Canada Wants a Moon Rover?

Apparently so.

Details here:

http://spaceref.ca/missions-and-programs/canadian-space-agency/moon-rover/canadian-space-agency-issues-rfp-for-a-moon-rover.html

Background on some of the reasons here:

http://spaceref.ca/event/leag2010/exploring-the-moons-south-pole-a-canadian-objective.html

From the entertaining to the disturbing...

For the Due South fans on my friendlist: the Northern Pikes in concert last year via YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuO4Fdq_J7Y

For those concerned about the rising costs of post-secondary education:

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5306/135/

Michael Geist on the latest in student fees re: copyright. This is the issue that made me wish that (a) Hayden Trenholm had been on the same side of the panel table as Marie Bilodeau and myself last month, regardless of my disagreement with him on this point, and that (b) Professor Geist had been able to attend Can-Con so as to sit on that same panel. We would have indeed gotten an informed debate on the subject.

How the heck does an internet access co-op based in Canada, operated by and for Canadians, get told they're not Canadian enough by the CRTC? Explanations courtesy of Iain Marlow of the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/red-tape-snarls-rural-internet-firm/article1710935/

Does this mean that OG-Wifi and National Capital FreeNet would hit the same wall?

Re: Spam on Ottawa_SF and viarail_fandom

Some...person...decided to try to vandalize the two LJ communities I started up from scratch with some kind of video spam today: ottawa_sf and viarail_fandom. I do not know, and do not want to know what sort of video it was.

I've deleted the attempts and filed a spambot report with the LJ authorities. It is my hope that, given this fact and the knowledge that the same...person...has attempted to similarly harm other LJ community blogs and many of those communities' administrators will likely be filing their own spambot reports(or possibly invoking harsher measures by LJ management), this will soon be the end of the matter.

Thank you, bunsen_h, for alerting me to the problem.

In the meantime, I'd like to take the opportunity accidentally given me to remind LJ users visiting here of the existence of these two communities:

ottawa_sf is set up for speculative fiction fans and pros alike, dealing in all media forms and all subgenres, in the Ottawa-Gatineau region of Canada. La francophonie du "sci-fi" est bienvenue aussi!

viarail_fandom is for fans of passenger rail services across Canada, past and present. I originally started it to focus on VIA Rail in particular, but after reflection it seemed wrong to leave out the provincial and regional/municipal services also operating across Canada. Encore: la francophonie est bienvenue aussi!

Hoping you're well and that we get past this particular Pain in short order!