Once you've switched to organic frozen orange juice, you'll never go back. However Capers/Whole Foods keeps charging me 12% HST. On a $4.99 can/week or so this adds up to significant change over the year. I always get a refund, after a 10-minute quibble where the customer service agent says they'll change their computer system.
Next time I'm bringing in my own copy of
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gi/gi-036/gi-036-e.pdf
Specifically, this paragraph:
Frozen fruit juice beverage concentrates are zero-rated if the percentage of natural fruit juice in the concentrate is 25% or more by volume. If the percentage of natural fruit juice in the concentrate is less than 25% by volume, the concentrate is taxable.
If SunPac organic OJ is less than 25% by volume, it's time to start making my own juice from scratch. As well as building a greenhouse to raise my own orange trees.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
A Perfect Opportunity to Study Gravity
I'm not ready to leave the Stanley Cup riots behind and go back to my usual non-blogging. But one last word.
Yesterday the local papers published a few heartfelt apologies from some of the rioters. Or in this case, non-rioters who happened to get caught up in the activity and, without bothering to find actual quotes, "lost their heads". Friends and relatives said this isn't who they really are. They're actually quite nice people.
I'm sure they are. I bet none of the people who danced around the burning cars last week would ever consider heading downtown on a premeditated plan to take a hockey stick to a bank window in the middle of the night, let alone during daylight. But the recurring theme was that these nice kids "got caught up in the moment", "lost their heads", and before they knew it, were walking out of a store's broken windows with a souvenir stolen item and a smile [quotes not exact...].
I can tell you who these people weren't. They weren't among the hundreds of people who left downtown in disgust before 9 PM, walking across the nearest bridge before the sidewalks got covered with broken beer bottles. They didn't leave the scenes of the burning cars, the fistfights, and the shouting. No, they hung around, as if they were participating in their own reality show. The expected anonymity of being in a mob full of Canucks jerseys would give them the protection they needed, or at least that's how things used to work before everyone had a camera phone and a Facebook account with insufficient privacy settings. But it seems to have been very easy for too many of these people to cross the line from spectator to participant. And as they work their way through the legal system, I'm sure this question will come up again and again. Some of the commenters on the various news sites are calling for severe penalties. But the way some of these people have been identified, having saddled their names with this action is going to cost them plenty. At least those who really were nice people, and would never have done something like this otherwise.
I look at last Wednesday night as a pop quiz in ethics. You get an A if you left downtown, a C- if you hung around watching, providing cover for the rioters and keeping the numbers slanted against the police and fire fighters being able to do their job, and an F if you broke or stole something, or hit someone.
There's another quote I can recall, but can't find the source, but I recall it was a British physicist who once said that a man in a falling elevator has an ideal opportunity to study gravity. And many of these "nice kids" who fell into the mob now have the perfect chance to study that big question of the social sciences, the one that is still trying to explain how proper German citizens could ignore the roundup of Jews on their way home from the opera; how Hutu neighbors could quarter their Tutsi neighbors in Kigali; how Bosnian Serbs turned against their neighbors of decades. These "nice kids" have given themselves extra insight into this question. They just need to look in the mirror.
Yesterday the local papers published a few heartfelt apologies from some of the rioters. Or in this case, non-rioters who happened to get caught up in the activity and, without bothering to find actual quotes, "lost their heads". Friends and relatives said this isn't who they really are. They're actually quite nice people.
I'm sure they are. I bet none of the people who danced around the burning cars last week would ever consider heading downtown on a premeditated plan to take a hockey stick to a bank window in the middle of the night, let alone during daylight. But the recurring theme was that these nice kids "got caught up in the moment", "lost their heads", and before they knew it, were walking out of a store's broken windows with a souvenir stolen item and a smile [quotes not exact...].
I can tell you who these people weren't. They weren't among the hundreds of people who left downtown in disgust before 9 PM, walking across the nearest bridge before the sidewalks got covered with broken beer bottles. They didn't leave the scenes of the burning cars, the fistfights, and the shouting. No, they hung around, as if they were participating in their own reality show. The expected anonymity of being in a mob full of Canucks jerseys would give them the protection they needed, or at least that's how things used to work before everyone had a camera phone and a Facebook account with insufficient privacy settings. But it seems to have been very easy for too many of these people to cross the line from spectator to participant. And as they work their way through the legal system, I'm sure this question will come up again and again. Some of the commenters on the various news sites are calling for severe penalties. But the way some of these people have been identified, having saddled their names with this action is going to cost them plenty. At least those who really were nice people, and would never have done something like this otherwise.
I look at last Wednesday night as a pop quiz in ethics. You get an A if you left downtown, a C- if you hung around watching, providing cover for the rioters and keeping the numbers slanted against the police and fire fighters being able to do their job, and an F if you broke or stole something, or hit someone.
There's another quote I can recall, but can't find the source, but I recall it was a British physicist who once said that a man in a falling elevator has an ideal opportunity to study gravity. And many of these "nice kids" who fell into the mob now have the perfect chance to study that big question of the social sciences, the one that is still trying to explain how proper German citizens could ignore the roundup of Jews on their way home from the opera; how Hutu neighbors could quarter their Tutsi neighbors in Kigali; how Bosnian Serbs turned against their neighbors of decades. These "nice kids" have given themselves extra insight into this question. They just need to look in the mirror.
Link of the Day: The Rule of 72
Not a lot of time, but this post took me back in time.
First, I learned about the Rule of 72 from my uncle, back in the
days of double-digit interest rates. It was a quick way of figuring
out when an investment was expected to double. Conversely, you could
use it to figure out how long it would take for the amount you owe
your credit company to double as well, if you couldn't pay it off.
At the time I remembered the Taylor expansion of e (or is it the
Maclaurin expansion), and could derive why this worked.
About ten years later I met Terry Jones at Indiana U, learned how to
bounce five balls (and why bouncing five balls looked so much better
than the much harder accomplishment of keeping seven balls in the air).
Terry soon after left the 80s-era computer science of Hofstadter's
office for the emerging, cooler complexity theory of Santa Fe,
and now runs a startup in NYC.
And today I was pointed to his post yesterday about the rule of 72.
Go read it, and amaze or bore your less financially literate buds.
http://blogs.fluidinfo.com/terry/2011/06/20/back-of-the-envelope-calculations-with-the-rule-of-72/
First, I learned about the Rule of 72 from my uncle, back in the
days of double-digit interest rates. It was a quick way of figuring
out when an investment was expected to double. Conversely, you could
use it to figure out how long it would take for the amount you owe
your credit company to double as well, if you couldn't pay it off.
At the time I remembered the Taylor expansion of e (or is it the
Maclaurin expansion), and could derive why this worked.
About ten years later I met Terry Jones at Indiana U, learned how to
bounce five balls (and why bouncing five balls looked so much better
than the much harder accomplishment of keeping seven balls in the air).
Terry soon after left the 80s-era computer science of Hofstadter's
office for the emerging, cooler complexity theory of Santa Fe,
and now runs a startup in NYC.
And today I was pointed to his post yesterday about the rule of 72.
Go read it, and amaze or bore your less financially literate buds.
http://blogs.fluidinfo.com/terry/2011/06/20/back-of-the-envelope-calculations-with-the-rule-of-72/
Monday, June 20, 2011
John Gray: Nothing's Changed
This morning CBC Radio played an essay local playwright John Gray broadcast after the 1994 riots. Just like last week, he blamed the destruction on suburban adolescents who have grown up in a desolate car-focused environment. The only anachronism in his talk was his frequent references to Dunkin' Donuts, so you can see just how successful Tim's and Starbucks have been at taking over that market.
It's always fun to blame the suburbs, but as the press has been naming people involved, they're invariably suburbanites. And since Thursday there have been an onslaught of for-sale postings on Craigslist for Louis Vuitton and Coach bags, and most of the locations are either Surrey or Burnaby on the Skytrain line.
It's always fun to blame the suburbs, but as the press has been naming people involved, they're invariably suburbanites. And since Thursday there have been an onslaught of for-sale postings on Craigslist for Louis Vuitton and Coach bags, and most of the locations are either Surrey or Burnaby on the Skytrain line.
Shame, Accountability, and the Stanley Cup Riots
From the Vancouver Sun, June 19, 2011: "Nathan Kotylak and family face
post-riot backlash, forced to leave home"
"...the young man's father, a Maple Ridge surgeon, has had to temporarily close his medical office.
"The mob mentality that took place at the riots is now happening on social media. The family is very disturbed ... they have concerns for their safety"
Another article I saw, which I can't find now, reported that the family has left their home. His father's rating average on a rate-your-doctor site has plunged.
People have been decrying the mob mentality that has formed seeking revenge and retribution. It's understandable -- what happened Wednesday was a crime against the city, and most people don't want to see Vancouver become another Detroit or Newark. But three days later, all the windows at the Bay are still boarded up, and have become a major tourist attraction. No one wants to let the people who were involved in the riot off easily.
And in the age of the internet, as any rioter who wasn't wearing a hoodie or bandana has learned, anonymity has become a scarce commodity. Which gives us a chance to reintroduce two aspects of society that went missing during the 20th century: shame and accountability. Mobs are no longer amourphous masses of people, smashing windows or beating up other people. They're now identifiable by Facebook, and they're being monitored not by Big Brother, but by their big brothers, their sisters, and their parents and friends, and being held to account for their actions.
Kotylak's father had a chance to defuse the vigilante attitude towards him and his family by publicly announcing their shame, rather than heading for this hills like a coward, hoping to ride out the current storm of rage. I doubt the courts will give his son a jail sentence, but this is an ideal time to assign a term of public service equivalent to the estimated damage he did. I haven't seen any figures, but if the riot has cost the city and businesses $10 million, and about 1,000 people have been caught in a non-central involvment, let them each be held accountable for $10,000 worth of public service.
So I would have liked to see an announcment from Dr. Kotylak that Nathan would put in $10,000 worth of community service to make up for his actions in the riot. That's about 1,000 hours, and seeing how he's probably going to lose his water polo scholarship, and that's more time than you can do in a single summer, this would be an ideal activity for the kid to spend next year doing, before heading to university. I'd even be happy if he takes time out between jobs picking up garbage or washing off graffiti, and went into the high schools talking about what he lost through his one stupid action. He won't even have problems finding some slides to illustrate his talk.
post-riot backlash, forced to leave home"
"...the young man's father, a Maple Ridge surgeon, has had to temporarily close his medical office.
"The mob mentality that took place at the riots is now happening on social media. The family is very disturbed ... they have concerns for their safety"
Another article I saw, which I can't find now, reported that the family has left their home. His father's rating average on a rate-your-doctor site has plunged.
People have been decrying the mob mentality that has formed seeking revenge and retribution. It's understandable -- what happened Wednesday was a crime against the city, and most people don't want to see Vancouver become another Detroit or Newark. But three days later, all the windows at the Bay are still boarded up, and have become a major tourist attraction. No one wants to let the people who were involved in the riot off easily.
And in the age of the internet, as any rioter who wasn't wearing a hoodie or bandana has learned, anonymity has become a scarce commodity. Which gives us a chance to reintroduce two aspects of society that went missing during the 20th century: shame and accountability. Mobs are no longer amourphous masses of people, smashing windows or beating up other people. They're now identifiable by Facebook, and they're being monitored not by Big Brother, but by their big brothers, their sisters, and their parents and friends, and being held to account for their actions.
Kotylak's father had a chance to defuse the vigilante attitude towards him and his family by publicly announcing their shame, rather than heading for this hills like a coward, hoping to ride out the current storm of rage. I doubt the courts will give his son a jail sentence, but this is an ideal time to assign a term of public service equivalent to the estimated damage he did. I haven't seen any figures, but if the riot has cost the city and businesses $10 million, and about 1,000 people have been caught in a non-central involvment, let them each be held accountable for $10,000 worth of public service.
So I would have liked to see an announcment from Dr. Kotylak that Nathan would put in $10,000 worth of community service to make up for his actions in the riot. That's about 1,000 hours, and seeing how he's probably going to lose his water polo scholarship, and that's more time than you can do in a single summer, this would be an ideal activity for the kid to spend next year doing, before heading to university. I'd even be happy if he takes time out between jobs picking up garbage or washing off graffiti, and went into the high schools talking about what he lost through his one stupid action. He won't even have problems finding some slides to illustrate his talk.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Richmond River Road Ride -- Psycho!Geography with RedSara
So Velopalooza, the big bike love fest, came and went, and I didn't bother going on any rides in the rainy weather. But the tradition of spontaneously organizing rides has hung on, and when I heard about a ride RedSara, a local artist, had proposed, a twilight ride along the north arm of the Fraser River, I was hooked.
Our intrepid leader, RedSara
I'll let the pictures tell most of the story, but I stopped taking shots after sundown, but I'm now on the lookout for a bike-friendly collapsible tripod. Hopefully the pictures can convey how the trip straddled Vancouver's two worlds -- the peacefulness of the river on its last legs to the sea, mixed with a few former and working vestiges of the industry that used to blanket most of this area.
We started at the Marine Drive station on the new Canada Line skytrain, meeting by the sculptures. After allowing for the inevitable latecomers (we are in Vancouver after all), we headed over the pedestrian/bike bridge over the river. I've crossed enough times over the R. D. Laing[*] and Oak Street bridges to know that I'll probably always make the detour for this bridge now. It's that cool.
View from the Canada Line bridge
New views of the city
The route east from the bike bridge is a mixture of riding on the dike and River Road. Most of this route went through Richmond's warehouse district (I know, you're probably wondering what part of Richmond isn't the warehouse district). The district ends at the site of the Night Market, and as we passed under the Knight Street bridge (which boasts an average of two accidents/weekday, one at each end), we got to enjoy a bit of nature, before encountering the plywood factory, an amazing piece of industrial kinetic sculpture backed with symphony of buzzsaws, drive chains, and reversing forklift trucks. Sara pointed out a couple of picnic tables next to the plant, a logical place to stop for a snack while on the route.
The sites after the plant are a blur of more industrial spots, farms (including the Rabbit River egg place), a few houses, and the incongruously located Riverside Ballroom, located somewhere between No. 6 and 7 Roads. We caught the end of the sunset off a pier located somewhere due south of the new residential developments at the southeast tip of Vancouver proper. People were fishing, and they were even keeping their catch for later eating. When the Fraser used to be dotted with industry on both sides, you wouldn't think of fishing it. We contemplated the gains of fresher air and water, and a more peaceful environment, results of that big exchange that's taken place over the last few decades, where we traded industrial jobs and their side-effects with our overseas partners, and got a better environment in return. The harder problem is to figure out how to reduce pollution worldwide.
We biked along the east end of River Road in darkness, joined by the occasional car, and farm workers walking home with bags of groceries they bought at one of the big malls in Queensborough. And there was no missing Queensborough. The last paved part of River Road dumped us onto Westminster Highway, and we went from the world of rabbits, fish and beaver to the land of the car. Queensborough has it all -- the Stardust, the kind of tawdry casino that Las Vegas razed in the 90s; what looks like the biggest Big Box mall in the lower mainland; and the piece de resistance, the ICBC write-off lot, sprawling below us as we biked over the Queensborough bridge to the 22nd St. Skytrain station, and our return to the city.
As Dennis pointed out (the guy in the recom trike), there were about 15 of us on the ride, but it's easily accessible to a few hundred thousand other Vancouverites. All you need is a bike and the cash or tickets for two skytrain rides, and you too can enjoy this triangle ride. From downtown, you can take the skytrain to one of the two terminals, either the Marine Drive station on the Canada Line, or the 22nd St. station on the Expo line, find your way to River Road, bike along it, and take the other train back home. In the evening, it makes sense to bike east, so you don't have the sun in your eyes (or in the eyes of the drivers approaching behind you). But I would prefer to start with the car-oriented nightmare of New West/Queensborough, and end on the Canada Line bridge. Except for the two bridges, the ride is completely flat.
There are also a few logistical details to work out at some point, mainly getting to/from River Rd. and Westminster Hwy., and 22nd St. There is a bike path along Westminster, and since Hwy 91 opened, Westminster isn't that busy. There are also signs pointing to New West for bikes; you want to ride on the west side of the Queensborough bridge. The bike path on the bridge actually feels quite safe, compared to other bridges in the city, like the ones to the North Shore. A solid barrier separates the bikes from the cars, and the outer railing is high enough to soothe all but the most acrophobic.
If you're concerned about hitting a forklift truck at the plywood factory, you can detour around via Vulcan Way, but then you'll miss the special bike tunnel that goes under the assembly line. It really needs to be seen, but if you're bringing kids along, I can understand giving it a pass. But then I'd advise waiting until the kids are at least 10 or so, and will appreciate the plant.
Finally, there aren't a lot of cars on River Road, but most of the ones we encountered were driving fast. Be sure you're visible, especially if there's only one of you, as opposed to a group of 15 or so (not that that guarantees safety, these days).
[*] Isn't it about time we rename this bridge after the sometimes local writer, instead of a long-forgotten Trudeau-era hack? Whose legacy is still around anyway?
I'll let the pictures tell most of the story, but I stopped taking shots after sundown, but I'm now on the lookout for a bike-friendly collapsible tripod. Hopefully the pictures can convey how the trip straddled Vancouver's two worlds -- the peacefulness of the river on its last legs to the sea, mixed with a few former and working vestiges of the industry that used to blanket most of this area.
We started at the Marine Drive station on the new Canada Line skytrain, meeting by the sculptures. After allowing for the inevitable latecomers (we are in Vancouver after all), we headed over the pedestrian/bike bridge over the river. I've crossed enough times over the R. D. Laing[*] and Oak Street bridges to know that I'll probably always make the detour for this bridge now. It's that cool.
The route east from the bike bridge is a mixture of riding on the dike and River Road. Most of this route went through Richmond's warehouse district (I know, you're probably wondering what part of Richmond isn't the warehouse district). The district ends at the site of the Night Market, and as we passed under the Knight Street bridge (which boasts an average of two accidents/weekday, one at each end), we got to enjoy a bit of nature, before encountering the plywood factory, an amazing piece of industrial kinetic sculpture backed with symphony of buzzsaws, drive chains, and reversing forklift trucks. Sara pointed out a couple of picnic tables next to the plant, a logical place to stop for a snack while on the route.
The sites after the plant are a blur of more industrial spots, farms (including the Rabbit River egg place), a few houses, and the incongruously located Riverside Ballroom, located somewhere between No. 6 and 7 Roads. We caught the end of the sunset off a pier located somewhere due south of the new residential developments at the southeast tip of Vancouver proper. People were fishing, and they were even keeping their catch for later eating. When the Fraser used to be dotted with industry on both sides, you wouldn't think of fishing it. We contemplated the gains of fresher air and water, and a more peaceful environment, results of that big exchange that's taken place over the last few decades, where we traded industrial jobs and their side-effects with our overseas partners, and got a better environment in return. The harder problem is to figure out how to reduce pollution worldwide.
We biked along the east end of River Road in darkness, joined by the occasional car, and farm workers walking home with bags of groceries they bought at one of the big malls in Queensborough. And there was no missing Queensborough. The last paved part of River Road dumped us onto Westminster Highway, and we went from the world of rabbits, fish and beaver to the land of the car. Queensborough has it all -- the Stardust, the kind of tawdry casino that Las Vegas razed in the 90s; what looks like the biggest Big Box mall in the lower mainland; and the piece de resistance, the ICBC write-off lot, sprawling below us as we biked over the Queensborough bridge to the 22nd St. Skytrain station, and our return to the city.
If You Go
As Dennis pointed out (the guy in the recom trike), there were about 15 of us on the ride, but it's easily accessible to a few hundred thousand other Vancouverites. All you need is a bike and the cash or tickets for two skytrain rides, and you too can enjoy this triangle ride. From downtown, you can take the skytrain to one of the two terminals, either the Marine Drive station on the Canada Line, or the 22nd St. station on the Expo line, find your way to River Road, bike along it, and take the other train back home. In the evening, it makes sense to bike east, so you don't have the sun in your eyes (or in the eyes of the drivers approaching behind you). But I would prefer to start with the car-oriented nightmare of New West/Queensborough, and end on the Canada Line bridge. Except for the two bridges, the ride is completely flat.
There are also a few logistical details to work out at some point, mainly getting to/from River Rd. and Westminster Hwy., and 22nd St. There is a bike path along Westminster, and since Hwy 91 opened, Westminster isn't that busy. There are also signs pointing to New West for bikes; you want to ride on the west side of the Queensborough bridge. The bike path on the bridge actually feels quite safe, compared to other bridges in the city, like the ones to the North Shore. A solid barrier separates the bikes from the cars, and the outer railing is high enough to soothe all but the most acrophobic.
If you're concerned about hitting a forklift truck at the plywood factory, you can detour around via Vulcan Way, but then you'll miss the special bike tunnel that goes under the assembly line. It really needs to be seen, but if you're bringing kids along, I can understand giving it a pass. But then I'd advise waiting until the kids are at least 10 or so, and will appreciate the plant.
Finally, there aren't a lot of cars on River Road, but most of the ones we encountered were driving fast. Be sure you're visible, especially if there's only one of you, as opposed to a group of 15 or so (not that that guarantees safety, these days).
[*] Isn't it about time we rename this bridge after the sometimes local writer, instead of a long-forgotten Trudeau-era hack? Whose legacy is still around anyway?
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Recession Bellingham & the 3rd of July
Tough times are finally showing up in Bellingham. Five years ago the town boasted that it was on a top ten list for expensive residential real estate in the U.S., and now the place is full of for sale signs and boarded up businesses.
This video store has been at the local mini-mall, near Lake Whatcom, since we started coming here ten years ago. But it was no match for the 1-2-3 punch of Netflix, internet downloads, and a moribund economy. The swimming pool's also closed this summer, due to a budget shortfall this year, and a deficit last year of about $27,000.
Things aren't any better in big-box land. I don't even remember when these two places opened, if they did. They're behind the Value Village off Meridian near Bellis Fair mall, a can't miss location two years ago. Now it's an asphalt wasteland.
Hey, Baby, it's the 3rd of July
Every year Sudden Valley puts on a fireworks display. For some reason it was scheduled for Saturday night, the 3rd, this year. Very weird, considering that most people with jobs most likely had Monday the 5th off, and the kids could sleep in.
It turns out that a Sudden Valley family has been sponsoring the fireworks display for the last couple of years, and they couldn't stay for Sunday (maybe they're from Canada). So the association happily set the fireworks off on Saturday. Here are some shots.
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