Sounds like you're interested in sci-fi movies with a deeper philosophical story to tell. For that reason, definitely watch Tarkovsky's Solaris. From what I understand, it bears literally no resemblance to the 'remake'.
I know Stalker often gets put in the sci-fi category, but I'm not sure it will satisfy someone setting out with typical expectations of the genre. It's a great film though, and the dream sequences are peerless in film history.
Tarkovsky's films very much run against the grain of Western cinema - they are often experimentally slow, to offer an extended exploration of a philosophical or aesthetic idea. They're extremely strange and unique movies. I would say, essential viewing, when you have the time and mindset to be taken on a journey that at times will feel painful. Though, I think that's Tarkovsky's intent to some degree.
I believe it should be declared on the ingredient list on the packaging, if the cheese uses pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. Cheeses using unpasteurized milk are very difficult to find where I am (not a big city, but not a small city). Even specialist cheese shops don't often have them on-hand, but I always ask. Not sure on your jurisdiction, but it can be worth doing a web search for local cheesemakers in your area. There might be a little business making something excellent that probably never sees a grocery store shelf. Definitely that's the case in Western Canada.
Good question. To my knowledge, no. Acid producing bacteria that are active in the cheesemaking process make for an environment that's hostile to pathogens. I found this FDA report that looked into contamination in raw milk cheeses that were aged for a minimum of 60 days. By the looks of it, I'm not sure raw milk cheese is any less safe than eating a Subway meatball sub, but, I'm not a scientist.
France and Italy have found a way to work it out so that people aren't buckling over left & right, so I think their systems would be worth examining from a policy perspective.
It's true, for the most part, the cheese market in this country is a flavour dystopia. I'd argue it's not directly the fault of cheesemakers, and I don't think there's some widespread national ignorance about what good cheese tastes like. I think it has a lot to do with our rules around raw milk.
In Canada, raw milk is more difficult to obtain than bulk heroin, and that guarantees that our cheese will be boring. It actually even affects imported cheese too, Camembert being an excellent example. Pasteurized milk Camembert (which is all you can buy here) is bitter, tastes like glue, and is not even worth eating. Raw milk Camembert is mindbogglingly complex and profound.
So, this regulatory fact folds into a pre-existing Canadian inferiority complex - we assume the cheese made here must be bland, so there's no real market for premium offerings. Give this system of rules and expectations decades to develop, and here we are.
Today, there are some excellent artisan cheeses made locally. They're not available in grocery stores, and they're very expensive. If those cheeses were more affordable and available, nobody would even consider buying the mass market stuff that fills store shelves currently.
That's all to say that, I don't think the solution necessarily needs to come from outside, or that there's even a quick and easy fix. We have to change the system of rules that brought us here. Maybe things would improve if we subsidized small, artisan cheese producers like some provinces do with their craft breweries and distilleries. Especially since cheese can have a short shelf life and wastage is more-or-less guaranteed.
PS - I don't know if you've ventured into Oka cheese from Quebec at all - it's got pretty decent flavour and is widely available. Worth a try if you haven't had it!
(5%) consumer benefit - users can get access to Clippy+ with a Microsoft premium account subscription, that if users aren't subscribed, they're reminded every time they go into the settings application
(15%) anti-piracy & copyright protection
(70%) harvesting and categorizing all user activities, for indiscriminate internal use, sale to other companies, and delivery to governments
(10%) Uninstallable OEM bloatware that does the same, but with easily exploited security flaws that are never effectively patched
Not sure if you already know, but - sophisticated large language models can be run locally on basic consumer-grade hardware right now. LM Studio, which I've been playing with a bit, is a host for insanely powerful, free, and unrestricted LLMs.
I see what you mean, but I disagree that this is a misfire or miscalculation on the church's part. This latest development reads as another jab at gay people, from a familiar angle. It's a reaffirmation by the church that same sex couples who love each other aren't seen as equals in a congregation.
Nobody should be raping children. Roman Catholic priests have done this, are doing this, and the Roman Catholic church has a long and ongoing history of covering it up. If the head of the Roman Catholic church fails to stop it, they're blameworthy.
Something a pope could easily promise, but never will:
"We acknowledge our church has a history of sexual assault against children. Our church has sought to obscure this history of abuse. This was wrong, is wrong, and needs to be corrected. Sexual assault and abuses of power in the church are unacceptable and will no longer be tolerated. The church commits to fully funding local law enforcement investigations into all allegations of sexual assault by church staff, and disclosing any information the church may have that is relevant to those investigations. All victims must be heard. With victim consent, their stories will be recorded in a centralized, public, transparent record not administrated or controlled by the church in any way."
Any church that isn't afraid of raking in money in envelopes, but is afraid of making a commitment like the above, is a problem, yep, I agree. There's no excuse. Saying the pope doesn't have the power to do this is mealymouthed and also, incorrect.
I don't know if you're a Catholic or not, I just want to say more generally - I don't see how any Catholic, including the pope, has the right to opine on the finer points of official scriptures while priests are raping children and the church covers it up.
Church: since gay people should properly be seeking God's mercy, we will now choose not to subject the gays to an exhaustive moral analysis, (that anyway if performed, would of course find them lacking). With that in mind, please feel free to approach your priest and request his blessing!
Maybe it's my lack of imagination, but I can't imagine a dispute between those two nations that would be justified in any way at this time. Likewise, I can't see how the relationship could degrade to point where war was the only feasible option.
World being configured as it is today, I don't see a reason to point a gun at anybody, for any reason.
While we enjoy that luxury, it's the perfect time to: talk with someone who you disagree with on a fundamental level. Get to know them as a fellow human being. Listen to their life experiences, & share your life experiences with them. Discuss deep questions openly and honestly. Don't be afraid. Be honest, be sincere.
I think this type of anthropocentrism extends to chess too actually. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I've heard that chess AIs are finding success doing unintuitive things like pushing a and h file pawns in openings. If, 10 years ago, some chess grandmaster was doing the same thing and finding success, I imagine they would have been seen as creative, maybe even groundbreaking.
I think the average person under-rates the sophistication of AI. Maybe as a response to the AI hype. Maybe it's because we're scared of AI, and it's comforting to believe that it's operations are trivial. I see irrationality and anger cropping up in discussions of AI that I think stem from a fundamental fear of its transformative power.
I agree - if there is a big-picture target for growth, it's so important that there are strong lines of communication and collaboration between citizens, cities, provinces, and the federal government if it's going to work.
To the poster above you - Trickle-down is a thoroughly shitty "¯(ツ)_/¯"-style policy. But so is any decree from above that lacks clear objectives, regularly measured outcomes, and checkpoints with the citizens. Our system is struggling right now when we reach checkpoint moments. Discussions get railroaded into these 'oh that's racist' or 'oh we should have 0 immigration' polarities. Discussing these things is worthwhile & good.
NOC's vocalizations were recorded and studied by a team of biologists from the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF) led by Sam Ridgway. In 1984, Ridgway and others at the NMMF began to hear peculiar sounds coming from the whale and dolphin enclosure. They were reminiscent of two people talking in the distance, the words just beyond the limit of comprehension.[5] Later, a diver working in the enclosure came to the surface after he heard someone cry "out, out, out!"[1] After he asked his colleagues "Who told me to get out?", they realized it had been NOC.
I'm not an expert on the matter, but to my eyes, taxes on alcohol and tobacco are set arbitrarily. It would be nice to see those funds enveloped for specific programs & a layer of transparency on how the numbers are determined. Canada taxes spirits at ~$13/ litre of absolute alcohol. We ought to wonder - why exactly that number? Is that too much, or not enough, from a healthcare outcome standpoint?
I feel like as a country, we should be pragmatic more broadly. Not just about tobacco, but about anything a person could enjoy, extending to the black market. Determine the things that people will consume no matter what the taxation, social, or regulatory structures are. Quantify the costs of the consumption of those things openly and honestly, and create systems to build those costs into the price of the thing consumed.
I think we're running aground on that right now, because federal & provincial tax on enjoyable things is set at a rate that isn't indexed to the costs incurred by the enjoyment of those things.
Personally I enjoy Nicotine, and I would like to know that the price I pay for it is fair to the base of taxpayers who fund our healthcare system. It doesn't stop at Nicotine though, of course.
I'm left leaning on most issues, and I don't think the current parliamentary composition is a good thing at all. The Liberals have a comfortable minority, and have an explicit agreement with the NDP that props them up. This means the Liberals simply do what they were going to do anyway, and the NDP rattles their sabres about cost of living and pharmacare and dental care, to no real effect. Liberals are not effectively kept in check, and real progressive policy issues that could materially benefit Canadians aren't being put forward.
I don't like it, and I don't think it serves the plurality of Canadian citizen views - we're in a bad place and I don't see how anyone who isn't already a Liberal voter could love it.
Sounds like you're interested in sci-fi movies with a deeper philosophical story to tell. For that reason, definitely watch Tarkovsky's Solaris. From what I understand, it bears literally no resemblance to the 'remake'.
I know Stalker often gets put in the sci-fi category, but I'm not sure it will satisfy someone setting out with typical expectations of the genre. It's a great film though, and the dream sequences are peerless in film history.
Tarkovsky's films very much run against the grain of Western cinema - they are often experimentally slow, to offer an extended exploration of a philosophical or aesthetic idea. They're extremely strange and unique movies. I would say, essential viewing, when you have the time and mindset to be taken on a journey that at times will feel painful. Though, I think that's Tarkovsky's intent to some degree.