Misc links and ramblings

It's been a while since posting, and I have seen some pretty interesting links I've wanted to share with you all.

1) "The number of foreign visitors to the United States has plummeted since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington because foreigners don't feel welcome, tourism professionals said Thursday." (theage.com.au)

Having flown back to the US several times over the last year, I can see why. Visitors are not made to feel welcome at all. Traveling through Europe is much easier.

2) In late 2002, the euro and the US dollar traded at 1 to 1. Now, a euro is worth over $1.40. Since I arrived in November 2006, the value of the dollar dropped more than 10 cents. (See graph to the right, courtesy of finance.yahoo.com.) I am thankful that my salary is paid in euros instead of dollars. (For a more thoughtful analysis of this situation, see here.)

3) Last weekend, Yvette and I went to several of the shows of the Finnish Animation Festival Animatricks. The best was a Paul Driessen retrospective. Also good was the animated music videos. I was surprised that the animations in the New Finnish Animation category were all about death in one form or another. I know Finland has a relatively high suicide rate, but the darkness in the animations was a little disturbing. All in all, I enjoyed the shows. Each show was only 5 euro a ticket, and I look forward to next years' festival.