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.

A better picture

Yesterday I featured an image taken with a long lens to highlight the number of cars parked on driveways in my neighbourhood. Tonight I am posting an image that is a little more indicative of the way the neighbourhood looks to those walking about the area.

Many folk spend lots of time and money landscaping their property. I find my neighbourhood is very much like a park and I enjoy walking here. Now that I am retired, maybe I will start focusing some energy on landscaping my place.

Buses, Cars and New Urbanism

Buses

Recently I had to take a Via train to Toronto and then grab a Go Transit bus to a small town outside T.O. I was the only person on the full-sized city bus that could have carried 60 passengers.

Noticing I was his only fare, the driver called ahead to see if any riders were waiting for the bus at my stop, the second last stop on the run. No one was at the terminal. It was deserted. The driver asked me exactly where I was going and, as he had no more passengers, he left the scheduled route to take me the final three kilometres to my destination. I had planned on walking.

I am not giving many details as I don't want to get this driver in trouble. But think about it. A bus taking a regular, daily run through Canada's biggest city, through dense suburbs to a small, outlying town often makes the trip empty. I was the only passenger the day I rode that bus and I'm from London. Not one resident of Toronto or any of the suburbs through which we drove had any interest in taking that bus.

Whenever I read an article about new urbanism, the claim is made that new urbanist communities have densities that encourage the use of mass transit, read buses. My bus ride calls that belief into question. With tens of thousands of potential riders, if not hundreds of thousands,  there is often not one rider. Not one!

Cars

Neighborhoods today require lots of parking.

I am not blogging as much as I once did; I am now grandparenting almost daily. This is like babysitting but done by a senior for love rather than by a teen for money.

The other day, while taking my granddaughter for a walk, I noticed a picture. I confess that it was taken with a long lens. The street does not actually look like a parking lot but that is not my point.

Most of these homes have two car garages and yet their driveways are filled with cars. Curious, I interviewed a few folk. It seems, that with both the husband and the wife working, two cars are the minimum number in my neighbourhood for each home.

Why don't these folk just take the bus? Hey, read the paragraphs above titled Buses. People, even people who have a bus route just a few feet away, hate riding buses.

Now, these couples often have children and if they are old enough, that explains the cars parked on the driveways. When our daughters are home, we often had five cars parked at our home: a Morgan, a Chevy, a Pontiac, a Ford and a Saturn.

Holiday weekends are worse. Christmas can be a real problem, even for us. I can park six cars on my property and I can use every one of those spaces at Christmas. This is a fact that brings us to new urbanism.

New Urbanism

Parking garages behind new urbanist homes in Oakville.

If  the ideal new urbanist community has lane ways to access the garages, where will the kids park their cars? And at Christmas, where do all the visitors park their cars? With the deep banks of plowed snow, this may present a problem.

I know a couple living in Cornell Village in Markham. It's one of the best known new urbanist communities in Canada. The next time we get together I am going to ask them about these apparent parking problems. And yes this couple has two cars and neither walks to work nor to the store. Why? See Buses and Cars above.

Cardiac imaging breakthrough at the UWO

Monday the University of Western Ontario announced the formation of the Biomedical Imaging Research Centre (BIRC). Thursday Western announced a breakthrough in cardiac imaging. The two announcements are closely linked.

Dr. James White, a cardiologist and core research scientist with BIRC led the team responsible for today's announced breakthrough offering cardiologists and surgeons a new imaging technique producing a single, 3D high-resolution image of the heart.

White successfully visualized the heart's blood vessels and a myocardial scar at the same time. A first!

Dr. S. de Ribaupierre

At the announcement of BIRC, Neurosurgeon Sandrine de Ribaupierre said advances in medical imaging are needed to improve safety. "It needs to be really accurate."

It was pointed out that these technologies are known to occasionally to give false positives or false negatives. Possibly the best known example of this was reported by neuroscientist Craig Bennett, then a graduate student at Dartmouth College, who scanned the brain of a dead salmon and the natural noise inherent in the fMRI data 'revealed' the dead fish was thinking.

This fMRI date 'revealed' the dead fish was thinking. BIRC holds the promise of improved imaging with increased diagnostic accuracy and fewer false positives.

With medical professionals placing more and more reliance on diagnostic imaging, accuracy is paramount - and increased accuracy in cardiac imaging is what Thursday's breakthrough announcement delivers with BIRC promising more to come.

Injuries to the heart from heart attacks or viral inflammation can result in permanent damage or scarring of the heart muscle. Using a 3-Tesla MRI White and his team constructed a three dimensional model of a patient's heart clearly showing the relationship between the heart's blood vessels and a permanent injury. Dr. White said, "This will help direct surgeons and cardiologists to better target the blood vessels that lead to (healthy) muscle . . . " and improve the outlooks for patients requiring pacemakers, bypass surgery or angioplasties.

Dr. A. Fenster

The London research will not be restricted to MRIs. Dr. Aaron Fenster, BIRC director and Robarts Research Institute scientist, said London has all the necessary medical-imaging technologies for extensive research: MRIs, PET scanners, CT equipment, X-ray machines and SPECT imaging.

The Biomedical Imaging Research Centre is about more than scanners it is about people. BIRC brings together researchers from Western's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Lawson Health and Research Institute, Robarts Research Institute, the biomedical-engineering graduate program at the UWO and more. 150 graduate students plus 50 associate scientists in basic and clinical research will work with dozens of BIRC core scientists.

Fenster said, "We assembled the centre with the vision to become the most successful integrated biomedical-research program in Canada . . . to become one of the top five in the world . . . "

This is research with almost immediate practical applications. According to de Ribaupierre, there is no point in pushing scanning technology "if you are not going to use it clinically." To this end, the researchers will be working closely with clinicians.

Dr. M. Strong

Dr. Michael Strong, Dean of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, said, "It does us absolutely no good to bring a group of individuals together and say we are going to call you a centre if it doesn't mean something at the end of the day . . . Otherwise it is just a name . . . "

Today's breakthrough announcement adds weight to Strong's strong words.
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As someone who recently had an MRI with another yet to come, two 25 minute trips through a nuclear scanning device, a transesophageal echocardiogram and  looking at the possibility of undergoing a cardiac ablation, I know how important accurate imaging is to the successful outcome of some very serious medical procedures. When I heard about the Biomedical Imaging Research Centre press conference, I just had to attend and report.

Incredible Car Ads

This post has been re-written to reflect the wealth of imaginative, amusing car ads. Some I don't believe are shown in North America. The first ad from Nissan is witty but take car with some of the others --- a few shocked my wife. I wouldn't want to play some of these on a computer at work.

If you liked the Polar Bear ad, check out Kidzilla with a sound track featuring a little rock and roll by the King --- Elvis. Or, this one, Baby, showing how having a family doesn't mean having a boring car.

If you are not a work, and you are in an 18+ environment, these three are good. I do wonder if the first two are real ads. The bouncing breasts ad is reminiscent of the Lucky Airlines ad in Putney Swope by Robert Downey Sr. Is reality really catching up with the mad ad campaigns of old Putney?

Nissan ad - may contain etc.
Toyota ad - I love Air Conditioning - may contain etc.
This Toyota ad is funny and not shocking. It is suitable for all but the really young would only get the slapstick humor.

And if you are wondering how Putney Swope back in the '60s approached airline advertising in a hip world, here is the link:
Lucky Airlines

Who's a photojournalist?

Nineteen years ago a young co-ed named Gwen Jacob strolled topless down the streets of Guelph, Ontario. That hot summer day was destined to become even hotter for Jacob as her simple, impetuous act landed her in hot water for years to come.

The issue of public nudity raised by Jacob's actions, and how it is covered by the media, was revisited in a recent article written by Stephanie Dearing. Dearing posted a story to the Digital Journal, complete with photos, from a recent Guelph celebration honoring Jacob's walk. Some photos from Dearing's report were taken down by DJ editors due to their frontal nudity. Other less revealing images were left to illustrate her story.

Jacob may have run afoul of our prudish laws in 1991 but it was not until 1996 that the charge against Jacob was overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal ending years of legal wrangling. It was a decision that put the events of 1991 in the proper perspective. It is too bad that all Canadian media didn't handle the story and the verdict with the same maturity as the courts.

When the verdict was announced, excitement rippled through Canadian newsrooms, "Women have the right to go topless!" Photographers, they like to be called photojournalists in the newspaper business, were dispatched to pools and beaches across the province to bring back shots of the hordes of bare breasted Canadian women now released upon the nation.

Even the respected New York Times noted the shock waves reverberating through the far north as Canadian moral standards were reportedly shredded, left in tatters by legions of half-naked women. The caption under their art read:

"In Ottawa, women are allowed to go topless at beaches and outdoor pools. At a beach, Lisa Regimbal walked by a topless Connie Morden. (Canadian Press)"

I have a black and white copy of that picture and Lisa looks properly put off by the chance encounter. The iconic image was shot by an award-winning Ottawa Sun photographer who later moved it to The Canadian Press. It was through the Ottawa Sun photos the world discovered Ottawa women go topless.

A year later the Ottawa Sun ran another shot from the same staff shooter's topless-on-an-Ottawa-beach assignment, but there was one big difference: The blonde woman, so aghast at encountering nudity on a local beach in the first picture, is quite relaxed as she chats with her half naked friend in this second image. Here are the cutlines used by the Ottawa Sun under the second picture:

"Last summer, Lisa Regimbal, left, bear (sic) it all while chatting with Connie Morden."

(Yes, that is the quote. Bares is spelled incorrectly and the young ladies have had their names switched.)

Why the confusion? Why did the women display such different reactions to toplessness as depicted in the two pictures? The answer is simple: The pictures were set-ups. It was so difficult to find naked women on the beach in Ottawa that the Sun used models. I contacted the mother of one of the models and confirmed  the Ottawa Sun topless-at-the-beach pictures were fake and taken at an arranged photo shoot. (At one point in my career, I actually worked with the shooter who took the shots. I got the impression from talking with him that the shots were bogus.)

The Toronto Sun moved a lot of images of topless lasses that summer, mostly to other papers in the Sun Media chain, and I know the editors at The London Free Press were duly thankful -- at least many of the male editors. But, after careful consideration, all these images were rejected for publication. And it was not just for the front nudity.

The London Free Press editors always decided there were enough incongruities among the photos to cast doubt on their veracity. It was decided that these pictures were all illustrations and not news photos.

It is interesting that the Digital Journal pulled the first pictures posted to their online newspaper from the topless event held in Guelph celebrating Gwen Jacob's triumph. Naked breasts may now be seen in public but naked breasts are still not going to be seen on the electronic pages of the Digital Journal.

DJ replaced the offending images with honest, if standard, photos showing naked backs suggesting naked fronts. These pictures still told the story but in in a muted tone. The Digital Journal editors may be conservative but, unlike their Sun Media counterparts from the past, they were honest.

Look at these two pictures running side by side. The young woman on the left was posing for a Sun Media illustration to accompany a news story. The image on the right is from the DJ article.

One picture is definitely honest and the other is highly questionable. Which picture was taken by a photojournalist and which picture was taken by a photographer. I say the image on the right from the Digital Journal was taken by a photojournalist and not the trumped-up one on the left from the Ottawa Sun.

A cool optical illusion

I discovered a couple of interesting blogs that specialize in optical illusions. Click on the above art so that you have only the art, and not my entire blog, on your monitor. Now, stare at the centre black cross. The colour should change to green and even begin to disappear. If it doesn't work try moving closer --- I was about a foot from my monitor when it worked. If you like this, check out some of the other optical illusions on the Mighty Optical Illusions site.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Fleming calls it "placemaking."

John Fleming, Manager of Implementation Planning, City of London, Ontario, was interviewed by The London Free Press reporter Randy Richmond back in 2006. It is interesting to look at a development that was featured in the paper as an example of New Urbanism in London and discover what we find today.

A porch in the New Urbanism development.

First, Fleming does not like the term New Urbanism according to Richmond's story. Fleming prefers "placemaking" as the term for developments where the cookie-cutter approach is out. Where porches wrap around the homes so that the street "gets a view of something architecturally interesting."

Richmond tells us that there are dozens of ways of turning subdivisions into more walkable, pleasant neighbourhoods.

I hate to break this to Fleming and Richmond but my neighbourhood, despite its crescents and cul-de-sacs, has sidewalks teaming with folk. They are out walking their dogs or simply strolling for the sheer pleasure of it. We don't need a special trail for strolling. No one does!

Heck, on my court the strollers don't even need a sidewalk.

And in my neighbourhood we don't need wrap-around porches to enjoy our paper, a coffee, and a chat with a neighbour. All the porches need to be is large enough for a chair or two. That's it.

In fact, the perfect porch may be the simplest porch. With no railings to rot and no roof to maintain, simple porches will not grow old, deteriorate and be demolished rather than repaired.

When I was a photographer with the paper I was surprised to learn how many older homes I visited for the Homes section originally had rather grand porches. Now, those porches only exist in pictures.

Personally, I like the cookie-cutter look. It is too bad that Richmond and Fleming don't. I like the condos that are part of the development The Free Press featured as an example of New Urbanism. I'm not disappointed but I wonder how Richmond and Fleming feel. Betrayed?

One feature of the New Urbanism development that didn't get deep sixed is the walking and jogging trail - an example of placemaking in action. It runs behind some homes and condos. A recent visit showed the trail was well used but not well maintained. The asphalt was cracked and blistered with plants pushing their way up and pushing the asphalt apart. Who is supposed to maintain this trail? The city?

John Fleming calls it "placemaking" rather than smart growth. I now know why. Smart growth could refer to weeds and not to the proposed developments that turn subdivisions into more walkable, pleasant neighbourhoods with the ultimate goal of a little more soul, a sense of place.

You know, I can't even write those words and keep a straight face.

21st Century Suburbia

The London Free Press story had a good lede:

" . . . picture the land rushes of the 1800s, when tens of thousands of people on horseback, wagon train, bicycles, foot, mules and railway cars raced each other to stake claims in the wild American west.

Change the horses to BMWs, and the pioneers to developers . . . and you'll have the London rush."

Randy Richmond is a fine reporter and writer. When I saw his byline on the weekend special report on the changing of southwest London from farmland to an urban landscape, I poured myself a coffee and sat down for a good read. It wasn't much of a read, one page. Nor was it all that good. By the time I had finished my coffee I had finished Randy's piece.

I'll be upfront with my feelings about New Urbanism; It's mostly a crock. If you think large homes jammed tightly together on small lots is an imaginative response to suburban sprawl, I think you should think, and imagine, again. You can be forgiven if you've been fooled, sold a bill of goods, as most of us haven't visited these New Urbanism utopias but only read about them. And New Urbanism gets good spin in the press.

Snout houses, as Randy calls them, are rapidly appearing.

Randy tells us it will be "goodbye snout houses." I guess Randy hasn't visited these New Urbanism utopias either.

The homes on the left are part of a new development going up near Wharncliffe Road South. In this development it is, "Hello, snout houses."

Randy quotes a city councilor: "Everybody wants to be the first to build." The first? As is obvious from my pictures, the building has already begun and it is not all that creative.

The homes, some quite handsome, sit on streets that curve and curl and are joined by short streets called gates in subdivisions of past decades. Suburban crescents are not uncommon in the new subdivisions in the southern part of London but courts are rare, but not as rare as the traditional "grid pattern of streets" mentioned in Randy's piece.

Apparently high density and four car garages go together.

According to Randy, the new housing will achieve "higher densities than in many areas." I believe him. Many of the subdivisions presently being built are composed of attractive homes squeezed tightly together. This does not mean that no homes have suburban-wide frontages. This home in Talbot Village has a large, double-doored garage off to the side. Personally, I like its look but it does not say high density.

One of the hallmarks of New Urbanism is the inclusion of neighbourhood retail space, ideally centrally located and no more than a five minute walk from any residence. This mixing of residential and retail minimizes the reliance on the car and if done correctly adds a sense of place to the new community, or so we are told.

Possibly the closest shopping district to Talbot Village.

I believe it was The London Free Press writer Christine Dirks who wrote the piece on Talbot Village before the earth was even turned for the suburban development off Colonel Talbot Road below Southdale Road.

As I recall, Talbot Village was to be possibly London's first foray into New Urbanism. In the end, it wasn't. It's a suburban development and a good one with many of the homes having pleasant '30s facades. But when it comes to shopping, you can't buy so much as a bottle of Coke and a bag of chips in Talbot Village. For shopping residents must get in their cars. (This has now changed. As of November 2010, a Tim's and a No Frills grocery store are being erected in Talbot Village.)

Appealing? Maybe. Architecturally breathtaking? No.

The folk living in the apartment buildings shown are in London's finest apartments according to the sign posted by the Tricar Group. They live within a short walk of the Wonderland Road shopping district. They're closer to more stores than the folk in the pseudo New Urbanism development.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like apartments. In fact, if I could get an apartment with the floor space of my home and for a similar monthly cost, I might move. But I can't and so I won't.

The wow factor

My main reason for showing these two twin structures is the claim reported by Randy that all structures in the developing southwest, "even commercial and industrial enterprises" will have "appealing architecture." These buildings may be appealing but they are not grabbers. Check out this tower being built in Mississauga. You might not agree, but I think this building is an eye-catcher.

I find it interesting that, according to Randy, Wonderland will be the gateway to the city. The curvaceous Absolute Towers serve the same gateway role in Mississauga. The difference is that the Mississauga buildings are an exciting architectural design. They break with the past and open our eyes and minds to the sculptural possibilities of architecture.

These amazing buildings would look even better in London as they would not have to compete with a lot of other towers. The canvas is still somewhat clean in London but this will not last and there is little sign that anything exciting is on the horizon.

Randy talks of a grid pattern of narrow, tree lined streets with cars in the back of the houses. I read that lane ways were part of the original plan for Talbot Village. The actual subdivision not only has the garages in the front, some roads are widened to allow cars to be parked in front of the homes but off the main part of the street. I think it is actually a good idea but it is not New Urbanism.

A lovely street but why does anyone think that this is not urban sprawl?

Oh well, as I said at the beginning, the lede was good. I googled everything in the story but the best stuff I found was on the American land rushes. Check them out. Randy pointed us in an interesting direction --- even if that direction was not towards southwest London.

These homes present a design approach popular around the world but are they high density housing. I think not.

Nice cars finish last

A best seller in Europe, the Astra was a handsome car.

Nice cars finish last. This is not always true but all too often nice is not enough to earn a profit. For that reason, nice cars come and nice cars go. Think of the Saturn Astra, a car envisioned as the saviour of the Saturn car company but instead became the company's swan song.

Before the Astra even hit North American dealerships there were clear signs of trouble. General Motors predicted no more than 30 to 40,000 in first year sales. These sales numbers were much lower than those achieved by the poorly received Saturn Ion which the Astra replaced.

And even those mediocre numbers were too  high. GM sold about 12,000 Astras in the States in 2008. With a 139-day supply of  '08s, GM didn't even import the 2009 Astra into the U.S. Yes, I said import. Saturn, originally created to battle the imports, was itself an import at the end.

The Astra in a sense delivered on its promise in spades. It was supposed to sell poorly and it did. Now, GM is touting the Chevrolet Volt as a fine car but with predicted sales of possibly 10,000 units in its the first year.

Each Volt sold in the States will cost the American taxpayer $7500 in rebate money or this poorly selling care will cost the American treasury $75 million over the course of a year. Of course, if the Volt proves to be popular and the U.S. government retains the rebate program, the charge to the American taxpayer could grow to more than $337 million or more annually. (Chevy sees sales climbing to possibly 45,000 units by 2012.)

The Chevrolet Volt is a nice car but with a price tag of $41,000 even the $7500 government rebate  will not make it a success. At least, that's my opinion.

Don't do it!

Many pediatricians say young children should not be tossed. Photo by: DEREK RUTTAN The London Free Press. Note: the picture is shown exactly as it is running on the newspaper webpages. The magenta tint was not added by the Rockin' On site. This is a copyrighted image and is being used to make an editorial comment on the image itself. Legally, it cannot be modified.

As anyone who has followed this blog knows, I'm a grandfather. And whenever I see my granddaughter tossed in the air I cringe. Her head seems so big compared to her fragile looking neck. She giggles and clearly loves the roughhousing but I'm not sure tossing a young, small child is safe.

Today was The London Free Press retirees' monthly breakfast. I sat with a couple of former editors and a retired reporter. One topic of conversation that grabbed my interest was the negative talk surrounding today's front page picture. It shows an 18-month-old little girl being tossed high into the air by her dad.

The one editor was absolutely livid that such an image is gracing the front page of the paper. It certainly would have been spiked if he had been running the desk. He saw the image as encouraging behaviour all too common and all too dangerous. He made it very clear he firmly believed small children can be seriously, and totally unintentionally, injured in this type of roughhousing. Never toss a small child; Never!

I came home and did some quick research. The editor was right: Don't toss small children.

Lyuba Konopasek, associate professor of pediatrics at the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City says, "Being physically playful with your child is a great way to bond and to have fun, but keep it very gentle . . . never include throwing a child or baby into the air in your roughhousing. The potential for a dangerous fall or neck injury isn't worth it."

Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, a pediatric hospital, advises, "Never shake or toss a baby or a child under age five." Further, this research hospital advises that infants should not be wiggled or bounced.
The children's hospital notes that the heads of babies and young children are heavy, and that the neck muscles are not strong . . . parents, grandparents, and babysitters often don't realize "how easy it is to hurt their baby this way".

Play tossing can injure babies and children.

Not only does Rady advises parents not to toss their baby in the air. The children's hospital states that even though children may laugh and appear to be enjoying the toss, this activity could leave them seriously injured.

As I said at the start of this post, I've seen my 11-month-old granddaughter tossed in the air. I bit my lip every time this was done. No more. I guess I should thank The London Free Press and the former LFP editor. Together they've made my granddaughter's life a little safer.

I hope I may have made life a little safer for the children of those reading this post.

(In the pictured father's defence, my bet is he doesn't just catch his daughter but grabs her and then drops his arms gradually slowing her fall. This would minimize the forces acting on the small child. Still, it is not a good practice.)