Rick Scott 🏳️‍⚧️

Tired of technology; still hopeful about what it can do for people. Thoughts posted in whatever language they occur to me in; apologies in advance. 😅

pronouns: they/he
blog: https://shadowspar.dreamwidth.org
home location: Sault Ste Marie, ON 🇨🇦
available for hire: yes! looking for a remote devops, backend dev, or SDET role.

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npub152pudcly79eyxwaxr8d3kpq996njt8y6vr3wcxndwjrfegx4qa7qafc027

NIP-05 Address

shadowspar_at_ottawa.place@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqs29q7xu0j0zujr8wnpnkcmqszjafe9njdxpchvrfkhfp5u5r2swlqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsvydj4z

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npub152pudcly79eyxwaxr8d3kpq996njt8y6vr3wcxndwjrfegx4qa7qafc027

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Last Notes

2025-06-23 01:22:52 UTC

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so glad y'all are back home safe, I saw a news article about Kiosk & the washout on Hwy 630 and had a momentary freakout lol 😅 😥

2025-06-07 17:08:49 UTC

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not so much with their produce, but I noticed that even Walmart is starting to switch up sourcing on some of its packaged & dry goods. seeing more stuff from smaller Canadian vendors, Europe, and SE Asia than ever before

2025-05-01 16:48:06 UTC

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Bruce Anderson worked on the Carney campaign. asked by Peter Mansbridge what surprised him about Mark Carney, one of the things he mentioned was his surprisingly broad musical knowledge -- not just the stuff you'd expect a 50-something guy to know, but music that's much more modern as well 😅

2025-05-01 14:58:46 UTC

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omg right? third faction has (re-)entered the Conservative Civil War 🤣

2025-04-29 01:55:28 UTC

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p much same here lol
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/114/418/758/000/958/761/original/20f153c4a71f2596.png

2025-04-25 22:28:16 UTC

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larches are amazing. one of my favourite trees 🤩

2025-04-22 21:22:10 UTC

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heh, I am going to be up into the wee hours watching the count for sure. fool that I am, I can't tear myself away 😅
but ignoring it during the day is absolutely the best plan. definitely planning on laying in a stash of junk food, maybe ordering in dinner, to be prepared in any case 😆

2025-04-20 03:26:46 UTC

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bien joué Kyle! continue! 🤩

2025-04-15 19:44:24 UTC

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si je étais cynique, je dirais que personne ne regardera les débats qu'il y ait du hockey ou non 😅😥

2025-04-09 23:56:49 UTC

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most showerheads are made in China, so they've been saved from Woke Showers by having No Showers instead 😂

2025-03-31 12:06:54 UTC

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lucky here in the Sault as well. roads are a little sketchy and school busses are cancelled, but so far the power has stayed on 🤞

2025-03-31 10:31:31 UTC

some 400,000 customers (≅ 1M ppl) without power 😥 and for those who have an ETR, it could be anything between "this morning" to "Wednesday night at the earliest"
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/114/256/572/840/409/858/original/a9afd31d88bae0dc.png

2025-03-29 12:19:53 UTC

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ahhh yeah I see he's talking about mandatory minimums etc too. a bunch of stuff from the Harper days that the Supreme Court already struck down as unconstitutional

2025-03-29 01:41:51 UTC

"Stoppons les crimes", really? 🤔
I imagine it's fine in casual conversation or in France. but is he going out of his way to pick translations that would piss off the OQLF?
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/114/243/131/298/638/882/original/8ce94658e7097d50.jpg

2025-03-21 14:13:03 UTC

😐
https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/us-authorities-closing-canadian-access-to-library-that-straddles-quebec-vermont-border/

2025-03-10 17:18:21 UTC

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if the US tariffs or shuts off Marcellus gas coming into Ontario, we still have capacity on the TC Mainline to bring in more gas from Western Canada aiui.
https://apps.cer-rec.gc.ca/PPS/en/pipeline-profiles/transcanada-canadian-mainline-tc#3

2025-03-06 14:31:43 UTC

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yeah, Gould isn't going to win the leadership this go round, but I'm really keen on seeing what happens with her in the future
the Liberals really need to build a "bench" of politicians who perform well and have a good public image

2025-03-05 20:00:44 UTC

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merci comme toujours pour ton travail acharné ! 😊

2025-03-05 19:56:34 UTC

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looool I cannot believe how incredibly fragile some of these dudes are
Trudeau *very carefully* stepped around calling Trump an idiot 😂
and yet these guys are acting like he called him Dumbass Donnie or Tiny Hands or Rotten Don
sounds to me like we need to punch harder next time 🤣

2025-03-04 15:23:26 UTC

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absolutely 😊 it's just a matter of working through the options and finding the ones I like.
the piece from La Presse that you posted the other day made a lot of good points, especially around shifting consumer behaviour. companies spend a ton on marketing just to get people to try their products. and once people move from your brand to another one, you might not be able to get them back

2025-03-04 15:19:37 UTC

#BuyCanadian progress: most everything that I buy weekly is from non-USA sources. now it's a matter of working through the stuff that gets bought less often: toiletries, laundry soap, dish soap, garbage bags, etc etc.

2025-03-04 01:44:08 UTC

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without downplaying the threat, I have to say, I'll believe these tariffs are happening when somebody actually pays one, and not before 😅

2025-03-03 17:01:04 UTC

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also adults! for those of us born before 1990 or so, it's a good idea to get your titers checked or get an MMR booster unless you're *absolutely sure* you've received two doses 😊
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3ljdfhtwfhk22

2025-03-02 13:38:13 UTC

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🥹🫡

2025-02-28 03:35:56 UTC

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and turnout is gonna land almost at the same place as the last election too. 44.06% last time vs around 46% this time

2025-02-26 19:42:46 UTC

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...et le même jour...
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2025/02/26/trump-pushes-25-per-cent-tariffs-on-canada-and-mexico-to-april-2/

2025-02-25 04:16:32 UTC

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ohhh ghod, I guess you would know, eh? you must listen to politicians' French (or lack thereof) more than almost anyone else in the country 😅😥

2025-02-22 03:47:47 UTC

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omg I'm ded. Dan Arnold, chief strategy officer at Pollara: "I think the only person who really saw Ruby Dhalla as a serious candidate in this race was Ruby Dhalla"

2025-02-22 00:18:21 UTC

lol. see ya 👢
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ruby-dhalla-liberal-leadership-1.7465430

2025-02-21 12:58:40 UTC

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can we think of any other event that came as a huge shock to the economy, supply chains, people's ways of living during that time, etc etc.
I don't dispute that things got increasingly ineffective in the later Trudeau years, but, like...incompetent provincial governments also wear some of the blame for our current cost-of-living issues, especially re housing.

2025-02-21 12:53:31 UTC

jfc, he's going to start talking about the prices of eggs next
"is your life better or worse after nine years of Liberals being in power? Is it more expensive or less expensive to buy a home? How about grocery prices, have they gone up or gone down?"
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/mark-carneys-rise-in-the-polls-drives-attacks-from-ndps-jagmeet-singh/article_1d26b718-ef9d-11ef-8a36-bf9cae936644.html

2025-02-20 18:09:56 UTC

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loooool whaaaaaaaaat 🤣
@npub1uy3…vdz5 I thought you were making an Apple "Designed in California" joke before I saw this 😂

2025-02-18 16:31:30 UTC

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it still feels bizarre to me how it straddles the boundary between being both somewhat sketchy and utterly mundane, yeah
like on the one hand it's all "check out our new Max Brainrot SupaStank™️ blend"
and on the other it's like "Free Delivery, Tuesday is Senior's Day, don't forget your loyalty card" etc etc 😂

2025-02-15 15:26:20 UTC

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"char" is still my favourite that none of them seem to get. yes, I love to variously drive to Montréal in my chariot, parade float, or armoured tank 🤣

2025-02-15 15:17:22 UTC

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also yes, like...there are so many small/subtle differences in phrasing that can make a big difference in any language. and (relevant to your interests) I still often see machine translation tripping over them
I think of things like "pire" vs "le pire", «Il ne mange que de la pizza» vs «Il ne mange pas que de la pizza», etc
to say nothing of colloquial language, or idioms like "fin comme du gros sel" 😂

2025-02-15 15:13:04 UTC

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I agree with what others have said; "cutting service" absolutely makes it sound like they're ending _all_ the flights, lol
it's better stated as "cutting _some_ flights", "reducing service", etc 😂

2025-02-14 20:12:15 UTC

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so true. it's a bizarre mix of very serious and completely absurd 🎭

2025-02-14 20:03:07 UTC

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that said, the idea of blockade runners smuggling illicit toilet paper is comical, but maybe not unrealistic. what a world we live in lol

2025-02-14 20:02:13 UTC

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shitty news for our American friends :face_melting:

2025-02-14 19:59:30 UTC

"The United States is not self-sufficient when it comes to toilet paper production."
https://archive.is/WaHP1

2025-02-13 19:42:48 UTC

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lol right? as much as its existence is a bit of a tactical win (probably siphoning a small number of votes away from the PCs), it's disappointing to think there are people out there who are like "I refuse to vote for Doug Ford, he is just too woke for me"

2025-02-12 20:11:14 UTC

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lol right? ironically enough the founder of the company was Canadian! he was born near Fort Erie, ON in 1874 but moved to the US when he was 28

2025-02-12 20:04:57 UTC

oh lol I suspect that overlay wasn't there a month ago 😅
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/113/992/687/050/467/498/original/f88b460463b7337f.png

2025-02-12 19:53:49 UTC

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absolutely; my philosophy is p.much the same. I'll try to buy things with more Canadian Content where I can, but I'm quite happy with any level of "Prepared in Canada", so to speak 😅
and I've no qualms with anything from México, the EU, etc either! they're our friends too; it's only the current US administration that's the problem 😠

2025-02-12 18:56:32 UTC

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and fwiw, boxes of Kraft Dinner show "Prepared in Canada", which usually means "made in Canada from imported ingredients". Kraft-Heinz Canada is a subsidiary of the American Kraft-Heinz, but it's something 😅

2025-02-12 18:51:20 UTC

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oh, interesting to read there that the Italian brands Delverde and De Cecco make their pasta partially with imported wheat!
my go-to pasta is La Molisana, which afaik is made in Italy with only Italian grain
and interestingly, on the cheaper side of things, most of the yellow No Name pasta is made in Türkiye

2025-02-07 03:57:14 UTC

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I know the feeling; I can't remember the last election where it felt like the federal NDP was making an effort in my riding. provincial elections have been closer, and the last time round the LIberal nomination was a disaster, so maybe some slight hope over here?

2025-02-05 21:41:05 UTC

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...right? and it's hard to appreciate just how big until you actually try to travel across it 😅
it took us two days driving west to get out of Ontario, and we started at the halfway point (Sault Ste Marie) 😂

2025-02-05 16:01:19 UTC

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yeah, absolutely. some of the Post and Quaker stuff is at least made in Canada and/or with Canadian ingredients, even if the parent companies are American

2025-02-05 15:18:04 UTC

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the grocery store staff were in the produce section taking stock of which items came from the USA.
the cashiers and security folks were talking about what if any concessions our gov't actually gave Trump in exchange for a 30 day reprieve.
in the breakfast aisle, the facings of US-sourced cereal were full, while the ones around them were noticeably drawn down.
wild stuff.

2025-02-05 15:12:22 UTC

first grocery store trip since the whole Trump Tariffs thing. it was *wild* to see people other than me being concerned with supply chains & international politics 😯

2025-02-03 00:51:23 UTC

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you're most welcome! the quality can vary but there are tons of niche things in there I'd never have found any other way 😅

2025-02-03 00:49:55 UTC

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have I mentioned wikivoyage yet? like wikipedia, except it's a travel guide
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia

2025-01-30 04:06:32 UTC

extremely curious wtf a PAT US Army Blackhawk helicopter was doing on one of the approaches to DCA.

2025-01-29 02:05:53 UTC

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🏴‍☠️ 🫡
https://toot.cat/@cheetah_spottycat/113891644383504622

2025-01-26 15:54:17 UTC

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in Stardew I find watering to be an Actual Chore, but, like, everything else? harvesting, loading/unloading kegs & preserve jars, etc? so satisfying! 😅

2025-01-22 15:27:14 UTC

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NICE. eventually my dream build is a single room cabin with a heat pump and woodstove...it sounds like heat pumps can already stand up to all but the coldest weather we get here, all by themselves 😊

2025-01-21 04:16:12 UTC

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loooool. "will I live to 140 if I do that?" "no but it'll sure as hell feel like it" 😂

2025-01-21 03:24:09 UTC

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not a conventional TV show, but: I really love this channel, where a guy goes van camping in various random places in Japan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOF93lN-pNM

2025-01-20 01:02:37 UTC

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wow, -27! you must be planning to go to the beach for sure 😅

2025-01-20 01:00:11 UTC

under an Extreme Cold warning? you should come visit! no warning here in the Sault, where it will feel like a balmy -37 😎🏝️
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/113/857/966/958/049/921/original/4aadd6f17c7c2ade.png

2025-01-15 15:54:00 UTC

loool who could have thought
https://fortune.com/2025/01/14/walgreens-ceo-anti-shoplifting-backfired-locks-reduce-sales/

2025-01-13 22:00:19 UTC

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oh come on, it could be fun while it lasts
"Tell them everyone is going to have a great new job!"
"Je vous promets que personne n'aura d'emploi" 😆

2025-01-11 04:56:39 UTC

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they're so adorable. when I had a yarn trellis for the beans I was growing on my balcony, I'd get a pair who'd come & steal bits of yarn for nesting. cutest little thieves ever 😅

2025-01-09 15:49:05 UTC

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lol right? reminds me of this clip from forever ago 🪨😌
https://www.tiktok.com/@mattlaarfit/video/7283238443260333355

2025-01-07 19:46:35 UTC

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legit; I like linux, but sometimes the discussions around it, uh. not so much lol

2025-01-07 19:08:29 UTC

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brilliant 😂 happy 2025, the year of no l*nux on your desktop 😊

2024-12-30 15:36:18 UTC

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so often I wish y'all could outright say the things that must be going through your heads 😅
"The translation team is working short-staffed over the holidays. Please say and do everything in both official languages for the next few days. We thank you for your understanding."
« L'équipe de traduction est à court de personnel pendant les vacances. Nous vous prions de tout dire et de tout faire dans les deux langues officielles pendant les prochains jours. Nous vous remercions de votre compréhension. »

2024-12-27 00:10:23 UTC

looool Nintendo
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/113/721/881/005/972/769/original/a9606f7bdd289f02.png

2024-12-17 18:12:26 UTC

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ghod, the challenges of translation the rest of us never see: how to convey an equivalent level of absurdity in both languages 😆

2024-12-17 06:09:12 UTC

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agreed, this has to go down as one of the great (-ish) moments in parliamentary history 😅

2024-12-11 15:10:28 UTC

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och noo, I always kind of have a little sympathetic ptsd whenever I hear about freezing rain down your way 😥

2024-12-11 15:03:58 UTC

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yeah it really sounds like it's your turn for weird & messy winter weather, unfortunately

2024-12-11 14:37:15 UTC

lol wtf. we have two weeks of wicked winter storms, with high winds, heavy wet snow, and treacherous driving conditions... and today, after all that passes and it's a beautiful day outside, is when the power goes out 😂

2024-11-26 05:08:47 UTC

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it makes me laugh, I was listening to a podcast the other day where the pundits were saying Canada probably isn't going to gather much attention from this administration in the US
then this announcement today lolol

2024-11-24 05:17:11 UTC

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aaaahaha, the entire nation -- or at least the portion of it who's on this server -- thanks you 😊 :canada_party:

2024-11-23 22:53:31 UTC

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feels like we need the :canada-party: emoji to properly respond to this 😅

2024-11-18 17:36:56 UTC

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ask them if you get extra time for having to translate the source text into both french and english 😅

2024-11-08 01:15:48 UTC

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I was gonna say, don't blame yourself, people need to develop some fking reading comprehension 😅

2024-11-08 01:02:13 UTC

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dear ghod, the absurdity of thinking that you are somehow distant from Canadian politics 😆 🤬

2024-11-08 01:00:48 UTC

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I'm always amazed at how their colours look like they were applied by an artist with a paintbrush. just amazing

2024-11-01 18:22:20 UTC

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en vrai, je vous soumets que le mot anglais « biweekly » est bien plus bizarre et bien plus problématique que le mot français « quatre-vingts », que nous anglos semblons trouver étrange 😂

2024-10-29 17:39:13 UTC

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(not from Doug Ford or any of his associates, to be clear 😂)

2024-10-29 17:38:23 UTC

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if I get this money I have already sworn an oath that I'll spend it on drugs

2024-10-01 14:11:29 UTC

I still think it's hilarious that when you look up the most viewed videos on YouTube, folks like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars are getting absolutely crushed by Baby Shark and Wheels On The Bus

2024-09-28 15:45:54 UTC

copywriters look up words on UrbanDictionary 2024 challenge
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/113/215/950/336/895/501/original/b036c703e2e24e95.png

2024-09-23 03:04:28 UTC

oh hey look a real trucker protest.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/truckers-brampton-rally-wage-theft-1.7330833

2024-09-19 13:35:03 UTC

omgggg guess who got a visit from a new friend today 😍
they didn't stick around long enough for a good picture, but this still made my morning!
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/113/164/475/256/883/925/original/6f45819d0ab52512.jpg

2024-09-17 20:51:41 UTC

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the folks at my favourite chipstand in northern ontario sidestep the issue by greeting you with « 'allo » 😂

2024-09-11 12:42:23 UTC

one of the best "understated translation" funnies I've seen in a while 😅
https://assets.ottawa.place/media_attachments/files/113/118/960/784/840/959/original/a7b32c5bb45d3f78.jpg

2024-09-05 03:09:31 UTC

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as an anglo, I will admit to having misspelled "disponible" as "disponsible" for what feels like many years before I figured it out 😅

2024-08-20 00:38:36 UTC

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"The Consultant's Curse: When the customer has beaten upon you long enough, give him what he asks for, instead of what he needs. This is very strong medicine, and is normally only required once."

2024-08-16 12:16:58 UTC

wow, that's...an impressive spray of water
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/major-water-main-break-montreal-1.7296282