Slashdot Mirror

Blame Canada for their leftwing conspiracy theories about PNAC blueprints for a "new Pearl Harbor".

BTW, Lieberman's a "Democrat" just to the left of Zell(out) Miller. It is sad that the country has come to that.

This organization doesn't have a spine. It's corrupt. It happily changes it's tune when politically expedient.

Because, clearly, the U.S. government is free of all these faults. :)

I think the UN gets an unfair rap. I hear a lot of people speak with the strange idea that the UN is a single cohesive entity, somewhere else, who arbitrarily and unreasonably attempts to impose decisions upon them. Maybe this attitude arises from the habitual American distrust of government.

The UN serves as a convenient political mask for Western leaders who want to distance themselves from distasteful happenings elsewhere in the world. "Sure, it's a problem," they say, "but it's a global problem, so it's the UN's responsibility."

A recent memorable example is the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which was starting up exactly 10 years ago, and could have easily been stopped with a capable intervention force, according to the UN general in Rwanda. His pleas for help in Rwanda were mostly met with indifference by the governments of the entire Western world, which was then preoccupied with the situation in Yugoslavia.

The UN administration also bears some guilt, for not trying harder to convince people, but most of the fault should still lie with the Western countries (specifically the U.S., France, and Belgium) who had troops in the area they could have mobilized and intelligence they could have shared, but chose not to. Yet it was only Kofi Annan who chose to apologize, and I consistently see American columnists describe 1994 as "the UN's failure to act", something which really incenses me.

• proposing laws to strip American suspects of their citizenship,
• imprisoning American citizens arrested on American soil as "enemy combatants" without recourse to civilian courts or legal counsel despite the contrary dictates of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution, and
• sending non-citizens arrested in the U.S. to be tortured in third countries at the whim of U.S. authorities.

• hasn't bothered to reform an FBI that in the days before September 11th intentionally destroyed translated intercepted terrorist conversations, in order to get the FBI budget increased,
• apparently preferred to invade Iraq rather than deal with the more immediate threat of Osama bin Laden after September 11th,
• and now in the ultimate on ironies, while ignoring the Sixth amendment (and the Fourth) is telling us that a top priority should be, not Iraq, not Osama, but passing a Constitutional Amendment to marginalize gays!

This could result in a new winner of this national contest, and for once, Saskatchewan will have some reason to be proud.

I notice that the CBC's Quirks and Quarks radio show supports Ogg. Figures that a science program would be clued-in on latest developments. Hopefully the rest of the CBC will catch up--they still only offer the Big Ugly Three (and sometimes only Real).

At least they can't stop you from picking up broadcast signals from the States.

The reason it's like this is basically because the CCAST (organization of Canadian satellite providers) gave the Liberal Party a large amount of money.

American-style political corruption comes to Canada..

... almost anything goes. Maybe we're more open minded. Maybe we're a little less uptight. Maybe we watch a little too much American TV.

One small addition: in context almost anything goes. You're not going to hear nasty words during the day, and that's exactly as it should be. But at night, when the kids should be in bed, that's another matter. If it's right for the story, leave it alone.

I was amused when the CBC showed the last Prime Suspect. When Helen Mirren said "fuck", they left it alone. When anybody else said it, they bleeped it out. Come to think of it, can anybody think of an un-bleeped usage on the CBC prior to the Degrassi movie?

Our other official language has different views on what's obscene, and while the French equivalents of the usual four-letter words come in handy - try translating a sentence like "I don't give a damn about Windows!" without them - the only word I've ever heard bleeped out was the Quebec-only obscenity "tabernacle".

...laura

It's very different than Active Desktop... that was just the idea of letting IE browser windows be part of the Windows Desktop level so that users could have a frequently-refreshed mini-page of content on their desktop.


However, the Active Desktop intiative did result in the development of CDF (W3C Proposal), aka Channel Definition Format, which is likely what the parent poster was talking about.

It's still around, belive it or not. I know that the CBC still uses it for delivering headlines, and I imagine that they're not the only ones.

This is Wonderland is a new CBC show that is genuinely funny, and a great drama too. It is by far the best new Law show I've seen, and is better than Law and Order SVU, although it covers similar turf with some of it's cases.

One problem with legal shows, is that they are 95% of the time, based in the USA, and so don't have Crown Attourneys, and other Canadian twists.

I'm too young to remember the Street Legal days, but this is one series that I hope lasts as long, and catches on. It is very entertaining.

I'm not sure one can blame education or general intelligence for this -- at least not directly.

What we may have lost is the ability to detect bullshit. The tendency seems to be for adults to accept official looking information presented in an expected manner, or to believe statements from someone holding a microphone in front of a video camera.

I say "adults" only because I've seen a few "man on the street" spoofs where adults are caught up while their children look on in disbelief just before calling bullshit on the so-called interviewer. Some of Rick Mercer's "Talking to Americans" segments are particularly memorable examples.

Of course, this is completely anecdotal on my part. Not to mention some of the folks who got caught on this particular hoax were young adults. Adult enough, perhaps, to start believing what "experts" suggest to them without thinking critically about what is being presented to them.

The problem is a lack of critical thinking, I suggest, and not some arbitary level of intelligence (which is impossible to measure and compare, anyway).

Examples about making change or spelling may be a bit misleading. I've never been strong with arithmetic (not mathematics) even though I worked for years in the service industry. I never learned the tricks and shortcuts people use to quickly calculate change or percentages. I'm not sure there is much my schooling could have provided to help this. After 35 years I just know I should use a calculator, and check my figures twice.

Many people find spelling problematic. Especially English spelling, which is hardly a normalized language; being a good English speller requires a fair amount of sheer memorization. In fact, new research suggests that some so-called learning disabilities have almost nothing to do with intelligence or ability to learn. Dyslexics have different brains that may actually be better at some tasks than non-dyslexic brains. Dyslexics can read and comprehend letters and words the same as everyone else, but the part of the brain the recognizes words shapes and establishes a lexicon "buffer" is the problem.

I checked to see if they had any archives of those shows. No luck, but I did notice that they support Ogg! see, see, look! Even with a (what's Ogg?) link to vorbis.org. Cool.

Canada's government recently passed a campaign financing reform bill, just in time for this year's election.

"Bill C-24 limits corporate and union donations to political parties to a maximum of $1,000 and allows them only at the riding association level, not directly to federal parties. The bill also places a $5,000 limit on individual donations.

"A new system of public funding will be established to compensate for the funding shortfall, and will be based on the number of votes received by each party. Every vote received by a party in the previous election will earn a $1.75 taxpayer subsidy.

"Introduced on January 29, 2003, Bill C-24 is aimed at drastically reducing the amount of money that business and labour interests can give to political parties."

There is a guy (in Halifax I think) who calls himself "The Sound Doctor" who makes a living from going around and setting up home theaters etc. A previous poster joked that with new ranks of Digiticians, VCR clocks around the world found finally not be flashing 12:00. But this Sound Doctor guy REALLY does that kind of thing. His business is getting TVs, VCRs, DVDs and home audio working right (for $60/hour or flat fees for some services I think). Another poster commented that if a digitician got a contract with Best Buy they would be set. Well, according to this Sound Doctor guy, he used to work for a big box store before branching out on his own. He gets some business from those stores, but increasingly the retailers are seeing customer service as another stream of revenue and doing it in house.

Some stores will offer to set up your new surround sound system for you .. for a small extra fee. (or included in the price if they are trying to be competative).

I'm not sure that this IS a growth business. I wonder if it isn't just a little niche market run by word of mouth. In the same way that high end audio stores will set up your equipment for you, and come back to tweak it (for a price) I can't imagine why Best Buy, Future shop et. al. wouldn't expand into this area. My dad always takes his Volvo into the dealer where he bought it for servicing. When my brother had a problem with his laptop he took it into Future Shop to see if they could do anything for him. I think a lot of people are like that and more inclined to call, and trust (even if that trust is unwarranted) the kinds of places where they bought the original equipment than a one-man operation like "Dr. Dave".

But, if I am wrong and this is a viable business, i think it would make sense to offer a comprehensive service - servicing computers, home networks and home audio / media equipment.

-Craig

There is a guy (in Halifax I think) who calls himself "The Sound Doctor" who makes a living from going around and setting up home theaters etc. A previous poster joked that with new ranks of Digiticians, VCR clocks around the world found finally not be flashing 12:00. But this Sound Doctor guy REALLY does that kind of thing. His business is getting TVs, VCRs, DVDs and home audio working right (for $60/hour or flat fees for some services I think). Another poster commented that if a digitician got a contract with Best Buy they would be set. Well, according to this Sound Doctor guy, he used to work for a big box store before branching out on his own. He gets some business from those stores, but increasingly the retailers are seeing customer service as another stream of revenue and doing it in house.

Some stores will offer to set up your new surround sound system for you .. for a small extra fee. (or included in the price if they are trying to be competative).

I'm not sure that this IS a growth business. I wonder if it isn't just a little niche market run by word of mouth. In the same way that high end audio stores will set up your equipment for you, and come back to tweak it (for a price) I can't imagine why Best Buy, Future shop et. al. wouldn't expand into this area. My dad always takes his Volvo into the dealer where he bought it for servicing. When my brother had a problem with his laptop he took it into Future Shop to see if they could do anything for him. I think a lot of people are like that and more inclined to call, and trust (even if that trust is unwarranted) the kinds of places where they bought the original equipment than a one-man operation like "Dr. Dave".

But, if I am wrong and this is a viable business, i think it would make sense to offer a comprehensive service - servicing computers, home networks and home audio / media equipment.

-Craig

Then there's the national role in "Aid to the Civil Power" -- which means that if there's unrest in a region

But this is not the 1st case of hundreds of millions of dollars going "missing", Question is with this one is Martin (current Prime Minister, former Finance) Responsible or is Chretien(former PM)/Manley(was Finance Minister after Martin) or is this another Art Eggleton matter(he already was involved and convicted on abuse of government funds - losing funds)?
A good reference to the other current scandal though: Advertising Scandal

>Seems like the NDP actually did have their head screwed on straight, it's just that the media hated them.

The media hated them because they were a cash grabbing government who wasted everyone's money.

The Liberals intend to follow in the NDP's footsteps.

"Ontario could re-deploy photo radar on its highways to raise badly needed funds, Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested on Wednesday"

"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."

Fact: The original legislated speed of the 401 was 115 km/h prior to a gas conservation act passing in the 70s and lowering the speed of the highway to 100 km/h. It is absolutely safe at that speed. This means that the designers of the highway designed it to accomodate speeds of over 140 km/h, if they have any sense at all (they do).

Photo radar has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with squeezing pocket books.

Oh, second fact: Photo radar during the Rae-era caused 401 speed to decrease, on average, from 99 km/h to 97 km/h, IIRC.

Third fact: Photo Radar has absolutely NOTHING to to do with safety whatsoever, admits Premier Dalton.

Last fact: Photo Radar, when re-implimented, will have so little to do with public safety, it is likely it will be the same as running a red light with a camera attached. Which means it will be listed as a minor moving violation no matter how serious the infraction (even, say, 100 km/h over the limit) without the possibility of losing ones license or even gaining demerit points. Safety is the last thing from the minds of anyone implementing photo radar.

>The best way to implement photo radar would be to have it as a supplement to catch the most grievous violators.

Why? Even at the more conservative value it did as good a job as the "Buckle Up For Safety" signs. ie: Nothing of value.

>Rae days happened so all public-sector employees could keep their jobs. Massive layoffs followed the removal of these unpaid days off.

Also, Rae days caused public unrest and massive Ontario-wide wildcat sympathy strikes. Why the hell should someone keep their job if they aren't needed? Get rid of them the way everyone else does: Lay them off. It was a bad idea all around. It meant the government couldn't do house cleaning of lazy bastards, and they would provide less service at the same cost to consumers. If I did that sort of stuff I'd be out of business faster than you can imagine.

BTW: I'm not joking about the price increases. As our store uses electricity for heating and cooling, and as we have to use the 407 (where rates will also be increasing) and because we are using the 401 to transport goods (which will be cash-cowed to death) prices in my shop will raise by a minimum of 15% over the next 12 months to meet break-even rates.

Check out the CBC story about this scandal. HP claims that the Canadian government is actually a victim of fraud from someone in the DND. Given the other scandals in this government, I wouldn't be all that shocked.

OK, maybe not. But we have the largest coastline in the world, and we have alliances with other nations that lead to obligations overseas.

Then there's the national role in "Aid to the Civil Power" -- which means that if there's unrest in a region, like the Oka crisis or the October crisis, they want to be able to roll in and maintain that appearance of canadian civility. Actually there's a lot more tension in this big happy nation than outsiders realize, especially since the conquest of the First Nations isn't complete. In other words, the military unfortunately seems to be primarily there to keep us in line.

That said, chances are that the bored military administrators screwed up and HP took huge advantage of it.

OK, maybe not. But we have the largest coastline in the world, and we have alliances with other nations that lead to obligations overseas.

Then there's the national role in "Aid to the Civil Power" -- which means that if there's unrest in a region, like the Oka crisis or the October crisis, they want to be able to roll in and maintain that appearance of canadian civility. Actually there's a lot more tension in this big happy nation than outsiders realize, especially since the conquest of the First Nations isn't complete. In other words, the military unfortunately seems to be primarily there to keep us in line.

That said, chances are that the bored military administrators screwed up and HP took huge advantage of it.

Here's the The CBC article about this story, and here's the

Radio-Canada story (in French, of course).

By the way, I'm quite impressed with Radio-Canada's record at scooping its English equivalent. This story was available on src.ca a good few hours before it was on CBC. A good excuse to practise my French.

these are the same retards that sue airlines and/or restaurants and make them put disclaimers about peanuts on the drive through windows or the back of your airplane ticket stub. give me a friggin break..this is getting stupid. we are going to be like canada is it keeps going this way.

That radio was distributed in war zones and refugee camps.

Yes, but they don't mention the special make that was distributed: from CBC News

Hand-cranked transistor radios that don't need batteries to operate are a part of the humanitarian aid campaign, American officials say. It has been reported, however, that the radios are fixed-frequency models that automatically tune into broadcasts issued by the U.S. military

Still, it says 'reported'. Confirmation anyone?

The fact that you child was born with down syndrome has just about as much to do with the doctor that delivered him\her as the sex of that child does.

If your child has Cerebral Palsy, that could be the fault of the medical team who attended the delivery.

As many as 98,000 or more Americans die evry year because of preventable medical errors. We all know the horror stories about doctors amputating the wrong leg. Or doctors leaving forceps and other medical instruments INSIDE OF PEOPLE!

The total crap part is that you can sue ANYTIME after birth and claim that the doctor that delivered you caused any problems that you have now.

A child can not sue. In most states the law says that you can sue for a "reasonable time" after you reach the age of majority, most states also interpret this to mean that you can sue until the age of 21 for malpractice done to you as a child. If a doctor fucks up your delivery and you're parents aren't smart enough to take legal action, you shouldn't have to suffer for the rest of your life without compensation.

My Great Grandmother had surgery on her intestines, and the doctors left her abdomen packed with gauze. They had to operate again because she got a peritoneal infection. This was a women in her 70s who had to go under the knife again because of a preventable medical error. She chose not to sue. I would have. There is no excuse for that level of incompetence.

Its really sad when doctors are sued so often and so frequently that they have been driven to do this type of blacklisting.

The real shame is that doctors protect their own to the extent of keeping people in the practice of medicine who shouldn't even be trusted to change the oil on a car.

Insurance costs and lawsuits have gotten totaly out of hand in this country. it has driven medical costs through the roof and something has to give.

Inept doctors are the cause. Not the lawyers.

LK

#!/usr/local/bin/python
import os
import time
import sys
SOX='/usr/local/bin/sox'
LAME='/usr/local/bi n/lame'
if len(sys.argv) != 3 :
print "my wrapper for recording from the sound card. - Norman"
print "records to a series of files in 5 min chunks"
print "Usage: record filename duration"
print " duration is in minutes"
sys.exit()
pathname = '/usr/pub/radio/' + sys.argv[1] + time.strftime('-%Y-%m-%d') + '/'
os.mkdir(pathname)
batchfile=open( pathname + 'cp.bat', 'w' )

filetime = 5
n = int( sys.argv[2] ) / filetime

for i in range( n) :

filename = sys.argv[1] + time.strftime('-%Y-%m-%d') + '-part-' + str(i) + '.mp3'
batchfile.write( 'copy ' + filename + ' f: \r\n' )
command = SOX + ' -t ossdsp -w -s -r 22050 /dev/dsp -t .wav - trim 0 ' + str( filetime ) + ':0 ' + \
' | ' + LAME + ' -b 48 --lowpass 5 - ' + pathname + filename

print filename + ' complete'
os.system( command )

batchfile.close()
print "Done. file placed in " + pathname

# mon- friday
30 8 * * 1-5 $HOME/bin/record2 the_current 90
30 18 * * 1-5 $HOME/bin/record2 as_it_happens 90
5 21 * * 1-5 $HOME/bin/record2 ideas 60

# saturday
0 9 * * 6 $HOME/bin/record2 the_house 60
6 12 * * 6 $HOME/bin/record2 quirks_and_quarks 60

# sunday
10 9 * * 0 $HOME/bin/record2 sunday_edition 180

Many of these posts are clearly extrapolating way beyond the original poster's intent. He's enthused about the possibility of listening to the radio shows that interest him when he desires to do so. He's not looking to have a T1 line jacked into the back of his head.

I for one sympathize and think way too much to do is being made about the putative benefits of "do-nothing" time. I used to listen to music during my 30 minute walk to work. Then I discovered NPR's the Connection radio archive. Along with the CBC's Ideas and much of the BBC. Now my morning and evening walks are a bit more edifying. Pop the real media or mp3 files onto my PDA and go (or if you hate real media, convert them to mp3). Same goes for the original poster. Why listen to morning radio pablum, aweful music and advertising when you can pop in a decent NPR show?

This doesn't mark the end of introspection nor the demise of the patient appreciation of art. It's simply replacing a more convinient, but often less desired media, with one from a different timeslot. So the poster listens to novels instead of music while doing excercise or having breakfast. I hardly think this is sign of an impending heart attack to say nothing of the demise of human civilization.

But both these politicians were fired because they did not know where the line is for what heads of governments can say in public, even if it is just a joke or clumsy choice of words made at a small event. If this administration has some decency they should fire that Education Secretary who thinks it is OK to compare the people he works for to al-quada and other murders.

Mmm... sponsorships, anyone? Only if you back the right party!

Check out this real life story Cannibalism and Your Teen

Try this:
CBC

But the parent post did mention beer. That does kill brain cells. You do it every time you get drunk. That's what drunk is; the poisioning of your brain by alcohol. And death on alcohol? Go and ask an ER doctor. Lots, never published in the news.

Of course, when the majority of anti-drug messages are funded by the booze industry you have to laugh. I quite like the one on DrugFreeAmerica.org, telling how Ecstacy almost killed a girl, until you actually read the article and find that it was GHB. Actually, all the articles on that site are just as bad, and they seem to have been written by the same person, very similar style etc. ALL LIES I TELL YOU!! ;-)

I am assuming you are referring to the recent impass between the EU and the US. The NA in NAFTA stands for North American. Last I checked neither Canada nor Mexico were members of the EU.

Or he could be reffering to the massive tarrifs the Bush administration has been levying on Canadian softwood lumber for the past couple of years.

CBC Story

BC Government

Euros aren't the only ones who feel the sting of American protectionism

-Pinkoir

Oh, yeah. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were dealt with via an exchange program... WITH HELL!!

Seriously, your memory chews balls if you can't think of the US ever executing spies. They are, more often than not, imprisoned for extensive terms, not sent home in exchange for other spies.

--grendel drago

>Insurance rates aren't set by law, they are set by private companies using actuaries to maximize their profits.

I'm not disagreeing, it's simply that Ontario is well known to have insanely screwed up insurance rates (this comes from Ontario being a "no-fault" insurance province).

Also ontario has a "No Dispute Clause" written into the auto insurance act. That simply means that if someone gets ahold of your insurance info, wether legally or illegally, they can enter claims against you, even for places you weren't at, or couldn't be at, and there's absolutely no way you can tell your side to the other insurance company. Your only recourse is to sue the offending party for libel. To really bring you to your knees, there's no law requiring their insurance company to send a copy of the claim against you to you, meaning you can be "submarine bombed" with an insurance claim after the 8 months within which you should sue the other party. (This is what happened with claim #1, we gave up, cost of a lawyer to fix it is just not worth the cost involved).

It's quite insane, really. And it's no wonder insurers are losing money with a swiss cheese act like that.

>Fair as in who to penalize, not fair as in being nice.

I didn't say I never expected my insurance rates not to go up. However, "fair" isn't $7,500 a year for five years (they did lower it to $4,000 when the competitors stated they'd do it for $3,500. Then they lied and said I had a police record as an exucse for the inexscusable $7,500 rate -- they retracted that quickly when I had the entire police collision reporting station bewlidered and asking the insurance company what the hell the record number supposedly was -- according to the police, I basically don't even exist, I'm not on a single record book there). Especially when the damages total under $350.

Of course, again, this is due to Ontario having such screwed up insurance. I will place some blame on companies that lie, though (AVIVA, suck it, I have your Manager *taped* explaining her lie on the telephone message recorder -- have a fun time suing me ;-P ).

(BTW: Even a single no-cost accident will cost that much. I checked on kanetix, it's crazy here. No, I'm over 25, and I drive a shitbox.)

Rant over. :-)

I bring it up only because it adds to the erosion of the previously unassailable spot that diamonds have held at the top of the gem marketability pyramid- if you can't even tell that it's a diamond and you're a dealer synthetic diamonds are just one more piece of the changing industry.

me, i think every female science geek in the country, myself included, would get a big thrill out of a lab-grown diamond. It's a rock that wasn't mined or found, but created just for you using modern technology. I know if i buy one for myself- as i never would one of the conflict variety- i'd go for lab-grown and show it off with enthusiasm.

Well, it almost is.
ZeD

Windows source code leaked, says Microsoft

SEATTLE - Microsoft said late Thursday parts of the source code for its Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 operating systems have been illegally leaked over the internet. The source code leak could allow hackers to attack machines running some versions of Windows. A spokesperson for Microsoft told The Associated Press that the company had just learned about the leak and is investigating. Microsoft spokesperson Tom Pilla says it doesn't appear the company's corporate network has been breached. While the company has provided parts of its source code to U.S. government agencies, foreign governments and universities, it does argue its code is proprietary and is not public.

The CBC has a (superhumanly polite) profile of Conrad Black here.

On the whole, Canadian taxes are starting to look more like those in the US. I looked up US and Canadian tax rates, and was surprised to see that they are not that different anymore.

Canada:

a 17-per-cent tax rate is applied to taxable income up to $35,000;
a 23-per-cent tax rate is applied to taxable income between $35,000 and $70,000; and
a 29-per-cent tax rate is applied to taxable income above $70,000.

Source.

We pay no tax on the first $8,000. (Some of these rates are being phased in by 2005.)

For the US:

Single filers
$7,001 - $28,400 15%
$28,401 - $68,800 25%
$68,801 - $143,500 28%
$143,501- $311,950 33%
$311,951 or more 35%

Source.

Canada does not set taxes according to marital status, although there are some financial breaks for married people. Analysis
The tax rate for lower-income Canadians is 15%, compared to 17% in the US. However, the first $8,000 of income is tax-free in Canada. That provides for a lower average rate.

Middle-income Canadians pay 23%, compared to 25% in the US.

Canadians earning more than $70k pay 29%, while Americans pay 28%. However, again, the first $8,000 of earnings is tax-free, so this should work out to be about the same.

I don't know if the US uses marginal or flat tax rates. In Canada, they are marginal.

Now, if you figure in public health and education, you might actually see some financial advantage to living here. There are social advantages too. But, more importantly, Canada has a balanced budget and is paying down its deficit, while the US is posting its all-time largest deficit. This may mean that we will be in a better position to maintain or lower tax rates over the next few years.

Australia could hardly get anything on agriculture, one of its biggest export areas and one where America's trade barriers really hurt. And yet we are still planning to sign it as a good deal.

And the funniest part is that whoever signed it (and so obviously thinks it's a good deal) believes the Americans will actually honor it.

Talk to Canada to see how well that works out.

Apparently, MP3 players could end up costing anywhere from $19 to $100 more under the new rules.

Actually, the maximum for MP3 players is an extra $25 (for over 10 GBs of storage). See here: MP3 players hit with copyright levy

I was surprised as well, the reason that it stayed so fresh is that it had such lasting implications so we keep hearing about it and it stays fresh in our memory. To contrast I remember that at the same time as Columbia there was an avalanche that killed several fifteen year olds and I just saw a story about the anniversary of that tragedy as well. That one I heard nothing after about a week and had nearly forgotten about it, as a result when I saw the story today I was surprised that it was only a year ago.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not American. because Canada is soo much better. HAHAHAHA Yeah right!

Just one example of why we are sheep waiting to be fleeced.

Oh and another and and more and amazingly we even sign up for it.

Wow, I'm glad I'm not American. because Canada is soo much better. HAHAHAHA Yeah right!

Just one example of why we are sheep waiting to be fleeced.

Oh and another and and more and amazingly we even sign up for it.

http://www.cbc.ca/mondayreport/videos/ontario.html

(without so much as consulting on it with Canada)

Not that this adds legitimacy in any way to the act of deporting a man to a country other than that in which he lives, but the possible R.C.M.P. link to this chain is yet to be uncovered.

With certainly no comfort derived from their recent raid on a member of the press in connection with info that may have been leaked about Arar.

I think the link that DarkHelmet gave is a bit biased. It states several things as fact that have yet to be proven either way. If you are looking for a timeline stating just the facts, you might find this article interesting. I think it is certainly clear that he should not have been deported. The real question is if the US really did deport him for the expressed purpose of having the Syrians torture him. It could well be that he was deported without consideration of what would happen to him in his own country. I think he deserves compensation regardless of whether the US did it on purpose or not, but I think that people should be a bit more reluctant in assuming the worst.

I'm replying to this at the top so that it is seen: reporters are starting to get things right! In this article at the CBC, the reporter states:

The mass-mailing worm, which is programmed to stop working after Jan. 28, affects most computers with Windows operating systems. It does not work on machines that use the Macintosh or Linux operating systems.

Nice to see people with a clue! I guess QNX is still vulnerable though ;P

Here are some great sources for news online:

Financial Times - FT a good example of actual "news reporting" (as opposed to "news creating" exhibited by most companies). As a result of the commercial influence in all aspects of society nowadays, it makes perfect sense that some of the financial news sources may now be the most objective source of information. Check out this wonderful site and newspaper.

PR Watch - This site is run by the Center for Media & Democracy is a nonprofit, public interest organization funded by individuals and nonprofit foundations and dedicated to investigative reporting on the public relations industry. The Center serves citizens, journalists and researchers seeking to recognize and combat manipulative and misleading PR practices. There is an excellent weekly newsletter you can subscribe to from this site which summarizes news stories and special issues where media coverage was manipulated.

Disinfopedia - a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. More than 2500 articles outlining information and credentials on key individuals and entities involved with public policy and other areas. This is a great resource to look up the history of people in the news.

Link TV - The first national network offering a global perspective on news, current events and culture, presenting viewpoints seldom covered in the U.S. media. We present first-run documentaries on global issues, current affairs series, international news, classic foreign feature films, and the best of world music. Link TV's programming, combined with innovative use of two-way digital link-ups and our participatory web site, deepens audience engagement and encourages active participation. If you have DirecTV, this network is channel 375 - ask your cable provider if they do not make this network available - it's worth it!

Democratic Underground - What has turned out to be a polarized web site has become a watchdog for the mainstream media, the Democratic Underground exposes the hypocrisy and sleaziness in the media. Check this site out folks -- with references (something you do not find on conservative sites)

CorpWatch - A great site for information on the nefarious activities of multinational corporations. Want to find out who's paid off whom? Which governments are under the influence of which corporations? Little-known corporate relationships that explain unusual social or political events? This is the site to check.

Adbusters - In our society it has become increasingly difficult to separate editorial from advertising and many argue there is no longer a distinction. This site addresses the social changes in how people are educated by addressing the impact of news and the advertising media and exposes the propaganda campaigns. Very good reading, and in many cases, shockingly thought-provoking!

Common Dreams News Center - Billed as "Breaking news & views for the Progressive community",
this site endeavors to carry stories that the mainstream media may either not be reporting, or not telling all sides.

Canadian Broadcast Corporation - Canada's state-owned news service is widely regarded as one of the most objective sources of information.

Independent Media Center - A good source for news stories that the mainstream doesn't pick up. This site is particularly sensitive to the influence corporate America has over what is and is

Bioluminescent squid and their symbiotes were also covered (ogg file) on Quirks and Quarks, a CBC science show.

I'm all about glowing calamari, you see.