Thanks for the American context as I'm a Canadian and our systems are different here. I didn't realize the risks involved and the motivation behind it. I think this might be my least popular comment on Lemmy ever😅

The USA as a battleground between religion and atheism changes the context as I would shrug most of this off here in Canada as harmless. Like the 10 commandments? Most of them are good advice, basically just "don't be a piece of shit" and i wouldn't have a problem teaching them to kids... Unless the goal is to teach them actively as the word of God and marginalize non-believers as sinful, in which case this is absolutely criminal. That is church, not school.

We have a more robust separation of church and state to the point where when I read "teaching the Bible in school" I hear "robustly secular, historical and cultural study" which as I stated I believe would be a valuable learning experience. In Quebec there are even rules that public servants can't display any religious symbols at all, even as small as a cross on a bracelet. The leader of our Conservative party recently made a statement that both abortion and gay rights were "a closed issue" and he would not stand for any attacks on them.

So personally my wife and I made the hard decision this year to send our daughter to a Catholic school next year due to the rapidly declining quality of public education. However the Catholic school district here is publicly funded and staffed, with strict regulations that any religious content is optional and that respect must be given equally to those who choose it or do not choose it.

Many of her friends have already made the switch (regular school is quickly emptying out of smart kids and turning into a zoo as parents pull their kids) and stated this is exactly how it works, most of them being non-religious as well but impressed with the discipline and learning outcomes. My wife teaches college and said the difference is night and day with some kids even making it out of public highschool unable to read. Meanwhile my daughter's new school has won awards for the achievements of its graduates and their placement in top schools and in industry.

So you see I'm comfortable enough with our dedication to secularism here in Canada that I am willing to send my daughter to an actual Catholic school with no fear that she will be brainwashed... Obviously a bit of bible study doesn't scare me but in the context of the USA culture war it's clearly a much bigger deal.

No I'm serious, I'm here in SK and we're trying to push Moe and his cronies out for the NDP this fall, and our biggest problem is the federal NDP damaging the brand by backing Trudeau. All we say all day is "The SK NDP is not affiliated with the federal party, we stand for working Canadians, vote Moe out"

If you think $500 for low income and seniors is anything other than a bone thrown to pacify the poor then Singh has pulled the wool over your eyes.

The requirement for "no access to insurance" absolutely torpedoes the entire thing. Private insurers need to fall, universal coverage is the only way. Dental is the Canadian equivalent to the entire USA health insurance racket.

Congrats on living in the one green riding, which does give you some power over your single seat party... Which ultimately holds no power at all in our broken system.

I'm sorry to say I voted Trudeau on the promise of electoral reform, which he then told us we didn't want. I'm in a safe blue riding which means my vote is pointless, so I'm going full protest vote next time for the PPC 🤣 Max is laughable, especially his obsession with dairy supply management, but enough votes for "burn it down" will hopefully send a message.

Trudeau over Biden?

Trudeau is importing the world's problems in the name of propping up the real estate investor class (of which he is a member) and pumping up fake GDP numbers. GDP per capita is plummeting in Canada with excess immigration.

Singh is in his pocket, a waste of a vote. I was an NDP voter all my life, I'm done.

Polliviere is an absolute idiot who will ride a wave of hatred for Trudeau into office.

Voters in Canada have no power and no representation as all votes are whipped. Your MP is a seat filler. We have no ballot initiatives or direct democracy options that America has, and reform will never come.

Biden listens to people who know what they're doing and stands out of the way... Passed legislation supporting workers and unions, energy infrastructure etc. meaning he's both more left than Singh and more business-friendly than PP

Forcing it as a belief system is definitely wrong, but we were forced to study plenty of literature when I was in school, much of it far less relevant. I don't see the difference with the Bible, especially if presented as a historical document and prototypical collection of stories?

I'm not religious and wasn't raised in a religious family, but when I decided to pick up a Bible and read it as a teenager I couldn't believe how much context it gave me on our culture and its origins.

Having to read and study the whole thing would also help rein in overzealous religion IMO. The #1 reason I've heard from evangelicals who left their church was "I decided to read the Bible for myself"

The simple solution sounds like it should be shipping more panels to the rest of the world?

Solar panels are still excessively expensive here in Canada

America needs some perspective. You complain that your only choices are a doddering fool or a toxic narcissist who wants to actively destroy the nation.

Here in Canada we look at our options and think "America is so much better, I wish we had an option to vote for a doddering fool. All we have are narcissists"

No joke I wish we had a leader as good as Biden. The bar is so low that the devil is doing the limbo with it down in Hell.

Coal plants can be fairly easily repowered to natural gas, which decreases CO2 emissions but more significantly drops local particulate emissions nearly to zero. China's air quality is famously poor so this would be a smart move.

China still needs baseload generation and converting coal to NG is far cheaper than nuclear or advanced stack scrubbers.

I would agree in the case of reselling pirated content, as a core piracy principle is that data itself has no value and can be given away for free. Once you start selling it, you're just a thief.

But he was part of a modchip team selling physical hardware. They manufactured a real product that was not itself pirated, and users had the choice to use the devices for homebrew or even to not install them at all.

This case is literally like blaming a gun manufacturer for murder.

Windfall taxes are reactive and bad policy in general.

What we need is a return to pre-Reagan tax policy. Higher upper tax brackets, corporate taxes, and the closing of loopholes that allow the rich to hide their wealth offshore.

I farm in Canada which has a carbon tax, $65/ton. We're in the grip of terrible drought and I've sold all my livestock. Thought maybe I could do the world a little good and maybe make some money off my empty pastures by planting some trees or something.

After talking to the regulators it was obvious it's a HUGE fraud. There's so much red tape, and by the time you're done talking to them you find out that you can make $1-5/ton for sequestering carbon. And due to flat fees in the regulatory structure, it's really just designed to funnel this money to huge landowners and not to encourage anyone who cares to plant trees or do anything really.

So working Canadians are forced to pay $65/ton to heat their homes and drive to work, but big emitters buy bogus credits for under $5 and continue to pour out pollution while claiming to be "carbon neutral". It's the Canadian way

I'm an electrician, I found my own solar panels incredibly easy to install. The job is 90% racking and I would recommend buying a racking package if possible which includes all mounts, rail and fasteners.

Take care as solar panels are ALWAYS LIVE. This is why they use the shielded connectors that they do. Do all the rest of your wiring first, then plug the panels in last.

Make sure you have appropriate disconnecting means. If this is going to be grid tied in any way, make sure you're familiar with the code as it will be inspected. If not grid tied you may be exempt, but this is no reason to just slap it up, still follow the code as it's there for your safety.

I recommend grid-interactive systems over grid-tied if you actually want to be power independent. Microinverters seem great until the power goes out and your panels are good for nothing. I would recommend a power blending transverter type system that allows 3-way power flow between panels, battery and grid. They have come way down in price and allow seamless integration of your loads compared to a charger/inverter system like I have.

Run a string voltage as close as possible to your battery voltage to avoid conversion losses. It's tempting to go for high string voltages but roof mount distances are usually really short and conversion will likely be most of your loss. I started with 140VDC strings and my charger ran hot, dropping to 70VDC made it run cool and boosted my output by over 10%.

Depending on your utility it may not be worth selling power and the hassle or extra fees and regulations that come with it. That's the case here - I just have automation set up to burn excess power for heat in winter and cooling in summer.

Best of luck with your install, for sure it is way cheaper to DIY and not hard at all.