I'm Canadian and live in Vancouver and I definitely can believe that he was treated so well by those around him. It certainly brought a tear to my eye to hear him talk about the generosity of people to those who are disadvantaged. I wonder, though, if it would be that different in the States. I get the impression, @SFOGuy, that you think it would. How come?

and how the Canadian Vancouver police (in this one instance) treats the handicap
http://videosift.com/video/Vancouver-Cop-Inexplicably-Assaults-Handicapped-Woman

I know im being a bit of a hater. sometimes i'm so angry i just can't help it

Great feedback, Thanks

Yes, I assumed line-ups, but not to the point of killing the experience.
I go to the Con in Vancouver and in Calgary and they are pretty decent..., What We don't get are all the promotional exclusives and swag.

The floor would be my biggest expectation, but the event may be outselling it's location. More people than space. Good thoughts, I'll consider.., But still, it sounds like a party all the same..

This took place in Vancouver, BC, *Canada.

I worked in a department store once, A big one, nine floors.. (Eatons Centre - downtown Vancouver)
When we had to garbage stuff, security followed us to the Compactor, and made sure EVERYTHING that went into the garbage was first completely destroyed.
Things like Full sized ride-em Barbie cars, exercise equipment, and tons of stuff from my department. I know that literally Tons of clothing, went into the trash as well, and it ALL had to be slashed before it went in.
Security would stand there and make sure nothing survived - and if it wasn't destroyed enough, they made us break it some more.

True story.

*quality

Yoda was my favorite childhood song, I had no idea it had been based on a song called Lola back then. It didn't matter, was 9yrs old. Vancouver, 1994'ish, went to a Weird Al Concert (hoping for this song) with my parents at the Queen Elizabeth Theater and he played almost everything except...(Yoda). . Then encore, says "this is a song about a little green man" The entire audience of kids lose their minds and he sings Yoda as his last song. He probably repeated the chorus 15 times.

Amazing how this random shit sticks with you. I am damn happy this ridiculous song is still bringing happiness and doing good things 20+ years after it did good for me.

I believe Vancouver BC was the first or second City where a Starbucks opened on a downtown intersection, diagonally across from a Starbucks.

Caffeine is a drug.

You almost never hear of an NHL player being upset (in a litigation sort of way) about injuries they got that resulted from fighting (drop the gloves and throw punches).

In general, the one major incident I am aware of that resulted in legal action being taken against a player was when Todd Bertuzzi checked Steve Moore down the the ice from behind and then drove his head/neck into the ice with his stick in some heavy followup hits. This is mentioned in the wikipedia article @eric3579 posted, and hinted at in the article @RedSky posted from the Economist.

In that incident, Steve Moore (a lower-level player on the Colorado Avalanche) had hit Marcus Naslund (a star level player of the Vancouver Canucks) in a previous game. That hit was a fairly normal hockey hit -- Naslund had the puck, Moore intentionally hit him to try to separate him from the puck, but arguably led with his elbow to Naslund's head. It was a dangerous play, that should have be penalized (it wasn't) -- although I don't think Moore intended to cause injury. It is a fast game, sometimes you can't react quick enough to avoid a dangerous collision like that. Still, I think that kind of play should be penalized to make it clear to players that they need to avoid dangerous plays if possible. Steve Moore didn't have a history of dirty or dangerous play, but still.

Anyway, all of that dovetails in pretty nicely with my previous post, specifically about what leads to a "spontaneous fight". Moore, a 3-4th line guy (lower ranks of skill/ability on the team) hit star player Naslund. In almost ANY hockey game where that kind of thing happens, you can expect that somebody from the star's team is going to go over to the offending player and push them around, probably with the intent to fight them. Usually it happens right at the time of the incident, but here it was delayed to a following game between the two teams.

In the next game between Colorado and Vancouver, Moore got challenged by a Vancouver player early in the first period and fought him. But I guess that the lag time and injury to Naslund (he ended up missing 3 games) had brewed up more bad blood than that so many Vancouver players hadn't gotten it fully out of their systems. Later in the game, Todd Bertuzzi skated up behind Moore when he didn't have the puck, grabbed him and tailed him for several seconds trying to get him into a second fight, and when he didn't respond just hauled back and punched him in the back of the head.

Moore fell to the ice, where Bertuzzi piled on him and drove his head into the ice. A big scrum/dogpile ensued, with Moore on the bottom. As a result of that, Moore fractured 3 vertebrae in his neck, stretched or tore some neck ligaments, got his face pretty cut up, etc. Pretty severe injuries.

So, in comparison:
Moore (lesser skill) hit Naslund (high skill) resulting in a minor(ish) injury, that could have ended up being much worse. But, it was a legitimate hockey play that just happened to occur at a time when Naslund was vulnerable -- arguably no intent to harm/injure.
Bertuzzi hit Moore in a following game, after he had already "answered" for his hit on Naslund by fighting a Vancouver player. Bertuzzi punched him from behind and followed up with further violence, driving his head into the ice and piling on him, initiating a dogpile. Not even close to a legitimate hockey play, well away from the puck, and with pretty clear intent to harm (maybe not to injure, but to harm).


Moore sued Bertuzzi, his team (the Canucks), and the NHL. Bertuzzi claimed that his coach had put a "bounty" on Moore, and that he hadn't intended to injure him -- just to get back at him for his hit on Naslund. Bertuzzi was suspended for a fairly long span of time, and his team was fined $250,000. The lawsuit was kind of on pause for a long time to gauge the long-term effects on Moore, but was eventually settled out of court (confidential terms).

All of this stuff is or course related to violence in hockey, but only loosely tied to fighting in hockey. Some would argue (with some merit in my opinion) that if the refs had called a penalty on Moore's hit on Naslund, and allowed a Vancouver player to challenge him to a fight at that time instead of the following game, it probably wouldn't have escalated to the level it did.

So, at least in my opinion, the league (NHL) needs to be careful, consistent, and fairly harsh in handing out penalties/suspensions to players who commit dangerous plays that can or do result in injuries -- especially repeat offenders. BUT, I think that allowing fighting can actually help mitigate that kind of stuff also -- as long as the league keeps it from getting out of hand and the enforcer type players continue to follow their "code".

In Vancouver BC, Canada's biggest western city, Whites only make up 46.2% (2011)
Total visible minority population is 51.8%
Though I'm sure with the amount of Asian immigrants, this statistic has shifted more so over the 3-4 years since this poll was taken.

Also, 48.8% identify as non-religious while only 36.2% identify as Christian. Next down the line is 5.7% Buddhist & 2.8% Sikh. (for those who are wondering, only 2.2% identify as Muslim.

I met Mel Blank on several occasions on his trips to Vancouver.
He used to come and do performances at Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Theater with the VSO. He'd show the cartoons in their entirety while the symphony would play all the music live. Mel would introduce all the cartoons and tell about how they were made. Afterwards he'd hang around for autographs and talks.
A great guy in person, the sort of guy you'd want to know and learn from.

I'm glad someone is able to carry out and expand on his legacy.

There's no dividing line between the opposite sides of the road. I can't stand driving on streets like that. It feels so dangerous.

The only time I've encountered that is in Vancouver where the middle lane can go in either direction depending on how the signal above the lane is illuminated, but even then it's unclear to a foreigner which direction it's going!

As a Canadian of Asian descent, I just want to back up Colbert, here. If satire is "the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues," then I think he knocked this one out of the park. A lot of folks don't see "Redskins" as an offensive term because they grew up with it being everywhere; exaggerating and applying the same idea to the Asian population really highlights how ridiculous the name of this foundation is, but only because Western culture has only just recently started to agree that phrases like "Ching chong ding dong", "orientals" (unless you're Rob Ford), "gook", "slant", "chink", etc, are actually really offensive. If a pro sports team came up with the name "Vancouver Chinamen" or "Detroit Negroes" today (coupled with stereotypical logos) there would be a massive and immediate outrage. The only reason the Redskins have gotten away with their name is that the team was named long enough ago that the racial slur was widely acceptable to the non-First Nations public.

And really, this parallels racial awareness in North America; although racism is still very much a thing for people of all races, the First Nations population is still being outstandingly and horribly marginalized with very little support or attention being paid to them or their (still appallingly denied) rights. Here in Canada (in which we boast great racial and cultural diversity, the "cultural mixed salad" vs the US "melting pot"), we still haven't done anything to amend the fact that when we got here we took brutal advantage of a trusting and helpful culture, booted them out to the worst parts of the country and stranded them there.

I'd really love to move to Vancouver...

I think it's because Quebec has a shortage of doctors because Quebec in it's infinite stupidity and xenophobia do not allow doctors to practice unless they speak high level french (the same reason I can't get Permanent Residency here while other Aussie friends in BC and Ontario had no issue). I guess we simply didn't have a serious shortage in Australia. It's so easy to find a GP, I guess it might be harder to find one that Bulk Bills (medicare takes the entire cost of consultation) for low income earners.

My experience at hospitals is limited. When i got hit on the head by a cricket bat, i had to wait 2 hours, I think (was a long time ago), to get stitches. And when I had my tonsils out, I had to wait 6 months for the elective surgery because we didn't have private insurance.

My girlfriend had to go to the ER when she had mono here, we had to wait an hour or two before she was seen by a doctor. While we were there, the hospital was fucking decrepit, the waiting room was freezing (there was a lady who had a broken arm and she was violently shivering), and nearer the end of the day (my GF had to have an IV drip so we had to wait around there all day to see if it helped her) an old lady was called up and as she was walking past she said she had been there since 8 in the morning and they had literally forgotten about her.

One of my friends has an issue with kidney stones, they build up and he has to have surgery to get them out. He had a procedure booked for I don't know how long, went to the hospital and they told him they didn't have any beds left and he had to wait another week.

The Jewish General has now been instructed to turn away off-island patients. It has the best cancer treatment facility of any hospital, so people with cancer are now instructed to kindly fuck off.

The new, mega hospital in Vendome is waaaay over budget and time, and people (particularly old people) can't even get to it from the metro station right near it!

I'd love to move to Vancouver...

Ah, I can see you have a FORT in mind. There is no FORT, really. The whole area is the Fort, the land itself. The "blocking fort" ARE the bunkers -- on top of the bluffs and at water level. There are two other forts in a triangular shape -- one on Whidbey Island and one on Marrowstone Island. The idea was if any boat came into the waters of Admiralty Inlet, one of the forts bunkers' big guns could take them out.

The bunkers are all still there. They were going to jackhammer them away, but they were made from imported Belgian concrete and they just would NOT break up.

So you can go crawling around in all sorts of bunkers. Some of the rooms have had their doors welded shut, for safety reasons. But there are plenty to explore.

These three forts aren't on an estuary, however. It is ocean water, but not the ocean. The Pacific Ocean stops about where the Northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula is kind of south of Vancouver Island, in Canada. Things get narrow there, and the ocean waves can't reach. Or something. So there are bodies of water that ships and boats follow going east, then they turn south to Seattle, which is on the coast of Puget Sound.

It's all very confusing. I can never figure out which way is north. Port Townsend has water on three sides, fer pitys sake!

Oh, and they did remove the big guns, even as they left the bunkers. You can see where they were and get a good sense of how big those guns were.

None of the three forts ever shot in anger. Just practice.

Exactly! "Shop fronts" only.

So when are you coming to America? It is beautiful in my part of the country, albeit very young by European or even East Coast standards. We are very proud of our oldest building. I think it was built in 1875 or something. Maybe even later. Ha.