Balazs Lajtha

There are 17M people in the Netherlands, but Amsterdam (900k) is smaller than Ottawa (1.1M).

I was referring to patchwork of smaller cities that make up the country. It's not a bunch of urban center, surrounded by a green belt, and then spread out rural communities. But a pretty even distribution of walkable likeable cities scattered around.

This doesn't look like suburban sprawl. It's advertised as a self contained city of 45,000 people. That's basically the Dutch model.

I don't understand. They use all the right words: 15 minute city, public transit, mixed and walkable neighbourhood, compact housing, local food supply. www.tewin.ca

What's wrong with the project?

The Fed just cut rates. But relief might not come quickly enough for some Americans | CNN Business The Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday for the first time this year, a move that could provide some relief for Americans from the higher cost of living. But there is a deepening inequalit...

The top 10% of earners now account for half of consumer spending in the US.

www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/b...

Meaningless consumption rises when people feel miserable. And now the world's second largest ad company is try to push people into "a better future" with a paradigm shifting product. It's the Metaverse all over again.

I don't think that sexual orientation has to determine social sensitivity. A gay sub can be bigoted, and a straight person can be open.

The "normal gay" is not culturally "staight", he's culturally conservative.

Qanon had one thing right: the world is run by powerful business interests. But why did they think those people were pedophiles? Thinking that people who have infinite money will surely use it to have sex with children tells more about the desires of Qanon then about the cabal.

Trump's strategy is to use tax cuts to grow the economy faster than the resulting debt growth. Meanwhile interest payments are ballooning, reaching 1T per year.
Wage growth has detached from economic growth a long time ago. Now services the working poor were relying on will be cut to pay interest.

Wonder if the conservative politicians and voters fear mongering about a wealth tax on home equity know about property taxes...

Day 1 without Facebook. So far the only benefit: no multitasking while watching Brit Box.

Last Hungarian election was in 2022, where Fidesz won 54.13% of the popular vote. Trump didn't win with absolute majority, but still won the popular vote, receiving 49.8% (77.3M) against 48.3% for Harris, while Clinton only received 48.2% (65.8M votes).

Canada rescinds digital services tax in a bid to advance trade talks with US Canada has rescinded its digital services tax in a bid to advance trade negotiations with the U.S., Canada's finance ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Looks like we're doing elbows down at the end. What a wuss. I thought he only scrapped the carbon tax to get elected. But looks like helping big US businesses Carney's his brand. www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Day 0. without Facebook. This morning I logged out.

That's an untrue generalization. Trump, Erdogan and Orban were elected by popular demand, the last two by absolute majority. Russia's elections aren't counted. China doesn't hold elections.

Fortunately Canadians are not a homogenous block. There are those of us who do like bike lanes, and insulation, and knowing what is in our food, and are actually bi - or tri, or quad - lingual. And have an aversion to AC, pickup trucks and large SUVs, and have taken the bus.

We're already on our third Spiderman and ninth Batman. Antman is tricky, because Paul Rudd stopped aging. But in general these animal-themed superheroes are dropping like flies.

Carney should have handed him an iPad. Works for most toddlers.

Delivering world peace, one crusie missile at a time.

Amazon tried to manufacture FOMO by making the Nintendo Switch 2 invitation only, so of course I applied. Got the good new that I can spend $699 if I hurry. I let it expire. Applied again and got invited the same day.

It's not 2020 anymore.

People love to cite The Wealth of Nations, and the theory of comparative advantage when they argue that cheap consumer goods should be made overseas.

Cheap labor is not a comparative advantage. Having a poor population willing to work for scraps is a temporary setback.

There's no "collateral" damage on a Russian military airbase in 2025.

Would be fun if Ukraine sneaked random containers with drones into Russia that are now rolling on the roads with unassuming drivers, waiting for the right GPS coordinates to pop the top, and unleash the drones. Might only cost a million or two per unit.

Right wing populists hate educated people, and promise that everyone will get rich. Left wing populists hate rich people, and promise that everyone will get an education. No wonder Trump won.

If you're shielding your children from reality, you're not protecting them: you're making them more vulnerable.

I wrote to Punch Lines, because their headliners usually suck, but they stood by their artistic choices. It's a shame that local talent gets only short slots, and then they bring in washed up comedians from decades ago, and this garbage. I hope Wasted Day comedy nights pick up.

Wow, that escalated quickly. We - Saint John - had Danger Catz two weeks ago. I watched their YouTube stuff, it was bad, but wouldn't have said that it's Nazi. Didn't watch them live though.

Looks like Trump figured out how to push an already hot economy over the edge. Constant fear and uncertainty will keep people spending. He only has three years to go.

The video says it: they are doing hybrid trucks. Wonder why others haven't tried it yet.