There is life after death

Isn't life grand?

Yes, there is life after death. Unfortunately if it's your death, it won't be your life. Oh well, you just gotta read the fine print.

If you've been following my adventures over the past year, you know that in the summer I had a V-tach event with my heart racing at 300 bpm. The good folk in emerg jolted it back to reality with 200 joules of electricity. ZAP!

Since then I have had nuclear scans, MRIs, echocardiograms and more. Micro bleeding was discovered in my brain but as bad as that sounds it's relatively common. About five percent of folk my age have it. If it weren't for today's hi-tech medical equipment this little know fact wouldn't even be little known. I was told to "relax."

But they did discover that one chamber in my heart is severely enlarged. You might say I'm a big hearted fellow. I used to run. In fact, I was quite the runner in my youth, setting records and stuff. I jogged right up until my open heart surgery. (I was the first person in Canada to have their mitral valve repaired robotically. Small incision. All very neat.) Runners have enlarged hearts. I was told to "relax."

But all this health stuff has made me quite aware of my mortality. As they say, "No one gets out of here alive."

And yet, life does go on. And I smile. I babysit my little 15-month-old granddaughter and I smile. The universe is unfolding as it should. "I'm relaxed."

No record breaking snow fall in London, Ontario

Snowplows were busy Thursday digging Lucan out after the snow storm.

It dumped about 75 cm (29.5 in.) of snow on London starting Sun., but it was not as big a storm as forecast. It didn't break the Dec. '77 record for three consecutive days of snowfall, when about 100 cm (39 in.) of snow buried this Southwestern Ontario city.

Chris Scott, meteorologist for the Weather Network, reports that despite London being "squarely in the cross-hairs" of the severe lake-effect storm, Forest City residents have seen worse. 4 years ago, almost to the day, 60 cm (23.5 in.) fell in a 24-hour period on some areas of the city.

Still, the storm that started Sun. hit London with such fury that by noon people were canceling out of town trips. But the storm was focused on the city and on the country north of town. Those brave enough, or foolish enough to start for Toronto, discovered the storm weakened soon after leaving the eastern edge of the city. By the time travelers reached Woodstock, they had blue skies.

While a severe winter storm was causing white-outs in London, there were blue skies east of the city.

By dinner time Sun. the storm was closing down the city. Hwy. 401 in the south-end of town slowed to a crawl as scores of accidents played havoc with traffic. Hamilton Road, running above 401 near Dorchester, was plugged with transport trucks and cars attempting to skirt the freeway traffic problems.

A Lucan home with a monster snow drift on the roof.

Until late Wed. Hwy. 401 was winter-treacherous. At one point, a 17 vehicle pile-up of trucks, vans and cars between London and Woodstock delayed traffic for more than four hours. 

The chain-reaction accident occurred late Wed. morning and it was mid-afternoon before the westbound lanes were cleared and traffic back to normal.

While London was hit hard, with the university, college and city schools all closed, the cities three largest malls shutting down early, and banks and other businesses either refusing to open or locking up early, it was Lucan to the north of the city that took the full brunt of the storm.

By the time it was over, Lucan was buried under about 180 cm (71 in.) of snow. The snow started in Lucan Sunday and didn't stop, according to the CBC, until early Thursday morning. 

Many Lucan residents cannot recall as fierce a snow storm.

Lucan and London, Ont., have had about half their allotted snowfall already and winter hasn't even officially started.

One would think a white Christmas was surely in the cards for London and region, but maybe not. 

Rain is forecast for the region by the weekend. 

Medway Creek north of London is Christmas card pretty.

Joy and capitalism, the meaning of Christmas

Brian was not yet a teen but back in the '70s kids could have a paper route, and he did. And it was a big one with about seventy customers.

One Christmas Brian bought a big bag of Popsicle sticks and made small sleigh Christmas tree ornaments to give to his customers. It took him hours to assemble and glue the little wooden sleighs and then decorate them with little drawings of Christmas trees and print "Merry Christmas" in red ink on each one.

When Brian made his pre-Christmas collection, he gave each customer a little sleigh and wished them a Merry Christmas. He returned home with his pockets bulging with Christmas bonus money. He made, shall we say, a killing.

It turns out our little Christmas weasel didn't just buy Popsicle sticks. He made an investment in both sticks and human nature. And his investment delivered very handsome returns.

Brian had some sticks left over and these he made into inexpensive but oh-so-sweet little little gifts for all his aunts and uncles. And they were cheap. Ours hangs on our tree every year, along with all the other Christmas memories.

Merry Christmas!

Ceiling or daddy long-legs spider

Most spiders found in Ontario homes are harmless to humans, so relax.

Some books call this spider a daddy long-legs but I don't. The daddy long-legs with which I am familiar have different bodies. No, this is what we called a ceiling or a cellar spider when I was a boy.

The spider that I called a daddy long-legs is also called the harvestman and I understand it is not a true spider. I think the term daddy long-legs fits the harvestman more than the cellar spider and so I'm staying with my terminology.

There is a myth that a daddy long-legs (cellar spider) has the most potent venom of all spiders but because it is unable to pierce human skin, it is harmless.

This myth was tested on Myth Busters and it was busted — twice. It seems the spider was able to bite through Adam's skin but he reported nothing more than a very mild, short-lived burning sensation. Analysis of the venom proved it didn't approach the potency of the black widow spider.

Apparently one story isn't a myth. Cellar spiders do hunt and kill the dangerous-to-humans black widow.

Don't bag fall leaves!

How to Green Your Falling Leaves on Howcast

"Just pick up the damn bags!"

It was a quick, flippant answer that struck a responsive chord with many London folk — especially those with clear plastic bags, filled with fallen autumn leaves and sitting forgotten at the curb, passed over by city crews doing the fall leaves pick-up. It seems those leaves were ignored because they were in the wrong bags.

Plastic leaf bags are so passé; Paper bags are in. But not just any paper bag. No, the paper bags you fill with leaves, and place at the curb, must be certified compostable and bear the appropriate logo from either the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) or the Bureau de Normalisation du Quebec (BNQ). No label, no pick-up.

How much does it cost London to pick-up leaves?

The problem had grown into quite the local dust-up when London mayor-elect Joe Fontana stepped boldly into the fray. Fontana called News Talk 1290 Today with Andy Oudman and sliced through the Gordian knot of confusing green rhetoric. Fontana, shooting from the hip — some might argue lip — said, "Just pick up the damn bags!"

Free Press columnist Ian Gillespie found the “just get ‘er done” response refreshing. I wasn't immediately enamored with Fontana's response but I have slowly climbed on-board. Gillespie was right. And so was Fontana.

With the problem at hand "solved" by our mayor-elect, I say, "Let's clear up the whole messy, costly, leaf pick-up program and kill it for 2011. The Free Press reports that the city enjoys an annual savings of about $200,000 simply by banning plastic bags for leaf pick-up. This makes me wonder how much the city could save by scrapping the needless pick-up altogether.

Fontana promises to be a "Get Tough" mayor. He ran for office vowing to freeze property taxes over four years — a financial get tough platform. Maybe one place to apply his new, bold approach might be here, and tackle the whole leaf pick-up problem head-on.

The truly get tough answer might be, "They're leaves. Run your lawn mower over 'em and get on with life. The city is out of the leaf pick-up business. We can't afford the luxury anymore."

I can hear the outcry now. "The leaves will kill my lawn." "Leaves harbour mould and plant diseases." "Rotting, wet leaves offer sanctuary to breeding mosquitoes."

Relax. It doesn't have to be that way according to many researchers who have studied fall leaves. Steve Bender, the Grumpy Gardener, says:

"Stop Being So %^&*@#+ Stupid! Do you bag your leaves? . . . Are you, in other words, a certified cretin?

Leaves are a great source of organic matter. And they're free! Why throw away good, free stuff in favor of peat moss, composted cow manure, and shredded bark from the garden center that costs money? Hello? Is there anybody home?"

He see fall leaves as free organic matter! Did you hear that? Free! Grumpy writes:

"Hydroponics aside, you can't grow good plants without good soil. And no matter if your soil is mucky clay or worthless sand, the best way to improve is to add lots and lots of organic matter. Organic matter improves soil drainage and aeration, increases storage of moisture and nutrients, and makes things cozy and comfy for earthworms and microbes that stir and digest the soil and make its nutrients available to plants. Organic matter is brown gold."

Grumpy is not alone. The Website of The City of Guelph calls leaves Mother Nature's gold. The tell homeowners:

 "Keep your leaves on your lawn. . . . Research has proven that mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and help to slow down weed germination in the spring. Organic matter and nutrients from leaves mown into lawn areas has been proven to improve turf quality."

The City of Guelph calls leaves Mother Nature's gold.

Personally, I've never understood the whole autumn leaves problem. My dad was a farmer born more than a hundred years ago in the early years of the twentieth century. He always saw fallen leaves as a valuable commodity. Something to be composed, or used to insulate plants from the harshest cold and fiercest wind of winter. Leaves represented the goodness of the soil; He recycled them back into the earth.

My grandparents on my mother's side were both born in the 1870s in small farming communities. They agreed with my dad. Despite living for most of their lives off the farm and in the city they never showed any sign of being caught up in the off-the-land fear of leaves that seemed to grip the city slickers.

A The Free Press photographer, now retired, had a farm west of the London. He told me that he wished there were a way to convince the city to dump the leaves collected from city homes at his farm. He saw them as a fine addition to the soil and he'd just plow them into the earth. Unfortunately, his farm was too far out of town for the city to have any interest in his idea.

A few years ago The Free Press ran a Business Monday feature on a company selling and installing special replacement blades for electric and gas rotary mowers. They installed two special blades with a total of six sharp cutting edges which made quick work of mulching lawn clippings, including leaves.

The company's product was obviously accepted by Londoners as the shop in North London was backed up with hundreds of lawn mowers waiting to be upgraded.

Sadly, it seems that the multi-blade, mulching invention, as good as it was, was better than the inventor's business acumen; The business folded and the mulching blade invention disappeared with last year's leaves.
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And Joe, if you should happen by, do a quick google about the Net and check out all the cities that are getting on the mulch 'em bandwagon.

e.g. Seattle Public Utilities: Mulching lawn mower guide

. . . and they are even into mulching in Merry Old England.

e.g. Warwickshire County Council: Mulch Mowing

e.g. . . . and a sister paper of The London Free Press,
The Chatham Daily News, says:

"Use a mulching mower and feed your lawn and keep shredded grass and leaves out of the landfill."

So go get 'em Joe. Tell those damn voters,

 "Just leave the damn leaves!"

Don't take medicine in front of a baby!

According to many authorities, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:

"Don't take medicines in front of children younger than 4 years old. They may try to copy your behavior."

Babies imitate. It's a well known fact.

The actions of Miss Baby yesterday underscored this warning. Her grandmother and aunt were busy with Christmas baking. Miss Baby was watching. Within minutes the little girl was beating and pouring imaginary batter to make imaginary cookies.

Babies learn by mimicking. Don't set a little one up for a potential life-threatening incident. Every year thousands of children consume dangerous medicines and must be rushed to Emergency. Keep all medicine locked away and do not encourage a baby's interest in your medicine cabinet by taking pills, capsules and syrups in their presence.

It takes guts, stick-to-itiveness, patience and more to learn to walk

Fiona may soon give up keister scooting for walking.

Watching a baby leaving babyhood to become an active toddler is to be privy to an amazing transformation. I'm in awe of Fiona as I watch her systematically working oh-so-hard to perfect a difficult skill: walking.

Fiona has never crawled. She keister-scoots. First, she tugs off her socks, they are too slippery and she needs the friction of her bare feet on the smooth floor. Then, she stretches out her legs, gets a grip on the floor with her heels and pulls herself forward. It doesn't sound efficient but it is. She can scoot from one end of the house to the other in very short order.

In preparation for her learning to walk, I removed a large, glass coffee table from our front room. I worried that if she fell and hit her head on that table, she would get badly hurt. It was a wise thing to do but quite possibly unnecessary. Babies don't just stand up and promptly fall on their face when learning to walk. Babies aren't stupid. (Still, accidents do happen and removing anything that could injure a falling toddler is important.)

Fiona began her quest to walk by pulling herself up on anything that provided a good grip. No surprise here. But as quickly as Fiona learned to get herself up, she learned to lower herself back down. I had read that babies needed to be given support to get back down without injuring themselves. Maybe some babies need this, but not Fiona.

Pulling herself up allowed Fiona to work her legs and strengthen them. Soon the hand-grip only steadied the baby. Her legs were strong enough to raise her to a standing position without assistance from her arms.

With strong legs well practised at raising her to her feet, Fiona no longer required a hand-grip. She began using smooth, vertical surfaces to steady herself. With a wall, for instance, she could slide her hand both up and down the wall, steadying herself while standing up and again when sitting back down. Perfect.

Fiona is now standing unaided for a quarter minute or more. But she keeps her centre of balance such that she always falls forward and breaks her fall with her hands on the wall. Like I said, babies aren't stupid.

Walking is going to take strength, along with balance, and she she seems to have figured that out. Starting this week Fiona embarked on an exercise program to build the necessary strength and balance. She stands on Judy and my double bed, getting herself up without support. This is tough and she often falls. She is practising three things on the bed: getting up, standing unsupported and making a controlled fall. And doing it where she has a soft, cushy surface on which to tumble.

I bet she is walking within a week.

Lindsey Graham: The parrot's not dead . . .

Lindsey Graham, right, with John McCain at the Forum.

One of my favorite Monty Python Flying Circus skits was The Dead Parrot Routine. A routine about denial.

Over the years, I have learned that that routine plays itself out in many different forms daily --- and sadly, but not unexpectedly, it is not funny in these reincarnations.

Take Lindsey Graham, a U.S. senator who would make Monty Python proud. With the U.S. deep in financial doo-doo, and to a great extent because of its involvement in two foreign wars, one truly unnecessary, Graham was back saber rattling this past weekend at the Halifax International Security Forum held in Nova Scotia, Canada.

With his party, the Republicans, now controlling the U.S. Congress, the senator from South Carolina felt empowered to threaten Iran with the full wrath of the mighty United States military. Tehran must veer from their present course when it comes to developing and constructing the bomb.

Graham was addressing a panel looking at the ramifications of the recent U.S. midterms on American foreign policy. AP reports Graham said that if the United States were to go to war against the Islamic republic, it would not be to:

". . . just neutralize their nuclear program, but to sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guard, in other words neuter that regime."

Reportedly, Graham's position left many "stunned." Personally, I think it left Graham looking a little stunned.

If you have five minutes, check out this video found on YouTube which argues that the South Carolina senior senator is as delusional and just as openly ridiculous as Baghdad Bob, a propagandist for Saddam Hussein.



For a more complete report and a video of Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak at the Forum commenting on Lindsey Graham's remarks, check out my post on Digital Journal.

Eggs: Healthy or Not?

The other day the University of Western Ontario sent out a press release informing the media that an acclaimed researcher at the London Ontario university had co-authored a review of dietary cholesterol studies.

The doctor, David Spence, along with two other Canadian experts in the field, came to the conclusion that dietary cholesterol is bad, very bad. Just about the worse offender when it comes to supplying a concentrated dose of dietary cholesterol is the egg.

The review points out that one egg contains from 215 to 275 mg of cholesterol. In comparison, the infamous KFC Double Down contains 145 mg of cholesterol. For those who don't know, the KFC Double Down sandwich replaces the bread or bun with two KFC chicken breasts to hold multiple slices of bacon and cheese.

The London Free Press, the local paper, carried a story on the review under the headline "Eggs worse than Double Down."

That, of course, is not quite what the doctors were saying. In fact, Dr. Spence told The Free Press that the Double Down is a "dietary disaster."

No, the doctors were talking only about cholesterol and they did raise some interesting points.

The paper correctly points out that The Heart and Stroke Foundation has given eggs their seal of approval. Yet, a search of the foundation's website finds this warning.

" . . . foods that contain high levels of dietary cholesterol, such as egg yolks, may have a small effect on blood cholesterol levels in people diagnosed with high blood cholesterol or type 2 diabetes. A recent study showed that individuals with type 2 diabetes need to watch their egg intake because it can increase their risk of heart disease. The Canadian Diabetes Association suggests that people with diabetes may have up to two eggs per week . . . speak to your healthcare provider, who will advise you on how much food containing dietary cholesterol you should eat."

In their review, the Canadian trio points out that in two major studies those who developed diabetes while consuming an egg a day doubled their risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those eating less than an egg a week. The studies also showed a significant increase of new onset diabetes with regular egg consumption.

There seem to be some points of agreement between the Heart and Stroke people and the three renegade researchers.


A story in Canada.com reported:

The last time Spence spoke out publicly against yolks in his local newspaper, his house was egged.

"I had to pay someone 150 bucks to come in on a ladder and clean up the second story. They hit the wall on the second floor and the door and the windows on the main floor."

But he remains unperturbed. He said yolks "shouldn't be regarded as an item that's suitable for human diets" for anyone at risk of vascular disease. "And you name me a Canadian that isn't."

Ironically, on the very day The Free Press was warning its readers of the health risks posed by eggs and dietary cholesterol, the paper carried a story on one of nature's most nutritious foods: Eggs!

If you still want to eat eggs, and I can understand that, Dr. Spence sets an upper limit of 200 mg. of dietary cholesterol a day. I guess that means only eating half a yolk at one sitting. It will make for some rather lightly coloured omelets but I can "live" with that.


To see my take on this story running in Digital Journal click HERE.

For The London Free Press story by Debora Van Brenk, click HERE.

Twitter and Flickr for citizen journalists

One of the neat things about blogging is being your own publisher. It is almost like putting out your own magazine. And just as no newspaper or magazine should go without images, your blog posts should not go begging for pictures.

Wikimedia Commons is one excellent place to look for copyright free images. Lot's of folk sharing lots of pictures are to be found there. Another good site is Flickr. Both sites make the copyright restrictions which apply to each image very clear. The restrictions vary from image to image, so stay alert as you search for pictures. Twitpic can also be a source of images but I have questions about using pictures found on Twitpic. More on this later.



The above images are from Twitpic. I simply added the embedding code into the HTML of the Blogger page. The code is right there for the taking on the Twitpic page. Clicking on the glorified thumbnail image, above, will bring up the original Twitpic page.

Twitpic Photo: Yaman09

You can take larger images from Twitpic but you must view the full sized image and then right-click to Copy Image or Save Image As... You can also point, click and drag the image onto the desktop.

If you Copy Image, you can paste it directly into a photo enhancement program, like Photoshop, for cropping and tweaking.


If you copy, drag or save the image, this will break the link to the Twitpic's originating page. You must add a link under the picture to restore the connection. This is demanded by Twitpic:

"Remember! Twitpic Community Guidelines specify that if you post a Twitpic photo on an external website, the photo must link back to its photo page."

This all sounds good and sounds safe. No copyright infringement here, right? Since the embedding code was supplied, putting these pictures on one's page must be O.K., right? I don't know.

The first image may have been shot by the person twittering, making them the copyright holder, but I am suspicious of the middle image of Colbert and Stewart and the next one of Colbert alone. Were these images really taken by the person twittering? I have my doubts. A lot of stolen images are to be found in the Twitpic mix.

Flickr Photo: Jeff Gates

Flickr Photo: Bridgette Blair

The two large images above were taken from Flickr. The first big image was removed from Flickr using a download function found on the Flickr site. It is a big file. The second was taken by right clicking the largest posted image available and using the "Copy Image" function. Afterwards, I resized the second image so that it would load faster. This resulted in a little loss of quality. (I can live with the loss; I, and my readers, like the speed.)

Flickr Photo: Joe Newman

Both these images appear to be safe to use on a blog but the Creative Commons licence seems to put them off limits for newspapers and others who would use these image to generate income. Click on the photographer's name in the credit line under the image, the name is linked to the originating Flickr page.

Flickr Photo: Bridgette Blair

The Flickr image, above left, has been cropped to accent the subject of the photo. It has also been brightened using Levels and Curves in Photoshop. I believe this is allowed.

The "Palin" picture and the crowd images were fitted onto the page using Blogger supplied tools with a little tweaking. When the second image, the horizontal one, was placed and sized, it was too large for the space. This forced the horizontal image to appear below the image of "Sarah Palin." By finding the size of the image in the HTML code, this is very easy, and subtracting ten percent from both the height and the width, the image was made to fit. (Use the Preview function in blogger to check your layout before posting. Be warned that your Blogger page may format differently on different computers.)

So, if you are blogging and need images, Flickr seems to offer the safest images for placing on your site. Flickr users are photographers while Twitpic users are posters of pictures --- pictures which may or may not be owned by the poster.

Be aware that Getty Images uses Flickr. You can see these images but you cannot use them without paying Getty. Pay close attention to the info found under the heading License. Make sure that you scroll the Flickr page so that you can see all the license info. Sometimes the Getty copyright warning may not be shown without scrolling. Watch for the black Getty Images symbol; If you see it, don't use the image.

Links: Flickr, Twitpic search

If you are writing a blog on a news event, remember to google the event itself or the event's sponsors.

The Government of Chile posted excellent shots from the recent rescue of the Chilean miners.

See: Government of Chile, Flickr page.

From the Democratic Party Facebook page.

The Democratic Party in the States have a Facebook page where they often post pictures. There were a lot of excellent pictures posted there from Obama's recent four-day tour of the west.




It is not always possible, but when it is, the safest pictures to use to illustrate your blog and other posts are the pictures you shoot yourself.

The American West, popular with tourists the world over, shown in my shot.

Cheers!
Rockinon

She's a trooper!

"Hey grandpa! Would you like to read a book together?"

Miss Baby took a tumble today — a bad one. She struck her head and her forehead quickly grew red from the blow. It left a small bump. She cried some but she really got into a sobbing roll when the doctor in emerg began poking and prodding her.

When the doctor got to his last test, he brought out a small flashlight. Miss Baby's eyes lit up quicker than the doctor's flashlight. She stopped crying; This was getting interesting. As the doctor moves his light to left and then to the right, her eyes would follow. No matter where he moved that light, she didn't take her eyes off that weird brightly lit thing. It was clear she had never seen anything quite like it. It had peaked her curiousity. Her steady, unflinching interest told the doctor she was fine.

From the hospital she went straight to grandma and grandpa's rather than returning home. She may have gotten the all clear from emerg but she was still under mom and dad's and grandma and grandpa's close observation.

The moment I carried her into the kitchen, she spotted a banana on the counter and immediately reached out her hand. She grabbed the banana and laughed as she waved about her yellow prize. We got a bowl, a fork, her spoon and we sat down together at the table. Sitting on my knee, she helped me peel the banana. She took her spoon and helped pulverize the sweet, soft fruit. With only one tooth it is still best to squish food before eating. And then she settled in to eat her half of the banana.

She always shares her prize with me; We each get half. She sits on my knee and smiles and laughs, enjoying the obvious camaraderie of the moment.

We're buddies. And I cannot convey to you how very happy and relieved I am that my little buddy is just fine. Her head is a little bruised but she's not complaining. She's a real trooper!

The iPhone: The latest toy of choice!

Fiona watching the trailer for Despicable Me! on her mom's iPhone.

An article in the New York Times called the iPhone "the most effective tool in human history to mollify a fussy toddler."

Reportedly, one of the first words uttered by many of our youngest generation is "iPhone!" This may be overstating the case. "Da!" and a waving hand with finger pointing at the popular Apple device may be more accurate.

"Play the video again. Please."

For many children, such as my little granddaughter, the iPhone has become the toy of choice. She would sit and watch video trailers on YouTube, such as Despicable Me, for hours if I allowed it; I don't. The screen tapping and finger sliding actions that control an iPhone all mesh perfectly with Fiona's developing motor skills.

The phones have proven to be amazingly rugged --- standing up well to being dropped by enthusiastic little techno geeks. Of course, when one stands only about two feet tall a phone does not have far to fall.

On reading the following, I said "Been there and done that":

One mother recalls the first time her daughter, barely 2 years old, held her husband's iPhone. "She pressed the button and it lit up. I just remember her eyes. It was like 'Whoa!' "

Our daughter Ashley, Fiona's mom, shot a video on her iPhone of Judy and I departing on our recent extended vacation. While we were gone, Ashley played the iPhone video for Fiona who giggled when we waved to her from the screen. Soon the little girl was waving back. Returning, after almost six weeks away, we were greeted with a waving welcome from our laughing granddaughter. There was no playing strange.

Software developers understand the attraction of the iPhone to the very young and have released apps designed for little children but marketed to parents. These "educational" apps may be as simple as electronic flash cards teaching reading and spelling.

Other apps are as new and different as the iPhone itself. Pocket Zoo streams live video of animals from zoos around the world. iGo Potty, sponsored by Huggies Pull-Ups training pants from Kimberly-Clark, rings parents reminding them when it's "Potty Time." The app comes complete with "Fun Stuff" for children.

All this interest in iPhones by young kids is not without detractors. Many pediatricians see the phones as similar to television and suggest the same guidelines. The American Academy of Pediatrics has long advised parents not to allow children to watch any TV until after their second birthday.

Many question whether electronic flash cards are a good way to teach language. Rather than handing a child an iPhone, perhaps it would be better to simply spend more time talking directly to the child.

I don't know. I'll bet after Johannes Gutenberg began pumping out children's books, maybe early versions of The Cat in the Hat, parents of young children were probably warned by psychologists of the time that books were not a good way to teach children anything. It would be better to simply spend more time with your kids, I am sure they were told. So, forget those new fangled book things was the word on the street back in 1440.

But maybe it is not an either/or situation. No one is going to argue that children do not need interaction with the people in their young lives. Of course, they do. But electronic devices are going to play a big part in their futures, possibly a little interaction with an iPhone can be a good thing.

Exciting moment, dull photo

It's estimated 2,000 journalists recorded the rescue of the Chilean miners trapped for many, many weeks underground. 2,000!

Yet, many Internet sites because of copyright laws turned to the official Flickr stream created by the Chilean government for images. My local paper did this. All the B front images were courtesy of the Government of Chile via Reuters.

The Photo Galleries on the paper's Internet site features a number of fine shots taken by Cesar Illiano and Terry Wade of Reuters. Space limitations and time may have been responsible for limiting the play given these pictures to just the paper's Internet site.

Since my local paper had lots of powerful images available, why did they plaster a fuzzy, frame grab, complete with screen scan lines, across their front page? (It is just a guess, but possibly the best images were not available at the time that the front page had to be released to the backshop. This is one of the big weaknesses of the traditional printed daily newspaper.)

A video framegrab fills the front page of The London Free Press, a Sun Media paper.

Credit: Hugo Infante and the Government of Chile

Professionalism, the media and deaf cats

Image by: Marianne Perdomo (Gran Canaria, Spain)

Because this will be read by some of the good folk with whom I once worked, I want to start this post by clearly stating that most reporters and editors are very bright people and excellent at their jobs.

That said, give even the best runner only three minutes to run a mile and you have set the runner up for failure.

Real reporters don't just rewrite press releases. Or do they? Sadly, in today's world the answer is, "Yes, they do!" And sometimes word for word.

A recent press release claimed, "Cats are the only animal besides humans that can be born deaf." When I got that press release, alarm bells went off in my head and it wasn't just my tinnitus. 

When I got in touch with the researcher behind the study in question he told me, "Just about any animal could be born deaf. The press release is a bit of an overstatement." Of course, I already knew that; I had googled the statement and discovered lots of animals may be deaf at birth.

Yet, the Irish Examiner and the Irish Independent, reported, ". . . cats – the only animal besides humans that can be born congenitally deaf." Hmmm. Makes you wonder how much they examine and how independent they are.

A lot of papers in Great Britain repeated the error. It looks as if they all simply republished a story supplied by a common source. At no point did a bright, questioning editor check the copy as would have been done in the not-so-distant past.

Science Daily, Science Blog and Science A Gogo all reported "Cats are the only animal besides humans that can be born deaf." Now we know how urban myths take root.

This little error, one easily made by someone charged with writing a lot of press releases, should also have been easily noticed and easily corrected. Instead it has been repeated in the global media without question. 

Global? Yes, global. I found the story on Aaj Ki Khabar and other distant news sites.

All too sad.
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Oh, if you're interested in my take on the story, it can be found on the Digital Journal. Maybe you can find my errors. Remember, I am not a professional reporter. Cut me a little slack.

Robotic Cars

Highway 1 is a twisting, two lane, Pacific coast road.

I read about this in the New York Times. It was like a story from a silly tabloid, except it was true. Google's sending robotically driven cars down California's fabled Highway 1. Seven cars, six modified Toyota Priuses and one Audi TT, have driven thousands of miles without the direct control of a driver as part of a little known project led by Google.

I posted the story on Digital Journal.

Taken at the DARPA National Qualification Event, October 24 - 31, 2007. Google vehicles do not carry as much hardware on their roofs as this car.

Rick's Gone, Finally

Rick Sanchez always seemed to be a news anchor adrift. He was a light-weight news anchor. He simply should never have had his job on a national (U.S.) cable news network. He was not good enough, not knowledgeable enough.

There are people one meets who have such depth of knowledge that they make you feel that no matter what you ask them, they'll know the answer. Rick Sanchez wasn't one of those people. In fact, Sanchez left you feeling that no matter what you asked him, he'd be stumped.

Do you recall when an earthquake rocked Chile and a Tsunami warning was issued for Hawaii? Sanchez was following the story and used a map to make it all clear. He pointed to a group of islands in the Pacific, below the equator and off Chile, and noted the close proximity of Hawaii to Chile. The islands he pointed to were the Galapagos Islands!

Sanchez made lots of these "oops." And Jon Stewart and Stephen Cobert had fun at the handsome CNN news anchor's expense. Well last Thursday, all the Sanchez pent-up anger burst out during an interview with Pete Dominick on Sirius Radio. "You watch yourself on his show every day," said Sanchez, "and all they ever do is call you stupid."

Sanchez was lashing out:

"I think to some extent Jon Stewart and [Stephen] Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart's a bigot," he said. "I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I'm so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine."

Stewart was not the only person whom Sanchez found was insulting him, treating him with condescension. He said a lot of elite Northeast establishment liberals . . . "look at a guy like me" and automatically see a guy "who belongs in the second tier and not the top tier." Sanchez is Cuban-American.

Later, Sanchez retracted the word "bigot" and instead described the Comedy Central fake newsman as "prejudicial."

When confronted with the argument that Stewart with his Jewish heritage was a member of an oppressed minority just like Sanchez with his Latino background, the newscaster would have none of it. He argued that Stewart, as a Jew, was a member of powerful group.

He said sarcastically, ". . . I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they --- the people in this country who are Jewish --- are an oppressed minority . . . "

Friday Sanchez was replaced on air by Brooke Baldwin who has substituted for him in the past. The question, "Would Sanchez be back," was soon answered. CNN issued a statement saying:

"Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well."

What Sanchez and so many others don't understand is that being elite is not a quick, easy insult. Once, it was a compliment. The elite at one time referred to the best members of a larger group or body and not necessarily just the wealthiest, most famous, or most powerful.

What will be his next career move, well he could push his new book — entitled, believe it or not, “Conventional Idiocy.” Even Sanchez isn't always wrong.

Pot can damage young brains

Dr. Elizabeth Osuch asks:Is pot as harmless as we think?"

As a grandfather with a young granddaughter, the talk by Dr. Elizabeth Osuch on the dangers threatening young pot smokers was of great interest to me.

"Is pot really harmless?" This is the question asked by Dr. Elizabeth Osuch. The answer: She doesn't think so, certainly not when it's being smoked by young people. The mix of chemicals, she said in a recent talk, "can disrupt and kill (young) brain cells."

Osuch is the Rea chair of affective and anxiety disorders with the department of psychiatry at the UWO Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. She is also the founder and executive director of the First Episode Mood and Anxiety Program (FEMAP) at London Health Sciences Centre.

On Wednesday night Dr. Osuch discussed her research with an interested public at a well-attended presentation which almost filled the Wolf Hall in the London Central Library.

Sampling pot second only to alcohol.

Recently the Ottawa Sun reported a Leger Marketing poll commissioned by QMI Agency that found more than half of Canadians believe marijuana possession should be decriminalized.

This acceptance of marijuana by a majority of Canadians may be part of the reason that cannabis is second only to alcohol as the drug of choice among young people in grades seven to 12. Osuch made this point with a graph from the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey of 2009. Almost 30 percent of students surveyed reported having used pot at some point in their young lives.

Dr. Elizabeth Osuch talks to the media.

The doctor said, "The adolescent brain is a work in progress." It is more vulnerable to substance abuse. And some youths are more at risk than others as vulnerability is mediated by genes.

"The risk for addiction is based on genetic make-up," said Osuch. But, the risk of brain damage is faced by all and is based primarily on two factors: One being age. The younger the brain the more danger of damage.

Osuch said a study by Eric Downer and Veronica Campbell revealed that exposure to marijuana during pregnancy could have damaging effects on the unborn child and " . . . early-onset (before age 17) marijuana use might also have damaging effects on brain composition." In adults the findings were not as clear.

A second major factor is the strength or potency of the marijuana being smoked. The question of whether or not the potency of common pot has increased substantially since the '60s has been an ongoing debate for years. Osuch firmly believes potency of pot has increased dramatically and backs her position with numbers released by the London, Ontario, police department. These figures show the effective THC concentration in 2010 can be from 20 to 30 times greater than that found in marijuana confiscated by the force just 25 years ago.

The scales are tipping for THC.

Decades ago the two main active ingredients in marijuana, THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol), were found in almost equal concentrations. This is not true today. THC, which impairs and destabilizes brain function and causes acute psychotic symptoms in some users, is no longer balanced by CBD which does not impair performance or induce psychosis and actual may reduce anxiety and stabilize brain function.

Cutting marijuana with tobacco, a practice of some teenage users, actually enhances THC absorption and increases the dangers posed by the drug. Osuch said rather than diluting the effect of pot, "It is an interesting way of getting more THC." Plus, tobacco smoke adds its own set of dangers to the mix.

According to Osuch, regular marijuana use in adolsecence also increases the risk of schizophrenia but this is not the old Reefer Madness scare story. This is a measured warning. This is a real and reported danger faced by a minority of users. Why a minority? These people have a genetic make-up making them more likely to exhibit psychotic symptoms from marijuana use, especially when using cannabis with high THC potency.

Doing dope when young is playing Russian roulette with a smoking joint. Risky behaviour? Most certainly. But adolescents are more likely than adults to take risks.

The dangers posed by pot smoking are not as clear cut when it comes to adults, but when pressed by a questioner Osuch said firmly, "You don't want to make a habit of it (smoking dope)."

I don't smoke --- not tobacco and not pot. If you have followed my blog you will know that I don't have the brain cells to donate. If marijuana was legal and controlled, maybe I would willing to sample the stuff but I doubt it. Breathing in pollutants is not my idea of a bright way to get a buzz. Smoking junk of unknown composition, unknown potency, unknown origin is not my idea of a wise way to take a drug. And make no mistake about it --- pot is definitely a drug.

As for wondering if young people and pregnant woman should refrain from using pot, why would that even by a question?

Note the short black column far right. This represents pot smokers' performance.

So, what do you know about religion?

the Holy Bible: image by David Ball

The test is a little skewed towards Americans but it is still a neat little quiz. The Pew Research Center's U.S. Religious Knowledge Quiz isn't tricky. The questions are actually quite easy. I took the test and, I am ashamed to admit, I got two answers wrong. Yet, my results put me in the top 7% of those taking the quiz.

I have always thought many religious folk don't know much about their own religion or about the beliefs of others. They are quite in the dark, but won't admit it.

As a boy I had a close friend who was a Christian Missionary Alliance member. At times, I would attend religious functions with him. I think his parents wanted to save me.

Once we went to a big festive meeting in the largest auditorium in town. The night was designed for kids. First, we saw a movie, an Australian film with a Christian theme. Next, we heard a young speaker, just out his teens, confess that before he found Christ he had consumed beer. Now, thanks to having found salvation, no alcohol ever touched his lips. A Christian takes joy in honouring God and to honour God a Christian does not drink.

As the night ended, we were told that the organizers wanted to take a simple hand count. Everyone was asked to bow their heads and those who didn't consider themselves saved, according to stuff they had heard over the course of the night, were asked to raise a hand.  I raised my hand. I saw nothing wrong with drinking a beer or enjoying a glass of wine. Hey, in my Anglican church, those taking communion actually touched their lips to wine right there at church.

It seemed that no sooner did my hand go up than I was asked by a sidesperson to come with them. I wanted to resist but resistance was futile. It would make a fuss and folk would look up and see that I was a sinner. I quietly got up and left with the Brylcreemed young man in the well pressed suit, white shirt and narrow tie.

I found myself with a few dozen other kids and teens at the front of the auditorium. The preacher on stage told everyone to raise their heads and see the sinners, those who by their own admission were in need of salvation.

He pointed at us and bellowed. Oh-so-embarrassed little girls trapped in the gaze of hundreds of damning eye cried and sobbed loudly. We sinners were humiliated. When were were marched out of sight into little discussions groups, we were all relieved.

I was asked why I had raised my hand. I told the group that I saw nothing wrong with drinking wine and by the standards of the night I as a sinner. In my defence I said that even Jesus turned water into wine when supplies ran low.

The discussion group leader quietly corrected me. "Son," he said, "Jesus turned water into grape juice, not wine. It takes time to make wine, wine must ferment. Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, miraculously turned water in grape juice. It was a miracle done by the Son of God."

"What's a miracle," I asked.

"Son, a miracle is when something good happens that is impossible."

"And Jesus could do miracles?"

"Yes son, Jesus could do miracles. He is the Son of God."

"So, Jesus could do the impossible?"

"Yes son, He could. He is our Lord Almighty"

"So, why couldn't He have turned water into wine just like the bible said He did?"

And that a night I saw a miracle. The fellow leading our discussion group was speechless. He didn't have an answer.

Take the test and see how you score.

Cheers!

I finally put the Hunt brothers behind me!

100 ounce silver bar: My doorstop for almost three decades.

Do you recall the infamous Hunt brothers and the great silver corner of about three decades ago? If you do, read my post recalling those days and celebrating the recent climb of silver back into the lofty $20s. I was finally able to sell my 100 ounce doorstop.