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We'll gladly take him back and embrace him, just like Bertuzzi. Anything that'll get us another medal...

Why wouldn't a financial management/accounting system have similar rules enforced and monitored?

That's one issue I can't understand - there have been several stories reported recently where traders mixed up the number and price of the shares they were trading:

Traders typing error costs Japanese brokerage firm millions

You would think it would be possible for the system to check the selling price against the current going price.

Whatever the virtues may or may not be in micromanaging an incompletely understood global chaotic system by adding further human input, you all might be interested in hearing it from the horse's mouth. In this radio interview. (scroll down for links) the good doctor makes the point that he is not advocating doing this now, but rather studying the possibility in the case that we find ourselves in an emergency situation where the currents get out of whack and crazy things, like the freezing of the Thames, start happening.

The observation of comets was that they had very little ice on the surface, but a good deal of water was kicked up by the impact (thus, it was probably not more than a couple of metres below the surface).
from this CBC article it appears that finding any ice on the surface was actually a mild surprise for scientists. This NASA mission update also indicates a powdered iceball construction of the comet.

Many insurance companies actually don't make all that much money

Well, they seem to be doing alright in Canada.
They respond to criticism of their earnings by stating that some insurance products are more profitable than others; overall though, profits look good.

The best thing a consumer can do is, as you said, shop around.
Understand the 'benefits' you're paying for; if your auto policy covers you for 80% of your net lost income, can you survive on that? Does your life insurance/travel/medical cover you if you've been drinking?

And remember Even if the insurance company doesn't pay a dime, an accident is an accident, and your rate will increase for 6 years."

What a great business to run.

Many insurance companies actually don't make all that much money

Well, they seem to be doing alright in Canada.
They respond to criticism of their earnings by stating that some insurance products are more profitable than others; overall though, profits look good.

The best thing a consumer can do is, as you said, shop around.
Understand the 'benefits' you're paying for; if your auto policy covers you for 80% of your net lost income, can you survive on that? Does your life insurance/travel/medical cover you if you've been drinking?

And remember Even if the insurance company doesn't pay a dime, an accident is an accident, and your rate will increase for 6 years."

What a great business to run.

U.S. patent office rules in RIM's favour again
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/02/ 01/rim-060201.html

NTP has 30 days to respond to the non-final rejection of its 5 critical patents against RIM. There is a court date on February 24, 2006 to start the shutdown of the RIM network in the U.S. It is going to be an interesting court case.

Yep, and much like the polar bears in the North, some of our native species are having trouble adapting.

http://www.cbc.ca/vancouver/story/bc_octopus-sub20 060127.html?ref=rss - direct from the CBC - no msn filtering, and it includes the CBC video.

This Page @ The CBC has the video in Real or Quicktime.
In the video some "octopus expert" said "could've been lookin' for a girlfriend, could've been senile".
Sounds like some kind of oceanographer joke: Why did the octopus attack the sub? "could've been lookin' for a girlfriend"

This Page @ The CBC has the video in Real or Quicktime.
In the video some "octopus expert" said "could've been lookin' for a girlfriend, could've been senile".
Sounds like some kind of oceanographer joke: Why did the octopus attack the sub? "could've been lookin' for a girlfriend"

This Page @ The CBC has the video in Real or Quicktime.
In the video some "octopus expert" said "could've been lookin' for a girlfriend, could've been senile".
Sounds like some kind of oceanographer joke: Why did the octopus attack the sub? "could've been lookin' for a girlfriend"

Crack-berry people should be admired - they aren't tied to their computers all day, just to do email. They are out and about enjoying their time, getting more done outside the office with these things. Frankly anyone who can actually keep up to date, reply to messages, and who can take care of business with these things is a hero in my books.

Riiiight...

Meanwhile, this is how the REST of the world sees Crackberry users:

http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/video_player.html?b lackberry (WMP or QT)

Then of course, there's the fact that he's trouncing on people's freedom to choose their software, and the ability of the market to freely innovate just so that he can make those billions of dollars.

On the other end of things is a Canadian diplomat who got blown up because he was (voluntarily) in Afghanistan trying to help the people there recover from decades of civil war.
Now, that is someone I can look up to as a hero.

I thought Iceland was going to "be the first"?

Btw, how is the parent a troll? Heck, I'd suspect many Liberal supporters would at least partially agree - maybe they'll ditch the worst of the lot and get some fresh blood for next time. I can't believe Hedy Fry is still around, though.

This was one of Michael Moore's weakest points.

That's funny, it was strong enough of a point for the Bush administration, they had a citizen of Canada "renditioned" to Syria for more than a year for working with the brother of a known terrorist.

I'm 'spreading' my opinion on this oversized blog. To attribute some kind of fearmongering agenda to my post is disingenuous at best. Admit you overreacted and we can continue the discussion.

How many more "unsettling" things do we need to hear? Butter will kill you! AIDS will kill us all! Global warming will heat/cool/soak/dry the earth! The ozone layer is gone! We're running out of oil! Bird flu is coming! GM foods have to be stopped! Jesus is the only way! Islam will rule the world!

I sympathize with your Outrage Overload but that is just as anecdotal as my original point. Here is what I am worried about - and try to contain yourself:

Hottest year ever: The global average temperature was slightly (0.06 degrees Celsius) warmer than 1998's average, when the warming Pacific currents spawned by El Nino made that year the warmest on record.

Least Arctic ice ever: The area covered by Arctic sea ice (the thick stuff that doesn't melt in the summer) in September 2005 was the least that satellites have ever recorded. The perennial sea ice cover has been shrinking by 9.8 per cent every decade.

Hottest Caribbean waters ever: Measurements taken throughout the Caribbean by regional monitoring systems show that water temperatures were hotter for longer than ever before. The WWF said that resulted in extensive bleaching of coral reefs. "Only this year's record-breaking hurricane activity limited additional bleaching," it said.

Worst Atlantic hurricane season ever: Actually, 2005 saw several records broken during the Atlantic hurricane season:

* Most named storms ever: There were 26 named storms in Atlantic waters in 2005 - so many that the official name list was exhausted and had to move into the Greek alphabet for the last five storms of the season.
* Most named hurricanes ever: There were 14 hurricanes in 2005, eclipsing the previous record of 12. The last hurricane of the season, Epsilon, formed up just before the official end of hurricane season on Nov. 30 and was still churning in the Atlantic during the first week of December.
* Most Category 5 storms ever: No fewer than three hurricanes in 2005 had winds over 249 kilometres an hour, crossing over into the rarely-reached top category.
* Most intense hurricane ever: Hurricane Wilma's internal pressure reading of 882 millibars was the lowest ever recorded for an Atlantic hurricane. And Wilma was the fastest-strengthening storm on record. In just 24 hours, its highest winds increased by 169 kilometres an hour as it swirled over those warm Caribbean waters.
* Most hurricane damage ever: The damage estimates are still being compiled. But insurance industry estimates put the total losses from hurricane Katrina alone at more than $100 billion US. The U.S. Congress has estimated the cost of rebuilding the New Orleans and Gulf Coast following Katrina at $200 billion US. And while Katrina wasn't the deadliest hurricane ever, its 1,300-plus fatalities made it the highest toll since 1928.

Record droughts: The WWF says 2005 saw a continuation of drought conditions around the planet. It cited 2005's drought in the Amazon as a "multidecadal if not century record" and noted that the western U.S. continued its multi-year drought.

That is for 2005. If you think this is all just a bunch of handwringing, fair enough. I'm going to render my own judgement on this dataset, and I'm going to talk about it too

And yet....no records were set....uh..

Yep. No records. Now, I'm not advocating one side or the other here, but 2005 seems to have been a year of extremes, not one that didn't set any records. There will *always* be records in a given year, particularly local ones. It's the worldwide records like "highest average temp on record, despite the absence of El Nino" and "lowest arctic ice recorded" that matter. Not "Hottest July 3rd ever in Tempe, AZ."

Worst hurricane season on record.

200 Western US cities set heat records.

Hottest year ever, least arctic ice ever, most intense single hurricane ever, worst drought in decades.

Third worst year on record for extreme weather, hottest year on record despite the fact that the previous record had El Nino to drive it. (and in a contrast, very few tornados).

If that were the case, we'd better tell the permafrost that it should stay frozen. Because, if you haven't heard, it is melting right now.

And if you ask if that is bad, well, scientists estimate that fourteen percent of the worlds carbon is stored in permafrost. Fourteen percent of ALL carbon, not only of the CO2 and methane in the atmosphere. And it is mostly in the form of methane, which upon release, would increase the greenhouse effect considerably. See also positive feedback loop.

Some of us in the northern US have already watched the first season due to our proximity to Canada and CBC.

China's government is as unobtrusive and minimalist as they get. It like all governments is in the business of staying in power. Unlike the US government, the Chinese government is very direct about this. If you don't threaten their power, they don't mess with you.

The US government is different. Of course it's still in the business of maintaining its own power, but it isn't very upfront about it. As a result, it uses a vast assortment of hand-waving and various levels of bullshit along with excessive taxes to accomplish the same result.

I find the US media in absolute denial about this though. There are constant stories about this or that bad thing going on in China. If more Americans actually lived here, they wouldn't buy that load of crap. People don't have to "keep their heads down" and live in fear of the government at all times. Yes, there is capital punishment in China, but the Chinese government kills far fewer people than the US government does. Yes, there are people who have difficulties getting represented in court, but at least China doesn't openly flaunt international law by throwing people in jail indefinitely without trial and then claiming that international law doesn't apply to them. China doesn't go rampaging around the globe invading countries, or bombing embassies either.

In terms of propaganda, France, the US, China, Japan, and all the other powerful countries soak their populace in it constantly. In Japan, nationalist comics portray Koreans and Chinese and filthy barbarians; in Canada one of the most popular TV shows is dedicated to nationalistic prejudice; in China, people call Zhang Zi Yi a race traitor for starring accross from a Japanese man in a romantic role. Propagana, restriction of the truth, and disinformation are out in full force everywhere. It's just a pity that people are usually so unaware of the propaganda coming from their own countries.

It probably will happen though, as our existing nuclear plants (especially Pickering and Bruce) are nearing the ends of their lives, and the govt. wants to phase out our fossil fuel plants because they contribute to the smog problem in southern Ontario every summer. And with increasing electricity consumption, especially during the hot summers, we are faced with the threat of rolling blackouts and having to buy electricity off of Quebec and the US in order to meet demand.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/11/ 17/megabloks-051117.html

What's next? Crack cocaine vouchers?
Well...we have those up here in Canada City of Ottawa Gives away Free Crack Pipes

Then come to Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/03/31/canada/downlo ad_court040331 However, do keep in mind that you must marry a member of the same sex. It isn't optional anymore and we are very strict about that.

I think it might have been DNTO and Nick Purdon's quest for the true pint.

Don't worry. Plans are underway.

When did the GP mention Iraq?

Your going to look at the GP and not tell me that Iraq is not implied?

Then you sir need to wake up and read the news.

The "just following orders" line makes no sense. Do you accept no responsibility for your own actions? Did you not choose to sign up? You can't use someone else as an excuse for your actions.

when push comes to shove the actions on the battle field, out side the initial order to "take that hill" ect..., are the decisions made at that moment, and are the sole property of the soldier

I signed up to protect the way of life we have in the USA.

But the decision to go to war is made way over the common soldiers head. Now if your going to talk about innocent civilians getting caught in the middle of a war, it is an unfortunate consequence of a necessary evil.

Let's talk about the cost of war
WW2 body count
ww1 body count
Iraq body count

I would say by those numbers the civilian toll of this war is on a good track, as is the military toll in this war. We have learned for our experiences, we have learned how to reduce the number of civilian causalities by using more precise strikes, and reduce the military casualties by better training and equipment.

That brings this conversation full circle. This item will help the US soldiers in Iraq stay healthy and in the battle longer, not as much time will be spent in the hospital treating heat stroke and other heat related injuries.

If you would like to continue this conversation I will be happy to, but this topic dose not need more disruption like this in it. This topic is about the technology of war, not the politics. Feel free to e-mail me I have time this week.

Suffice to say that just like the "Democrats" aren't the US's party about Democracy and the "Republicans" aren't all about a Republic the Canadian "Liberal" party isn't necessarily a species of the overly-broad term "Liberal". Indeed the term "Liberal" doesn't even match up terribly well between the two countries, and not with Canada being invariably the more 'liberal' of the two meanings.

My advice is if you're truly interested in getting a non-US view of the US & the world then consider spending a week or so watching the news from any Canadian (or other) network. CBC is quite good, it's peer CTV is also. After a week or two of viewing you'll start to become aware of the subtly different assumptions made, notice the implicit values are different, the sub-texts & code words don't match up to your US ones. It's also tremendously edifying to compare & contrast the same stories from both sides of the border, what leads the news and what doesn't, what points are expounded upon, etc.

That was to be voluntary, only for Muslims, and in any case was NOT implemented. In fact, the Ontario government not only decided against this proposal, it now plans to abolish all use of religious law in the legal system, including the Jewish courts, which have not been a problem.

Many US diplomats are political appointees, not folks rising up within the US diplomatic corps. Perhaps he's a qualified diplomat?
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/04/27/ wilkins-050427.html

Well I guess he turned down Chile for us....

And we all know the US ambassador to the UN.... ; )

In short, one can't expect too much of these people.

But then again, Canada is certainly guilty of the same thing.

Cheers,
-b

Not on 4 times regurgitated information.

The offender David Wilkins in no way expressed an endorsement of a political party.

Get to the source, get real info. Don't form opinions (especially negative ones) from sketchy information and your own built-in biases.

link
Canadian link

Decide for yourself if what he did was wrong (preferably by getting even more info than this), but don't jump to the mistaken conclusion that the US was telling the Canadians which party to vote for.

Sounds like the situation was different in Australia though. This isn't the stuff from back to the 70s, is it? (Not that the passage of time excuses such a thing)

"Firstly, Rogers appears to be running a GSM network [...]"

But, according to http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/12/17 /rogers051217.html , the cloning happened in 1997, when Rogers was using analogue phones; here's the relevant quote:

"Rogers admits its top executives were victims of a security breach, but that was back in 1997, when they used analogue phones."

If you're going to diss a journalist for lack of research, at least do some research yourself.

Let's break down your mythology. Even if we started today, ANWR production would probably take 10 years to come to peak production of about 1 M barrels/day. Current U.S. consumption is 20 M barrels/day, projected to rise to above 25 M barrels/day before 2020. Total estimated reserves in ANWR vary wildly, but it is most certainly much more expensive to extract than most OPEC sources. For example, from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/oil/anwar.html

"The companies that want to get at that oil estimate there's 16 billion barrels waiting to be pumped south - or about 30 years worth of Middle East oil imports. U.S. government geologists have estimated a likely reserve of perhaps 10.4 billion barrels in the 700,000-hectare coastal plain region at the northern end of the ANWR. That's the only part of the refuge where the U.S. government has considered lifting the ban on development.

But it would be economically feasible to pump out only a fraction of that reserve. A 1998 study estimated that about 1.9 billion barrels could be recovered at a price of $24 per barrel. Environmentalists and other opponents of opening the area to oil exploration argue there's no way to know how much oil is there.

The Union of Concerned Scientists suggests there may be enough oil to fuel vehicles in the United States for six months. It argues that making vehicles more fuel-efficient will save far more oil than Alaska could ever produce."

Compare this to current Saudi oil production costs of $1-$2/barrel

Just do the math. The economically extractable oil would only last about five year before depletion, at the peak production rate, supplying only a small fraction of our needs.

Oh man, fuck Christmas.

Seriously - are you kidding me with this "There's a war on Christmas" bullshit? FOX News wasn't raking in enough cash already from all the Christmas commercials for Kill 'em All Barbie and Girls Gone Wild Brand Toddler Gear ? They had to start publishing books about some bogus attack on Christianity? And who did they pick to lead this particular charge?

John fucking Gibson. This guy has wiener written all over him.

Bill O'Reilly gets all the credit as the biggest nutcase in FOXville, but Gibson really deserves his own special wing in the happy house. This motherfucker's embedded assignment reads "Up Karl Rove's ass."

What makes him such a dick? I mean, besides making a fortune by screaming hysterically about how oppressed Christians are by the other twenty percent? How about advocating bombing countries that don't vote the way we want in their own elections? Way to encourage democracy, fuckhead. And maybe he was kidding when he wished, on air, that the French had gotten the 2012 Olympics instead of the Brits so the terrorists would "blow up Paris," but it might have been just a touch over the top to call for it again on the day of the London train bombings. Classy move, asshole.

And really? That's just scratching the fucking surface. Anyone remember who was responsible for the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City? John does: Iraq. And speaking of Iraq, Gibson thinks Rove deserves a fucking medal for outing that CIA agent. And, like any good reporter, he wanted to burn the Florida ballots after his buddy Bush got "elected" rather than, I don't know, count them? "Is this a case where knowing the facts actually would be worse than not knowing?" That right there is why sometimes it's useful for journalists to go to, what do you call that fucking place? Oh yeah, journalism school.

And now he's all worked up about Christmas being stolen. What is this, the fucking Fairytale Network? It's a national fucking holiday and we're spending gobs of our hard-earned tax dollars on wreaths and lights for your special Santa day. But these bastards are all "But they call them Holiday trees!" Here's a clue: no, they fucking don't. Ok, maybe in a couple places, like on FOXNews.com and at the White House, but if Christmas is under attack, I'm Kris fucking Kringle.

And guess who's stealing Christmas, according to Gibson. Go on -- guess. "A cabal of secularists, so-called humanists, trial lawyers, cultural relativists, and liberal, guilt-wra

This all reminds me of a Canadian program which showed how "stupid" americans are. I think it was called "the Mercer Report" (not sure). He went to the US and interviewed americans with the most ridiculous questions about their feelings on Canadian topics.

The political focus remains on the marketing and sale of adult content to minors and the integrity of the ratings system:

"I have developed legislation that will empower parents by making sure their kids can't walk into a store and buy a video game that has graphic, violent and pornographic content." Hillary Clinton

Mrs. Clinton has shown she can win both the inner city and the suburbs. She is a successful centrist Democrat who has helped to drive a state Republican Party into chaos.

Why don't girls get that us men have to put up with the same damn thing? I don't look like Duke Nukem, or Doom guy, maybe close to Freeman but not very close.

It's about whether its a fantasy character that you could want to be, which is what the male charatcters are, or a fanatsy that has been overtly sexualised. Don't get what I mean? Imagine playing a game where all the male characters looked a little more like this and this. Slightly less appealing to you? Well, that's how a lot of girls feel. The characters aren't really a fantasy ideal of what girls would like to be.

Jedidiah.

Now that online journalism is eligible for the Pulitzer Prize (still only for print newspapers' web editions), over the next few years we'll see how slippery this slope gets. If online journalism is a step away from print journalism, and blogging is a step away from online journalism, we may yet live to see someone on Blogger getting the big boys' plaque.

Every comparative study done on healthcare puts the mostly-public healthcare of Canada and Western Europe as equal to or better than that found in the US, despite the US spending a much larger fraction of its total GDP (13.6% vs. 9.5% of American vs. Canadian GDP goes to healthcare, vs. 6.8% ot 10.7% of GDP for major Western European nations).

(Before you complain about the link sites, the first study was done by the World Health Organization, the second by Johns Hopkins, the third by an author formerly from the conservative Fraser Institute. And before anyone complains that this is a Canada-vs-US thing, read especially the first study - most countries in Western Europe get better healthcare results for less money than the US, and many are better that way than Canada.)

The reason for this is, according to studies, wasteful bureaucracy in the US system. According to those who have analyzed the systems, this may be one place where a government program is actually more efficient than a collection of private programs. As plenty of posters in this thread have amply explained, that can, does, and should be expected to happen sometimes. Many governments run programs more efficiently than a collection of private companies could do; if a certain government never does so, that's a problem with that government, not with government programs in general.

The Canadian government has spent close to 2 billion dollars CDN$ (~ 1.5 billion US$) on a national computerized gun registry - basically a glorified database with a web front end. The joke is - it still does not work! You should be thankful in the United States that at least you have some form of checks and balances and know when to cut your losses.

Huh, that's interesting, 40% remittance normally? Up to 60%? WTF are you smoking?

An older episode of a CBC consumer show called "Marketplace" inquired as to the numbers for breakage from an actual rebate house. The average was 1% - 5% REMITTANCE . Yes, for most programs no more than 5% of all rebates were remitted. These are number direct from the mouth of the VP of sales at a REAL fufillment house. I could probably DRIVE there and get a recording of her saying that to me if I wanted, but if you watch the show, you can watch her say it.

Rebates are total bullshit, and that episode should be required watching for ANYONE considering getting into the rebate racket.

Perhaps true. However, every comparative study done on healthcare puts Canada's healthcare as equal to or better than that found in the US, despite the US spending a much larger fraction of its total GDP (13.6% vs. 9.5%).

(Before you complain about the link sites, the first study was done by the World Health Organization, the second by Johns Hopkins, the third by an author formerly from the conservative Fraser Institute. And before anyone complains that this is a Canada-vs-US thing, read especially the first study - most countries in Western Europe get better healthcare results for less money than the US, and many are better that way than Canada.)

The reason for this is, according to studies, wasteful bureaucracy in the US system. According to those who have analyzed the systems, this may be one place where a government program is actually more efficient than a collection of private programs. (The mind boggles, I know...)

In other words - ignore most of the data, and you can get any answer you're looking for. Study all of the data, and you'll find you're demonstrably wrong.

The CBC had a pretty good documentary that aired in August-ish that took a look at the subway musicians in areas that don't have the classical music playing. You actually have to audition for spots and there are some excellent musicians who make some nice coin for playing (and from refferals from side gigs)
I can't find a link (although it should still be available if you look through a couple documentary binary newsgroups if you have 14 day retention) but the ttc has information about it here.

You may of have heard of Subway Elvis - archive footage from the 70's

Actually, the Canadian Health Care system was declared unconstitutional just this year by our Supreme Court, so yes private health care is now legal in our nation:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/06/09 /newscoc-health050609.html/.
Not that this decision mattered much, as private health insurance has been available in Vancouver, Quebec, and Ontario for quite some time now (our Prime Minister's personal physician runs a private clinic).

Oh, and vision, dental, certain forms of chemo (that one was a shocker), perscription meds, and all sorts of other health care goodies aren't covered under the Canadian Health act either.

Hopefully the next generation of Canadian politicians can deal honestly with our Health Care woes, the current generation doesn't appear up to the task. Except that new coke-head from Quebec..

Here are the links again right from my browser history: http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/07/28 /crime_stats040728.html http://www.statcan.ca/english/Subjects/Labour/LFS/ lfs-en.htm http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/feddal/r u http://www.worldfactsandfigures.com/gdp_country_de sc.php http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/1999/06/think_01.h tml

"It is a good thing that something similar to this never will happen in Europe!"

At least in Europe (though I may be uninformed), they don't withhold evidence against the man in a secret trial and hold him on a so-called "security certificate", claiming the holocaust-denier to be as much of a threat to national security as a terrorist, and then deport him to his home country for something that I would presume isn't even an extraditable crime! I mean, hate speech is bad, but is it bad enough to deport someone for it? [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/zundel/%5D

That'd have to be one fucked-up authoritarian country to suspend due process like that. You'd think they could have at least had an open trial, as in most first-world countries. The US, you ask? Nope! Blame Canada, this time.

And to think I used to think Canada was a generally free and open country. You know, one that has due process in its court system.

I'd best keep my mouth shut, though -- they might start thinking that it is hate speech to claim that deporting and suspending the due process rights of a hate speaker might not have been the most appropriate thing to do. -- Throw him in jail, or perhaps in a nuthouse. But consider him a much of a threat as a terrorist, and try him in secret? I don't think so.*

* Disclaimer: I share no personal beliefs with the accused, for which he is being prosecuted. I do, however, hold the belief that no action is too heinous for it not to be held in an open, transparent court, in which the defendant is allowed to both know and challenge the evidence against him. If the evidence is truly damning enough to consider a man as dangerous as a terrorist, any properly functioning court of law will justly convict the defendant and give him an appropriate sentence.

You can alwys try outsourcing to Canada, where we speak English, French and take the afternoons off for same-sex weddings.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/050630/b0630102.html /
            -aiabx

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