What Nations come out of COVID-19 Strongest?

There’s an argument that governments should have let the pandemic run its course. Kept most things open as Sweden did at the beginning. More early deaths, more illness, more long long-haul side effects.

Leaders leaning this way include Trump, Nicaragua’s Ortega, Brazil’s Bolsonaro, Mexico’s Obrador, Belarus’s Lukashenko, Turkmenistan’s Berdimuhamedow, Cambodia’s Hun Sen, Tanzania’s Magufuli.

Populists pandering to their dumbest voters.

When the pandemic ends we’ll be able to calculate which nations survived best: economically, educationally, healthiest. It won’t be any of those nations. They will include New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, Iceland, Senegal, Denmark, Saudi Arabia.

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Quite good.

This is a book about the women of Australia in the early 1840s.

I liked best the story line of Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who was adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison.

After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony established by Great Britain. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.

During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon.

Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel — a skilled midwife and herbalist – is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors. …

christinabakerkline.com

Kim’s Convenience – season 1

I finally got around to trying this show — and was pleasantly surprised.

Figuring it would be something similar to Corner Gas, it turned out to be much more than just another sitcom.

Season 1 episode 1 deals with Gay rights in a funny way.

Season 1 episode 2 deals with sexual harassment in the workplace … in a funny way.

Social commentary through comedy. I like it.

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is clearly the star of the show. A modern day Korean Archie Bunker.

But I like Janet (Andrea Bang) and her TV brother Jung (Simu Liu) , as well.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Mount Royal University pandemic LOCKDOWN

Police brought me home when I was a kid. Brian and I were caught climbing the construction site of what’s now Mount Royal University in Calgary. We jumped from … 3 FLOORS DOWN, the cops told our parents.

Over the decades, Mount Royal’s been my coffee shop and office. Just 5 minutes walk from my brother’s place in Glamorgan, the neighbourhood where I grew up.

It’s bizarre and eerie to see the huge complex deserted. Unsettling. Like some dystopian science fiction movie.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. Best for me is the audio.

I’m still studying and practicing video editing almost every day.

This one includes several (new to me) techniques:

  • colours: white & sterile, progresses to golds, and finishes with optimistic multi-colours
  • deliberately tilting videos 5-10 degrees to convey … something is wrong
  • rapid zoom introduction montage

Canadian Vaccine Passport?

Though Trudeau is worried about unintended side effects, vaccine passports are inevitable for some months and years to come. International airlines will require them, for example.

About 250k Canadians have already downloaded the most popular app — so far:

CANImmunize app

High privacy standards.

The app is available for free on iOS and Android devices and on the web at canimmunize.ca.

I manually added my 1st COVID vaccine. That can’t be in any way official.

But governments may eventually adopt this app for travel. I’ll be ready.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly

Another great Adrian McKinty book.

He’s one of my favourite authors.

#6 in the Sean Duffy series (2019).

Duffy is now a father. Less self-destructive than ever.

He’s cutting down on booze and cigarettes.

Belfast, 1988.

A man is found dead, killed with a bolt from a crossbow in front of his house.

This is no hunting accident. But uncovering who is responsible for the murder will take Detective Sean Duffy down his most dangerous road yet, a road that leads to a lonely clearing on a high bog where three masked gunmen will force Duffy to dig his own grave. …

Amazon

The audio version is best as reader Gerard Doyle is superb.

Click PLAY or listen it on YouTube.

The title comes from a Tom Waits song called Cold Water.

Staying Quiet helps the Oppressor

Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. 

Immediately after they were sent to Auschwitz, his mother and his younger sister were murdered.

Wiesel and his father were selected to perform labor so long as they remained able-bodied, after which they were to be killed in the gas chambers.

Wiesel and his father were later deported to the concentration camp at Buchenwald. …

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Quote by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller 

Skiing March 2021

Pandemic seemed a perfect time to get on to the slopes.

Staying in Banff for 5 nights, I enjoyed 1 day at Louise, 2 at Sunshine.

Loving my new Shady Ray ski goggles.

It was ALL great. But my favourite run is the (easiest line) on Eagle Creek coming off Goatseye.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.