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…).

Why even show content? It’s the ads that people are actually here for! Can you imagine the audacity of people, wanting a little creative content amongst our cloud of vapid, capitalistic hawking.

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.

Thank you for your honest response, and it is good to hear you have found your feet. I too have struggled to find employment that pays me what I am worth (I have a M.A. is social sciences, but also am a trained teacher). We moved overseas to support my wife’s family during a difficult time and decided to try and settle there. It turns out its hard to buy a $850k 2-bedroom bungalow when you are making 70k a year. Returning to Canada, we assumed our previous experience teaching would mean we would find jobs easily. In reality, it had priced us out of the market, and in our province a school division can keep you on terms for two years and then has to give you a permanent position or let you go. I have spent the last 5+ years bouncing from term to term, often very difficult positions where other term teachers have cut and run. I’ve saved the ass of the few school divisions in my area so many times, but all I have got in repayment is to be bounced around and when a permanent comes up they give it to a recent grad, who frankly does not have the experience or diverse range of talents I do. This year, I decided to pivot into the heritage industry. I am currently working a job I like quite a lot that requires virtually no communte and can help build my local community. Problem is, I make less than 40k a year. We can make it work because our mortgage is incredibly cheap (we lucked out and got a fixer upper for way below market value), but employers in this area also vastly undervalue labor. I’ve realized I will either have to create a secondary income stream, or use my growing contacts in private industry to leverage myself into a position that pays even close to what my work output is worth. All that being said, I still find that Canada provides good support for its citizens and generally has decent opportunity. Ultimately, we stay for the people. Returning to my wife’s home country we struggled to make any real connections and while people are friendly, it was so hard to make friends. In Canada, we have a large and varied friend group. We have potlucks almost weekly with several families, and I have opportunities to be deeply involved in community arts programs that provide opportunity for self expression and better my community. We have never been able to find that anywhere else, and I think that is why we stay.

As a Canadian, I’m curious to know which issues burdened you so heavily that you felt leaving Canada was the only option? It is a vast country with plenty of differences regionally, so the option to internally migrate was always there. What area of the world did you move to that you seem to have found what you were looking for?

I’m asking because I am genuinely curious, as someone who grew up in Canada, lived overseas (in a country on most people’s bucket lists, but has its own set of issues) and has returned to Canada. I can personally attest to the fact that the addage “the grass is always greener over the fence” rings true initially, but every place has its similar issues.

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

“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.

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.

I’m always hesitant about these reports about teacher shortages. I was a teacher in Manitoba and spent years bouncing from term to term as school divisions are under severe budget constraints and have no permanent roles to give out. They say we have a teaching shortage as well, but what they mean is no one will become a substitute teacher to make $30,000 a year. Or that no one will take the plethora of “part-time” positions where they are offering a 0.2 or 0.3 position which pays $25,000 a year (but of course expects a host of admin and extracurricular work so you don’t really have the luxury of finding another job). I left teaching for a 50% pay cut in the heritage sector. The reduction in income hurts, but not being jerkd around by the system is a nice change. I’m not really in a place in life where I can relocate, but I would happily move to Quebec if the supposed guarantee to permanent teaching roles was really as good a the media makes it out to be.

Sorry for the off topic rant. Affirming a student’s chosen pronouns makes a world of difference, and being able to make sure you school’s data system can accurately report those chosen pronouns and whether or not parents should be informed of those pronouns can be a literal lifesaver! I’ve taught students who committed suicide because their parents emotionally and physically abused them for being gender fluid, and having teachers who (for their own bullshit reasons) refused to change a single word in how they referred to that student. If all it takes is changing a field in our data system, and admin reminding teachers just how important that identity can be to a teen, that is a simple change that can literally save lives. Stop using teens lives as a pawn in you pearl-clutching vote grab Conservatives!