4 ms·

One of my profs used to say that when it came to science Canada had a bronze medal mentality. We also cancelled a supercollider program in because it was more p

One of my profs used to say that when it came to science Canada had a bronze medal mentality. We also cancelled a supercollider program in because it was more politically expedient to spend the modest grant required on low income housing for the more politically influential eastern provinces and did absolutely nothing to protect Nortel as they were slowly picked apart by Chinese intelligence. https://www.bcbusiness.ca/ubcs-particle-accelerator-what-couldve-been https://www.bcbusiness.ca/ubcs-particle-accelerator-what-cou... https://nationalpost.com/news/exclusive-did-huawei-bring-down-nortel-corporate-espionage-theft-and-the-parallel-rise-and-fall-of-two-telecom-giants https://nationalpost.com/news/exclusive-did-huawei-bring-dow...

csours 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider The US has one too.
- valuearb 6y ago
  Hey cancellation of the Supercollider enabled me to hire my best engineer ever. So not a total loss.
  - csours 6y ago
    Story?
    - valuearb 6y ago
      He was a Japanese nuclear physicist working in the SSC, who had written some amazing graphics filters in his spare time. We hired him (cost $25,000 in legal fees to get him a work visa IIRC) and he instantly became one of our most valuable engineers. His products sold millions of dollars and supported probably a dozen of our employees. Funny part is his English wasn’t very good, so I never even had a full conversation with him. Great guy tho. Makes me want to tell my republican friends, do you want super talented people making things in Asia, or here?
      - csours 6y ago
        I knew a guy who worked on the SSC. I was a teenager, and he was a friend of the family, so it's not like we got into depth or anything. He was of the opinion that cronyism killed the project. People brought their unqualified friends on board and drove up the cost. It was pretty cool to see some bits and bobs from the project, like flat braided wire. I also worked on some relocated houses that were moved off of the track of the SSC. They spent a LOT of money preparing the area.
giarc 6y ago
I remember reading about the ITER project and that Canada's bid was quite strong. Would have been a big project, not only for construction but attraction of academic talent from around the world. If I recall correctly, one level of government wasn't willing to hold up their promised funding of the project so the bid was pulled.

csours 6y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collider The US has one too.

valuearb 6y ago
Hey cancellation of the Supercollider enabled me to hire my best engineer ever. So not a total loss.
- csours 6y ago
  Story?
  - valuearb 6y ago
    He was a Japanese nuclear physicist working in the SSC, who had written some amazing graphics filters in his spare time. We hired him (cost $25,000 in legal fees to get him a work visa IIRC) and he instantly became one of our most valuable engineers. His products sold millions of dollars and supported probably a dozen of our employees. Funny part is his English wasn’t very good, so I never even had a full conversation with him. Great guy tho. Makes me want to tell my republican friends, do you want super talented people making things in Asia, or here?
    - csours 6y ago
      I knew a guy who worked on the SSC. I was a teenager, and he was a friend of the family, so it's not like we got into depth or anything. He was of the opinion that cronyism killed the project. People brought their unqualified friends on board and drove up the cost. It was pretty cool to see some bits and bobs from the project, like flat braided wire. I also worked on some relocated houses that were moved off of the track of the SSC. They spent a LOT of money preparing the area.

giarc 6y ago

I remember reading about the ITER project and that Canada's bid was quite strong. Would have been a big project, not only for construction but attraction of academic talent from around the world. If I recall correctly, one level of government wasn't willing to hold up their promised funding of the project so the bid was pulled.