Stephen Hawking Going To Canada 204
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."
Canada? (Score:4, Funny)
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Never heard of it.
That's pretty common, anyone can miss Canada ... all tucked away down there ...
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In your pants? Is that what you call it?
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Oh, come on mods. I laughed. ;)
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Mod -1 flamebait, mod +1 impossible to retort without being modded -1 flamebait.
Hoser.
Somebody had to say it (Score:4, Funny)
Do you mean the University post, or the one with wheels and an electric motor?
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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I realize you're joking, but you do realize you're talking about regional pronunciation, right?
I mean, we don't judge the US based on how people from Maine or Wisconsin speak -- Maine and New England, for instance, seem to have an aversion to enunciating the letter R, "Bah Hahbah" is how Bar Harbour sounds to anyone from not in Maine.
I've noticed diffe
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It's called Canadian raising [wikipedia.org] and if you speak in that manner, you don't notice it.
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<disgruntled linguist>
Moreover...
(1) "oot and aboot" is NOT what Canadian Raising sounds like (nor "oat in a boat")...the vowel in "oot" is high and back, whereas the vowel in Canadian Raised "out" is (well, technically starts, since it's a diphthong) mid-high and central (like the vowel in "cut")
(2) Most Canadians don't speak that way
(3) A fair chunk of people in the US speak that way
</disgruntled linguist>
Re:Distinguished research chair? (Score:5, Informative)
About 'About' (Score:2)
Gnome sane, yaaall?
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LOL... yeah... I usually heard that accent more from guys from the east side. All said, I'd rather be in Saint Louis! ;)
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What part of Ontario are you from? Because I say "about" like about, not like normal!
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Family from Newfoundland (fodder's a townie from Mundy Pond, mudder's a bayman from Grand Bank), and I grew up in Labrador - and I have NEVER heard anybody in my life say 'aboot' And if a Newfie is unfamiliar with a particular mangling of the english language, then it just doesn't exist.
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Maybe he'll finally meet his soulmate? [b3ta.com] I heard Davros had moved to Canada as well to get away from Dr. Who. :)
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Great news. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Great news. - Free Genie (Score:1)
Done.
(But you have to figure out how to use it. )
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The least witty thing possible.
Congratulations (Score:4, Insightful)
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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. ;)
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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We can test this theory by waiting for the anti-Hawking to run for public office.
Events since 20 January 2001 suggest this has already happened.
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We can test this theory by waiting for the anti-Hawking to run for public office.
Events since 20 January 2001 suggest this has already happened.
Such Hawking/Anti-Hawking paradoxes are bound to have temporal and spacial offsets. Word around the campfire is that the ghost of Newton did the Florida recount personally.
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Anti-Hawking! I shudder at the thought.
Say, does the theory allow for the Anti-Hawking to have fallen back in before Hawking emerged?
Just wondering if he's finishing his second term now.
Re:sacred cow killing! (Score:5, Funny)
I heard that he has some special technique [wikipedia.org] for getting out ...
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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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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.
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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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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.
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.
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.
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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The fire-arm related deaths page doesn't list the UK, although it does list the province of N. Ireland in the developing countries list! Most of the numbers are old and would be interesting to see where they are now.
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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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College wasn't free in California when I came in 2001.
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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]).
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As an American going to McGill, you need to understand one thing. Quebec is notorious for having brutal infrastructure, as Quebec seems to prefer to spend their tax money on other things (like suppressing the English language). The roads in Quebec are among the worst in North America. On road trips from NB to Ontario, the first indicator that you were close to home, was the roads became drivable.
Quebec infrastructure is indeed some of the worst I've seen; the contrast between Ottawa (Ontario) and Gatineau/Hull (Quebec) is startling, and they're right across the river from each other.
However, a friend who's lived in Montreal and Gatineau (so she knows just how bad those roads are) drove through Michigan last year, and claims the roads there are even worse!
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It's somewhat unfair to compare countries. As people have pointed out, there are lots of taxes that depend on your jurisdiction. Alberta and Quebec are polar opposites within Canada w.r.t. provincial taxes. The amount of property tax can vary wildly throughout the States [nahb.org], etc., etc.. Any comparison should be done on a state-vs-province or city-vs-city basis. I agree with you on the parental leave though, that's national. In Canada there's enough time that you can split it between the parents if you li
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Good point, but Canada does also have have the Canada Pension plan and employment insurance and maybe some provincial programs too? - and in any case we were talking about the highest tax rates, where most of these payroll taxes no longer apply - doesn't social security only apply to the first X number of dollars? I think the Canadian equivalents do too.
Of course while it is in principle to at least figure out where o
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An amount which every reasonable young scientist can expect to achieve.
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Haven't heard that term since really since the dot-com bomb. Nobody really seems to be worry about it these days it seems.
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95% of them are probably working in jobs that aren't in their field, and I'd venture that a large porportion of that 95% are making barely enough to survive.
Needs citation. Until then, I call bullshit, sorry. You sound like a bitter person.
He is both coming to Canada and not simultaneously (Score:2)
Two versions of Hawking will come into existence. One will go one way, and will stay in England. The other will go the other way (unless it crosses an event horizon), and will move to Canada.
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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Note to the geographically cgalenged: It is possible to go from England to Canada without crossing the US/Canada border. In fact it is the most direct route.
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"...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.
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The institute he's en route to is called Perimeter, is it not? Surely we can work that name into the whole Hawking Radiation posts flying about.
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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Meh (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Meh (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Meh (Score:4, 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?
Thankful... (Score:2)
I am so glad I am not in charge of moving him and his stuff! What daunting logistics.
$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.
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That makes sense, it did seem a bit odd to me that he'd move full time.
The amount of research materials he must have at Cambridge and the relationship with other physicists and mathematicians there is a lot to throw away as well as being so close to CERN over in Switzerland. To throw all that away would undoubtedly set his research back a few years and I'm sure he's aware at his age and in his condition he probably realises he doesn't have even a single year to just throw away wastefully.
Sure stuff like his
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So it's just his chair that's visiting Canada then?
I hope he has a spare to use in the meantime.
Serious question (Score:1)
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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Unfitter, unhappier, less productive?
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Perhaps the next step would be to monitor his brain waves. I don't know what the progress is in passive external electrodes, but fMRI has achieved some amazing things, like like Voice recognition software reads your brain waves [newscientist.com]. This article is about decoding what people are listening to or looking at - maybe because it's easier to correlate experimentally - r
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The next stage is someone inserting probes directly into his brain/nerves. Fifty years from now, his brain will still be ticking away, communicating, and inventing new problems to solve.
Let's just hope his new employer has a good health plan and a good Neuro-Surgery research department.
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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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.
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At the rate he is degenerating at, I read a report that stated he had 10 to 20 years left before it gets so bad he will have even more serious problems. Advances in medicine have helped, and he is better than most people think he is at a certain level.
If he has made it this far, it logically stands to reason he has another decade or two left in him. He beat the odds when he was 31, so he can still beat the odds.
I was supposed to die when I was 40, and I just passed that mark. By June I'll be 41, and if stil
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)
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Celebrity news (Score:2)
Kidnapping Stephen Hawkings (Score:2)
Yeah, my name's Josh Beltash. I've been in a wheelchair for just over three years. I get by. I make quite a lot of inventions for myself. I made a little pantograph lift that'll take me up and down for the right level for the sink, but I think that this has got to be the best. That wheelchair will do best part of seventy mile an hour. More into seventy-two, we clocked it on the bypass, Gabriel timed me and, er, I reckon we could do eighty on a good day. But I'm not really a speed king myself, you kno
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.
As a UW Student.... (Score:2, Informative)
Color me Dumb (Score:2)
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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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For poutine, he'd have to consider McGill instead of Waterloo.
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Not especially, unless you're peddling paranoia.
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Stephen Hawking (Score:2)
Before Hawking, people had used general relativity to prove conclusively that information couldn't travel outwards through a gravitational horizon. It was geometrically impossible. Hawking's own "area-addition theorem" was responsible for closing one of the last potential logical loopholes that might have allowed information-escape.
If you talked to relativists