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2 yr. ago

  • Thank you. I did think about that also.

    'Volunteers' did the counting, but surely they should have known or been informed that a quorum of votes equal to x% of the community are required for the vote to be valid. If the count doesn't meet or exceed that value, discard the ballots.

    Or even why was the vote permitted to take place in less than the required notification period? I presume the answer to these questions is either incompetence or bravado on the part of the board members taking their position for granted.

    I find it unlikely that if the vote had went the other way, the board would have had the integrity to raise the same objections.

  • To play devil's advocate for a moment, having a sufficient vote notification period is important.

    Though if that were the board's true concern, they surely would have announced intention to notify the community alongside their statement cancelling the vote for this reason, which hasn't happened insofar as I can tell.

    I think that if half of the community shows up with less than a day's notice to make themselves heard, that's probably representative enough for how the community feels about these board members.

  • I found an update about the vote to remove the three board members.

    Homeowners voted 190 to 20 in favour of removal, however the board cancelled the vote claiming there wasn't a 24 hour notice given to the community and subsequently that 210 votes might not qualify a quorum of more than a thousand homes.

  • I'm not sure the builder profits much more by using engineered timber given its expense compared to concrete. Given the environmental cost of building with concrete, it's important to find alternative materials.

    Even in your anecdote, it's not as though the addition of a single floor was the cause of the fire, just like the material type wasn't. It's much easier for an incomplete building to go up in flames than a completed and occupied one.

    Technology isn't always a solution, but it's not like pressurized stairwells, automatic hallway segmentation, or even sprinkler systems are things of science fiction. These are all pretty established techniques of fire control.

    In terms of prevention, given the number one cause of fires in homes and buildings is in the kitchen, the easiest solution is opting out of the methane infrastructure in new projects. Though there's a rather large industry that pushes for this practice to continue, so that's a difficult thing to do.

    Also, to bring it back to the topic relevant to this post, I'm not advocating to make escape harder in a burning building by eliminating stairwells. My point is precisely what's in the content of the post - single stairwell buildings in other areas don't have people on the upper floors dying hand over foot because they had to descend an extra flight or two.

    If it was harder, I'm sure we would have heard about the trend of every building seven levels and up having dead bodies pile up in the stairwell after someone tried to flambé a quail.

  • The multiple references to 'fire safety organizations' read to me like 'fire departments'. Fire departments across North America already dictate what our roads (and therefore cities) look like. Seems like a logical leap they would also impose control over the corridors within buildings too.

  • I've seen some of the photos of people driving American-sized pickup trucks around Europe and I hope they get outlawed. Unfortunately, Europe and Asia do have so many more options - sometimes even by American companies much to my annoyance.

    I occasionally look into getting a Kei car of some sort. Though it's not really practical for me. Maybe one day, by the time a sub five inch flagship phone is developed perhaps.

  • Small vehicle sales represent less than a fifth of the market. Major manufacturers have ceased production of sedans and hatchbacks in favour of larger platform SUVs and pickup trucks.

    I realise that vehicles aren't really the focus here, but the smartphone market isn't too dissimilar in certain ways. The major manufacturers have discontinued their smaller for factor devices citing 'sales', but those devices cost nearly what a larger one did so it's reasonable that consumers would opt for the bigger screen, especially when it's typically coupled with a larger battery and superior camera.

    Also similar between these two markets, if you look overseas, or at older used models, or make any of a variety of compromises, you can find something if you're determined. Or you don't find something and just deal with the giant phone that sticks half out your pocket and you can't sit down without removing it.

    Personally, I'm enjoying watching the advances in folding phones. They are approaching Westworld standards pretty quick. Trouble of course will be when they get there, it'll cost the same as a car and at that point it better unfold some wheels too.

  • I was only meaning that 1% chance bit in reference to someone that had chosen to donate their body to science.

    I am for opt out instead of opt in, but making it mandatory would be a step too far. At the same time I find the two opinions of 'my body my choice' and 'after death you cease to exist' to be a bit counter posed.

    I would instead suggest what already occurs in today's reality: write your wishes down, and hope your wishes are followed by your descendants, or your family, or your executor, or your attorney.

    Unfortunately for anyone's wishes, that's all they are - wishes. Unless one go to rather significant lengths to erect checks and balances to the following of your desires, whichever individual remains after our demise can simply do away with whatever they please and have an auction to the rich for extra parts while taking sponsorships from big oil.

  • Similar to vehicles, smaller phones probably would sell just fine.

    The issue would be that not many people would buy a phone 2/3 the size unless it was also 2/3 the price. Even if the manufacturing of such a device was 2/3 the cost (it wouldn't be), the bottom line for the manufacturer would be same number of devices sold, but 1/3 less money.

    Companies don't do less money.

  • In fairness, pretty much any subject will have some negatives that could be pointed to and touted as an excuse for not doing something.

    If there's even a 1% chance of your body being properly useful to science in some way, and therefore humanity at large, it's worth the odds.

    Though I'd bet good money that the amount of mutilation and whatnot isn't particularly common for science bound bodies. Much easier to steal some organs from the morgue bodies marked for non collection.

  • You make a good point, and I agree. I wasn't thinking that it was the only thing on the market and therefore the price is whatever a new technology costs.

    I tend to think of video games - being a form of entertainment - as a great way to be entertained while also being an incredibly low cost option for the amount of time I spend enjoying them.

    Buying a $600 console just to enjoy a single $60 title is an extreme example but to me, if that game provides 100 hours of playtime, that seems well worth it. Cheaper than going to a theatre or most other forms of entertainment.

    To be sure, I don't do this, but I've always viewed gaming through a $/h lens, and could never understand why so many people saw it as a waste of time. That's what I was thinking when I wrote that comment earlier - it seems to me that you get more playtime with some RPG from this decade than you would playing Pac-Man. Though perhaps I feel that way because games like Pac-Man don't appeal to me.

    Thinking about it, your point might be valid again, with the Atari being a new technology, people were likely to sink far more hours into a title than they might do with modern games since we have so many to choose from now. I've never thought about it that way. Thanks for pointing this out.

  • The Atari 2600 released for $190 in 1977. Or about $1000 today.

    The best selling title, Pac-Man released for $28 in 1982. Or about $95 today.

    Compared to so much else that has risen dramatically over time, vastly outpacing video games comparatively, I think it's a bit hard to argue with the value proposition of modern titles.