Found: one faux Visa card

 Image from businessinsider

One of myout-of-town guests found it outside Winners at Surrey City Centre. To save worry, time, and expense for the owner, she picked it up, hoping to be able to return it quickly.

As all Visa cards do, it had a phone number on the back and I called. It rang and rang and nobody answered. We went online and got another number for Scotia, and phoned in.

When I explained that someone had dropped a Visa card and we were trying to return it to the owner, the Scotia Bank rep asked for the number, and punched it in.

"Not ours," he said with finality.

I was mystified. "But it has Scotia Bank written right across the front."

"It may be from a foreign country," said the clerk. "Let me do a quick search."

He was soon back on the line.

"That card is definitely not a Scotia card, and it is definitely a compromised card."

"What should we do?"

"You can destroy it," he said, "or you can drop it off at the bank."

The incident had already taken up enough time. "We'll cut it up," I told him.

"Would you do me a favour?" he asked. "Call the TD Bank and tell them. It's their card." He gave me the telephone number and I called.

Before cutting up the card, we examined it closely. Indeed, it did look a little different from a real one, but the differences weren't obvious by any means.

Later my friend told me that years ago, when she worked for British Rail, people who found stolen or phony cards were automatically given rewards. From fifty to a couple of hundred pounds.

That was then; this is now.

Now credit cards are as common as dandelions in the lawn, and fraud seems much more routine.

Sad, isn't it?

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

Cover Image from Vaddey Ratner

Over a thousand years ago under the Khmer Empire, the Angkor Wat Temple was built in Cambodia. Today this Asian landmark is an international tourist mecca and a Unesco World Heritage Site.

This week, Kristin Gelineau of Associated Press reported some exciting news about Angkor Wat: the Australian Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that with the aid of airborne laser technology, a large urban complex around the temple has been found beneath the jungle.

In 1975, a group of socialist revolutionaries called the Khmer Rouge overthrew the monarchy and took over the country. Vaddey Ratner was an eye witness to this revolution and her first novel is based on the Cambodian Revolution.

Though this author writes from a child's point of view without maintaining the simple vocabulary of the child's voice, she is very good with description. Her portrayal of the history of her birth country is graphic and unforgettable. 

Five-year-old Raami dreams of the death of the gardener before it happens. Later, as a refugee, when she sees the rickety canoe that will take her family and their bundles of simple possessions down the river, she "swallows and feels the whole river rushing down [her] throat." 

Raami has had polio, and she wears a leg brace that she has always hated. A young revolutionary soldier forces her father to take it off her and throw it in the river. "The Organization will cure her," he says. But Raami suddenly wants to have the hated brace back.

One of the strange ironies of this story of loss concerns her father's socialist poetry: when the communists take over, this is one of the many things he must leave behind.

Since this debut novel was published last year, it has been nominated for many prizes including New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and Kirkus Review Best Fiction of 2012.

This year it's a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway prize and an Indies Choice. 

Zills or finger cymbals

Image of Afghani finger cymbals from Tribal Bellydance

Finger cymbals, also known by their Turkish name, zills, are used to create musical accompaniment for belly dancing. The Tribal Bellydance website recommends that prospective zill buyers should choose good quality instruments at least 2" wide with sturdy 1/4" elastic.

These little instruments are made of metal. Plenty of cheap ones are available, but a dancer is well-advised to choose good quality zills that have an appealing sound.

Castanets

Image engrade.com

The dictionary definition of castanets says they are made of wood, carved and hollowed, and usually used by Spanish dancers.

Associated with flamenco dancing, they are worn on thumb and forefinger and struck together to make clacking sounds.

Daff, Duff or Tar

This type of frame drum is used from the Sudan through North Africa across the Middle East and is called a daff, duff, or tar (from the Arabic.)

Single-headed with a narrow edge, the shape resembles that of a shallow pan. Faisal Zedan demonstrates his percussion work on a tar here. Karim Nagi plays a similar drum called a duff, and Pejman Hadadi talks here about how to play the daf.

Frame drums are ancient instruments that are generally associated with Islamic culture, although drums of similar shape and design are also found in Japan, Ireland and Russia. A European version is the tambourine.

Ukulele

Photo from BC Ukulele

Whenever I hear a ukelele, I remember a song called Blue Hawaii, sung by a young man named Elvis Presley. There was a movie too.

But that was then; this is now. These days, there's a group of young Montreal musicians calling themselves Blue Hawaii. They use female harmonies, moog synthesizers, guitars and drums, but no ukeleles.

"Dreams come true in Blue Hawaii," and the ukes are audible in the background. The instrument comes in four types, all slightly different sizes, the Tenor, Concert, Soprano and Baritone.

According to Curt Sheller, the ukelele was brought to Hawaii by Portuguese labourers in the late 1800s, and the Hawaiians adopted it, and gave it the name we know it by now. In the Hawaiian language, the word ukelele means jumping flea.

Still, there is something charming about this small neat stringed instrument.

Rain stick

Image of a Chilean rainstick from Mother Goose Time

The rain stick is made by filling a hollow chunk of cactus stem with small stones or beans. The internal fibers of the stem slow the movement of beads from one end to the other and create a soft musical sound like running water.

In this video, a musician demonstrates how he uses different rain sticks to lay down tracks that accompany the songs he is working on.