The London Free Press: Vous n'êtes pas Charlie.

The local paper, The London Free Press, ran an article today with details surrounding the first issue of the French weekly Charlie Hebdo after the slaughter of many of the paper's senior editorial staff. The Free Press headline read: "Tearful Mohmamed on cover." The art accompanying the story showed the memorial to the victims which is growing larger by the day on the street near the magazine offices. The Free Press did not print a photo of the actual cover of the magazine. A description was all the paper dared print.

According to the paper, the weekly publication features "the most anticipated magazine cover in the world." As many as 3 million copies of Charlie Hebdo could be distributed with demand soaring. The usual print run is only 60,000. This week global sales alone could surpass 300,000, dwarfing the usual international sales number of about 4,000 copies.

But the most anticipated magazine cover or not, The Free Press is not providing its readers with a look at the controversial cover. The local paper is not alone. Canadian media in general, at least the dominant media in English-speaking Canada, have decided not to republish any of the satirical cartoons which made worldwide news after many of those connected to the publications were gunned down in their Paris office.

The Globe and Mail defended their decision not to publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. David Walmsley, The Globe and Mail’s editor-in-chief, explained: "One doesn’t need to show a cartoon to show the story. The story is the killings, not any cartoon."

The story is not the cartoons? What balderdash. Those cartoons are at the core of story. No cartoons; no slaughter; no story. To read the full explanation, click the following link. If you do, please also take a moment to read some of the comments of Globe readers.:

• Public editor: Why The Globe didn’t publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons
• Comments

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

The journalist at Charlie Hebdo were killed because of the cartoons they published. To say that these cartoons are not an important part of this story is ridiculous. Without them there is no specific context for the crime. Walmsley's explanation is pure rationalization.

From my quick reading of the comments, it seems most readers of The Globe were not swayed. And so a few days later, The Globe ran another piece addressing its decision not to publish any of the cartoons. This article carried the headline We honour Charlie Hebdo, but we don’t want to be it. This attempt at placating readers angered by the decision also failed. Find the comments here: Comments.

Have I seen any of the cartoons? Yes. I subscribe to a daily feed from the Harvard Gazette. Following a links, I viewed a smattering of the cartoons. And I read articles defending Charlie Hebdo. Ayaan Hirsi Ali,  a Fellow with The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, wrote:

We do need to wake up to the fact that there is a movement — a very lethal movement, very cruel — that has a political vision about how the world should be organized and how society should live. And in order for them to realize their vision, they are willing to use any means. They are willing to use violence. They are willing to use terror.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali continued, saying:

The ball is now in the court of the media. If the press responds to this by not reprinting the cartoons, by not defending the principle that Charlie Hebdo was defending, then we have given in. Then they have won [this round].

I added this round. Why? Because if you think that this dispute is just about cartoons, you are mistaken. The cartoons are simply one round in a far larger fight. The cartoons are the focus this time. But, take away the cartoons and you still have a fight on your hands. Terrorist murderers do not disappear because a cartoon is not published. They simply turn their attention elsewhere.

This cartoon by Cabu depicts and quotes the racist demagogue
politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the Front National party (with
the eye patch). The caption reads: "We want to be able to go
out in the evening without being afraid." The armed thugs in the
background are racist skinheads and their ilk. The cartoon
leaves little doubt as to who is afraid.

I heard a self-described left-of-centre NDP supporter expressing his anger at the publication of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. He had strong opinions on this matter even though, I don't believe, he had actually seen any of them. And no wonder. His sources for news are not publishing any of the Jean Cabut cartoons. I believe that's really too bad.

Althought the man compared the Cabu cartoons to the Nazi propaganda released during the Hitler era, don't make the mistake of thinking that he was a supporter of religion. He wasn't. He made it very clear that he despised religion. All religion. He saw religion at the root of much that is wrong with the world.

When I read the supportive phrase, "Je suis Charlie", I think of another meaning. Charlie Hebdo stirs up angry, murderous emotions in certain extreme, and I believe misguided, Muslims. But it is not just Charlie Hebdo stirring this emotional pot. I believe the oh-so-acceptable secular approach to religious faith, an approach that treats faith as foolishness, as something to be mocked and ridiculed, is also fueling the terrorist fires now burning in the West.

Those who openly distrust of religion, are intolerant of religious thought, and who might be characterized by believers as haters of religion, these people are also part of the problem. I've seen it claimed that this background noise in our secular world, this background noise that mocks religious belief is one of the  forces driving some Muslims into the marginalized camp. Maybe these people, full of distrust for all religion, can also lay claim to the phrase "Je suis Charlie." Although, used here it has another meaning: "If Charlie was wrong, if Charlie stirred up anger, then to the extent that I also have stirred up anger means that to that extent I am also Charlie."

To understand my point, read The New York Times piece, From Teenage Angst to Jihad, The Anger of Europe’s Young Marginalized Muslims.

Author Abdelkader Benali tells readers of The Times that at 13 years old he was a healthy, young Dutch boy with a Moroccan background until something happened that made him realize he was different from his non-Muslim classmates. Benali writes:

One day in history class, the fatwa against Salman Rushdie became the subject. Our teacher talked about freedom of expression; I talked about insulting the Prophet.

It took Benali years to work through the moral dilemma in which he found himself that day. And he found it is much harder to find a satisfactory answer while living in a secular society that had stopped struggling with big religious questions.

Benali tells readers, "In the end, I didn’t find the answers in holy texts. I found them in literature." He found his answer in Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, in Albert Camus' The Plague and in the book that originally triggered his emotional turmoil, Salmon Rushdie's The Satanic Verses: a book about "a young man struggling with his faith in a faithless world."

Maybe, just maybe, the cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo will do for others what The Satanic Verses did for Benali. Check out this link to the latest Charlie Hebdo cover showing the Prophet Muhammad holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign with the caption, "All is forgiven."

There are a lot of criticisms that can be aimed at the French weekly, insensitive comes readily to mind, but spreading hatred of Muslims is not among them.

Huffington Post: I Am Charlie.

Kids are simply natives; drop the modifier "digital"

There are those who claim children today are "digital natives." I'm not one of them.

Isla can make the dog in her book tilt its head. She simply pulls the large tab with the blue pointer. The tab is connected to a hinged head. But Isla can't change the image on the back of my camera. She insists on pushing the image off the screen as if my camera were an iPhone. It isn't. Isla is frustrated.

Isla is bright and someday she will work a computer much as I "work" a car. But just as I am not a mechanic, despite being raised with automobiles, Isla may never be a digital native despite being raised with computers.

When Isla's older sister, Fiona, brushed her hand casually over the keyboard of my laptop, the wireless Internet stopped working. The so-called digital natives in my world couldn't get my portable back online. I'm closing in on 70 but I found the answer. The antenna icon, looks a bit like the letter A with energy radiating from the tip, controls the wireless connection. Touch the icon and it turns off, touch it again and it turns on. It is a toggle that lights when in the on position and goes dark when the in the off position. Fiona toggled it off.

Every time I read in the paper how young people are so comfortable with computers while seniors are inept, I want to scream. I've been playing with computers for some three decades. I'm not a whiz but I am not frightened by computers either. When I had a sailboat in the '80s, I wrote a program to assist in charting my boat's position on the lake. I had a little, portable Radio Shack computer that performed the task very admirably.

If you, too, believe the computer skills of the young are highly overrated, please read: Kids can't use computers... and this is why it should worry you.

This is not to belittle children in anyway. Little kids are amazing. At about 14 months Isla could remove a screw top from a bottle. According to her other grandfather, today Isla can remove the childproof lids from his medicine bottles. She is definitely bottle-top native. With computers, which are bit more complex, she doesn't show anywhere near the aptitude.

A colourful twist on an old recipe

Cauliflower soup with carrot added for colour.

 Awhile ago I did a post on a homemade cauliflower soup. Here's the link:  Homemade soup easy to make and nutritious. With a bought-on-sale cauliflower growing old in the fridge, my wife encouraged me to make my cauliflower soup. My wife even went so far as to chop the cauliflower into small pieces.

So, today I knocked off a big pot of a very elegant soup which in a fine restaurant would be an oh-so-suitable first course. Because all the cauliflower had to be used, I used all 22 ounces. For colour, I added one large chopped carrot. For flavour, I tossed in two celery stocks and three small onions, both diced.

After stir frying the vegetables in a little olive oil for about ten minutes, I added a 900ml box of vegetable broth, twelve ounces of 1% milk, a couple of bay leaves and a sprig of thyme. I simmered this for about twenty minutes until the cauliflower was done.

Before pouring the soup into a food processor, I removed the bay leaves and thyme sprig and added a couple of ounces of potato flakes as a thickener. After blending the chunky mixture to a smooth, thick consistency, I returned the soup to the cook pot and reheated it until it reached serving temperature.

Unlike the original soup, this one has a light orange colour and a hint of sweetness, all thanks to the addition of a carrot.

There is no reason for people to eat poorly. A large bowl of this filling and very healthy soup was about 60-cents. Both the head of cauliflower and the box of vegetable broth were under a dollar. Both were picked up on sale. If one works one's diet around ingredients that are available on sale, one can keep the price of meals surprisingly low.

Life doesn't get any better than this

I'm a grandfather. I'm retired. I'm ill. My heart is slowly converting from muscle to a mix of fat and scar tissue. I have a somewhat rare genetic disease of the heart. But most of all, I'm joyful. And for that I can thank my three granddaughters.

Little Isla is not twenty-months-old but she has a well-laid out life. She has stuff she like to do and she lays out her day to accommodate all these interests. Painting is one of her must-do activities. She will call out, "Gugga! Paint!"

When I appear she takes my hand and leads me to the door to the basement. "Downstairs," she both announces and orders. I open the door, turn on the lights and Isla takes my hand seeking help to get down the stairs safely.

She picks out her brushes carefully and trembles with excitement when the little pots of paint appear. She dips her brush in some purple paint and begins making big swirls of wet colour. Life doesn't get any better than this, at least not for Isla. She loves painting with Gugga and she also loves Gugga.

And, for me, life doesn't get any better than this. There is not a thing I would change.

No surprise here: Toddlers have amazing language skills

Is my youngest granddaughter advanced, as some in my family like to think? When I heard this claim made yet again the other day, I decided to do some research. My own gut-feeling was that the kid cruises along at the high end of the curve but it would be wise to refrain from informing the university of our budding genius.

I came by my gut-feelings thanks to watching two other children go from being babies, to toddlers to little girls. These children are the littlest one's sister and cousin. I was convinced the two girls were advanced. They weren't. They were bright. But that's it. Bright, by the way, is very comforting. It puts a lot of worries to rest.

So, what can the average 18-month-old do? A lot more than one might expect. I gleaned the following from PBS Parents and confirmed the numbers with further research.

• At 18 months, kids understand 200 or more words and use 68 words. (Keep in mind that a well-trained dog may understand something in the order of 200 words.)
• Between 16 and 23 months, children typically enjoy a spurt during which they acquire one or two words per day. By 23 months the average child can say about 200 words.
• At about 18 months, the average kid begins combining words to form phrases and even sentences.

Children understand a lot more than most of us realize. Choose your words carefully around little ones. They are listening and understanding. At least, this is true when it comes to their native language. Sometime after 6 months of age the ability to discriminate individual sounds in other languages takes a downward turn. The loss of this sensitivity is gradual but steady and with the passing of time a lot of this language ability is lost.

A senior I know says he has no ability to learn a new language. None. He worked in government for years, took French courses as a Canadian government employee and yet can't order dinner in a Quebec diner.

Both the old geezer and the young toddler are actually just average. The old fellow may be at the lower end of the curve while my granddaughter may be nearer the top but neither is remarkable.

When I watch folk pushing children like my granddaughter, filling these children's heads with stories of their great abilities, I am reminded of the last two lines of the W.H. Auden poem The Average.

"He saw the shadow of an Average Man
Attempting the exceptional, and ran."

For me, there is no shame in being average. For one thing, I believe most of us are exceptional at certain things. Being exceptional, but only in limited areas, is also average. One must learn to appreciate and celebrate one's talents.

I like the way the Leadership Freak put it: "Believing exceptional is about everything and not one thing places exceptional out of reach. The impossibility of being exceptional at everything paralyzes legitimate passion for one thing." I believe it was this that foiled Auden's Mr. Average.

My senior friend should accept the reality that learning a new language is difficult for old geezers. His problems should come as no surprise. If he accepted this truth, maybe, just maybe, he could learn to speak French on the level of a two year old, order poutine in a Quebec restaurant and have French language comprehension skills on par with the family dog.

Being retired does not mean eating pet food

Dinner didn't cost $2 a serving and that's after going back for more.

Awhile back a reporter at The London Free Press wrote an editorial warning seniors that they may have to eat pet food in their retirement. It was a silly statement and I said so. The reporter was miffed and said so.

Tonight I cooked dinner. I was proud of my creation and it didn't cost more than a couple of dollars per serving. The green beans were the most expensive ingredient at one dollar per serving. (I found them selling at a reduced price at Ungers Market in Hyde Park.) The pasta wasn't even a dime as it was bought on sale for 79-cents for a 900 gram package at a discount grocery store like Food Basics. The sun dried tomatoes came from Costco. Need I say more. The cherry tomatoes added colour but not much cost. The walnuts came from the Bulk Barn and made an inexpensive addition. (The recipe follows the post.)

The best part of the dinner was that it kept to the Mediterranean cuisine rules. One of my doctors, a heart and stroke specialist, instructed me to try and keep to a Mediterranean diet. Lots of vegetables and meat only every other day and not red meat. Red meat is a once a month treat.

Oh, and there is one surprising fact that I haven't mentioned. Making this dinner didn't require a stove. Our gas range is on the fritz. I made the entire dinner using two microwaves and a kettle. The pasta was al dente and the green beans still had a little crunch.

Recipe 

Serves two
180 grams medium shell pasta
250 grams green beans chopped into one inch lengths
30 grams sun-dried tomato pesto
45 grams oven-dried freeze dried organic roma tomatoes from Costco. This has basil, garlic, lemon juice, oregano and red pepper added. It is inexpensive and a nice addition to this recipe.
1 medium tomato diced or a handful of cherry tomatoes sliced into halves and thirds.
30 grams of old chedder cheese diced into quarter-inch cubes.
30 grams of walnuts

I made this without a gas range. The stove had conked out. I was forced to use two microwave ovens.

• Microwave the medium shell past for ten minutes after placing dry pasta in hot water preheated in a kettle. (Check during cooking.  Take care not to overcook.)
• Microwave green beans for 3 min. on high. (Again: Take care not to overcook.)
• Microwave the combined tomato/pesto/walnut mix for 2 min. on high. (It should be hot.)
• When the pasta is done, drain the water and add green beans and tomato/pesto/walnut mix. Stir.
• When ready to serve, stir in the diced old cheddar cheese. It should melt when added to the hot pasta/pesto/tomato/walnut mix.
• Serve

During assembly it was noted that this meal had a dry weight of almost 10 ounces. After cooking, the pasta had swelled with retained water. I don't know what the weight of each serving was when served but this dinner was definitely filling.

Addendum:

I made this for guests the other night. This time our gas range was working. I made 360 grams of pasta for four of us using the traditional boiling water method. While the pasta was cooking, I quickly roasted the walnuts lightly in hot olive oil in a large wok. While roasting the walnuts I partially cooked the green beans in a handy microwave oven. When the walnuts were about half done, I added the cherry tomatoes and continued to heat the mixture. I added the green beans, the pesto/tomato, and cheese and mixed some more. At this point, the pasta was done. I added the pasta and tossed all. It was great.

Encourage originality

One of the best drawings of a cat I have ever seen. Simpy love it!

Colouring books are good. They train kids to stay within the lines. And colouring books are bad. Maybe downright evil. They train kids to stay within the lines.

For me, a lot of life has been lived outside the lines. It's a lot more fun out there. Art is the same way. Break free of the stereotypes, smash the molds. Learn to rock the world a little.

The unique art of Louis Wain.

When my granddaughters are art mode, I encourage originality. For instance, I love the drawing of a cat at the top of this post. It was done by my one granddaughter now five. This cat doesn't just purr; It rocks!

If, by any chance, you are familiar with the work of Louis Wain and the stories detailing his descend into mental chaos and linking this to a growing abstraction in his cat drawings, read the post on Mind Hacks. An interesting alternative take on Wain's work. That is a Wain cat on the right.

In my personal experience, I have never found artists to be any more "mad" than other folk. I believe most of us have a screw loose here and there.

Don't believe The London Free Press; Get a flu shot.

It is interesting to note the headline was changed on the online story.

 A lot of people do not get a flu shot. They don't believe in them. They argue: Flu shots can't be trusted; Flu shots don't always confer protection. And now my local paper, The London Free Press, has given these people more ammunition in their fight against the annual flu shot. The paper calls the vaccine used in Ontario "the dregs."

Well, in my humble opinion, when it comes to health stories, it is the local paper that cannot be trusted. The stories are factually correct but the spin often seems misleading, at least to me.

According to the newspaper, Ontario seniors are getting the dregs when it comes to flu shots. The paper reports a super flu shot for seniors is widely available in the States and it is a "game changer." The quote comes from a spokesperson for Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine manufacturer. The quote overstates the value of the new vaccine. It's good, it's an improvement, but it is not a "game changer."

Other medical experts, not employed by Sanofi Pasteur, have called the new flu shot a mild improvement. Why is a 25% improvement, as reported by the paper, not causing more excitement? The numbers. The New York Times reported it this way, "The key finding was that 1.4 percent of the first group [the group given the improved vaccine] contracted the flu versus 1.9 percent of the second group [given the older formulation.]" The spread between the two vaccines was about one half of one percent. In this case, this translates into a 25% improvement. And in this case, such an improvement is not a "game changer."

Consumer Reports warned its readers not to be in a "rush to get the high-dose vaccine." The vaccine, called Fluzone High-Dose, is only "slightly more likely than the standard vaccine to prevent the flu in people 65 and up." CR is in agreement with The Times about the value of the new flu shot for seniors.

CR goes on to report that the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns the high-dose vaccine might be more likely to cause side effects, including headache, muscle aches, and fever. The Consumer Reports medical experts believe older people should weigh the possible risks and benefits of the new vaccine before getting inoculated.

When it comes to the new 'quadrivalent' flu shot, Consumer Reports told its readers to consider it. The magazine went on to warn readers that "unlike the standard vaccine, not all insurers cover it, so you might have to pay out of pocket, about $38." In Ontario the flu shot is covered by OHIP. In the States there are uninsured Americans who cannot afford either the improved flu vaccine or the older, less expensive trivalent flu shot.

Back in the day that I worked at the newspaper, The Free Press arranged for flu shots for all staff. They had a nurse spend the day in the building. Everyone was encouraged to get vaccinated. No one bad-mouthed the flu shot.

A time for sharing memories.

When I heard this rendition Sleigh Ride by the Christian pop punk band (what a mix!) Relient K, it brought tears to my eyes. The you I pictured were plural; I pictured my granddaughters. I promised myself that I would find a sleigh ride offered somewhere in the London, Ontario, area. I'll take them all for a memory-making ride, if possible.

From the 2007 holiday album Let It Snow, Baby . . . Let It Reindeer. Be patient, it gets into a lovely groove a little ways into the recording. And the video is far more upbeat than the featured art would have you believe.


Relient K "Sleigh Ride" from Gotee Records on Vimeo.


If you liked that, you might like Run Run Rudolph. An old Chuck Berry hit from the late '50s it was covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd on the group's Christmas Time Again album. It has a gentle intro but it quickly hits full stride.

Whenever I hear a Chuck Berry song, I think back to the 99-cent rock and roll nights at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, in the '60s. My friends and I caught a live performance of Chuck at one of those alcohol-fueled events. He was fantastic - I think.



My personal favourite when it comes to Christmas albums is Phil Spector's  A Christmas Gift for You. Produced and arranged by Spector, the album features Dalene Love, the Ronettes, the Crystals and Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans. Spector himself makes an appearance on Silent Night.

The version of Sleigh Ride on this album has become a classic and for that  reason I'm ending this post with a link to that recording. It is a remastered version. Note: In 2003, this Christmas album was ranked No. 142 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Seniors shouldn't eat dog food; It's too expensive.

Some time ago a reporter at the local paper ran an editorial warning Canadians to be worried about their lives in retirement. According to this reporter, many Canadians face the prospect of eating pet food in their senior years. I wrote this was silly. The reporter got in touch with me and defended herself by saying writing editorials wasn't her job. She simply cranked out her piece at the demand of those above her.

Still, the piece was silly. Last night as I ate my dinner I considered how much I had spent on food that day. I don't believe I spent more than $3. I bought all on sale and all was purchased with food value and taste in mind. The soup pictured cost about $2 a serving and was thick with added broccoli and carrots. The vegetables were leftovers. I'd have added a little extra cheese but my wife didn't want the added calories. We could have added some leftover chicken but yesterday was a meatless day for me: doctor's orders.

The bread with the meal was two-day-old baguette and the topping was sun-dried tomatoes with grated Parmesan cheese -- both leftovers sitting almost forgotten in our fridge. The meal was filling, nutritious and delicious. Breakfast and lunch were also put together from food items bought on sale.

If I had written the editorial telling folk how to prepare for retirement, I'd have told them do not eat junk. Junk food is expensive. Don't get a taste for the stuff. It's neither good for you nor easy on your food budget. Build your daily food menu around stuff on sale at your local grocery stores and do the food preparation yourself. You will eat well and on a fraction of what most folk believe you must spend.

Bon appétit!

p.s. After writing this I bought some instant oatmeal cereal on sale: 19-cents a serving.  I can have my cereal, a banana mashed into the cereal to add  extra sweetness and food value, and I can make this with milk and cool it with a little more, all for less than a dollar a day. At this price I will never have dog food for breakfast.

Newspaper falling through the cracks

Contrary to the newspaper report, it is American seniors and not Canadian ones most at risk overall.

The headline warned readers that Canadian seniors were falling between the health care cracks. Clearly this can be quite nasty. Falling through cracks is bad enough but smashing against the material between the cracks is surely even worse.

Overall, American seniors fare worse than Canadian ones.

Also falling through the cracks with the publication of The London Free Press article was journalistic neutrality. The survey at the core of the story was published by the American Commonwealth Fund. The survey found, quote: "Compared with their counterparts in 10 other industrialized countries, older adults in the U.S. are sicker and more likely to have problems paying their medical bills and getting needed health care." American seniors, not Canadian ones, are in the most trouble when it comes to health care issues.

This is not to say that the newspaper article did not report the facts. It did. But those facts were carefully picked to fit the aims of the story. This put an all too familiar spin to this story. This has been done in the past with Commonwealth Fund reports. In the past, I have contacted the fund and had it confirmed at the source that the newspaper was spinning the work of the fund and not simply reporting it.

Key Findings from the Commonwealth Fund study:

1. The United States stands out for having the highest rates of chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease: 87 percent of older adults in the U.S. reported at least one chronic illness,and 68 percent reported two or more.
2. Despite having Medicare coverage, U.S. adults age 65 or older were the most likely to report that cost posed a barrier to care. One-fifth (19%) said cost was the reason they did not visit a doctor, skipped a medical test or treatment recommended by a doctor, did not fill a prescription, or skipped doses.
3. U.S. survey respondents were also the most likely to report trouble paying their medical bills (11%). Only 1 percent in Norway and Sweden reported the same.
4. Canadian, Swedish, Norwegian, and U.S. respondents were the least likely to be able to get a same- or next-day doctor’s appointment when sick or to find it somewhat or very easy to get after-hours care without using the emergency department.
5. Older adults in all countries face care coordination and safety problems. In the U.S., 35 percent reported at least one problem with care coordination, such as not having a recommended medical test, receiving conflicting information from different doctors, or experiencing a lack of communication between a primary care doctor and a specialist. In every country but France, one-fifth or more of older adults have experienced at least one of these problems.
6. Along with the U.K., the U.S. did well in areas related to managing chronic illness: 58 percent of chronically ill older adults in the U.S. and 59 percent in the U.K. had discussed their treatment goals with their doctor and had clear instructions about when to seek further care. Fewer than half of chronically ill people in the other nine countries said the same.
7. More than three-quarters (78%) of older adults in the U.S. said they reported talking to a family member, friend, or health professional about their care preferences if they become unable to make decisions for themselves. Two-thirds said they had a written plan naming a health care proxy and more than half (55%) said they had a written plan regarding the treatment they want at the end of life.

Note: Canada is only mentioned directly in key finding number four. In a press release, The Commonwealth Fund states "all of the countries in the survey could do better." Why did The Free Press single out the Canadian health care system? Was this a right-wing attack by a Sun Media newspaper?

Also note, the newspaper illustrated the article with a clip art. This image does not show a patient in a London hospital, nor does it show a Canadian nurse. Photojournalism has fallen through the cracks, too.

The dark side of strawberries

Each spring I take my granddaughters strawberry picking. Strawberries are, or at least used to be, a spring treat. But no more. Today strawberries are available year 'round. Most come from California.

A few years ago my wife and I motored through the strawberry fields of coastal California. They were immense. As we drove along I wondered about the downside to this vast monoculture of fruit. Today I came across an article answering a part of this question: California's strawberry industry is hooked on dangerous pesticides.

I believe this story may go a little heavy on the element of fear but at the article's core it is true. Dangerous chemicals are being used and not just in agriculture in California. In this case, the use is good for the strawberry growers but may not be good for the field workers, the people in nearby communities and even the world at large.

I have a friend who likes to start dinner with a prayer for those children going without enough food. Possibly he should also being praying for those children who have enough food but food that comes at a very high, but hidden, price. These children, or their descendants, may well find that they must pay the hidden costs as the payments can no longer be deferred.

Think Peru and the fields used to grow asparagus for year 'round consumption. When the ground water is exhausted, when the fields are again dry, dusty, desert land, how will the children of the region survive? Big agriculture will simply move on but the people, the people with deep historical roots in the area, will remain.

How Peru's wells are being sucked dry by British love of asparagus
Industrial-scale production risks water tragedy, charity warns

The tripod grip: Really the ultimate pencil-gripping grasp?

Isla, only 17-months in this picture, is already using the tripod grip.

When my niece looked at my picture of granddaughter Isla working on her scribble art project, my niece exclaimed, "She's already using the tripod grip!" My niece, a physio-therapist, had been taught that this was an advanced pencil-gripping technique which many children don't master until the age of four or later.

I confess, I didn't know what my niece was talking about. When she left, I took to the Internet. I soon read that many folks believe the most efficient way to hold a pencil is the dynamic tripod grasp. In the dynamic tripod grasp, the pencil is held between the thumb and index finger, with the pencil resting on the middle finger.

Some parents worry so much about this grip that when a child fails to use it they go looking for a physiotherapist. Is this really necessary? The short answer is "Maybe not." I discovered in Physiotherapy for Children that there are a number of acceptable grasps. As long the grip is functional and does not cause muscle strain, parents should relax.

Why anyone would be immediately concerned with a variation in pen-holding technique amazes me. One of the finest students I every met did not use the tripod grasp. He gripped his pen with brutish practicality. His penmanship was atrocious, but he was quick and he could read his own writing even if no one else could. He never had a mark that wasn't in the 90s. He really didn't give a damn about penmanship.

For the last word on this read the conclusions reached in a paper found in the U.S. National Library of Medicine:

The dynamic tripod pencil grasp did not offer any advantage over the lateral tripod or the dynamic or lateral quadrupod pencil grasps in terms of quality of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task. These four pencil grasp patterns performed equivalently. Our findings question the practice of having students adopt the dynamic tripod pencil grasp.

My advice: Look at the results and not the technique. If the child can accomplish their goals using whatever grip they are using, leave 'em be.

One of Isla's finished scribble projects. She scribbles and I colour. We both like 'em.

Why kids should be vaccinated

The London Free Press had an article today looking at the rising numbers of parents who are refusing to have their children vaccinated. It was a good article but for a better one read: A Math Lesson in Vaccines and Infectious Disease

If you enjoyed the first link, here is another: True or False: There are more pertussis cases among the vaccinated than among the unvaccinated.

Jack Bruce, of Cream, dies at 71

There is also a version posted to You Tube from the 2005 Cream Reunion.

In the late '60s I was going to art school in Detroit. The Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts was a cool place back then, filled with music: blues, Motown, jazz and more filled the rooms. The album Disraeli Gears by Cream would have been placed in the 'more' category along with other groups like Savoy Brown. Cream's unique sound has been described as psychedelic blues.

Cream, composed of Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker on drums, was possibly the first of the so-called supergroups. Their debut album was Fresh Cream, followed by Disraeli Gears and then Wheels of Fire. Their last album before the break up was appropriately titled Goodbye. Bruce wrote and sang many of the songs in the Cream playbook.

With the passing of the oh-so-talented Jack Bruce, I find myself remembering all the fine music released by Cream and wondering why these songs are given so little airtime today. The Ultimate Classic Rock (UCR) site has posted what they claim to be the top ten Cream recordings. If you have the time, follow the link and give a listen.

• Sunshine of Your Love
• White Room
• Crossroads
• Strange Brew
• Spoonful
• Tales of Brave Ulysses
• Badge
• Born Under a Bad Sign
• I Feel Free
• I'm So Glad

If you haven't heard Badge, it only climbed to about number 60 on the top ten list of the time, check out Badge. The UCR site rates it number 7 in their top ten Cream list and I feature it at the top of this post. I drank a lot of beer while listening to Badge spinning at 33 and a third rpm's on my Dual turntable.

The BBC reports: Jack Bruce died at his home in Suffolk surrounded by his family. A statement was released saying: "It is with great sadness that we, Jack's family, announce the passing of our beloved Jack: husband, father and granddad and all-round legend.

"The world of music will be a poorer place without him, but he lives on in his music and forever in our hearts."

When I think of Cream and the late Jack Bruce, I think of folks from my past such as Andy Whipple and Rebekah Wilcher. Both Andy and Becky have also passed on. My world gets smaller and smaller with each passing day.

Andy Whipple used to throw the best parties at his parent's home in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And Becky used to take me to the best parties in Berkeley, California, back in the late '60s. Fine wine, good beer, great food and the best music was always to be found at these parties. Cream easily passed the muster.

Not being a musician, I wasn't aware of the rich mix of historic blues to be found on Cream albums. The other folk at these parties were far more sophisticated than I and they would sit on the floor, drinking wine and discussing the distant roots of some of the Cream music: I'm So Glad was an old Skip James song from the '30s, Spoonful was a cover of an earlier take by Howlin' Wolf and Crossroads recalls a 1936 recording by blues great Robert James. Sadly, I'd forgotten most of this and only today began remembering all as I read the many obits praising the late Cream bassist.

Jack Bruce had quite the musical pedigree. He was truly among the cream that rises to the top. He won a scholarship to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, played in a group that featured drummer Charlie Watts, later of The Rolling Stones, and played with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and Manfred Mann. Composer, singer, and one of rock's best bass players, Jack Bruce was talented. No argument.

Tonight I will pop the cap on a bottle of Steam Whistle and carefully play my Cream albums. Vinyl is has almost disappeared and sadly the artists that made vinyl worth having are slowing fading away too.

Add

If you have ever wondered what inspired the album name Disraeli Gears, here is an answer I found posted on the Disraeli Gears website. A site dedicated to the derailleur gears used by bike manufacturers.

"You know how the title came about - Disraeli Gears - yeah? We had this Austin Westminster, and Mick Turner was one of the roadies who’d been with me a long time, and he was driving along and Eric (Clapton) was talking about getting a racing bicycle. Mick, driving, went ‘Oh yeah - Disraeli gears!’ meaning derailleur gears . . . We all just fell over . . . We said that’s got to be the album title."

Ginger Baker remembering 1967

Ebola: technically not airborne but . . .

Ebola is NOT technically an airborne disease. Airborne diseases float in the air, suspended, carried by air currents. There is no evidence that Ebola is transmitted in this manner. According to Doctors Without Borders:

As long as a patient hasn’t developed symptoms, the risk of contagion is close to zero. Ebola is not an airborne virus like the flu.

For more on this read: Ebola virus may be spread by droplets, but not by an airborne route: what that means.

As long as an infected person is not symptomatic, they are essentially not contagious. Those riding in an airplane or a subway car with an infected, but not symptomatic person, are said to be at essentially no risk. Without the exchange of bodily fluids, there is absolutely no risk of infection.

Unfortunately, the word airborne has other meanings independent from the technical one. Airborne when used by the average person in day-to-day conversation may simply mean propelled through the air, as in: the car went airborne and hit an embankment. An airborne car can travel surprisingly far -- a hundred feet or more.

Most of us would consider big, Ebola-contaminated, droplets propelled through the air by a violently ill patient as being briefly airborne. One can become infected by the Ebola virus by coming in contact with these large, violently expelled droplets. For this reason, medical personnel need to be completely protected. No exposed skin, eyes protected by goggles. Face masks must meet strict standards. And no quibbling over the use of the word airborne.
 
The following Public Health Agency of Canada bulletin may have been removed from the Web and the posting changed because of the non-technical use of the word "airborne." Personally, I don't think health care workers and others working in close proximity to an Ebola patient want a lecture on the technical meaning of "airborne". They want protection.

If the word airborne adds confusion to a life and death situation, let's use caution when using it. Let's aim for clarity as well as accuracy. Lives depend up it.

"Airborne spread [of the Ebola virus] among humans is strongly suspected . . . "

The above quote is from a pathogen safety data sheet once available from the Public Health Agency of Canada. I understand the sheet has now been modified. I found the sheet containing the warning in the Wayback Machine Internet archives.

Ebola is deadly. Depending upon the strain and other factors it kills anywhere from 25 percent up to 90 percent of those infected. Front-line healthcare workers are at great risk. With two nurses in Texas having now having tested positive for Ebola, it appears the protocols in place in Texas were not up to the standard set by groups with experience fighting Ebola, such as Doctors Without Borders.

A Canadian expert is warning that healthcare personal, nurses for instance, are not being given adequate life-saving protection. Read the story in The London Free Press, the daily paper in London, Ontario, Canada. The experience in Texas seems to give credence to this expert's warning.

Add:

Today (Oct. 20th) the Associated Press is carrying a story reporting "revised guidance for health care workers treating Ebola patients. As of now, health care workers will be using protective gear "with no skin showing."

The article also makes clear hospital officials admit masks covering the nose and mouth were originally optional for nurses and others caring for Ebola patients. This may have been partially a result of a misunderstanding caused by the use of the word "airborne" in the warnings about the transmission routes taken by the disease.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids. The virus begins its attack by entering the body through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth.

• blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola.

Think about it: If the person sitting beside you began leaking bodily fluids, or even just sweating profusely, you'd move. If you worked in a hospital, you'd ask for gloves, a mask and other protective gear -- if it was available. Sadly, in West Africa, many hospitals don't have clean, disposable gloves in stock. Nor do they have adequate amounts of other oh-so-necessary medical supplies: Think one-use disposable needles.

Taking the subway in New York? Relax. You're not going to catch Ebola. It is healthcare workers and not subway riders who need to be on guard.

Test your Ebola knowledge. Follow the link.

The following was posted by the CDC but has been taken down for modification. The story was carried by Huffington Post.

This is the html version of the file http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/infections-spread-by-air-or-droplets.pdf.
Google automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.

Page 1

Ebola

What’s the difference between infections

spread through the air or by droplets?

Airborne spread happens when a germ floats through the air after a

person talks, coughs, or sneezes. Germs may land in the eyes, mouth, or

nose of another person.

>If a germ is airborne, direct contact with the infected person is NOT

needed for someone else to get sick. Airborne spread diseases include:

chickenpox, tuberculosis.

Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are

coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose, or mouth of

another person. Droplets travel short distances, less than 3 feet (1 meter)

from one person to another.

A person might also get infected by touching a surface or object that has

germs on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

Droplet spread diseases include: plague, Ebola.

How do I protect myself from getting sick?

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are

not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Cover your cough! Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when

you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

Germs spread this way.

• Clean and disinfect commonly touched surfaces like doorknobs,

faucet handles, and toys, since the Ebola virus may live on surfaces for

up to several hours.

Is Ebola airborne?

No. Ebola is not spread through the airborne route nor through water or food.

Is Ebola spread through droplets?

Yes. To get Ebola, you have to directly get body fluids (like pee, poop, spit, sweat, vomit, semen, breast milk) from

someone who has Ebola in your mouth, nose, eyes or through a break in your skin or through sexual contact.

Healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients and the family and friends in close contact with Ebola>

patients are at the highest risk of getting sick because they may come in contact with infected blood or

body fluids of sick patients.

Air, food, and water do not carry the Ebola germs.

CS252291-A 10.27.2014 07:54AM

Droplets can contaminate objects

>like doorknobs.

Ebola is spread through droplets.

>Germs like chickpox and TB are

spread through the air.

Ebola

.

• 

.

CS252291-A 10.27.2014 07:54AM

Droplets can contaminate objects

like doorknobs.

Most appear to support Justin Trudeau not Ezra Levant

Ezra Levant made a very nasty personal attack on Justin Trudeau. My local paper, The London Free Press, carried a Sun Media piece on the attack in which it admitted Levant may have hit below the belt. May have?

To the paper's credit, it published my Letter to the Editor under the headline "Levant the one who's out of line." The paper also published a letter with an opposing view, as if this added balance to the discussion.

I contend that with a story like this real balance is only achieved by running one comment supporting Levant and an almost limitless number of comments taking Levant to task. For instance, the following is a condensed listing of the comments in the Huffington Post.

Pro Levant:

• It would be appropriate to ignore that particular reporter, and if any actual rules were broken that avenue should be pursued, but to punish hundreds of reporters who had no control over what was said does not bode well for someone with aspirations for the PMship.

Critical of Levant:

• It's one of the few things that Trudeau's done that I respect; you don't go after someone's family. You don't call their parents "sluts" and expect them not to react. Frankly, I'm surprised Trudeau didn't hunt down Ezra Levant and beat the living hell out of him. God knows that's what I'd have done if some journalistic hack did that to me.
• Levant needs to be censured or fired.
• Trudeau is deserving of an apology . . . 
• Sun Media is getting to be an embarrassment.
• I applaud Trudeau for taking this action.
• I would not give them the time of day either . . . call(ed) parents "sluts" . . .
• It's about time . . . the media has gone so far off the rails . . .
• The groom's father and the bride were totally offended by this little weasel..
• I would be interested to see a poll on what Canadian's think about Justin's personal ban of Quebecor. My guess would be that the majority of Canadians side with Justin on this one. One reason -- because what Levant did was so distasteful and gross it is completely acceptable to expect an apology from the parent company for allowing it to be released to the public. Second reason - very few people really listen to what the Sun has to say about anything nor do they use it as a primary news source so we aren't missing anything with or without them. The media has a right to care about this issue however - there are lots of Sun "journalists" being punished for one mans actions. They want access to Justin and they want to be able to ask the hard hitting questions on the right side of the debate and I think that is great - however, they should think about how important that right is before they allow their "journalists" to abuse it. 
• I absolutely agree with Trudeau. By boycotting Sun News, all he risks is not being exposed to the twenty or thirty people who watch Levant on a regular basis. I understand he - Levant - has a big family Neither Levant nor Sun News is a credible information source. They're junk. Refusing to talk with Levant or Sun News is akin to turning down an interview with the National Enquirer,
• "Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's decision to boycott Sun Media over an "offensive" rant by one of its TV personalities is short-sighted, experts say, and may have Canadians questioning his open government stance." Oh shut up already. Anyone who can't empathize with Trudeau stance on this clearly hasn't had a national news organization call their dead or elderly parents "sluts". Honestly, if I were JT, Levant would get a slap in the face!

And my two personal favourites:

• I think it would be nice if Trudeau's boycott stirred up a little rebellion among the editors and journalists in the dozens of smaller dailies that Sun owns.
• If Fox News North doesn't fire Levant over this then everyone should boycott them.

The Globe and Mail carried an article looking at Levant's comments. The headline says it all: Justin Trudeau was right to block Sun for Ezra Levant’s attack.

The comments following the Globe article were as one sided in support of Trudeau as the comments following the Huffington Post article.

• 207 Globe readers agreed with the person who commented, "Levant's remarks are a disgrace to journalism."
• 143 readers agreed, "No fan of Trudeau... but insulting his mother and father is the stuff of teenagers and lunatics."
• Another wrote, "Ezra Levant is a raging lunatic who is not a journalist . . . ." 

Lunatic seems to be a popular word when folk are describing the Sun Media personality.

A great game to play with your baby

Isla showed this piece to everyone she could find.

It's not art but it is fun. I have now played this game with two toddlers. Both were about 14 or 15 months old when introduced to this scribble-based fun. Anything involving scribbling is appealing to babies.

Isla, cap in hand, does her part and draws another scribble.

Put a newspaper or large magazine on the floor to protect it from the markers. Don't open the paper out to its full size. Folded is fine. If it is too large, it becomes something to slide on and to cause baby to fall.

Place a white sheet of computer paper on the newspaper and get out some coloured markers and brightly coloured crayons. Crayola washable markers are great. They wash out of clothing and wipe off wood floors without leaving a  mark or even a hint of a stain.

The game: Encourage your baby to take a coloured, washable marker and scribble on the computer paper. This will take very little encouragement. When baby is done, you fill one closed loop in the scribble using a brightly coloured crayon. Colour quickly. You do not want baby to lose interest but this may not be a problem. Isla can stick at this game for up to half an hour.

One of Isla's simpler scribble art pieces.

Now, encourage baby to scribble on the paper again. You and baby are going to take turns: baby scribbles and then you colour. Repeat until you have created what you or baby feels is a work of art or until baby loses interest.

This morning Isla, the baby in my life, came into my room, took a newspaper from a pile and grabbed a couple of sheets of white computer paper from below my printer. She dropped the newspaper to the floor, set the white paper on top and headed off for the bag of crayons and markers I keep on an antique wash stand. The stand is low and the stuff on top easily reached even by a baby.

With everything laid out, Isla headed off to get me. She took me by the hand and led me to where we were going to make art together. She pointed at the paper, stretched out on the floor and set to work.

Isla and Fiona, her sister, 5, worked on this together.

She scribbled, I coloured and we both laughed. It really was great fun. At a certain point, Isla felt the picture was done. She stood up, work of art in hand and ran off at the fastest gait a little toddler can muster. She found her grandmother and proudly showed grandma Judy what she and Gugga had created together.

As I said at the beginning, I've played this game with two babies: sisters Fiona and Isla. Both loved it. It doesn't overtax the toddler's motor skills but it does challenge them -- for instance, Isla loves to take the tops off the markers and then listen for the clicks when she slides the tops back on.

And babies enjoy the opportunity to make choices which this game offers. For instance, Isla likes to vary the colour of the Crayola felt tip marker she uses for the scribbles. She will rummage through the bag of markers and crayons in search of the perfect colour for her scribble. She can be very particular. Her sister, Fiona, when she was a toddler, liked to pick out the crayons I used to colour the loops and she could be very demanding.

Isla ran about the house showing this art to everyone.

Sometimes she likes to fill the page, activating all the space an artist might say, while at other times she prefers a more minimalist approach. Between choosing markers, scribbling and putting the tops back on the markers, this is a game for the baby flirting with independence.

I also believe children enjoy the sharing aspect of this activity. They are sharing an activity with an adult but in an unique manner. Here they are an equal partner. They know this and clearly appreciate it.

A piece by Fiona, Isla's sister. Fiona picked the crayon colours I used.

Since writing this I've been made aware of a number of Internet sites dedicated to children's art. Here are a couple of links:
Scribble Blog: Inspiring Creativity in Parents, Teachers and Kids! (Scribble Town! is interactive.)
Relative Marmalade: A design blog featuring the art of children
Scribble Art: check out the picture gallery

For me life is composed of two elements: art and craft. Art represents the creative side and craft is the skill used to translate creative ideas into concrete objects. Kids have lots of creativity but minimal skill. They are big on art but severely challenged when it comes to craft.

What happens when one combines art (creativity) with craft (skill) in adult amounts? Think Wassily Kandinsky and Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles.