So it appears that we are facing the end of an era.
For nearly 50 years (and 10 administrations), Fidel Castro has been the thorn in the side of the US. A guilty little stain on the carpet they don't like to talk to guests about and try to blame the previous owners for.
Now that he has announced his secession from power, the American Capitalist machine is hungrily awaiting to buy up scads of prime tropical land right off their doorstep.
No doubt we will see in 10 years a total collapse of the Cuban economy as the last (and closest to successful) Communist regime of fiscal balance and repression of individual rights is replaced with raw American greed ... and no doubt the American dollar. A flurry of Industrial rape that we haven't seen since the inception of NAFTA.
One thing is for certain, if you want to see Cuba cheap you need to do it now. Once it's socially acceptable for those south of the border types it'll be the end of Cuba as an affordable destination spot (see Hawaii).
Actually, if you're interested, prices from Toronto are down to about $710 taxes in for the end of March.

"The revolution will continue" - Raul Castro

It is expected that Castro's "young brother", Raul, will continue to run the country for the time being but he's no spring chicken either.
At 76, I suspect the Revolution will be done in those same 10 years with the end of the Castro dynasty or face civil war.

Feeling a little nostalgic? How about a commercial with William Shatner lauding the amazing new VIC-20!



It just doesn't get any better then this.

... although if that didn't do it for you there's also the tour of the Amiga factory on it's last ever day.

Another successful trip completed!
Returned from Sudbury last night, just a little after 9:30p. Not bad considering we left Sudbury proper at around 5:30 and waited 20 mins in line just outside of Parry Sound for a bathroom.
At 450kms or so, that's a little under 2 kms/minute (over if you exclude the bathroom break). Almost ideal!
The week went reasonably well and included sufficient lounging time to actually call it a vacation.
I must say, Northern Ontario, it's rocky mountains and it's crystal lakes, still have a vista like no other.
Camera happy? Yes. Have some!
In addition to the usual visits to Science North and the tourist-esque spots (that Sudbury slag heap is just so damned sexy!), we also managed to sneak down some lesser travelled routes to a couple of ghost towns ... or at least what little is left of them.
Unfortunately for historical exploration types, many of the old mines are being reopened by INCO due to rising metal prices and the discovery of deep-shaft diamond deposits in the Sudbury basin. As a result, you are either confronted with monster fences, Danger/No Trespassing signs and/or the area has been devistated with the final remanants of the towns having been destroyed, bulldozed or victimized by altered waterways.

Fine examples of The Corporate Machine cutting not only into the environment and rock faces but carving out pieces of our tenuous history as well.
Already the ghost town of Creighton has had it's roads cut and blocked off to the public due to the reopening of the nearby shaft (and yours truly getting the serious eyeball for travelling down, what turned out to be, employee only roads).
Even the commemorative plaque is off-limits!
Worthington is also at risk as the old Totten mine is under heavy construction (origionally closed on 4 October, 1927 when the mine collapsed). The drastic changes to the forest and watershed are destroying the last of the foundations and roadways. The new mine there is set to open in 2010 and I can only imagine what damage the slag and trailing wastes will do to the beautiful swamps, forest and waterways found around the soon to be minehead.
I suspect some of the remaining towns like Mond, Benny and Milnet are facing (or have already faced) similar fates.
The Environment Canada studies have already been done around all these sites, so it's now only a matter of money determining the final chapter these long forgotten towns.
If you want to see them, I'm afraid we're all out of time and you will have to go now.
Consider that a call to arms for all area photographers to preserve these final hours.
Over the next week, I'll try to get up a few pics from Victoria Mine to show what little is still there. The final remaining building seems to have been torn down in the last few years, so only cinder roads, foundations and the slag from the open air smelter remain.
If anyone needs maps and directions, drop me a line and I can get them out to you, or most of these places are also included in the 2007/2008 Ontario Road Atlas by Map Art.

Come!
Marvel at the inventions of empty space! See how our ancestors viewed empty space and the possibility of it one day containing ... (wait for it) ... things!

You have to love the R.O.M.
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For any of you that might remember the origional Mac, you might want to take this little nostalgia trip and check out the commercial that launched not only that now famous un-PC, but the crazy ads now expected for the Superbowl slots.

Superbowl XVIII - Apple Commercial

RFM Sydney Skelton had been taken to the now infamous St Stephen's Hospital when he and two others stumbled across an IJA machine gun nest. His two companions where killed instantly, but the impact of the heavy calibre rounds threw him down an embankment where he was able to take cover until friendly forces could arrive.

On Christmas Day, Major-General Maltby surrendered to the overwhelmingly victorious Japanese forces (after a long and continuous withdrawl since 11 December). IJA troops, disgusted by the cowards who would surrender rather then die, enjoyed a savage and brutal spree clearing out and rounding up the allied troops. Little did the Canadian survivors realize the horrors that would await them on the Hellships and worse yet, their final destination. Japanese P.O.W. camps.
One of the better known and severe displays was the storming of St. Stephen's,
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"Fighting continued and everyone was split up in the confusion. On the morning of December 24th, Harry Orvis and I were out of 3" mortar shells so we attempted to get a mortar bomb from a truck that had been hit by the Japanese. We came across three chaps from the Indian Army and one was badly wounded in the arm above the elbow. I used my first aid kit and fixed up the guys arm and then pulled an overcoat off another man. We made a stretcher with the overcoat and helped carry the wounded down to the road to the Roadblock. Sergeant Broadfoot was there and Aberdeen was ½ mile away. One of the men dropped to his knees and kissed my hand for getting them safety down the hill and to help. We never did get the mortar shells and I didn’t have my first aid kit later when I was wounded.
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