Just a few days ago, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper got the support of Canada’s New Democratic Party during a crucial vote for the 40th Parliament’s survival and that of his minority government and staved off the defeat of his government in the House of Commons as promised by the opposition Liberals.
Not only does Harper get by with a little help from Jack Layton’s NDP, but apparently also with Yo-yo Ma.
Harper did a surprise performance during a Yo-yo Ma concert at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa tonight, playing piano and singing the Beatle’s “With A Little Help From My Friends”. Ma backed him on the cello. The crowd went wild.
Here’s a bit of video. It was started well into the song, but it’s the only one I can find. Mr. Prime Minister is on the piano and lead vocals in the centre.
(EDIT: This has been replaced with the official video from the Prime Minister’s Office)
Let the parodies about Minority Government and the song ensue!
If the whole Prime Minister/Calgary-Southwest MP/Conservative Party Leader gig doesn’t work out he definitely has a future singing.
Sorry for not posting in a while. I’ve been working alot and school has been hectic. I have not abandoned you, however! I will be posting soonish with my impressions of Ubuntu 9.10 Beta (which is out now: www.ubuntu.com)
This is assuming that the government of North Korea *is* behind the attacks against South Korea and the USA. The question implied in the Wired article is whether such a cyber-attack should be considered an act of war (for the record, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance is starting to shift towards considering it one, based on experience in a 2007 attack by a Russian botnet against the entire country of Estonia). Personally, I believe that a government-sponsored attack against cybernetic infrastructure should be considered an act of aggression, no different than bombing hydroelectric dams or poisoning the water system. In the West – especially in the West – so much is done over internal, national networks that to take those down would be *more* dangerous than poisoning the water main of a major city (think about it: if Canada’s internet went down East-West-North communications would be severely curtailed, and that’s the least of it: Provincial health authorities would be unable to relay important information, traffic would stop flowing in many urban centres, news services would be down as well as cellular networks (upon which Canada relies heavily), the Canadian Banks would be down, the RCMP and Provincial Police Forces would have to enforce order, and so forth. A state the size and population density (or lack thereof) of Canada can not function without its communications networks. America has a more modular political system – each state could assume responsibility for their own wellbeing; as I understand it, each state has their own military force of some kind (state troopers?) and has an executive which has wide-ranging powers. Canada has one military, one executive. The only way a provincial authority can exert force is through its municipal and provincial police.
So yes, a government-sponsored cyber-attack should be grounds for war or at least very very very strong sanctions and a retaliatory cyber-attack (which I’m sure Canada could mount much more effectively than North Korea and the US even more effectively)
Getting involved in cyber-warfare is one of the career possibilities I am possibilitiatizing right now with the Canadian Forces, so this is particularly interesting.
On a lighter note, Wired has a list of 100 *basic* skills for Geeks. I do #44 and I should show #77-79 to my Computer Science/Engineering teacher who runs KCVI’s robotics club (and is very good).
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