Halifax is burning. As of now all forumites are safe.
Rant VIII: The Reckoning
- Thread starter Anonymous
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Just sitting around, waiting for an evacuation order that I dearly hope doesn't come.
Achievement unlocked: evacuated due to wildfire.
Fuck.
Mom told me their building received notice to prepare an evacuation bag. It's just a precaution for now,, but not sure if the fire will reach them.
My sister and her family live close to my parents. Very likely, if my parents have to evacuate, so will my sister and her family.
No word yet if any of the fire has been contained.
Neither me nor my girlfriend are remotely close to the affected areas. Though the air quality will be bad in our area.
My sister and her family live close to my parents. Very likely, if my parents have to evacuate, so will my sister and her family.
No word yet if any of the fire has been contained.
Neither me nor my girlfriend are remotely close to the affected areas. Though the air quality will be bad in our area.
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Only wild mass guessing at this point. Though human origin is highly likely.
Sounds to me like normal. If the communities wish to subsidise occupancy for displaced people, then all well and good. If they do not, then I think the rule of supply and demand comes into effect. It is not the duty of the hotel owners to provide for emergency housing, is it?
Dunno about Canada, but many states in the US have laws against coercive monopoly pricing (ie: price gouging). Because most reasonable people realize that it's an abhorrent and disgusting practice.
edit: Blotsfan beat me by mere moments, only because I wasted a sentence editorializing.
Certainly, if the hotel owners run afoul of any laws in increasing prices during high season, then they should be penalised for it, according to applicable laws. But I think one should first demonstrate that what has happened in this instance constitutes 'price gouging' in terms of the law as is in effect.
(Shrug) I don't always necessarily wait to form an opinion on something until after a lengthy legal investigation. HCGLNS wasn't even castigating the hotel owners. Just that the automated software took an unfortunate but predictable action, whereas an actual human being might have had a different thought on the matter. (or at least that's how I read "Modern society sucks.")
Whether or not it is technically illegal to increase hotel room prices (or prices of any other commodities) in response to an increased demand due to a state of emergency is a question that can be left to the Canadian legal scholars.
However, most people are able to recognize the difference between capitalizing on increased demand due to elective events (e.g. desirable vacation times, holidays, concerts or sporting events) and capitalizing on tragedy and the misfortune of others (forced displacement, natural disasters), and that there are stark ethical differences between those two situations. If it's unclear to you, the latter situation would be considered unethical by most reasonable people's standards.
In situations where unforeseeable major events (such as extreme weather or natural disasters) cause people to be forcibly displaced, particularly where they may lose their homes and potentially their lives, ethical people in the areas to which the displaced people go typically will try to help to the best of their ability, perhaps by temporarily granting them shelter (free or at reduced cost) as well as food, clothing, medication, and any other essentials that they may have to spare.
I won't spell out what the unethical people are doing in crisis situations, but I think you can infer their actions.
And along the lines of @Tinwhistler, I read the original post as more of a "this is a consequence of a computer algorithm causing a crappy response to a tragedy in a way that a human wouldn't have done," though the commentary here perhaps indicates that I'm being too charitable about what the human in the situation would do...
Yes, Tin has the gist. And yes gouging is illegal under the current state of emergency.
And now all travel of any kind is banned province wide in the woods.
And just now, fuck a doodle doo, a second fire has formed near the current one, right next to the regions largest dairy and all it's lovely vats of chemicals...
And now all travel of any kind is banned province wide in the woods.
And just now, fuck a doodle doo, a second fire has formed near the current one, right next to the regions largest dairy and all it's lovely vats of chemicals...
Is it like our ban where there are so many exceptions the rule might as well not exist?
We will see. Most seem supportive.
And on a side note, fuck you Frank I'm having an OH HENRY bar!
Hell even just "ok you can continue selling your rooms at a normal rate which is a price built to cause you to turn a profit" is reasonable.
But if it is truly just automated algorithms, it wouldn't surprise me if the hotels end up refunding the difference between that and the normal rate like Uber did when surge pricing hit people fleeing a mass shooter.
Peanut Butter Oh Henry's are still acceptable, but I'll allow for normal Oh Henry's in times of extreme distress.
Update! So the friend's place we've been staying at is being sold. And we have to be out on Thursday. We knew they were listing it, but the sudden move out date was a surprise.
Also, all roads to our house are now closed.
We have a hotel booked starting Thursday night for a week. Hopefully it won't be that long, or if it is, I can make longer term cheaper arrangements.
This sucks.
Let us know how we can help. Do the cats need a place to stay? We can deliver food, help with laundry. Lets us know.
As netsirk explains above (at some length), HCGLNS’ complaint appears directed not at hoteliers, but instead at the current inability of automated systems to account for things human operators would easily recognize as “extenuating circumstances.” This also serves as a real-world example of the “This is how blind trust in A.I. will result in unnecessary deaths” postulate I voiced in another thread.
—Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Kind of like how the automated rent-setting algorithm basically just became illegal collusion with extra steps.
I remember when selling books on Amazon marketplace used to be a thing, until listing stuff was no longer enough, you started also having to pull everything down and relist it every day because the algorithm would show buyers the most recently listed stuff first, which basically meant you had to
—Patrick
I saw that comic this morning. Love it.
Dave
Staff member
Sorry, man. That sucks. Hope everyone is doing as well as could be expected.
It all went about as well as could be expected. Saturday he went to the hospital being unable to breathe, and on Sunday when I went to visit him in hospital he looked rough, and talking to him it seemed like he knew what was up. He mostly just wanted to see family, and asked for people to come see him.
By Monday he was in ICU, and then that night transferred to Hospice care. And then today, one day later, he died, after falling unconscious monday night and never waking up.
He died with all of his loved ones around him, quietly in bed, in his 90's. There's really not a better way to go. It's still hard, I was very close with him, and my grandmother is left so seeing her deal with this is really hitting hard. Which is why now I'm taking over the after arrangements, so she doesn't have to deal with any of it.
As an aside, $300 to transport the body 30 minutes to the crematorium! I've got a pickup truck, why can't I just toss him in the back?
So, remember this guy?
Out of curiosity, I looked at his Twitter profile and saw...he was uttering death threats to someone. So I reported it. And his account was suspended. Good riddance.
Today, I received this lovely email. I'm debating showing it to the police and getting a restraining order. But he's also on the other side of the world, so I don’t know if it could apply. I'm not greatly concerned for my own safety. He's a loudmouth and an asshole, but I highly doubt he'd attack me.
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Guy must be in love. Thinking about you while having sex with his girlfriend? That's a weird boast.
By the way. Out of curiousity I checked Indonesia's stand on public sex and learned that sex outside marriage is banned. It don't effects tourists but that guy lives and work there.
