Who's Watching the Kids?

   The December issue of Wired magazine has a little blurb about the Mattel Media Player for Kids. It displays only shows and movies prerecorded in Mattel's video format. Purchased separately, an SD/MMC cad adapter and USB reader will allow it to handle digital photos or MP3 audio. Yada yada, blah blah blah. The part that jumped out of the magazine at me was the line that it "dishes up hours of brat-distracting video".
   The academic achievement of so many of our kids sucks big time. This gadget is one small part of the reason why. You have kids? Don't let that interfere with your lifestyle! Why should you bother yourself about what they're doing? Just plunk 'em down in front of the idiot tube; or the DVD player; or one of these gadgets, and you've got hours of concern and responsibility taken off your hands. What's even better is you don't even have to pay a babysitter. Just let their minds vegetate and rot through endless hours of "cartoons like Yu-Gi-Oh!, music vids, extreme sports, and wrestling."
   Take them out to the park? Don't be silly. Sit and read to them? Get real. Spend time with them showing them how to play games that actually require a little of their own imagination. Not bloody likely. When you can manage to tear them away from this portable brain stifler, bundle them off to school where they will continue sitting through more hours with little or no challenge in the non-intellectual atmosphere that so many of our classrooms specialize in, and then try to figure out where it all went wrong when their academic careers go belly-up.

Harming or Helping

   I read the article this morning in the Toronto Daily Star about the racist violence that is manifesting itself in Holland. If you want one more reason to feel saddened and depressed about where our species is heading, go read it for yourself. Don't you feel sometimes like there is never going to be any light at the end of the tunnel? At times, it's all more than I want to know about. If you want to hear something more positive, something more hopeful about people helping others, instead of harming them, I think I can help a little.
   I went to a Second Cup coffee shop yesterday to enjoy one of their libations, and idly picked up a brochure to leaf through while I imbibed. The leaflet is entitled "Second Cup:Committed to Giving Back" and it could lift your spirits above the melancholy of the news from the Netherlands.
   In 1996, Second Cup formed a partnership with Foster Parents Plan to contribute to special projects in the regions where they source their coffees. First, let's deal with the cynical approach to this partnership. No-one is trying to claim sainthood for the good folks at Second Cup. Obviously, they will accrue benefits from this partnership. Their actions will serve to present them to the world as a good corporate citizen, and they stand to gain local and nation-wide recognition as such. This could influence some shoppers to buy there when they might not otherwise. Not to be forgotten either is the fact that they will reduce their corporate tax owing with every dollar they give. Having acknowledged all that, there is still so much of value that will actually arise from this partnership, and that is all that really matters.
   The brochure declares that every Second Cup cafe across Canada, through the Foster Parents Plan, sponsors at least one child in Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya or Colombia. The money from the coffee giant also goes to improve conditions in the child's community, through such initiatives as classroom construction, vaccination programs, and health training. There are other projects ongoing, and the partnership is highlighted at their website, for those who want to just read about it, as well as those who want to help with it. The brochure also points out the fact that Foster Parents Plan has one of the highest rates of money directed to field work of all the international child sponsorship organizations. 82 % of the money goes to their benefit programs; 10% to public education and fundraising; and 8% to administration and operating. A great track record, indeed!
    This morning I sit here, holding the brochure in my hands and feeling some comfort from looking at the smiling faces of the little ones pictured there. I know I have no real idea of the suffering the children helped by this partnership face in their daily lives. I do know it is a blessing that I do not have to witness the reality of the suffering. I also know that we, living in the privileged parts of our globe, can not allow ourselves to indulge in the bliss of ignorance. We have to get involved. Each of us has to help, however we are able. Here in my little corner of the world, I do what I can to light a candle against the darkness. What do you do?

Speaking of Mothers

   The entry below deals with the idiotic claim that the mother of Jesus has imprinted a likeness of her face on a cheese sandwich. This story deals with sad reality. A mother's love for her children is imprinted on her heart. This story shows just how deeply that imprint can go.
    On September 25, Army Specialist Robert Unruh was killed by enemy fire near Baghdad. The 25-year-old was a combat engineer who had been in Iraq less than a month when he was shot. His mother, according to family and friends, could not stop crying after learning of her son's demise. On Sunday, the 45-year-old Karen Unruh-Wharer saw his remains. That night, she collpased. The mother's body will accompany the son's to the cemetery. There will be an autopsy so the doctors can search for medical explanation of the death. The mother had hardening of the arteries, so it is likely the autopsy will declare a heart attack to be the cause. They will be wrong. The real cause is what the her husband has already named it. She died of a broken heart.

Pull My Other Leg!

   A decade-old grilled cheese sandwich which supposedly had a likeness of Jesus' mom grilled onto it just sold on e-Bay for $28,000.00. That is just plain pathetic. What is the buyer going to do with the moldy old thing? Picture them sitting it on a little stand, flanked by a couple of candles,and kneeling in front of it with their supplications. If they leave it there for just the right amount of time, you know the six-footed devotees of holy cheese sandwiches will move in. Can you see it now? The owner bows their head in a quiet moment and then looks up in time to see the whole sandwich moving. Not being quite smart enough to understand the movement is caused by bugs, they leap to their feet yelling "It's a miracle! The Virgin has shown me a sign!"
   Ever ready to jump on the bandwagon, as most mendacious types are, an eastern Ontario man has come forward with a fish stick he has been saving in his freezer for a year. For a year? It seems the face of Jesus has been staring back at the man from the burned side of this fish stick, every time he opened the freezer. I hesitate to accept that this man is a real, dyed-in-the-wool believer. Has he had a real epiphany? I think not. On his own admission, he first thought the visage was merely that of some rock star. Such a lack of inspiration on first sight of this burnt offering! What do you think? I don't think he really believes in Jesus. I think he just believes in the money he hopes some gullible idiot will pay for the fish stick.This is all just so unbelievably pathetic.

Tally Ho!

   I just found out - the British Parliament has outlawed fox hunting. The House of Commons invoked the rarely used Parliament Act to force the ban into law despite the opposition of the unelected House of Lords. It seems such a shame really. Poor Prince Charles! What's a chap to do for entertainment when he can't set his dogs on those sly creatures and watch them tear the fox apart? It's not like an evening with Camilla is enough to substitute. Pity! He'll either have to hope the Opposition Conservative Party wins the election expected next year (a spokesman, James Gray, called the ban a "disgraceful, prejudiced and ignorant little bill" and promised the Tories would repeal it if they win) or see if he can manage to get back on that polo pony, or Camilla, for want of something better to do.

How Chubby Are We?

   Here goes for another unpopular topic ... our ever-expanding waistlines. Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontario's chief medical officer, has just announced "almost one out of every two adults in Ontario is overweight or obese." The jump to extrapolate from my corner of North America to every other is probably not too great a jump. In fact, our stats are usually comparable to those in the States, so it is probably safe to say that obesity is approaching epidemic proportions nearly everywhere in North America. Unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyles are being singled out as the main causes for the epidemic. Obesity is not simply a cause of being too heavy to buy designer duds, however. Being overweight can be a contributing factor in many other equations. Obesity is linked to various cancers; to diabetes; the risk of stroke; hypertension; gastroesophageal reflux disease; gallstones; osteoarthritis; etc. The list goes ever on.
   What to do? Well, for one thing, if you read the entry just below, you'll see one little suggestion. While you're busily occupied somewhere other than on the couch, you're not as likely to be stuffing your face with empty calories. The crux of the matter comes down to self-discipline. I know, I just said a bad word. Most people are not willing to sit and listen to anyone tell them that they would be better off if they learned how to say "NO!" to themselves. It is, however, the truth. Take out a subscription to the Nutrition Action Healthletter, a publication I have waxed eloquent about more than once in my writing here. Sit down and read it after you get home from an afternoon of volunteering, and start taking notes. Look ahead. So often, our vision is pretty much limited to this week, this month, this year. You have to get past the calendar currently hanging on your wall, and think about the one you're going to hang there ten years from now. What reminders do you want to enter on its pages? Do you want them to be doctor's appointments, and clinic hours, or would you rather they be for activities and events you can smile about and happily anticipate? Do you want to be able to get to them under your own steam, or with someone pushing you in your wheelchair? If this all sounds a bit drastic to you, remember, it's a chief medical officer using the word "epidemic", and she is not the only one on the continent to have used it. We need to start now to make a difference in how we care for ourselves. If we don't, tomorrow may bring a horrendous price tag that we will have to pay for today.

How Happy Are We?

   A total of 13,909 Canadians aged 15 and older have participated in a survey, sponsored by Health Canada and the Canadian Centre in Substance Abuse, to investigate the use of mood altering substances. The results show that the use of illicit drugs by Canadians at least once in their lifetime rose from 28.5 per cent in 1994 to to 45 per cent in 2004. That's nearly double. You have to wonder why. Are we getting into the gap between the haves and the have-nots being part of the problem? Is it being compounded by the TV's and magazines out there that show us what some of us have in the way of instant gratification, while the rest watch, and want, and have not? Drinking stats show a rise, as well. The number of those who reported drinking alcohol in the past 12 months rose to 79.3 per cent in 2004 from 72.3 per cent in 1994. What's going on? Here in North America where we have blessings galore to count, why are more and more people seemingly so unhappy that they need to look at their world through a filter of drugs or alcohol? The solution to the problem may, in part, be something that very few really want to consider. It's an altruistic solution. As soon as that word leaves your lips, you know most of your listeners are going to run screaming from the room. If only they would stay for amoent and keep an open mind. Too many North Americans are far too focused on themselves. They are truly unable to see any further than the end of their own noses. If only they could get themselves out to volunteer, out to put someone else ahead of themselves, just for a couple of hours a week, they might be surprised. They might actually find that this strange new experience will become a new addiction; an addiction that comes with no negative side effects at all. After spending an afternoon helping in an adult literacy class, you can safely get behind the wheel of your car and drive home without any worry that mind-altering drugs may cause you to end up in a major traffic accident. After helping a visually impaired person to do their grocery shopping, you can head home feeling good about yourself, and know that your afternoon's activity is not going to damage any tissues in your body. In fact, the "feel-good" state produced by giving to others can actually trigger the release of beneficial brain chemicals ... you know, a natural high! Becoming "addicted" to making a positive difference in the lives of others can be an incredible part of your personal arsenal in the fight against stress. No drugs, no alcohol necessary, just doing the unpopular and the "un-cool" and caring more about someone else than you do about the latest acquisition the media says you need to be happy.

Holy Gadgets, Batman!

   We'll start off slow and easy. If you're afraid of getting a case of avian flu from your cell phone, follow the lead of South Korean schoolgirls. They are heading to Myungdong Street for the solution to the problem. For female subscribers only, KTF is offering complimentary disinfecting. The phone is placed into a Karis UV Sterilizer for three minutes. The ultraviolet light destroys any dastardly germs skulking about on your phone. The light does not penetrate the phone's surface, so e-mail and digicam shots are safe.

   Look! Is it a Star Trek tricorder? No, it's a hand-held scanner that uses x-ray fluoroscopy to analyze chemical composition. What's it used for, you ask? Well, to an archaeologist, it's a real boon. Instead of taking part of some precious artefact and grinding it up for analysis, they can use the Niton scanner to shoot radiation at the item and get back read-outs on any of 30 different elements that may be present. It can be used in forensics for trace analysis and by geologists to map deposists of ore. It isn't as if I'm ever going to use this thing in this world or the next, but I just love the look of it. Can't you just see Captain Kirk with one in hand right now?

   OK, now for the stuff that boggles my mind. These gadgets are for the real he-men who want to ensure that nothing living in the woods will be able to escape when they come a-hunting. For $270.00, Western Rivers Predation (gotta' love that name!) offers a remote-controlled MP3 player boasting a 32-Mbyte hard drive preloaded with "proven" calls. These gems include everything from coyote challenges, cottontail distress, and dominant buck grunts to "doe estrus bleat heavy". Thank heavens these macho gun-toters have a sense of fair play. In case they should find themselves squaring off with some ornery beast that just won't come to the call and lie down at their feet while they take aim, they can slap down $453.00 on the counter before they leave the good ol' boys' hunting emporium and buy themselves one of them thar' Horus Vision's Ballistics systems. TRAG Aiming Point software on a handheld device "will give uncanny long range accuracy". It just piques my curiosity to find the info for this wonder of wildlife destruction detailed at a website with "snipersystems" in its name. Who did you say was their target (no pun intended) market? Back to the system. If the intrepid hunter enters altitude, barometric pressure, temperature, wind speed and humidity data, this baby will help them shoot the wee beasties from more than two miles away. If only the hunter in Disney's "Bambi" had been thus equipped. He could have shot the whole damn herd in that infamous scene, instead of just one doe, and saved a lot of film and hours of salary owing to the animation department!

Something Evil This Way Comes

   The Keele Avenue and Dundas Street area of Toronto is the neighbourhood from which ten-year-old Holly Jones was abducted in 2003. She was assaulted and murdered. Many parents who could afford to do so moved away from the neighbourhood to escape the constant reminders of the innocent life brutally cut short. Many could not afford the move, however, and so they remained. Now they have been told that their area has been chosen as the spot where a convicted pedophile will relocate. Scott Whalen has been convicted of molesting five children, among them a 15 month-old. He has just been released from serving a three year sentence for assaulting a six-year-old. Supposedly, he has "strict restrictions" on drug and alcohol use, and is not allowed access to computers. If you believe those restrictions will actually be observed, then I have some really great swamp real estate to sell you. This creep is being presented to the community as "developmentally challenged". Is that supposed to evoke some sympathy or understanding for him? Those children whose lives he has touched with evil may need understanding and sympathy all their lives, because of what he put them through. Some are able to put such things behind them, and live their lives. Others never truly make it past the spiritual destruction forced upon them, and their life becomes a wasteland of opportunities unused. Why is this animal being given freedom? Why is he not locked away somewhere and denied the chance ever again to steal some child's freedom? Let him rot in jail. Let him be chained and forced to perform hard labour for the rest of his life. He has no place in society. Above all, he has no place in a neighbourhood that anyone calls home.

What Am I Bid?

   The auction will take place at Sotheby's in New York on December 3rd, and going up for bids will be a copy of the poem written in 1822 for his two daughters by Clement Clarke Moore. The manuscript, signed by the gentleman, is one of four known autographed copies.
   Also in December, the "holy Grail" of baseball - the bat with which Babe Ruth hit the first home run ever in the Yankee Stadium- will be auctioned off. Who buys this stuff? Now if you auctioned off something from a more intersting sport, like hockey, I'd be there!

   Todd Rittenhouse, is an architect with Weidlinger Associates, a firm involved in aiding public and private sector organizations to ”terror-proof" buildings. Whether the building already exists, or is only on the drawing board, the first step that must be taken is to decide which attacks the protective measures should withstand. One feature easy to incorporate for many buildings is the measure necessary to prevent a vehicle being driven into the building's lobby. Next time you walk past an edifice fronted by a row of oversize concrete planters proudly showing off brilliant blooms or small trees, you'll know that what you're actually seeing is the contrivance placed there to rip the axle from any vehicle driven at them. No axle, no forward momentum.
   If the protection is being sought against bomb attacks, the fact is that no matter what size the bomb, there will always be some damage and death. The objective is to keep the damage localized, and the death minimal. If damage can be kept localized, there is hope to avoid disastrous structural failure. Obviously, the best time to install such measures is when the building is going up, but Rittenhouse and his firm are constantly researching ways to integrate such measures into buildings already standing. Some, however, according to Rittenhouse, should be razed and rebuilt, since there is no way to sufficiently compensate for existing limitations in their design. This, of course, will bring us around to the dollar bill sign. It is worshipped by so many who can not see past its golden glow to the danger that can lie beyond it. I wonder how many buildings there are out there right now that need such work done but are not having it done, in order to "save money". For people such as those blinded by the worship of the golden calf, the only time they can see that lives are better saved than money, is when they become personally involved in a disaster that could have been forestalled.
   One aspect of the research being done that really caught my attention, is the work on glass. At the moment, many of the injuries and deaths in an explosion are caused by windows being shattered into daggers. The shards of glass blown into a room become deadly projectiles. There are several possibilities for ameliorating this situation. One is to coat the glass with a glass retention film that minimizes the risk of bodily injury and property damage by holding the dangerous shards together within the window frame, preventing the glass from becoming deadly, flying weapons. There are other ways to deal with the glass problem. Tempering glass will cause it to shatter into cube shaped particles which qualifies it as safety glass. This is the type of glass used in car windows. Laminated glass, or "lami," is made by placing a layer of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) between two or more glass lites. This means that the glass will adhere to the film upon impact and not fly outward in any shape at all. Another way that has not yet made it out of the lab is to create glass that will "shatter" into a dusting of sand-like particles upon impact. How wonderful that we have the technology to develop such measures to save lives. When a hurricane or earthquake strikes, "lami" windows can help to ensure everyone survives. What a shame that we have to work so hard to get these measures into place in order to protect us against our own kind.

Bits and Pieces

   Wangari Maathai has become the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was honoured for her fight to promote the rights of women, and to stop deforestation. This is quite a woman we're talking about here. In her time, as well being the first African woman to take the Nobel, she has also been the first to earn a Ph.D in central or eastern Africa, and the first woman head of a university department in Kenya.

Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt movement in Kenya in 1977, which has planted more than 10 million trees to prevent soil erosion and provide firewood for cooking fires. A 1989 United Nations report noted that only 9 trees were being replanted in Africa for every 100 that were cut down, causing serious problems with deforestation: soil runoff, water pollution, difficulty finding firewood, lack of animal nutrition, etc. The program has been carried out primarily by women in the villages of Kenya, who through protecting their environment and through the paid employment for planting the trees are able to better care for their children and their children's future.


Wangari Maathai's husband divorced her in the 1980s, complaining that she was "too educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn and too had to control." (quote from Encyclopedia of World Biography, 1999, Gale Group.) Stupid idiot.



   From Maathai, back approximately 125 million years to north-eastern China, where a nestlike depression with the bones of an adult dinosaur have been found curled around the skeletons of many baby dinos. It is evidence that bolsters belief in dinosaurs as creatures capable of nurturing, responsible care for their young. Specualtion about the cause of death includes the possibility of a sudden flood since death obviously came suddenly to all of them. All the babies were about the same size, and the adult was curled around them in a protective position. This was not an egg stealing, marauding predator. Although some dinos were exactly that, not all of them were. They can not all be painted with the same brush, as is done by so many. Says paleontologist Jack Horner, "...we're thinking of them more like birds, animals that can be caring parents." For me, if there is any lesson here, it is that the human species has been given another example of how limited their understanding of the world about them really is. When we have found one little clue to something, we use it to justify huge leaps off the deep end into the pool of assumptions and judgements. We really know so very little.

A Slap on Prince Charles' Wrist

   Prince Charles sent a memo in March 2002 to a personal employee, in response to her inquiry about promotion prospects. The memo has been made public and a brouhaha has resulted. Education Secretary Charles Clarke has got his drawers in a real knot over the Prince's handwritten note, wherein he slammed the "child-centred" education system "which admits no failure". Apparently the man who would be king suggested that people should realize their limitations, as well as their capabilities. The Education Secretary called Charles an "elitist", and said he is out of touch with the modern era. Charles plans to refute the charges in a speech slated for Monday.
   I am not a monarchist. Allow me to state that I believe the House of Windsor should become nothing more than the name for a residence. The concept of "royal family" should be relegated to the dusty tomes in the library, and the United Kingdom should get on with a royal-free life. Having said all of that, however, I find this to be one of the very rare occasions when I would actually agree with a statement made by His Royal Nobs. The school systems now do admit no failure. They utterly fail to teach the students the reality of their own limitations, and how best to work with them. They fail to teach them how to survive in the real world, and how to actually seek to make contributions to it. They do succeed in teaching far too many of them that slipshod efforts will suffice; that the world owes them reward for nothing more than mediocrity. The children should be allowed to experience failure and taught how to reach for excellence. They should be taught how to work hard, and to realize that they have a debt to society. The world does not owe them a living. They owe the world their life. Too many of the schools have become the scrapheaps of academia. Let the buildings stand, but bulldoze the educational morass they have become, and start again.

The 761st Tank Battalion

   Because November brings Remembrance Day around each year, it also brings a host of TV documentaries about the two World Wars. I have watched a number of them the past few weeks. One thing so many of them have in common is the shot(s) of some war vet looking into the camera while he tells the story of personal experiences during those cruel years. Almost every one of them that I have seen has broken down at some point or other, and had to struggle for the control to continue the narrative. Last night, however, I watched a documentary with a difference. It traced the history of the 761st, which saw action in France, at the Battle of the Bulge, and into Germany in the final days of the Third Reich's struggle to stay alive. There were several vets who looked into the camera, as usual, and told of their experiences, but not one of them broke down. One of them did look into the lens, however, and intone "my country, tis of thee, sweet land of bigotry". These vets were all black, and the first ones I have seen in any of the myriad war documentaries I have watched. The facts related last night should serve as a great source of pride for all the citizens of the mighty U.S.A., for these men fought bravely in defense of their country. They should doubly serve to inspire blacks, as these men are heroes of their own race. So much of the story, though, should also serve as a source of shame, for these men not only battled the Germans. They had to battle racism, as well, in order to fight for the freedom of all.
   The unit, also known as the "Black Panther Battalion", was activated in April 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and became part of General Patton's Third Army. Ruben Rivers, one of the more well-known battalion members, was awarded the Medal of Honor. The only problem is, it took a while to get to him.No medals were awarded at the time to any African-Americans. It took "researchers" time to determine that at least seven black men deserved awards for their service. Rivers' posthumous medal came to him, finally, in 1997. Do the math. How many years exactly are we talking here? The whole unit was first nominated for a Presidential Unit Citation in 1945. The nomination was repeated six more times between 1945 and 1976. The citation was not given until 1978.
   Another of the famous men who served with the battalion was John Robinson. Army Lieutenant "Jackie" Robinson was one of the battalion's few black officers, but his days of service in it were short. In July 1944 Robinson boarded a military bus at Fort Hood and was ordered to go to the back. He refused, and was subsequently court-martialed. Robinson was later acquitted, and went on to become the baseball player who broke that sport's colour lines.Who can say what success in a military career was denied to him, because of the "Jim Crow" idiocy he encountered?
   From December 1944 to February 1945, the 761st participated in the Battle of the Bulge. The charge has been made that they were sent in first, in order to act as cannon fodder. The supposed thought was that the Germans would expend much of their ammo on the black troops, and would then be ready to fall to white troops sent in to clean up. It didn't happen that way. The battalion was able to break the German line at three points, and so prevent the resupply of enemy forces surrounding the American troops at Bastogne. There was a moment in the documentary when one of the vets describes a scene straight out of a John Woo flick. The man talks about his armored unit entering a French town and searching out the last of the Germans. He moved into a house and surprised a German hiding there. Pointing his gun at him, he demanded the soldier surrender. The German refused, and in good English informed the Black Panther that he "does not surrender to a nigger". The vet said simply, "I brought my gun around into his face and teeth went flying". He did it because of the racist remark. I'm sure it felt satisfying to do what he did. It was probably a memory that helped later when he returned to America the beautiful and had to go back to living with racists. He must have imagined a great many teeth flying.
   Later, the men of the battalion made their way into Germany, where they took part in the liberation of concentration camps. This is not something with which they are usually credited, partly because the pictures taken at these camps by various GI's were taken as much as a couple of weeks after the camps were liberated. The photos show white Americans in the camp environs, but no blacks. The memories of several camp survivors should set the record straight, if any care to listen. Last night's documentary showed an interview with a woman who spoke of seeing a GI coming up to her with a kind smile and an outstretched hand. The moment lives in her memory for more than one reason. As she said, "it was the first time in a very long time that I felt happy" and also, the man was the very first black person she had ever seen.
   When the belated medals and citations were finally awarded, you just know they would have come with the blowing of trumpets, and much ceremony. There would have been speeches that spoke of the glorious deeds of the vets, and great photo-ops for whichever politician did the presenting. But the awards should have come decades earlier, and they didn't, so there should have been an apology given as well. Cameras should have been trained on the President while he formally asked, "on behalf of his fellow Americans" for forgiveness from the men and their families for the disrespect to which white America subjected these heroes. There can be no justification for the racism they endured, but there should at least be apology.

Edible Garbage?

   Dollars to donuts, if you've visited here before, you've read an entry in which I extol the virtues of Tim Horton's coffee. I still love their brew, but I felt less than proud to be in there the other day when I stopped by for a sip. There were four tables which had not yet been cleaned, and three of them bore the remains of the latest lunch offering being pushed by the chain - beef stew in a bread bowl. It really bothered me seeing that "garbage" on the tables, because it consisted of the usual plastic cutlery, a few used napkins and cups, and the bread bowls. "An oven fresh bread bowl" is how the chain describes it. In other words, we're talking food, edible dinner ware. Part of the problem for me that day was that I had just seen an ad for Toronto's food bank. Christmas is coming and they will be mounting a drive for donations, asking for food items that they can give to those who will otherwise go hungry. In Toronto, here in pampered and spoiled North America, the simultaneous occurrence of these two events is just plain wrong. I am sure that the Tim Horton's closest to the Food Bank warehouse will have the same scene playing itself out there every day.People will eat the stew, perhaps nibbling a bit of the bowl, and then leave the rest for garbage, while down the street, the food bank staff bemoan the fact that there is not enough food to go around. On average, each Canadian annually throws out 51 kg of "food scraps", edible garbage that would never make it to the waste heap in so many other countries in the world. What does it say about us as a group that we are able to leave so much food, untouced, and walk away? What does it say about us that every day, we purposely bake so much bread, basically for no other purpose than to pretend briefly it is pottery, and then throw it away? Tim Horton's, could you change your menu, please?

We Rule the Hockey Ice!

   Canada the victorious! The women's team took the Four Nations Cup on Sunday, sending the American team down to defeat in front of a home crowd, at Lake Placid. The Canadian women had beaten Sweden and Finland first, for the right to trounce the Americans. They opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over the Swedes on Wednesday, tied the States 1-1 on Thursday, and then sent the Finns packing with a 4-1 victory over them on Saturday. Canada has now taken seven of the nine Nations Cups.

Heading for Higher Ground

   Colin Powell has resigned from his position as U.S. Secretary of State. He was a much-respected member of the Bush government, and was seen as a voice of moderation. He has, however, been distancing himself, of late, from the Bush administration. As a man of integrity, there really was little else that he could do. The news does not come as a complete surprise, since there have been rumours for some time about the 67-year-old stepping down.
   Powell held the post throughout Bush's first term in office, after serving 35 years in the United States military, and rising to the rank of four-star general and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. The turning point during his days in the position was most probably his February 5, 2003 presentation before the United Nations, when he tried to make the case for the States' invasion of Iraq, citing Iraq's possession of WMD's. His speech was based on intelligence made available to him by the CIA. He trusted that information, although later he found that his trust had been misplaced. On May 16, 2004, he gave an interview on "Meet the Press" in which he stated that the intelligence was inaccurate, and "deliberately misleading". He went on to say that, although he was acting in good faith at the time he made his presentation, he now regrets it.
   Powell is the latest member of the Cabinet to resign. Last week, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans announced their intention to extricate themselves from the dungheap of Bush's second term. A Bush administration official today says more Cabinet members are submitting their resignations. Also leaving are Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Agriculture Secretary Ann Venneman How many others will go? For a person with morals and integrity, being involved with the Bush administration must feel increasingly like a death sentence for their soul. Powell is right to leave, while he still has some of his reputation intact. Perhaps he can gather what is left of it about himself, like a cloak to ward off the chill wind of calumny that blows through Bush's camp. He can wipe from his feet the muck of disrepute that dirties all those who walk with George W. He can go back to being an honourable man.

A Balance of Sorts

   Check out this page at the Toronto Star's site. Entitled "Acts of Kindness", it does help to offer a glimpse of the nicer side to so many people, and it makes a good read, especially if you have just been forced to look at the less pleasant aspects. I read it this morning for exactly that reason.
   On the weekend, my husband and I were doing the small-town-Ontario thing - you know, driving here, stopping there, drinking in the beauty of the gently rolling hills, and even drinking in the libations at a wonderful bakery and cafe in Port Perry. We have been there before and loved its atmosphere, the prompt and courteous service, and the good food. On this visit, however, we had the misfortune to meet the wicked witch of the east, and her ugly sister. We were almost finished and just about to get our coats on, when the waitress seated these two lovelies at the table right beside us. The one at the window seat pointed us out to her companion. (This was done in plain view, and in earshot.) "Take a look at those two," she said. The other one made eye contact with me and responded with,"You don't see much more wrong than that." (To help you get an idea of exactly what their problem was, my husband and I are not the same skin colour. I never give it a second thought, unless I encounter some sub-human specimens like these two winners.) My husband told me to forget it all, adding "I'm used to it. Don't let it upset you." I suppose his approach is right in one way. There was probably nothing I could have said in response that would have changed the two morons, or helped them to "see the light", and a confrontation might have ruined the whole day rather than just the few moments when we were forced to be beside them. Even so, the encounter angered me. To meet someone like that, here in my beautiful country, in my beloved Canada, is so wrong. Canada prides itself on its multiculturalism. Anyone who has ever cracked open a history book has seen record of the carnage that results from any race claiming supremacy.(These two better-than-thou types were white.) I can just picture the two of them, on a Sunday morning, warbling their way through some hymn extolling Jesus as a 'refuge for all', and failing to make the connection between their intolerance in that cafe, and their hypocrisy in singing those words. Meeting them was rather like biting into an apple that is an inviting, shiny red, and finding a worm on the inside. What do you do? You make a sound of annoyance and disgust, then toss the apple in the trash.We found a worm that tried to threaten the lovely rosy-apple atmosphere of our day, but we saw it for the trash that it is, and walked away.

Light a Lamp to Lakshmi

   I wish a happy Diwali to those of the Hindu faith. I was raised a christian, but my husband's family is hindu, and it is through him and his mother that I have learned a bit about this wonderful festival, and the gracious goddess whom it honours. May She bless your homes with her presence and your lives with her love.

Lest We Forget

   Take a minute today, at 11:00 a.m. to pause and remember. Most people have seen pictures of the rows of crosses in the European war cemeteries. The photos show serene and peaceful places of quiet. Close your eyes and bring one of those scenes to mind. Hold the picture of the graves in your mind, and try to imagine the quiet shattered by the screams of the dying soldiers



   If you find that hard, maybe because you have been so blessed as never to actually have heard that sound, try to hear the sound of someone crying. We've all heard that sound. Try to imagine the sobs of one person, increased and multiplied by all of those whose loved ones lie buried htere. Imagine the tears flowing so freely as to water the grass around the grave markers. When the sound in your head is too sad to listen to anymore, open your eyes again. Say your thanks to the fallen, for it is because of them that the sounds of war are not pounding on your eardrums. They paid with their lives so that you could hear the sounds of peace.

   The premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, and his Liberals have announced an upcoming change to the legalities of quitting school. The previous regulations read as follows:

If 16th birthday is between January 1st and end of August, can quit school on 16th birthday [Ed Act, s. 21]

Attendance in school is not compulsory after the end of the school year in which the student turns 16 [Ed Act, s. 21]

The legislation, slated for introduction next year, will mean that Ontario kids will have to stay in school, or be learning in an apprenticeship or job placement program until they turn 18. McGuinty phrased the rationale for this change really well, when he said "We can't hang our hopes on the future if we're content to let the future just hang out at the mall." Ontario will not be the first province to require students to stay in school longer. In 1999, New Brunswick required students to stay in school until age 18, and Alberta raised its requirement to age 17 in 2003. The aim of this change is to have schools and teachers encouraging kids to keep learning and to cut the 30 per cent drop out rate in half, says education minister Gerard Kennedy. Pilot projects to keep kids in school or get them involved with apprenticeships or work programs will be started in January. The price tag for all of this is expected to be about $70 million a year.
    All this is an attempt at preventive medicine, I think. We need to spend that money now, in order to save more money later. Handing out welfare comes with a big price tag. Sheltering and feeding criminals is expensive. In our society, with its incredible emphasis on consumerism, you need a good job to afford all the things you've "just got to have". So many of the kids that I taught failed to realize the reality that getting a good job means getting an education first. They all knew how to spend, already, but they did not understand the logistics of getting the cash to spend. Not having the cash, unfortunately, won't stop everyone from going out to acquire all the latest things piled on store shelves. An undetermined number will turn to crime to finance keeping them up with the Joneses.
   Keeping the kids in school will show them how to do it all in a way that won't end up with them posing for a mugshot. The legislation alone, however, will not be enough. We need major overhauls of the schools here in Ontario. I'm sure that is true in many other locales, as well, but I am a teacher here and I have been inside several schools, and seen so much that I am entitled to speak out on the schools here. If there is success to be found in the new pilot projects, it will have to come along with an overhaul that would see many, many of the current principals and superintendents being sent packing. McGuinty says "There are many young people for whom the classroom is cruel and unusual punishment." He's right, but I don't have a lot of faith in his program alone having the answer to the problem. How are we going to manage to get the current deadwood in the schools out of there, and replace it with people who genuinely care about the kids? If we could do that, we could get more of them to stay in school. If we don't manage that, this new legislation will be nothing more than the creation of yet another battlefield where teachers and students will have to face each other.

Oh Canada!

   "The Scientist" magazine recently polled more than 35,000 scientists asking them to rank the best place to work, in the U.S. and elsewhere. Canada tops the non-U.S. list, and holds five positions in the top ten. The University of Toronto was #1. The University of Alberta was second, Dalhousie University was fourth, McMaster was seventh, and the University of British Columbia was ninth. An increase in funding for research is creating a "science boom" in Canada.
   Proof again that my country is simply the most wonderful place there is in the world!

   We've had our first snow! Granted, it wasn't much and the flakes were gone the second they touched the ground, but it was still our first snow. I have always loved the snow and the winter. Could there be anything more invigorating than wrapping up warmly and heading out for a walk in the crisp cold of winter, with a gusty wind doing its best to blow you off your feet? My husband is form Guyana and so the winter of his discontent began today with those first snowflakes. Of course, every winter, as far as he's concerned is a time of discontent to be endured until the mild days of spring return. As far as I am concerned, summer is the price tag I have to pay every year to get back to the winter. My husband regards the sun of winter as cold comfort, while I rejoice in the comforting cold.To each his own.
    Let the cold winds blow! I love the winter!

A Celestial Battle

   Take a trip to the photo album, gallery 20 to see the battlefield. The sky and the clouds were struggling for mastery of the sky. Each wanted the other gone, wanted to be left alone to do as it wished, while down below, we cheered on the both of them. The clouds were magnificent in their glowering darkness, but the wind was strong enough at times to break them apart and allow the sun to slant its rays through in a blessing of warmth and light.

Oy Already!

   Do you believe, or don't you? If you believe, really believe in your religion, then stop playing stupid games with it. If your religion tells you something is to be done a certain way, you do it exactly that way, and you do not try to "get around it", not in any way whatever. Sound preachy, does it? Well, it just seems to me to be a case of put up or shut up. Believe, and act like you do, or cut the act.
   From Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, there are 39 activities that are supposed to be forbidden to the Orthodox Jew, but for years the "faithful" have looked for ways to get around these restrictions. There is a synagogue not far from my home, that happens to be just down the street from a Catholic church. Because the worshippers headed to the synagogue should not be driving there, they play their little games with the interpretation of the phrase "driving there'. They drive to the Catholic church's parking lot, and then walk the half-block to the synagogue. They make a joke out of their own religion by playing loose with its strictures in that way. The joke gets even more hilarious when you read the November 2004 issue of "Wired" magazine. Michael Erard writes an article entitled "The Geek Guide to Kosher Machines" in which he explains how Jonah Ottensoser is working to perfect a stove that "Jewish consumers will buy just to please God."
   Described as "the world's lone kosher geek", Ottensoser is a man concerned with ensuring that "every electron in an appliance is sanctioned by God." Puh-leez! It seems that performing an action that causes a direct reaction is working, something that is forbidden on the Sabbath. To turn the control on the oven causes a change in the temperature, causes the heating mechanism to function, and this desecrates the Sabbath. The article uses opening a fridge door as an example of how a seemingly "harmless action without consequences" is really a desecration of the Sabbath. Letting warm air in and cold air out causes the temperature change that triggers the compressor, thus turning on the appliance and doing the forbidden. If you want to be absolutely sure that your actions are kosher, then don't take any chances. Just stay away from the stove and keep your hands off the fridge.
   Isn't this where we have to ask the question, just how seriously do you take your religion? Have you really got to use the oven on the Sabbath? Are you not capable of eating, say, cheese and bread for just that one day, and considering it a fair exchange for the part your God plays in your life? For all that you expect of Him, for all the prayers you want answered during your life, is it too much for you to give up a little convenience during the hours of the Sabbath? Are you really a believer, or just a bandwagon rider? Stop looking for ways to circumvent the demands of your religion, or stop pretending to be a believer.

Hockey Legends

   I spent this afternoon in hockey-fan heaven.
   As an alumna of the University of Toronto, I received notice a little while ago that I was entitled to tickets at a special price for the inaugural Hockey Hall of Fame 2004 Legends Classic heritage game. They knew just how to pitch the tickets to best effect, too. Reminding fans about the dearth of games to be seen this season helped them to sell out all their block of tickets. It was a part of my decision to buy, for sure, but more than that was the names they dangled in front of me, like the proverbial carrot before the donkey. We were told the game was to be between the "Original Six Legends" and "Expansion Legends" and would include names like Darryl Sittler, Lanny MacDonald, Wendel Clark, and Doug Gilmour. There was also to be a ceremony honouring this year inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame, three of whom would be on the ice. The inductees are Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Cliff Fletcher and Larry Murphy. Also out there were Lanny MacDonald, and Borje Salming, among others, as was "Tiger" Williams, the proud owner of the all-time record for penalty minutes. Watching those guys skate out there, stick-handling their way through an afternoon romp, purely for their love of the game, was the best way to pass a couple of hours that I can imagine - just short, of course, of watching the Leafs hoisting the Cup on a victory lap around the arena.
   Lanny MacDonald and his moustache brought his own elan to the ice - he sported that moustache for most of his NHL career, and in the 80's, he used to wax it. Wendel Clark, the immensely popular "Captain Crunch", beat the goalie on a penalty shot and brought roars of approval from the crowd. Doug Gilmour nearly brought the house down just by being introduced in the team line-up. Tiger Williams (the only real tiger in sports ... never mind the wussy Woods of golf) scored a goal and "rode the stick" down the ice in his signature celebration move, much to the delight of the onlookers.
   Everything about those guys, every single one of them, delighted the onlookers at today's game. It was hockey being played for the sheer joy of it, and it was all a joy to watch.

An Interesting Number

   115,016 Americans surfed the Immigration Canada website the day after the election! You know for every one who did that, there are others with the same reaction to Bush being brought back. Maybe they surfed the websites of other countries. Maybe many of them can't afford any kind of move, so they're just hunkering down in silence for another four years of misery. Like I said before about the voters who brought him back ... MORONS!

   In April 2005, the movie "Deadly" will make its appearance. Based on the story of Bernardo and Homolka, two of Canada's most infamous killers, it is a grab for dollars that is revolting. Producer Michael Sellers of Hollywood, says "This is not in any way an exploitative movie. (I)t is a story that should be told." What a line.
   Think about it. Hasn't the story already "been told" in the courtroom? Don't you think the story has played itself out, over and over again, in the minds of the victims' parents? The only thing is that none of these tellings meant financial gain to some heartless money-grubber like Sellers. In '94, Toronto filmmaker Peter Simpson bought the rights to "Invisible Darkness" a book written about the case, and announced his plans to "tell" the story. Public outcry ensued. Howard Hampton, then MPP, and now leader of the NDP party, said it well when he said that any film based on this story is nothing more than an attempt to "reap revenue" from tragedy. Simpson finally retreated in the face of all the negative publicity. Perhaps he had just the least little bit of compassion. Let's give him the benfit of the doubt, shall we? Sellers, however, is without feeling for anything other than his bankbook. If the horror that the victims' parents went through should ever visit itself on Sellers' family, and he then went ahead to tell that story, I might change my opinion of him. I might accept that he really believed that line about "the public has the right to know". Somehow though, I think that even then I would still find myself repeating Hampton's succinct appraisal of the situation, and disliking the man even more. Sellers, you should have let the dead rest in peace.

Old Grudges

Last night, I was watching a TV program about the military campaigns of Alexander the Great. The program was produced and narrated by Michael Wood, and was entitled 'In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great". It begins with Alexander's perceived need to undertake his campaign into Persia being to exact revenge for the two Persian invasions of Greece.The first led by Darius included the battle at Marathon, where Greek victory came in spite of being outnumbered two to one. The second was led by Xerxes, in 480 B.C. and included the unthinkable. The Persian army torched Athens. For the Greeks, then and now of course, the idea of conquering foreigners setting foot on their beloved land is anathema. The same is true in every country, for every native son or daughter whose heart burns with patriotism. But, as I have noted before, the time has got to come when we let go of the old grudges and move on, or we will be carried inexorably forward to the extinction of humankind.

History is written by the victors, as the saying goes, and so Alexander is called "the Great" in countries of the western world where our study of history is based on that written by the Greeks and the Romans, as we look back to ancient times. If we look back through the eyes of Iranians, and many other people whose forefathers were hapless victims of Alexander's march through history, we find him called by other names such as "the two-horned one". Yes, it all depends on which side of the battle lines you were standing, but there is one incredibly important point to keep in mind here when we look back to Alexander's battle lines. They were drawn up over 2,000 years ago.

This brings us back to Wood's documentary. One scene shot in modern Iran shows a place of worship filled with row upon row of men, all rhythmically beating their chests, all in unison, while they chant about the required abhorrence for Alexander, and the unforgiving hatred that must be extended from him to his compatriots. There is no little phrase at the close of the chant that says "but we aren't including the ones alive today, of course" For God's sake, these people are fanning the flames of a 2,000 year old hatred. When do they think they might have a little time to spare for the concerns of today? When do they plan to move on and give a little thought to, oh say, the betterment of health conditions in their country; or the betterment of relations with their neighbours of this century?

Another scene in the film brings all of this home to those willing to see the utter futility of war. Some of the front lines of the warfare waged by Alexander all those many years ago,in today's Iraq , were detailed by the historians and cartographers who accompanied the Greek army. They turn out to be exactly where lines were drawn between the U.S. and Saddam Hussein's forces, before his fall. When will we ever learn?

God Help Us All

   There is a saying about the results of the vote in a democracy --- "The people have spoken." When the voters south of the 49th "spoke" yesterday, the majority said "DUH!"
The morons have voted Bush back into office.

A Different Take

   Do you like graham crackers? I love to nibble a couple in the evening with a steamy mug of chicory-based coffee substitute. Don't misunderstand - I love coffee, but I can do without the caffeine in the evening. (NB: For you ladies out there who enjoy coffee but have problems with fibrocystic breast change, here's something to know. There is a family of chemcials in the coffee, called methylxanthines , that can exacerbate the problem. Chicory beverages are a bit of an acquired taste, but they will not make any problems at all in that direction. A study was conducted and the results bear out the advisability of switching off of coffee to get relief.)
   Back to the graham crackers! They were invented by Sylvester Graham. Born in 1794, his first attempt at a career as a minister failed, so he went on to become a reformer. He gave lectures about his philosophy on healthy eating, attacking the standard fare of meat and white bread. He enraged so many that some of his lectures were cancelled for fear there were not enough constables available to restrain the expected protesters. He especially attacked the practice of having sex, whether married or not, since he believed that sexual desires only irritated the body and caused disease. He advised his followers that if they were unable to abstain entirely, they should limit themselves to no more than twelve times a year! One place to look for help with management of the problem, Graham believed, was in the consumption of bland foods, and so, to further the cause, he invented graham crackers. So, what do you think? Does Graham's cracker achieve his purpose? Share a few with your significant other tonight and test it out!