No...definitely not staged.

@Zap... The reason I am laughing is the opposite of what you might think... I barely pay attention to things that happen in Canada (except for ez robot of course)... We're so quiet here I am surprised anyone from anywhere could answer any of those questions. LOL A while back there was a saying or an expression... "it's like Canadian politics, who cares"... We can't blame you Americans for not knowing things about us, we only have like 3 TV networks and nothing really happens here that is all that exciting to be even news worthy...

EDIT Just google it... Canada has about 7 TV networks... The US looks like it has virtually thousands....

@Richard Honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. I joked fairly recently that next time I travel out of country that I am going to put Canadian flag sticker on all my luggage and wear a Canadian flag pin. The only flaw in the plan is learning a French Canadian accent to go along with it.....

@Jerry... LOL.... If you get questioned at the airport, don't panic... Just remember the Beaver is our national (animal) symbol, we don't like Celine Dion or Justin Beber, we do like Mike Myers, DJ Sures and William Shatner and sometimes Jim Carrey... Nothing ever happens in Saskatchewan... not sure why we still keep the province to be honest...oh well, Meh. We think Florida should be ours... half the Canadians live there already.... The English part of Canada thinks everyone that lives in Quebec is named Jacques... We invented Basket ball and we think we invented Hockey... Hmmm... We drink Tim Horton's coffee and we say "eh" a lot... Our dollar is called the Loonie and our 2 dollar coin is called the Toonie... Catchy isn't it... Most important, if they ask you who the President is... dude it's a trick question!... just answer... I really don't think anyone is actually running the place to be honest... You should be golden then...;)

The only thing I know about current Canadian politics is former Toronto mayor Rob (Bumble-expletive deleted) Ford, and only because boingboing.com kept reporting on him.

Alan

@Alan... Ha, Ha... I forgot about Rob the "crack man" Ford... I was wrong, Canadian politics are interesting... :D

I don't know a lot about Canada, but here goes:

It is a Beautiful Country. They are Good Neighbors and Good People. I guess they fall under Queen Elizabeth's reign. It is cold and has a lot of snow, ice, and a Very Lot of Water. I have friends who live in Canada (Mormans). I have vendors who live in Canada. D.J. and EZ-robot lives in Canada. There are Polar Bears, and lots of other animals there. My favorite TV show is from Canada (RedGreen) over at the Possum Lodge.

I don't know how many I got right, but correct me if I need it.

Mel :)

@Richard Thank you for the tips. I'm going to write those down.

My one trip into Canada was a short stay in Vancouver. A very nice city from what I could tell through the bus window between the airport and the ship terminal, LOL. My wife wants to visit Banff, which I hope we get to do soon.

EDIT As a side note, the one person who I had to deal with in Quebec was actually named Jacques.

I honeymooned in Banff 20+ years ago, and would definitely go back. Some of the most amazing scenery ever, and much of it easily accessible from parking areas along the roads. My wife blew out her knee on one of our hikes, so the last 4 days we had to take it easy, but don't feel we missed out on anything (and have 900+ slides from a 10 day trip to show for it..).

Alan

I hate Canada for Celine Dion, but I forgive you for VoiVod... Teenage me loved Canada for Pamela Anderson, Adult me hate Canada for Pamela Anderson.

I can think of more reasons but it's been a love hate relationship between Canada and I. :D

@Doombot ... LOL.... We'll find you another Pam Anderson... Don't worry... :P

EDIT All we got right now is Justin Beber in a wig.... Let me know if that works for you... He can even sing Happy Birthday Mr. President to you if you want :D

I live just a few hours drive to the border and regretfully have never been there. I hear you have lots of biting bugs and fishing up der. Ya, ain't a hay. You betcha. I hear you guys talk funny too.

@Dave "Ya, ain't a hay. You betcha. I hear you guys talk funny too" + eh.... ya' gotta' have "eh" on the end of yer sentences... c'mon eh... :P

Is Beber a Canadian? I thought he was an evil alien being come to torment the human race... (Sorry JB fans, if there are any). :P

I enjoyed the video. I didn't realise you guys didn't have your own president, but then I never really gave it much thought TBH. eyeroll

Bombardier is easily the best thing to come out of Canada. Bombardier Recreational Products specifically.

@Steve G Sadly Beber is Canadian... Even worse he lives 25 minutes from me (by car)... eek.... Ok, we should bash poor Justin... This year for his birthday he got only a Lear jet.... Times are tuff for the washed up 21 year old :P... Ok now I'm done...

Yes Steven Harper is our President.... :P

@Jerry, I agree Bombardier actually makes products where most of our economy is sadly based on exporting raw materials... When I was a kid in school (late '70s early '80s) I learned that 95% of our exports were raw materials in contrast 95% of US exports were finished goods... I was like woah... no wonder the US has such a huge economy... they buy our lumber and we buy back their finished furniture they make with it... That makes me feel kind of sad actually... Nothing against you Yanks but Canada needs more manufacturing ... We need more guys like DJ Sures :)

@Richard R That's ok brother, Aislinn will do ;)

lol you guys are hilarious... here's what I know about Canada :)

I was born in a small city on the northern side of lake superior, which is the world's largest fresh water lake. It's so big that when you fly over it, you don't see land for hours. Lake Superior is in a province called Ontario. We don't have states, we have provinces. And our provinces are real big, each can hold many states. But the funny thing is, the population of all of Canada is only 28 million or something - which is less than the population of California.

The city I am from is Thunder Bay... The population is less than 100,000 and the closest city drive is Winnipeg, which is 9 hour drive. Needless to say, that city is always about 10-15 years behind everything else. A few years ago they got text messaging ability, it was exciting for them. A few years before that (we're still in the 2000's btw) they got an FM radio station - Same great music, but now in stereo! The reason for the lack of FM radio stations was due to the logging industry. The AM signal traveled further...

The city is pretty big in land size, because it's actually two small towns that combined into a city. Without googling, I believe it was in the late 60's or early 70's where the two towns united. If you watch the simpsons, and they have Shelbyville. Well, that's thunder bay with the two towns - there's always fights between the two sides of the city which is Port Arthur and Fort William. There is a clear physical separation between the two sides of the city by forest. A big chunk of forest. But we came together by building a mall (the only mall in the city) called Intercity Mall. So that mall connects both sides of the city where people come together to buy shoes and candles.

There's a bunch of mills where i'm from, because most of the industry in Canada is Natural Resources. Canada likes to pretend we have actual real businesses, but the fact is it's businesses around selling our resources to the USA. There are quite a few mills, and they're all big and stinky and spread around the perimeter of the city, which is also why there is a high amount of cancer in the city

Due to the high amount of cancer and lack of jobs in Thunder Bay, most people from my generation and younger have left. So the city is pretty much our parents and grand parents, which means there are a lot of old people - and I mean a lot! There are so many old people that the city opened this gigantic hospital. The hospital currently is the largest industry of the city. Everyone who isn't a patient at the hospital works there. So it's a big deal in the city if you get a job at the hospital. Needless to say, the schools are really excited about hospital jobs because they offer nursing courses. I am certain there are more nurses per capita in thunder bay than anywhere else in the world. Interesting fact about how popular the hospital is in thunder bay is that it's called "the regional". So all you have to do is go out anywhere and listen to people talking around you and you will hear sentences like "jimmy got a job at the regional" or "going to the regional to visit my mom tomorrow"

Another important industry in Canada is the government. Canada is a little strange because we don't actually know how to run a country. Most citizens of Canada are content with their lives and very laid back. They enjoy waking up, going to work and coming home to watch American television. The citizens who aspire to do more, aspire to leave the country and live and work in the USA. So most of Canadian entrepreneurs are doing what they do to get the attention of Americans.

Because the Canadian Government is such a huge industry, we keep pay our government employees and they spend it back in the system to recirculate. Outside of selling our trees, water and oil, we don't have any other way of getting money into our country. Our government has a lot of old people too, which really screws things up. Canadians have this mentality that old people are wise and therefore belong in government. We don't have a president, we have a prime minster due to our English heritage. We actually had a prime minister who could only use half his mouth to speak and no one could understand him, not even us. Our government is super corrupt as well - but not the kind of corruption you would think of. Our corruption is super boring and not at the scale any other country would imagine. There's no drugs or stealing really - it's mostly a buddy system of old people. So needless to say, very few people in Canada care about our government politics. Oh, and very very few people vote. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we had the least number of voters in the world.

We do have a few things that we're super proud of. For example, we couldn't actually go to space so we made a remote control arm. It's a larger version than the one you can find at Radio Shack in the 80's. We also are really proud of something else, but I forget what it is.

So outside of the fact that Canada has not a lot going for it - it has a lot going for it. It's super relaxed country with very little crime. There is soooo much space that it's easy to be alone and collect your thoughts. The nature is absolutely beautiful and accessible.

This is moraine lake - which is about 1.5 hours from where I am sitting while typing this..

Also, where i'm from in thunder bay, we have this mountain range that apparently looks like a man lying down. You might need to be high to see it, or drunk - but apparently it's a big deal. Big deal or not, it's absolutely gorgeous view!

Uhm, what else... Oh ez-robot was thought of at my camp in Ontario. Now, summer cabins are called something different depending on where you are in Canada. Where I am from, we call them "Camps" - even though they are not tents. Other areas call them Cabins, cottages or summer homes. Although, the only real place that calls them Summer Homes are in Toronto - because people in Toronto feel entitled for no reason at all.

My camp is at Ishkibibble beach. Not sure where the name came from - but it sounds the same when you're sober or have been drinking. So you can't really screw up the pronunciation :)

I should add that we get the most beautiful northern lights in Thunder bay - specifically out at my "camp"

I came up with ezrobot at my camp - pretty much sitting in the same place as this pic

My camp is funny because every year I leave stuff there in the shed. Sometimes I come across interesting things

In Canada we have a lot of old stuff - old computers you find everywhere. Not necessary being used. But due to the number of old people, they like to hold onto stuff.

my camp is a very close community - everyone knows each other. All of Canada is kind of like that. Everyone likes their neighbor, even if they argue about stupid stuff. For the last few years, I hire my neighbors kids' band to play on my deck for a summer party for the whole beach

there's an old light house near my camp. I like to drive my jetskis over and hang out with the sail boats near by. lots of sail boats in Thunder bay as well..

Back onto topic about Banff - I took this pic last summer in Banff. It's beautiful when you can get away from other tourists.

Lake Louise is close to Banff, and is real boring but real beautiful. There isn't much to do there and no food or restaurants - at least nothing good. But the view is amazing! My friend got married this past spring there. Alan and I were in the wedding party and spent a few days there with his family. I took this pic from my hotel room...

It takes months for lake superior to freeze, and months for it to defrost. It will still have ice all the way until June. Doesn't stop me from ice surfing

this picture you might have seen before. It went viral a few years ago - but taken from a different angle. this is a photo I took last year. it's in thunder bay and that's a little bit of claim to fame for the city

When fall hits in Canada, it hits HARD and fast! Usually over night. So one day everything is green, and literally the next morning you have a forest of leafs on the ground

It does get quite warm in Canada - some areas more than others. My camp is on Lake Superior so it gets a reflection of the sun which heats up the beach. Most days it's near 30 or plus Celsius. Oh yeah, we use metric system...

Our football field is actually larger than USA - not sure why or how much. But that's an interesting fact.

We have one of the largest dinosaur areas and huge museum as well. It's a big tourist attraction. It's called Drumheller and even looks like prehistoric times!

The reason the water is green in Canada west side from the rockies is because the water is glacier run-off. I forget what's in the water, I believe lime stone?

This is the city I live in now, which is Calgary. We have an NHL hockey team, all the largest oil and gas companies have their head offices here and there are lots of pickup trucks.

Every few years the city floods. Well, not the entire city but a part of it. This picture was taken in front of my house little over a year ago

We have stores that still rent VHS tapes. This picture was taken down the street from the ezrobot office.

That's about it - that's all of Canada except the French side. We dont' know much about Quebec. I went there once and it was nice - but they sort of keep to themselves.

Oh, and we have some islands called Newfound Land and Nova Scotia and PEI, but they're mostly fishermen so they kind of get forgotten.

Nice DJ.

I have often said if I had to spend the rest of my life looking at one thing, I would pick Moraine Lake. Prettiest place I have ever been.

I think your football fields are larger because we still haven't gone metric. Yours are 100 meters, ours are 100 yards, so about 9 meters difference. (but I would argue that Fahrenheit makes more sense than Celsius. 0 degrees Fahrenheit is very cold, 100 is pretty warm. 0 degrees Celsius is chilly, 100 is dead).

Alan

@DJ is right... Canadians are pretty complacent... A large portion of us don't vote because it doesn't seem to matter who's running the country really... Few more things that came out of Canada are Insulin (University of Toronto in the '20s), the electron microscope... We also used to be world leaders in aviation back in the 50's with a company in Milton Ontario called A.V. Roe... Most Canadians knew it as Avro. It produced the fastest most advanced aircraft in the world then. The CF105 Arrow ... AVRO also coined the term Jetliner and we produced the worlds first Jet powered passager aircraft 10 years before the Boeing 707... However the Avro Arrow was Avro's masterpiece... In 1958 it could do mach 2.5 ... Faster than any aircraft in the world by far at the time... It wasn't until 1968 that the US SR71 Blackbird eclipsed it... Sadly it's still as a mystery today why the Arrow project was cancelled (in I believe 1959). That was it for the Arrow and A.V. Roe as a company... A.V. Roe would have been Canada's NASA if it weren't for our government killing it...

Nice synopsis, DJ.

About your old people comments....I find the older I get the less I like to be around people. In my youth I lived in a downtown apartment. After I married, we moved to the suburbs and had kids. Now that the kids are in High School, we are moving further out onto about 15 acres of land. I guess the natural progression from there would be that when I get really old, I'll move to Canada.

** Edit** @Richard This is what killed Avro

By the way, we're all invited back to @Alan's house later to see his 900 slide show of his trip to Canada... :D

@Richard R You're right man Canadian Maple is still the best skateboard deck material...I wonder how much a pro board made in California cost in Canada? Interesting...

@Zap... LOL... The Avro UFO... good one... I didn't say everything they made was great...:P

After the Arrow project was cancelled... literally within 48 hours Nasa grabbed 400 of the top engineers to go work for the space agency... We did/do have some smart people here...

@Doombot... We do have lots of maple trees, that's for sure....

I mentioned before that some of my favourite TV shows were made in Canada. Here's a list of a few...

Flashpoint, Orphan black, Stargate, Due south (always made me smile) La femme Nikita (the 1997 series), The X Files (The first five seasons that is), Torchwood (although technically British, but collaborated with CBC)

And my all time favourite show ever...

Fraggle rock :P

That was always part of my staple diet of kids TV shows when I was a wee lad. I always thought "MacGyver" was a Canadian show, but only found out recently that it was only sometimes filmed there.

@DJ.

That was a really nice insight of your life growing up in Canada. Well written and made for good reading. Thanks for sharing the photos as well. It really looks like a beautiful place, and is one of the few that's on my "Places I'd like to visit before I kick the bucket" list. I'll will get around to visiting there at some point and maybe pop in to The office to say "Hi".

Besides, Richard owes me a few beers and I fully intend on collecting, lol. :)

@Steve... I can't believe anyone but me knew of the show Due South! I absolutely loved that show....

I have an idea - you can all come visit us and hang out at ez-robot :D

I always have fun asking Americans to try and name all our territories (3) and provinces (10). I'm pretty sure I can name all 50 states haha.

Hey, everyone. Party around DJ's. I'll bring the party hats, lol. :D

Seriously though, if and when I ever get the time, and money, I'd love to pop over and visit you guys and take in some of that marvellous Canadian scenery. That would be pretty sweet. Maybe one day. ;)

I recently met a Canadian couple headed to Florida about 5 months ago. My family and I were at a restaurant, (Denny's), he opened his wallet, and I happened to notice that his wallet contained plastic money....I asked as polite as I could, may I see that 5 Canadian Dollar Banknote...the banknote seemed brand new, as I payed for my family's dinner with an old beat up 20 dollar bill..... I asked how much to purchase the banknote, he said sure, give me a 5 dollars. I own a piece of Canadian Money, which is in a safety deposit box in a bank for my son when he get's older.

Wayne, quick trip to Canada and visit your favorite robot company - and the poor Canadian dollar value, you can leave with all the plastic money you can carry :)

Traveling to Canada right now due to our dollar is very affordable.

Back when Vancouver became "Hollywood North" I worked there many many months on several films and met many wonderful people. My experience left a lasting impression with me. I hope one day the Canadian dollar weakens (sorry Canadian friends), so that it may become a competitive place to film. I'd love to return. I believe the last time I was there was to film a movie called the Watchmen. I think that was at least 7 years ago :(

Only thing I know aboat the Great White North is you folks have a Timmy's (Tim Hortons)problem and you come spend an odd about of time and money in Maine USA.

V