Canada probably has roughly 10 million Facebook users, or about half a percent of the Facebook usership.

Ten out of 200 is five percent, not half.

On-street meters in downtown Vancouver still take quarters and loonies.

Canadian's don't carry cash. Period. At least not Canadians under 30. This is one area in which the US and Canada are vastly different... cash is now hardly used for any transactions in Canada anymore, at all.

I think perhaps you are overstating the case. I rarely have less than a couple of hundred dollars in my wallet, and I see people pay with cash in supermarkets and so on probably around one third of the time.

And if you never pay for anything with cash, how do you accumulate change for parking meters and such?

The logic is quite simple: if you can't live without something, then get a guarantee in writing, and pay the premium for that extra service. In Gmail's case, there is no premium service, so you'd better start looking elsewhere.

Actually there is. Gmail is available as part of Google Apps for Your Domain. Premier Edition costs $50 per user per year and offers a 3-nines uptime guarantee.

Goodbye, Chinese 'bad electrolytic capacitors'!

Hello, American 'bad salmonella peanuts'! Corruption and shoddiness exists the world over.