#20 dollar canadian bill

[xariarte]

📸 imjayshots for onpointbasketball (pt. 2) - July 2 2024

[moaninmoonen]

[omegagenix53]

What is Euro €500 Bills and How Can Use It? 

Euro €500 Bills is a large denomination in a widely circulated and easily convertible currency. In the United States, the largest denomination is $100, after the Federal Reserve discontinued the $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills in 1969. Switzerland has a 1,000-franc note, worth about $1,050, but its supply is limited.

Is there a $500 dollar bill?

The €500 note is also more compact and convenient for evading the gaze of authorities. The equivalent of $1 million, in that high euro note, weighs about five pounds and fits in a small bag, according to a Harvard University study this year.

After the European Central Bank phases out the €500 note by the end of 2018, the next highest denomination will be €200. That same $1 million would weigh roughly two and half times.

The purple coloured 500 Euro note has a pretty infamous nickname, “Bin Laden”, as everyone knows it’s in circulation but rarely does someone come across it. It is estimated that there are around 53,00,64,413 Five-Hundred Euro notes going around, about 3% of the total Euro banknotes.

They are not accepted for everyday payments

Most shops and business institutions don’t accept payments in 500 Euro notes. They are legally allowed to refuse payments made in 500 Euro denomination. Thus having one might not be of much use to you in terms of paying for expenses during your euro trip.

[globcoffs]

Buy GBP £5 Online

Buy GBP £5 Online. The British Pound or Pound sterling is the official currency of the United Kingdom (also called the UK and Great Britain). The currency code for British Pound is GBP and the symbol is  £. Because of the close proximity to the European Area, the most popular GBP exchange is with Euro.

It is the most valuable currency in Europe. Currency notes of GBP are available in the following denominations  1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100. However, the £1 and £100 notes are rarely found in circulation. The currency British Pound prepaid forex cards, however, can be loaded with an odd amount as well. Travelers proceeding to England/UK should purchase British Pounds.

Whatsapp: +1 (720) 334-7285

Email: info@globcoffs.com

[briarcrawford]

World-building: Creating a Currency

Creating a currency might seem difficult, but it does not have to be. In this post I will help guide you along the path of creating your own fantasy currency, while also showing some historical examples from around the world.

Trade Instead of Physical Currency

While it might seem strange to some today, money was not the only thing you could use as payment. For example, in some places you could pay your taxes, work, or rent in: salt, eels, beer, saffron, or even urine. Work was also a currency; for example, if you wanted to use someone’s flour mill, you might have to work the owners field as payment.

The Roman Legions sometimes also used salt as currency. Due to the high value of salt, an ancient Roman proverb said that people who did their job well were “worth their salt.” (Or “worth their weight in salt.” Ancient Origins

The more isolated an area, the more likely it is that they will mostly or wholly use trade as their economy.

The Details

Increments:

Technically, all you need is one coin. For example, in America you can buy anything with enough pennies(one cent); anything at all. It is the lowest increment of money they have, and technically all you need. Of course the problem is that the more expensive the item, the more inconvenient that would be. Could you imagine trying to bring enough pennies to buy a car or house?

So for the sake of convenience, other levels of money are added, such as 100 pennies equaling to a dollar. Commonly in money, single digit numbers are used for small-value currency (such as 1 cent and one dollar or 5 cents and 5 dollars), then once you get to higher levels of currency, everything is in increments of 10’s (such as 10 dollar bills, 50 dollar bills, and so on).

As well as all I mentioned, it is also worth noting that the higher you go, the harder it is for the average person to get their hands on. For example, it was not until I was working the cash register as an adult that I saw my first $100 bill.

For your own currency, start with the absolute lowest number, then decide how many more official levels you would like. In medieval England, there were13 coin types.

Names:

Rather than just calling something by their number value, many places also come up with names for them as well. For example, 25 cents in Canadian coins are called “quarters,” 10 cents are called “dimes,” and 5 cents are called “nickles.”

Slang Terms(Optional):

As if having the number value and the names are not enough for people, some places also have slang terms for their money. For example, some places base their names off of the color (such as a red 20-dollar note being called a lobster), while others might have names based off the imagery on said currency.

Area’s of Use:

Just like how you could get a coin from a different country and know it is not from your own, that also occurred in history. It is important to know what areas had what currency, and also what areas would accept other types of currency.

Your currency from your one kingdom might not be worth anything to a neighboring one. In fact, if your two kingdoms are enemies, carrying your own currency in their kingdom could put you at risk.

Sometimes, currency is more local. For example, in an isolated fishing community, the locals might still use shell coins despite the capital city of their kingdom using metal coins. This is simply because they have no one making metal coins for their small community, so they have no use for them. However, this also means that if any of them were to want to visit the city, they would need to find a way to get the correct currency.

Appearance:

Material:

Commonly for currency, you would try to pick a material that is hard for the average person to easily get their hands on. This is mostly to make it so not everyone can simply create their own money, and because rare things tend to hold more value to people. For example, gold is not easy for the average person to find, so it is still used as a currency today under the free-market system.

However, your currency can be made out of absolutely any material you prefer. In history, leather, shells, clay tokens, wooden tokens and tally’s, and metal coins, have all been used.

“Shell money is a form of currency that was used in various parts of the world, including Asia, Africa, and Oceania. This type of money makes use of a type of marine snail known as cowrie and therefore is known also as cowrie shell money. In some parts of the world shell money served as currency up until the 19th/20th century.” Ancient Origins

Imagery:

You can really have anything you want on a coin. For example, the Canadian loonie literally has a loon on one side, and the English monarch on the other. Almost all of the other coins also sport various animals, and Canada isn’t the only place that opted for animals. There was a celtic coin with a horse, a greek coin with a crab, and a roman coin with an elephant.

Sometimes the imagery was a symbol that meant a lot to the locals(such as the ruling person, a deity, mythological creature, or another symbol with deep meaning to the locals), while other times it could be just what the area is most known for. For example, a coin with a wheat stalk for an agriculture region.

Shape and Size of Currency:

If all your coins are made out of the same material, currency size would likely dictate the increment of value; such as smaller coins being worth less than bigger coins. This is due to judging the value based on the the amount of the material there, which can sometimes confirmed by weight.

Other times, the shape may be for convenience; such as a bead or a coin with a hole so you can keep them together on a string, or having flat coins for easy stacking.

However, coins can come in any shape you wish; such as the shape of an animal, a spade, or even a knife. While there have been some rather awkwardly shaped coins in history, I do suggest keeping them somewhat small for ease of carrying.

Free Generators

If, after all this, you are still completely lost on where to start, there are free money generators you can try.

RanGen Currency Generator

Springhole Currency Generator

[atlanticcanada]

Canadian families will pay $1,065 more for groceries in 2023, report says

Canadians won't escape food inflation any time soon.

Food prices in Canada will continue to escalate in the new year, with grocery costs forecast to rise up to seven per cent in 2023, new research predicts.

For a family of four, the total annual grocery bill is expected to be $16,288 -- $1,065 more than it was this year, the 13th edition of Canada's Food Price Report released Monday said.

A single woman in her 40s -- the average age in Canada -- will pay about $3,740 for groceries next year while a single man the same age would pay $4,168, according to the report and Statistics Canada.

Food inflation is set to remain stubbornly high in the first half of 2023 before it starts to ease, said Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report and Dalhousie University professor of food distribution and policy.

"When you look at the current food inflation cycle we're in right now, we're probably in the seventh-inning stretch," he said in an interview. "The first part of 2023 will remain challenging ... but we're starting to see the end of this."

Multiple factors could influence food prices next year, including climate change, geopolitical conflicts, rising energy costs and the lingering effects of COVID-19, the report said.

Currency fluctuations could also play a role in food prices. A weaker Canadian dollar could make importing goods like lettuce more expensive, for example.

Earlier this year the loonie was worth more than 80 cents US, but it then dropped to a low of 72.17 cents US in October amid a strengthening U.S. dollar. It has hovered near the 74 cent mark in recent weeks, ending Friday at 74.25 cents US.

"The produce section is going to be the wild card," Charlebois said. "Currency is one of the key things that could throw things off early in the winter and that's why produce is the highest category."

Vegetables could see the biggest price spikes, with estimates pegging cost increases will rise as high as eight per cent, the report said.

In addition to currency risks, much of the produce sold in Canada comes from the United States, which has been struggling with extremely dry conditions.

"The western U.S., particularly California, has seen strong El Nino weather patterns and droughts and bacterial contaminations, and that's impacted our fruit and vegetable suppliers and prices," said Simon Somogyi, campus lead at the University of Guelph and professor at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics.

"The drought is making the production of lettuce more expensive," he said. "It's reducing the crop size but it's also causing bacterial contamination, which is lessening the supply in the marketplace."

Prices in other key food categories like meat, dairy and bakery are predicted to soar up to seven per cent, the researchers found.

The Canadian Dairy Commission has approved a farm gate milk price increase of about 2.2 per cent, or just under two cents per litre, for Feb. 1, 2023.

"The increase for February is reasonable but it comes after the unprecedented increases in 2022, which are continuing to work their way through the supply chain," Charlebois said of the two price hikes of nearly 11 per cent combined in 2022.

Meanwhile, seafood is expected to increase up to six per cent, while fruit could increase up to five per cent, the report said.

Restaurant costs are expected to increase four to six per cent, less than supermarket prices, the report said.

Rising prices will push food security and affordability even further out of reach of Canadians a year after food bank use reached a record high, the report said.

The increasing reliance on food banks is expected to continue, with 20 per cent of Canadians reporting they will likely turn to community organizations in 2023 for help feeding their families, a survey included in the report found.

Use of weekly flyers, coupons, bulk buying and food rescuing apps also ticked up this year and is expected to continue growing in 2023, the report said.

"We're in the era now of the smart shopper," said Somogyi, also the Arrell Chair in the Business of Food.

"For certain generations, it's the first time that they've had to make a list, not impulse buy, read the weekly flyers, use coupons, buy in volume and freeze what they don't use."

Last year's report predicted food prices would increase five to seven per cent in 2022 -- the biggest jump ever predicted by the annual food price report.

Food costs actually far exceeded that forecast. Grocery prices were up 11 per cent in October compared with a year before while overall food costs were up 10.1 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.

"We were called alarmists," Charlebois said of the prediction that food prices could rise seven per cent in 2022. Critics called the report an "exaggeration," he said.

"You're always one crisis away from throwing everything out the window," Charlebois said. "We didn't predict the war in Ukraine, and that really affected markets."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2022.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/276zLTk

[peashooter85]

Whiskey Review Time --- Rebel and Rebel 100 Straight Bourbon

Recently I've noticed this bourbon hitting the shelves and I've finally decided to give it a try. Fortunately, they have those little 50ml bottles that sell for $1.99 so if this turns out to be a bad whiskey I'm not out much. However, this is a Kentucky Straight Bourbon, I've never ever had a bad Kentucky Straight Bourbon before, not even at the price of $17.99 which is what it sells for at the local liquor store. So I prepared myself for some nice budget bourbon sipping.

Apparently this stuff has been around for a while, with the brand being founded in the 1950's but was only available in part of the Southern US. However in the past ten years it's been crossing the Mason-Dixon line until now it's in just about every liquor store in America. Interestingly it's a wheated bourbon. Most bourbons have a mash bill of mostly corn, with the rest being rye and malted barley. This has a mashbill of 68% corn, 20% wheat, and 12% malted barley. It is a blend of bourbons from the Lux Row distillery and bourbons from other distilleries. Supposedly one of the other distilleries is Heaven Hill but I don't think this has even been confirmed. The brand is owned by Luxco which is also the owner of Everclear. It is bottled at 80 proof (40%). They also have Rebel 100, which is 100 proof (50%). There is no age statement, but to legally call it "straight bourbon" it must be aged for at lest 4 years in new oak barrels. You might see bottles of this called "Rebel Yell", sometimes even on the same shelf. Recently they've decided to shorten the name to just "Rebel", and they have been slowly fazing out the older "Rebel Yell" labels.

First I shall try the regular 80 proof rebel. On the nose I get classic bourbon smells, sweet honey, caramel, oak, vanilla, and cherry. It can be a little faint, sometime it seems like I need to stick my nose right in the glencairn to get a good whiff of it. The aroma is nice and pleasant and I really like it. On tasting I get a bit of the corn sweetness common with bourbon with hints of vanilla. The flavor is extremely light, in fact I would say way too light. With bourbons I expect bold rich flavors. This does not have bold rich flavors, in fact it tastes like a bourbon that has been watered down. The finish is very bitter and with lots of alcoholic burn despite being only 80 proof. I'm not pleased with it, but it's drinkable. I would rate it 2.5 out of 5.

Now on to Rebel 100. While the 80 proof Rebel had a light aroma, the 100 proof Rebel barely has any aroma. But if I really stick my nose in the glencairn to the point that it leaves marks on my face, I get an extremely light bourbonish aroma mixed with heavy odors of booze. On tasting ... OH GOD, ALCOHOL ALCOHOL ALCOHOL BURN BURN BURN!!! This stuff is so boozy and alcoholy and burny it has no other flavor profiles. It's strong and metallic tasting. It's not "defiantly smooth" as their brand catchphrase says. It's defiant as in Johnny Reb doing a rebel yell and cracking me across the head with the butt of a musket. It's terrible! This stuff is bad. It's like Canadian Mist bad! I have a feeling that they took regular Rebel and just added alcohol to it in order increase the alcohol content to 100 proof. I mean they own Everclear so it's not out of the realm of possibilities. This stuff is undrinkable, I had to toss it down the drain. Good thing I only got a mini bottle. I rate it 1 out of 5. Absolutely horrible! Worst part is you have to pay 2 dollars more for this than regular Rebel.

So now I'm sure there are many readers who are thinking, Peashooter you bought cheap whiskey what did you expect? Buy cheapass whiskey win cheapass prizes. Well, there is another Kentucky Straight Bourbon out there for the same price range that totally blows Rebel out of the water. In fact where I live it's cheaper at $14.99 a bottle. And that bourbon is ...

I love Evan Williams Black Label, it's the cheapest good Kentucky straight bourbon you can buy in my opinion. There are certainly better bourbons out there and EW Black Label might be a bit rough around the edges, but it's still a very good and solid bourbon for an excellent price. I have a feeling that what Luxco is trying to do is unseat this old contender. If you are short on funds and can't afford better, don't buy Rebel and especially don't buy Rebel 100, buy this instead.

[godbirdart]

Hi! I've found you on Tumblr and I'm extremely happy for that (a divine find!). I know your art from FA and I love your style.

The prompt suggests a question, so here's a small one. Do you enjoy much art outside of the one that's similar to yours?

Well, that's it. All good wishes. ^^

oh hell yes of course i do!!

when asked what my Favorite kind of art is my mind IMMEDIATELY goes to Northwest Coast art. ever since i was a kid i've been VERY obsessed with formline art and still very much so am.

[artist: trevor angus]

as a kid my first interaction with formline art was in the form of The Spirit of Haida Gwaii by Bill Reid - a sculpture formerly featured on the canadian 20 dollar note. there's a copy of it hanging out in the museum of national history and i really need to go back to appreciate it now that i'm not a kid with an obligation to stick with a tour group. i DID get to glimpse the Jade Canoe edition in the vancouver airport for a fleeting moment between late connections - needless to say i was very heartbroken that i couldn't stick around to appreciate its detail.

the thing i absolutely go feral for are orcas in formline art. nothing - i repeat - NOTHING can compare to the sheer grip this animal in this art style has on me. i do not really have words to explain it, how i came to love this or why, i am just very enthusiastic about orcas in this style and have been for as long as i can remember.

i have a tiny handful of pins and merch made by various Haisla, Namgis and Haida artists - though only a few artists offer orca art. i don't want to just impulse-buy whatever orca i can find [etsy for example is a hellhole of stolen / appropriated art and i ain't for it] so i'm just patiently waiting around until an artist from a pacific northwest community puts up an art piece for sale.

[artist: Cori Savard - this particular print is on my to-buy list i just need to save the coin for it hhhhh]

now, completely unrelated to formline art.

i am also a fan of The Voice of Fire by Barnett Newman; if only for the fact that the museum bought this piece for 1.8 million and then proceeded to display it in the most OMINOUSLY EMPTY ROOM THEY HAD IN THE WHOLE BUILDING. my love for this painting isn't necessarily in the painting itself, but the presentation. i have stood in this room. occasionally there are other sculptures in there, but for the most part it just lingers there, isolated, glaring at you.

if we're going more into fandom culture and independent artists online, while i cannot say I've a particular Art Idol, i am a huge fan of [for lack of a better word for it] the kemono art style. i don't want to go and repost other artist's work without permission here, or make this post Even Longer, so i'll just point you in the direction of a few artists that draw in the style i'm talking about. it's first thing in the morning and i'm just barely waking up so i'm only going to post a small handful

terenry / terenryrm

mochiri

ev-oo

moonagvaze

i have a character design by terenry so i can post him as an example since i own the oc now [this is the watermarked art i pulled from my Toyhouse. the watermark is there to deter oc / art thieves but the artwork itself is by terenry]

sorry this ended up being really long aAaAA don't get me started on my favorite art i will never shut up about it. i can and will ramble for Hours about it. to say art is a passion of mine is a criminal understatement.

[heyharoldsboo]

"But who knows. I’m still hopeful she’ll have a nervous breakdown and confess all her lies lmao"

lol one can dream but she never will lets be serious here

And even if she does, his haters will just say his fans bullied her pushed her into it and made her confess to something that is not true. You know how this works..even if Jenna did a live stream saying she knows he's innocent they would say he paid her to say that

lmao remember when he paid her hahahahahahaha im dead

Lol I still remember laughing until I had hiccups thinking of Percy sliding a 20 dollar bill towards Jenna to say good things about him. And someone saying it’d be even funnier if it was a Canadian dollar bill.

And honestly, I don’t care about what haters think. They don’t have anything between their ears. I just want to see her burn.

[spectacularizm]

Lil Rant

In regards to the Diana post I wanna make it clear that no I am not british. The reason I'm saying this is because every damn time I make a post SHITTING on Camilla and PRAISING the CRAP out of Diana, everyones like, "ooooh but you're not even british so you don't matter!!1!!!1!" like mfer stfu I might not be British, but I am Canadian, and unfortunately, my country is still tied to the Monarchy. If those royals are gonna have their faces plastered on my beautiful dollar bills (Example here, Queen E. on the Canadian $20 bill)

then I thiiinnkk I have a right to complain. I don't wanna see Camilla nor Charles droopy melting faces on my money, I want DIANA. And it genuinely angers me that she's dead. Like, what the fuck!?!?! It's so unfair. She's the embodiment of beauty, I can't even bring myself to express it, she's otherworldly, she's radiant, she's probably the most stellar woman I've ever seen. And he chose Camilla over her??? Dawg.. Camilla literally looks like she got kicked in the face and it just stayed that way... with her big ass V-mouth.. Diana always gon be better. Anyway that's it Ik this isn't very "AQOTWF" or "Godzilla" of me but I wanted to put this out there since Coronation only happened a couple days back and like I said it's taken fairly seriously over here in the true North too. Long Live Diana.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

What to Expect When You’re Expecting the U.N. General Assembly (Foreign Policy) As world leaders descend on the United Nations headquarters in New York City, the international body is fighting to maintain its relevance in a world it wasn’t built for when it was established nearly 80 years ago. Global powers are increasingly circumventing the unwieldy U.N. system to conduct multilateral diplomacy, such as through the G-7, G-20, and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) blocs. Eight years ago, the U.N. outlined an ambitious batch of goals to tackle global poverty, gender equality, climate change, and other pressing global issues by 2030. But so far, the world is way off target in meeting those goals. The war in Ukraine has frontally challenged one of the U.N.’s most fundamental purposes, enshrined in its foundational charter, of averting major wars. The Western world’s laser focus on the conflict in Ukraine, meanwhile, has frustrated other countries in the global south as other dire humanitarian catastrophes—conflict in Sudan, coups across Africa, the migration crisis in Central America, and a lot of climate-related disasters—struggle for resources and high-level attention.

Canada’s surging food prices (Reuters) Canada’s plan to bring down food prices by tightening regulation could backfire and fail, raising the cost of doing business in the country without providing relief to consumers, lawyers and economists said. Canada’s weak competition law has been long blamed for allowing a few players to dominate industries ranging from banks to telecoms and groceries. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to amend the Competition Act to help bring down prices. Trudeau’s move comes as many Canadians reel under an affordability crisis with food prices jumping 25% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the same time, the central bank’s efforts to bring down inflation by raising interest rates to a 22-year-high have pushed up mortgage costs for homeowners and made buying a home unaffordable for others.

U.S. National Debt Tops $33 Trillion for First Time (NYT) America’s gross national debt exceeded $33 trillion for the first time on Monday, providing a stark reminder of the country’s shaky fiscal trajectory at a moment when Washington faces the prospect of a government shutdown this month amid another fight over federal spending. It came as Congress appeared to be faltering in its efforts to fund the government ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. Unless Congress can pass a dozen appropriations bills or agree to a short-term extension of federal funding at existing levels, the United States will face its first government shutdown since 2019. The debt is on track to top $50 trillion by the end of the decade, as interest on the debt mounts and the cost of the nation’s social safety net programs keeps growing.

Brazil’s Lula pitches his nation—and himself—as fresh leader for Global South (AP) “Brazil is back.” That has been Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s refrain for the better part of the last year, with the president deploying the snappy slogan to cast Brazil—and himself—as a leader of the Global South no longer content to abide the world’s outdated workings. During Lula’s travels, he has pushed for global governance that gives greater heft to the Global South and advocating diminishing the dollar’s dominance in trade. He has made clear that Brazil has no intention of siding with the United States or China, the world’s two largest economies and Brazil’s two biggest trading partners. And he has refused to join Washington and Western Europe in backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, instead calling for a club of nations to mediate peace talks. After the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrest, Lula said he would review Brazil’s membership in the court.

Germany’s economy struggles (AP) For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports. Jobs were plentiful, the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany. No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and European Union expecting it to shrink this year. It follows Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the loss of Moscow’s cheap natural gas—an unprecedented shock to Germany’s energy-intensive industries, long the manufacturing powerhouse of Europe. Germany risks “deindustrialization” as high energy costs and government inaction on other chronic problems threaten to send new factories and high-paying jobs elsewhere, said Christian Kullmann, CEO of major German chemical company Evonik Industries AG.

Evidence Suggests Ukrainian Missile Caused Market Tragedy (NYT) The Sept. 6 missile strike on Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine was one of the deadliest in the country in months, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring more than 30 others. The weapon’s payload of metal fragments struck a market, piercing windows and walls and wounding some victims beyond recognition. Less than two hours later, President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian “terrorists” for the attack, and many media outlets followed suit. Throughout its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly and systematically attacked civilians and struck schools, markets and residences as a deliberate tactic to instill fear in the populace. But evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of an errant Ukrainian air defense missile fired by a Buk launch system. Air defense experts say missiles like the one that hit the market can go off course for a variety of reasons.

In Moscow, the War Is Background Noise, but Ever-Present (NYT) Metro trains are running smoothly in Moscow, as usual, but getting around the city center by car has become more complicated, and annoying, because anti-drone radar interferes with navigation apps. Almost 19 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Muscovites are experiencing dual realities: The war has faded into background noise, causing few major disruptions, and yet it remains ever-present in their daily lives. There is little anxiety among residents over the drone strikes that have hit Moscow this summer. No alarm sirens to warn of a possible attack. The city continues to grow. Cranes dot the skyline, and there are high-rise buildings going up all over town. But for some, the effects of war are landing harder. Nina, 79, a pensioner who was shopping at an Auchan supermarket in northwestern Moscow, said that she had stopped buying red meat entirely, and that she could almost never afford to buy a whole fish. Nina said that sanctions and ubiquitous construction projects were some reasons for higher prices, but the main reason, she said, was “because a lot is spent on war.”

India, Canada expel diplomats over accusations Delhi killed Sikh separatist (Washington Post) India expelled a Canadian diplomat on Tuesday in a tit-for-tat move after Canadian officials accused Indian government operatives of gunning down a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia and threw out an Indian diplomat they identified as an intelligence officer. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of assassination, made during an explosive speech before Parliament on Monday, sent relations between the two nations tumbling toward their lowest point but also held broader ramifications for ties between the U.S.-led alliance and India, which the Biden administration has assiduously courted as a strategic counterweight to China. The Indian government issued a statement Tuesday rejecting Trudeau’s accusation as “absurd and motivated.” India’s Foreign Ministry went on to say that the allegations “seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.” (BBC) India has been increasing the pressure on countries with significant Sikh communities, like Canada, Australia and the UK, saying they are failing to tackle what it calls "Sikh extremism." Mr. Nijjar is the third prominent Sikh figure to have died unexpectedly in recent months.

Libya’s flood turmoil (Worldcrunch) Hundreds of protesters rallied in Libya’s Derna on Monday, setting fire to the house of the man who was the city’s mayor at the time of the flood, to demand accountability one week after a flood that killed thousands of residents. Meanwhile, the UN has warned that a disease outbreak could create “a second devastating crisis” as people are falling ill from contaminated water.

Crisis and Bailout: The Tortuous Cycle Stalking Nations in Debt (NYT) Emmanuel Cherry, the chief executive of an association of Ghanaian construction companies, sat in a cafe at the edge of Accra Children’s Park, near the derelict Ferris wheel and kiddie train, as he tallied up how much money government entities owe thousands of contractors. Before interest, he said, the back payments add up to 15 billion cedis, roughly $1.3 billion. “Most of the contractors are home,” Mr. Cherry said. Their workers have been laid off. Like many others in this West African country, the contractors have to wait in line for their money. Teacher trainees complain they are owed two months of back pay. Independent power producers that have warned of major blackouts are owed $1.58 billion. The government is essentially bankrupt. After defaulting on billions of dollars owed to foreign lenders in December, the administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo had no choice but to agree to a $3 billion loan from the lender of last resort, the International Monetary Fund. It was the 17th time Ghana has been compelled to turn to the fund since it gained independence in 1957. The tortuous cycle of crisis and bailout has plagued dozens of poor and middle-income countries throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia for decades.

Many of today’s unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco (Washington Post) For decades, tobacco companies hooked people on cigarettes by making their products more addictive. Now, a new study suggests that tobacco companies may have used a similar strategy to hook people on processed foods. In the 1980s, tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds acquired the major food companies Kraft, General Foods and Nabisco, allowing tobacco firms to dominate America’s food supply and reap billions in sales from popular brands such as Oreo cookies, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Lunchables. By the 2000s, the tobacco giants spun off their food companies and largely exited the food industry—but not before leaving a lasting legacy on the foods that we eat. The new research, published in the journal Addiction, focuses on the rise of “hyper-palatable” foods, which contain potent combinations of fat, sodium, sugar and other additives that can drive people to crave and overeat them. The Addiction study found that in the decades when the tobacco giants owned the world’s leading food companies, the foods that they sold were far more likely to be hyper-palatable than similar foods not owned by tobacco companies. In the past 30 years, hyper-palatable foods have spread rapidly into the food supply, coinciding with a surge in obesity and diet-related diseases. In America, the steepest increase in the prevalence of hyper-palatable foods occurred between 1988 and 2001—the era when Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds owned the world’s leading food companies.

Danish artist told to repay museum ���67,000 after turning in blank canvasses (BBC) A Danish artist has been ordered to return nearly 500,000 kroner ($72,000; £58,000) to a museum after giving it two blank canvasses for a project he named Take the Money and Run. The Kunsten Museum in Aalborg had intended for Jens Haaning to embed the banknotes in two pieces of art in 2021. Instead, he gave it blank canvasses and then told Danish media: "The work is that I have taken their money." A court has now ordered him to return the cash, minus 8% for expenses.

[lingocurio]

My imaginary trip to the Azores starts in 10 days! Let's figure out what it would cost.

TLDR estimate of per person per day cost: CAD $235/USD $172 for solo travellers; CAD $205/USD $150 for dynamic duos.

Read on to see how I arrived at those numbers.

I already have my flights in and out of Terceira, my accommodations, transportation and activities. The only thing left to figure out is how much food is going to cost.

I first used Google maps to find restaurants in Angra do Heroismo. For some of them I was able to see menus. It seems that most entrées range in price from around €15 to €24. I can probably estimate an average price of about €20/day for a nice dinner.

I would opt to have a hot meal at a restaurant as my mid-day meal when possible. Oftentimes lunch menus have cheaper items available than dinner menus.

For breakfasts and suppers, I would shop at markets and grocery stores. My accommodations has a kitchen with a fridge, stove, microwave and basic cookware, so I can easily whip up some easy meals and store food.

I found this website that gives the cost of common grocery items. Here's a sample grocery list for the week that would provide for hearty breakfasts and simple suppers:

1 liter of milk, €0.69

2 loaves of bread, €1.44

500 g (1 lb) of rice, €0.54

A dozen eggs, €1.98

500 g (1 lb) cheese €3.86

500 g (1 lb) chicken €4.00

500 g (1 lb) apples €0.72

500 g (1 lb) bananas €0.32

500 g (1 lb) oranges €0.72

500 g (1 lb) tomatoes €0.72

Bottle of wine (mid-range) €5.29

Domestic beer (0.5 liter bottle) € 1.89

The grand total for this list is €22.17, or €2.77 per day (my stay on Terceira is 8 days long).

I always like to round-up when estimating to allow for unexpected expenses. So let's say I need about €3/day for breakfast and supper.

It also occured to me in the meantime that if I'm eating at a restaurant, there's going to be tax added to the bill. I thought I saw somewhere that Portugal has an 18% VAT (Value-Added Tax). So a €20 meal is going to come to €23.60.

Then we also need to figure in tips. In Canada, I usually tip about 15-20%, so let's just use the VAT rate of 18%. That means we have to add another €3.60 to the €23.60 meal (€20 entrée + €3.60 VAT) for a grand total of €27.20, on average. Again, I like to round up when estimating, so let's call it an even €30.

So altogether we're looking at about €33/day for meals (€30 restaurant meals + €3 groceries). For the 8 days that comes to €264.

Let's add it all up!

Meals: €264

Cab rides to and from the airport: €40 + tip = €47.20

Guided tours: €279 + tax + tip = €379.44

Bike rental: €45 + tax = €53.10

So far the total is €743.74. Let's convert that to Canadian dollars. The current exchange rate is about CA$1.46 per Euro. So the total in Canadian dollars is going to be about $1085.

Now let's add the accommodations and airfare, which I already have in Canadian dollars.

Accommodations: $296 + tax = $349.28

Airfare Terceira to Ponta Delgada (taxes and fees already included): $107

Airfare Toronto to Terceira (taxes and fees already included): $341.

The grand total to the nearest dollar is: $1882, or $235.25/day. In US dollars that would be about $1377, or $172/day.

This estimate is for a solo traveller. If you are travelling as a couple or with a friend or family member that you can share accommodations with, the per person cost will be cheaper since the cost of accommodations will not be double the amount for two sharing a room. I think the accommodations I pretend-booked can accommodate two people with no change in price. For food, you would obviously need twice the amount, but often with groceries buying double the amount doesn't necessarily mean double the price, since you usually pay a premium for smaller packaging. For restaurant food as well, you can sometimes get shared platters or a set dinner for two that is cheaper than buying two individual meals. And obviously for a cab, the fare is the same whether there is one passenger or two.

So let's say that food for two adults might cost around €60/day (€55 restaurant meal + €5 groceries), or €480 for 8 days.

Cab rides to and from the airport will still be about €50.

Guided tours and bike rentals will be doubled at €760 and €106 respectively.

Convert the subtotal of €1396 to Canadian dollars at the current exchange rate of $1.46 and you get $2038.16.

Accommodations stay the same at $349.28. Double the airfare for the two flights to get $214 and $682. Grand total is: CAD $3283.44, or CAD $1641.72 per person (about $205/day per person). In USD that comes out to $1201.40 per person, or about $150/day per person.

And there you have it! Now I can start saving up for a real trip one day!

Next stop: Ponta Delgada.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.12 (after 1960)

1961 – Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1. 1963 – The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits. 1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board. 1980 – The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed. 1980 – Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed. 1980 – Canadian runner and athlete, Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope Run in St. John's, NF 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission. 1983 – Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago. 1985 – Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-51D to deploy two communications satellites. 1990 – Jim Gary's "Twentieth Century Dinosaurs" exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there. 1990 – Widerøe Flight 839 crashes after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Norway, killing five people. 1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris. 1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred. 1999 – During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people. 2002 – A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104. 2007 – A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people. 2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency. 2010 – Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28. 2013 – Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali. 2014 – The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

[xtruss]

‘A Real & Rare Thing’ – Canada To Halt Arms Sales To “War Criminal Illegal Regime of Isra-hell”

The Move Comes After Lawmakers Voted 204 – 117 in Favor of a Non-Binding Motion to Stop the Weapons Sales after a Lengthy Debate on Monday.

— March 20, 2024 | The Palestine Chronicle

Mélanie Joly, The Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on 1 March 2024. Photograph: Canadian Press/Rex/Shutterstock

Canada will cease all future arms exports to Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has said.

The move comes after lawmakers voted 204 – 117 in favor of a non-binding motion to stop the weapons sales after a lengthy debate on Monday, the Anadolu news agency reported.

“It is a real thing,” Joly told the Toronto Star newspaper on Tuesday.

The original motion was for a weapons sales suspension but that was changed to an outright ban.

Also included in the motion was a clause that called for support of the eventual “establishment of the State of Palestine” in concert with Canada’s international partners, Anadolu reported.

Canada had earlier placed a temporary suspension on export permits for millions of dollars worth of military goods and technology, over possible human rights violations.

Existing Contracts

But there was some confusion previously as Global Affairs Canada continued to receive applications on arms exports to Israel and they were reviewed on a case-to-case basis, the Star reported.

Joly, however, reportedly insisted that after the Monday vote calling for the weapons ban, the Canadian government decided to honor the pledge.

Canada’s Defense Minister Bill Blair said Joly will decide how the ban is enforced.

“There are a number of existing contracts that are already in place, but this was a going-forward basis, I think that’s how the minister’s looking at it,” Blair reportedly told the Star.

“There has been a lot of concern expressed with respect to … lethal military sales to Israel during the conflict,” he was quoted as saying.

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East called the amended motion “watered-down” in a statement, but that it was “nonetheless a small step forward for ending Canadian complicity in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.”

“While the final motion adopted by Parliament no longer called for the total suspension of all trade in military goods and technology with Israel, it called on Canada to cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime,” the group said in a statement.

“This policy is critically urgent in light of evidence that Canada exported a record-breaking $28.5 Million in military goods to Israel in the first three months after October 7,” the statement added.

Lawsuit

Earlier this month, a coalition of Palestinian Canadians and human rights lawyers filed a lawsuit against the federal government seeking to stop it from permitting the export of military goods and technology to Israel.

The coalition sought “to hold the Canadian government to its legal obligations, both under international and domestic law, to ensure Canadian arms are not used to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity”, said Henry Off, a member of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights in a statement.

UNRWA Funding

Last week Canada announced that it is resuming support to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after a decision to pause funding because of Israeli allegations against the agency.

Canada’s Minister of International Development, Ahmed Hussen, said the decision came as a result of a desire to protect civilians.

“Canada is resuming its funding to UNRWA so more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians,” he said.

A statement by the Global Affairs of Canada said it “commends the independent review of UNRWA currently underway, led by Catherine Colonna, and anticipates reviewing the report assessing UNRWA’s neutrality mechanisms.”

Staggering Death Toll

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,923 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,096 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’

— (PC, Anadolu)

[interchangefinancial]

USD to CAD and Why it Matters to You

USD to CAD.  What is it?  You hear the term everywhere in Canada.  You hear it mentioned on TV, on the radio.  You see it online and in the newspapers.  There are even Facebook groups dedicated to it.  Why do people care so much about it?  People write reports about it and debate it passionately and care a lot about where it is and where it is going in the future.  It seems to change all the time.  What in the world is it and why should you care?

The term USD to CAD is generally denotes the “US dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate”.  It is the price of 1 US dollar in Canadian dollars.  For example, a USD to CAD rate of 1.27 means that each US dollar is worth 1.27 Canadian dollars.  It also means that 1 Canadian dollar is worth 0.79 in US dollars.  This last number is sometimes known as the inverse rate because it is equal to the inverse of USD to CAD (ie: 1/1.27 = 0.79). 

The USD to CAD exchange rate (like all other exchange rates) changes from second to second as buyers sellers and speculators transact with one another.  The Bank of Canada provides a daily exchange rate lookup as well as historical USD to CAD rates but does not provide “live” rates that reflect minute to minute changes during the day.  You can see the live USD to CAD rates quotes on sites like Interchange Financial.  While the rate changes all the time, on a daily basis the changes tend to be within a penny.  While larger changes can and do happen, it would be rare to see a day with a larger than one penny change more than once a week.

While the daily changes in USD to CAD are often small, they can add up in many ways to make an impact to people doing USD to CAD exchanges.  For example, even a one penny change means that if you are exchanging 10,000, you will receive a hundred dollars more (or less).  Also, the changes can accumulate over several days or months to add up to larger amounts.  For example, during one three month period recently the Canadian dollar moved by 20 pennies.  That same 10,000 exchange would now get 2000 more (or less depending on what you are exchanging).

So, that’s it.  That’s what all the hoopla is about when it comes to USD to CAD.  It is a simple concept but it is also very important to Canadian society and economy.  Why is it important?  It is important because Canada has a very open economy and interaction with people and businesses outside of Canada is very normal.  USD to CAD can impact everything from the smallest transaction involving someone ordering shampoo on Amazon to someone buying property in Arizona to an immigrant moving money from the USA to Canada to a Canadian company paying bills in California to a Michigan company buying steel in Canada to an investor selling his stocks in US companies.

Let us consider just one of those examples.  Take a sophisticated Canadian investor who holds stock in Apple.  The investor has done well and the stock is up 20% over his holding period.  He is ready to sell it and cash out his investment to purchase a new house in Canada.  After he sells his Apple stock, he will hold a bunch of US dollars in his brokerage account.  He needs to convert that amount to Canadian dollars.  What if the USD to CAD rate moved down 30% during his holding period?  Now, in Canadian dollars, his return is actually negative 10%.  In Canadian dollar terms, he has lost money.  That house he thought he could buy with his investment?  It is no longer available to him. 

At this point, you might be thinking that USD to CAD matters only to large transactions.  Not true.  Let’s say you are buying a new bike online.  The seller is located in the US.  When you first see the bike you want the USD to CAD rate is 1.27.  When you go back in a month, the USD to CAD rate has moved to 1.34.  Well, that bike just got 6% more expensive for you.

What if you never buy anything from outside of Canada?  USD to CAD still impacts you.  Why?  Because just about everything you buy in Canada has some sort of input that is priced in US dollars.  Oranges at the supermarket?  They are from California.  Car made in Windsor?  Most of the parts are from the US.  T-shirt made in China at Walmart?  The importer paid in US dollars to buy it.  Wine made in BC?  The gasoline used to transport it is priced in US dollars.  In general, when USD to CAD goes up, everything gets more expensive.

Given its importance to nearly everything in Canada, it is perhaps not surprising that The Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada watch the USD to CAD rate very closely.  They like to say that the rate is set by markets, which is true, but it really impacts everything so they follow it closely and even sometimes try to influence it.  If USD to CAD gets too low then Canadian companies have trouble competing in international markets because their exports become too expensive.  On the other hand, if it gets too high then things get very expensive for Canadians living at home. So, USD to CAD is a simple term and a simple concept but it is hugely important to everyone in Canada.  It is no wonder then that you hear it everywhere and so many people get worked up about it.  It really matters to everything that we do in Canada.

[pickledasparaguss]

Blog Post 4: "Bitcoin is not a viable currency because it requires an unsustainable amount of energy to process each transaction." Look, when it comes to Bitcoin and the topic of cryptocurrency I'm truly not your girl for this as I require much more time to delve into the research of what cryptocurrency is and how it even works. Although it is a fascinating topic, it's not something myself nor those around me discuss very often so it feels rather foreign. Take everything that I am saying here more as just an opinion piece based on what I've been able to conjure up rather than something that's factually based, because when it comes to this subject, I'm about as useless as a glass hammer. That being said, in regards to the proposition I think it doesn't just come down to if bitcoin is a viable currency solely based on the fact that it requires an unsustainable amount of energy. But rather that it's not really much of a viable currency in general. After watching the video on what Bitcoin is and how it actually works as well as looking into my own research. The entire idea of Bitcoin feels extremely unsteady. This quote from economist Eswar Prasad pretty much backs this idea of potential instability: "While Bitcoin has failed in its stated objectives, it has become a speculative investment. This is puzzling. It has no intrinsic value and is not backed by anything. Bitcoin devotees will tell you that, like gold, its value comes from its scarcity—Bitcoin’s computer algorithm mandates a fixed cap of 21 million digital coins (nearly 19 million have been created so far). But scarcity by itself can hardly be a source of value. Bitcoin investors seem to be relying on the greater fool theory—all you need to profit from an investment is to find someone willing to buy the asset at an even higher price." Although this new idea of currency can be considered groundbreaking, there is no guarantee of longevity. Sure, you can say that cryptocurrency and Bitcoin specifically is not a viable currency because it requires an unsustainable amount of energy to process a transaction. But we've known that this type of cryptocurrency has concerning impacts on the climate. "Bitcoin price and energy use for Bitcoin mining are highly correlated. A 400% increase in Bitcoin's price from 2021 to 2022 triggered a 140% increase in the energy consumption of the worldwide Bitcoin mining network." What I want to argue is that cryptocurrency is not a viable source of currency at all. This is due to the fact that it's just straight up unpredictable. "who on Earth would use Bitcoin to buy a $5 latte when that same amount of crypto might very well be worth $50 a few days later? If a $20 bill could buy a pizza one day and steak and lobster dinner the next, it would be too unpredictable to be a practical medium of exchange — just like Bitcoin." It also just seems that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. Now you may think, well couldn't you just say the same thing about the money we use right now? I would argue not fully. Because at least our Canadian dollar is backed up by the government, whereas Bitcoin comes from an unidentifiable source, how does that sound legit?