It's extremely common for people in that area to live and work on different sides of the border, to work on both sides at the same time, etc. People tend to register their car wherever is most convenient, and to keep old registrations for as long as is possible/convenient.

And twins! How can we ever trust people who have the same face? Are we sure that the right person is taking the oath? Seriously.

I don't have anything to add, but I love your comment. Attempts at defining specific Canadian values/ a specific Canadian culture are inherently exclusionary. They mark out people who should be forever grateful, docile, and in utter agreement with the opinions and values of an (imagined) majority. When someone like me…

Don't you understand? You are only allowed to live in one country! Ever! Loving more than one place, living in more than one place, and being engaged in communities in more than one place all make you unfaithful!

People who wear the niqab and burqa _do_ believe that those practices are religiously mandated. That belief is what defines religion under Canadian law: [en.wikipedia.org] .

We are having trouble identifying Canadian culture because their is no such thing as a single, monolithic, Canadian culture. For instance, though we are both Canadians, I strongly disagree with the majority of the things that you have identified as emblematically Canadian. Our experiences appear to have been vastly…

Exactly. The face isn't a part of communication/public life for blind people, for people with prosopagnosia, for disfigured people, for people with unusual faces, and for people who for neurological or other reasons don't express their emotions in standard ways. Either we conclude that they aren't really engaging in…

You are getting a lot of flack; I just want to say that as a Canadian, I really agree with your points. I hate attempts to define a monolithical "Canadian culture" - they are inherently exclusionary, and an exercise in power by the majority. Canada is a country, but it's not a nation in any sense of the term. I'm…

That story sounds like something that would make an awesome drunken wedding-rehearsal speech... "And that, friends, is why we toughed it out through the hard times".

In all honesty, I wish we would abandon/reform the oath. Swearing to take on a citizen's responsibilities is awesome, and I love the emphasis on concrete actions and on citizenship through participation rather than on abstract values. That doens't cancel the fact that half the oath is about swearing allegiance to the…

As a Canadian, I really don't think that there is such a thing as Canadian culture, or that there is public good to be derived from defining and enshrining a single set of values, practices, and perspectives as such. Canadians are a pretty diverse bunch, and we will never agree on what those terms are.

It wasn't legal before, it just wasn't defined as a specific crime (ie the criminal would be charged with assault or something similar, rather than with acid throwing).

Indeed. It can sometimes work on people whose skin is naturally very different in tone, but on people who are in the same range, it always looks startlingly like discoloured and diseased skin, half-hanging off.

I'm definitely a fan. The tie-dye+heels combination does seem off to me, but that could just be because it isn't one that we see very often.

Agreed on all counts. I really like the double shoulder straps - it's almost a very predictable dress, but it manages to look interesting. Also: yellow and silver!

Many disciplinary conferences (especially, as far as I can tell, in the social sciences) have started to make provisions for allowing participants to bring children along. Most conferences that I attended in the last year offered free on-site daycare; it's pretty common to see people in the back of meeting rooms…

Agreed!

It's common for prescription-only drugs to have warning labels. My grandparents' medicine cabinet is a collection of terrifying warnings.

Good luck! It's good to hear that what is, really, a pretty scary issue probably has a very simple cause, and a very simple solution.

Only shredded wheat for us, because there was actually no sugar added at all; as an adult, I still think of corn-flake and raisin-bran cereals as impossibly decadent.