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Canadian Court Reverses Net Publication Ruling
An anonymous reader writes "A Canadian appellate court has reversed
an earlier ruling that had media companies worldwide fearing an
Internet publication chill. A lower court had asserted
jurisdiction over the Washington Post based solely on an article
published years earlier that was available on the Post's website. That decision attracted the attention of companies such as Reuters and Yahoo!, who appealed what was viewed as a dangerous Internet jurisdiction case."
That's right, put him in the White House!
Every spring, when our igloos melt, we gather to decide who should be banished. Those too old, and the infirm, and anyone with extreme radical opinions, is put on one of the melting ice floes and cast adrift.
Its far more humaine than jail, or letting them die of their illnesses, since we don't have much in the way of medical care. Our socialized medicine consists of the local shaman or priest (we're okay with either) offering prayers and sacrifices.
This is one reason why Canadians are so much against global warming. Its getting harder and harder to live the traditional life. I have to leave the AC on all the time during the spring months, or my igloo will melt prematurely.
this will also threaten our ability to render legal judgements. You see, we really believe that justice should be blind, so we put a pine cone and an acorn in a bag, and the defendant has to pick one while blindfolded. If he draws the acorn (a nut) we say that the Great Manitou has spoken, and that he or she must have been nuts at the time. If they get the pine cone, again the Great Manitou has spoken, and we say he is guilty.
Either way, he is not fit to stay with the rest of us, so off to the ice floes he goes. However, in a final act of mercy, we club the insane ones to death, just like baby seals, though we rarely sell their pelts, even though tourists have offered lots of money - up to $5 - per human pelt. We do accept beer in trade though. Good Canadian beer, eh! A couple of two-fours will go a long way, buddy :-)
Of course Quebec has a different system, just to be different. Most quebecers spend the winter months in Florida (where the locals call them "los tabernacos", because they're always complaining about how the local Americans and Cubans refuse to speak french to them).
The system of justice is also different, based on the French Code Civile rather than English Common Law. What this means in practice is that the judges, rather than wearing white powdered wigs, wear a tricorner cap and must make their pronouncements of guilt (as you know, there are no other judgments allowed under French law) with their hand concealed in their vest.
Medecine is also different in Quebec. Pea soup is the miracle cure for everything. If that doesn't work, the evil demons that are causing illness can be cast out with a large plate of "poutine" - cheese curds over french fries, drenched in hot chicken sauce. A side order of mayonaise for dipping the fries is used in extreme cases.
When that doesn't work, or in the case of demon possession, Quebecers used to drive the demons out by forcing them to listen to Celine Dion. That was banned as likely to provoke an international outcry, so they've switched to Tom Cruise or George Bush and, in extreme cases, Jean Chretien.
After which they are put on an ice floe and drift out to sea ... after all, "plus ca change, plus ca reste la meme", which is french (sort of) for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Tourism is our big industry up here, but a word of warning - don't bring too much money, or you're likely to end up drifting away on an ice floe.