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The Amish have an incidence of autism that is less than 1/10th of the general population of the US.

60-Minutes did a story recently on their developing genetic problems. Among the numbers mentioned in the link, of a hundred or so cases known worldwide of Cohen's syndrome, over a dozen are found in in the Ohio community.

Copyright Durations
...the copyright term began on the date of publication or registration, and originally lasted 28 years...
http://www.bromsun.com/practice/copyrights/copyrig ht_durations.html

bulk.resource.org
Data rescued by media.org.
http://bulk.resource.org/copyright/

Copyright Clearance Center
http://www.copyright.com/

Copyright in Cyberspace
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/0963702513p1 33.html

Copyright Management Center
http://copyright.iupui.edu/

Copyright Website
http://www.benedict.com/

FAIRCOPY
http://www.faircopy.com/

Janis Ian
The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View
http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.h tml
FALLOUT - a follow up to The Internet Debacle
http://www.janisian.com/article-fallout.html

Musicians Against Copyrighting Of Samples
http://www.icomm.ca/macos/

Stanford University Libraries
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

U.S. Copyright Office - Fair Use
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

What is Copyright Protection
http://www.whatiscopyright.org/

Jeri Ellsworth will be demonstrating the 64DTV and talking about its development at the World of Commodore in Toronto on December 3rd.

While I'm thinking of these things, if anyone wants to meet Jeri Ellsworth in person, try the C64DTV, have a chance to win one in a raffle and enjoy a blast from the past, come to the World of Commdore. Yes, the most important event on any Commodore geek's social calender is back after an unfortunate hiatus. December 4, 2004 in Toronto.

Much more of these (and a lot of other info) at the American's Guide to Canada.

As an American* working in Canada, I'll tell you that in my experience yes, it is more open and relaxed than in the US. That is until your company becomes noticed as an aquisition target because it's so successful and a US company sucks it up to help keep them alive. Having been through the experience, the contrast in company cultures was tremendous and the resulting atmosphere in the company continues to be depressing and as filled with corporate politics and frustrations as one could imagine.

My advice: if you find a good job in Canada with the atmosphere you seek, enjoy it while it lasts. I did. And since then I've moved on to a smaller Canadian company where I enjoy the relaxed culture still, sadly I just don't get paid as well for it.

As an aside, for an excellent resource on Canadian culture in general compared to the US, see Emily Way's An American's Guide to Canada. There is much useful info there.

*Disclaimer: For those who are anal about such things, yes, I generally refer to myself as an American, prefectly aware that there are many other countries upon the American continent. But having lived in three other countries apart from the US, I have found that by refering to yourself as a US citizen, estadounidense, or whatever else often tends to confuse people. Really, it does. Once they realize what you're saying, they invariably reply "oh, you're American". So after years of trying to buck the trend, I've given in to the pressure from residents of other countries, including Canada and Mexico, the two countries with the most right to be offended by such a moniker, and call myself an American.

Ever heard of the SX-64? I have one. It wasn't portable in the take-it-with-you-everywhere sense but it was mobile. I mostly took mine to friend's homes and to the occasional user group meeting. I do have a more portable Commodore 64, in a sense, in that I run Frodo for Palm on my handheld. As for why? Nostalgic gaming mostly.

I heard this explained really well one year at Toronto Trek.

If you can strip out all of the characters and plot from a story and it's still interesting, it's probably sci-fi.

You read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to hear Captain Nemo explain how they fuel the submarine, how they feed the crew, etc. But you don't watch Star Wars to learn about ion engines, blasters or light sabres work.

Something tells me that the Musicians Against the Copyrighting of Samples are going to get into a lot of trouble with apple (Take a look at their logo...)

Funny, though. The name of an anti-copywright group violates copywright laws! Beautiful.

Do a bit of homework, get in your car, and drive on up!

Just make sure you have a place to live, though...

Although it's not an OSS/FS coding project, iComm has always run on GNU software, operates on a strictly volunteer basis, accepts charitable donations -- and most important, exists only to give nonprofit groups free webspace, email addresses and majordomo mailing lists.

Their charitable receipts are only good in Canada (pity, eh?) but they help lots of US-based NPOs, including Amnesty USA.

-Patrick

disclaimer: iComm founder, but no longer involved

Here's a great link for anyone intersted learning a little about Canada and not applying the standard stereo types to Canadians. Even though I agree it is humorous. Education is good. http://www.icomm.ca/emily/

1) We over-throw democratically elected governments

2) We sponsor right-wing death squads in Latin America

3) We don't honor our international commitments

4) We support brutal dictatoships. (That's right -- guess who helped finance the Iraqi war against Iran, before Saddam Hussein conveniently turned into our enemy?)

The list could go on and on, of course, but I should wrap it up before my electricity goes out (damn brown-outs!)

There is a small movement among a few electronic musicians that has some parallels to the Open Source movement:

Musicians Against the Copyrighting Of Samples.