Pixel

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

I sometimes wonder why we don't just establish a foreign legion like France, or at least permit foreigners to join as enlisted (not officer ranks) like other countries as a pathway to Canadian citizenship. The risk in active service is a far greater display of commitment to Canada than the average study permit holder, and expanding our recruitment pool to Francophone nations in Africa, and states in the Caribbean would at least help greatly in finding non-specialized enlisted.

I don't see the security risk considering that the vast majority of CF recruits are never assessed for loyalty in their background checks, so long as they don't serve in their countries of origin. I've completed the reference check for CF recruit background checks - I really don't think they're that rigorous if they're essentially being outsourced to third party companies.

The fact that having any kind of university degree automatically puts you into the officer cadre, in a country with an extremely high post-secondary education rate like Canada and low tuition fees/generous student funding (versus the US where the opposite is true and the Army is a pathway to post-secondary education), is only furthering a ridiculous ratio of officers to the enlisted. I see more value in starting to recruit from countries where pathways to move up on the social ladder are deeply stifled, and building a base of those who are willing to make meaningful sacrifices to become Canadians (versus yet another MBA student from University Canada West that's only in it for themselves).

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I remember a period of time where I was being prescribed three medications (all pretty minor) and they insisted I do a medication review. They get to bill the province $70 for those and they have a quota to hit.

I learned later on that medication reviews aren't just checking boxes off the list, but intended to ensure that patients are using their prescriptions safely and effectively, helping to identify any potential drug interactions/side effects, and consider alternative drug regimens. This never happened in my medication reviews, they were just 2 minute checkbox exercises.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Honestly, that's a fair comment. It might be an ambitious thing to ask.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

The great firewall situation was always interesting, because if you would use a roaming Sim, then you will be able to access anything

Roaming SIMs work because the APN sets a network routing path outside of China.

 

I'm able to book up to 4 layovers of ~20-24 hours each in South America and I'm looking for cities that have large regional airports, decent city-to-airport transit infrastructure, and have stuff to do in the evenings and late mornings. Safety is relative but bonus points for places where tourists aren't casually mugged on a routine basis.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'd love to hear them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Cool writeup. I remember implementing BBR many years ago when I was trying to bypass the Great Firewall for an extended stay. Helped deal greatly with the huge congestion on Chinanet backbone at the time, but it's less of an issue these days now that foreigners can use CN2.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

My guilty pleasure is watching those YouTube videos of people vacationing at absurdly cheap caravan parks, and the general vibe I get is that these places are pretty run down but are surprisingly adequate if all you're looking to do is get away from town. Low-cost European carriers have definitely done a number on a lot of domestic UK resorts though - they simply aren't competitive for the reasons you've stated.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I tend to run pretty hot. Right before I visited Japan in January, I was in Southeast Asia and dying from the heat. The locals told me it was the coolest time of the year yet I was struggling to survive... I am partial to a mild winter I guess.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I liked getting the Sendai Area Pass and just taking the Loopie bus. It was a pretty good value and in many of the smaller attractions, I was the only tourist there that day (like the Sankyozawa 100-Year Electric History Center).

It made it pretty easy to see Sendai in two days. The only thing that was closed in the winter that I would've liked to see were the University of Tohoku's botanical gardens (not that there aren't other botanical gardens I couldn't have gone to).

I really enjoyed Gyutan too (beef tongue) too. I don't know if I got to try high-quality beef but I definitely enjoyed the food.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Almost all credit unions (as well as small banks like Canadian Western Bank/Motive Financial) basically all use the standard platform offered by CentralOne, so there's no difference. I love my credit union but the lack of compatibility with Flinks and Plaid creates frustrations sometimes (for connecting to Wealthsimple, etc.).

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A photographer’s wander in Bhutan (www.theglobeandmail.com)
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/travelphotography
 

Putting together a list of Churning and award travel resources in Canada - please feel free to share additions to the list.

Blogs (English)

Blogs (French)

Blogs (Other)

Forums

Guides

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (5 children)

This is a great find. I remember about a year ago, people were speculating that Air Greenland was going to become a partner of Air Canada - my hopes were dashed when that didn't materialize.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

None of these sources point to tourism promotion in Mogadishu.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I think I'm going to need a source for that...

On top of that, there's little tourism infrastructure in Mogadishu so I doubt that. There's basically Omar and Ali's Visit Mogadishu outfit and his guest house, and that's really about it.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19371857

I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:

  • Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.

  • Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.

  • North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.

  • Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).

To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.

I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.

 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19371857

I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:

  • Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.

  • Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.

  • North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.

  • Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).

To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.

I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.

64
submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/travel
 

I'm curious to learn about places around the globe that have a significant amount of underutilized tourism infrastructure. In many cases, I suspect that governments are propping up unsustainable tourism operators or investing in tourism with a "build it and they will come" mentality.

Here are a few examples that I'm aware of:

  • Qatar - The country has an oversupply of hotels relative to the number of visitors, and its tourism economy heavily relies on layover tours due to the strength of Qatar Airways' network.

  • Saudi Arabia - In an effort to diversify its economy away from oil, the country is pushing a massive tourism development agenda, despite having many factors that make it less appealing to visitors. Religious tourism seems to be a primary focus.

  • North Korea - For obvious reasons... For example, only a few floors of the Ryugyong Hotel are ever occupied.

  • Northern Japan (Aomori, Akita, Sendai) - These places are heavily fueled by domestic tourism, and are basically deserted for half of the year (despite attractions and so on still functioning).

  • EDIT: Maybe the Caribbean islands outside of Cruise ship season?

To clarify, I'm not looking for hidden gems or places that are simply underrated travel destinations. Instead, I'm interested in learning about locations where there is a clear mismatch between the available tourism infrastructure and the actual number of visitors.

I want to find places where I might end up being the only visitor to a museum or one of few tourists on an airport bus. The fact that these museums and airport limo buses even exist is where the question stems from.

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