Bits and Pieces

Something I wanted to pass along which I found reading blogs last night. One blog I read called the Cuba Journal reported on their Terry Fox Run of March 26th:

HAVANA,

The start/finish line in Havana was across from the Capitol building, at the entrance to the Kid Chocolate Sport Complex.
The race seeked to make the public aware

of the fight against cancer and to promote new life styles. It is also a tribute to Terry Fox, a young Canadian who had one leg amputated when he was 18 due to cancer, and, using a false leg, ran over 42 kilometres every day for 143 days.
As in every year, the race took place in the main avenues, squares and the most remote places of the country. The starting signal was given by the Radio Reloj national station, so that runners in the 169 municipalities of the country could start simultaneously. Everyone could take part, even with roller skates, bicycles or wheelchairs.

After Canada, Cuba is the country with the largest number of participants in the world.

I would have not thought that the Cubans would do Terry Fox runs!

Hemingway

While on the topic of Cuba (well, sort of) I came across an article in the Globe this weekend which reminded me of a few things. Hemingway lived in Cuba for many years and had a property outside of Havana which is now a museum. I would like to see it one day. I found a picture on the net of a bar that Hemingway frequented in Havana. It was taken at La Bodeguita del Medio. Hanging on the bar is a plate with a likeness of Ernest Hemingway and a framed, signed message written by him. He was a regular patron.

Valerie Hemingway was interviewed by Globe writer Barbara Turnbull about the years spent living with and working as Ernest Hemingway's secretary. She later married his son and hence has the famous last name. She published her memoirs in 2004 titled Running With the Bulls. Hemingway was an interesting man and I am sure her story is well worth reading. I am going to find it at the library.

I took the following quote from the Globe article about the time that Valerie spent with Hemingway:

Spending Spain's bullfighting season with him in 1959, working as his secretary through his last good months in Cuba, helping his widow take more than $1 million in art and memorabilia out the country under Fidel Castro's nose and eventually marrying Hemingway's youngest son – who turned out to be a cross-dressing manic-depressive – well qualifies her to be the next speaker in the Unique Lives & Experiences lecture series, appearing tonight at Roy Thomson Hall.

Speakers in the series, sponsored in part by theStar, include: Diane Keaton, Isabella Rossellini and Whoopi Goldberg. More information: www.uniquelives.com

To read the article: She'll share her tales of Hemingway

When I think of Hemingway, I always think about Key West. He had a wonderful house built there and lived there from 1931 to 194o. It is a museum now which I was able to visit during a memorable holiday I had in Key West probably 10 years ago. It was a magical place with lots of 7 toed cats. Key West is a great holiday venue.

Another interesting fact about Hemingway is that he lived in Toronto on Bathurst St. for a period of time and worked as a reporter for the Toronto Star before he moved to France.

To learn more about Ernest Hemingway go here.

The Credit Crisis Explained

I found an interesting video which is a very clever and easy to understand explanation of what happened in the US with their subprime mortgages and how it made the bottom fall out of the credit market.


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

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