Fatty writes "Entry level certifications such as the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) have become the source of many jokes to people in the industry, largely because of the seemingly inept people that proudly display their certifications. This is made worse by the volume of books geared only to get people through the exam. Network Warrior bills itself as the exact opposite — if the subtitle is to be believed it contains "Everything You Need to Know That Wasn't on the CCNA Exam". With everything from the architecture of the 6500 to layers 8 and 9 of the OSI model (politics and money), it does a pretty good job." Read below for the rest of Sean's views on this book.

mytrip writes with a Reuters article about a new, unusual insurance requirement for drivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Apparently Winnipeg is one of the worst cities in Canada for auto thefts. New and 'high-risk' cars will now be required to install an electronic immobilizers in order to qualify for car insurance. "Chomiak said cars are stolen twice as often in Winnipeg as in other Manitoba cities, while a 2005 report from Statistics Canada said the city had a higher per-capita car theft rate than larger cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto. The province, where cars are insured through Manitoba Public Insurance, will fork over C$15 million ($14 million) so that owners without immobilizers can have them installed."

Forrest Kyle writes "A former professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg has received multiple death threats for questioning the extent to which human activities are driving global warming. '"Western governments have pumped billions of dollars into careers and institutes and they feel threatened," said the professor. "I can tolerate being called a skeptic because all scientists should be skeptics, but then they started calling us deniers, with all the connotations of the Holocaust. That is an obscenity. It has got really nasty and personal." Richard Lindzen, the professor of Atmospheric Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology [...] recently claimed: "Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves labelled as industry stooges. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science."'"

Cowards Anonymous writes "The government of Manitoba has introduced legislation requiring video games to have ratings system similar to that of movies, according to this story in The Winnipeg Sun. There is no word on how much this will cost, or what criteria the Manitoba Film Classification Board will use to determine whether a game should be available to those under 18 or not."

Anonymous Coward from Winnipeg writes "These days many of us are consumed by daily batches of spectacular images from our twin Marsbots and international fleet of Mars-orbiting craft. But we should not forget our sister planet, Venus, which has undergone significant exploration in years past. Don P. Mitchell's home page features an intriguing refinement of Soviet surface images using modern reprocessing techniques. Don also includes a terrific overview of the Soviet Venus exploration program. Complete radar mapping of Venus was provided by Magellan ten years ago. Sadly, according to the Venus Exploration Timeline, only two new missions to Venus are envisioned: ESA's Venus Express (using leftover Mars Express and Rosetta equipment) and JAXA's Planet-C orbiter. Apparently, no landings on Venus are planned - is this another case of humanity losing advanced space travel capability due to neglect, like Apollo?" (We've mentioned Mitchell's reworked images before -- amazing stuff.)

MikeLRoy writes "An engineering student in Winnipeg, tired of missing his bus to school (and waiting in the cold) created an LCD bus stop. It displays the next bus times for several stops and routes, all from the heated comfort of his kitchen. And yes, there are pics and code on the site."

An Anonymous Coward writes: "About a year ago Canada Post was selling CD's for $10 in post offices promising free internet for life. The software was netzero style, with banner ads. Apperently all Canadians have died, they cancelled the free service and switched to a pay-per-month plan. Here's a Winnipeg Free Press article all about it."

Yomach writes: "As reported on the CBC this morning, and in the Globe and Mail, a tropical disease case has been isolated in a Hamilton hospital and is being tested for Ebola. Samples have been shipped to a Winnipeg Federal Lab which has Biological Level 4 facilities for testing. If the patient is diagnosed with Ebola , it will be the first human case in North America. She flew in to Toronto from the Congo, via New York, on Saturday."

Drew Daniels writes "PowerQuest was demonstrating their software last night at the Winnipeg PC User Group (WPCUG link During their presentation it was mentioned that there was just an announcement that Partition Magic 4.0 will be released in mid August. Although This is good news in itself, the even better news is that it should have the ability to manipulate Linux ext2 partitions just like it has been able to manipulate FAT partitions. Note: I haven't found the official announcement(s), but I'll keep searching for them. New ext2 features will include creating and resizing. The new version will not run under native linux. :( Oh well. ". Great! And what's even better is that Ted Ts'o has been working with PQ on a program to resize ext2 partitions under Linux, and if you're a registered Partition Magic user, you can beta it. Beware though - last time I did, I broke stuff. He says it will be GPL soon.

The Conservative government is considering selling off Crown assets - think of the CN Tower - as a means of "reducing a deficit," Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Thursday.

Canadians mark 75th anniversary of famine genocide with National Holodomor Awareness Week November 16 - 23, 2008 > WINNIPEG, Nov.

Should Ottawa bail out the auto industry? Bailouts make political sense but taxpayers must ask hard questions By Deirdre McMurdy November 14, 2008 You don't have to be a Tory to take keen interest in the party ...

More than anyone else, manager Hal Lanier was responsible for the Sussex Skyhawks' turnaround last season, as the club went from the Can-Am League's worst team in 2007 to champions in 2008.

There are some familiar faces in strange places at the Grand Slam of Curling this week, and it's all owing to the Olympics BOB WEEKES November 13, 2008 at 10:35 PM EST WATERLOO, ONT.

Canada risks going from twin surpluses to no surpluses, as weakening exports caused by a possible global recession shrink the positive balance in the country's trade and investment ledger at the same time as ...

The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index soared toward the end of Thursday's session, closing nearly 5 percent higher as energy and materials issues rose with commodity prices and on hopes the market is close to ...

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty speaks at an economists conference, in downtown Toronto on Wednesday November 12, 2008.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks to delegates as he delivers the keynote address at the Conservative Convention in Winnipeg, Thursday, Nov.13, 2008.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is warning Conservatives they "face enormous challenges." As the Conservative Party opened its first policy convention in more than three years, Harper said Conservatives must be ...