Alex Elliott
@canadianyankee.bsky.social
Dual US-Canadian citizen living in Toronto
People said that they wanted government to be run like a business, not realizing that there are businesses that are family run operations slapped together with duct tape where the lines between corporate money and family money are blurry to nonexistent.
December 10, 2025 at 12:38 AM
People said that they wanted government to be run like a business, not realizing that there are businesses that are family run operations slapped together with duct tape where the lines between corporate money and family money are blurry to nonexistent.
The gym chain I belong to actually has a branch inside one of our local airport's terminals. I've never once used it (even though I like to switch up locations occasionally) because I don't find the idea of a workout before/after a flight appealing at all.
December 9, 2025 at 1:25 PM
The gym chain I belong to actually has a branch inside one of our local airport's terminals. I've never once used it (even though I like to switch up locations occasionally) because I don't find the idea of a workout before/after a flight appealing at all.
YYZ has a full branch of a chain gym. It closes 8pm on weekdays and 6pm on weekends because it's so unpopular that it's not worth it to staff it later than that. (Downtown branches of the same chain are open to 11pm weekdays and 8:30pm weekends).
December 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
YYZ has a full branch of a chain gym. It closes 8pm on weekdays and 6pm on weekends because it's so unpopular that it's not worth it to staff it later than that. (Downtown branches of the same chain are open to 11pm weekdays and 8:30pm weekends).
What about celery root? I never had it until fairly recently but now I use it any time I need an assortment of root vegetables.
December 9, 2025 at 2:52 AM
What about celery root? I never had it until fairly recently but now I use it any time I need an assortment of root vegetables.
I thought that Afroyim v. Rusk was decided on the 14th Amendment, not the 1st.
December 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM
I thought that Afroyim v. Rusk was decided on the 14th Amendment, not the 1st.
As an Amiga computer user from way back, I was aware of the Video Toaster as one of the first mass-market CG products available (even though it meant buying custom hardware). But I am now reminded by a quick Google search that it didn't start shipping until 1990.
November 30, 2025 at 7:19 PM
As an Amiga computer user from way back, I was aware of the Video Toaster as one of the first mass-market CG products available (even though it meant buying custom hardware). But I am now reminded by a quick Google search that it didn't start shipping until 1990.
Didn't the lightcycle race in the original Tron movie (1982) have this background? Or has that been incepted into my brain afterwards?
November 30, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Didn't the lightcycle race in the original Tron movie (1982) have this background? Or has that been incepted into my brain afterwards?
Does tarte tatin count as pie? Because given the opportunity to make a pie, I make tarte tatin.
November 26, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Does tarte tatin count as pie? Because given the opportunity to make a pie, I make tarte tatin.
I wear business casual even when travelling for pleasure for two reasons: (1) I'm trying to project the aura of being a frequent business traveler so security will wave me through as quickly as possible; and (2) sport jacket inside pockets are perfect for carrying passports.
November 26, 2025 at 12:58 AM
I wear business casual even when travelling for pleasure for two reasons: (1) I'm trying to project the aura of being a frequent business traveler so security will wave me through as quickly as possible; and (2) sport jacket inside pockets are perfect for carrying passports.
I was an undergrad in the 1980s and programming homework back then was printed out on green-and-white fanfold paper from the giant mainframe-attached printers. Some students would literally take someone else's work, cross out the name and write in their own. In pen. Laziness ain't new.
November 17, 2025 at 11:47 PM
I was an undergrad in the 1980s and programming homework back then was printed out on green-and-white fanfold paper from the giant mainframe-attached printers. Some students would literally take someone else's work, cross out the name and write in their own. In pen. Laziness ain't new.
My husband grew up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain and his elementary school class was chosen to be part of the welcoming ceremony for a state visit by Erich Honecker, which probably puts him three or steps away from Stalin.
November 2, 2025 at 3:59 PM
My husband grew up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain and his elementary school class was chosen to be part of the welcoming ceremony for a state visit by Erich Honecker, which probably puts him three or steps away from Stalin.
Some of us come from excruciatingly WASPy families where you *know* that your second cousin once removed deserves a marginally smaller share of your great-aunt Hortense's Royal Daulton collection than you do.
October 28, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Some of us come from excruciatingly WASPy families where you *know* that your second cousin once removed deserves a marginally smaller share of your great-aunt Hortense's Royal Daulton collection than you do.
My copy of Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" credits two translators and the writer of the annotations and afterword. It would have been almost impossible to comprehend without those notes!
October 13, 2025 at 11:54 PM
My copy of Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" credits two translators and the writer of the annotations and afterword. It would have been almost impossible to comprehend without those notes!
There's a mandatory retirement age of 75.
October 7, 2025 at 1:24 AM
There's a mandatory retirement age of 75.
Coffee Time still had those well into the 2000s. Very grim.
August 29, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Coffee Time still had those well into the 2000s. Very grim.
I encountered someone on reddit who insisted that the famous "Trolley Problem" exists because Americans hate mass transit and want to make it seem more dangerous than it actually is.
August 25, 2025 at 12:24 PM
I encountered someone on reddit who insisted that the famous "Trolley Problem" exists because Americans hate mass transit and want to make it seem more dangerous than it actually is.
I use a first initial and full middle name, but sometimes that's not accepted even though it's not that uncommon of a situation. This results in frequent mismatches where different systems have different versions of my name.
August 14, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I use a first initial and full middle name, but sometimes that's not accepted even though it's not that uncommon of a situation. This results in frequent mismatches where different systems have different versions of my name.
There's a somewhat famous list of "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names" that posits that no system can handle every naming system on earth. www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/f...
Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names
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Kalzumeus Software
Classic essay about how software routinely bumbles human names.
www.kalzumeus.com
August 14, 2025 at 12:59 PM
There's a somewhat famous list of "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names" that posits that no system can handle every naming system on earth. www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/f...
Only in America though. Up here in Canada, it would be a zamboni: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Peak Canadiana: Alberta man takes Zamboni through Tim Hortons drive-thru | CBC News
Many Canadians have faced this predicament: “should I stop for Tim Hortons on my way home from work?” Sometimes, the quick warm-up is all you need to start the rest of your day.
www.cbc.ca
August 12, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Only in America though. Up here in Canada, it would be a zamboni: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
My Canadian car insurance company had an app that would reward me with lower rates if I stayed under the speed limit. It was too stupid to know that km and miles were different things so when I was driving in the US it would punish me for driving 100 (kph) when the speed limit was 65 (mph).
August 11, 2025 at 1:36 PM
My Canadian car insurance company had an app that would reward me with lower rates if I stayed under the speed limit. It was too stupid to know that km and miles were different things so when I was driving in the US it would punish me for driving 100 (kph) when the speed limit was 65 (mph).
Related fact: portobello mushrooms are just button mushrooms left to grow big. A mushroom grower in that same county in PA invented a fake Italian name for them, got some Philly restauranteurs to put them on their menus, and marketing history was made.
August 10, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Related fact: portobello mushrooms are just button mushrooms left to grow big. A mushroom grower in that same county in PA invented a fake Italian name for them, got some Philly restauranteurs to put them on their menus, and marketing history was made.
I feel like that post of yours is where I learned about Sir Denis Foreman's "A Night at the Opera", which is now required reading in my house before we see any opera that is covered in that book.
July 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I feel like that post of yours is where I learned about Sir Denis Foreman's "A Night at the Opera", which is now required reading in my house before we see any opera that is covered in that book.
Here, many of these people don't even have their own personal vehicle. There are local entrepreneurs that have bought fleets of cheap e-bikes that they rent out to the gig workers, squeezing them even more.
July 22, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Here, many of these people don't even have their own personal vehicle. There are local entrepreneurs that have bought fleets of cheap e-bikes that they rent out to the gig workers, squeezing them even more.
If you consider the Eurovision Song Contest to be a fighting game, then there's also the Irish duo known as Jedward.
June 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM
If you consider the Eurovision Song Contest to be a fighting game, then there's also the Irish duo known as Jedward.