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Stephen Hawking Going To Canada

Posted by timothy on from the making-reservations-on-a-guild-heighliner dept.

thepacketmaster writes "A previous Slashdot article I posted mentioned the possibility of Stephen Hawking coming to Canada. The Toronto Star now reports that he has accepted the position. Hawking will hold the title of distinguished research chair at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics."

28 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Canada? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Never heard of it.

  2. Distinguished research chair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good, he's probably due for an upgrade.

    1. Re:Distinguished research chair? by owlnation · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wonder if they can change his voice synthesizer to pronounce "out" and "about" as "oot" and aboot," and of course add in a few random eh's for good measure.

    2. Re:Distinguished research chair? by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 5, Informative

      That is very true. You have to move away for a while to hear it. I moved to the mid-west for close to eight years and was teased about the 'aboot' until the local accent wore it away. When I moved back to Canada I realized what I was being teased about when I could hear it all around me. I also thought the 'yaw yaw' (yes yes) in the movie 'Fargo' was an over the top caricature of the accent in northern Minnesota until I visited southern Manitoba again a while ago and heard two waitresses in my hotel talking and saying "yaw yaw, I know wot chya mean." Having lived there for a while too, I'm sure I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't left. I do have to say that the thing that kind of pissed me off is when Americans found out I'm from Canada they would insist on saying, "so you're from Canada AY!" No-one could say "eh" at the end of the sentence correctly [big grin]. Come on guys, you force it too hard... it has to just roll off at the end matter of factly... you can't force it. Now, if you get to Missouri take a drive down highway Farty Far. ha!

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  3. Great news. by liquidMONKEY · · Score: 5, Funny

    At least if he ever gives lectures and they start to fall asleep, he can shoot lasers out of his eyeballs.

  4. Congratulations by Philomathie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wish him all the best, and hope he can still make more great contributions to theoretical physics. He is an example for us all.

  5. sacred cow killing! by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

    I seem to recall that he did a lot of research into black holes. Maybe he's done studying now and is leaving the country so he can get outside the event horizon to publish his findings.

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    1. Re:sacred cow killing! by VirusEqualsVeryYes · · Score: 5, Funny

      I seem to recall that he did a lot of research into black holes. Maybe he's done studying now and is leaving the country so he can get outside the event horizon to publish his findings.

      Yes, perhaps he could teach you a thing or two about them. ;)

    2. Re:sacred cow killing! by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, Hawking did suggest that anything at the event horizon would generate anti-matter of an equivalent mass... So the real Hawking could emerge, but not without sending an anti-hawking back. We can test this theory by waiting for the anti-Hawking to run for public office.

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    3. Re:sacred cow killing! by mybecq · · Score: 4, Funny

      I seem to recall that he did a lot of research into black holes. Maybe he's done studying now and is leaving the country so he can get outside the event horizon to publish his findings.

      Yes, perhaps he could teach you a thing or two about them. ;)

      I heard that he has some special technique for getting out ...

  6. Someone sent us up the brain! by HRbnjR · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's kind of ironic in that Canada has historically had a problem with what we call the "brain drain", where students graduate and leave for the US or overseas for higher paying jobs. Nice to see us on the other end of that for once!

    1. Re:Someone sent us up the brain! by ceoyoyo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's apparently a bit of a myth. There is (or was) a slight tendency for recent, young graduates to run off to the US lured by promises of the big bucks. Most of them (plus others) come back though, after they start to add up what educating their kids and keeping themselves healthy will cost. Those two factors tend to wipe out any tax advantages there might be.

    2. Re:Someone sent us up the brain! by Alomex · · Score: 4, Informative

      The tax rate is way higher in California than in Canada. Sure, when you look at percentages alone it seems to be the other way around, but for a few measly more points Canadians get free health care, decent and safe free public schools, much higher welfare and unemployment insurance benefits, lower tuition fees at the University level and public infrastructure that isn't crumbling.

      The way I see it, Californians are getting royally screwed.

    3. Re:Someone sent us up the brain! by abigor · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually, guns are very available in Canada. I believe we even have a per capita gun ownership that exceeds that of the US, though I'm not positive on that. Regardless, there's just some cultural difference that prevents us from killing each other the way you guys do, although there are gun deaths, don't get me wrong.

    4. Re:Someone sent us up the brain! by tony1343 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries_by_gun_ownership. Per 100 people, the United States has 90 guns. Canada has 31.5. All I can say to that is, "weak." France and Finland are beating you (which I wouldn't have expected). Switzerland up there doesn't surprise me though.

      Not sure why the U.S. is so ridiculously high. I guess a better statistic would be the percentage of people who own guns. I'm pretty sure a lot of people who buys guns buy a lot of them.

      Now check out fire-arm related deaths at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate. Man, the U.S. is awesome. I've never felt more proud to be an American.

    5. Re:Someone sent us up the brain! by YourExperiment · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'm not sure what this says about Taiwan, but the figures seem to suggest that almost as many people die there as a result of accidents with guns as are killed in firearm-related homicides.

      Of course, their total firearm homicide per capita rate is less than 1/20th of that in the United States, so perhaps the figures just show that no-one in Taiwan is quite sure how to use a gun.

  7. Hawking radiation by Veggiesama · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's probably moving there to study the event horizon surrounding a certain black hole, otherwise known as the US financial market.

    We poured over $700 billion into it, and I doubt even he will discover Hawking radiation leaking out. Maybe a few nickels, but that's it.

    1. Re:Hawking radiation by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Funny

      We poured over $700 billion into it, and I doubt even he will discover Hawking radiation leaking out. Maybe a few nickels, but that's it.

      That's because the black hole is surrounded by a large cloud of Administratium, which absorbs any spare change that might escape.

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  8. Re:He is both coming to Canada and not simultaneou by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think I see a flaw in your logic... See, crossing the US/Canada border *is* the event horizon. At that point hawking will split into a finite number of hawkings will cross the event horizon, while an equal number of anti-hawkings will stay inside. I'm guessing they'll head to Ohio as soon as they figure out their better halves are sitting down for tea.

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  9. A new chair by clarkkent09 · · Score: 5, Funny

    distinguished research chair at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

    I don't know, a research chair sounds a bit dangerous, however distinguished it may be. I think he better stick with his current chair until this new one is at least in beta testing...

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    1. Re:A new chair by g2devi · · Score: 4, Funny

      More dangerous than you think.

      Microsoft has traditionally hired heavily from Waterloo, (e.g. http://blogs.pulver.com/jarnold/archives/2005/11/google_gets_ano.html ).

      What do you think when Steve "the chair tosser" Ballmer meets up with Stephen Hawking in his new position as Research Chair?

  10. Re:Too bad.. by Wandering+Wombat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Our plan is to give him free health care and poutine, and see which one wins.

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  11. Re:Meh by stephenhawking · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would never move to America anyway, too many creationists.

  12. He's still not moving to Canada by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to the article - it's a 'visiting Chair', and he will make regular visits to Waterloo, ON.

    In other words, he's getting a big paycheque for attaching his name to the institute and will make the minimal number of personal appearances to make it look legit.

  13. Re:Serious question by Shados · · Score: 4, Informative

    He's actually starting to have trouble communicating, as the movements he used for it back then (blinking I think?) are starting to become harder. He's still productive, but not as much as he used to, and probably not for very long.

  14. Re:Serious question by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Never underestimate the disabled. While his body fails, his brain is in tip top shape. He is brave for continuing on with a disease that tears his body apart.

    He still has a good 10 to 20 years.

    I myself am disabled, and people underestimate me as well. I have physical and mental illnesses that are tearing apart my body and mind, but I continue on myself. I understand a bit of what Hawking is going through. But not all of it. I am not as advanced in my disease as Hawking is in his. I use computers to communicate with the world, because I lack proper social skills and communication skills and cannot speak them verbally, but I am better using a computer to communicate for me.

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  15. A few quotes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "In conclusion, I understand nothing about the anomaly, even after cashing the huge check I got for writing a book about it."
    - Stephen Hawking, Futurama

    "We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special."
    - Stephen Hawking

    More funny and insightful quotes here:
    http://www.quoteaddict.com/

  16. Rifles != Pistols by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is a HUGE difference between a hunting rifle and an automatic pistol. Try to conceal one.

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