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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-02-14, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2001. PAGE 5. Other Views I sure can't finger that out! If you ever happen to meet a gentleman by the name of Shridhar Chillal, don't even think about shaking hands with him. You can't. Not with his left hand, anyway - because even when Mister Chillal holds his left arm out at shoulder height, the tips of his fingernails brush the ground. The nails on the fingers of Chillal's left hand are, to put it mildly, grotesque and freakish. They writhe and coil off his hand like copulating snakes. Mister Chillal hasn't cut those nails in twenty years. The shortest nail on his hand would, if stretched out straight, be nearly six feet long. Needless to say, Chillal is not a speedy typist or a card shark. You can't grow nails like that without giving up a significant amount of manual dexterity. Chillal's fingernails have made him a fixture in the Guinness Book of World Records for years as the man with the world's longest nails. But they have also caused his left hand to wither, given him almost constant pain in his left wrist, elbow and shoulder and made him go partially deaf. Any time in the past 20 years Chillal could have ended his suffering with five snips of the nail clippers, but he didn't. Why? For the same reason high-born Chinese women used to cripple their feet in bindings, S ince gasoline prices have been the centre of controversy these last few months, I thought you might like to come back into the classroom with me and learn a bit about what the relationship of money is to the production and flow of oil and indirectly to the value of the Canadian dollar. Like many another subject this flow is not quite as simple as it might seem. First of all, the price of oil is always quoted in U.S. dollars and, when it is bought, it must be paid for in dollars, regardless of who buys it. The only exception to this is, not surprisingly, Saddam Hussein, who, to annoy the Americans, has stated he would be willing to take payment in euros, the new European currency. The only country that does not have to keep a supply of a. foreign currency for such. purposes is, of course, the United States. The others, including Canada, must deal in the American currency and it is up to them to decide how best they are going to, handle such transactions. Let's look at some of the major oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, to name a few. Because the price of oil has gone up to such an extent over the past two years, these countries are in possession of many more dollars than before. Since they cannot rush right out and spend al( of it as it comes in, the question right now is what they do with it in the meantime. You would probably think that the first result of these higher oil prices is a greater demand for the American dollar, if a vital commodity costs you more, you have to have more money on hand to pay for it. This fact alone accounts to a considerable degree for the rise in the value of our neighbour's currency that took place as oil prices were rising. But the first thing that many oil producing countries must do is to pay off some of the debt accumulated over the past few years. This debt is the result of large capital projects planned Raymond Canon The International Scene and started during the previous era of high oil prices which, unfortunately for them, did not last long enough for the projects to be completed and paid for. Any money left over, and there is a goodly supply of this, the oil countries do what we would do - they save it and these savings are most frequently channeled into American bonds, since they consider such bonds are as safe as anything these days. This causes increased demand for the U.S. dollar, so it goes up while there is downward pressure on such other currencies as the euro and our dollar. It is calculated that such flows of money into the U.S. add up to about $1-2 billion a month. The rest of the money saved, which is left in banks, sees the latter lend it out to other countries, many of which do not produce oil and need the money (to buy oil and other things). Older readers may recall the first big price hike for oil in the mid-1970s and the flow of such money to emerging economies was nothing less than enormous and economically disturbing. It also contributed to a recession in Canada and elsewhere, not to mention the double digit inflation which we suffered for a while. Final Thought People-ask you for criticism, but they only want praise. — William Somerset Maugham pinky fingers of the odd hairdresser and the fingertips of a few Carmen Miranda wannabes caught in a 1940's time tunnel, even moderately long nails are a rarity. As a matter of fact, we tend to the other extreme. Extremely short nails are more common on this side of the water - and not just among students sweating it out through exams. In the latest U.S. presidential campaign (is it over yet?) the news came out that Al Gore is a dedicated nail-biter, often chewing his nails right down to the quick. But considering he lost the only job he ever wanted to a stumble-tongued frat boy from Texas, I'm surprised Gore doesn't have a manicure like Venus de Milo. Considering that they're fundamentally useless, fingernails are pretty interesting, overall. Did you know that there's a standard scientific unit called the nail-second? That's the average length a human fingernail grows in one second. If you want to haul out a yardstick and measure it off, one nail-second equals .0000039ths of an inch. That's the most amazing thing about your fingernails- they never quit. The rest of your body eventually stops growing, but not your fingernails. They're growing all the time, summer and winter, day and night. Why, they even keep growing after you croak. Mind you, the phone calls taper off, • Is there any good news in all this, you might ask. Well, for one thing, if any recession is caused by the increased price of oil, it should not be nearly as -severe as was the one to which I referred above. In addition, there are indications that the current high prices will not be long term in nature. Certainly the OPEC countries would be advised not to count on this but there is a lesson to be learned. It is simply that we should be trying much, harder than we have to use other forms of energy other than oil. And, while we are at it, that are less polluting to the atmosphere. I have the feeling, unfortunately, that we won't get around to either of those until we are really backed into an economic corner. I would, however, like to be proven wrong. Canada is both an exporter and an importer of oil. It does not belong to OPEC and most of the oil imported comes from countries other than the U.S. It would be nice if we were totally self-sufficient in oil but we are not. If we could utilize more efficiently the famous tar-sands in western Canada, there is no doubt that we could soon become a net exporter, but that is another story. Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters hat are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate ,information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. To the man I love M aybe it's my age. Maybe it's my cynicism. Maybe I'm just a little less fanciful. Or perhaps I'm just tired of fighting the good fight. Either way, it has finally happened — Valentine's Day just doesn't mean that much to me. You see, such was not always the case. As not only a romantic, but an idealistic one to- boot, I took matters of the heart very much — well, to heart. I liked the ideas of soul mates, your one and only and happily ever after. Which, as the somewhat effacing term 'chick ' flick' applied to movies might indicate, is pretty much a girl thing. Thus it's kind of ironic that the ones we want to say it to us with flowers, really don't have those communication skills. Oh, there are exceptions, but generally, men and romance only go together in women's minds. As my dearly beloved once indicated in the middle days of our courtship, "I think Valentine's Day is dumb, so why would I buy anything?" Not that he was always so unbending. There was a time, early in our relationship, of course, when he actually tried to do what women are supposed to want. Candy, flowers, even a leather Coat have all come my way on Valentine's Day. With these gestures I was sure I had a true romantic on my hands, particularly when he often went out of his way to accommodate. There was a particular year when my poor, hard-working hubby came home at the end of a 12-hour night shift and an hour and a halt drive, only to see his pouting bride rather distressed that he seemed to have nothing to offer this Feb. 14. Truly exhausted, and to be .honest, not understanding what the big deal is, he slipped. downtown anyway to purchase a card because it meant something to me. Later, however, I was somewhat surprised to discover that the card he had purchased was still in the bag, apparently not even signed. Removing it, I soon found out why, and as I relate this remember that that morning he had only wanted to sleep. The card, was typically lovely with a huge big heart on the front and flowery lettering declaring "Happy Valentine's Day". Unfortunately, the inside read, "To the man I love." Well, they say it's the thought that counts, but as I'm not really sure what that would indicate in this case, I focussed on the fact that he had tried. That was the best Valentine's gift he could give. And he saved me money, because I kept the card and gave it to him the next year. It was realizing that this didn't bother him in the least that made me truly begin to question his , commitment to this special day. He was neither offended to receive his' previous year's faux pas, nor all that happy. It was, quite frankly, something he could live with or without. I don't know if that's when things started to change. What I do know is that his participation became less with every passing year. And I soon realized it didn't really matter that much to me anymore. Sure, chocolate, a card, is nice. To be singled out in some way as being special to another is great. But don't we do this from time to time all year? And if not shouldn't we? Ubangis distended their necks with brass rings and modern-day granolaheads stick bars and rings of metal in their ears, nostrils, tongues and I don'twannaknowaboutits. It's fashion - which is a fancy word for showing off. And a set of outlandish fingernails does tell you something about the bearer. It tells you that the person is so well off,- he or she can cruise through life with one hand figuratiiiely tied behind his or her back. These fingers toil not, neither do they spin. Washerwomen can't afford to have long nails. Neither can labourers, soldiers or anybody engaged in a trade. Therefore long, debilitating fingernails are a perverse badge of success - or so goes the thinking in parts of China and India, even to this day. Not in North America, thankfully. In these parts, cultural statements and digital displays like that of Shridhar Chillal (who hails from Bombay) are unheard of, and aside from the Money, production and the flow of oil