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Canada? (Score:4, Funny)
Somebody had to say it (Score:4, Funny)
Do you mean the University post, or the one with wheels and an electric motor?
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Distinguished research chair? (Score:5, Funny)
Good, he's probably due for an upgrade.
Re:Distinguished research chair? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Distinguished research chair? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
What part of Ontario are you from? Because I say "about" like about, not like normal!
Great news. (Score:5, Funny)
Congratulations (Score:4, Insightful)
sacred cow killing! (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.
Re:sacred cow killing! (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. ;)
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Re:sacred cow killing! (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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Re:sacred cow killing! (Score:5, Funny)
I heard that he has some special technique [wikipedia.org] for getting out ...
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Someone sent us up the brain! (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!
Re:Someone sent us up the brain! (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.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not to mention at the high end of the income spectrum (~350k+), US taxes can (depending on which states/provinces and municipalities we're comparing) actually be higher than they are in Canada, in addition to the not-provided-by-the-government stuff you mention.
Re: (Score:3)
According to http://www.aurorainternational.net/Maximum_Personal_Marginal_Income_Tax_Rates.htm [aurorainternational.net] the top federal rate is 29% plus the provincial rate giving a range of 39% (Alberta) to 53% in Quebec. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_bracket [wikipedia.org] indicates the top federal rate
Re:Someone sent us up the brain! (Score:5, 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.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
We don't spend nearly as much on military.
Re:Someone sent us up the brain! (Score:4, Funny)
The way I see it is Canadians have a very severe lack of easily available guns. I think we should deport the Michigan Militia to Canada, so they can bring their public schools up to American standards.
Alas, until the Californians put an Austrian in the Governor's chair, college was free in California. Still, if Palin get elected in 2012, I'm heading for Canada.
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Re:Someone sent us up the brain! (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.
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Re:Someone sent us up the brain! (Score:4, Informative)
Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_countries_by_gun_ownership [wikipedia.org]. 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 [wikipedia.org]. Man, the U.S. is awesome. I've never felt more proud to be an American.
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Re:Someone sent us up the brain! (Score:5, 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.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Somewhat offtopic, but the Swiss have lots of guns because most adult males are obliged - as part of military sevice - to have one at home.
Unlike the US, when they misuse them, it's to kill themselves, not other people.
Rifles != Pistols (Score:5, Informative)
There is a HUGE difference between a hunting rifle and an automatic pistol. Try to conceal one.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You say that infrastructure is crumbling in California, and I think you are probably right (I've only been to California a couple of times). But on the other hand, it is too in Quebec, which has had a spate of lethal collapses in the last couple of years ( this being the most recent [theglobeandmail.com]).
Hawking radiation (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 [wikipedia.org] leaking out. Maybe a few nickels, but that's it.
Re:Hawking radiation (Score:4, Funny)
We poured over $700 billion into it, and I doubt even he will discover Hawking radiation leaking out. Maybe a few nickels, but that's it.
That's because the black hole is surrounded by a large cloud of Administratium, which absorbs any spare change that might escape.
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
A new chair (Score:5, Funny)
I don't know, a research chair sounds a bit dangerous, however distinguished it may be. I think he better stick with his current chair until this new one is at least in beta testing...
Re:A new chair (Score:5, Funny)
More dangerous than you think.
Microsoft has traditionally hired heavily from Waterloo, (e.g. http://blogs.pulver.com/jarnold/archives/2005/11/google_gets_ano.html [pulver.com] ).
What do you think when Steve "the chair tosser" Ballmer meets up with Stephen Hawking in his new position as Research Chair?
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$speak_text = $speak_text.' eh?'; (Score:3, Funny)
He's still not moving to Canada (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.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
A few quotes... (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/ [quoteaddict.com]
Watch Out, Canada! (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone up for his old job? (Score:3, Interesting)
A vacancy has just opened up. Apply [cam.ac.uk] by December 15.
Perimeter = RIM? (Score:3, Interesting)
A: Rim, or more appropriately, RIM (Research In Motion)
Not sure if it's already mentioned in the comments, but the Perimeter Institute was founded, and is primarily funded, by Mike Lazaridus, Co-CEO of RIM and Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.
I wonder if Dr. Hawking will be getting a free Blackberry? (I guess he'll have to design an interface as his first task at Perimeter.)
One Upside To This Situation (Score:3, Funny)
Well, at least now the phrase "Slower than Steven Hawking in a snowstorm" might actually have some basis in fact.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I just hope its not to kill him. But that's the word on the street.
The word on what street? Crazy Street?
Re:Too bad.. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:He is both coming to Canada and not simultaneou (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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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"...a finite number of hawkings will cross the event horizon, while an equal number of anti-hawkings will stay inside."
And they'll be easily distinguishable as the anti-Hawkings are all evil and have goatees.
Re:Meh (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Meh (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Serious question (Score:5, 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.
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Unfitter, unhappier, less productive?
Re:Serious question (Score:5, 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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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The question isn't a slam on the disabled - it's my understanding (not refreshed with a recent Googling or a Wikipedia visit) that it's extremely unusual to live far into your thirties when you have motor neuron disease.
Of course, those lifespan estimates have probably been climbing due to improved medicine since his original diagnosis regardless of anything unique to Stephen Hawking's particular progression.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not especially, unless you're peddling paranoia.