CIA

I'm currently reading Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. You know you are around actuaries when they go "WTF why would you want to read about that?! Get a life!"

It's, um, the other CIA people. The one with spies instead of actuaries?

Anyways it's a pretty interesting book. It really shows how incompetent the CIA is.

Financial statements are useless!!!

Financial statements are suppose to be measuring the health of a company at a point in time. For an insurance company, this is difficult because of a funky liability called reserves. While it is based on sound mathematical and statistical principles, there is a certain level of subjectivity involved; that's why I have a job :).

Some might criticize the insurance business for this; even going as far as to say financial statements of life insurers are useless because all sorts of stuff can be "hidden" in the reserves. All they show is a stream of smoothed earnings.

When the market is doing well and the insurer doesn't realize gains by releasing capital or reserves, he's being prudent. When the market is down and the lose is being cushioned by releasing reserves, the insurer is making stuff up. Leave it to the actuary to have a long term outlook! I'm reminded of a CIA ad that compares actuaries to other professionals like stock brokers and investment analysts. See page 10 of this issue's Beyond Risk (PDF).

DP-IC Exam: Done.

It's finally over but I feel so pwned. I'll try my best not to think about it. In general it wasn't really what I was expecting. I thought the exam had a lot more calculations than the last year's exam and that just threw me off totally. During reading time I was going double-you-tee-eff at all the tables of numbers. Another thing that I wasn't expecting to be tight is time. I wasn't totally out of time but it was for sure tighter than I thought it would be.

Time for a short break and then off I go to the FSA modules!

PASS ME SOA!!!!!

Lehman Brothers: GONE!

Haha! I knew it!

Lehman set to go into insolvency
Page last updated at 23:34 GMT, Sunday, 14 September 2008 00:34 UK

Preparations are being made for US investment bank Lehman Brothers to file for bankruptcy protection.

The firm was pushed to the brink on Sunday after UK bank Barclays pulled out of talks to buy most of Lehman.

If no new financing is found before Wall Street opens on Monday, Lehman will have to seek so-called Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7615712.stm

Man struck, killed by train in Coquitlam

Last Updated: Saturday, September 13, 2008 | 1:49 AM ET
CBC News

A man is dead after being struck by a train in Coquitlam Friday night, RCMP said.

RCMP in the city east of Vancouver received a 911 call about 8 p.m. and emergency crews were deployed to the Coquitlam Central Station of the West Coast Express, Cpl. Brenda Gresiuk told CBC News.

The unidentified man was walking along the tracks pushing a bicycle in an isolated area when he was hit by the CP commuter train, which had no passengers on, Gresiuk said.

"[The location] where the collision took place is not really an area where passenger traffic will normally be seen," she said.

"The person had made the way on to the tracks. We don't have a lot of information right now. Police officers are trying to identify the man and contact next of kin."

The train tracks at the station were closed Friday night and the CP rail line was being rerouted around the site of the incident.

The West Coast Express train normally runs eastbound from downtown Vancouver's Waterfront station to Port Moody, Coquitlam Central, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Meadows, Port Haney and finally Mission City stations.

I was really surprised by two insanely loud train whistles while walking up Mariner at around 7:55pm tonight--I was sure of the time because I checked my phone after departing the train bus tonight. I guess this is what happened.

People who don't sit on the bus

You people annoy the crap out of me. Stop being so polite because you are just in the way. You should just sit down so the rest of us can move to the back.

And the lady who once told me there is a queue for getting on: thanks for the effort. I haven't been naughty since :).

DP IC studying is PITA.

Dragonball Movie Poster

My gawd I wanna puke:

The ugliest wtf movie poster you will ever see.

Hot linking appears to be not allowed :(.

Final Assessment Revisited

While waiting for my FA results (five weeks and 1 day), I came across a very interesting post on AO:

What's the point of the 4-day deadline for the FA, just to annoy us? Can't anybody just buy themselves whatever kind of extension they want by not turning anything in the first time and then re-registering once they're done working on it?

The point of not turning anything in, of course, is so the person doesn't have to wait 7 weeks.

I don't really mind the 4-day deadline. Just the part where anybody can buy themselves an extension. I don't care for that part at all, but can anybody tell me how it isn't true?

That's certainly a very interesting view that did not dawn on me; it's probably because I'm anal about money. Of course, this requires some inside knowledge of how the FA works exactly. Anyways, this problem can be remedied easily by increasing the pool of quality FA assignments--I think the current FA is quite well designed and written.

Stop being so lazy SOA.

SFU Alumni Assocation

The proposed bylaw changes in the May 31 meeting includes changing the purpose of the association, namely:

Original:

The purposes of the Association are:
- To promote and further higher education.
- To foster and encourage the organization and activities of branches and other alumni groups.

Proposed

The purposes of the Association are:
- An engaging and mutually beneficial lifetime link between Simon Fraser University and its community of alumni.

Firstly the proposed version doesn't make grammatical sense. Secondly, why the damn narcissism? Me, me, me, benefit ME! I thought education is supposed to make us better people.

Anyone wants to show up and vote NO with me :)?

Big Porfolio Update

The ETF portion of my portfolio has a gain of $27.87 CAD. I'm pretty sure my Canadian index fund's gains should be enough to cover up the loses I suffered in my US index fund.

Thus for the first time in 2008, my portfolio is back in the positive category :).

Mandarin HNIC stream

I don't know what CBC is thinking. Why the heck would you stream the Habs game over the Internet in English and Mandarin!?!? Isn't the most logical choice French? Would Chinese people suddenly get interested in hockey because they can now understand the commentary? Absurd.

Anyways, I think CBC has been coming up with some pretty neat initiatives on the Internet to encourage participation. Other than this stint of Mandarin HNIC and the cutting of Airfarce, I like what I'm seeing.

FAP Final Assessment Log: Day 5

So I lied. I spent about 2 hours last night editing while chatting with a very mean person. I got quite a bit of editing done then too.

I was supposed to wake up only half an hour later than my usual work day wake up time to catch one later train. Turned out I hit the wrong button on my phone and instead of snoozing I slept until 8:05. By then it was too late to catch the last WCE so I had to take the 160. This turned out okay as I managed to get quite a bit of editing done on the bus.

I uploaded my assessment at 1:30pm today. Time spent since the last post is probably about 6 more hours. Thus in aggregate, I spent about 40 hour on my FA; 20 hours my ass SOA! But at least it is less than some of the crazy posters at Outpost who spent 50 hours on it.


And sweetness; I got a letter saying all my VEE credits are approved :).

FAP Final Assessment Log: Day 4

I am declaring that as of this moment I have completed my FAP final assessment. Add four more hours to the clock please.

I'll spend Monday editing this 36 page monstrosity with 9,500+ words at work.

For some reason I got really paranoid last night after shutting down my computer. I actually got out of bed, turned on my computer back on, and did a backup of my FA to a USB memory stick. Gah. I'm so glad this is almost over.


That is all.

FAP Final Assessment Log: Day 3

I finished all the meat of the FA today; I even did a first complete read through for mistakes and formating. There is only one more task for me to do, but it is basically to summarize the other tasks so I'll finish that tomorrow. Editing actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I kept thinking I would end up revising my conclusions as I reread my words but I didn't.

I can't believe I've been working on this POS since 8am in the morning. My Word file now has 30 pages and almost 8000 words. 13 hours is probably a reasonable estimate of how much time I spent on the FA today.

Funny things that occurred today while working:

• Excel's analysis tool pack SUCKS. It overflowed while performing linear regression. I ended up using JMP.


• Remember to note the series and table number when working with data from CANSIM.


• What the heck does CANSIM mean when it says something is in "dollars"? Is it inflation adjusted?


• There are actuaries in training who don't know what is VaR.


• It really sucks when an links to an external workbook updates unexpectedly--wait I already knew that through work. -_-


• It's a good idea to take sometime to add some formating to a worksheet, else you will get confused by the sea of numbers--wait I already knew that from work too.

FAP Final Assessment Log: Day 2

Ok I take it back. I'm now at Task 4 and I'm already at 12 pages. It's amazing what a bunch of tables will do the page count.

I've been working on this the whole day since I woke up at 8am. Other than lunch, I've spent about 8.5 hours on the first three tasks. I'm now pushing 4000 words.

I think one of the smartest thing I did is to immediately write a macro to loop through multiple scenarios at once. I don't know why the SOA didn't include this functionality in the spreadsheet. It's easy to do and saves so much headaches!

Edit:
Add another 3 hours to time spent on Day 2.

FAP Final Assessment Log: Day 1

I downloaded the files at 4:00pm PST today.

In total, I've spend 6 hours so far on the FA. The first hour or two were spent reading the PDF and the rest were mostly spent tinkering with the spreadsheet and conducting sensitivity testing, and also some research which involves looking up various historical rates and prices. I think I figured out what I need to discuss for Task 1. I think at least two pages is doable. However, I currently can't see how some people on Outpost can have 20+ pages in total.

My current opinion of the FA is high. From the spreadsheet to the PDF, everything is laid out pretty clearly. The presentation isn't obtuse nor fill with lingo from a specific track.

Time for some sleep so I can start writing (BSing) tomorrow.

VB6

OMG the hate I have for VB6. No multi-line comments, and now I've discovered its (so far) most ridiculous quirk.

Dim var1, var2, var3 As Integer

The above statement will declare var3 as an integer; no problem there. But guess what variable type will var1 and var2 be!?! That's right, the variable type VARIANT! Intuitive isn't it?

Halo: Combat Evolved

I tried playing the through the campaign of Halo 1 when it first came out on the PC. I remember giving up at the part where Master Chief has to follow the Monitor to find the Index. There were just way to many frigging floods; I was low on ammo and kept dying. However on the run I did today, I didn't run into any ammo problem at all. Either I improved a lot or running it on a faster machine does wonders.

Overall, Halo's campaign sucks. I liked the exterior maps, but the interior levels are VERY repetitive. All the rooms and connecting corridors repeat over and over. You return to the same locations, though with different textures. These maps made me felt lost, bored, and frustrated! For example, I was stuck at a slope for the longest time because I didn't realize that Master Chief can walk up the slope if he does it at a certain angle. I also found a lot of the interior maps to be too dark, and the flashlight low in luminance.

But I really like the damage system. The auto-recharging shield allows for fast, intense fights. Fighting the massive horde of Floods on the Covenant ship was exhilarating. It involves lots of well-timed weapon switching and reloading; jumping, backtracking, and strafing; and well-thrown grenades.

Now if only I can get that damn 'shield low' warning tone out of my head...

Tax on Foreign Income

The following is my tax situation which I think is worth sharing.

Following a currency conversion using the prescribed BoC US$ exchange rate of 1.0748, my US dividend income is $326 and my withholding tax deducted is $50--damn you IRS.

Since I was a student in 2007, my basic federal tax amount on my T2209 (used to claim foreign tax credit) is only about $171. My combined federal and provincial foreign tax credit wasn't even $5.

So for my foreign dividend income, I ended up paying:
50 + (326 - 45) * 0.15 - 5 = 87.37!!!!

That is a whooping 26%+ tax rate! DOUBLE-YOU-TEE-EFF!!!! By the way, the 45 is a foreign tax deduction allowed by section 20(12), which can be applied because my foreign tax credit isn't large enough to recover all of my foreign tax paid. See: IT506

The moral of the story is that for a young investor with a very low income and lots of tuition tax credits, withholding tax BITES. You will likely not have enough foreign tax credit to recover the 15% withholding tax and end up getting double taxed. Think this scenario over before investing in foreign markets.

CIA Granting Prelim Credits via University

Future Education Model for the CIA

Some might be surprised that I don't like this idea even though I complain about the SOA's exam fee far too often. It just too dangerous: a get out of jail free card if I may say so.

Drawing upon my own experience, this arrangement is similar to IB, which relies on local schools to deliver the IB syllabus. However, the IBO has an extensive system of external assessments and final examinations--the CIA system will have none of the above. I have first hand experience at how poor the delivery of a top-notch syllabus can get at the lower levels. Even though I would like to think that an university education will always be of the highest caliber, a lot of times it's just not (*cough* business... *cough*). What's the big deal about writing another easy exam anyways if you already know your stuff?

My other objection is why is it an university's job to churn out practicing actuaries? I have always firmly believe that an university is place of learning--and thus why I think business faculties are a joke. I don't think an university's curriculum should be controlled by anything, let alone the CIA. There is big gap between academic and business, and I'm not sure whether bridging this gap by allowing a business-oriented professional organization to meddle in academic affairs is such a good idea--nor necessary.

When I first saw this document on AO, my first thought was, "The SOA will NEVER go along with this." Actuarial education is piss poor in the states and it would be too weird for the SOA to allow Canadian students to get special treatment. I wonder how far can the CIA go with this plan without SOA support. Make it possible to be a FCIA without completing all the FSA requirements? Create their own education system? If they do, will anyone care :P?

B-2 Stealth Bomber Crashes at Guam

B-2 Stealth Bomber Crashes at Guam Air Base; Pilots Are Safe
By Sophie Tan

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- A B-2 stealth bomber crashed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and both pilots were safe after ejecting, the Pacific Air Forces said today in a statement on its Web site.

The Pacific Air Forces said a board of officers will look into the accident and more information will be made available later. The pilots were from the 509th Bomb Wing and are in ``good condition'' after medical checks were carried out, the statement said. The aircraft was sent to Guam from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri, its only operational base.

The B-2 stealth bomber, which costs about $1.2 billion, can carry conventional and nuclear bombs, according to a fact sheet on the same Web site. The design, materials and coatings make its detection by defensive radar systems difficult.

The aircraft involved in the crash was destroyed during the accident, the Air Force Times reported, citing an unidentified official at Andersen Air Force Base. Calls made to the two phone numbers listed in the statement by the Pacific Air Forces weren't immediately answered.

The accident happened at around 10:30 a.m. local time when the aircraft was leaving the base in Yigo, Guam, the U.S. territory's local media Kuam News reported. It was the second military plane to crash in a month after a Navy Ea-6b Prowler from the USS Kittyhawk went down 20 miles from the base Feb. 12, Kuam News said.

Thick black smoke was visible near the air control tower of the base, the Associated Press said, citing a woman who was visiting her husband. The U.S. Air Force has 21 stealth bombers, the AP said, without stating the source of the information.

Northrop Grumman Corp., the third-largest U.S. defense company, is the main contractor of the current fleet of B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, according to the fact sheet.

Bloomberg

Kamen Rider Kiva Girl

From this freak AKA "Sailor Luna":


to the new Kamen Rider Kiva damsel:


Almost didn't recognize her.

Crazy Transit = Crazy First Day

I got to Waterfront 2 minutes shy of the 5:30pm train. So I decided, "Fine, I'll take the Skytrain to Braid and switch to the 169 rather than waiting for the 6:20pm train. Mistake #1: it probably takes the same amount of time if I had took the 160, except I would have to walk up Mariner from Coquitlam Center.

I got on the Skytrain, and I decided to switch to the Millennium Line on Broadway; this is mistake #2.

There was an announcement on the PA, but I couldn't make it out since the PA system on Skytrains is TERRIBLE. "Static... buzz... This is Skytrain control... BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!(from the doors)... buzz... Sperling... buzz." That was all I heard. I could've turned around and went back to Waterfront and catch the 6:20pm WCE if I had heard the PA.

Well it turns out there was a gas leak between Production and Lougheed so all Skytrains were to stop at Sperling and turn around; thus, I was stranded. The Skytrain attendants were hopeful that there would be connecting buses but after about ten minutes I said fuck it and took the 144 to SFU and then switched to the 143.

I finally got home at 7:30pm. OMGWTFBBQ!!!

AVPR Sucks

To the person who threw a banana peel while driving down Mariner today: please go kill yourself.


I don't know how but they managed to make AVPR worse than AVP. The dialogues, the plot, even the action are all ridiculously bad. I don't understand this. This combined franchise has all the ingredients for a great suspenseful thriller/action/horror flick; yet frigging Fox keeps failing to deliver it.

I read a review that said AVPR is decent when no one is talking. I don't agree with that because I think it's a bad movie overall, but the badness is amplified whenever a line is muttered. The screenplay has some of the laziest lines I've ever heard in a movie; it's so bad that it's funny. A lot of lines are awkwardly delivered because they are unexpected and feel out of place--the "government doesn't lie" line anyone? They even ruined Arnold's famous "Get to the chopper!" line. Abysmal.

I don't want to go into the plot because it is full of holes; an hospital helicopter with a light that says "rocket sight" is one example. I'm going to dive right into the action. The Alien franchise did not succeed because of chestburstings and facehuggings. It succeeded because of the setup that led to these scenes. AVPR just uses these scenes over and over. In fact I would argue that this is exactly what this film is about: a bunch of show-off scenes barely linked together by terrible dialogue. The predator action scenes did not fare much better. There was one scene that had incredible promise; when I saw it I was like, "Shit this laser net thing is going to be awesome!" But nope the scene sucked. It waste probably five minutes of setup for a resolution that was underdeveloped and extremely unsatisfying. The rest of the action scenes are all dark so you can't see anything, unimaginative, without suspense, without coolness, and makes the predator look like a pussy. The plasmacaster is supposed to own. Period. Actually I would've loved to see some human army verses alien action and was surprised that I didn't get any. I hope it was due to budget constraint and not some bonehead writer that thought such scene would not be cool.

I think the ideal AVP movie is a movie with just predators and aliens; no more red-shirt humans who just gets in the way. The the next step will take a great screenwriter and soundtrack but get rid of dialogues; I don't even want captions when the predators speak because doing so would defile the franchise. This setup should add depth to the film and revive the suspense and thrill of the originals. I hate how Fox reduced the two franchises to a teen horror flick. And please let there be a winner this time. I know they don't want to piss fans of either franchise off but enough is enough: predators are supposed to slaughter aliens.

Massive TV and Film Review Post

With all my recent free time, I've been watching a lot of TV, though mostly not on a TV. Go Youtube.

惡作劇2吻
I saw the first one (also on Youtube) during my last work term and thus didn't get too much FAP done--not that I had the drive to do them anyways. While I didn't think it was that good of a series, I push through the incredibly draggy series because 林依晨's character (ok and herself too) is too likable. I know they are making a sequel, but I was pretty nonchalant toward it. Enough history; part 2 is just as draggy as part 1. There isn't really a plot to speak off in part 2 because the leads already got married in part 1 so there isn't a clear destination in the sequel. However, if you treat it like a sitcom, 惡作劇2吻 is really not bad. Basically is more of the humor of the first, but without the underlying quest of the first, and 直樹 seems like less of an asshole than before. However, I have to complaint about the weak soundtrack of part 2. 林依晨's singing sounds very synthetic.

鬥牛，要不要
Hebe as a lead in a full series!?! 鬥牛 is another series on basketball, but unlike MVP情人, it plays a pretty minor role in the plot and it's basically there to make the male leads look cool despite weird Dragonball Z hairdos. Hebe plays a bitchy spoiled brat who refers to herself as "your father" and to everyone else as "barbecued squid"--trust me it's funny in Chinese. Unlike 林依晨, her character is not likable, though in certain scenes she just looks too damn cute to be unlikable. My biggest problem with this series is 賀軍翔. This guy cannot act!!! At first I thought he is some new guy but he's been in other series before. With the copied scenes from Meteor Garden and other parallels, he reminds me of the laughable acting done by F4 in Meteor Garden. The other male lead is Hebe's bodyguard who is portrayed as someone who is so selflessly in love that one can't help but pity--but at least he has more expressions in his arsenal than 賀軍翔. Second biggest problem: drag. Out of curiosity I skipped to episode 10 after watching episode 5. Though I am slightly confused with regard to why Hebe got a haircut, the fact is nothing happened among episode 6 to 9 that episode 10 did not reiterate in flashbacks! It looks like they used 4 episodes for a date between Hebe and 賀軍翔 and then padded it with schmuck that didn't advance the plot at all, AKA major dragging!!!

* * *
At this point I have to digress, why is it, in every 台灣偶像劇, the girl falls in love with a jackass? And damn why can't I find any cute TW girl that are like that in real life?!?!?
* * *

The Amazing Race Asia 2
What started off as being very interesting has turned into a predictable and annoying mess. At first I was drawn by concept of a TAR in Asia with Asians who speak English in a thick accent--Paula and Vanessa's Malay accents are just gold. However, with the lost of the Japanese team, and this weird excursion to Europe, it has completely gone downhill. The last few legs in Europe has just been boring as hell. Mindless roadblocks and detours, ridiculous leg designs (back to back non-elimination and then a intersection!?! WTF were they smoking?!? Jeez I wonder who will get eliminated next week?!), and Marc and Rovilson. Gawd I hate M&R, their idiotic demeanor, corny one-liners, and how they keep winning! I wish they would go back to Asia and have Asian themed tasks for the contestants.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Lazy writing. Sarah monologues are bland and without thought. The terminator head traveling through time didn't make sense--unless the writer is god and gets to decide what sort of object is elementary enough to be able to travel through a time wrap. The whole time traveling to avoid continuity problem is just lazy to the max. The fighting scenes are basically nothing but two terminators pushing each other into walls, making lots of holes, dents, and debris--lazy. In episode 3 "The Turk", after all that setup, a super lazy and unsatisfactory resolution was presented. Also in "The Turk", the jab at nuclear scientists again is lazy. "Fathers of destruction"? Am I the only one that thinks that the nuclear scientists are in the same shoes as Sarah? They are both facing the problem of whether it's justifiable to do evil (developing the bomb) to prevent another evil (get owned by the Nazis).


And now for some movie reviews!

Enchanted
This film was surprisingly likable because of Amy Adams' Giselle. Without her, this film would have sucked.

Rambo
I saw Rambo on the afternoon it opened and from the opening credits I knew it was gonna be pretty crazy. Rambo is definitely the most gore filled film in the series and it was sick. Certain scenes are just so sick I just couldn't help but to release the tension by laughing--not that people getting mowed down my machine gun fire, blew apart by land mines, or chopped up by a machete is a laughing matter. It was the most realistic Rambo, not only because of its visuals, but also because Rambo only got gazed by one bullet in the entire film; in other films he would get hit four times and would still be able to fire a machine gun with ease. And Stallone didn't look one bit like someone who is already 61. An awesome experience.

Former chess champion Bobby Fischer dead at 64

Former chess champion Bobby Fischer dead at 64

Updated Fri. Jan. 18 2008 1:56 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Reclusive chess legend Bobby Fischer has died at the age of 64 of an undisclosed illness, his spokesman has confirmed.

U.S.-born Fischer, who renounced his American citizenship and moved to Iceland in 2005, died Thursday at a hospital in Reykjavik, said spokesman Gardar Sverrisson.

At the age of 14, Fischer had already become a U.S. Open chess champion and by 15 he was the youngest international grandmaster.

In 1972, Fischer was propelled to international fame after his thrilling world championship win over the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky in Reykjavik.

The victory in the classic Cold War showdown made Fischer America's first world chess champion in more than a century.

However, Fischer quickly became known more for his idiosyncrasies than for his talent.

In 1975, Fischer forfeited his title to another Soviet, Anatoly Karpov, when he refused to play against him in Manila.

In 1992, after years in recluse, Fischer agreed to play Spassky again in an exhibition rematch on the Yugoslav resort island of Sveti Stefan.

Because of the location of the match, Fischer became a wanted man in the U.S. for violating sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia.

He then disappeared until after the 9/11 attacks. In an interview with a Phillippine radio station, Fischer applauded the strikes and said he wanted to see the U.S. "wiped out," reports Reuters.

Frank Brady, author of "Bobby Fisher: Profile of a Prodigy", told CTV Newsnet on Friday that the man's anti-Semitic remarks and anti-American statements helped to propel his infamy.

"Certainly he was the greatest chess player that every lived and he was famous because of what he did on the chess board, but he was certainly infamous for what he did off the chess board," Brady said.

Brady said Fisher's antics became increasingly more bizarre as he aged.

"He just sort of went bad, he went mean in the latter part of his life," he said.

However, Brady said the chess genius never uttered a controversial word prior to 1972, leading the first half of his life as a "polite" yet "arrogant" champion.

In July 2004, Fischer was held in a Japanese detention centre after having been caught trying to leave the country using an invalid U.S. passport.

Following his release in March 2005, Fischer unzipped his pants near the airport entrance and gestured as if he was going to urinate on the wall.

The outspoken Fischer accused Japan and the U.S. of "kidnapping" him.

Known for his anti-Semitic views, Fischer also said he was being hounded by the U.S because it was "Jew-controlled."

Reached in France, Spassky told The Associated Press he was "very sorry" to hear of Fischer's death.

With files from The Associated Press

Be good but not too good so that you won't become mad.

Campbell unveils $14B transit upgrade for B.C.

Last Updated: Monday, January 14, 2008 | 4:00 PM ET
CBC News

The B.C. government unveiled a $14-billion transit plan for the province on Monday morning, including several major improvements to the Metro Vancouver rapid transit system.

Premier Gordon Campbell and Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon unveiled the 12-year plan in Vancouver. It's intended to improve public transportation infrastructure across the province with the aim of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said the premier.

A key part of the plan is $10.3 billion in funding to expand the Metro Vancouver rapid transit system. That cash will go toward a new Evergreen Line to the Tri-cities area, a new UBC Line, and upgrades to the Expo Line and the Canada Line.

The plan also includes $1.2 billion for Rapidbus services along seven major routes in Metro Vancouver, and one in Kelowna, and one in Victoria. Rapidbus service would dedicate special lanes to high-frequency, high-capacity buses on busy commuter routes.

The plan also contains $1.6-billion for 1,500 new, clean energy buses that would be used in communities throughout the province. Metro Vancouver would see its total bus fleet double as part of the plan.

The aim of the plan in Vancouver is to increase the percentage of people using public transit on weekdays by five per cent to 17 per cent by 2020. It also aims to increase transit ridership across the province to more than 400 million trips a year.

The plan will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a cumulative total of 4.7 million tonnes by 2020, said Campbell. That would be the equivalent of parking all the cars and light trucks in Metro Vancouver for a full year by getting British Columbians out of their cars and onto transit, he said.

"As more and more British Columbians live and work near transit, urban form will shift, which will lead to lower energy use, increasing energy efficiency, and a lighter environmental footprint," said Campbell.

During the throne speech in February, the premier promised to put plans in place to cut B.C.'s emissions levels by one-third by 2020.

If everything in Campbell's plan pans out, then I would be very impressed. I am excited that they are considering the implementation of an Octopus style smart-card and gates on Skytrains. It is about time they realize by reducing the repugnant segment of transit users, transit usage will increase. The call for two new rapid transit lines is ambitious, though it probably won't happen. I don't think the ridership for the Evergreen Line is there. There is a consistent flow of riders on the 97 B-Line but it doesn't compare with that of the 98 or the 99. I think the 169 and 97 is doing an adequate job of ferrying people in Coquitlam to the Skytrain system, though I admit I don't have the experience of taking these two routes during morning rush hours. Pushing the Expo line further into Surrey is a must. With the number of people in living in Surrey, it's a total travesty that their public transit options are so limited. One other thing is they need to fix those elevators on those overworked community shuttles. It is eff-ing stupid that an elder have to wait half an hour for a bus and then be told that she can't get on because the damn elevator on the shuttle doesn't work!

Nevertheless, 2020 is pretty far away and Campbell is expecting $3.1 billion from the Federal Government. Hopefully, some parts of the plan will become more concrete soon.

Post #1 of 2008

So I called Mastercard yesterday to try to raise my credit limit. It turned out that they have no idea what is an actuary and I had to explain my occupation to them.

I was sad.

On a happier note, Jack Neo is awesome. I watched 我在政府部門的日子, and though there were some misses, having Fann Wong in it just soothed everything over.