cfabbro's recent activity

  1. Comment on Air Canada CEO will retire this year after his English-only crash message was criticized in ~transport

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Air Canada isn't just some random private company though, it was once a Crown Corporation (i.e. Canadian government owned and operated) before it was controversially privatized in the late 80s....

    The idea of the CEO of a company being fired for not speaking Spanish is so wild of an idea to me.

    Air Canada isn't just some random private company though, it was once a Crown Corporation (i.e. Canadian government owned and operated) before it was controversially privatized in the late 80s. But despite it now being technically privatized, it is still our national "flag carrier" airline so has been given huge tax benefits, subsidies, and has even received several major bailouts over the years as well (the latest of which was during COVID).

    And while the Air Canada CEO isn't considered a government employee anymore, therefor isn't required by law to be bilingual like other government employees, they are pretty much as close to a government employee as a "private" company CEO can get in Canada. So the cultural (and political) expectation is that they absolutely should be able to speak both languages... especially since Air Canada is headquartered in Montreal!

    Now also add to that the fact that this same CEO failed to follow through with the promise they made 4 years ago to learn French the last time they caused a major controversy for being unable to speak it, and I think you can maybe start to understand better why this is a very different situation than your comparison of an American CEO being fired for not being able to speak Spanish.

    2 votes
  2. Comment on Tom Scott: England — Official teaser for Nebula in ~travel

  3. Comment on Ottawa's big bet on world's largest cricket farm ran into a simple problem: the 'yuck factor' in ~food

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Yeah, that's insanely expensive! For further comparison, that 454g bag of cricket powder is the same price I pay for a 2kg bag of decent quality whey protein powder. And whey has the advantage of...

    Yeah, that's insanely expensive! For further comparison, that 454g bag of cricket powder is the same price I pay for a 2kg bag of decent quality whey protein powder. And whey has the advantage of being highly water soluble so it's an incredibly versatile ingredient... Whereas I'm pretty sure cricket powder is mostly not water soluble so about the only thing it's good for is use as a baking ingredient.

    16 votes
  4. Comment on Taskmaster NZ Season 6, Episode 1 - 'It’s like a Make A Wish' | Full episode in ~tv

  5. Comment on Tildes Book Club - March 2026 - The Metamorphosis by Kafka in ~books

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    In my head I pictured them as a formerly wealthy (potentially unlanded/petty noble) family on the decline, hence the servants and large apartment, but also the need to rent out their extra rooms...

    In my head I pictured them as a formerly wealthy (potentially unlanded/petty noble) family on the decline, hence the servants and large apartment, but also the need to rent out their extra rooms and work regular jobs to make ends meet.

    3 votes
  6. Comment on Babylon 5 S01E05: "Infection" - Episode Discussion in ~tv

  7. Comment on Tildes Book Club - March 2026 - The Metamorphosis by Kafka in ~books

    cfabbro
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    Link Parent
    That's a great way to describe it! I thought of it as being "dreamlike" too, for similar reasons. Although in retrospect it was more "nightmare-like" specifically. :/

    That's a great way to describe it! I thought of it as being "dreamlike" too, for similar reasons. Although in retrospect it was more "nightmare-like" specifically. :/

    3 votes
  8. Comment on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | Teaser in ~tv

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Okay. And I think it is, and clearly so did a few other people since the offtopic label doesn't have any effect if only one person applies it. So agree to disagree, I guess. But feel free to...

    Okay. And I think it is, and clearly so did a few other people since the offtopic label doesn't have any effect if only one person applies it. So agree to disagree, I guess. But feel free to report it to Deimos if you disagree strongly enough and believe the label has been misapplied.

    13 votes
  9. Comment on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | Teaser in ~tv

    cfabbro
    Link Parent
    Nobody is advocating for totally avoiding discussing JK's bigotry. It's not being censored. It hasn't been removed. It's simply being sorted below the comments focused on the actual subject of...

    Nobody is advocating for totally avoiding discussing JK's bigotry. It's not being censored. It hasn't been removed. It's simply being sorted below the comments focused on the actual subject of this topic, which is the HBO trailer and show.

    17 votes
  10. Comment on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone | Teaser in ~tv

    cfabbro
    Link Parent
    IMO JK Rowling is a truly horrible person, and I wish she would just disappear, and people would stop supporting her (even indirectly by watching this show). However, despite my feeling that way...

    IMO JK Rowling is a truly horrible person, and I wish she would just disappear, and people would stop supporting her (even indirectly by watching this show). However, despite my feeling that way about her and being glad that JXM brought the subject up, their comment is still pretty much the textbook definition of off-topic since it's not actually about the trailer or the HBO Harry Potter series.

    23 votes
  11. Comment on Possible first European rocket launch to reach orbit taking place in ~20minutes, livesteam here! in ~space

    cfabbro
    Link Parent
    Launch got scrubbed. :/ https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/isar-onward-and-upward/

    Launch got scrubbed. :/

    The launch time had to be moved back to 20:21 UTC due to a range violation involving a boat. The range cleared and the countdown got all the way to T-3 seconds, just before engine ignition, when the flight aborted.The launch window lasted until 20:50 UTC, but after the abort, controllers called a scrub. No new launch date has been announced and the reason for the abort is not yet publicly known.

    https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/isar-onward-and-upward/

    13 votes
  12. Comment on Jet Lag Season 17: Taiwan Rail Rush | Trailer in ~hobbies

    cfabbro
    Link
    Ep 1 — Taiwan Rail Rush: Nebula YouTube

    Ep 1 — Taiwan Rail Rush:

    4 votes
  13. Comment on Lost in translation: How Russia’s new elite hit squad was compromised by an idiotic lapse in tradecraft in ~society

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    The Insider is pretty well known in OSINT circles and is considered quite reputable. They have worked alongside Bellingcat on numerous investigations, including the groundbreaking Skripal...

    The Insider is pretty well known in OSINT circles and is considered quite reputable. They have worked alongside Bellingcat on numerous investigations, including the groundbreaking Skripal poisoning investigation for which they both won a European Press Prize. They've also worked with CNN, Der Spiegel, BBC and a bunch of other major news orgs on investigations involving Russia too.

    p.s. The Fakesperts site is a list of "fake experts" that have been spreading Kremlin-friendly disinformation in various Western countries. If you click on the listed people's portraits it goes into more detail about each.

    11 votes
  14. Comment on Tildes Book Club - March 2026 - The Metamorphosis by Kafka in ~books

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I personally interpreted it as an allegory for mental illness. Gregor being a once "productive" member of the family who suddenly became a burden due to depression, and developing severe...

    I personally interpreted it as an allegory for mental illness. Gregor being a once "productive" member of the family who suddenly became a burden due to depression, and developing severe agoraphobia which rendered him unable to leave his room. But I can totally see how it could be interpreted many different ways, as representing a physical injury leaving someone bed-bound, or even as an LGBT+ person's rejection by their family.

    And I think that's actually what makes this story so powerful, and explains why it's remained relevant for as long as it has; It's open to a wide array of perfectly valid interpretations that are influenced by the reader's own direct experiences with, or witnessing, similar circumstances in their own life.

    5 votes
  15. Comment on Inside Scotland’s ‘illegal’ African tribe (The Kingdom of Kubala) in ~life

    cfabbro
    (edited )
    Link
    Some of you may recognize Drew Taylor from STORROR, the YouTube parkour group he was once a part of. He mysteriously disappeared from their channel last year, but recently announced the reason for...

    Some of you may recognize Drew Taylor from STORROR, the YouTube parkour group he was once a part of. He mysteriously disappeared from their channel last year, but recently announced the reason for that was because he had started focusing on making documentaries instead. See: WHERE'S DREW? (Truth Behind My STORROR Disappearance)

    This is the first of his new documentaries posted to his new channel, and I thought it was interesting enough to share here.

    4 votes
  16. Comment on Saturday Night Live UK is here - but can it make you laugh? in ~tv

    cfabbro
    Link Parent
    Damn. Well observed and well said. I never really thought it of like that before, but I think you actually nailed the reason for my underlying unease with SNLs political sketches!

    Damn. Well observed and well said. I never really thought it of like that before, but I think you actually nailed the reason for my underlying unease with SNLs political sketches!

    2 votes
  17. Comment on Saturday Night Live UK is here - but can it make you laugh? in ~tv

    cfabbro
    Link Parent
    I never said regular SNL sketches were more high brow than the political ones. But I find political figure impressions super cringey regardless of how accurate they are, and the jokes that...

    I never said regular SNL sketches were more high brow than the political ones. But I find political figure impressions super cringey regardless of how accurate they are, and the jokes that typically go along with them are even moreso. I fucking loathe pretty much everything about American politics though, so I am undoubtedly rather biased because of that.

    2 votes
  18. Comment on Academy Award winner - The Girl Who Cried Pearls | Full film in ~movies

  19. Comment on Nicholas Brendon, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ star, dies at 54 in ~tv

    cfabbro
    Link Parent
    Heh, no worries. I'd be lying if I said I'd never had something similar happen to myself. I misread shit all the time, and have definitely made comments based on my misreading too. :P

    Heh, no worries. I'd be lying if I said I'd never had something similar happen to myself. I misread shit all the time, and have definitely made comments based on my misreading too. :P

    2 votes