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Actually you only call 911 when "someones life is in danger, immediate action is required or there is a crime in progress". Nothing that the people in blue shirts did was anything of that of any sort. Nor did anybody ask them to leave and even when staff started asking people to leave they did in accordance with the law. It was an overreaction (and waste of taxpayers dollars) on part of the manager. Pure and simple. It takes a little brain power and good public skillzzzz and this event would have been a non-event. You wouldn't even be reading about it. How do I know this? I was a rent-a-cop for 3 years and dealth with nuisance skateboarders on a regular basis at the place I was assigned. They weren't doing anything. They weren't hurting anyone or anything. Who friggin cares?

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http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/police/911/home.ht m

When To Call 9-1-1 and Non-Emergency (604) 717-3321

9-1-1 is to be used only for emergencies... POLICE, FIRE, MEDICAL.... where an immediate response isrequired. When there is an emergency and lives are in danger, immediate action is required or there is a crime in progress.

When there is a good chance of arresting a crime suspect or of preventing the development of a serious crime situation by reporting suspicious persons, vehicles or circumstances, when there are threats of violence, actions or disturbance that if not controlled quickly could result in an emergency situation.

Currently all 911 calls within the Greater Vancouver Regional District go directly to ECOMM's central call taking centre.

When To Call The Non- Emergency Number (604) 717-3321

(604) 717-3321 is to be used for all non-emergency situations, where an immediate response or dispatch of the police is not required. When some time has elapsed since the incident occurred, crime suspect is not on the scene or calls are of nuisance nature.

The use of (604) 717-3321 for all non-emergency reporting helps to keep the 9-1-1 lines available for people reporting an emergency situation. Most calls to 9-1-1 are not of an emergency nature and an immediate response is not required. If you are unsure how serious an incident is call 9-1-1. Requests for assistance are dispatched on a priority basis, with serious calls dispatched first.

There does not seem to be a clear comprehensive policy, but the general tone is the same:

Don't hesitate to call 911. The 911 system was created to make it easy to request police, fire or medical response.
http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/cityhall/dept/poli ce/emerman/911.htm

If the public safety situation seems urgent and has the potential of escalating by not making the telephone call, call 9-1-1. The 9-1-1 professional will determine whether the call should be processed via 9-1-1, or whether the caller should be referred to another number or agency as appropriate.
http://www.sfgov.org/site/ecd_index.asp?id=14063

Any activity that seems unusual for your neighbourhood during the day or the night.
http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/police/blockwatch/ whentocall.htm

From those, and many more - it seems like anytime the presence of an officer is required in a timely fashion, calling 911 would be appropriate. Tresspass, especially criminal trespass and not just civil tresspass (which maybe the only kind of tresspass in some states) probably qualifies as needing an officer to respond.

GIS for Honeywagon
That's what we always called 'em when I was growing up on the farm.

And Vancouver has been on the first place (together with Zurich, where I live) in the William Mercers quality-of-life survey 2001.

Up here in Soviet Canuckistan, my own library, The Vancouver Public Library , already offers many enhanced services online to patrons. This includes the complete archives back to 1844 for Canada's paper of record, the Globe and Mail.

In origami you cannot use glue and scissors. If you are looking for origamis try Joseph Wu's Origami Page or Origami.com, in those sites you can have a peak in the wonderful world of folding. But those are really nice Paper Craft Models.

Actually, my local library here in Canada has a lovely little cafe in it, has computers, and has a vast collection of original CDs that you can borrow for the small annual fee required for a library card.

Where are you from? You shouldn't have to pay for a library card -- you're already paying an annual fee via your tax dollars. For example: http://www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/branches/LibrarySqu are/circ/home.html

My nontechnical hobbies tend to be things that have a certain geeky following themselves.

I juggle every week or so with the local club.

I do a lot of origami. There can be a lot of math here, if you want to look for it, but it's not necessary to think about the math to enjoy it. There are also different kinds of origami ranging from unit/modular to traditional models to more modern animals, plants, and other objects. There are lots of good books on the subject published by Dover and Japan Publications.

I play a lot of board games with a local group. Not many of the standard American board games; we usually play German board games like The Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Ricochet Robot. I also enjoy the game of Go. I think Go is interesting because computers have yet to match good human players.

About 10 years ago, a friend of mine named Joseph Wu tried to do his MSc in computing science on computer origami. After a couple of years of trying, his thesis adviser pointed out that some of the mathematical/algorithmic problems he had uncovered were beyond what would be appropriate to a PhD. He's now a professional origami artist.

To give you an idea as to his ability, He used to fold $2 bills into mules and leave them as tips for waitresses. Now that the smallest Canadian bill is $5, I'm not sure if he's still doing it. According to an online article, one of his dreams is to produce origami smoke.

It has nothing to do with poverty or economy. It's all about violence and invasions. I'm sure that this one is a stronger reason that just envying others richness.

Probably not all the interventions were wrong, but I'm sure that this created a lot of enemies for America.

I can say that my impression of the dot com boom was that it was of dubious legality. Having worked for a start-up web development/marketing/we-can-do-anything-and-every thing firm, I saw blatant manipulation of stock prices via public stock trading message boards and outright lies regarding profits by the CEO (he said there were some when in fact the company was bleeding red ink.)

The company I worked for had some strange affiliations, from the seemingly normal to the questionable to the downright shady (a Las Vegas land development company whose name I thankfully forget :) ).

I saw quite a bit there...the VP dumping his options just days before the stock crashed, unqualified people getting paid a lot of money to do nothing (myself included), and of course massive document shredding in the accounting office.

Of course, my views on this might be slightly skewed, this all occuring in the stock market scam capital of the Western world...

AC for obvious reasons.

Ahh, the many hours of meetings that I've spent folding paper. I did, however, tend to get in trouble for folding paper during middle and high school.

For some serious challenges, try memorizing more complicated models like Kawasaki's rose. (diagram) (makes a nice tip, too. the rose in Origami for the Connoisseur is easier to learn...) Or learn to make modular origami stuff (origami that uses multiple units that are [generally] all the same). (instructions)

A great place to start is Joseph Wu's Origami Page.

The myth that a thousand paper cranes will bring good luck and health is much older than Sadako's story, although she did try to fold 1,000 while she was sick with leukemia. She finished 644 before she died, and her classmates completed the rest. There are two books about her story: Sadoko and the Thousand Paper Cranes and Child of the Paper Crane .

It's also not true that "classical" origami is extremely restrictive. Most of the rules mentioned were added by outsiders. There are many very old designs (such as connected cranes) that require cutting. It is an interesting challenge to follow those kinds of restrictive rules, but they are not really requirments with a long history.

The Origami FYI covers these and many other interesting points.

Ahh, the many hours of meetings that I've spent folding paper. I did, however, tend to get in trouble for folding paper during middle and high school.

For some serious challenges, try memorizing more complicated models like Kawasaki's rose. (diagram) (makes a nice tip, too. the rose in Origami for the Connoisseur is easier to learn...) Or learn to make modular origami stuff (origami that uses multiple units that are [generally] all the same). (instructions)

A great place to start is Joseph Wu's Origami Page.

The myth that a thousand paper cranes will bring good luck and health is much older than Sadako's story, although she did try to fold 1,000 while she was sick with leukemia. She finished 644 before she died, and her classmates completed the rest. There are two books about her story: Sadoko and the Thousand Paper Cranes and Child of the Paper Crane .

It's also not true that "classical" origami is extremely restrictive. Most of the rules mentioned were added by outsiders. There are many very old designs (such as connected cranes) that require cutting. It is an interesting challenge to follow those kinds of restrictive rules, but they are not really requirments with a long history.

The Origami FYI covers these and many other interesting points.

Look here.

...appears here:

http://www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/branches/LibrarySqu are/art/testpattern.jpg
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...appears here:

http://www.vpl.vancouver.bc.ca/branches/LibrarySqu are/art/testpattern.jpg
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Hot tap water is usually not hot enough to sterilize a container intended for beverages. You really outta boil water in and around the container for at least 5 minutes. The following link has some additional information and you should be able to pick up some pamphlets from your local FEMA or FDA office.
http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/fire/emerg_prep/oh no/emergh2o.html

A group of graphics researchers in Vancouver, Canada have posted a comprehensive analysis of various antialiasing techniques both in hardware and software, including regular supersampling, stochastic supersampling, and filtering. They give a lot of theoretical justification from a signal processing perspective of all of them.

This link to Novus Telecom can be used as evidence.

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Well, coming from UBC, you should know that you can do the same thing in beautiful Vancouver, Canada at UBC. If you have had previous background in math/stats, you can pick up the undergrad pre-reqs in a measly 6 courses...one term if you have your mind set on it, 2 if you're not so crazy. Although the undergrad program suffers from an enrollment glut without the corresponding increase in funding, the graduate program is much better, AFAIK.

Alright, so those're pretty cool. But, from someone who's been folding for most of his existance, Joseph Wu's Origami Page still is among the greatest, and has what might be the greatest X-Wing Model (2 notes: 1, it's a .pdf file, 2, it's the "Chi-Wing Fighter" to avoid copyright infringement, no relation to the starship we know). There's no limit to what one can do with a square of paper (and people are pushing that limit (yet another note, warning, adult content) all the time...

Alright, so those're pretty cool. But, from someone who's been folding for most of his existance, Joseph Wu's Origami Page still is among the greatest, and has what might be the greatest X-Wing Model (2 notes: 1, it's a .pdf file, 2, it's the "Chi-Wing Fighter" to avoid copyright infringement, no relation to the starship we know). There's no limit to what one can do with a square of paper (and people are pushing that limit (yet another note, warning, adult content) all the time...