I was reviewing some transactions done in the U.S. last weekend, and it was more than a little odd to see that I pay LESS in Canadian funds than I would in greenbacks. It’s been more than 30 years since the Canadian dollar was worth more than the U.S. dollar. I was only a wee’un back then, when we were very new to Canadian life and my parents were still comparing the practically worthless Philippine peso to the currency of their newly-adopted country.

It’s a great time to travel south — I remember the sting of the exchange rate only five years ago, when I was in New York City and paying hefty sums for theatre tickets. As usual, retail prices have yet to catch up with currency rates, but monetary parity south of the border is something altogether new. The Canadian economy relies heavily on exports to the United States, however, so I can really only speak for importers and the tourists heading outside of Canada when I say it’s good to see the pendulum swing in our favour this time in terms of buying power.

I’ve never seen the U.S. and British measurement system called ‘English’ before, have you? I grew up with metric, so I still have a tough time converting Fahrenheit to Celsius, and even though I drive a car with gauges in miles I have to look at the odometer to get a sense of how far I’ve travelled or convert it to kilometres in my head. In fact, that’s something I do on long car trips subconsciously: whenever I see the distance on a highway sign, I try and estimate my time of arrival based on my speed (I never use the cruise control, either) and then calculate the distance in kilometres. This was also actually useful when I rented cars in the States during the time when the Canadian dollar was at its lowest, around 60 cents U.S. I could convert currency and mileage simultaneously!

One last oddity for today: I get a lot of wacky ISPs and domain names in my stats, but here’s one I thought of screen-capturing:

And yes, I tried visiting, but apparently Satan Penguin isn’t very welcoming. Heh.

I almost didn’t make it to my first screening at the annual Toronto International Film Festival. I arrived home early from work today (top-secret work mission accomplished, by the way!) and tried to nap before heading back out again, but I’m not very good at naps. I’m good at crashing, passing out, falling fast asleep, dozing off, snoozing, all of that, but naps require the use of at least three very loud alarms and even so, loud noises are not always effective at bringing me back to a state of consciousness. I barely made it to the cinema in Yorkville and I was only half-awake on the way there, but once the film got underway I was riveted.

I hadn’t planned to see Iron Ladies of Liberia, actually. Back in June I bought a Festival package through Visa called Explorer or something like that: 3 movies selected for the buyer at a much cheaper rate ($75 including taxes and fees) instead of the full price of $37.50 each. They guarantee all three films are either on weeknight evenings or weekends. I had to sell my other two tickets because the films were shown last weekend while I was in Philly, so this was the only one I could attend. Too bad. But hey, there’s always next year.

I didn’t mind not being able to choose the films because the fact that they made it into the Festival in the first place means they pass TIFF muster. That’s good enough for me. I also like the surprise. I read nothing about the film beforehand, but Liberia? I could certainly learn more about the country — the only factoid I can tell you is the name of the dictator they ousted for corruption (Charles Taylor).

The film info and synopsis from the TIFF site:

Iron Ladies of Liberia offers an up-close look at the hard work of nation building. How do you reconstruct a country after fourteen brutal years of war? This film has one good answer: let women lead.

To Western eyes, there are scenes in this film that prick the middle-class conscience: widespread pollution and lack of sanitation, grinding poverty, structural dilapidation. You see what the Iron Ladies of Liberia have inherited, what little they have to work with, and the larger question — where do they even start??? What takes priority? Liberia, in its years of corruption, had accumulated a debt that was impossible to pay back, and was in trouble with the IMF and World Bank, a situation that discourages any foreign investment to get the economy moving again. It’s a catch-22 situation, and the kind which you’ve probably heard Bono of U2 talking about for years: “debt forgiveness”. Here’s an article for an opposing opinion.

The producer, Henry Ansbacher, attended the screening, introducing the film and answering questions about it afterwards. Apparently CBC is going to feature it in October, and the Knowledge Network as well. I hope this movie gets picked up for distribution, because it’s a real eye-opener. It’s also very inspiring to see an articulate 68-year woman put heart and soul into digging her country out of a serious hole: a 90% unemployment rate, crumbling infrastructure, the constant threat of civil unrest. She is one strong lady, I tell you, but the film also shows her vulnerable side, the side that acknowledges the very real possibility she may fail to turn the country around.

Pentax K-1000
50mm f/1.7
December 26, 2006
Centro Habana

Havana is a photographer’s playground, especially if you like vintage automobiles. These aren’t show cars, either, they’re necessary forms of transportation in a country where it’s virtually impossible to buy a vehicle because of the import and ownership restrictions, and that’s before cost considerations! (The average Cuban salary is in the neighbourhood of US$20 per month.) These “Jurassics” as Cuban people call them are mostly holdovers from pre-Revolution days, before the U.S. embargo. There’s even a “Jurassic Park”, Parque de la Fraternidad south of the Capitolio, one of the more well-known hangouts for these dinosaurs.

Nothing goes to waste in Cuba, but especially not cars. Automobile maintenance is serious business here. When I show you the photos of the alternative — public transportation — you’ll see why…

Technorati tags: film photography, Cuba, vintage automobiles

I travelled to Cuba on a week’s notice and went to the U.S. in the interim, so I didn’t have as much time to research as I would’ve liked. It’s my first time to the country, and while I find it is always better to research first there are times when I just “wing it”. But there are many aspects of the Cuban culture that are unique, and would confound the tourist without background information.

In the course of my (speed)reading, I was fascinated by the statistics on Cuba — health and economic indices, especially. I went to the World Health Organization’s website today and downloaded some indicators to compare them with Canada and the USA, and made a spreadsheet table.

I’ve read about the Cuban health care system, and when I was there I met a LOT of old people. They’re pretty hardy, healthy people. For one thing, they walk everywhere. According to the 2006 edition of Lonely Planet, there are 23 cars for 1,000 Cubans. By comparison, there are 815 cars for 1,000 Americans.

I find these numbers incredibly interesting, for all three countries. Click on the table and have a look at my (Flash) notes in Flickr.

Technorati tags: World Health Organization, indicators, health, Cuba

First read on Homeland Stupidity, linked to the Washington Post:

Apology Note

Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 2:38 PM

The United States of America apologizes to Mr. Brandon Mayfield and his family for the suffering caused by the FBI’s misidentification of Mr. Mayfield’s fingerprint and the resulting investigation of Mr. Mayfield, including his arrest as a material witness in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the execution of search warrants and other court orders in the Mayfield family home and in Mr. Mayfield’s law office.

The United States acknowledges that the investigation and arrest were deeply upsetting to Mr. Mayfield, to Mrs. Mayfield, and to their three young children, and the United States regrets that it mistakenly linked Mr. Mayfield to this terrorist attack. The FBI has implemented a number of measures in an effort to ensure that what happened to Mr. Mayfield and the Mayfield family does not happen again.

“Deeply upsetting…”

I ask Americans from time to time if they know what is contained in the Patriot Act. Most don’t because they haven’t felt a direct impact from it. However, it has affected me, personally and directly. It’s an act that I can’t vote on, but has changed the course of my life in ways neither David nor I could have ever predicted. Because even though I was married to an American, I was not allowed access to our bank accounts or to write cheques (checks), nor could I execute my husband’s estate, or — more importantly — continue to live in our house… because I was denied a Social Security Number after he died. My immigration lawyer informed me that if I even so much as attended the scheduled biometrics appointment (the letter arrived the week after David died), it would be considered a fraudulent act and subject to prosecution (read: jail).

I had to leave the United States by mid-March (I was given 87 days from his date of death) or risk deportation and a ban of 12 years or life. And, for as long as Homeland Security keeps a file on me at the border, whenever I hand over my ID to pay a visit I am treated at best a potential illegal alien who is attempting re-entry, or at worst a terrorist. Every. Single. Time.

It may appear that Canada is government-heavy compared to the U.S. in daily life (work, health, etc.), but I would argue that the U.S. government has far too much of a different type of control — power over civil liberties.

Does America feel safer with the Patriot Act? After reading the story behind the apology note above, I’m sure the Mayfields would beg to differ.

Technorati tags: Homeland Security, politics, apology

I missed yesterday’s election in Canada, but I’ve been trying to keep up with the happenings through people’s blogs (because I loath advertising that much that I avoid commercial sites for even something as important as political process). I listened to public radio in the car but heard nothing about it there, and if it were mentioned on public television I was too preoccupied with Helma’s cooking last night to think of tuning in. Oh well… if any Canadians (or interested Americans, for that matter) want to break it down for me here or offer an opinion — because I’m out of the loop down here — that’d be swell. (Er, did I just say swell?)

And if anyone privy to my immigration woes is wondering if U.S. Immigration is as arbitrary as I ascribe it to be, I give you the story of a Vancouver native, Darren Barefoot, who was summarily rejected at the border this morning for trying to attend a Microsoft program at the Redmond campus a couple of hours south of Vancouver because they said he needed a WORK PERMIT. And if you think that’s harsh, read to the end of his post, where there’s another example of a Canadian getting rejected at the U.S. border, though in no way summarily (he was detained for hours). When I say there are no guarantees to enter the States, even under benign circumstances, I’m not kidding. Sure, there are people every day who get past the gatekeepers without incident, but it’s still very much a crapshoot. You’d think the next-door neighbours — the U.S.’s largest trading partner — would get preferential treatment? Nope. Even Nexus cardholders have no guarantees.

When I rolled into town the other Friday, somebody told me I arrived just in time for the BC Elections. Oh great, it looks like I’ll be cramming for info on the internet later tonight, because I’ve not been keeping up on what’s been happening in BC while I’ve been away.

Thankfully my father’s a big believer in the democratic process, because he didn’t even think twice about offering to drive all the way here (my brother’s house in Cloverdale, a stone’s throw from Langley) to pick me up along with two of the kidlets to drive all the way into downtown Vancouver, amuse the kids while I vote, then drive all the way to Langley so I can pick up the van from my brother’s workplace to take Melissa to ballet. (It’s in the neighbourhood of an hour each way.) Go Dad!

Technorati tags: BC, provincial elections, politics, voting

My voting station is directly across the street from my building. It couldn’t be more than 20m from my front door.

On Saturday, after sleeping the sleep of the dead, I woke up to crowds building on Beach Avenue. I had no idea what for, but I was pretty out of it: the night before, after speeding to the ferry after a long day at work and nearly getting a ticket, I went to the airport and Allison’s plane was delayed out of Chicago for something like an hour. I nearly fell asleep leaning again a railing. Allison herself had been up nearly 24 hours, so we were a right pair driving to Surrey. I confessed to her that I’d never driven to Surrey from the airport before, so I just had to make sure I took the right exit… I did not… I shot past the Surrey exit and we ended up in White Rock, then I took the 99 north again, missed another exit, so I ended up taking us to Surrey along the 17, the trucking road beside the Fraser River. Crazy! I returned the car after 2am.

So, yes, it was the sleep of the dead on Friday night. On Saturday morning I looked out the window and watched as people streamed onto the beach, and figured out by a sign or two what was going on. I cooked my omelette and listened to D.O.A. screaming some garbled anti-war phrase. Surreal. Then I heard someone mention that Noam Chomsky would be on later. Noam Chomsky?

Noam Chomsky Talking on My Beach?

Sevenoaks article

Apparently so, but I had to head out on the Skytrain, so Allan and I could take the kiddies to Crescent Beach. On the bus I could hear people talking about Noam Chomsky, and I kick myself a bit now that I didn’t hang around long enough to see him speak. After all, the man is now 75 years old, and not only was this speaking engagement a public, free event, but it was across the bloody street!

Anyway…

We took the kidlets to Crescent Beach and had a good time playing teeter-totter, making stick cities, and building pretend campfires. It’s good to get the kids out of the House of Chaos.

Me with baby Megan. This is the bigger twin. I got to hold both babies the Sunday before, for the first time. They’re still pretty tiny, and everyone’s still making the necessary adjustments to having them home. It’s been a while since there were newborns in the house, now that Maddy is two and a half. I like the fact that the older 3Ms are talking and rounding out their personalities. They’re much more interesting now that they have broader vocabulary!

Melissa, for one, is very verbose. She talks almost incessantly, but quality phrases, rich with hedging, proper grammatical usage of verbs, nouns, and adjectives, independent and dependent clauses, and all sorts of rather scarily large words for a 4-year old. Cheryl told me that she heard Melissa preface her sentence with, “Incidentally, …” ??

Michael isn’t quite there yet, but his penchant for proper nouns rather than generic terms are hilarious (eg., burmese python, which someone had Googled and ended up here). The boy of 3 has an excellent memory for songs, too. I remember this even when he was barely old enough to form the words, let alone memorize them.

Maddy is talking a lot now, too, and her words are becoming progressively clearer. Before, she needed a translator — either Cheryl or Allan. She still does a lot of repetition and uses generic words, but last year we were wondering why she didn’t seem to care much about talking. Probably because Melissa wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise.

On Wednesday I wrote about looking forward to going to Spain next month. That still applies, even after the chilling events that took place in Madrid only a few hours before I wrote that post at 4am, Pacific time. If I’d had Kevin’s homepage up in another window, I’d have known by then that 10 bombs ripped through three train stations in Madrid, killing 200 people and injuring 1,500 others, and I might not have written that post. But never in a million years would I have guessed that such a thing would be happening while I was writing my first post about Spain.

In reading a related article in the Jerusalem Post, writer Barry Davis articulated what had been subconsciously bothering me about the Spanish government pointing the finger at the ETA, the militant Basque separatist group. He says:

First, ETA does not have a record of killing on a mass scale. In general, its operations have been designed to assassinate individuals - political and military - who are associated with the government. Over the past year, for example, ETA attacks have claimed three lives.

From what I have read about ETA’s terrorist activities in the past, they haven’t engaged in any large-scale acts. It’s not to say that they wouldn’t be capable of this, I’m only going by their historical modus operandi. On my Wednesday post, I put in a comment that said I was shocked that the ETA would commit a terrorist act as large-scale as this, and since then the ETA has denied responsibility for it. Many theories have since been offered, but I rationalize that the Basque group would not likely commit such an act on the basis of potential retaliation from the rest of Spain… they are a relatively small cultural group in Spain, and to resort to violence at this level against civilians — possibly even to some of their own — for the purpose of gaining independence from a government they will continue to be reliant upon (for trade at the very least, if independence is achieved), would be an unlikely strategy for ETA.

Which begs a disclaimer at this point:

I am no political pundit, such as the likes of Jay Currie or Andrew Coyne or any number of online writers who follow Canadian or global politics. Politics is my Achilles heel… I have become more and more political in recent years, but I don’t claim to have any more in-depth understanding of the political process than, say, the mechanics of a car. It’s not to say that I’m not trying to be more politically (or mechanically) savvy, I am definitely working on it. (Ask my mechanics.) But, Gail’s Balcony does not claim to be a political blog. If a significant global event occurs, and I do not write about it, it doesn’t mean in any way, shape, or form that I don’t have an opinion about it. Hell, I have an opinion about everything. I just won’t necessarily air my opinions on political issues because it’s one area where I feel I need a great deal more information before I’ll form an opinion worth writing. Everything else, however, is fair game… (cheeky ol’ me)

Interestingly, a commentator on Andrew Coyne’s site noted that 911 days had passed between 9/11 and the Madrid bombings, but another commentator noted that it was actually 912 because of the leap year. Don’t the leap years only count in the Gregorian calendar or some such thing?? There are all sorts of calendars out there besides the ones used in the Western world, and — hey, is this a tangent or what? — maybe leap years are only accounted for in what we’re using, the same way that Daylight Savings Time is not observed in some places (eg., some Australian states). Even more interestingly, in the time that it took me to put in references and links, those comments regarding the number of days that have passed since 9/11 have disappeared. I thought it was just my imagination, but I still had the original comments window up and saw that it was not myopia or clicking off-course.

At mytelus.com, I noted a little poll in the side window, for this question:

Will high-profile terrorist bombings in places such as Bali, and this week’s attacks in Spain, dissuade you from travelling to such popular tourist destinations?

Results as of this afternoon:

• 29% for Definitely
• 24% for Perhaps
• 28% for Not at all
• 17% for I was never interested

I like to keep tabs on these little polls from time to time, to watch how the percentages change over the course of time, as more information gets released, as more opinions and theories are postulated and public opinion sways with the media breeze. Of course, the mytelus.com readership is not necessarily representative of the public — results of online polls must always be taken with a grain of salt.

My vote is lumped in with the Not At All crowd. I am from the school of thought that considers risk a part of everyday life. When we drive around, there is a significant probability that we will be involved in a car accident at some point. All forms of travel carry inherent risks. I’ve gone bungee-jumping, river surfing, and other activities where I’ve had to sign a disclaimer. But there are so many other things we do that don’t carry a disclaimer, but are taken for granted to be without inherent risk to personal safety — riding on public transit, crossing intersections, standing in a crowd, hiking in the woods, etc. Risk is everywhere, it just depends on how you calculate the risk and how you let that affect your life. I would live life differently if I had kids, for example, I would be much more wary about my surroundings and side with caution more often. I wouldn’t do arguably unsafe things such as wander around foreign cities in the middle of the night by myself to satisfy my noctural urge to explore.

Stephen Savage is one of a number of individuals who have been inspired by world events such as 9/11 and the terrorist bombing of Bali to initiate an international travel project to foster goodwill among people. He travels to remind people that the world, with all the conflict it’s sustained in recent years due to terrorism and war, is not overrun with terrorists — most of earth’s inhabitants are essentially good people. Steve has been travelling since July of last year to get out there, travel and meet people and write about his experience so others may benefit. I’ve mentioned Steve before, but I may not have mentioned his project, which is an online shared experience. The shared part comes in by way of ‘audience participation’: sending him challenges, hosting him (which I did briefly in July and August), and posting in his messageboard. I bring your attention to his project from time to time not for the sake of giving someone publicity, but because I’ve “sussed him out” as the Aussies say, and think he is a worthy poster boy for global goodwill. Behind that occasionally scruffy exterior, Aussie humour, and broad accent is a guy who genuinely wants to highlight the good in people, not the cruelty or barbarism that is so often the content of media stories.