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Kansas really is flatter than a pancake. But there are hills - lots of them. Think low amplitude sine wave. It was really trippy weird here when PI was equal to 3.

Sure, the guide horses are miniature horses, but I've had to take a full-grown horse through a house, and it's no big deal.

I walked in through the front door at my mothers (it was my sister's mare), and they couldn't turn it around, and were getting kind of freaked out. So I just took the reins and, instead of trying to turn it around, just led it straight through and out the back door.

But a horse in the house is nothing compared to these people - they have a 1650-pound buffalo who watches TV with them in their den:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/12/10765 48159516.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true
and
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/13/buffalo_house 040213

A propos this story, the CBC posted a story yesterday with the title, Movie ratings are misleading on violence: study.

The gist of the report is that some films rated PG have as much or more violence as some films rated R. This is no surprise, of course (we all know about lies and statistics), but it's a bit of grist for the mills of those who suggest that ratings, reflecting local social and political mores, often are influenced too much by things that may not be that bad for well-parented children, and not enough by those things that may be much worse.

Actually you'd be surprised to know that the car theft capitals are Vancouver, Winnipeg and regina. Altough it is true that Quebec is ahead of Ontario for car thefts per 100,000 pop. However the rate is declining in Quebec while increasing in Ontario.

Of course, I'm sure a good number of cars stolen in Toronto drive down the 401 and exit the country through the mob-controlled port of montreal. Just take it up with them.

Actually you'd be surprised to know that the car theft capitals are Vancouver, Winnipeg and regina. Altough it is true that Quebec is ahead of Ontario for car thefts per 100,000 pop. However the rate is declining in Quebec while increasing in Ontario.

Of course, I'm sure a good number of cars stolen in Toronto drive down the 401 and exit the country through the mob-controlled port of montreal. Just take it up with them.

Google for Michio Kaku. He has lots of good stuff, and a few books on this.

Also, listen to this programme from CBC radio. It combines many worlds idea with Evolution in a very intriguing way.

By the way, there is no "random universe generator". The randomness is at the quantum level - Hisenberg's Uncertainy principle at work.

Facinating stuff really.

" I find it weird that Americans are so "anti-communism" as if its an evil thing. It's not that bad at all!"

You need to read up on history. Nothing like the cold war to bring back some bad memories.

Ontario Quebec and British Columbia run a surplus the rest run a defecit.

Whaaaat? Alberta just paid off it's provincial debt. They've got a surplus this year that's almost as large the total operating budget of Manitoba. Manitoba had a surplus for 9 years in a row until the NDP came to power. This year we're back in the black again.

"Ontario Quebec and British Columbia run a surplus the rest run a defecit."

Uhhhhhh no. Ontario is running a deficit of 6 billion dollars. Ottawa/The Federal Government is taking 23 billion away from Ontario each year in taxes and giving it away to other provinces despite our running this huge deficit that is causing the government to cut back Ontario's services.

I say: fuck the other provinces why the fuck should we go into debt and have *our* services cut to pay for people leeching off our teet. Grow your own god damn economies and leave Ontario alone.

I'll vote for any party that promises to fix this fiscal imbalance and commend our Primier (Dalton McGunity) for having the balls to take the leechers on.

Or what if the US made Canadian beef illegal? Or Canadian lumber? Or Canadian wheat?

Or Canadian pork

You seem quick to denounce the conservatives on this one. The corrupt canadian Liberals who are currently in power are the most in favour of such draconian IP laws because it caters to their constituents.. the canadian heritage minister, Liza Frulla seen recently at canada's juno awards (canadas grammy's) slumming for music industry donations.. luckily if an election were called today her seat would be in danger. Are the conservatives a worse choice than the NDP in this? no. The NDP are totally in favour of harsher IP law. (though jack layton is all in favour of file sharing..) Personally I voted conservative the last election (and feel vindicated doing so for the most part) because the (now) MP told me flat out that she would not support the DMCA based on the information she had on it, that it was bad for Canadian business and consumers. Also Stephen Harper at least owns an ipod. Prime Minister Paul Martin probably can't program his own VCR.. unless it gives monetary kickbacks.

U.S has alot more cases of mad cow, they just cover it up and act like nothing happened. After all, it would hurt their economy if other countries banned U.S beef.

Concerns raised about 1997 U.S. mad cow tests
US Officials Engaged in Mad Cow Coverup: Former Official
Greens Charge Government Cover-Up of Mad Cow Crisis
United States is intentionally under reporting mad-cow disease
More articles from google search

I remember seeing the documentary on CBC about the U.S mad cow cover up a couple years ago. It was pretty interesting. U.S of course doesn't want cases of mad cow to be found in their beef, since other countries would ban imports, and U.S would lose money. One small scale cow farmer in the states wanted to test every single one of his cows for BSE upon death. The USDA threatened him and prevented him from doing this. Why? because the idea of scanning every cow for BSE scares the USDA, it would raise production costs, increasing the price of beef, and alot more cases of BSE would potentially be found.

As it is, the current US policy on beef is to only test cows that look very sick. So alot of cows that have BSE go unchecked and ends up being sold as safe beef. Luckily for me, I have a choice, and I only eat local Canadian beef.

Canada's CBC radio supports OGG streams.

Just check out Quirks and Quarks, a weekly science show broadcast on Saturdays.

The US Military promised to blow up the rocket should it veer off course and potentially endanger Canadians off the coast of Newfounland.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/04/30 /titan-missile050430.html

The CBC has already been doing this for some time. Podcasts, too.

... read 'The Germans did the job once for us'

CBC Archives - see "did you know"

gus

Step 1: Paint SPREADFIREFOX.com on chest

Step 2: Wear baby-blue tutu under clothes

Step 3: Attend Olympic sporting event

Step 4: Remove clothes

Step 5: Dive from Olympic diving board

Step 6: uh... profit?

'Dalek' is on BBC-1 on Saturday, 30 April."

Or, for those of us in Canada, it will be on the CBC main network on Tuesday, May 10th.

So far, I've been good: because the BBC broadcasts the episodes ten days before we see them here in Canada, I could download and watch them rather than wait the ten days -- but other than the initial leaked episode ("Rose"), I've waited for the local broadcasts on CBC.

I just hope they decide to release the DVD boxed set here in Canada as well.

And what's up with Planet of the Doctor anyhow? The CBC site still claims that it will start "in early April". Well guess what guys -- early April has come and long gone.

Yaz.

Hey, that's what you get by having majorities imposing laws on minorities. Never worked and never will.

In Canada there is the Charter of Rights And Freedoms. Especially look at #15.

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

In Canada, the Supreme Court rules that the current marriage act discriminates against gay/lesbians on this basis (ie. don't have the same rights under the law). http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/12/09 /scoc-gaymarriage041209.html

Gay marriage is already law in many provinces now, but it is be voted federally soon.

Michio Kaku and other M\String theorists along with some qunatum theorists have come up with a fairly reasonable set of "many worlds" theories that may explain it.

"Our" universe is just one of a possibly infinite number of universes poping in and out of existance all the time. "Ours" may be only 12 to 14 Billion years old, but it was part of another similar universe before that, which itself was part of a similar universe before that etc etc ad infinitum. the "Metaverse" itself is infinite - no beginning and no end.

So, this is one hypothosis that does not require a first cause or a creator. No need for a God. No begining and no end.

Check out a very good radio programme from last Saturday on this very subject: Multiple Worlds, Parallel Universes on CBC's Quirks and Quarks.

Besides, just because we can't yet explain the "First Cause" doesn't mean that it must therefore be "God". A God of the gaps always grows smaller in the face of scientific discovery.

Oh, and if you are claiming that there is a supreme being, the onus is on you to prove the existance of this God, not on science to prove that it doesn't exist. The evidence for the non-existance of God is simply a logical byproduct of scientific discovery of the nature around us.

>> What, you don't think criminals are represented in government?

Here in Canada they're in the government it seems...

Okay I know people probably aren't still following this thread but I found an interesting followup to this discussion on CBC.

Apparently two countries: Lebanon and Mexico were likely sent this sample kit but their labs did not recieve it. Intercepted or lost in transit? Fishy...

Oh really? How about putting an ebola-like strain into Anthrax spores and encasing it in plastic so it can travel in air?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bioweapons/biowa r_timeline.html

Look near mid 1980s.

If the flu scares you, this will shit your pants. Now, did US really end its development of bio-weapons or did their program just go underground (like in USSR)?

I'm not sure if I imagined this or actually read about it.

A 20,000 foot hole was supposed to have been dug near where I live during WW II in a desperate effort to find oil. There is oil and gas around here, and there has been some exploration in the last ten years Sable Island to the south and Hibernia to the East (apparently a bullseye for US rocket debris!).

Here is the area:
Hillsborough Bay map. Near Govenor's Island (switch to map from Satellite image to see names.)

I don't see why we have to answer for Bryan Adams. He may be Canadian, he may write and sing his own music, but according to the CRTC which decides how much scary foreign content we can listen to, Bryan Adams' music is not Canadian

You might also want to check out this article on Canada's CBC. This guy was making a half million a month doing this, and had assets of $24 million. This is the kind of money that is normally associated with narcotic trafficing. Perhaps the lengthy sentence is necessary as a deterrent.

Real, upstanding, proud citizens of the USA who carry themselves with humility, share their many gifts with their neighbours, and accept our many differences with grace are much loved here. I mean, we're family, right? I wouldn't discard my brother because he doesn't agree with me. In most places I've visited in the States, the people are great.

Yes, you're powerful. Yes, you could roll up here one night and take us out. But you aren't our judge, just as we aren't yours. When you speak about your neighbours in the future, do so with the respect most of us would still give you.

==

How America looks from up here

Here's actual information related to its current legality in Canada... right here. It is currently legal to download personal copies. Whether that status will change, who knows...

CBC's The Current (a daily show on CBC Radio) had a segment on this on March 31st.

The show is in their archive available here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2005/200503/20050331. html

A link to the .ram file for segment 1 is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200503/20050331 thecurrent_sec1.ram

The segments in the archive are in Real Audio format. Segment 1 is the part that has the story on CETS and starts about 2:50 into the file.

From the archive page:

Microsoft Talk Tape

It's a subject most of us find too repulsive to even contemplate--child pornography. The images are horrific and disturbing. And for law enforcement officials working to track down child pornographers and the pedophiles who keep them in business, trying to eliminate every one of these images from the internet is like bailing out a flooding ocean liner with a teaspoon.

But next week a tireless group of people will unveil a new weapon in the fight against this scourge. And it's the product of an unlikely alliance between frustrated cops and some tireless computer geeks from Microsoft.

We're talking about a program called the "Child Exploitation Tracking System" and it was developed right here in Canada by a special team of police officers working with programmers to build a better child pornographer trap.

Julian Sher is an investigative journalist and author, who is working on a new book about child pornography. He's had exclusive access to this remarkable technology and to the story of how it all came about.

*** We should warn you that some of the descriptions in this item are graphic.

If parents or other listeners want to learn more about the dangers of the Internet and what you can do to protect and educate your children, Microsoft and other partners have developed a web site called Bewebaware.ca.

CBC's The Current (a daily show on CBC Radio) had a segment on this on March 31st.

The show is in their archive available here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2005/200503/20050331. html

A link to the .ram file for segment 1 is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200503/20050331 thecurrent_sec1.ram

The segments in the archive are in Real Audio format. Segment 1 is the part that has the story on CETS and starts about 2:50 into the file.

From the archive page:

Microsoft Talk Tape

It's a subject most of us find too repulsive to even contemplate--child pornography. The images are horrific and disturbing. And for law enforcement officials working to track down child pornographers and the pedophiles who keep them in business, trying to eliminate every one of these images from the internet is like bailing out a flooding ocean liner with a teaspoon.

But next week a tireless group of people will unveil a new weapon in the fight against this scourge. And it's the product of an unlikely alliance between frustrated cops and some tireless computer geeks from Microsoft.

We're talking about a program called the "Child Exploitation Tracking System" and it was developed right here in Canada by a special team of police officers working with programmers to build a better child pornographer trap.

Julian Sher is an investigative journalist and author, who is working on a new book about child pornography. He's had exclusive access to this remarkable technology and to the story of how it all came about.

*** We should warn you that some of the descriptions in this item are graphic.

If parents or other listeners want to learn more about the dangers of the Internet and what you can do to protect and educate your children, Microsoft and other partners have developed a web site called Bewebaware.ca.

CBC's The Current (a daily show on CBC Radio) had a segment on this on March 31st.

The show is in their archive available here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2005/200503/20050331. html

A link to the .ram file for segment 1 is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200503/20050331 thecurrent_sec1.ram

The segments in the archive are in Real Audio format. Segment 1 is the part that has the story on CETS and starts about 2:50 into the file.

From the archive page:

Microsoft Talk Tape

It's a subject most of us find too repulsive to even contemplate--child pornography. The images are horrific and disturbing. And for law enforcement officials working to track down child pornographers and the pedophiles who keep them in business, trying to eliminate every one of these images from the internet is like bailing out a flooding ocean liner with a teaspoon.

But next week a tireless group of people will unveil a new weapon in the fight against this scourge. And it's the product of an unlikely alliance between frustrated cops and some tireless computer geeks from Microsoft.

We're talking about a program called the "Child Exploitation Tracking System" and it was developed right here in Canada by a special team of police officers working with programmers to build a better child pornographer trap.

Julian Sher is an investigative journalist and author, who is working on a new book about child pornography. He's had exclusive access to this remarkable technology and to the story of how it all came about.

*** We should warn you that some of the descriptions in this item are graphic.

If parents or other listeners want to learn more about the dangers of the Internet and what you can do to protect and educate your children, Microsoft and other partners have developed a web site called Bewebaware.ca.

There is also a story on the Toronto Police web site which can be found here:
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modl oad&name=News&file=article&sid=1379

CBC's The Current (a daily show on CBC Radio) had a segment on this on March 31st.

The show is in their archive available here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2005/200503/20050331. html

A link to the .ram file for segment 1 is here:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/media/200503/20050331 thecurrent_sec1.ram

The segments in the archive are in Real Audio format. Segment 1 is the part that has the story on CETS and starts about 2:50 into the file.

From the archive page:

Microsoft Talk Tape

It's a subject most of us find too repulsive to even contemplate--child pornography. The images are horrific and disturbing. And for law enforcement officials working to track down child pornographers and the pedophiles who keep them in business, trying to eliminate every one of these images from the internet is like bailing out a flooding ocean liner with a teaspoon.

But next week a tireless group of people will unveil a new weapon in the fight against this scourge. And it's the product of an unlikely alliance between frustrated cops and some tireless computer geeks from Microsoft.

We're talking about a program called the "Child Exploitation Tracking System" and it was developed right here in Canada by a special team of police officers working with programmers to build a better child pornographer trap.

Julian Sher is an investigative journalist and author, who is working on a new book about child pornography. He's had exclusive access to this remarkable technology and to the story of how it all came about.

*** We should warn you that some of the descriptions in this item are graphic.

If parents or other listeners want to learn more about the dangers of the Internet and what you can do to protect and educate your children, Microsoft and other partners have developed a web site called Bewebaware.ca.

There is also a story on the Toronto Police web site which can be found here:
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modl oad&name=News&file=article&sid=1379

(a) there really is a link, and if the system hadn't spotted it an astute detective might have or (b) there really is no such connection, in which case the detective will swear at the system for wasting his time and get on with his job.

You forgot (c): the detective, after experiencing (b) a dozen times, and being grilled by his superior as to why he's not had any arrests in X months, will *make* a connection where there was none.

don't think it doesn't happen

(a) there really is a link, and if the system hadn't spotted it an astute detective might have or (b) there really is no such connection, in which case the detective will swear at the system for wasting his time and get on with his job.

You forgot (c): the detective, after experiencing (b) a dozen times, and being grilled by his superior as to why he's not had any arrests in X months, will *make* a connection where there was none.

don't think it doesn't happen

Score one for actual common sense (and, by extension, free speech): The ban has been lifted in the face of extensive blogging and otherwise above-the-law publication breaches.

Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

Usually, but what did I miss this time ???

Besides: "Daylight Saving Time was first enacted in Germany in 1915, quickly followed by Britain and much of Europe and Canada."

So at least over here, the phenomenon is known for a couple of years.

CC.

I guess Al's research capabilities aren't that great. There is a CBC http://cbc.ca/ radio show called "The Current" http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ that has been doing what he is talking about for a long time.
Except the inane google search voyerism. Those are bound to be rife with quality crap. How about we slashdot goolge during a show and search for "golfing in alaska"

I guess Al's research capabilities aren't that great. There is a CBC http://cbc.ca/ radio show called "The Current" http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/ that has been doing what he is talking about for a long time.
Except the inane google search voyerism. Those are bound to be rife with quality crap. How about we slashdot goolge during a show and search for "golfing in alaska"

Impossible,

zed.cbc.ca


oh wait.. a tv episode for download? look there's even an interview with Bram Cohen..

You can even download the episode from a torrent, What is this world coming too!!


:-)

In late 2002 this method was up to 68 implanted electrodes (which would be about equal to an 8x8 matrix)

HOWEVER, you need more than 1000 (say 32x32 or 1028) or above for any really useful vision With 8x8 you might recognize one or two ASCII characters. A Face??? Only if it's an emoticon.

Now granted these are implants in the retina and not the visual cortex, but I have seen other claims for retinal implants over the last five years.

Why is this research taking so long to bear fruit? In 1978 progress was limited by the available CPU horsepower to translate images into usable grid stimulation patterns. Now it seems we are stalled out with our ability to put electrodes in organic systems.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is easy, but why doesn't this stuff scale like Moore's Law with integrated circuits? Given the state of research over a decade ago we should be up to VGA quality arrays of 640x480 by now.

In general prosthetics systems always seem to be on the verge of some "Steve Austin" "Million Dollar Man" arrival and then never makes it. I assure you when we watched Lee Majors in the early '70s wha-na-na-na-na'ing all over the place we assumed such feats would be common place by the year 2000. What the hell happened? Is this just hard like AI, or under-funded and poorly organized?

WASHINGTON - In response to a new rule requiring most Canadians to carry passports for entry into the U.S., Public Security Minister Anne McLellan said Americans may also have to carry the document to enter Canada.

"Our system has really always worked on the basis of reciprocity," McLellan said outside the House of Commons.

"And therefore we will review our requirements for American citizens and we're going to do that in collaboration with the United States.

"There's no point in either of us going off in a direction without working together to determine how best we can facilitate the flow - a free flow - and movement of low-risk individuals."

There's a lot of small towns near the border, on both sides with businesses have become dependant on the very easy and quick ability for people to pass back and forth across the border without the slightest hassle.

Indeed. I'm reminded of the story of a New Brunswick couple who had their mail stopped for a while. They're Canadian citizens living on Canadian soil, but the only road to their home curves through American territory. One of those sleepy little border communities; they've lived there for over 50 years. In 2003 the American customs agents started "cracking down" on the couple -- in addition to stopping their mail and their newspaper, they also refused permission for any of their family to cross the border to visit them and even threatened to arrest the man for illegally crossing the border. Story #1 Story #2.

One can only dread the kind of hassles people like that will go through now.

There's a lot of small towns near the border, on both sides with businesses have become dependant on the very easy and quick ability for people to pass back and forth across the border without the slightest hassle.

Indeed. I'm reminded of the story of a New Brunswick couple who had their mail stopped for a while. They're Canadian citizens living on Canadian soil, but the only road to their home curves through American territory. One of those sleepy little border communities; they've lived there for over 50 years. In 2003 the American customs agents started "cracking down" on the couple -- in addition to stopping their mail and their newspaper, they also refused permission for any of their family to cross the border to visit them and even threatened to arrest the man for illegally crossing the border. Story #1 Story #2.

One can only dread the kind of hassles people like that will go through now.

From TFA:

WASHINGTON - In response to a new rule requiring most Canadians to carry passports for entry into the U.S., Public Security Minister Anne McLellan said Americans may also have to carry the document to enter the country.

"Our system has really always worked on the basis of reciprocity," McLellan said outside the House of Commons.

"And therefore we will review our requirements for American citizens and we're going to do that in collaboration with the United States.

"There's no point in either of us going off in a direction without working together to determine how best we can facilitate the flow - a free flow - and movement of low-risk individuals."

How fitting. It seems that our passport office is lax with security. How will this affect the US policy?

Full article: Auditor says Canada's security systems still too weak

1. its not about the judge being swayed, its about the jury
2. The ban will be lifted after jury is sequestered
3. Yes, because its in the interest of a fair trial
4. See number 1
5. Lets see, is the right of one person to a fair and impartial jury more important than my right to review records immediately after they are produced as evidence? I'd rather live in a country that ensures a fair trial, and lets the public wait so the trial can begin with an untainted jury releasing the records. Oh wait I do, I live in Canada.
Before you get critical of it, you better understand the ban. Read a summary of it here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/groupaction/time line.html

Yes, Recently The Canadian government passed a bill called bill C250 which makes it a hate crime to disaprove of gays. It's rediculous IMO. Look at this news article http://montreal.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filen ame=mon_humanrights20041011 which says how a person was fined from that very law. If you don't want to read it, the case is as follows... Two men walked into a used car lot. The car salesman told one of those men to "watch out" for his friend there because he is gay. And that's all he did. For that, he was fined $1000. Welcome to Canada, home of the gays.

I hear a lot of bullshit coming from people out there about how this "publication ban" is a suppression of freedom of speech and how "hypocritical" we are up here in Canada.

Well, fellow Canadian, I have some news for you! Up here in Canada, we do not have freedom of speech as a fundamental right. It is nowhere in the Canadian constitution that citizens of Canada have the right to free speech. In fact, there are laws in Canada that prohibit certain subjects in public. For example, you are not allowed to publically express your disatisfaction with gays and lesbians. Here is an example. This is all possible because of bill C-250 which was passed in Canada.

Section 2(b) of the Charter states that "Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: ... freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication." [www.constitutional-law.net]
But we do not have the right to free speech.

Of course, the arguement that the freedom of the press and other media of communication is the same as freedom of speech, the law is often bent both ways. This results in a tangible opression of speech. For example, if someone has done you an injustace, you can not publically tell people about it in Canada as you can be charged with slander in court.

Ok, Ok, I'm laying it on a little thick, but we don't have the same right to free speech as in the U.S. We have a different form of it. Maybe it's for the better, or maybe not. Our constitutions are quite a bit different, but we still enjoy the same high quality of life.

The amount, as estimated by the auditor general, and reported by the CBC, is about $100,000,000.00

In her report in February 2004, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said an estimated $100 million in commissions under the program went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies for little or no work.

Sad but true. In fact the cost of the inquiry ($80mil) has almost reached the amount of the scandal itself. ($100mil)

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/02/20 /gomery-budget050220.html

P.S. to people who don't know much about the scandal - The CBC news web site at that link will also have related stories if you want to read the history of the whole mess.