Slashdot Mirror

• Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society...
• I don't know all the facts o-n Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans.
• I've always been clear, I support the traditional definition of marriage.
• In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.
• "I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians

• Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society...
• I don't know all the facts o-n Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans.
• I've always been clear, I support the traditional definition of marriage.
• In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.
• "I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians

AFAIK, Paris France is using incinerator to generate electricity. So is Mississauga

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/realitycheck/she ppard/20060317.html

"But there is one prominent success story - just next door to Toronto in fact - in neighbouring Mississauga: It burns roughly 160,000 tonnes of garbage a year and contributes about six megawatts of electricity to the provincial grid, enough it is said to power 6,000 homes. Its leftover ash is so clean it is used to cover landfill."

Incinerators, if done properly, are cleaner in the long term than land fills. No land pollution. No methane pollution (mega-greenhouse gas). No water table pollution.

The question is can I, as a Canadian living in BC put up a similar "FUCK YOU" banner on my Medical Records which were held by an American Company, and thus subject to inspection and copying (without notice of any kind) due to the Patriot Act?

http://www.nupge.ca/news_2004/n28oc04d.htm

Granted, that is old news, and I don't know how it panned out. The latest story I am aware of is here: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/07/24/bc_priva cy040724.html Of course, the records could have been copied long ago. House pictures is one thing. Having my medical records siezed by a foreign power worries me more.

The notion of a nation motion is not to make a nation legislation, and while emotions about the motion are running high what people need to know is according to all the promotion, the motion states that all these nations can only be nations within a united nation... of Canada http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes/video.html December 5th: Nation Explaination

The Denial Machine.

One of the things that makes CBC worth the tax dollars spent on it.

From CBC:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper once called the Kyoto accord a "socialist scheme" designed to suck money out of rich countries, according to a letter leaked Tuesday by the Liberals.

The letter, posted on the federal Liberal party website, was apparently written by Harper in 2002, when he was leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance party.

He was writing to party supporters, asking for money as he prepared to fight then-prime minister Jean Chrétien on the proposed Kyoto accord.

"We're gearing up now for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership," Harper's letter says.

"I'm talking about the 'battle of Kyoto' -- our campaign to block the job-killing, economy-destroying Kyoto accord."

The accord is an international environmental pact that sets targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada officially ratified the accord Dec. 17, 2002, under Chrétien's Liberal government. Harper's Conservative government, which took power January 2006, has since been accused of ignoring the accord.

Harper's letter goes on to outline why he's against the agreement.

He writes that it's based on "tentative and contradictory scientific evidence" and it focuses on carbon dioxide, which is "essential to life."

He says Kyoto requires that Canada make significant cuts in emissions, while countries like Russia, India and China face less of a burden.

Under Kyoto, Canada was required to reduce emissions by six per cent by 2012, while economies in transition, like Russia, were allowed to choose different base years.

"Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations," Harper's letter reads.

He said the accord would cripple the oil and gas industries, which are essential to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

He wrote in the letter that he would do everything he could to stop Chrétien from passing the Kyoto agreement.

"We will do everything we can to stop him there, but he might get it passed with the help of the socialists in the NDP and the separatists in the BQ [Bloc Québécois]."

The Prime Minister's Office refused to comment about the letter on the record.

In recent weeks, Harper has spoken strongly about the environment, saying he will dramatically revamp his minority government's much-criticized clean air act.

His comments come as public-opinion polls indicate the environment has become the number one issue among Canadians.

Liberal MP Mark Holland told the Canadian Press on Tuesday that the leaked letter shows that Harper isn't actually committed to climate change.

"Now, suddenly, because he has seen the polls and realized the political opportunism of going green, the prime minister has launched a new campaign -- that of trying to convince Canadians that he actually cares about the environment," Holland said.

"But no one is buying it."

The Kyoto Protocol went into effect Feb. 16, 2005, with 141 countries signing on, including every major industrialized country, except the United States, Australia and Monaco.

>>> "Aside from that, let's look at one of the shows the BBC is proposing to make available online: Doctor Who [imdb.com]. Click the link and scroll down to "Production Companies". Yes, that's right, the venerable BBC Sci-Fi series is produced in part by the CBC.

Thus, I at least have already paid for part of Doctor Who. How many other modern BBC shows are co-produced in conjunction with the national broadcasters in other (esp. Commonwealth) countries? "

You may be right. But I suspect that if CBC is in the credit then they are being paid a commercial rate for their services by the BBC. In which case, even if you fund other work by the CBC then your entitlement to BBC(UK) output is non-existent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worl dwidestories/pressreleases/2004/10_october/doctor_ who_canada.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worl dwidestories/pressreleases/2006/04_april/mip_torch wood.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwh o/2005/06/29/20283.shtml
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/05/08/british-tv -awards.html

Reading between the lines in the above reports it seems that CBC "sponsored" the production ("produced by BBC Wales in association with the CBC") by buying it early and plugging it prime-time. For example in the news report (last link above) about Doctor Who winning an award they don't mention anything about it being produced by CBC, that seems strange to me as in Wales if a Doctor Who producer wipes his nose it's all over the news reports (! eww). BBC news here also gives the impression that the show is Welsh made (Welsh nationalism is rife).

[quote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worl dwidestories/pressreleases/2006/04_april/mip_torch wood.shtml%5D Kirstine Layfield, Executive Director, Network Programming, CBC Television, commented: "CBC is proud to supplement our overwhelmingly Canadian schedule with the best of the rest of the world, and our British programming has struck a real chord with audiences here. We're delighted with the success of Doctor Who, and we're sure Torchwood will prove equally popular." [/quote]

[quote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worl dwidestories/pressreleases/2004/10_october/doctor_ who_canada.shtml%5D BBC Worldwide today concluded its first major pre-sale for the new Doctor Who series with Canadian public broadcaster, CBC Television. [/quote]

Depends what you're doing with said Pot -

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/07/29/pot-raid 050729.html

They also blocked access to one of their unions websites during a strike.

It's interesting to note that in places where temperature compensation is not employed, people complain that they are getting less energy when temperatures are higher, but when it is employed, people complain that they aren't getting as much volume when temperatures are lower. Here is an old article I found while searching for information about temperature compensation.

I don't generally side with the oil companies, but it must leave gasoline retailers scratching their heads.

Always ask yourself why they need it, and do you trust them to secure your information.

In Canada right now their are two separate credit card breaches under investigation. This isn't even a phishing thing, this is just plain old sloppy security.

I suspect that there are many other breaches that haven't been detected and or reported. So I strongly recommend that you refuse to give out personal information to these locations. Don't sign up for rewards cards, don't let them collect your address, and phone, and SSN, when you buy a t-shirt. They don't need it! And I don't trust them.

In that light, here are some handy tools for the justifiably paranoid:

1. TrueCrypt - Excellent free encryption app for most platforms (even Windows)
2. 10 Minute Mail - Free disposable email addresses
3. Private Phone - Free disposable phone numbers
4. MBNA Virtual Cards* - Virtual credit cards for online purchases that won't ruin your credit if stolen

Always ask yourself why they need it, and do you trust them to secure your information.

In Canada right now their are two separate credit card breaches under investigation. This isn't even a phishing thing, this is just plain old sloppy security.

I suspect that there are many other breaches that haven't been detected and or reported. So I strongly recommend that you refuse to give out personal information to these locations. Don't sign up for rewards cards, don't let them collect your address, and phone, and SSN, when you buy a t-shirt. They don't need it! And I don't trust them.

In that light, here are some handy tools for the justifiably paranoid:

1. TrueCrypt - Excellent free encryption app for most platforms (even Windows)
2. 10 Minute Mail - Free disposable email addresses
3. Private Phone - Free disposable phone numbers
4. MBNA Virtual Cards* - Virtual credit cards for online purchases that won't ruin your credit if stolen

Stealing live phone wires is for wimps, that's just 48V DC. These guys are stealing live power wires.

Always ask yourself why they need it, and do you trust them to secure your information.

In Canada right now their are two separate credit card breaches under investigation. This isn't even a phishing thing, this is just plain old sloppy security.

I suspect that there are many other breaches that haven't been detected and or reported. So I strongly recommend that you refuse to give out personal information to these locations. Don't sign up for rewards cards, don't let them collect your address, and phone, and SSN, when you buy a t-shirt. They don't need it! And I don't trust them.

Always ask yourself why they need it, and do you trust them to secure your information.

In Canada right now their are two separate credit card breaches under investigation. This isn't even a phishing thing, this is just plain old sloppy security.

I suspect that there are many other breaches that haven't been detected and or reported. So I strongly recommend that you refuse to give out personal information to these locations. Don't sign up for rewards cards, don't let them collect your address, and phone, and SSN, when you buy a t-shirt. They don't need it! And I don't trust them.

Bev Oda *is* my MP. I sent her the following letter and posted it the first time this story was on Slashdot. Here it is again, in case it inspires someone...

--snip--

Dear Ms. Oda,

I currently live with my family in north Oshawa and I have been a resident of Durham Region for most of my life. As one of your constituents, I read with concern this article recently published by the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/11/copy right-canada.html.

As a consumer and a content producer (I've written software professionally for the last 15 years, including a large application that I've licensed for public use and redistribution), I believe that copyright law strikes a delicate balance between the rights of content producers and society at large. Any changes to that balance must be very carefully conceived. While I obviously can't comment on the proposed changes you are currently preparing, I would like to offer some of my concerns about where copyright reform appears to be headed.

Firstly, I believe the push behind copyright reform is coming from the film and recording industries. No other stakeholders appear to have any pressing desire to reform copyright law. The software industry, in particular, realized years ago that technological copyright protection measures (euphemistically called Digital Rights Management today) were an un-winnable arms race that served only to frustrate their legitimate customers, and for the most part have stopped the practice. They seem to be happy with going after egregious copyright violators while letting their own customers create backup copies of their purchased software in peace.

Further, I do not believe that the recording industry is acting in the interest of the artists (in fact, several prominent Canadian artists have actually said as much over the last year); instead, I believe they are trying to preserve an outmoded business model (shipping information around on CDs with trucks) against the Internet, which does the same job far more efficiently. Rather than adapt to the progress of technology (for example, by looking for ways to use the Internet to expose more artists to more fans), they have chosen instead to pressure governments to enact legislation disrupting the balance of our current copyright laws. I feel such changes, especially made in haste, will disadvantage both consumers *and* artists in favour of propping up an industry that is in decline.

As a result, I feel that any changes to copyright legislation proposed by the recording industry must be viewed with a large degree of scepticism, and that changes, if any, must be made carefully and with the full consultation of the Canadian people. I would urge you in particular to steer clear of a couple of particularly misguided concepts:

1. Canada must not implement the equivalent of the "DRM anti-circumvention" clause of the American DMCA. Laws preventing open discussion of algorithms (i.e. mathematics) are perilously close to recognizing thought-crime.

2. Canada must not reduce fair-use rights, such as the right to time- and format-shift legitimately purchased content. To do so would be to criminalize ordinary Canadians for doing things they believe they have the inherent right to do.

I thank you sincerely for your time.

John Krasnay

Royal Canadian Air Farce

Hockey Night In Canada

Planet Earth

Royal Canadian Air Farce

Hockey Night In Canada

Planet Earth

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/09/18 33244

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/03/14/landslide -porn060314.html

A terminal which is sophisticated enough to allow online-purchases would allow to view illegal websites in the same manner, so I fail to see what your solution actually accomplishes. Admittedly I know of no case of law enforcement monitoring people who use terminals, considering there are almost no people who use these in a home setting that seems irrelevant.

Nobody has been arrested for playing on a console, but there are many people who play games on PCs. Sure theoretically they could buy some special printer, use some special graphics display, buy a console and so on. You have a snowballs chance in hell in actually getting anyone to go to that trouble.

Does it really take a PC to send a photograph to someone? No.

Yes.

Can you send a picture to someone over the Internet if you have a graphic display terminal instead of a PC? Yes.

No.

I know, sure you can do anything with a graphics terminal. As long as that terminal has a USB port, allows you to upload and download things and store them somewhere (e.g. to your mp3 player). As long as that terminal is in fact indistinguishable from a PC. Apart from having no local drive on which the user could store his photographs, his emails and his mp3s.

After all this, I'm really unclear now what you are trying to do? Which specific problem would actually be solved by your proposal, and how would you convince people to go for your solution?

At 20 GB a movie, I don't suspect there's going to be significant downloading, although perhaps more than one would expected. Anyway, it is somewhat beyond the point. For the leechers it might be the point, but for those behind this it's mostly about fair use.

Here's what I mean:

I have the XBOX HD-DVD player which is usable on both PC and XBOX.
On the PC side, I have a kickass machine with a dual dvi video card beyond my needs (I don't play PC games, this is a DAW), updated drivers for HDCP, two very nice 1920x1200 widescreen lcd monitors connected by DVI, and a legit copy of WinDvd HD.
On the home theatre side, I just spent about 5K on a 1080P setup, with one of the best 8th gen LCDs Sharp has to offer.
I bought about 500$ worth of legit HD-DVD titles...

Yet, on the home theatre I can only playback in 1080i because AACS disalows 1080P playback over component (what XBOX has), and on the PC I can't playback at all. So here I am a few thousand bucks later and I don't have what I paid for and should have.

The only way for me to watch the movies in Full HD resolution was to decode the AACS. Then by hooking up my PC to my LCD TV with DVI I can watch in 1080P. My PC doesn't have onboard DTS support, and my DAW soundcard has XLR output, so I still lose the 6.1 sound.

So now, to watch movies in HD, I must connect my XBOX 360 drive to a friend's PC that supports HDCP, load the movie in WinDVD HD, dump the memory, get the volume key, dump the HD DVD to my USB hard drive, go back home, move my PC to my living room, connect the cables and hard drive, and watch it in 1080P without DTS.

I'm not sure if i've broken any laws, maybe I broke a few dozen, certainly spent quite a few thousand dollars and countless hours, and my HD DVD playback is still crippled.

Good thing I'm in Canada, because I'd be affraid of MPAA serving me a nice lawsuit of $250,000 multiplied by the 20 HD DVDs I bought from them and dumped to an external hard drive. This article here makes me believe I acted lawfully in Canada but that it may change in the very near future: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/11/copy right-canada.html

That's the point of what is going on.

BTW, I didn't post my movie keys to the net either. I'm tempted, but I wont. I want the actors, studios and MPAA to get the hard earned money they deserve, poor starving fucks ;)

Dear Ms. Oda,

I currently live with my family in north Oshawa and I have been a resident of Durham Region for most of my life. As one of your constituents, I read with concern this article recently published by the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/11/copy right-canada.html.

As a consumer and a content producer (I've written software professionally for the last 15 years, including a large application that I've licensed for public use and redistribution), I believe that copyright law strikes a delicate balance between the rights of content producers and society at large. Any changes to that balance must be very carefully conceived. While I obviously can't comment on the proposed changes you are currently preparing, I would like to offer some of my concerns about where copyright reform appears to be headed.

Firstly, I believe the push behind copyright reform is coming from the film and recording industries. No other stakeholders appear to have any pressing desire to reform copyright law. The software industry, in particular, realized years ago that technological copyright protection measures (euphemistically called Digital Rights Management today) were an un-winnable arms race that served only to frustrate their legitimate customers, and for the most part have stopped the practice. They seem to be happy with going after egregious copyright violators while letting their own customers create backup copies of their purchased software in peace.

Further, I do not believe that the recording industry is acting in the interest of the artists (in fact, several prominent Canadian artists have actually said as much over the last year); instead, I believe they are trying to preserve an outmoded business model (shipping information around on CDs with trucks) against the Internet, which does the same job far more efficiently. Rather than adapt to the progress of technology (for example, by looking for ways to use the Internet to expose more artists to more fans), they have chosen instead to pressure governments to enact legislation disrupting the balance of our current copyright laws. I feel such changes, especially made in haste, will disadvantage both consumers *and* artists in favour of propping up an industry that is in decline.

As a result, I feel that any changes to copyright legislation proposed by the recording industry must be viewed with a large degree of scepticism, and that changes, if any, must be made carefully and with the full consultation of the Canadian people. I would urge you in particular to steer clear of a couple of particularly misguided concepts:

1. Canada must not implement the equivalent of the "DRM anti-circumvention" clause of the American DMCA. Laws preventing open discussion of algorithms (i.e. mathematics) are perilously close to recognizing thought-crime.

2. Canada must not reduce fair-use rights, such as the right to time- and format-shift legitimately purchased content. To do so would be to criminalize ordinary Canadians for doing things they believe they have the inherent right to do.

I thank you sincerely for your time.

John Krasnay

I wrote mine. I have the fortune of being in Calgary SW, so I get to write to the Prime Minister himself:

Hello Mr. Harper,

This is my first time writing to you, as a new constituent in your area. I am writing in regards to an article I read today on CBC.ca. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/11/copy right-canada.html, which I find troubling.

I am very concerned about the proposed new amendments to copyright law, especially the so-called Digital Rights Management. I consider this to be counter productive for consumers specifically, and society in general. While I support artists rights to ensure compensation for their works (I am in fact a musician myself), I don't agree with implementing technical enforcements of this. By definition, using technology in this way prevents even fair use of artistic works - a computer cannot judge the intent behind creating a copy of a work any more than a photocopier can.

Once we as a society lose the ability to archive and share artistic works, we have in essence lost that which makes us a society. Today we can understand in a small way the culture of our forefathers, in great part due to the great works of literature, music, and art of previous generations which we still have available to us. I fear that once we impose technology on ourselves which limits the storage of similar works today, our children and future generations will lose their glimpse of what made Canada such a great nation today.

This issue is much larger than just the music industry lobbyists pushing for tighter controls of illegal copies of songs; the threat of DRM more than outweighs the supposed loss of CD sales. This issue is about Canadian citizens selling the future of our unique culture for a short term payoff.

Thank you for listening; I would greatly appreciate a short reply to confirm that you have received this message.

[Signature]

For those that have no clue about Canada's current political situation

First, go here to find your representative:

http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/Main MPsCompleteList.aspx?TimePeriod=Current&Language=E

then, email them the following (just a suggestion):

Hi [representative],

This is my first time writing to you, as a new constituent. I am writing concerning an article I read today on CBC.ca. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/11/copy right-canada.html

I am fairly concerned about possible changes to Canadian fair-use laws. I consider myself a patron of the arts, and one of the music industry's best customers. As a modern, technology-savy citizen, I primarily listen to the music CDs I purchase on my portable iPod, or on my PC. Changes to fair use laws would make the act of "ripping" these songs to my computer, illegal. I consider myself an ethical consumer, and I don't see how in any way this activity harms the music industry. I suppose one could argue that, should this law come into effect, I could purchase my music online and therefore no "illegal" copying from CD would take place. However, these downloadable files (by way of the iTunes music store, for example) already defeat fair-use by restricting your ability to move them to new devices, new PCs etc.

In short, this law will punish good consumers, like me. Unethical consumers of music are already breaking the law by downloading pirated music, so this law will not affect them. If such legal changes are made, in order to continue listening to music in the manner I have been for years, I will probably opt to simply break the law - as I expect will the majority of iPod-owning Canadians. I will also seriously question whether or not such an industry should be supported financially by my hard-earned paycheques.

Thank you for listening,
[insert name here]

Once in a while, somebody gets killed when trying to inflate a tire using the wrong units.

There is also the "Gimli Glider", an which ran out of fuel because of the fuel was calculated in pounds instead of liters.

See http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-240-1155-20/that_w as_then/life_society/gimli_glider

Example: that same 5th grader gets addicted to Naruto, and comes to school and beats up a 1st grader. This doesn't really happen very often at all, but when it does, it is right out in the open and easy to handle, and the 1st grader is not scarred for life

Canada.

I don't think they do. Look into the NAFTA Soft wood lumber dispute. Canada is owed 5 Billion. Details here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/softwood_lumber/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.-Canada_softwood_ lumber_dispute Just goes to show you that the USA will ignore, and then delay. They then have the gall to change the rules and force the other parties to accept the changed rules. The arrogance is amazing to me.

As long as we're throwing out anecdotal evidence...

January in Ottawa is usually -20 to -10 Celsius, but this year, we had rain on January 6th! The temperature that day was plus 10 Celsius. Rideau Canal, the world's longest outside skating rink, might not open this year unless the temperature stays low for an extended amount of time. I don't have a source for this unfortunately, but I don't think the canal has ever been closed for the entire year due to warm temperature.

Elsewhere in Canada, British Columbia is experiencing the third storm of the year. More people will be out of power, on top of the thousands that have already lost power this year due to storms. The roof of a stadium in Vancouver recently collapsed due to heavy rain and wind. I know we can't say this is a direct consequence of global warming, but I have to agree with another poster, the weather is certainly much stranger than I used to remember them.

EBay ad leads police to stolen snowboard

Surprisingly, every now and then, incompetent installers are found, and all their work gets inspected.

Makes you wonder how many people get blown off by the help desk when they complain about signal quality when there really is a systemic installation problem in the area.

Some are lower, some are higher. I cringe whenever I hear the statement, "If this saves just one life, it will all be worth it." The trouble with those statements is that it often deals with numbers large enough that it's difficult, if not impossible, to determine if the program did save just one life.

There are plenty of ways to go about inexpensively dealing with many problems. Kidnapping used to be considered an expensive, manpower-intensive investigation. However, the advent of the Amber Alert has resulted in an inexpensive way of getting critical information to the public, allowing thousands more eyes on the roads looking for the vehicle and limiting the avenues of escape for the kidnapper. It doesn't work in all cases, of course, but I expect that when studies are done, it will be shown to be one of the more cost-effective methods of reducing at least the harm from kidnapping as well as the interception time, if not the kidnapping crime rate itself.

Similarly, there are ways in hospitals that (when carefully done to protect patient privacy) can allow barcode readers and wireless devices to help ensure patients are prescribed and treated with the correct medications. These are becoming more common and have been shown to help save lives at a per-patient cost of only a few dollars over the life of the equipment.

However, there are ways that look inexpensive and effective at first, and yet end up costing far more than expected. I don't think most people (even the skeptics) thought that the TSA would turn out to be such a bureaucratic nightmare draining off billions for security theater. However, it turns out that the least-expensive and most effective security measure thus far is simply passengers not wanting to be idle participants in another disaster.

Even the simple solutions need to be examined carefully, because they can easily balloon into something unexpected.

"I have long been a supporter of photo radar," the premier told reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting. "It's a revenue generator, absolutely."

While I completely agree with the parent, I wonder at the feasibility of producing biofuels on such a scale. I would love to see a super efficient production of biofuels from non-food sources.

On a slight tangent I have a real problem with the hydrogen fuel cells and even hybrids for vehicles when we can produce perfectly viable electric cars now. With the addition of new efficiencies in solar panels and personal windmills, we could conceivably make enough of our own electricity to charge our own cars.

"as much competition as other high-tech sectors"

I wish there were even half that amount of competition and innovation in the furniture sector.

It's been bugging me for years that you can't get a good chair for a reasonable price (compared to the progress in the high tech sector). One with an adjustable back to seat angle, adjustable overall tilt angle and adjustable height from floor. With decent padding and shape so you don't get pressure sores, and it actually feels comfortable sitting in it.

I mean it takes how long before you get people to figure out that sitting up straight isn't that good for your back? Sitting up straight, or in those common but crappy chairs sure didn't feel good to me. And it's not even the furniture industry that was interested to find out:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/11/27 /sit-posture.html
http://news.google.com.my/news?hl=en&q=135+degrees +chair+back&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

I guess someone in the USA may now start to sue the furniture makers for damaging them, just like the tobacco industry ;).

http://www.cnn.com/exchange/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/photosubmit/

What I found shocking is that some of the same scientists who had funding ties to big tobacco and were saying that there was no evidence that smoking caused cancer are now the same scientists with funding ties to big oil and are claiming there is no proof of global warming.

-29C with wind chill today. Failing to cover one's head will be punished by loosing ears to frostbite. The bike ride to work tomorrow is gonna be a bitch.

http://www.cbc.ca/weather/conditions.jsp?station=Y WG

Canadian Suicide Car Bombers??

This Canadian suicide bomber killed fellow Canadians in Afghanistan. These Canadian Al Qaeda supporters, who had world-wide connections, were preparing to start attacking various targets in Canada, and were trying to obtain enough explosives for a large truck bomb. Al Qaeda has warned Canada that it is subject to attack (due at least in part to the fact that Canadians as a whole don't follow extreme Islam). If Britain can have suicide bombers attack inside the country, I doubt that there is any reason Canada couldn't. A suicide bicycle bomber killed four Candian soldiers in September, and a suicide car bomber killed two Canadian soldiers last week. Canadians are already being killed by suicide terrorists, at least one of which was Canadian, and there are more like minded people already operating in Canada, partially due to extremists exploiting holes in Canada's immigration policy. Hopefully, when the Canadian security services break up terror cells in the future, they won't just deport them, but will send them to prison. Canada is a great nation facing some difficult choices and tasks.

What also got to me while trying to get through downtown is how the embassy is allowed to eat up a lane of traffic for their precious concrete walls, as if there was ever a real danger in Canada.

Real danger? You mean like these fine Canadian Al Qaeda supporters? I doubt they will be the only ones to pop up given Al Qaeda's recent warnings and references to Canada. Al Qaeda underestimates Canada ... assuming the Canadian people are committed to arms and action. The Germans of yesteryear would not make that mistake.

This also happened in Ottawa in 2005. This story and this story sum up the incident. I was in Ottawa at the time, and I keenly remember the US Embassy lying to our face about using this signal. "Oddly" enough, the problem stopped once the CBC contacted the Embassy and asked them about it. Too bad those engineers didn't get to trace the signal back. What also got to me while trying to get through downtown is how the embassy is allowed to eat up a lane of traffic for their precious concrete walls, as if there was ever a real danger in Canada. I heard that those walls were tested in Canada because of the low risk, I guess it's convenient to test concrete walls and signal jamming here.

This also happened in Ottawa in 2005. This story and this story sum up the incident. I was in Ottawa at the time, and I keenly remember the US Embassy lying to our face about using this signal. "Oddly" enough, the problem stopped once the CBC contacted the Embassy and asked them about it. Too bad those engineers didn't get to trace the signal back. What also got to me while trying to get through downtown is how the embassy is allowed to eat up a lane of traffic for their precious concrete walls, as if there was ever a real danger in Canada. I heard that those walls were tested in Canada because of the low risk, I guess it's convenient to test concrete walls and signal jamming here.

Do a youtube search on "water boarding" some time.
A form of torture made leagal by the US (as far as that goes, but they do it) that is akin to drowning you as far as your lungs cant get enough air.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGyz-MMQuvU
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=water+ boarding+torture&search=Search

Also check back to the canadian dude that was traveling through the US (connecting flight), who was detained, sent to another country by the US specifically for the purpose to torture him. He was held for around a year, and daily had his arms and hands whipped with large metal cables, and had his legs clubbed.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar

Funny thing is CBC does HD ... Hockey Night In Canada as well (usually just the Leafs games).

http://www.cbc.ca/hdtv/

It is even OTA in a few cities already.

Unlike Global who has a HD feed on Rogers and ExpressVu (for simsubbing reasons only) but no functioning OTA transmitter.

Oh boy, as a Quebec resident and a victim of a rural Anglophone school board (WQSB), this is dead on.

I arrived at the high school in Shawville from Ontario high school back in 1998. The culture shock was of course immense... a rural school with kids with immense behavioural problems. Some teachers were awesome... others were nutjobs. Total nutjobs. One of them must have been 80 years old and was still teaching English, inflicting countless years of pain on students. My girlfriend's cousin got labelled "Easy Erin" by this teacher as a nickname, which of course is an awesome thing to call a teenage girl.

One teacher was caught masturbating in his office by a student. The incident was covered up and the teacher remained teaching at the school, only in a reduced capacity (this happened the year before I arrived). My god that man was creepy. Another threw desks at the students when they were misbehaving (yes, picked them up and tossed them at the students, full force). Granted these students were pure assholes, most of them. They were potheads and drug addicts back in high school, now I wouldn't be surprised if they're living on welfare and spending their cash on booze and weed exclusively. I think it's the entire system, students and teachers, that's immensely fucked up. I remember nothing like this happening at my schools in Ontario, where people were sane.

In my sophomore year the school spent a couple thousand dollars building a special spot for the cigarette smokers right outside the school's main entrance and bus loading zone. It was promptly rendered useless this year by a provincial law banning smoking on school property. Looking back on it, I really had no idea just how crazy they had to have been to have done that.

Teachers more or less have lifelong tenure unless they're substitutes. Those guys quit often... like Mr. Reilley. My girlfriend and I were in his Grade 10 French class when the following "gun" incident happened:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/05/09/gunstory00 0508.html

As a side note, the student was a known prankster and was just fooling with the teacher, because we thought he was cool. He wouldn't have hurt a soul.

I also used to live just up the street from the school in question in the article while I was going to CEGEP, Ecole Secondaire Mont-Bleu. I hated the fucking students. Rude assmunchers. Although, their school isn't much better. My girlfriend always said it looked like a prison. It had loudspeakers outside the building where an incomprehensible (think Charley Brown adult speak) voice would summon the students back to class every few hours. The lands around it are bleak, save a racetrack out back and a ski lodge nearby. What a sad place to spend your adolescence. Half the school population can be found out front of the school at lunch taking up the French smoking addiction and stinking up the neighbourhood.

Overall, I'd have to say the WQSB (at least in Shawville) is pure fucking insanity rolled into a pipe and smoked sideways, save a few shining stars. I imagine the Franco school board is worse. The teachers are rarely turned over, and new blood is churned out of the system at an alarming rate because the students are hell to teach. That is my personal evaluation, take from it what you will, because I was there.

Yes, we live in Canada, so we're the benevolentest of all countries and our governments can do no wrong.

That's why our government holds people in jail without charging them (federal), and denies access to representation by those who cannot afford it themselves (Ontario) because we are too busy charging more and more people of crimes.

It is at best naïve, and at worst xenophobic, to trust every action of your country's government simply because it is your government. It is every government's duty to serve its citizens and to act in the names of its citizens; it is every citizen's duty to ensure that his or her government does not abuse the power that is used in his or her name.

- RG>

Here's an idea. Actually read about the blacklist in question. The RCMP fully know about the effect this is actually going to have as a deterrent, and it's limited to child porn, not hate speech. TFA doesn't really talk about the Canadian blacklist in question, instead using it as a soapbox.

The Arar inquiry
Montreal gunman
etc.

The Arar inquiry
Montreal gunman
etc.