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Is this because of a general lack of respect for those in the military and the refusal to acknowledge that anyone allowed to fly a fighter jet is a highly trained and very disciplined individual or was it just mindless sarcasm?

How about: none of the above.

As for your so called 'highly trained and very disciplined' individuals, between 1984 and 1994 the U.S. military crashed 1,523 aircraft. Just to put that in perspective, that's enough crashes to wipe out the combined British and Canadian airforce three times over! The US may have a slightly better record these days, but you can't blame the original poster for being a bit skeptical.

P.S. I personally knew Cpl Ainsworth Dyer, one of the four soldiers killed. If Major Schmidt had been a bit more disciplined, Dyer would most likely still be alive today.

Highly trained and disciplined? Tell that to the family members of the four Canadians in this article.

David Suzuki's series The Nature Of Things had a really interesting programme on biomimicry in which Janine Benyus was one of the main people interviewed.

Parenthetically: there was a period in my life when I used to end up virtually every weekend watching daytime television while nursing the most horrible and well-deserved hang-overs. For some reason, Swedish TV chose to broadcast most of its David Suzuki shows during those hours. When hung-over, there is something oddly soothing about Suzuki's science-lite; by its sheer optimism and faith it can almost, almost make you believe that there is a light and a life at the end of the hung-over tunnel.

I don't know where to get the documentaries, but the CBC web site has a biography on him at http://www.cbc.ca/cyberman/. Including a couple of interesting videos on Steve and his wife.

I think this is much more about bored scientists.

Why bother, the blank paper's worth more! :-P

Acutally, Canadian money did fairly well last year.

Canadian Dollar Historial Timeline
Loonie up 22% for 2003

It's now up to about 78 cents to the US Dollar.

Why bother, the blank paper's worth more! :-P

Acutally, Canadian money did fairly well last year.

Canadian Dollar Historial Timeline
Loonie up 22% for 2003

It's now up to about 78 cents to the US Dollar.

Let's give more credit where credit is due.

...Of course, India will not be the only country to have BrahMos. As the missile was designed and developed and is going to be produced and marketed (yes, it will be on sale) with the Russians, the latter would also have the missile...

The missile and consequently the plane weren't exactly designed from the ground up by India alone. In fact this seems to fit very well with the everpresent notion of Russian faster-then-sound armaments such as the Shkval torpedo.

Cost of nuclear fuel assembly: $750,000

Cost of building a seismically-stable containment facility, and training up a cadre of technician-priests able to look after the whole mess for thousands of years: Priceless

You conveniently forget the external costs of dealing with the aftermath of nuclear power. Plus it's expensive to build -- it'll cost CDN $4,000,000,000 to restore the Pickering (Ontario) nuclear power station to full operation. And all due to bungling management.

Unfortunately, skipping does not mean the end of commercials, just commercials as we know them.

Subtle and not so subtle product placements will ensure that we continue to see advertising every time we watch TV, despite our best efforts.

I suggest listening to public streaming radio (in ogg format no less) as a wonderful alternative to the tripe Madison avenue continues to shove down your throat.

Unless you like tripe. Whatever floats your boat.

Bollocks. The site simply isn't satire, for one thing. Trust me, canadians practically invented modern political satire, and that ain't it.

Allow me to demonstrate:

Satire: "In a stunning press-release today, Paul Martin announced that the only way to mend US/Canada relations was to become a state. Canadian sovereingty advocates everywhere protested, saying 'stupid mongorians, stop trying to break down my shitty wall!', to which Paul Martin looked like he was going to cry."

Not satire: Martin promises government of change and renewal. Stupid Paul Martin. I hate him. Stupid douchebag. He's a true Paulmartinasshole.

The first is allowed protection, the latter is not. Gee, I wonder why?

I think it is worth mentioning that some of the most popular Canadian television production is political satire, Canadians are quite familiar with the genre.

For starters, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and Royal Canadian Air Farce. Both of these are shown on CBC TV, the CBC being the federal government sponsored media group (TV, AM/FM/SW radio) similar in design but smaller than the BBC.

I always go to the regional news sources when i'm interested in what is going on. While AP/Reuters wire copy that appears at various sites are interesting, and RSS is making syndication of articles much more common, It's always important to "go to the source" as much as possible.

I suspect this whole "unelected" thing is likely political spin created by the parody website. It sounds like he was elected at something similar to a caucus in November (gleaned from skimming this). While this may not represent the "Direct" democracy that exists in the US, that's not the system that is in use in Canada. Not everywhere is using a Presidental system similar to the US, it sounds like Afghanistan is going to end up with a Parliamentary System. Nothing wrong with the other systems as much as they are not liked by the Americans.

First of all, I wasn't talking about locking up money that you may need in the near future. I was mainly thinking about "extra" money you had. You know...stuff that you don't really need for 10+ years. You should never lock up money that you might need in the near future (either because you might lose your job, or to purchase a car, house, etc). So, assuming we are dealing with money that you don't need right away...

I still don't buy your argument. Inflation is a real phenomenon. It has happened for 100+ years. You DO have a point about deflation. BUT which has a higher probability: deflation or inflation? I would say inflation. Therefore, that should be more worrisome. You don't have to lock up stuff. How about short term investments? What's wrong with putting it in a bank? I'm not talking about mutual funds or other stuff you have no control over. I'm just speaking about holding it as cash in your, say, savings account. I don't know the exact rules but I believe you can withdraw your bank accounts at "any time" (i.e. any time other than when the bank is about to collapse ;) ).

Or how about a short term government bond? I don't know what the shortest is but looking at Canada Savings Bond, it seems that you can redeem it at any time. Inflation in Canada in November was 1.6%. If you pick the Canada Savings Bond, you will get 1.65%. So you'll get 0.05% for free. You will get almost nothing but it will be enough to cover inflation. A more realistic scenario is if you invest in the Canada Premium Bond, which pays 2.35% in the first year but can only be redeemed on a particular date each year (or within 30 days of that date). (note: all these are issued in April (I think) so the figures make more sense if you bought the bond in April). So, interestReceived-inflation=2.35%-1.6%=0.75%. So you get 0.75% in the first year. That's on top of the inflation. For a Canadian, the Canada bonds pay the least but are the safest. If you want a slightly higher return you can invest in provincial bonds (they return a little bit more because provincial debt is more riskier than federal government debt).

I just picked this as an example. I'm sure you can find a similar one in your area. The point is.... investing in a government bond is very safe. Chance of the government bankrupting is very slim in the near future. In any case, you can redeem these bonds each year. Since these are safe, the returns are horrible. But they are enough to cover inflation. In contrast, keeping cash at home will lose its value. If I put $10,000 in the Premium Bond (above) and you didn't, I would end up with $10,235 ($235 more), while you still have $10,000. I would have $75 more than inflation while you have nothing.

What I described is the inflation case (which I think is more likely). In the deflation case, you would NOT do what I said above. Instead, you would convert your assets into something tangible such as gold. If I thought the economy was going to collapse, I would convert my hypothetical $10,000 into gold--at least in theory. In practice, there are problems with this. You may not be able to find $10,000 in gold. Criminals may break into your house and steal the gold. And so forth. But that's kind of what I would do.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert in finance. Do not base any of your decisions on my advice. In other words, I am dumb and don't know what I'm talking about so I'm not liable for anything :) Besides, I'm unemployed and poor and have nothing to give to the lawsuit-happy people out there ;)

Sivaram Velauthapillai

I think we're concentrating on renewables instead. They're cheap, they work, and they don't mess with your genes.

You have to go directly to the story page, where they couple the mp3 and ogg together...check this out,

Our crappy Liberal party decided that we didn't deserve the fusion reactor and dropped Canada out of the race. It's too bad because we were thought to have a pretty good site lined up.

They talked about it in a recent Quirks and Quarks episode (available in Ogg Vorbis!) Really sad. :(

I think this cartoon will make perfect sense now

1. The Softwood lumber dispute (I found a link to an american organization but one that is against the tarrifs because is raises lumber prices), which is doing severe damage to our lumber industry.

2. Kyoto I just threw out as something that came to mind, not all Canadian provinces like it either and a lit of US states have actually implemented their own rules that are even more stringent but it was an another international agreement that the US backed out of.

3. The landmine treaty pretty much everyone but the US signed, a notable exception, I remember hearing some speculation about them going to use some in Afghanistan but couldn't find anything in a quick google. Still it's important to note that this was in Clintons era so isn't exactly Bush's fault.

4. Here's a though piece on US violations with regards to treatment of war prisoners in Afghanistan.

5. Hostility doesn't always have to be military, the US has arguably been very hostile to the entire international community with the huge distain it showed for the UN and any country that opposed it's plans to go into Iraq or even countries that didn't offer military support (with us or against us anyone?). Yes there has been some hostility shown to the US but that's inevitable with a superpower and a crutial difference is that when the US is hostile towards another nation is any capacity it causes economic hardship and can be a threat to the nations very existance(what if GW decides to go to Iran or North Korea). As to the moron comment that was just an overheard remark (an accurate one I might add;), the bastard comment likewise was just a mistake from frustration, frankly I couldn't believe the amount of fuss that was made in the US over either comment. For example look back to the campaign when Bush didn't even appear to know who our PM's name was!! The only real reaction here was some jokes.

6. As to divisions bringing them into the open can the way the US does is more akin to aggrivating them. I'm too lazy at this point to google for info on what was going on between the Korea's at the time but I recall hearing on the media several months before about how the countries were starting to get closer together then Bush decided to through North Korea in on the axis of evil and all that went to waste.

1. The Softwood lumber dispute (I found a link to an american organization but one that is against the tarrifs because is raises lumber prices), which is doing severe damage to our lumber industry.

2. Kyoto I just threw out as something that came to mind, not all Canadian provinces like it either and a lit of US states have actually implemented their own rules that are even more stringent but it was an another international agreement that the US backed out of.

3. The landmine treaty pretty much everyone but the US signed, a notable exception, I remember hearing some speculation about them going to use some in Afghanistan but couldn't find anything in a quick google. Still it's important to note that this was in Clintons era so isn't exactly Bush's fault.

4. Here's a though piece on US violations with regards to treatment of war prisoners in Afghanistan.

5. Hostility doesn't always have to be military, the US has arguably been very hostile to the entire international community with the huge distain it showed for the UN and any country that opposed it's plans to go into Iraq or even countries that didn't offer military support (with us or against us anyone?). Yes there has been some hostility shown to the US but that's inevitable with a superpower and a crutial difference is that when the US is hostile towards another nation is any capacity it causes economic hardship and can be a threat to the nations very existance(what if GW decides to go to Iran or North Korea). As to the moron comment that was just an overheard remark (an accurate one I might add;), the bastard comment likewise was just a mistake from frustration, frankly I couldn't believe the amount of fuss that was made in the US over either comment. For example look back to the campaign when Bush didn't even appear to know who our PM's name was!! The only real reaction here was some jokes.

6. As to divisions bringing them into the open can the way the US does is more akin to aggrivating them. I'm too lazy at this point to google for info on what was going on between the Korea's at the time but I recall hearing on the media several months before about how the countries were starting to get closer together then Bush decided to through North Korea in on the axis of evil and all that went to waste.

Yeah... that's right amigo, we all envy you. To wit:

What the world thinks of America was a joint report carried out by ten world news agencies in their respective countries.

Some highlights that show just how much the rest of the world envies the US:

89%
Percentage of American respondents who agreed with the statement that "America is the best country in the world in which to live." Ten per cent disagreed.

6%
Percentage of Canadian respondents who said the U.S. is a better place to live than Canada. Ninety per cent said it was not better than Canada.

4 out of 5
Proportion of overall respondents who said they would not like to live in the United States if given the chance.

2 out of 3
Proportion of Russian respondents who said America's superior military power makes the world a more dangerous place. Thirty-seven per cent of Canadian respondents agreed, while 41 per cent said the military power of the U.S. makes the world a safer place.

56%
Percentage of overall respondents who said the U.S. was wrong to invade Iraq. Thirty-seven per cent said the U.S. was right to invade. Fifty-one per cent said life for the Iraqi people will be better now that Saddam Hussein is gone, while only 20 per cent said life will be worse for them. Twenty per cent said it will make no difference and nine per cent said they don't know. Only 21 per cent believed the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq would result in an independent Iraqi regime.

Actually, it didn't

In Quebec, there was a slightly different story when Lucien Bouchard stepped down in his first year, leaving Bernard Landry, as an unelected Premier for the remainder of the term (which was what? 4 years?).

Like George W. Bush, Bernard Landry far overstepped his non-mandate to introduce vast, sweeping changes to Quebec... and hopefully, like George W. Bush, Bernard Landry was swept out of office when his term expired.

And the Conservative Party, until recently included the branches in the West (Canadian Alliance, formerly Reform), as well as in Quebec, currently known as Bloc Quebecois. In this case, there was a reunification of that party - which is more like a consolidation of the opposition party. The opposition party was a regional one - now it is more of a national one (except Quebec). Still within the bounds of legality, and under the constitution!

We'll see how the voters feel about it presently - though in all likelihood, we'll see the new (unelected) Prime Minister get his mandate.

It will be interesting to see how the new "conservatives" handle their ideological and policy differences.

The bottom line is that while you might see gerrymandering occur in Canada (like what occasionally happens in Quebec), you won't see an election fiasco like Florida 2000.

Of course, like the Quebec referendum, you might get a very cryptic question on which you can vote.

And I am delighted that Canadian politics is far less interesting than American politics! Well... occasionally the Prime Minister must act as his own Secret Service...

In a nutshell, new levies on mp3 players but no additional levies on blank audio tapes, recordable CDs and MiniDiscs, blank DVDs, removable memory cards and micro hard drives.

The reason given is: "The evidence available at this time does not clearly demonstrate that these recording media are ordinarily used by individuals for the purpose of copying music."

For once, sanity prevails.

Source: CBC website

in.

I was severely pissed last week when CBC Newsworld had a so-called "discussion" regarding music downloading and its effect on the recording industry. Their only guest was a copyright lawyer who (surprise, surprise) didn't mention the levy on blank recordable media collected in Canada, which goes as a free handout to the recording industry. What other industry get's to collect free money from the government on the chance that someone somewhere might do something illegal?? As if this isn't disgusting enough, the recording industry is pushing for a levy on internet access, which will again be given to the poor music industry. I can't believe they have the balls to demand that every internet user pay even if they have never downloaded a single illegal song.

I tried in vain to call in since the issue of the blank media levy was not addressed, and I hate the idea that uneducated people out there were watching that and possibly becoming sympathetic to the music industry.

You: "Anti-Bank-Missile???"

Quite the opposite. The White Label ABM business means that big banks make money. Here's How: Canada's biggest bank and one of the top 10 in North America, the RBC Financial group (formerly Royal Bank) co-owns one of the white-label ABM companies!

So let's say I am a Royal Bank customer. (This was true up until a short time ago.) Royal bank gets my money in their account and pays me less than a dollar in interest per year. And then I go to a white label machine, pay the $1.50 disloyalty fee which goes straight to RBC, pay the ABM fee to the white label company (which RBC co-owns) and then I don't use up the receipt-paper, evelopes, cause wear and tear, etc. on Royal's own machines. It's a good deal for RBC and a bad deal for me.

The bottom line is that my bank makes more money if I go to the white label machines! Even if I go to another bank's machines, I am paying Royal's disloyalty fee and making them extra money. (I pay no fee if I use Royal's own machines.)

And a note for Canadians: If you are tired of stupid bank fees and low interest rates on your balances, consider President's Choice Financial. I am a satisfied customer and do not work for them. Sure, it's owned by CIBC but I've never paid a cent in fees, I get free internet banking, free phone banking, free chequebooks, free Interac at CIBC machines, the 'points' rewards are worthwhile and attainable, and the interest rates are decent. (There are some minor downsides like spotty support for ATMs outside Canada, and most depoits over $200 except auto-payroll are delayed for 5 days so they can make interest on it. I can live with it.)

I agree with you, but big the question is "Does The Supreme Court agree with us?". From the CTV report:

The Federal Court agreed with the Copyright Board that ISPs were indeed carriers or transmitters of content except when ISPs engaged in caching content to speed up the performance of their systems.

The CBC report has a pointer to the actual Federal court decision that is being appealed.

If you want free health care go live in Europe, but don't whine about the 60% income tax.

Hey, bucko! That's 50% to you!!! Well... here in Canada, if you earn enough. But man, when you throw in the decriminalized pot, we're talking about a sweet deal! Just don't buy it from the government...

Found it at CBC - Avro Arrow story(real media)

As a Canadian I'd never visit the Middle East. They have a history of torturing anyone there who does not have a US citizenship.

Theres the case of William Sampson who was arrested for a terrorist bombing, was tortured until he made a public confession (which he later retracted), and finally, after several years was given a royal pardon and returned home (to Canada) this past year.

It happens. And the more people know about this sort of thing the sooner it may stop, or at least, the fewer victims there may be.

MOD PARENT UP!

CBC News

• Residential Schools
• The Taliban, Iran, and Saudi Arabia
• The Sudanese civil war
• Kashmir (both sides)
• The Raid on the Golden Temple at Amritsar
• Air India Flight 182
• Aum Shinrikyo
• "Honour Killings"
• The Inquisition
• Pedophile Priests
• the Church of Scientology, Applied Scholastics, NarcoNon, et al

So tell me now how Ethics comes from religion? Ethics does not mean blindly following your leaders. You must examine the issues for yourself. A secular ethics curriculum gives you the tools to do that. It does not require you to give up your faith.

when was the last time you actually *looked forward* to something on the radio?

CBC Radio's As It Happens weeknights at 6:30PM EST.

That's why I run an icecast station - if I want to hear it, it goes on the 'radio'.

More seriously, though, there is the odd radio program worth hearing. I try to catch Ideas on a regular basis. There's also stuff like Public Radio that'll often air interesting stuff.

There was a mini series about this explosion about two weeks ago. Take a look at the freight manifest for the ship. More than half of the cargo on that ship was explosive. To date it is the single largest non nuclear explosion. Period.

Something similar happened in Canada during WW1; December 6th, 1917 to be exact.

"The Mont Blanc, a French steamer, was 330 feet long and 40 feet wide. Her cargo of explosives was bound for the fighting in Europe by way of Bordeaux, France. And what a cargo it was...! The manifest of the Mont Blanc reads like a chemistry experiment:
2300 tons of wet and dry picric acid;
200 tons of TNT;
35 tons of benzol (stored on the open decks); and
10 tons of gun cotton."

CBC even has a $ value breakdown, roughly 3.6 million US 1917 dollars -- an amazing amount to explode in Halifax harbour.

Nice details + pictures here..also, another page detailing the timeline and some injuries.

The 100-ton test may have been the largest deliberate explosion up to that time. But here's the manifest for the ship that blew up in Halifax. Pretty impressive.

An explosion of this magnitude (over 2.5 kilotonnes of TNT) did explode in a city back in 1917. Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada was devestated by an explosion of a munitions ship on its way to Europe. The explosion killed almost 2000 people, injured over 9000 and rattled dishes about 300 km away. The explosion was so large, it was actually studied by Oppenheimer and his crew as a model of how to deliver the atomic bomb. From this, they determined that damaged is greatly enhanced when the bomb is exploded above ground. If you want to find out more, just go here.

Direct observations of sunspots go back to the early 17th century, corresponding to the invention of the telescope.

To get data on sunspots from before observations were possible, Ilya Usoskin, a geophysicist who worked with colleagues at the University of Oulu in Finland and the Max Planck Institute in Germany, examined ice core samples from Greenland and Antarctica.

7% annual means 1.x% for the quarter, which is good but not exceptional, particularly given all the one-offs - mortgage refinancings, the war money, tax cuts etc.

No, 7% annual growth of GDP is very good, it is the highest in 19 years.

The interview is available in OGG, MP3 and Real Audio.

The interview is available in OGG, MP3 and Real Audio.

The interview is available in OGG, MP3 and Real Audio.

The interview is available in OGG, MP3 and Real Audio.

The interview is available in OGG, MP3 and Real Audio.

sorry, try that link here:
http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/quirks/archives/0 2-03/jan18.html

PS - also available in mp3

What about the questions surrounding the U.S. Government's knowledge of 9/11 prior to the event itself?

What about the fact that the U.S. Government trained and armed what would become Al Queda in the first place?

What about the fact that the U.N. Weapons Inspectors couldn't find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Saddam had no involvment in 9/11, despite the general cloud of confusion that the President has spread over that particular issue. Quite a few experts maintain that Saddam was no threat to the U.S. as long as he was left alone. I won't say the world isn't better off without Saddam but it's the motivation and execution that bother me.

Does none of this inconsistency bother you in any way?