Bully Harper vs. senators Lowell Murray is not a Liberal. But the Progressive Conservative senator finds himself voting with the opposition Liberals against the Stephen Harper government these days to protest an abuse of Parliament. That it should fall to an unelected Tory senator to defend our democratic institutions shows how Canadians are being held hostage by the subterfuge of spin and cynicism that passes for federal politics in the Harper era. A one-time Tory cabinet minister, Murray cannot stomach the government’s tactics in lumping together several complex issues into a grab-bag “omnibus bill” — tied to the budget to make it a “confidence” matter that would trigger an election if defeated. As Canadians showed when Harper prorogued Parliament last December, they care deeply about abuses of parliamentary procedure. So too, at one time, did Harper. The Conservative response? Harper’s response? The spin? The bottom line?
Top 10 Tools for Landing a Better Job SExpand From the first Google search to the last interview, you can boost your odds at landing a better job with the right preparation. Here are our ten best tools and tips for job-seekers and career climbers.P Photo by lewis chaplin.P 10. It's not exactly a "hack" to suggest hitting Monster.com, or your LinkedIn network, to check out job offerings and work your connections. 9. The same types of skills and always-there alertness that make someone a Craigslist power user can give them the edge on the site's job board, which has the benefit of (sometimes, not always) attracting relatively tech-savvy, with-it employers. 8. There are a host of salary-obsessed sites that use a combination of math and insider info to compute what workers with certain skills and experience levels can expect in different cities and corporate firms. 7. 6. 5. Unless your interviewer is Mark Zuckerberg, your newest sandals and fleece just ain't gonna cut it. 4. 3. 2. 1.
Blair may testify on 5-metre rule | Posted Toronto Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin says Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair may be required to give testimony during his office’s investigation into a controversial G20 security regulation enacted by the province. The so-called “five-metre rule” announced by Chief Blair the day before the G20 summit left the impression that people could be arrested for coming within five metres of the downtown security fence if they did not produce identification, explain their presence, or submit their belongings for a search. Despite the fact that such a law never existed, and that the five metres mentioned in the provincial regulation actually referred to an area inside the fence, neither the police force nor the Ministry of Community Safety corrected the public record until two days after the summit ended. Mr. “Right now this is the top priority for our office,” Mr. Mr. While the government isn’t compelled to act on any of his recommendations, Mr. “Our recommendations rest on moral suasion,” he said.
British-Designed ‘Bulletproof Custard’ Liquid Armor Is Better than a Kevlar Vest Liquid armor has been shown to stop bullets more effectively than plain Kevlar, according to British firm BAE Systems. The material could be used to make thinner, lighter armor for military personnel and police officers, the BBC reports. Materials scientists combined a shear-thickening liquid with traditional Kevlar to make a bulletproof material that absorbs the force of a bullet strike by becoming thicker and stickier. Its molecules lock together more tightly when it is struck, the scientists explained -- they described it as "bulletproof custard," the BBC reports. Shear-thickening liquids are composed of hard nanoparticles suspended in a liquid, which turns rigid after being struck with a bullet or shrapnel. In the tests, BAE scientists used a gas gun to fire ball-bearing bullets at nearly 1,000 feet per second at two test materials -- 31 layers of regular Kevlar and 10 layers of Kevlar combined with the shear-thickening liquid. The U.S.
Sharp-eyed robins can see magnetic fields (PhysOrg.com) -- It has been known for decades that some birds are able to sense the Earth's magnetic field and set their direction as if following a compass heading, which is an extremely useful ability for birds migrating long distances. The ability is believed to be linked to the availability of light and it is thought that specialized molecules in the birds' retinas allow them to literally see the magnetic fields, which appear as patterns of light and shade superimposed over the regular image from light. Now a new study shows that the internal compass also depends on the birds having clear vision in their right eyes. Researchers led by Katrin Stapput of Goethe-Universitat in Frankfurt, Germany, studied the vision of the European robin to try to learn more about how the magnetic sensing might work. They found that if the right eye was covered by a frosted goggle, the birds could not navigate effectively, while they could navigate perfectly well if the left eye was covered instead.
Hong Kong’s New Facebook for the Dead Thanks to a new social networking site in Hong Kong you don’t need to put much effort into having an online presence — you don’t even need to be alive. In fact, that’s the point. The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has created a website where friends and family-members can set up memorial profiles for their dearly departed. Profiles can feature a eulogy, photos and videos, and visitors can post memories or comments. Apparently not everyone in Hong Kong is a fan of the website — some criticize the informal nature of online mourning, especially for a culture with such traditional practices. But considering the already growing presence of memorial Facebook pages it was perhaps only a matter of time before a site emerged that was solely dedicated to remembering the dead.
4 Rare Earth Elements That Will Only Get More Important Sir William Crookes, a 19th century British chemist, once wrote that, "rare earth elements perplex us in our researches, baffle us in our speculations and haunt us in our very dreams." These weren't easy elements to isolate or to understand, and so there was a very long lag time between the discovery of the rare earths, and the discovery of practical uses for them. It didn't help that individual rare earth elements don't occur by their lonesome—they travel in packs. Europium was the first isolated, high purity rare earth element to enter the public marketplace, in 1967, as a source of the color red in TV sets. At the time, rare earth mining wasn't even a twinkle in China's eye. Today, europium is still used as a phosphor, but as cathode ray tube TVs go the way of the dodo, it's more likely to turn up in white LED-based lights, which could someday be an energy efficient replacement for both incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs.
Jefferson’s Hidden Change to the Declaration | Wired Science | W Smudge analysis shows how Jefferson changed his mind. Spectral analysis of an uncharacteristic ink smudge on an early draft of the Declaration of Independence uncovered a little of the rebel spirit in Thomas Jefferson, the colonist and future president who wrote the document. About 80 years ago, some archivist sandwiched the pages of Jefferson’s draft between sheets of plastic. When the document was taken out of its permanent display case for a brief analysis last year, Library of Congress research scientist Fenella France noticed an uncharacteristic smudge. France had been probing the document with a new tool known as hyperspectral analysis. Right away, France says, she noticed that under the different spectral bands the smudged segment of the document changed, suggesting that the top word — citizens — might be hiding something. Various pigments, inks and paper treatments will respond differently to some wavelengths of light.
It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National A lot of people are very upset about the rapidly increasing U.S. national debt these days and they are demanding a solution. What they don't realize is that there simply is not a solution under the current U.S. financial system. It is now mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off the U.S. national debt. You see, the truth is that the U.S. government now owes more dollars than actually exist. If the U.S. government went out today and took every single penny from every single American bank, business and taxpayer, they still would not be able to pay off the national debt. And the U.S. government would still be massively in debt. So why doesn't the U.S. government just fire up the printing presses and print a bunch of money to pay off the debt? Well, for one very simple reason. That is not the way our system works. You see, for more dollars to enter the system, the U.S. government has to go into more debt. It belongs to the Federal Reserve. Are you starting to get the picture?
Meeting Knives Set Is The Deadliest Puzzle I’ve Ever S By Andrew Liszewski While it might look like a brain-bending puzzle, Mia Schmallenbach’s Meeting Knives set actually features a brilliant design allowing four different kitchen knives: a paring knife, a carving knife, a chef’s knife and a filleting knife to all stack inside each other on a single block of steel. The proportions of each knife were apparently determined by the Fibonacci sequence, a term I haven’t heard since my high school computer science classes, but the results are far from looking like they were designed by a mathematician. And thankfully, this is one of those times when a cool looking product is actually available for sale. [ Mia Schmallenbach - Meeting Knives ] VIA [ I New Idea ]
The 40 Most Beautiful and Intriguing Bridges in the World | By t How to Re-create 'Mad Men' Business Technology — Datamation.com It was the best of times to be in the business world; it was the worst of times. I'm talking about the early 1960s, as depicted in the award-winning AMC TV series, Mad Men. The show centers on a successful Madison Avenue creative director named Donald Draper. Mad Men has been praised for painstaking historical accuracy -- every ash tray, beer can and tail fin is authentic for the period. The blatant sexism, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, infidelity, alcoholism and heavy, ubiquitous cigarette smoking depicted in the show can shock modern viewers. How on Earth did they conduct business? Early 1960s offices weren't devoid of technology. "Try not to be overwhelmed by all this technology," one character tells a secretary fresh out of secretarial school during her first-day orientation, as she pulls the cover from a typewriter. The idea that a typewriter could represent intimidating technology to a secretary is funny to modern viewers. Don Draper didn't have e-mail. Secretary Intercom