Mock Turtle

A little cross-Canada phrasebook

http://www.geist.com/phrasebook/index.php

My favourite is “eltswhere” for “elsewhere”. If someone were to ask me whether I pronounced it with a t, I probably would have denied it, but actually, it feels natural in the mouth. How do you say it?

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… is getting old.

The greatest impacts with this storm are expected to be any type of travel..Due to icing as well as poor road conditions from dense snow and ice pellets compounded with freezing rain. Freezing rain amounts of 5 to 10 mm are likely in some areas. Strong easterly winds of 40 to 70 km/h will magnify the freezing rain problem since ice accretion on trees may bring down limbs and some power lines.

Full text of the warning here. As an aside, Environment Canada really needs to get into RSS feeds in a big way.

A week ago in 2004, I had snowdrops coming up in the front garden.

We know, Michael. We know.

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I’ve been following the bank fees issue with some interest.

First, because the NDP caucus dug up an easily understood, populist issue for once, only to see it fall flat thanks its semi-articulate leader.

Then, because the Canadian Bankers Association‘s defence of the fees for electronic banking is so embarrassingly thin. There’s competition in the Canadian personal banking market? Please. This is the best laugh I’ve had all month:

Competition and consumer choice are the hallmarks of Canada’s financial services industry. [...] On ABM access alone, banks compete with each other, other financial institutions and independent operators, through two ABM networks – INTERAC and The Exchange Network – vying for the business of institutions and customers.

I’m betting the flack who wrote that had to do some websurfing to find out what the name of the Interac “competitor” network was.

The CBA’s executive summary of the issue is even better:

The pay-for-use system is a common practice among
other businesses and governments of all levels.
Businesses, including banks, charge for the services
that they deliver. In addition to taxes, governments
at all levels also charge fees for services, for example:
•An extra $10 to pick up a Canadian passport
instead of having it sent to your home.
•In Ontario, a $1 convenience fee for self-serve
purchasing of a vehicle validation sticker
through a ServiceOntarioKiosk.
•In the City of Ottawa, a $33 fee to change the
name on your water bill.

I’m not quite sure what the thinking was here. If it’s to show how reasonable it is to collect fees from customers or, as government knows them, taxpayers, I’m not sure it works. If, on the other hand, the idea is to align bank fees — transaction fees for the unavoidable transactions one makes from one’s bank account, such as paying bills, depositing, transferring, and withdrawing funds — with objectionable and infuriating surcharges, generally widely disliked by the public — mission accomplished!

Thoughtfully, the CBA sums up what the preceding list was supposed to show in a concluding bullet point with a menacing subtext:

•Our pay-for-use system means that, unlike some
other banking systems, Canada does not bury the
price of services in the price of credit or other products
and services.

No, no, you don’t bury the price of services in the price of credit or other products and services — you just, as you’ve just told me, charge me twice!

(I also like the use of “Canada” to represent “banking system”. “Canada” on its own generally refers to the federal government — yet another sly way the CBA’s brief tries to align its industry with acceptable government practices.)

After a complaint from American Express in 1996, the Canada Competition Tribunal made recommendations that led to the Interac network being opened up to more members and being moved to a cost-retrieval model. However, the Tribunal also provided for the original charter members to earn back their initial investment in the switch technology, estimated t be $16.8 million, less fees collected to that date.

Now, the Interac Association collects fees from its members, which cover its operating costs. The members charge fees and surcharges, a fraction of which cover the fees they pay to Interac. Generally, you pay whether you’re in the branch or at the machine. If you don’t pay a per-transaction fee, you pay a monthly fee for unlimited transactions. And if you’re not paying anything, the money that’s sitting in your account is earning paltry interest while it’s being lent out at a rate three times higher.

And all that would just be common sense and the story over, if it weren’t for an inexplicable comment thread on the Globe and Mail. If you’re unfamiliar with the commenters on the Globe website, prepare yourself. You’ve never met a more pinched, angry, self-righteous group of malcontents in your happy life. They blamed babies for not planning ahead for their passports. And here, they’re falling over themselves to defend the banks in their battle against lazy, demanding customers who don’t realize that ATM fees are good for them.

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Had a great time in Chicago with M. and R. despite the decidedly wintery weather. J. intelligently brought her down-filled coat; I should have done the same. With due respect to Dalton48, 0 degrees with high winds is *not* the same as 0 degrees without.

Interestingly, “Chicago” is an aboriginal word meaning something roughly like “smelly onions”. Apparently wild onions used to grow in the swampland on the coast Lake Michigan, and…

Photeaux to follow.

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Tony Aspler pointed us in the direction of this wine: Terrale Sicilia Nero D’Avola 2004. General list at the LCBO for $9.70. A likeable food wine, a bit more expensive than bargain basement Sangiovese and worth the extra $$. Baked goods, tobacco, tar, plum and violet on the nose with decent follow-through on the palate. Needs air–decant it when you start cooking.

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The Danforth Music Hall has a huge banner out front promoting a Christmas pantomime beginning in December, 2007.

Seriously.

I thought it was left over from this past Christmas, until I looked more closely.

Starting the Christmas kitsch season at Hallowe’en is bad enough, but this is ridiculous. Can’t they wait until March?

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…literally. Apparently, the marquee of the shuttered Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles collapsed under the weight of snow.

More in this Torontoist posting.

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Has anyone seen this? It looks very heavy-handed, based on the trailer. The history is interesting, though.

Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost, made the case a while ago in Mother Jones that Wilberforce’s campaign to abolish the slave trade was “the first human rights campaign,” and how, with direct-mail fundraising letters, publicity stunts, product boycotts, and newsletters designed to rally supporters, it set the pattern for those that followed. (It was also founded on the first systematic exercise in investigative journalism.)

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So now that everyone’s used to this site, we should think about design. I kind of randomly chose this theme (design) because hey, it was green and more-or-less friendly in IE. There are hundreds more out there, though. What do you like/dislike/want to see/etc.?

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Maddy in her red sweatshirt (a little blurry)

Originally uploaded by morecoffeeplease.

(For Michael!)

It’s a bit blurry, as I was trying to take pictures of a fast-moving Kingergarten Dragon Parade (for Chinese New Year) today.

It was, as promised, “very noisy!”

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