November 8, 1999

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Beware the Internet UNDERGROUND

It is the underbelly of the digital revolution. A netherworld of cyberspace that is cluttered with the obsessions of young teens. Here, bootlegged movies—which have included The Phantom Menace and The Blair Witch Project— can be found and downloaded just as they are released to theatres. By Danylo Hawaleshka, Robert Scott

The Mail

The breakdown of health, or sickness, statistics by city was a bit of a revelation (“The Vancouver way,” Health Report/Cover, Oct. 25). Obviously, the advantage of Vancouver residents over those of, say, Quebec City in terms of a greater enjoyment of life, and less consumption of tax dollars in sickness-care delivery, is lifestyle-related.

World

Moving in to Timor

The two Huey helicopters carrying Maj. Alain Gauthier and platoon commanders from Canada's Royal 22nd Regiment drifted low over the coastal flats of southern East Timor. Below, the giant leaves of banana trees swayed gently in what passes for breeze in the torpid tropical heat. By Warren Caragata

Canada

Reform's Time of Reckoning

It was one of those moments when notions of borders and distance dissolve. Sandra Manning was standing in line for lunch in Jonquière, Que., where she and her husband, Reform party Leader Preston Manning, were taking French lessons last summer, when her cellphone rang. By John Geddes

World Australia

A battle over the Queen

It is 2005, and Australia is hosting a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders. The president proudly opens proceedings heralding Australia’s seamless transition from constitutional monarchy to republic. It is, she declares, a triumph of multicultural endeavour with a stable parliamentary democracy, a booming economy, a self-confident people and increasing influence in regional and world affairs. By Ean Higgins

The Maclean's Expert

In the tracks of adventurers

By 8 p.m., the horse team led Haney, Wilby and Wise into Yahk where they faced another dilemma. They could stray into the United States to get to Creston, or they could cross 22 km on railway track to Kitchener. While a panting Reprinted with permission from The All-Red Route: By John Nicol

Canada Notes

According to a study of 51,591 Ontario heart-attack patients, those who lived in poorer neighbourhoods were more likely to die than wealthier victims. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that for each $10,000 increase in average neighbourhood income, the risk of death after a heart attack declined by 10 per cent.

My clan, myself

One writer is the only child of Chinese immigrants to Vancouver, the other a grandson of an Italian peasant who took up farming in Northern Ontario. In most ways, the lives of Wayson Choy and Joe Fiorito could not have been more different. But as Choy’s Paper Shadows: By Brian Bethune

Films

The man who knew too much

Michael Mann made his name with a TV show that was conceived from the phrase “MTV cops.” Putting the drug wars to music, Miami Vice conjured up a cocaine world of designer clothes and hot cars with a candied style that incarnated Eighties excess. By Brian D. Johnson

November 11999