Appalbarry
Writer, Nova Scotia, France, and Vancouver. Barry’s writing is focused on how people live, and how the environment around them influences their choices.
Clips at: appalbarry.com
Blog at : threesquirrels.ca
- I'm in a mood. If you're designing an app there's a 99% likelihood that logging in will use an email address. Please be smart enough to include an @ on the default keyboard. And if your app is going to send a six digit number to my phone for 2FA, put up a numeric keypad, not an alpha keyboard.
- For an upcoming article, I'd love to talk to anyone with a history of issues with, wait for it, EAR WAX. Dm or email me and we'll have a lovely chat!
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- a) I'm currently halfway through The Butcher of The Forest and transfixed. b) If you're stuck at YVR for that long email me, and we can at least offer coffee and a couch to sleep on. We're blocks from the Skytrain, so it's easy. c) or, for that matter, can collect you at YVR and drop you off.
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- No lie. I actually WORKED the federal election in Canada last month, but still can't pronounce the last name of the defeated Conservative dweeb: Pierre Poilievre
- Damn I was looking for an image & came across a couple horrible reviews of my book, like ouch was it that bad? My mom said it was beautiful!
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- Do it. Damn, I wish I could write like that.
- It would be a damn shame if everyone made the South African "refugees" feel totally unwelcome here in the US. It would be horrible if strangers taunted them with nasty insults like "racist swine" and "go home you apartheid loving sacks of shit." I hear rumors they grill and eat dogs? Concerning.
- It strikes me that these people must be REAL assholes, and will be disliked as much in the US as they were in SA. Possibly more. But hey, it's only been what? 40+ years since apartheid ended? So I could be wrong.
- Facebook? Racist? Heavens no. And no, I didn't read the comments.
- Coast to Coast... please read and consider this. Selling our health care to foreign owners is just a bad idea.
- To those suggesting that Alberta separatists should just "move to the US" ... The short answer is that they can't. The US immigration system is long, complex, and has standards that would block most of these people. I mean, it's not like they're South African racists.
- <cough> Brexit anyone?
- “residents of a breakaway Alberta republic would still keep their Canadian passports and Canada Pension Plan entitlements.” Thats some delusional bullshit right there. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
- In an age when air travel and the Internet mean that people connect from all over the globe, sharing ideas, and even re-locating to other places, why is it that so many institutions begin with the assumption: YOU WERE BORN HERE, HAVE ALWAYS LIVED HERE, AND WILL DIE HERE. /1
- What? You moved here from SOMEWHERE ELSE? HOW CAN THAT BE? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM US?
- Yes, we have the audacity to ask Oxford University: why does a UK citizen, born and educated there, but who lived abroad for several years, suddenly become an "International" student? Or, more specifically, how many years/months can you live outside of the UK before the £40,000 surcharge kicks in?
- Yeah. Cost me $200+ last time.
- Shingles vaccine reduces risk of heart disease by 23%, study of one million people finds #Canada www.ctvnews.ca/health/artic...
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- Thinking of the number of relatives who sold Avon or held Tupperware parties. Somehow I never considered that "working "
- In Canada many aspire to be homeowners. @lausterna.bsky.social and I have proposed a dual measure of "housing frustration", the ability of young adults to form independent households and the ability of middle aged adults to achieve homeownership. We should probably pay attention to both.
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View full threadThe crux of all of this is to create good, liveable, reasonable sized rental homes that are affordable to people making less than $100,000 a year. Our Canada pensions add up to about $2500 a month. The rent on our one bedroom sublet is very close to the same amount. /6
- I don't know how people on minimum wage survive in Vancouver. There is an important place for rental housing, but that "poor people" stigma has to go first. And that begins by abandoning the obsession with home ownership as the be-all and end-all of housing dreams.
- I think that a lot of that has to do with attitudes. The North American obsession with home ownership inevitably leads to an assumption that renting means you're poor, or a failure. (The same applies to transit.) /4
- That leads to people who could happily rent spending insane parts of their income to buy a house. The "first step on the property ladder." And because ownership trumps renting, building rental homes is discouraged on the grounds that it will damage home values. (By letting in poor people.) /5
- Put simply: I'm tired of the endless repairs and upgrades of owning a home. I like that I can call the building super and say "The light's burned out in the hallway." And I like the idea of abandoning the dozens of boxes of stuff in storage and scaling back. /2
- And especially in Nova Scotia, I am REALLY tired of dealing with trades. Life is far too short. Living in France we saw a place where homeownership was less of the norm. People rented apartments and there was no stigma attached to it. It's a choice that's accepted. /3
- Bit of a ramble, but... I'm 69, Susan is 79. We've both owned homes, and now own one rented out in Nova Scotia. Really though (as we ponder a possible move to Oxford UK) if we stay in Vancouver we're looking at renting. /1
- It is with great reverence and pride that I have been admitted to the Law Society of British Columbia. My dream, of course, is to some day become a Supreme Court judge. The law, in her majesty .. @cybertruckupmyass.bsky.social
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- Could worse - the entire province of Nova Scotia runs on Facebook.
- Bullshit UPS. We've been home all day and have seen and heard NOTHING from you.
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View full threadFor those following along at home. Last night the UPS site said "Delivery on Monday May 12."
- And... they literally DROVE RIGHT PAST OUR DOOR to the depot on Broadway!
- We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold...
- Finally cancelled my Amazon Prime membership, and donated to Gaza instead.
- You should ask ANY mad person to recount their real life for you because I guarantee you are in for a fantastical adventure tale packed with intriguing trauma.
- Hey? You talkin' about me? That moment when someone says "What's your background?"
- Why on earth doesn't @translink.ca have this!
- If kidnapped, what would you post that would alarm your followers without the kidnappers knowing you're asking for help? “I’ve booked a room on a Disney cruise.”
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- Spouse teaches piano for decades. One student, after post-secondary college music degree has found his DREAM JOB: pianist on a Disney cruise ship.
- UPS sucks. And lies to their customers. www.threesquirrels.ca/p/ups-sucks
- And yes, we checked, and the intercom is working fine. They didn't even leave a UPS tag stuck to the front door, so we assume that THEY DIDN'T EVEN REALLY STOP HERE!
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View full threadThe priest who did counselling before my first marriage explicitly said he didn't know what he could advise us, what with being celibate etc. Eventually he left the priesthood, got married, and was tending horses last I heard. /1
- He also got a "Keep your mouth shut and stay out of the media" order from the Bishop when the Philippines was sponsoring the Pacific National Exhibition during the Marcos era.
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- I'll hazard a guess that they're not cutting sports.
- Ok, occasionally Facebook delivers....
- My shiny new Kobo reader arrives today, and I fully intend to launch it with more Courtney Milan. Fuck you Amazon Kindle, which in Canada can't be used for library books.
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- Something like 60+ years ago Robert Heinlein suggested that you should be able to solve a quadratic equation before being allowed to vote. I've worked polls, and don't entirely disagree. Or at least be required to name a candidate. ax2+bx+c=0
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- Moving to Appalachian Kentucky I was baffled by the endless different types of Baptist churches (including Primitive, Old Regular, and snake handling) and asked just how many different variations of Baptism there were. "More than are strictly necessary." was the response...
- Trump will take credit, and declare that a comprehensive trade deal has been signed with the Vatican.
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- Every time I see one of these very tall buildings in Vancouver I'm reminded that we're very, very, VERY overdue for a major earthquake, and wonder how many of these will survive.
- Sigh. I just KNOW that Trump will take credit for the selection. And announce that a comprehensive trade deal with the Vatican has been signed.
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- Fightin'words! St Viateur bagels are one of the finest foods ever created! With regards to poutine, look for a blue, former school bus converted to roadside stand. Restaurant poutine sucks.
- @suzannerent.bsky.social Did you say cardinals? Dream job?
- Just a reminder: When I say that I'm "Left Wing" I mean: "Tax rich people and corporations lots so we can give poor people homes, education, medical care, and a decent life."
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- I'm betting that Carney understands that any serious discussion happens after the cameras are gone. And that negotiating with Trump is a total waste of time. This visit really comes down to "Yeah, we have to do it, so let's get it over with." (PS - I didn't watch, but it's being reported to me.)
- I'm sorry, but, whoa!
- Thanks to a cancellation, I get an EEG tomorrow morning at St Pauls. They almost apologized when telling me to have only 4 hours sleep tonight, and arrive at 7:30 am with no coffee. And I'm going, "You want to show up, and then want me to GO BACK TO SLEEP?" How many days I've wished for that!
