Software Soapbox

Montreal car thieves play foul at softball tourney

via Yahoo

American tourists are fuming after being hit by a rash of auto thefts in Montreal, including some 20 cars and sport utility vehicles that disappeared while families attended a girls' softball tournament in Canada.

Livable city, up to a point...

via Yahoo

"Ironically, they were filming Vancouver as being one of the top places in the world to live and visit," he said.

Vancouver police estimated the value of the crew's camera and equipment seized in the break-in at around $50,000.

Canada tobacco warnings now considered modern art

An actual Canadian cigarette label warning....

via Yahoo! News

Canada was the first country in the world to add pictures to its health warnings on cigarette packs, which also tell smokers that tobacco can cause impotence, or that second-hand smoke can harm children and babies.

Pictures of the warnings can be found at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/tobac-tabac/legislation/label-etiquette/graph/index_e.html

How about LOWERING the tax?

via Yahoo

Canada's finance minister said on Tuesday the federal government could return its tax windfall from surging fuel prices to the country's provinces. ADVERTISEMENT

"We are looking at what our options might be to be of assistance to consumers," Ralph Goodale told reporters after a luncheon speech.

Leonard Cohen tributes at the Toronto Film Festival

via Yahoo

Canadian music icon Cohen was honoured with two documentaries about him: a tribute concert that featured Rufus Wainwright and U2 in "Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man" and "Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Leonard Cohen."

B.C. patients track surgery wait lists on new website

via Yahoo! News.

Patients waiting for knee, hip or any other type of surgery can click on the site to view how many others are waiting for the same medical procedure across the province, he said

Report: 'Passion' Tied to Attacks on Canadian Jews

via Reuters

The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith, releasing its 2004 audit of anti-Semitic attacks in Canada, said last year's media coverage of Gibson's film and its alleged depiction of Jews as the "Christ killer" led to an often violent spike in attacks against the Canadian Jewish community.

Is Gender-Based Pricing Fair?

via Reuters

Most women, accustomed to paying more than men for goods and services like clothes and hair cuts, simply shrug it off as part of life, but an Ontario legislator hopes to end all that.

Cougars still stalk Quebec

via Yahoo

The cougar -- or puma, or to use its official name, the 'felis concolor' -- was declared extinct after the last known one was killed in southern Quebec, close to the border with the US state of Maine.

But, starting in 1955, there have been sightings of the "extinct" feline with authorities receiving increasing reports of big cat sightings in the 1980s, in Quebec and in the neighbouring provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as across the border in Maine and Vermont.

Air Transat agrees compensation deal on Azores emergency landing

via Yahoo

Pilot Robert Piche steered the Airbus A-330 in a powerless glide for more than 20 minutes, before putting it down in an emergency landing at a military base in the Azores.

No one was killed in the incident, but a number of passengers were injured.

Portuguese authorities ruled after an accident enquiry that the incident was caused by a fuel leak set off in an improperly installed engine and lapses in pilot training.