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appearance. no real trees, no real lakes, everything is man made. it's just a flat place.

So it's pretty dull eh? The winter probably makes it worse, we've been lucky as we haven't gotten crazy snow over here. We would wake up to a foot, and it would be 1/5th of that by the end of the day.

So it's pretty dull eh? The winter probably makes it worse, we've been lucky as we haven't gotten crazy snow over here. We would wake up to a foot, and it would be 1/5th of that by the end of the day.

yeah it's pretty dull. plus im really used to not having "canadian winters". All it ever does here is rain and when it snow's it maybe on the ground for a day tops.

yeah it's pretty dull. plus im really used to not having "canadian winters". All it ever does here is rain and when it snow's it maybe on the ground for a day tops.

Yea, that's how it is here. My sons mom really likes snow so I think that's part of why she wants to move out there.

  • 7 months later...

I've travelled to Canada many times and I'm afraid I think that Australia wins hands down. My nephew has lived in BC, Canada for many years and tells me that he does not think the quality of life over there is as high as in Australia. He is over there because he is married to a Canadian but I think he intends heading back to Sydney because he wants his son educated here. From what I have seen of Vancouver, I agree. I was quite shocked at the number of homeless people there and the city has a "depressed" feeling about it. Over the last three or four years, Melbourne and Sydney have scored as the most livable cities in the world. Whilst I agree, Sydney is expensive - the reason it is expensive is that most people coming to Australia want to live here and demand exceeds supply as far as housing is concerned. When you look at Sydney, who the hell in their right mind would chose wet, miserable Vancouver?? I mean, just look at Sydney Harbour - its the most beautiful Harbour in the world. Vancouver is so-so but it doesn't have the "sparkle" Sydney has and it is seriously short of the great nightlife of Aussie cities like Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane. I know I am biaised but at least I have actually BEEN to Canada, the USA and the UK - in fact I have travelled extensively throughout the world. The people in Australia are extremely friendly. The fact that Australia is a long way from Europe and the USA is a distinct advantage ... sorry, but it IS! Australians travel very widely but most of us are just so, so glad to get back to Oz where the only thing warmer than the sunshine is the down-to-earth friendliness of its people. Australia is an incredibly diverse, multicultural country with fabulous cities that have a very lively night life and cafe scene, world class restaurants of every conceivable cuisine. We are spoilt for choice for everything, quite frankly. The political scene in Australia is lively and interesting. At the moment, Australia's economy is booming and we only have 4% unemployment (beats Canada and the USA hands down). Also, our Aussie dollar is leaving the US$ and Canadian dollar behind. I have met many Canadians who have moved to Australia - I am yet to meet ONE that regrets it.

If you're racist or a member of the mafia choose Australia

- That is the greatest load of rubbish I have read. In fact, Australia is one of the most successful and tolerant multicultural societies on earth! Have you actually got off your couch and been there? We have never had the enormous racial problems experienced in Europe and the USA. Everyone in Australia come under the same rules and laws and everyone gets a fair go. Our aboriginal communities get enormous help from Australian taxpayers, eg free education, free health, free housing, huge tax subsidies so that they can find employment or start their own businesses. We are exceedingly generous to refugees that come to our shores. For you to make the statement shows how ignorant you are - you should get educated and make it your business to find out more about the countries you denigrate!

Canada has less things that could kill you (poisonous snakes, dangerous animals etc).

Um, excuse me, but you have MORE things that can REALLY tear you apart, eg great big mean grizzly bears, moose, wolves - in case you haven't noticed, these are SERIOUS predators! Over 90% of Australians live in cities and haven't even SEEN a bloody snake in their lives. Australia does not have any of the huge predators (like bears) that can hunt you down. In fact, when I was in BC, Canada (in the summer of 2010), I found it very constricting that you couldn't just pop out and walk through the forests without the fear of some bear coming up behind you! Now THAT is scary! At least in Australia, you can go hiking along the countless trails and tracks in the bush and beaches without fear of being eaten. Snakes and spiders will leave you alone if you leave them alone - stop being a wimp!

I'd go to Vancouver if I had the chance. Overall, Canada's weather and environment seems much more my style.

Which is odd since I live in Houston, TX. :p

That's OK, if you don't want to come to Australia that is fine by us! For every one person that doesn't want to come, we have literally THOUSANDS that do. If you have any doubts about coming to Aussie, don't come - it is as simple as that.

Canada.

Spefically, Vancouver.

I went there on a work visa and absolutely LOVED my time there. I live here in Australia (Sydney) and it's just horrible compared to there.

Rent is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY cheaper there than here for starters.

The people are amazingly friendly and out-going there. Here, being a huge multicultural country there is A LOT of racism. People will hit you if you look at them the wrong way (specifically teenage Muslims who run around thinking they own the place)

The cost of everything here is expensive compared to Canada.

Our political system is ****. There is no other way to describe it. We have a woman PM who brought in the carbon tax, therefore making our power bills rise 700%.

I also found medical stuff was exceptional in Vancouver. Emergency = 2 hour wait. Here, your lucky to get seen under 8 hours. Good luck if you have a serious problem.

I would say if you have to choose, choose Canada.

Speaking from Sydney here. Other cities are pretty much the same. Id say if you HAD to live here, choose Brisbane. It's the best of the bad bunch.

Canada of course!

Some people sure don't know much about Canada. Canada IS i's OWN country, and definitely isn't part of the USA.

Canada is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world, is very rich, very liked, and very much into technolog and industry, etc. etc.

One thing people don't take into consideration, although Canada is one of the largest countries in the world, it doesn't have a very big population.

There are something like 4 states in the USA that have more people in each than there is in all of Canada.

And that isn't becuz of location, it's not all full of snow, and we do not live in igloos like most people seem to think.

Even less snow than lots of other countries. Where I live I'm lucky if I even see snow in the winter. And in the summer it can be very hot, even way to hot for me.

Canada. Australia has become too expensive to live in. Everything is taxed, and still the government is in debt. Also, the government keeps on making stupid decisions which will affect future generations. The people don't have a say.

Australia now has too many cultures. If there were only European cultures, it would have been okay. But when you start mixing different religious groups together, you're asking for trouble. The government would call me racist for saying that. I don't care - I go by common sense.

I would love to start a new life in Canada any day.

Yeah I'd say probably Canada too. Australia while great in many ways, has many many flaws. I'm planning to move away as it's just too expensive to live here. It's losing any identity it may have had. The government are ridiculous, while yes they do subsidise the aboriginal population a huge amount, this has led to many of them having entitlement issues. Not all as many are lovely, but here in WA, there are too many people being beaten, robbed and terrorised by the native population. It has tried to be all things for all people, which has failed, and is now gonna be taken over by China in the next few decades

If I wanted to apply for a permanent residence in Canada, where I would do that? in about 3 or 4 years (PhD Completion), it would be great to live in there... unless UK adopts me (highly unlikely) or I learn Deutsch (not bad actually, but still... they don't love me there just by my English speaking skills)

If I wanted to apply for a permanent residence in Canada, where I would do that? in about 3 or 4 years (PhD Completion), it would be great to live in there... unless UK adopts me (highly unlikely) or I learn Deutsch (not bad actually, but still... they don't love me there just by my English speaking skills)

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.asp

just google it. all info can be found on the government sites and i think each province has their own respective gov't websites that contain more info on what you are looking for.

So, in Canada we have:

- A normal ozone layer, so 15fps solar cream is ok, and that's in June

- Diverse climate depending on where you are; continental, oceanic (both Atlantic and Pacific), polar

- Immense natural reserves and wilderness areas

- Long snowy winters and hot, wet summers, in general (not everywhere)

- Proximity to the US

- ****ty internet and telecommunications

- Corrupt politicians

- Low crime rate

- Low racism, relatively speaking

- No abortion laws whatsoever

- Low population density

- ****ty roads

- Nobody has guns and nobody wants one, as strange as that may sound to our neighbours (in general)

- Public, universal ****ty health care

- Low school tuition fees (in general)

- Strong American influence (especially in the west) but you'll constantly hear us saying we're absolutely not Americans and Americans are so very different

- Quebec: a unilingual French-speaking province with strong cultural ties to Europe, and a strong desire to separate and form an independent country

In Australia they have

- Zero Punctuation

- Kangoroos

- Kiwis

- Vast amounts of desert

- Hmmm... yeah I know Australia really well

Canada is ranked the #1 most educated country in the world. Australia is ranked 9th behind United States (lol).

Is your source for that the internets? Heres some statistics for you to "lol" over:

From the UN Human Development Report 2011

  • Australia ranks number 2 in the Human Development Index, with America 4 and Canada 6
  • 74 years age health adjusted life expectancy vs Americas 70 and Candas 73
  • Higher primary, secondary and teriarty enrolement ratios than Canada and the US, except for tertiary where the US appears second only to Korea :s
  • Australia spends half the amount on education as the US does but Australia only has 7% the population of the US
  • Again on gender inequality, life expectancy at birth and environment sustainability Australia ranks ahead of both

http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Complete.pdf

Using the 2009 education index (prior to reforumulisation): Australia equal 1 > Canda 6 > America @ 13

are what Americans used to be in the golden years; Polite, friendly, personable, etc, et al..

this is exactly correct. Canada is a clone of the USA in every single way but 50 years culturally in the past. Add vast resourses like oil,water, lumber, minerals, balanced books, historically sound housing sector, tons of jobs (both skilled and non skilled), high wages, free health care, etc etc.

We have every culture on earth here, we don't have to lock out doors at night (some areas you have to though), we are very polite for the most part. (sometimes too nice to certain groups that take advantage of it) but over all Canada stacks up pretty damn nice compared to the rest of the world.

in the end... picture it like this: Its a very nice, polite, gun free version of the USA but with a winter season.

Having lived in both countries, I vote for Canada, would never worry about the USA, unless Obama is re-elected there maybe some concern.

But Australia is not bad, if you're under 45 it's not hard to immigrate, you have to realize and understand the way things work down under, like superanunnation

and taxes are higher, fuel prices are slightly higher, wages are higher, but so is the cost of living, last time I was there was in 2010 and just to buy 2 movie tickets was over $50.

As for social benefits Canada has better benefits.

Computer and electronics prices are outrageously high due to lack of competition, but the nie thing is buying from overseas anything $999.99 and under is imported tax and duty free.

of course retailers have been trying to get the gov't to add GST to shipments, but they refuse.

Not sure about unemployment, but as for quality of life is more laid back in Australia than North America, here in Canada you live to work, in Australia you work to live.

I've lived mostly in Melbourne and traveled a lot too Sydney. As for me I prefer Canada, less taxes.

hope this helps.

I'm sure the OP must have made up his mind after almost a year or so. ;)

Also, sour grapes to people in this thread equating Vancouver to Canada. :p But it's a nice area. The city proper from what I recall wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but the more affluent suburbs are nice. Was there in 2004 to visit relatives in Richmond to the south - did check out North Vancouver and was on one of those restaurants at the top of Grouse Mountain. Awesome view from up there.

Though over here in the Toronto area it's great too. Lacks the mountains and the ocean to stare at but there is a waterfront and the city is quite leafy. Suburbs are also rapidly growing - almost all faster than the city proper - and there's a urban shift occurring with the maddening rate of condos popping up everywhere. Crime rate is generally low despite this past summer's high profile incidents, for a city this size, and the northern suburb is the safest municipality in Canada. This city also rarely experiences catastrophic weather events - the most we got are a few isolated flooding incidents, the most recent being in 2005. Major gripes are the gridlock, slow rate of advancing public transit, higher cost of living, and of course the worst sport teams in Canada :p Well there is a fifth gripe, that being having the worst imaginable mayor in the existence of this planet, but that's a temporary problem to be fixed in two years' time.

  • 4 months later...

The amount of stupid in this topic can't be quantified.

I can't speak for Australia, but you do hear lots and lots of complaints about the government.

Because no one complains about their govt. in Canada? Stupid.

I lived in English Bay, Canada so I choose it. I heard Indians like me won't be welcome in Aussie land. Seattle and Vancouver are pretty much twin.

Complete rubbish. Australia, like all countries, has some problems with racism. It isn't a Utopia, but it is a damn sight better than most places in the world.

Western countries actually make efforts to deal with issues of racism, in a lot of other parts of the world racism is just a daily part of life and those who are the victims of it have little or no redress. No statutes against discrimination, no laws to protect anyone. Nothing.

If you're racist or a member of the mafia choose Australia

What does the Mafia have to do with Australia? Stupid.

I don't know if this is still relevant to the OP, but I would say you can't go wrong living in either country. Good luck.

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I've custom-built all my own PCs and servers since the 90s, and this is the first time I have had to put a NAS together. Even if the actual base ZimaBoard 2 was already a completed build, it still feels pretty custom. I just wish that IceWhale Technology included a getting-started guide in the box for the Start Kit, which would have really completed this kit. Instead, I had to search for the official video on the YouTube channel to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. So who is this for? Definitely the hobbyist who is comfortable building their own PC and servers. It also has a much smaller footprint than its nearest equivalent (in terms of specs), like the Beelink Me Pro, which is another NAS I will be testing soon. Although the Beelink does not come with the PCIe 3.0 X4 expansion, the ZimaBoard 2 Starter Kit suddenly looks to be a great bargain, even if it only offers the two 3.5-inch bays over the four in the other example. It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N150 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the ZimaBoard 2 is intended for, media streaming and backup. It also looks like the IceWhale Technology staff are quite active in the official forums helping people with issues they come across with ZimaOS and the devices, peer support seems to be good as well, I was quickly able to find why I was not able to create a new Storage Pool in ZimaOS v1.6.1 even though that is quite a serious bug, hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. If you are comfortable with the command line and Docker, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. This was my first time with ZimaOS. It seems a bit barebones in comparison to the likes of Synology DSM, TOS, and UGOS, but it has a ton of apps to get you started with your home or small business NAS. Where to buy As of publishing, IceWhale Technology is running a discount of up to 5% for the Starter Kit. If you opt to get just the ZimaBoard 2 itself, it does come with a SATA Y-Cable, so you will be able to connect up to two 3.5-inch HDDs to it. ZimaBoard 2 1668 Starter Kit for $534.50 on Amazon US (was $548.60) ZimaBoard 2 832 Starter Kit for $372.88 on Amazon US (was $390.60) Zimaboard 2 1668 (16GB+64GB) for $419.90 on Amazon US Zimaboard 2 832 (8GB+32GB) for $359.90 on Amazon Disclosure: IceWhale Technology provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. Good to know The Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. 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    • It's in the Insider's group so yes it's technically beta, though these days it's hard to see much of a difference unless you opt for the most extreme beta builds, which I don't. When I moved here from the Release Preview channel I did so primarily because I wanted to see how well the restored taskbar functionality (restored from Win10, and earlier) is working and whether it was time to finally abandon SAB--and it is--working fine, so far. Not as polished as SAB, but it'll do for me.
    • I've been using MWB Premium for a number of years so that along with Windows updates and updated browser should be fine. Thanks for that.
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