Globe & Mail apology over Kaetlyn Osmond photo is unacceptable

Globe and Mail front page. Offended?

As a former staff photographer at a daily paper in Ontario, I am not surprised at the kerfuffle over The Globe and Mail front page photo.

The reaction of some readers was to be expected but what is surprising is the oh-so-wimpy collapse of The Globe. They made no attempt what-so-ever to defend their choice of front page picture.

Sylvia Stead, The Globes' public editor, wrote: "The readers and I both thought the photo could be embarrassing to anyone . . . " That's just creepy.

When 17-year-old figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond initially saw the photo large on The Globe front page she tweeted "I really like that picture : p."

Reading this, some reported that the teen tweeted that she liked the shot but others were confused by the emoticon; The "p" represents her tongue hanging out suggesting sarcasm. (Think "Blaaa!")

A few hours later Osmond clarified her take on the image and its play. She tweeted:

O.K. It is now clear. Kaetlyn Osmond may be only 17 but she is an adult. Sadly, the public editor at The Globe and Mail is not.

As a former newspaper photographer, I learned to watch for images that would inflame certain readers but it was impossible to catch all. And I never ceased to be amazed at what some people found offensive. One of the more common approaches taken by these all-too-common attacks was posted as a comment after The Globe apology.

An offended reader wrote: "I just think the use of the picture was calculated and they thought they wud (sic) sell more papers with a picture like that instead of well written and researched stories. That's what bothers me."

I literally cannot tell you how many times I got letters expressing just that sentiment. The first time I got a letter accusing me of picking a picture to "sell more papers", I thought the writer was just a nut. Over the years, and after many letters, I realized a large segment of the population saw all newspapers in the same sad, warped way.

Once, I shot a picture of two girls lying on a large, round, concrete structure catching some late spring sun. They were still in school, this was clear from their uniforms, and they were trying to get a bit of an early start at a suntan. They had their shirt sleeves up and skirts pulled up just above their knees. Their arms and legs touched the arc of the circular concrete form.

I found a vantage point that allowed me to shoot almost straight down. The composition reminded me of the famous Vitruvian Man drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

I loved the picture of the two girls. It ran on one of the section fronts. Clearly the page editor liked it too. It brought praise from many folk who recognized my inspiration in my image.

It also brought me a very long and nasty letter from a local psychologist, angered by the publication of a picture rich with sexual imagery. The inclusion of the school uniforms clinched the matter in the mind of the good doctor.

I made sure that letter never appeared in the paper. That psychologist took a simple, lovely moment, a celebration of the approach of summer, and made the moment dirty. I kept that letter out of the paper; I did not want to sully the pleasure those kids were enjoying from being featured in the paper.

I wonder if Sylvia Stead is embarrassed. I confess I felt her public reaction to an innocent photo could be embarrassing to anyone . . . "

Flu vaccine myths

The flu vaccine does not always impart immunity to the flu. According to a recent New York Times article the vaccine fails to protect about 44 percent of the people given the shot.

But, I knew this. It is one of the arguments put forth by the anti-flu-vaccine folk. On the surface it looks like one mark against the vaccine and one reason not to bother getting it. The NYT article points out the weakness of this argument.

When more people are immunized, fewer get sick and the chances of keeping everyone else healthy improve, a phenomenon called "herd immunity."

If you'd like to read the entire NYT article, here is a link to: Myths about the flu vaccine.

I have a failing heart. I have an ICD implanted in my chest with an additional pacemaker function. I would never fail to get my annual flu shot. Never!

A majority of North Americans fail to get a flu shot. They have a variety of reasons for failing to act but all their excuses have one thing in common: They are myths.

Here are six of the more common myths about the flu debunked.

1. You can catch the flu from the vaccine: No. This doesn't happen.
   
   
2. Healthy people don't need to be vaccinated: No. Everyone benefits. Think herd immunity.
   
   
3. The flu is just a bad cold: No. Tens of thousands of people die and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized every year suffering from the flu.
   
   
4. You can't spread the flu if you're feeling well: Yes, you can. Up to 30 percent of infected people exhibit no symptoms.
   
   
5. You don't need to get a flu shot every year: Yes, you do. The virus responsible for the flu changes from year to year.
   
   
6. If you have a high fever with the flu that lasts more than a day or two, antibiotics may be necessary: The operative word here is "may". Antibiotics don't work against viral infections but an opportunistic bacterial infection occurring as a complication of the flu, may well mean antibiotics are in order.
   

Separating fact from fiction is getting harder and harder, thanks in part to the Internet. If you disagree with any or all of the above, here are some links supporting my post. Please get a flu shot; If not for yourself, for the benefit of your friends and family.

• 10 flu myths: Harvard Health Publications
• Flu Myths and Legends: Mayo Clinic Dispels Common Flu Misconceptions
• 6 Flu Vaccine Myths: My Health News Daily
• Fight the flu: Public Health Agency of Canada
• Flu Myths and Legends: Science Daily

London Free Press suggests new pope learn from Mennonites

As a former Sunday school teacher I read the headline in The London Free Press with interest: Does the choice of a pope really matter to those who follow Christ? What made this opinion piece of increased interest to me was the author: Larry Cornies.

Larry Cornies is a gracious gentleman. An intelligent, well-respected news reporter, editor and university professor. Cornies is also a Mennonite.

As I read Cornies' piece, I felt I was reading a take on Roman Catholicism as viewed from a Mennonite perspective. Near the end of the article, Cornies quotes words found on a Mennonite Central Committee poster without even once openly referring to the Mennonite connection.

"A Modest Proposal for Peace: Let the Christians of the world agree that they will not kill each other."

Cornies tells his readers: "Somewhere in the bowels of one of the historic peace churches a few decades ago, two church administrators penned what they called a modest proposal for peace."

Cornies suggests the noble sentiment expressed on the poster would make a good jumping off point for the new Roman Catholic pope. "It would be a noble and bold place for a new pontiff to begin — and to eventually extend that mission to other world faiths as well."

What Cornies is of course suggesting, using opaque words and phrases, is that the new pope should embrace Mennonite thinking, support conscientious objectors and consider alternatives to military service.

Dare I go so far as to say Cornies is recommending the new pope become a peace witness?

How many London Free Press readers know that "Historic Peace Churches" refers to three specific church groups: Mennonites, Quakers and Church of the Brethren, according to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

Cornies' writing is brilliant. The inspiration for this piece is only opaque to those who "are unfamiliar with theological terms" or "most people", as the writer points out when he quotes British theologian Stuart Murray.

The writing may be brilliant but it left me uneasy. Shouldn't a professional writer clearly reveal the underlying foundation of his/her position? Cornies does not once directly mention the important role played by the Mennonite Church in his thinking.

Yet, Cornies' wishful thinking may not be all that farfetched.

In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI commended the Mennonites for their long standing witness to peace on receiving the first Mennonite World Conference delegation ever to go to Rome. Benedict said: "Despite centuries of division . . . we hold many convictions in common. We both emphasize that our work for peace is rooted in Jesus Christ . . . "

Viral Video Illustrates U.S. Wealth Inequality

I caught this video on Mashable. It caught the interest of that site's editors because the video is showing signs of going viral. As I write this, this video has been viewed on YouTube almost 50,000 times.

The video is actually a little long and a little wordy. I'm surprised it may go viral. But what really surprised me were the comments the video is drawing. If you graph what most of us, like more than 90 percent of us, see as a truly equitable and expected distribution of wealth, you would find that even the majority of wealthy folk fall below the line.

Yet, there are comments saying stuff like:

" . . . Abundance exists. Study wealthy people. . . . They proceeded to become wealthy by working hard, and intelligently . . . There are people who dream big, work smart, work persistently, and make their dreams come true, and there are people who refuse to do these things, or who are ignorant of how wealth is acquired."

I'm in my mid 60s. I can recall when a rich family was marked by their lavish home; They had a garage: A home for their car!

I have a friend, an engineer, who worked in Detroit in the car industry. I can assure you, he did more positive stuff for the car companies than those millionaire execs who guided the companies into bankruptcy. Today he has retired on a pittance and those worse than useless execs are living in comfort, their hard financial landings cushioned by golden parachutes.

Could VistA solve the eHealth problems in Ontario?

Recently I posted a piece answering the question, "Will boomers bankrupt the medical system?" In that post I fell prey to many of the same demons that haunt those in the main stream media. A reader called me on my position and brought me down with a few politely delivered, well reasoned comments. (That blog has become another example of my need, and the need of all writers, for a good editor. I thank anonymous for his/her comments. Anonymous took on the role of editor.)

My position was that seniors will not bankrupt the system. It will be expensive new technologies and drugs teamed with higher wages for health professionals (physicians in particular) that will drive increasing costs.

Anonymous argued, and quite accurately, "Guess who is using the majority of new expensive drugs... yes you guessed it, seniors." And, seniors are living longer thanks to their expensive medical care. Anonymous told me that health care costs in the last year of life are huge. More seniors means more costs, "simple math really," wrote anonymous.

Now, stepping sideways out of this brouhaha of my own making, I'd like to take a quick look at our eHeath debacle here in Ontario, Canada — possibly an example of the thinking that is running up costs independent of the boomer driven health demands.  

Screen grab of of one take on a VistA electronic health record.

While touring the American Northwest, I met a retired software developer who told me about VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) used by the VA in the States.

He called VistA an excellent electronic health record system, and because it was paid for by the American taxpayer, VistA is written in open source code. This means that VistA offers the tantalizing promise of being adaptable to use not only throughout the States but the throughout the world and for very little cost.

When I got home, I googled VistA and confirmed that the chap was right. Although not everyone agrees VistA is the answer to all electronic healthcare record problems, it is being discussed worldwide as one possible solution.

Today, The New York Times ran an article A Digital Shift on Health Data Swells Profits in an Industry. I commented on the article asking, "Whatever happened to the idea of using VistA?" I got a number of replies plus 22 readers giving me the thumbs-up.

Here are the first comments:

The VA program is the best, most intuitive, easiest EMR to use, however, it was supposedly built on an ancient platform and so difficult to adopt. I have used Cerner (crap), Eclipsys (more crap), and the GE one (too awful to remember) and now a college program Pyramed 5. They all have issues. I miss the VA software and want to return to work there -- that's how good it is!
  — bucketomeat - Castleton-on-Hudson, NY

This was my first thought too. I've used the version of this system (CPRS) in research I've done in the VHA, and it is really well designed and already paid for to boot. . . .
  — Alice Olson - Bronxville, NY

What ever happened to the idea of using VistA?

In the US we believe that the government should do NOTHING that, left to the private sector, might turn a profit and a huge salary for some corporation and its CEO.
   — john strass - Delray Beach, FL\

This would be an excellent solution. I'm surprised that a consortium of hospitals has not gone on board with this. . . ?
  — athens area - pennslyvania

Let's give some of the other comments a quick look:

• The scandal is the VA apparently has a very good EMR (hopefully someone from the VA can chime in with their experience) that was available as open source free software. [This got 109 recommendations.]
• A doctor, Jan B. Newman, wrote the VA system is time tested, physician friendly and free . . . [compared to the other systems that] are set up to maximize profits for the IT companies, cost the physicians huge amounts to install, cost the hospitals huge amounts . . . [This got 53 recommendations.]
• The ironic thing is that the government has already paid to create the VA EMR system, allowing all VA providers 24/7 access to patient records as patients travel around the US. . . . [34 recommendations.]
• The government has a great EMR (the VA system). All commercial ones should be forced to be able to export data in a way that is 100% compatible with that. As such, they would then be 100% compatible with each other. [33 recommendations.]

There were more comments but you get the idea. The retired software fellow I met in the American Northwest has a lot of company when it comes to seeing VistA as a relatively inexpensive and very efficient answer to the electronic healthcare boondoggle.

Are there any hospitals, other than VA facilities, using VistA? I learned from an article in Forbes the answer is "yes". It seems the CEO of Oroville Hospital in California needed to digitalize the hospital's patient records. He turned to VistA, which Forbes calls "one of the oldest and most reliable electronic health records, in use at 163 VA hospitals as well as hospitals around the world."

Canadian Press (CP) reported in January that PC Leader Tim Hudak claimed eHealth spent $2 billion “with nothing to show for it." Hudak is championing open source software as the answer to Ontario's EHR mess. The news service quotes Hudak as saying Ontario must stop "reinventing the wheel." Has Hudak heard of VistA?

I fired off an e-mail to eHealth Ontario asking, "Why has eHealth Ontario not considered VistA or (WorldVistA) EHR software with its open source code and solid history going back decades in the U.S.? Thank you."

So far I've heard nothing back.

Chris Hadfield: photographer not amateur shutterbug

I know reporters do not mean to be insulting when they refer to photographs taken from space as "snapshots" or to the astronaut taking the images as an "amateur shutterbug." But, they are mildly insulting, insulting to the profession — the profession of journalism.

I can understand wordsmiths not wanting to repeat the same word over and over. But ink slingers let their fears get the better of them when these scribes cannot use the right word even on the first occurrence in a story. Typing the word photographer seems impossible for these keyboard jockeys.

Astronauts like Chris Hadfield are brilliant, talented individuals — experts in an amazingly wide range of fields. Take photography, astronauts are trained photographers. NASA ensures they are not only competent in the craft but in the art. There are two words scribblers should not use to describe expert shooters like Chris Hadfield, they are "amateur shutterbug."

Maybe, just maybe, if newshounds were kept on shorter leashes by newsroom editors they would not wander so far afield sniffing out stinky synonyms.

Check out the following from Chris Hadfield's space station portfolio. Snapshots or carefully composed art?

Taffy-twisted African rock reminds Hadfield of a dolphin, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Delicate cappuccino frosting decorations are, in fact, endless hummocks of Saharan sand.

Arid fingers of sand-blasted rock are barely holding on against the hot Saharan wind.

Weightless liquids behave oddly: air bubble and pepper oil jockey for position in ball of water.

Invisible cursor in Google search field using FireFox

This morning the cursor and selection box disappeared while I was doing Google searches. My web browser is FireFox.

I wish I could detail exactly all that this bug entailed but I fixed the problem and until it returns I'm unable to say more.

How did I bring the cursor back to visibility? I went to View, left clicked the mouse to bring up a short menu and finally clicked on Full Screen F11. All returned to normal. Simply hitting F11 might be a short cut.

[Simply tapping F11 at the top of the keyboard is an immediate solution. The cursor disappeared again and I got a chance to test the short cut. One tap of the F11 key, the full screen appears and the cursor is immediately visible.]

I understand that pointing at the Firefox icon, found in the top left corner of the monitor, clicking the mouse to activate the drop down menu and then selecting Maximize will also make both the cursor and the selection box visible again in the Google search field.

Hope this helps all who encounter this odd problem.