CI Armand Gamache. Louise Penny books’ main character. TV show Three Pines.

Funny thing I figured out over the years: widows do not date after their spouse dies for 2 reasons: 1) they were, and still are, madly in love with their spouse, or 2) their spouse/marriage absolutely sucked and they will never ever do that again. The latter is more common.

Ironically that was the cause of the first worst scam calls. The govt had a do not call list that you could put your number on which then became THE phone book for scam calls instead of stopping them. If you’ve ever signed up for anything or paid for anything online and had to give your phone number, it went into a list that was sold on. With auto dialers, they just go through every permeation of possible numbers. I don’t get many calls on my cell because I keep that number private and use my already compromised land line for everything.

I don’t answer anything that isn’t identified and that I recognize. If they leave a message I will check it. It’s a pain that so many in the medical and service industries use unidentified numbers forcing telephone tag and they don’t use email or text only phone calls.

I don’t think his home was invaded and he was raped when he was 30, like she was for “being a successful, beautiful woman”. Nor did he have the drug and alcohol addiction problems as a coping mechanism from that incident. Add in he doesn’t have a genetic condition that impairs his health. All in all, I think she is doing fantastic for all that life has thrown at her. All we see of him is Scientology propaganda photos.

Canadian. I have a chronic issue that I wait long times to see a specialist. Mainly because after seeing them for a few visits to update treatment, I don’t see them for a couple years but can’t immediately go back because I need to be re-referred which can take awhile due to waitlists. But I can see my GP (in person or phone call) very quickly if needed and all free. I had a serious issue not long ago and got seen in Urgent Care in a couple hours (avoided ER), sent to specialist next day, and got all the testing done quite quickly and then treated - less than a week. No cost. Might have been a bit quicker in a pay system but my life wasn’t threatened and I didn’t have to worry about whether or not it would be covered by my insurance or what the copay would be. I know people who complain about the slowness of non life threating issues but they always have the option of paying for care - they just need to leave Canada, and some do. I have a relative who was ticked that the surgeon he saw wouldn’t recommend an operation so he went to the US and paid to have it done only to find that it didn’t really solve his problem (just like his ‘idiot’ Canadian doc had said) and he was now out a load of money and still had a chronic issue. For life threatening issues, all my family and friends have had timely & free service. An aunt went into ER 2 weeks ago for severe stomach pain. Got a CT and was into surgery a day later. Five days in hosptial and she’s now recovering at home with occassional health nurse visits. No charge. Didn’t even have to pay for most of her medication costs because they were mostly covered under Pharmacare.

Because it is so convenient. He’s way down in the polls with no chance of recovery. He needs an excuse for martial law to keep the elections from happening. He is so unfit to speak and be seen publicly that they need an excuse why he can’t be out in public. And, it worked last time to get him elected. Although this time I don’t think they killed an spectator.

That is something Americans don’t really understand. Trump has pushed the envelope but he isn’t as much of an outlier as many Americans would like to believe. His incompetence and arrogance make it easy to see how awful he is but his agenda is the regular American agenda with some more guardrails removed. They don’t seem to notice that their Senate, Congress and Supreme Court have mainly supported him with exceedingly little pushback.

Easy. Religious people who think humans are superior to any other life. This leads to killing animals for both merciful and vicious reasons. It also leads to keeping people alive by any Frankensteinian method possible while denying any death because “going to God” without enough suffering first isn’t religious enough. Although big corporations also get the right to kill people (gun manufacturers, oil & gas industry, Sackler family, etc.) so long as they profit enough off the deaths.

First I’ve noticed that this is a neurodivergent trait. Seems to be a human trait to me.

Herbal tea, hot or cold. Add flavour to your water - crush a couple frozen berries in the glass, add mint, add citrus slices. Try different temperatures: iced, room temp, just boiled. Drinking from a glass or cup instead of a bottle can help.

Been there, done that - kept my morals/ethics. I am retiring this year. Not as well off as maybe I could have been but I can look myself in the mirror and I sleep well at night. I have enough. Not as much as others who put money above everything, but enough. I also never need to worry about someone stabbing me or shooting me because my business caused loss to them. I don’t have to worry that my partner or children are toxic and only want my money which often happens to people who don’t have ethics or morals and are only out for the money themselves - like attracts like?

Lots of practice and then some more. Take your time going through the process of learning the notes. Consistently repeated effort makes a big difference.

So sad. I recently found a box containing papers from my high school days. I had completely forgotten about a binder full of notes that were passed back and forth in Grade 11 & 12. The angst. The infatuation. The cringe. And after reading this comment, so grateful I grew up Gen X. May have seemed an awful and unfair time when I was young but at least it wasn’t this awful.

Depends. If they are white and middle class probably not an issue. Otherwise it might not be received in the ‘get to know you way’ it is intended. I lived in Vancouver for 40 years but didn’t live there as a child. As the joke goes, no one is from there everyone just moves there at some time in their life. If you ask a white person about it, they will tell you where they came from or if they are one of the few born there. If you ask anyone else they will complain that you are racist. Don’t even try to ask about ancestry or language or accent because it is all considered racist. So ask about the weather instead and if they are friendly they will add more to the conversation and if they don’t, they probably don’t want to get to know other people anyway.

Cynic in me but I still wonder if they are pushed in this direction by owners who need to commit insurance fraud because business is bad?

Breville Milk Frother. Got one 10years ago. Really elevates your morning cup of coffee or tea and also great for putting on porridge. They’ve gotten ridiculously expensive though.

It is so funny that the prudishness of Americans is what leads to signs like this. It cannot say only flush feces, urine and tp or even use common names like poop or pee because ‘people’ would be offended. Nor can they say do not flush tampons or other menstruation products, because we cannot talk about such things in public. So we end up with signs that are ripe for literal, and childish, interpretations.

Are you sure? Maybe they are child abusers, or spousal abusers or tax frauds or so many other possible bad things. Can you really be sure that your approved author/actor/athlete/celeb isn’t a bad person? Do you really know any of them to be positive? Or is it ok to like them so long as you don’t know that they are bad people but it only becomes wrong if they are publicly outed as bad? I don’t and won’t do anything to financially support JKR now but I’m not going to burn any of my books by her.

Don’t know. Probably not. I, straight female, have been attracted to straight presenting males since as long back as I have memories. But if I was prepubescent now and going forward, who knows, maybe my attractions would have changed?