What if we show a picture of parked bikes in US and a busy traffic in Amsterdam?
That wouldn't just be a random street in the US. I've almost never left North America, and I've never seen that many bikes parked on a random street on a random day. The only time I've seen that many bikes in one place is at an event's bike valet, or at a school in a super bikeable area.
I definitely agree with the cost of living being what it is, it's so easy to make a misstep and be destitute.
However, this story has far too many holes in it to make sense. "If you’re a defeated politician, no one wants to give you an opportunity," including his cousin on city council? The "over-prescription" of medication? A seemingly successful family being no longer willing to help to the point you're in a homeless shelter? The article does talk a little about depression after losing an election, and I suspect there's more to that, possibly with mental health and possibly substance abuse. I'm not trying to write off his downfall as "just mental health" or blame him for our lack of social supports. I just wish we got the whole honest story, it's hard to read this highly editorialized account.
Nowadays, if you set out to have a specific career and aren't willing to adjust, you're likely going to be missing out on opportunities.
I graduated university in 2011, and besides a few people who went on to develop for FAANG and have been there since, almost nobody is where they expected at graduation. Many are very successful, but in very different ways than they could have foreseen: The engineer who's now the CFO of a charity; the English major who became an AI developer; the golf pro who became a sales rep and moved up from there in a billion dollar company.
There's so many other similar stories just in the people I know. In the economy now, you have to roll with the punches and carve your own path, some which didn't exist a decade ago.
You should educate yourself on the goals of DEI initiatives and how they actually work. However, if you only have 30 seconds, here's a clip from The West Wing that sums it up pretty well.
I'm willing to consider that the number has grown recently, but it definitely wasn't anywhere near zero before. There are a lot of areas, often very conservative, that idolize the States.
For example, in the Bible Belt of Manitoba, I wouldn't be surprised if close to, if not a majority of residents would support this. There's a independent streak bordering on libertarian, and many are VERY socially conservative. I didn't spend all that much time there, but I heard multiple people say how they wish they didn't have to pay for other people's healthcare. They're so close to North Dakota, even doing cross boarder trade and many see the higher mean income (sum of all income divided by number of residents) in the US and ignore the lower median income (50th percentile of income).
“I like this idea and at least half of Canadians are interested,” O’Leary said.
Poll suggests 13% of Canadians think Canada should become the 51st American state. Just a liiittle less than "at least half".
As a Canadian who lives close enough to the boarder to pick up US OTA TV, it's one of the most stark signs you're watching an American station.
You're right about the mechanism of the Supreme Court justices. They rule on many important cases and regularly set precident.
However, since the vast, vast majority of cases don't end up in the Supreme Court, lower courts have a massive impact into how justice is served.
That's not completely true. Social Security is supposed to fund itself, however it's currently facing a funding shortfall with current estimates that it will be depleted in 2035. There are many suggestions on how make this program solvent, including bolstering it with general funds.
If not explicitly, then at least the electorate usually dislikes it. In Canada, we had a party leader who was found to be a dual Canadian/American citizen during the 2019 election, and while I don't think that's the whole reason he lost, it definitely contributed.
Yes, NFC the technology works. However, certain applications, like Google Wallet can be problematic and require workarounds (not because of technology itself though)
Not everyone using a custom ROM is doing it for privacy reasons. I see privacy as a perk but I mainly use custom ROMs to keep my devices around longer and to get new features.
Even for those who are concerned about privacy, I don't think NFC is that big of a security hole. I know some people who turn it on only when they're using it, but that's pretty painless.