Odd Things Seen Daily By Me

I always see people crowding libraries here. I finally got a library card. In the middle of the weekday the place was filled with early 20s people with their laptops. Nearly every place, stool and chair was taken. I saw two ladies sit at the kids' computer table.

You can book a desktop computer for 2 hours and surprisingly it was pretty full. The most populated were the 10 strollers, mothers and their infants in an all glass room with two librarians doing story time. The room was so packed any whiff of a respiratory virus would have spread like wildfire.

The magazine racks were pretty out of date. Most didn't have a January 2025 episode. The newspapers were a few days old. There was a sign not to steal one of the local papers. They had a 100" TV showing 24/7 news on low volume. They also had 3D printers and other gadgets for you to rent and a podcasting room with lighting.

Books seemed a bit secondary. There were quite a few DVDs too.

Of course life would not be complete in the city without a security guard and homeless/high/generally degenerate people wandering in.

My electronic benefits include some streaming services that make Tubi look mainstream, digital WSJ and NYT and some other magazines through a clunky proxy URL. And I can book tickets once a year to local tourist spots, museums and art galleries.
 
Most of the new year's resolutions people have disappeared from the gym at 5am. There is a new bloke with a short hair cut, white hair and white and grey beard. I call him old because he seems to love taking over the television to blast Alicia Keys, J. Lo, Nelly Furtado, Ne-yo...all I need is some Kanye. His cooldown music was Whitney Houston.
 
When you're in a lecture or presentation with a lot of people and someone's mobile phone rings, people contort themselves and turn their necks to see where it's coming from. Why? Are they trying to shame the person to turn it off with a stare? Do they want to find the source and turn it off themselves? If it's not you, why bother?
 
I have a lot of time to watch online interviews, lectures, TV interviews, presentations, etc. Normally I hate people who have those fake backgrounds that bleed around the person's edges or the blurred background.

But this guy...this guy definitely needs a background. Is that woman behind him working or it's coffee break time?

Screenshot 2025-02-10 111225.webp
 
Wearing white trousers and long white overcoats in slushy winter. Looks nice in a place like Milan but I feel sorry for your dry cleaner or whomever does your laundry.
 
Baggy fits.

Today I saw some girl wear her baggy denim jeans turned inside out with the cuff folded up. I guess that's a clever way to avoid putting it through wash.
 
People who play obnoxious stuff loudly on their mobile phones. Today it was an old guy blasting Bernie Sanders.
 
The look where you casually expose one of your shoulders and the strap of your bra or bikini top.
 
I went to a footy game today where one man in front of me spent 85-90% of the game staring at a screen. I was a row above him so I could see some kind of map, sports betting, digital bank balance checking, and whatever else other than the live action he paid (or at least spent the time) for in front of him. Another couple spent the entire time chatting with iMessage and checking social media. Only once when the supporters did viking clap did he switch to record that. And then they went back to staring at the screens.
 
If you can't tell the difference between coriander and parsley should you really be working the supermarket till?
 
Spaghetti all'amatriciana. $21. Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. $28. Tonnarelli aglio e olio. $18. Rigatoni alla carbonara. $24.

🤷

I would like this waitress with a very hoarse voice who coughs up phlegm every time she leaves the table and the sips on tea not to come over so many times.
 
Adverts from American cities and states asking me to come visit and we love Canadians. Arizona. Charleston. Palm Beach. Oregon. California.

Every single day...
 
Kiwis. Greek and Italian kiwis tend to take forever to ripen and become sweet. Some might soften but remain sour.

For some reason the expensive golden ones from New Zealand fare better.

Pears from South Africa are rock solid and can take weeks to ripen and turn sweet. That's if they even do that. It's like they pick them as small buds and it grows on the ship. Pears from Italy and US don't take so long.
 
Fwiffo said:
The look where you casually expose one of your shoulders and the strap of your bra or bikini top.
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What sort of bra do you wear, Fwiffs?

Fwiffo said:
If you can't tell the difference between coriander and parsley should you really be working the supermarket till?
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I confused an American supermarket staff asking for coriander. They tried to give me all sorts of crazy shit until we figured out it’s Cilantro here

Fwiffo said:
Kiwis. Greek and Italian kiwis tend to take forever to ripen and become sweet. Some might soften but remain sour.

For some reason the expensive golden ones from New Zealand fare better.

Pears from South Africa are rock solid and can take weeks to ripen and turn sweet. That's if they even do that. It's like they pick them as small buds and it grows on the ship. Pears from Italy and US don't take so long.
Click to expand...

In Antipodean, a Kiwi is a New Zealander whereas a Kiwi Fruit is the thing you are describing. Be careful who is around when you start talking about sour or juicy Kiwis!
 
Dropbear said:
What sort of bra do you wear, Fwiffs?
Click to expand...

I'm not trans.

Dropbear said:
I confused an American supermarket staff asking for coriander. They tried to give me all sorts of crazy shit until we figured out it’s Cilantro here
Click to expand...

Fennel and anise. It's actually listed in this grocer on the sign as fennel (anise) but on the machine it's anise.

Courgettes and zucchini - this one I guess like cilantro we are influenced by all those Latin romance languages that are in close proximity. Rutabaga and swede.

Dropbear said:
In Antipodean, a Kiwi is a New Zealander whereas a Kiwi Fruit is the thing you are describing. Be careful who is around when you start talking about sour or juicy Kiwis!
Click to expand...

There's also a bird no? These people need more words to describe things.
 
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I pass by this park often that was hastily put up during winter including sod that died. It is temporary before the city finds a designer for the permanent park whereby the temporary park will be destroyed.

Does it really take 5 years to select a design and build a small park?
 
"Offering public access to grass"

I thought you Canucks legalised hooch years ago? or is it to be free in this spot
 
fxh said:
"Offering public access to grass"

I thought you Canucks legalised hooch years ago? or is it to be free in this spot
Click to expand...

We usually have at least two cannabis outlets within each city block radius but this part is pretty new (most buildings are <5 years old) so unfortunately you have to walk at least 2 blocks for it.

It's so prevalent in our main rail station they opened a store where you can grab some before you get on a train.
 
Homeless people smart phones. But today I saw a new one...homeless bloke with a smart watch.

Where/when does he find time to charge it?
 
Fwiffo said:
Homeless people smart phones. But today I saw a new one...homeless bloke with a smart watch.

Where/when does he find time to charge it?
Click to expand...
I've actually worked with some agencies that give the homeless mobile phones.

Make a lot of sense.

I can explain if you can't work it out
 
fxh said:
I've actually worked with some agencies that give the homeless mobile phones.

Make a lot of sense.

I can explain if you can't work it out
Click to expand...

I see the somewhat sane and sometimes belligerent ones charging it at the rail station or anywhere they can sit on the ground with access to an outlet. People need an app just to climb over the wall and get asylum in the States so I reckon you need a browser to apply for social benefits.

The smart watch I have no idea what he was using it for. He was high as a kite and barely had function of his gross motor skills. Occasionally a stray finger would hit the watch face and that’s how I know it wasn’t any old watch.
 
Traffic is so bad these past few years the city has police or traffic enforcement cops that come to co-ordinate traffic during rush hour. This year they introduced random people with stop signs at certain intersections to guide pedestrians. This means during late afternoon a few blocks from me you have pedestrian guides, traffic cops, and crossing guards all trying to make sure people go from point A to B.

If only pedestrians and drivers just followed the lights.
 
The rooftop bar across from me is finally kicking into season. Gone are the boring every night DJs. On Friday they had a salsa night with some live music. On Saturday morning they had a bunch of girls do yoga before lunch.

Sunday. DJs are back. Blasting music from 20 years ago or older - Nelly, Mariah, Rihanna's umbrella song. Must be positively geriatric crowd.
 
Does Puff Daddy really need to be in the news every single day?
 
The amount of women wearing athletic clothing like yoga stuff. Mostly good looking bodies but their faces are plagued with acne breakouts. If you are are going to show off, take care of the face no?
 
I walk by a homeless man a few times a week. He has a sleeping bag underneath a tunnel that is so long it barely gets any sunlight even on the sunniest days. Most of the time I just see a lump underneath the bag in the middle of the day. This past month I did see him awake. One time he was playing his Nintendo Switch. Another time he was watching a movie on his mobile phone in landscape mode. Given the tunnel is far away from any transit or store I often wonder where he gets to charge his USB power banks.
 
In the dead of summer with humid and hot weather women wearing tight fitting denim skirts/dresses and what I can only guess is some kind of denim top with short trousers that end around the knee. It looks uncomfortable.
 
Fwiffo said:
In the dead of summer with humid and hot weather women wearing tight fitting denim skirts/dresses and what I can only guess is some kind of denim top with short trousers that end around the knee. It looks uncomfortable.
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Do you even Iron Heart, bro?
 
Archaic English. For example, a bank person just told me she will transfer this to X and they will do the needful.
 
My aunt came back from her Scandinavian cruise and said there were many Americans there. Many expressed shock and horror at how Canadians were being treated by the President and even had Canadian pins and other baubles they brought just in case they needed to display them to show their support.

I attended an online lecture today with someone from Stanford who flashed a Canadian flag on his camera and said we do like Canadians, we're nice to you, we really like you.

And of course every day on Bloomberg I get adverts that say how New York or Texas or some other state welcomes me in this geo-targeted advertising zone to go visit.

When I make reference to the annexation statements, Americans then break into the I'm a victim, we're held hostage here too, we're ashamed of such behaviour, etc. All y'all allowed him to be elected into office so to me y'all are enablers and collaborators.
 
Typos or incorrect words in the media. I notice one every day or two on Bloomberg like two e’s to start excellent. Bloomberg does say they use AI to curate things. Yesterday the national paper wrote face but meant fact. You have to wonder how LLMs can screw up basic English.
 
Restaurants and takeaway places that have their ingredients on display through a window. If you do it, I am not sure you want two dozen heads of browning and one almost black cauliflower for all to see.
 
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