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Stolen Maple Syrup Found and Returned To Strategic Reserve

First time accepted submitter bmxeroh writes "Remember the tragic maple syrup heist? Police have seized more than 600 barrels of maple syrup they say are related to the missing syrup. It was transported back to Quebec via a 16 tractor trailer, heavily guarded (and presumably heavily armed) convoy Wednesday."

63 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds like by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone came to a sticky end :)

    --

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    1. Re:Sounds like by maroberts · · Score: 5, Funny

      The cops are no doubt celebrating the sweet smell of success - with pancakes for breakfast....

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    2. Re:Sounds like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ahhh, sweet victory.

    3. Re:Sounds like by elfprince13 · · Score: 2

      "I am all that is man"

    4. Re:Sounds like by Dogtanian · · Score: 3, Funny

      Surely he should have been shot *13* times for a real "Baker's Dozen"? :-O

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    5. Re:Sounds like by Scr4tchFury · · Score: 2

      Sounds like a happy ending ;)

  2. A Lead on the Culprit by Scarletdown · · Score: 5, Funny

    So far, the only significant bit of evidence found at the scene where these barrels were retrieved was the cryptic phrase B. Worth, written in syrup on the floor.

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    1. Re:A Lead on the Culprit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Mrs. Butterworth's syrup contains no maple syrup.

    2. Re:A Lead on the Culprit by Scarletdown · · Score: 3, Funny

      So someone is trying to frame her? I heard there is a Log Cabin near the scene that may warrant investigating.

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      This space unintentionally left blank.
    3. Re:A Lead on the Culprit by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Funny

      Let's not take too much stock in it. It's possible her Aunt Jemima is trying to frame her.

    4. Re:A Lead on the Culprit by Dunbal · · Score: 2

      We call that "telephone pole syrup".

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    5. Re:A Lead on the Culprit by shentino · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Are they sure that the syrup they're returning hasn't been contaminated?

      Stealing something and then making it easy to recover seems to be a perfect trojan horse.

    6. Re:A Lead on the Culprit by snemarch · · Score: 2

      As long as they don't run mass spectrography tests for LSD!

      --
      Coffee-driven development.
  3. THANK GOD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Thank God! This could have turned into a real sticky situation!

  4. Did they test it for poison? by tlambert · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Did they test it for poison, or did they just put it back in the reserve without testing? There was no chain of custody during the time it was missing, after all.

  5. Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bacon Shortage. Stolen Maple Syrup. Clearly there is an international threat to our wholesome breakfast way of life. But where to the Presidential Candidates stand on this issue? Clearly the moderator dropped the ball by not bringing up this vital issue of world peace and security during the debate.

    --
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    1. Re:Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by Sulphur · · Score: 2

      Bacon Shortage. Stolen Maple Syrup. Clearly there is an international threat to our wholesome breakfast way of life. But where to the Presidential Candidates stand on this issue? Clearly the moderator dropped the ball by not bringing up this vital issue of world peace and security during the debate.

      Strawberry or the old stalwart bacon and lingonberry haven't been used to jam radar for decades. Nothing beats maple syrup.

    2. Re:Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by MysteriousPreacher · · Score: 5, Funny

      Bacon Shortage. Stolen Maple Syrup. Clearly there is an international threat to our wholesome breakfast way of life. But where to the Presidential Candidates stand on this issue? Clearly the moderator dropped the ball by not bringing up this vital issue of world peace and security during the debate.

      It is a serious issue that threatens to rend the social fabric of society. Women make breakfast for men. That's as traditional as church on Sunday, Real Marriage, and meth-fuelled sex with male prostitutes - all cornerstones of the Republican Party, and what made America great.

      What do women do when there's no breakfast to make? Right, they get ideas! Can you imagine a world in which men, weakened by a lack of bacon and maple syrup, lose control over women? A world where women are free to use their in-built pregnancy prevention mechanism, not only to protect themselves from impregnation during rape, but also during normal marital sex? Obama can, and with another term that's exactly where he'll bring America. Romney for traditional values. The black guy for feminazis, socialism, and failing to keep open factories that had already been closed under Bush.

      P Ryan.
      (Borrowing my friend's account.)

      --
      -- Using the preview button since 2005
    3. Re:Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Since when did Canada have a president? Did the Queen die or something?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    4. Re:Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 4, Funny

      You use raspberry to jam radar.

    5. Re:Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by theycallmeB · · Score: 4, Funny

      The first debate was supposed to be about domestic concerns. The bacon shortage news originated in Europe, and this maple syrup caper is a product of Canada (also, by the by, a leading exporter of frozen waffles), so you will have to wait until the foreign policy debate to find out where the candidates sit on breakfast table issues.

    6. Re:Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? by niado · · Score: 2

      To clarify for US readers, Canada uses the Westminister System of government. The prime minister is head of the executive branch for Canada in practice, though the Queen is actually head of the executive branch (as well as the judicial and legislative branches??) and theoretically works through her cabinet and viceroy (in practice appointed by...the prime minister??) to actually govern. In practice the Queen doesn't actually perform any governmental functions personally, due to the tenets of responsible government requiring duly-elected leadership of the country.

      Did I get all that right?

  6. Re:I just don't understand.. by bfandreas · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, but since everybody expecty syrup just to stick around nobody really thinks that those trucks are actually nicking syrup. Somebody is bound to have the paperwork so no need to be nosy. Diamonds, yes. Syrup? How do you fence stuff like that? It leaves quite a bit of a trail if the barrels leak. Also ants could be a problem.
    Diamonds! That's where it's at!

    --
    20 minutes into the future
  7. Sorry but... by xded · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm from Europe and I don't really get why a strategic reserve of maple syrup is needed... Do you plan on living on maple syrup in case of a nuclear holocaust?

    1. Re:Sorry but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm from Europe too, but I can Google: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/why-does-canada-have-a-strategic-maple-syrup-reserve/261869/

    2. Re:Sorry but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm from Africa, but I can make a clickable link ;)

      Thanks for the article, btw. It answers the question quite nicely.

    3. Re:Sorry but... by necro81 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm from Europe and I don't really get why a strategic reserve of maple syrup is needed

      For the same reasons you stockpile any commodity: it makes you less susceptible to price swings in the marketplace. When prices are low, Quebecois producers can have the reserve buy up excess inventory, then later sell it when prices rise, to protect consumers. The U.S. has strategic reserves of oil, corn, and wheat for similar reasons. Like all complex systems, it helps to have some capacitance to buffer transients.

    4. Re:Sorry but... by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Stockpiles don't create scarcity, they help avoid scarcity; it brings the price down in poor years, and push it up in good years.

      Only if they were systematically destroying maple syrup would it create scarcity.

      --

      -WolfWithoutAClause

      "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
    5. Re:Sorry but... by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      Maple Syrup is a major industry for Canada. However it is a fickle industry.

      You can't grow hundred year old maple trees in a greenhouse, they are exposed to normal weather conditions. Also they can only harvest for a short period of time a year. So having the reserve will allow them to keep supply all year long, and cover when there is a bad year. If supply get too low the prices will go too high, and the market will switch to substitutes. American Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, and New York Maple Syrup are quite good too. Then you have the cheap Colored Sugar Syrup.

      For the parent (a European) Real Maple Syrup is really expensive. And the Good Stuff is actually very good.

      --
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    6. Re:Sorry but... by Another,+completely · · Score: 2

      It's like putting a capacitor in parallel with the circuit. Smooths out bumps in both directions.

    7. Re:Sorry but... by sootman · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm from America. Can someone click that link for me and tell me what it says?

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    8. Re:Sorry but... by Beorytis · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm also from America, but I don't mind giving this short summary: It's an agricultural product with a wide variation in harvest from year to year.

    9. Re:Sorry but... by sjames · · Score: 2

      You will soon find a line millions of people long forming in front of you. Each will in turn tell you "That's not a very nice thing to say, you know" and then yield to the next in line. It could be a few years before you've fully served your penance.

    10. Re:Sorry but... by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      They've been known to ferment the semi-concentrated syrup. Never exported so it must be good.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  8. This is clearly an injustice! by Dutchmaan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Won't somebody think of the saplings!

  9. Should you be worried about the food you buy? by blind+biker · · Score: 2

    From the article:

    Etienne St-Pierre said his usual suppliers, small producers based in Quebec, sold it to him.

    This made me think: basically, a foodstuff was sold to someone who'll sell it to the public later on. He didn't ask about the source of the foodstuff, didn't check for quality, didn't check for adulteration, didn't check for chemical or biological contaminants - NOR DID HE KNOW SHIT whether anyone has done such tests.

    He could have gotten maple syrup laced with anthrax, and would have sold it forward, and noone would have been the wiser.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    1. Re:Should you be worried about the food you buy? by yurtinus · · Score: 3, Funny

      Did you know that there is practically *never* a reliable chain of custody on the tin foil you buy from the grocery store? Did you know that it's not even made of tin anymore! How can you trust your hat when the strategic tin foil reserves are filled with product from untrusted sources!?!

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      +1 Disagree
  10. Re:News for nerds? by jamstar7 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes.

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    Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
  11. Re:Let's not get carried away by mwvdlee · · Score: 2

    About the only thing missing are the sharks with frickin laser beams.

    I don't see why that couldn't happen; http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/swimming-in-syrup-minimyth.htm

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  12. Re:I just don't understand.. by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 2

    My bet? They profited from the syrup properties.

    It was an insider operation. Workers of the reserve dipped inside the vats each day; when they arrived home they just had to remove from their bodies and clothes and into the vat.

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  13. Stickyfinger by jcphil · · Score: 2

    Fort Knox had Goldfinger. Who is Quebec's Stickyfinger?

  14. Re:Heavily armed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    heavily guarded (and presumably heavily armed)

    Woah, woah, woah... It isn't the USA, put those guns away.

    I figured it was heavily armed for Canadian standards. One of the guys had a knife.

  15. Re:News for nerds? by makapuf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Easy to like anything more than most people when you don't like people.

  16. Re:News for nerds? by Ogive17 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I just don't understand why some people assume that because a story isn't interesting to them, it's not slashdot worthy.

    Here's a hint, if you see the summary and it doesn't interest you, skip over it. I do it all the time, probably only making it to the comment section on 10-20% of the articles.

    --
    "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
  17. Re:Hmmm... by Guspaz · · Score: 2

    It was worth about $20 million, that's serious business.

  18. Hello, we're Canadians by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    Our military expenditures are a tiny fraction of our Southern neighbor's

    Less likely to carry guns

    Have better healthcare and are therefore more relaxed

    We emphasize coordination and and compassion and getting along at the U.N.

    Our labor rights are more sound, so we're less agitated

    Our commitment to education is high, we see ways to resolve conflict in wise ways rather than brutal vicious ways

    We're polite to a fault, we stop our cars in the street so you can cross, we let you go first in line if we both arrive at the same time, and we express in low tones the thinking behind our disagreements

    BUT DON'T YOU MOTHERFUCKERS EVER FUCKING MESS WITH OUR MOTHERFUCKING MAPLE SYRUP

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:Hello, we're Canadians by H0p313ss · · Score: 2

      Better healthcare? That seems like a statement of perspective. I would bet that a majority of your neighbors to the south have better healthcare than a majority of Canadians.

      Rich Americans have better healthcare than most Canadians. Canadians will not die in poverty to pay a Cancer health bill.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    2. Re:Hello, we're Canadians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      As a Canadian who has lived in the US for 20 years, I can rebutt this pretty well. I have what would be considered one of the best plans in the US, and it pretty much matches the health care I received in Canada when I was growing up. At age 15 I walked myself into an ER for a broken finger, and never had to think about what it might be costing my parents. It was just dealt with.

      My father-in-law (US) and my father (Canada) both hit the hospital at the same time 5 years ago, the former for pancreatic blockage, the latter for colon cancer. In the US, we had hospital staff working on billing and payment details while they were getting prepped for the last rites. My father got swift and immediate treatment, and never had to think about how he was paying for it. Both recovered fully. My father-in-law took years to pay off the debt for his visit, and the worry didn't help much with his condition. My father completed his treatment, has free regular follow-ups, and only had to concentrate on getting better.

      As a customer of both, I'll take the Canadian system any time. The American system is great if you have money, and you never get sick.

    3. Re:Hello, we're Canadians by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are plenty of problems with Canadian healthcare. And you will find that not in a billion years will a single Canadian prefer our broken dysfunctional wasteful system over theirs.

      What the USA excels in is critical care: when you have the heart attack. Why? Because IT MAKES MONEY. What is there no money in? Preventive care. Because it's cheap. You also live longer.

      Wouldn't you prefer to prevent the heart attack for $100 than maybe live through the heart attack for $100,000? Well guess what: your stupid healthcare system doesn't agree with you. It is made so some asshole CEO can sit on a gold toilet, it's not made so you actually live a longer healthier life and spend far less on your healthcare.

      Because some complete fucking retards in this country actually believe the profit principle has a place in a healthcare system. What is the system for? Your health? Or a shareholder? Why the fuck do so many ignorant fucking Americans not see the problem therein? You can't have both. No really: you cannot have a system to maximize profit, and a system that maximizes your health, at the same time. Those two goals are diametrically opposed to each other. But the cult of the unicorns and rainbows free market fundamentalism is so strong in this stupid fucking country common sense does not prevail.

      Oh and "FREEDOM!" As in FREEDUMB: people who believe freedom means freedom from responsibility. "How dare you make me buy health insurance!" (And then they break their arm and avoid the bill because they can't afford it: freeloading, irresponsible ignorant assholes.)

      You can make giant volumes of the problems in the Canadian healthcare system. In Great Britain. In France. In all of our economic peers on the world stage. And none of them, not a single citizen of those countries, with all of the problems in their health systems, would change it for the far, far worse system we have here. Go ahead, ask your friend. They look on our "healthcare" system with a mix of revulsion and disgust. Because our system is far far far more expensive, and we live shorter lives, because our system is made to profit off the attempt to MAYBE you save you from the heart attack, while the other systems are made to save the country, and you, money, by preventing you from getting the heart attack in the first place with screenings and cheap drugs (as opposed to expensive drugs with marketing campaigns and fashion model sales reps visiting doctors offices to get them push that instead).

      A healthcare system doesn't mean a fucking thing if you can't afford it.

      It blows my mind how Americans can be so utterly propagandized and so fucking retarded on how they are being shafted by paying so much and living shorter unhealthier lives. Oh but "EVIL SOCIALISM WHARGGARBBLBBLLE." Good for you retard, you hate the word "socialism." Now live a shorter life and pay a heck of a lot more for your healthcare, you dumb ignorant moron afraid of a silly word. That asshole CEO getting paid by policies that trade your lifeblood for his gold toilet thanks you.

      Wake the fuck up America.

      http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121003/REVIEWS/121009995

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  19. Re:Carmel Colored Corn Syrup... by jd2112 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was the corn industry: "We secretly replaced Canada's maple syrup with High Fructose Corn Syrup, artificial maple flavor, and food coloring. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference"

    --
    Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  20. We've been Jammed! by bobbied · · Score: 2

    NOBODY gives me the raspberry except .... LoneStar!

    --
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  21. Mr. Prime Minister! by Pope · · Score: 2

    We simply cannot allow a maple syrup gap!

    --
    It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
  22. Die Hard 5 by TheSpoom · · Score: 2

    If this isn't the most obvious plot EVER for a Die Hard movie, I don't know what is. ;^)

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  23. Re:Carmel Colored Corn Syrup... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Pretty much every supermarket I've been to in several different parts of the US has had a couple real maple syrup options on the shelf. Even places like Costco seem to frequently carry it. It definitely costs more, but doesn't seem that expensive or hard to find in the US and Canada at least. Now if you are trying to track down different, specific grades of maple syrup, it can be hard depending on where you live.

  24. Re:Hmmm... by amRadioHed · · Score: 2

    Yeah, like 10 years ago. The tables have turned and now Canadian dollars are actually worth more than ours.

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  25. And so ends the story by nimbius · · Score: 3, Funny

    of how 600 barrels of Maple Syrup and some poor convoy with a brand new Garmin learned the difference between Ontario, Canada and Ontario, California.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  26. Re:I just don't understand.. by nazsco · · Score: 2

    They are canadians. they don't lock their doors. I saw it on TV.

  27. Re:News for nerds? by yurtinus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Barrels man, BARRELS!! Yo momma's so fat, she stole THIRTY THREE THOUSAND gallons of syrup just to get through breakfast!

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    +1 Disagree
  28. I dont believe it by Yakasha · · Score: 2
    I simply do not believe in the heist. I do not believe that any culture, race, or other human group can so ably live up to their stereotypes! It MUST be a hoax.

    Whats next? Columbian coke reserves damaged by mice? Chinese slave labor stolen? American military bankrupt?

  29. Re:How much syrup is that? by slew · · Score: 2

    Is the 600 barrels a measure of volume, 42 gallons to a barrel? Did it mean 600 drums of unknown capacity, perhaps 55 gallon drums? But it's a Canadian story and wouldn't they use metric? Perhaps the barrels are made of maple wood, charred inside and used for aging the syrup, eh?

    A barrel (used in a liquid measurement context) is usually approx 120 liters. However, there is some variation, and each commodity tends to have it's own "barrel" measurement. For example, a barrel of oil is about 160 liters, but a barrel of beer is a bit light of a standard liquid barrel (except in the UK where it's a bit bigger).

    The history of the "barrel" measurement is that it is defined to be 1/2 a hogshead (a really big barrel 4ft tall, 30inches diameter), 1/4 of a pipe, and 1/8 of a liquid tonne. For smaller measurements, you had the kilderkin (1/2 barrel), the firkin (1/4 barrel). These measurements were simply the capacity of the common containers used for shipping ale, wine, and tobbaco (among other things) back in the american colonial times. In many ways, the factor-of-two system is preferable to the factor-of-ten metric unit for stuff like this...

  30. I never thought I'd hear... by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    ..."strategic" and "syrup" in the same sentence.

    --
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  31. MItt Romney did write this post by circletimessquare · · Score: 2

    as governor of Massachusetts

    then he disavowed his greatest legacy to pander to the ignorant propagandized wing of the hysterical right

    Romney abandoned probably the greatest piece of legislation he will ever be identified with, to win the vote of the kind of douchebag that will vote against policies that means cheaper healthcare for him and a longer life. because some CEO brought enough of the right sort of propaganda on Fox News to appeal to his low IQ prejudices

    i can't fathom a retard so fucking stupid he would choose to pay more for his healthcare and live less. so some CEO can pad his Cayman Island bank account

    it's mind blowing how propagandized, ignorant and just beyond belief knuckle dragging dumb some Americans on the right can be

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  32. No reason to poison it to poison people by tlambert · · Score: 2

    Once it's in the reserve, who owns what drop of syrup is no longer pertinent. It's just as believable that someone would do it for the same reasons as that Tylenol was poisoned http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders (least likely) or to drive up the price, given that there's no price/production floor for producers (good for producers in general as plowing under a large percentage of the corn crop was at one point, and as milk-dumping in 1939 and the late 1970's; by the 1980's, the government was buying excess supply to make cheese and keep public supply low).

    An alternate possibility is to games the commodities market with a short term supply discontinuity.

    The first possibility is most likely to be of long term benefit to various producers, merely by being a possibility.

    If it can be proven non-toxic, I'd keep it separate from the reserve, and start bottling "kidnapped brand maple syrup" myself...