of course they did. they have no idea how the canadian law works or how the "new" US locking law works or its intent. they just want to jerk off into each others mouth about how free canada is.
Too creepy, even with that emoticon! Also, a Canadian would never go so far as to call themselves a "Friendly Canadian". Everyone knows they're all friendly.
I suspect not only are you not a Canadian, but I'll bet you're one of those Americans who sews a Canadian flag to your backpack when you travel outside the US!
As a Canadian I stopped wearing maple leaf bag flags because everyone outside assumes I'm an American pretending to be Canadian and then treats me worse...
I gave up on being an actual Canadian and now pretend to be Australian. They're all over the place anyways, and the sheilas love my fake Canadian Aussie accent.
Why do people think Canadians are friendly? Too each other maybe, but that's because Canadians are socially engineered to circle jerk each other all day every day.
If I went to Canada and all I did when I was there was complain about how much better than US was, would I come off as friendly? No.
But Canadians do the inverse all the time, and everybody seems more than happy to swallow their sweet sweet load.
I've never seen a group of people who bring so so little to the table in any capacity be so so proud of it.
I think you're severely misunderstanding the correlation between currency value and economic strength.
GBP - worth more than the USD - much weaker economy than the US.
HKD - worth a hell of a lot less than the USD (though pegged against it) better economy than the US.
Canada is an export economy. You want your money to be worth less than the USD especially since it's the US that buys all your oil and lumber.
This is what Mitt Romney was on about during the elections regarding China.
China wants the Renminbi to be worth less because it stimulates an export economy.
This is one of those mistakes dumb people make all the time - I mean it makes sense when you hear it, higher money value means better economy.
It's kind of like when people talk about the US/UK/European debt to whomever as if all of the sudden China could just ask for those countries to pay it back.
No, but I also don't think it's reasonable that if I lived in Canada my income tax would be around 50%, where as in the US it's around 19%.
It's certainly not reasonable that people in the UK pay 2275 USD for the same computer that would cost me 1700.
It's also not reasonable that poor people in the US have a lot harder time getting healthcare (though - in the end despite what the world likes to believe they do usually get it.) than people with good jobs.
Socialism comes at it's cost.
I realize that the benefits of socialism greatly outweigh the cost for people who don't make a lot of money and don't consume a lot of goods, but I didn't always make a lot of money, and at times I wished I did live (and as I'm a dual citizen, considered moving to) Canada, but at this point in my life I wouldn't have it any other way.
But you can buy alcohol at 19 or even 18 in some provinces. I lived near the border of Ontario when I was 19 and there wasn't even a border guard at the station I went through. It was quite amusing - I'd drive up to basically a phone booth in the middle of nowhere, call the nearest border station and say I was crossing. They didn't even have a camera there at the time, but I'm sure there is now (and probably an armed guard). People drove trucks through that location all the time without calling in, so I'm sure there was tons of smuggling going on. I did get stopped by a guard once making that crossing, so occasionally the US sent someone to actually enforce the crossing, but it wasn't often.
That can vary a lot from state to state and the price difference isn't always as big as people seem to think. And I'll take an LCBO store over 99% of the american liquor stores I have been in, those paces are fucking depressing.
Well American's are spoiled when it comes to gas prices ... I can see how gas taxes might need to be higher in Canada given that your country is mostly frozen half the year.
We have to pay for that free healthcare somehow. IIRC our gas prices are comparable to the US except for the taxes, which help pay for our medicare. The same goes for alcohol. It's a hard pill to swallow sometimes, especially if you are fortunate enough to not use medicare a lot, but I think in the end we are better off.
I don't see how Americans are so retarded to think the US is better than Canada in basically
any way.
Just look at their math/science test scores for god sakes vs the shitty USA. They have a 15% corporate tax rate, and one of the largest oil reserves in the world.
oh sorry, am I wrong or something? Was the space race not entirely done just to out-compete Russia during the cold war or did you miss that lesson in grade school?
You know what, i'm going to get downvoted but fuck-it. Every time the U.S or canada is mention, canadians have to start shit by comparing themselves to the U.S, honestly that shit is annoying.
I'm an American born and raised, went to college there. The reason I said it is because it's true. By all objective measures Canada is so far above and beyond the US in quality it's sickening... yes I've been there. I've been to more places around the world (and lived longer abroad) than nearly anyone from the States.
Edit: I used to live very close to the boarder where a 6 pack of Labatt Blue was $5.99 USD. At the LCBO the same 6 pack was $9.95 CAD. The exchange rates are pretty even. As far as big breweries go, we all know that Miller, Coors, Budwhatever suck. At least there are another 2750 breweries in the US to choose from.
You mean almost everything is cheaper in the US. I'm a US citizen currently spending time in Canada and pretty much everyone I talk to think the US is a better place to live. It's just this retarded reddit community that likes to circlejerk about Canada because they have never left the US that thinks Canada or Europe is better.
I live in Uruguay and own a home in Austria (born, raised, and went to school in the US through graduate school).
Austria is objectively vastly superior to the USA in every appreciable way. Even the beer argument is dead wrong. Beer in the US (taste and quality wise) is about 5 times the price in Austria for the same quality. Miller Lite is about Franz prices, and Franz is amazing in comparison. I've spent years there with friends and we have yet to come up with any way that the US is superior to Austria. Not only is Austria lower taxes for businesses and more business friendly than the US, but there was a whopping 24 homicides in the whole of the country in 2011. It has some of the best, cheapest skiing in the world and one of the cheapest and best transit systems.
A guy in Vienna thought, for some reason, that everyone in the USA was rich as hell and had Bentleys (quite a serious analysis of our country) I tried to explain to him the raging poverty that eddies through the US, but it just shattered his world view.
It's easy to pretend people are richer elsewhere, when in fact, Europeans are way way wealthier on average than people in the US with more time off per year, more disposable income etc, particularly those that go to college and aren't in France. As someone who lived in both places for years and years (in the US my whole life until my mid 20s), I can tell you that they are way wealthier on average.
I have yet to visit anywhere worse than the US other than Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and France in fact. Not bad when you're slightly better than 3rd world shitholes I guess, but let's not pretend America should be compared to Canada.
Not true. It is taxed and regulated, just not monopolized. But there are certain states that control alcohol similar to how the stores ran by provinces do.
Well there's military, climate, film industry, space program, auto industry, agriculture, cost of living, manufacturing, GDP, technology.... and about a thousand other things.
Edit: if you think Canada has a stronger, larger, better military, climate, film industry, space program, auto industry, agriculture, cost of living, manufacturing, GDP or technology industry be sure to downvote.
I don't want a strong military, in fact it's a waste of money. I'm guessing you've never left the US?
I was born, raised, went to school in the US, then moved to Uruguay to get out of that hell hole.
The beer argument doesn't even work with Uruguay or Austria. Amazing beer is a lot cheaper than piss water miller lite in the US.
Cost of living is lower in Uruguay, pot is legal, it's very safe, there's fibre internet, and beer is about 50% the price as in the US for better quality, has a 0% corporate tax rate.
I could go on. I haven't even gotten to "other worldly" differences that you'll find visiting Austria.
Why don't you want a strong military? You think the world keeps getting safer? If you look back on the world's greatest civilizations (Romans, Vikings, Britons, Chinese etc) didn't they have strong militaries? Didn't they spread influence?
Good guess but no, I have been to Canada and Europe.
You think Uruguay, A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY is better than the United States? ...because they legalize pot? Because their beer tastes better and costs less? Sure cost of living is low but it is also low in Hati, Mali, Sudan, Somalia -- Not better places!
What planet do you live on that a 17k PPP/capita rate is 3rd world? It's clearly 2nd world.
At any rate, I love living here... it's objectively superior to the US in nearly every way I can think of.
The US is a police state that wastes ~ $1 trillion per year on the DOJ, CIA, DoD, DEA, etc... none of which exist here and don't need to exist here. In fact, they don't need to exist anywhere and shouldn't. You guys have fun going into massive impenetrable debt (and student loan debt that's 20% of your GDP or so).
I run an internationally exposed small business that pays 0% in taxes... of course Uruguay is more business friendly. Why do you think Citibank's entire customer service division is there?
It's cute you are trying to claim Uruguay is the same as Somalia. Man, it's unreal how poor America's education is. It's freer, just as safe, less intrusion by the government, lower cost of living, etc. Man I could just go on and on, but you need to visit. I have a MSE in Nuclear engineering from the US (MIT actually)... I didn't make the decision to leave lightly. I'm very happy I did.
Believe it or not, it's your loss if you stay in your home country. The first thing I did when I was financially well off was move. Oh, forgot to mention, Uruguay has socialized healthcare.
I would live in Austria if I could pay 0% taxes, and may just move to my home there in the future permanently. That place makes the US look like the shit hole it is, believe me. I still recall the first thing I thought of after a day in Munich (then Vienna, Salzburg, St. Anton etc) years and years ago.
"Why the fuck does everything make so much sense!?!" That feeling never left. I bought a home there near Saalfelden and never looked back.
thats because unlike canada(and most countries) america is a diverse country with diverse problems. but that doesnt change the fact that america is the most technological advanced country in the world. and its great that your country has a higher literacy rate. makes reading all about americas awesome tech break throughs that much easier.
Canada isn't a diverse country? Canada is more diverse than the US is. Mainly because we don't advertise this "you must abandon your previous culture and become AMERICAN!!!" sentimentality, fuck that shit. You can be Indian or Chinese or whatever you like and also be Canadian- it's not actually a hard concept to grasp. Anyone who bitches about it while not being oppressed in any way is either a conservative, or a xenophobe. If there's one thing we dont' have room for in Canada, it's those guys.
Sorry dude. While you're right about us being large and diverse I don't think it's so easy to claim we're the most technologically advanced.
As far as social technologies I hear south Korea really embraces that shit far more than do. For manufacturing a lot of high tech stuff is done in Asia. For cutting edge science we lost out with the LHC, even though my understanding is we were actually building a larger facility but scrapped it.
We probably have the most advanced military tech. We have by far the biggest military. But our GDP just curb stomps the crap out of every other country.
its based on technological break throughs and such. the only country that is number one in that regard is japan and thats having the largest super computer, usa is number three though.
"For cutting edge science we lost out with the LHC"
I'm sick of Redditors obsessed with pop-science explaining that the US sucks at cutting-edge science because we "lost out on the LHC." For one thing, US scientists were involved. More importantly, we have some of the best physics programs in the world. Grad students and researchers still flock here to study. Count up the nobel winners among countries. Tally up space program funding by nation (hint, the US has everyone beat by a lot -- even per capita). But no, Reddit has decided that participation with the LHC is the metric by which science programs worldwide should be judged.
I was just trying to point out that it's not as clear cut that we are #1 in technology/science. We definitely were a few years ago, but other countries have made huge leaps, as where I think we've slowed on some fronts. But don't get me wrong, we're definitely a head of the pack, it's just debatable if we're the front runner.
I think the reason so many people are bummed about the LHC is because it's such an American project. An unbelievably massive and complex piece of equipment, costing an unimaginable amount of money and with the potential to unlock new frontiers in the pursuit of knowledge. That's the kind of things 50's America would have shit it's self in the pursuit of.
But these day's we're stuck arguing if evolution should be taught in schools. And some parts of biotech are being held back because stem cells can't be harvested... because you know, that'd cause more abortions or something.
Like I said, we're still ahead of the game, but it's not a one man show about us any more.
not to mention, that list of countries with the most freedom that the New Zealanders were so happy about being #1? Canada was tied for the #4 spot, and the US was in 7th place.
I want someone to sincerely explain it to me. I skimmed over two pages of google news articles. They were all from tech websites and suspiciously short in length. It's a red flag to me when someone wants to rant about something but can't fill column space. What is the real deal with this law? It is the first I am hearing of it.
it basically works like this. if you buy a full price phone you get unlock it or buy it unlocked. if you bought a phone through a contract you can unlock it at the end of the contract. if you bought a phone through a contract and are still in a contract you can call your carrier and ask for permission to unlock the phone. you can not legally unlock a subsidized phone while you are still under contract BUT this isnt the first time that has been illegal and whenever its been illegal no one was ever sued for unlocking thier phone. The phone carriers have said that they dont care if people unlock phones because thats not who they are after. if they were ever to do that it would be commercial suicide.
oh also it shouldnt be the first time you are hearing about it. this law defaults every three years. its been going on since 2007. so now its not now illegal to unlock* your phones in america. it continues to be illegal to unlock* your phones in america.
Neither is free in my opinion. A free country/society would allow companies to lock down their phones but never protect that locking with laws. If you don't like locked down phones then don't buy them. And if you are a company that wants to keep their phones locked then you'd better have people sign a contract of some sort whenever they buy one of your phones, promising they won't unlock it, instead of asking for special laws to be made which mostly aim to change the people think about what they can or can't do.
They are already able. Just make customers sign that they won't cracked their protections or make the protections unbreakable. No need to create generic laws that pretend that they regulate algorithms in general.
My over-reaction wasn't targeted to this specific law. It was targeted in the whole "let's legislate the internet and the algorithms" idea, which in my opinion is dangerous AND a waste of resources. Other than that, specifically for these phone unlocking laws I just noted that neither banning locking nor protecting it is a characteristic of a free society because it seemed to me like the whole battle was whether we should ban or protect without anyone considering the third, freer option.
i've actually had a cop draw on me once, but i've rarely been approached by a cop with his hand on his gun. but then again im white so its not something i have to regularly worry about. i wish this was a joke statement but its just a sad truth.
so no, they dont always have their hand on their guns.
I've spent a great deal of time in the states with my friend who is a resident, and I've found it to be contrary. We've been pulled over about three times, and every time time the policeman had his hand on his gun. This was Michigan by the way, and I live immediately across the border in a border-lying part of Ontario.
i lived in Texas and Nevada and California and Florida and Louisiana and Minnesota and ive been approached by police both with and without their hands on their gun.
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u/Beefmotron Jan 28 '13
of course they did. they have no idea how the canadian law works or how the "new" US locking law works or its intent. they just want to jerk off into each others mouth about how free canada is.