on natural stone quarries and decemate an entire industry of producers) they should be introducing mandatory safety procedures (as has been done in many places of the world with roofing I.e. wearing harnesses). Make it an OSHA violation to cut stone indoors, without dust collection or mitigation and without a mask. Violators get fines (like they do for other OSHA violations), and while not perfect, the culture slowly changes.

Sundog: Frozen Legacy (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunDog:_Frozen_Legacy) originally for Apple II but brought to PC. My friend and I spent countless hours roleplaying as Han Solo, trading contraband and pulling bounties. If you want an incredible space trading/combat sim experience, forget Star Citizen, this game is for you!

I used to make it the traditional way as well: searing the meat, stewing, separately stewing the pearl onions and herbs… Then I discovered I can make it taste identical (and have much more tender beef chunks) by just making it all in the Instapot. You do it in 2 steps so your veggies don’t turn to mush, but it takes around an hour, 2 tops. You can still cook the pearl onions on the side if you want (I have opted for just cutting up yellow onions, as pearls or shallots are not readily available where I live). You could probably preecook the beef in the Instapot the day before and have the Bourginon finished in half an hour if you wanted!

I’m waiting for them to send out exactly $1000 to all public employees (1000/1000s of employees). “We didn’t say $1000 each!”

Is this the height of US Intelligence collection? “I’m just going this wildly speculate about the intentions of a foreign group because it benefits the social capital of my allies.” Why even report this nonsense? Have women and children suffered while in captivity with Hamas, yes. Have women and children also suffered in captivity in Israel, yes. Do women and children daily suffer injustice due to economic and social inequities on the US, a resounding yes! Does the US treat foreign refugees as poorly as Hamas or Israel, possibly even worse. That’s my hot take, I don’t think it took that much “intelligence” to figure out.

I’m upset Axios would even publish this propaganda piece while also openly stating that there is no evidence to back it up. Shame on them.

“La Donna è mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto. Have you seen a pasta sauce commercial? Then you’ve heard this aria.

That’s actually a massive issue that I saw in NZ. My in-laws and their friends profiting massively off rental properties with no capital gains, meanwhile blaming foreigners for the fact their children can’t afford rent or housing. That being said, putting all geographic issues aside, Healthcare in NZ is significantly better served than in Canada (at least as far as family doctors go), but when we last visited this year, it seems to be a growing issue. Overall, I found NZ much more of a user-pay society than Canada. The fees aren’t always high (like US healthcare, my god!) but there is no “free lunch” anywhere in NZ. Going to a community festival? Pay $10 for 15 mins to put your kids in the bouncy castle. That sort of thing is everywhere. I love NZ, and it is a beautiful place with wonderful people. However, there are two things I would say.

1. It is a great place to visit. (Notice how the phrase stops there)
2. Ive heard kiwis described as “clannish and distant” and I think that is an accurate depiction. Friendly when meeting, but high on impossible to make friends with.

I live in Canada now (we have our own taste of fascism here), but have lived in NZ. It is actually quite a conservative country and the same forces that are driving far-right tendencies in Europe and North American are exerting their influence in NZ as well. The benefit over North America is they have a proportional representation system, and so governments are almost always coalitions and require across the aisle agreements. Pay attention to the rhetoric in the current election cycle (they go to the polls in about a month) and you will see how the political landscape looks, that will give you an idea of it is different from Europe in the ways that you want. Relocating to NZ long-term is not that easy, as there are quite strict immigration policies. Unless you qualify under a small category of in-demand trades or are under 30 and going on a working holiday it can be difficult to get a work visa or Permanent Residency. Also note, NZ is a bloody long way from anywhere and anything. The total country’s population is less than most European metropolitan areas and so it might be a massive shift in lifestyle (for better or worse) depending on where you come from.

Old phone? I’m still running a Mi A1 as my daily. I’m on LineageOS 19.1. There have been rumblings of Lineage 20 coming to it, but the Dev community has largely dropped off.

I’d check if there are any local high-schools or support services that are looking to get phones intot he hands of underprivileged teens/adults. A Mi A3 is likely still better than the low end Samsung garbage, or even an old iPhone (below X).

Better to have it be reused than become a paperweight in a cupboard.

If you are on Android, you really should download ReVanced. You can add adblock and sponsorblock, and you will barely ever see ads again.

I actually refused to watch YT on mobile because it was too annoying an experience, but 'vanced makes it much more like the good old days of no ads everywhere.