They are also one of the best birding areas in the world. I'm pretty sure some ecologists and wildlife people might object to that location also.

I think it really depends on what you are using the fuel for. Baring massive change to culture and how we do things, it will never really be an alternative for mainstream automotive fuel. It is a niche market. So I like your farm example. That makes sense. There is also pretty much a net zero cost for fuel distribution (as it is produced where it is generated). So the same could be true for a number of industries. But these would all be limited use.

Using it as fuel for transportation (unless we drastically stop physically transporting) or for general energy distribution (i.e. a power plant), isn't really all that reasonable. The only reason to do it now is for subsidies, payoffs, political favors, etc...

Meh.

If we somehow discover intelligent alien life, odds are it would take about 40,000 years to communicate one way, or 40,000,000 years to physically travel there, which kinda renders the discovery moot.

Though perhaps some happiness, in that the question "are we alone?" would be answered. Then again maybe some sadness, for those people (probably religious) that thought we were somehow unique and special (though I am sure they can think up a way to explain it away or just refuse to believe it altogether).

Perhaps deep sadness, if what we observe is perhaps millions of years old, the intelligence is likely long gone to dust and time.

Or perhaps the best reality show ever... "What will Xhapod321@! do next? Who knows! He's/She's/It's a freaking Alien we can barely comprehend!"

However that said. Canada is behind the US in telecommunication, in speed, cost, and coverage. We implemented "caps" way before the US. Canada pretty much has a government supported duopoly for telecommunications, and it hasn't served Canada well. I am a bit hopeful with the latest CRTC ruling against Bell in regards to Net Neutrality (not counting data used by Bell Mobile TV against users cap), however they as often side with industry. One thing that I think is positive, is that people are starting to take notice and these sorts of issues are actually becoming political issues (not just some unwashed basement dweller rants), and we have an election coming up...

That pretty much sums up the US political system. Many countries have that issue, the US isn't alone in that regard. However when the pendulum swings that far, it is kind of ridiculous.

I have 55/10 with a 275GB cap in Peterborough, Ontario (Canada's 39th largest City) for 85$. I am sad now.

Bell will likely respond:

Sadly we offered a free service to consumers that didn't take up their data caps out of the generosity of our hearts that recently got shut down by government regulations strangling the economic lifeblood out of decent hard working Canadians... Now, because of the government market interference we'll be forced to change now against all your data caps... You can thank your local MP.

Some stoner got hold of a time machine and went back in time and somehow legalized pot in Colorado... Who knows what those time ripples will do to the continuum...

Me too, and I've been working in field for 15 years and have a CS degree. Sounds like a bunch of BS to me.

Also working in IT I know about a Bazillion acronyms. Working for government has expanded that by about a Kazillion. A good rule of thumb, is that unless you are very sure your audience will know wtf it is you are talking about, use the full term first prior to abbreviating it. Otherwise you sound like an elitist asshole, some idiot talking out of your ass, or just someone that can't communicate properly. In all, a poorly written title and summary, so par for the course I guess.

I once got an email that was entirely made up of acronyms connected by small actual words like "the" and "is". It was more than several sentences long. It was not created as a joke. It was a mashup of IT, Government, and Management acronyms. Many of which could have been interchangeable (i.e. Information Technology VS Infrastructure Technology, etc...). So unless you knew not only all the abbreviations, along with the exact context it was given it would have been mostly gibberish. I actually laughed out loud upon reading it, and sent it around for a laugh. The best part was when I re-sent it to the author, they hadn't even realized that they had done it, totally unintentional, just trying to get an email off quickly.

Also to be preventable, it requires some planning, usually with some others to warrant communication (other than the voices in your head).

Randomly grabbing a gun or a knife and just doing something by yourself is going to be pretty hard to catch ahead of time and prevent. Even if you are a loony that posts crazy stuff on Facebook everyday, are the police going to have you under surveillance 24/7 until you actually do something? No, they lack resources for that.

As much as I dislike Harper, I would not be overly surprised if this activity predates Harper, and given technology and timing was instigated under a Liberal government.

Either way, it is BS and should be stopped.

One argument is that it is too wide a net, and tramples too many people, their privacy, and their rights, for too small a return, and one might argue zero usefulness.

Another would be that anyone of any capability doing something of sufficient malfeasance would take simple precautions that would make this type of inspection technically useless on several levels. Anyone that might be caught in this manner, is likely just some nutbar too incompetent of planning anything that would be something that is preventable in the first place.

some project manager just wanted to say "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!" when production was ready...

As for Spartan, that is probably alluding to less feature bloat... Actually a perfect name for a lightweight no nonsense browser. If it actually is or not is another matter.

Oh yeah... I forgot about that. I downloaded it, but never really got into it... Though it is more of a Time Travel type thing, whereas most of the science fiction stuff talked about was space, etc... Otherwise you start adding in things like Lost, Superhero stuff, apocalyptic stuff, etc... Like I've watched Helix, The Last Ship lately, Walking Dead, etc.. but would not classify either in the same topic as the thread.

Never mind that the chief economist, minister of the economy, finance, or whatever in most countries are significantly less qualified.

Usually at best (if you can call it that) is that they worked for one of the big investment groups like Goldman, or Lynch or something.

Perhaps the development of database centric programming languages (at least in enterprise environments) diminished the demand of general purpose programming languages to do that sort or work.