Save Your Money

   Don't waste it on the movie version of H2G2. I saw it last night. Not worth the trip to the theatre, never mind the price of admission. The book is more than worth a read, but it does not translate well to the big screen, at least not by the group who made this attempt. Maybe someday, somewhere else in the universe, a version worth sitting through will be made, but it is not this one.

The Right Sentence

   Sgt. Hasan Akbar is the soldier who launched a grenade and rifle attack on his own comrades during the opening days of the Iraq invasion, killing two officers, and wounding fourteen, in March 2003. He has been declared guilty by a jury that deliberated for about seven hours. The sentence is death.
   Supposedly, his killing spree was launched because he was concerned about Americans killing Muslims. His motivation is no justification. One eyewitness is enough. They have at least fourteen, if not more.
   Serve the sentence.

A Little Complaint

   I was out today at the ESL class where I volunteer. The teacher there is likely to be responsible for the wearing down of my molars. I end up grinding my teeth in frustration and annoyance pretty much every single day that I am there.
   The woman is not a good choice for the teacher of an ESL class. She is from Asia herself, and while her English is good, it is NOT good enough to teach. She makes multiple mistakes every day, in pronunciation and grammar, not to mention how she relates with the students. She is rude, and given to "hands-on" grabbing them by the hand, for instance, to take them over to a wall map. These are adults we are talking about here. She should not be leading them anywhere by the hand. If you've dropped by here before, you know that this is one of my pet peeves. I fail to understand how anyone who is not an educated speaker of their mother tongue can teach that language well, be it English or any other.
   Why? Why? Why are there Asians, or any other allophones, teaching English here?

That'll Be in U.S. Dollars, Please

   Hiba Kassim is an Iraqi girl who sustained wounds to her ankle and leg, during the Iraqi war. Her brother was killed by the same bomb that wounded her. She was brought to Belgium by the aid organization, Medicine for the Third World. She has undergone five operations, and rehabilitation to save the leg.The treatment has been successful, but costly. Belgian doctors were able to send her home yesterday, but they were not able to bill her family. Instead, they sent the bill for $66,650.00 U.S. to the U.S. embassy. Now there's creative problem solving!
   So far, there has been no response from the embassy.

Something Intriguing!

   Try this one! Then try to explain it!

Blooming Brilliant!

   I just found out! Motorola is testing a biodegradable material for use in cell phone cases. It was developed by Pvaxx and should be commercially available within the year. The material contains sunflower seeds. When buried, it will disintegrate and sprout the flowers! The prediction is that by the end of 2005, the market will see the sale of more biodegradable plastics in everything from shavers to cosmetic cases. Even shotgun cartridges are being targeted for this new eco-friendly material. Cool.

"The Church's Challenges"

   The title is taken from an article in the April 18 issue of Business Week magazine. It purports to examine the four main challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church, and what might be done to meet them.
   The article's writers seem to feel it necessary to start with a paean of praise for the deceased jpII, referring to his "personal charisma and uncompromising moral authority". If you've dropped by this neck of the woods before, you know how I feel about the previous pontiff. His was a pontificate of uncompromising backwardness. That's all. He stymied attempts to move the church into the present century at every turn. He did, indeed, leave an institution that "badly needs reform".
   The first challenge listed by the article is the shortage of priests.The priest to parishioner ratio has dropped in the U.S from 1950's 1:650 to today's 1:1,500, and the average age of the priests is 60 years old. Figures are much the same in Europe. Parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia are experiencing growth in their numbers, but it is still not enough. This problem "strikes at the very heart of Catholicism" since only priests can bless the bread and wine to bring about transubstantiation. With fewer priests, there will be fewer opportunities for r.c.'s to receive communion, and, gasp! the religion would become more like protestantism.
   Big, hairy deal. If you believe in j.c., you believe in j.c. Why not stop worrying about whether or not the communion is properly cannabalistic, and devote the time you'd otherwise use to ponder this quandary to volunteering in a soup kitchen instead? Then you could rest secure in the knowledge that you were helping to feed his flock. Wouldn't that earn more brownie points for heaven than squabbling about who blesses the wafers?
   Liberal minds say that the priests should be allowed to marry, since celibacy is tradition, not doctrine. Jesus is not quoted anywhere in scripture as admonishing those who would minister to the faithful to abjure love for a spouse. jpII, however, was adamant that the clergy must be celibate. 71% of recently surveyed U.S. catholics are in favour of making celibacy optional, but ti would take a mighty brave pope to make such a break with the tradition that makes the church a haven for pedophiles. Let's see how Benedict handles this problem.
   The second problem is church finances. Speaking of pedophiles, they have bankrupt three parishes and cost the church in the U.S. at least $700 million in settlement payments, as well as making big holes in the weekly collection plate. This in turn hurts the churches of the third world, since they depend so much on the western world for money to operate. In the Congo, we are told, the number of faithful tripled during jpII's years of power tripping. That would have been due to his insistence that the faithful be fruitful without giving a thought to whether they could support the new lives they were creating, or not. The churches there now lack the funds to pay basic operating expenses. So how will Benedict direct the resources at his disposal? How will he persuade the westerners to cough up more funds for the third world parishes? We'll have to wait and see.
   The third problem is referred to as "the west-south split" In Latin America and Africa, those pesky protestants are in there doing their best to claim every soul they can, and islam is busily doing the same. There are only so many souls on the market. Even though the numbers of adherents seem to be swelling r.c. ranks in these places, at the same time many are defecting to protestant denominations. Protestant congregations "offer less hierarchy" says the general secretary of the protestant organization, the Latin American Council of Churches. The director of the political science department at Iberoamericana University, a Jesuit institution, says that the church "needs to tone down the dogma of its doctrine". Good luck on that one, people. The r.c. church has specialized in thundering fire and brimstone at anyone who has the temerity to disagree with it. Getting the hierarchy to let go of such perceived power would be an accomplishment indeed. I don't think Benedict could. I do not believe he would even want to. He has too much of that power himself.
   The last problem listed is the rigidity of the hierarchy. jpII spent his years at the top of the heap in concentrating ever more power in the vatican. He stuck his finger into every ecclesiastical pie going. He enjoyed having the power and wielding it. His successor used to head up the office of the church that evolved from the office of the inquisition. Talk about power. I don't see him willingly relinquishing any of it. Some liberal minds are suggesting that one possible solution to this problem would be to limit the term available to spend in the vatican bureaucracy. The theory is that, since clergy members get in there and then stay for life, the hierarchy loses touch with the realities of the world and the needs of the people. Suggestions have been made that the turnaround time should be three to five years. That might help to bring in new ideas and waft some fresh air through the miasma of dogma dictated from a disconnected distance.
   Good luck to any and all who think to revive the flagging institution and move it forward from the dark ages. It is topheavy with a hierarchy that enjoys the perks of life at the vatican and would rather relinquish the loyalty of those who see reason than miss one meal prepared by their personal chefs. From his stronghold in the vatican, Monsignor Klaus Kastel declares "Tradition has to be observed as much as possible." Translate that to read, "My cushy way of life, and that of the rest of the hierarchy, has to be continued at all costs." Jesus may have lived from hand-to-mouth while he preached and ministered to his flock, but that's not the least bit interesting to Kastel, or Benedict, or the rest of them at the vatican. Neither is it part of the tradition that Kastel feels to be so important. Just as long as their next meal is on time and served in sumptuous surroundings, by someone ready to kiss their hands and fawn on them, none of them will ever acknowledge any need for reform.

What Say You, Anonymous?

   On April 14th, I once again made note of my feelings about the need for capital punishment here in Canada, and was left a comment by some bleeding-heart liberal who signed themselves as "anonymous". "Canadians are known for their compassion and humanity, not for their "lynch them high" approach., they berated me. For any of my southern neighbours reading this, you might find it of interest to know that this person suggested "...the great state of Texas or even closer to you Florida.I am sure they would love your views there." Capital punishment, according to Ms. or Mr. Anonymous leads to a state of affairs like that in "the U.S where thousands have been executed only to find that oops a mistake was made."
   Give me a break. Today, with DNA testing alone, never mind all the chemicals like the ones that show human blood no matter what has been tried to erase its presence, there is less and less possibility of "oops". There is, however, no less need for taking out the garbage.
   Last night, here in Toronto, "garbage" struck again. A young widow , Livvette Moore, who was trying to piece back a life torn apart by her husband's death from cancer a year earlier, was invited to a party by some friends. This woman had been left to support her four children, who ranged in age from five to ten years old. Moore's friends had probably asked her to the party to help her cope with the first anniversary of his death. She went, to share some laughter with her friends. Instead, they witnessed her last minutes of life. Just after 3:30 a.m., gunmen smuggled handguns past security guards and opened fire, spraying bullets into a room alive with more than 200 partygoers. In their wake, they left death. When they began the shooting, they ended their own claim to any rights at all. They declared themselves ready for killing and death. Who are the rest of us to argue with them?
   Do everything just right in the investigation.Get some good forensic science work going here. Enable witnesses to come forward by letting people know that taking a life is not tolerated or forgiven, and that they will not have to fear for their own lives if they say what they saw. Bring the killers to justice.
    If we could get the guys who ended this woman's life, we should mete out the consequence they asked for themselves, and do so quickly. Save the taxpayers' money. Don't house them overnight in any cell. Save the money that would have to be paid to some guard to watch them. Skip the crap about any last meal. Save the money that would have to be paid for even one crumb.
   March them right out back of the courthouse. Line them up against the wall. Pull the trigger.

Photo update

   On April 16th, the love of my life and I drove up north to spend a pleasant day in Bracebridge and environs. The sun's light was warm on our faces and a gentle breeze blew at our backs as we strolled through town and made our way to two of the waterfalls that grace the area. The first one is right in town, and it roars its way past the foundations of the historic Bird Woollen Mill, established in 1872. During WWII, 90 % of the mill's output went to Canada's military.
   High Falls, just north of town, is nicknamed the "Niagara of the North", and once there, we discovered a couple of things. One was that the originator of the nickname had a great imagination! The second thing was that spring had not yet been able to coax the winter out of all its hiding places, and so the forest floor was still cobbled with snow under overhanging branches, and great patches of ice pockmarked the rock faces. The water gives voice to its pleasure as it cascades over boulders and through the narrows. It has carved channels of passage across a landscape made into a breathtaking realm of splendour. I hope you find a scene or two here to touch your heart and speak to your soul.

Pontifical Accessorizing

   For those of you who want to celebrate the selection of the new pope, Benedict the Whatever, follow this link. After you're finished the project you'll find there, you can wear your new accessory and mumble along whenever his holier-than-thou-ness comes out with a new edict to take the church further and further back into the dark ages. You can start by placing your new fashion statement firmly atop your head while you click here. Once there you'll read the statement made by the new pope at his inaugural mass that he needs the faithful to pray for him. Ram that new appurtenance of yours a little further down over your brow, and get to work. Benedict needs you!

An H2G2 Follow-up

   I'm wending my way through the twists and turns of the third book's plot line now. A faithful source of 3-i (incredibly important info) has let me know that the BBC radio is taking on the fourth book of the trilogy, and will begin airing it on May 3rd. Follow this link to hear an extended trailer, and view a behind-the-scenes photo gallery, as well as finding a site to share your views on Life, the Universe and Everything. If your creativity waxes nasty, you might want to enter the Vogon Poetry Competition you'll find there.

Say What?

   OK, here's something just plain mind boggling. It seems that when an RCMP officer dies in the line of duty, a full regimental funeral is suggested to the family as a matter of course. What isn't always made clear to the bereaved next-of-kin is the fact that they will be presented later with a bill to cover the costs of the funeral, sometimes to the tune of $20,000.00 or even more.
   Does anyone else feel the same as I do about that? I couldn't believe it when I found that out. Talk about adding insult to injury. If an officer has already given their all, why should the family be expected to give again, often, I am sure, when that unexpected cost could be more than the family coffers hold. This is ludicrous. This is just plain disgusting. The "powers that be" on this one should not only bring this horrendous habit to an immediate halt. They should also pay back all the families that have previoulsy had to pay for regimental funerals.

New Pictures

   Spring has sprung in Toronto! On April 10th, the sun was warm and inviting, luring people outdoors to enjoy the promise of the greening of the earth. The park my other half and I went ambling through was filled with joggers and couples; mothers pushing strollers and seniors surrounded by their families. There were others there as well, enjoying their share of the sunshine warm on their fur coats, and I caught one of them feeling the joie de vivre of the day. Take a look here to see the little character.

Good News

   The white supremacist, Wolfgang Droege, was shot and killed in Toronto on Wednesday. The world is a little bit the better for it. For a really interesting perspective on this death and one a little more famous, check this out.

Ontario Court Justice Walter Brain-Dead Gonet

   Obviously, the title I used gives you an idea of what I'm about to say, but stick with me, if you have a minute. The news was just published yesterday about the case he was trying of two youths charged with wilfully inciting hatred against an identifiable group. Last year, the two of them had gone on a vandalism spree in which they did $20,000.00 damage to gravestones and benches at a Jewish cemetery, painted swastikas on a synagogue, broke stained glass windows, and sprayed profanities on Jewish property, and some schools.
   The general reaction at the time was one of solidarity with the Jewish community expressed by the Christian and Muslim associations of Toronto and Canada. Toronto's Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, in a letter to Rabbi Martin Berman, chair of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, said "If one person can be targeted because of who he or she is, anyone could be targeted." He has that exactly right, but it's a fact that so many ignore while they sit back in complacent comfort and watch what's happening to "them". The "us" and "them" mentality is so colossally stupid precisely because there is no hard and fast delineation of the two groups.The one could find itself suddenly made into the other, at any time, just as Ambrozic pointed out.
   Gonet is one of those who has forgotten this all-important fact. He found the youths guilty of mischief. That's right, mischief. That's all. Gonet says that the Crown failed to prove motivation of prejudice or hate, and that, in fact, the youths just wanted to get themselves on TV. Gonet does say, however, that the TV did show "... damage and pain and anguish" experienced by the Jewish community. Since that comment seemed to me to be a non-sequitur with the concept of mischief, I went to my omnipresent dictionary to check out the word and found that it is defined as: an action that causes annoyance, irritation, or harm, often unintentionally.
   To go to the cemetery to visit the grave of a loved one and find the stone has been vandalized is not to experience annoyance. Imagine what you would feel if you had such an experience. There's a good chance that one of the thoughts to cross your mind would be wanting the opportunity to visit a little "frontier style" justice on the vandal. People don't feel that way over a little annoyance. The two vicious little thugs did not target only Jewish property, it is true. One of the schools on which they painted swastikas was a Catholic high school. Even so, the message they left was one directed specifically against Jews. The swastika was accompanied by the slogan "revenge 4 Nazis". There was nothing unintentional about their actions. They set out repeatedly to target an identifiable group. They are hatemongers, and our courts should have no mercy for them.
   Still, in defense of the judge, there is one last possibility to explore before condemning his decision completely. There is the likelihood that the man is of limited intelligence, one of those who can not envision anything unless he actually experiences it first. I think that people like that should be given the help they need to really understand "pain and anguish". Since they have no problem with it when it is visited on "them", they need to become "them". To extend this help to Gonet, it would be necessary first to find out what particular religious affiliation he claims. If he is a christian, for instance, I can suggest the perfect solution. It would take a time when he is away from his home long enough for a few "youths" like those who just stood in his court, to arm themselves with a can or two of spray paint and make a call. Attack on the basis of something that would outrage the person is what this is all about, so let me take just a moment to remind you of the New Testament references to the apostle John as the "one whom Jesus loved" and then we'll be all ready to watch the fun. Excuse me, I meant the "mischief".
   One of the youths (sounds so innocent, doesn't it) could tackle Gonet's front door. We'd need one there who was a master with spraypainting so that he could fit it all in neat and still legible on a small space. One braver one could climb the roof and spray paint it there. One could tackle the driveway with a can of white paint so it would contrast nicely with the black asphalt. Another one could spray it all across his front lawn, and maybe even one of them could make a little side trip to spray it across the gravestone of someone from his family. Slogans using profanity to name Jesus as a homosexual might be just the thing for Mr Justice Gonet to come home to. Then he could experience what it is like to be one of "them". He could understand a little better the indignity and shock of having such a senseless affront directed at you.He might even want to revisit those sentences he meted out and tack on another decade or two.
   How the hell do we get such idiots sitting in our courts?

Mush, You Feed Dogs!

   If you're one of those people who actually know what a feed dog is, then you might find the following of interest.First, let me say I get a giggle from the image of someone yelling "mush" at their machine. It fits the mood you can get into after a few hours spent there, ripping out stitches that went awry and fighting buttonholes to a standstill.
   By now, you must have figured out that I'm talking about sewing. The feed dogs are the ridged parts of the machine that feed the fabric through, beneath the needle. Mine have had a very busy week, having just finished giving their all to help me make two garments for my oldest daughter. One was a flare-collared blouse with 3/4 length sleeve, cut on Simplicity pattern #9693. It makes up to a fabulous wardrobe piece! We bought the fabric last week and I cut and sewed the whole thing in one day. The pattern says "easy to sew" and they mean it.
   The other was an unlined below-hip blazer with shoulder pads. This one took me two days of work, and although this pattern - Butterick # 4138 - says "fast & easy", it was good to know some of the tailoring techniques that my mother had taught to me. She learned those techniques at her first job, working at Cook's Clothing, back in Toronto "the good" during the 1930's.
    It may have been a good place to learn, but it wasn't a great place to work. It was basically a sweat shop, where they toiled on the top floor of the building, putting in 10 hour days even in the heat of the summers. They worked for a pittance, and were paid on the basis of piece work, meaning that each one was paid according to the number of jobs she finished during the day. Those jobs could be any one of the men's tailoring assignments that included everything from making buttonholes to sewing fly fronts. An interesting little glimpse into how the workplace differed then from today is provided by her stories about "that time of the month". Apparently, just like today, there were emergency supplies available to the women, but unlike today, they were kept under lock and key. If you suddenly found yourself in need of something, you had to go to the male floor foreman and ask him if he would give you one. Imagine expecting the women of today's Toronto to do such a demeaning thing.
   Much of the sewing at Cook's was done by hand, but when they used a machine, it was one with a foot treadle, that was run by "womanpower", unlike today's plug-in versions.The sewing machine is one of those with a name association that misleads many about its history. Like the name Frigidaire became associated with home refrigerators to the point that people shortened it down to use as a name for the product, many people say a "Singer" to name a sewing machine. Isaac SInger is given the credit every time someone invokes his name, but they're all wrong. This little baby was actually brought out of the elusive realm of dreams and into the realm of reality by Elias Howe, who was granted a patent for his invention in 1846. He was dogged by misfortune in his attempts to market a device that many felt would steal jobs from tailors and seamstresses. Isaac SInger usurped Howe's idea, made a few adjustments, and had much better luck in marketing the machine. He had stolen the idea, however, and in 1854 he was ordered to pay $15,000.00 in back royalties to Howe. In 1856, the holders of various patents for such machines pooled then all and Howe was given a five dollar royalty for each machine sold in the States and one dollar for each one sold abroad. Ironically, Howe died in 1867, the very year that his patent expired.
   Times and sewing machines have changed, but the way to sew a garment well hasn't. I take pride in being able to sew for my family, both the girls and my husband. Yes, I have sewn for him, as well, having tailored him a vest for part of his Christmas present. That one took hours and hours of careful concentration, but I was pleased and proud when I finished it, and I'm assuming my feed dogs felt the same way!

Time for Some Capital Punishment

   In keeping with the previous two entries is this one about Kelly Ellard. She has been found guilty of murder in her third trial for the 1997 beating and drowning of teen victim Reena Virk. In Canada, this conviction carries a sentence of "life imprisonment", except that it isn't for life, at all. Ellard could be free on parole in five to seven years.
   First of all, enough with the trials, already. How many times do the taxpayers have to be put out-of-pocket for this woman? Three times before a judge is quite sufficient, don't you think? Second, what's with the garbage about her being free in such a short time? Her victim will never be free. Never. Why should she? Why show clemency to someone who failed to show any of it themselves?
   I have held forth more than once here on the topic of bullying and teen violence. This case seems to me the perfect opportunity to set some new standards for behavioural expectations and the retribution that will be meted out if bullies transgress the parameters of decency.Reading the details of Virk's last moments alive seems to me to be the reading out of a clarion call for punishment in like. Skip the torture and torment, and end Ellard's life swiftly, but do end it.

Bye Bye, Harold

   It's a little late for the farewell, but it's no less sincere. I just found out that Harold Shipman had the decency to kill himself, back in January 2004. He was found hanging from a "ligature" which he had made from bed sheets and tied around the cell window before stepping off a heating pipe. At least his life ended with one good act, after all the acts of horror he had perpetrated. The man was imprisoned on charges of having killed 15 elderly women who called him their family doctor. The probability has since come to light that the piece of slime actually killed 250 of his patients. His favoured method of ending lives was a fatal injection of heroin, and he administered it to women who were in good health for their age, thereby playing god and robbing families of a loved one before the time should have come.
   The one part I like - yes, like - is that Shipman told a fellow inmate that he felt "bullied" by prison officials. I haven't met any of them personally but on hearing that, I know they're people after my own heart. (Read "Hang Your Head in Shame" from April 13). He even quoted one of them as having told him to "go hang yourself". Sounds like a perfectly charming chap to me.
   Pardon me if I can't manage any sympathy for Shipman, but he forfeited all his rights to fair treatment with the first hypodermic that he wielded in contravention of the laws of decency. I am in favour of capital punishment, a fervent supporter thereof. I believe that the world is one tiny bit a better place now that Shipman is gone.

Hang Your Head in Shame

   This one is directed to the judge who sentenced Clara Da Silva of Toronto to three years behind bars. Her crime? She went out salsa dancing and left her two-year-old daughter alone in her apartment for 33 hours during a heat wave. When the little one was found, she was dead. She had died of dehydration in an apartment where the temperature was reaching the steambath reading of 33 degrees celsius.
   Where the hell is this judge's brain? Where is his sense of legal obligation to defend the defenseless? Why does he place such very little value on human life? That woman should have been sentenced to at least triple the meaningless little slap on the wrist he gave her. In fact, there should be special treatment just for her. Perhaps there could be arrangements made to have the same one salsa tune played on an endless loop in her cell, every night and every day, without variation, without letup. She wanted salsa? She should be force fed it until she goes insane. Make sure, too, that her prisonmates all know exactly why she is in there. They might get a little violent, but, oh well. Maybe they could "help" her to understand the enormity of what she did. The judge sure didn't.

Hold Your Heads Up

   The Canadian women have won the world championship eight times in a row, but last Saturday they went down to defeat for the first time in a 1-0 shootout to the U.S. The team had to accept second place, event though they had shut out five teams in a row. A lot of Canadians hate the international rule against multiple ovvertime periods. They feel that a shootout comes down more to the luck of the draw than it does to skill, bu the women of the team didn't complain about the circumstances. They are all too much of a class act for that.
   Canadian head coach Melody Davidson says the team will " ...internalize that and it will drive them. It will drive us as a program right through to the next Olympics." Though the loss weighs heavy on their shoulders, they should remember the point total and hold their heads up high. The United States earned the maximum 1,200 ranking points for its win in Sweden, on Saturday, while silver medallist Canada received 1,160 points. The United States finish with a total of 2,940 points, but Canada's overall total stands at 2,960. That keeps them at number one in the International Ice Hockey Federation women's ranking.

A Tidbit or Two

   April 16 will see the first ever CanWest CanSpell National Spelling Bee, in our nation's capital, Ottawa. This is interesting to me for a couple of reasons. I have been a classroom teacher during the years when it was not done to teach spelling and grammar. Textbooks were taken off the approved list and old ones were garbaged, or shipped to third world countries, where we tend to give a lot of our castoffs. During those years, I originated my own spelling assignments, incorporating writing, computer, and research skills. We had competitions - "bees" if you will - even up to grade eight, where we threw in the added challenge of spelling the words in ASL, and the students were always enthusiastic and involved, ALL of them! I always had very positive feedback from the parents, too, but it remained very much my own initiative. That's why this news catches my eye. I do note that the competition is not being sponsored by any school board. It is regarded as important enough by the CanWest Global Communications Corporation for them to be sponsoring a $10,000.00 prize. Do you think maybe big business is growing tired of getting graduates from the schools who are only semi-literate?


   "Deadly" , the film by filmmaker Michael Sellers that follows the infamous careers in crime of Bernardo and Homolka, is set for release this fall. It is sparking a great deal of protest in Canada. Concern is high for the families of their two victims. "People who do these things are human", says Sellers, as part of his rationale as to why the film should hit the big screen. Nobody is arguing with you about that, Michael. What they are trying to say is that the also very human family members of the two victims have a right to whatever peace they can find. Their imaginations already play the scene of the final minutes endured by their loved ones over and over again, to their torment. It may lessen as the years go by, but it will never completely be gone from their consciousness, ever again. Isn't that enough for them to go through? Why do you have to add to it? Don't give me that crap about the reality of life either, because we all know movies do not show the reality. They can not. They can only show acted out representations. Why should anyone need to see those final moments acted out? Depicting the "reality" does nothing to prevent like crimes from recurring. If it did, we would never have had the second world war, since there were war movies made between the first and the second. If such movies were effective, we would never again have had another murder committed after the airing of the first movie made on the topic. We would never again have child abuse or forcible confinement or torture, or ... the list goes on and on. Mr. Sellers. If you're one of those proponents of reality, let's hear the real truth from you. Admit that your "reality" is the dollars and cents that you stand to make from this film. That's the real reason why you want to depict this horror. That's the real reason why you refuse to acknowledge the suffering and pain that will be added to by you and your film.

Stem Cells to Retinal Cells

   I've been doing a lot of volunteering at the CNIB - Canadian National Institute for the Blind - lately. It's one of those places, you know, where you can spend a bit of time, and your own problems seem to rearrange themselves and shrink a little after you've finished your shift. Even though the problems some of the clients face are difficult enough on their own, they are frequently compounded by the attitude of others. The CNIB does its best to teach their clients how to be independent, but they still have to be reliant on the goodwill of those around them much more than they would like to, I am sure. I get annoyed at people who assume that when someone's eyes malfunction, their ears do too. That one drives me nuts, and it isn't even directed at me.
   Qualitative vs. quantitative - how could you ever say which is "worse" - to be born blind, or to have vision, and then lose it? One thing I do know is that some of the people with whom I work are in the latter category and they have told me that they pray every night for God to have mercy and give them back their sight. Well, She might just be getting ready to do that.
   Enter Robert Lanza, currently Vice President of Medical and Scientific Development at Advanced Cell Technology. Dr. Lanza has over 25 years of research and experience in the area of stem cells and regenerative medicine. He has several hundred scientific publications and patents to his name, and 16 books have been authored and/or edited by him, including the "Handbook of Stem Cells". As a scientist who works with stem cells, he obtains them from tiny balls of cells "left over" in in-vitro fertilization clinics. When these cells are not used for such research, they are often discarded. Surely, to use them for research is better than to toss them out as garbage. Lanza's latest work has seen embryonic stem cells developed into retinal cells, and it is Lanza's theory that this work could lead to a cure for some forms of blindness. Maybe Lanza is acting as God's hands here on Earth when he's wearing that white lab coat.
   Wired magazine saw fit to award the good doctor with one of their 2005 "Rave Awards" for his work with the stem cells. So many people condemn his work, however, thinking that anyone who does the kind of research Lanza does must be working their way toward the cloning of humans. Does his work mean that Lanza's ultimate goal is a human clone? On Friday, December 27, 2002 Dr. Lanza gave an interview on CNN's "American Morning" He denounced the cloning of humans as "abhorrent" and went on to say, "I think that to clone individual cells, microscopic groups of cells to save a life, say a child who may eventually go blind, or have kidney disease or have limbs amputated, if we can create some microscopic cells to alleviate that child from suffering for the rest of his life, I think that that is something that is consistent with the goals of medicine ..."
   For those religious reactionaries, and the far-right knee-jerk types who want the work on stem cells stopped, I wouldn't go so far as to wish blindness on them, but I would wish they could spend some time working where I volunteer, and get to know the people there. I wish they could spend enough time to get involved with those people, and start making friends with some of them. Then I would like to hear their explanation. I want to hear how they explain to those who pray so fervently every day for a return of their vision, exactly why they say those prayers should be denied.

H2G2

   I just finished reading it. If you haven't read it yet, you have very little time to do so before the April 28th UK release ( 29th in the US) of the movie. Some of you, I know, would rather wait for the movie, but there is something to be said for exploring the story as the author himself first laid it out in black and white. Over 15 million copies of his written works have been sold to people who have enjoyed the author's way with words. If you don't read it first though, I'm sure you'll enjoy the production's way with special effects.
   Written by Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" begins on a Thursday morning in Arthur Dent's bedroom, and ends on the Heart of Gold spaceship, hurtling off toward the restaurant at the end of the universe. How it gets from the one to the other is a story told with frenetic energy, and jet propelled jocundity that will speed you through the book and bring you up short on the last page. When I turned the page at the end of chapter 35 and found myself at the end of the book, it was rather annoying to suddenly find myself out of story. I needed to get my hands on the sequel, if for nothing else, then to find out if they did make it to the restaurant, and exactly what would be served at an eatery in such a location.
   The babelfish, "small, yellow and leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe" makes a brief appearance in HHGG, causes God to vanish in a puff of logic, and leaves Arthur able to understand the language of every being in the universe. The first alien speech patterns it translates for Arthur are those of the Vogons, who haven't taken kindly to Arthur and his friend Ford Prefect hitchhiking on their spaceship.
   The characters in the book are an interesting parade of oddities, from the three-armed Zaphod Beeblebrox, to Marvin, the chronically depressed robot. Benjy and Frankie Mouse will give you a really different perspective on lab mice, and Mr. L. Prosser, a direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan will have you wondering if Adams ever buddied about with Terry Pratchett.
   Mr. Prosser is definitely one of the minor characters, but he's great while he's "on stage". You just have to love the picture of this befuddled little man rolling his fur hat around the top of his head in total ineffectiveness while the mighty Khan tries to yell his rage from some other dimension at this less-than-worthy descendant. Prosser does his best to fulfill the duties of his job but finds himself stymied by a recalcitrant Arthur, causing a thousand hairy horsemen from his awe inspiring ancestry to fill his brain, every one of them shouting at him. It's exactly the kind of scene Pratchett would write.
   If you want an easy read, an entertaining way to pass an evening, grab yourself a copy of H2G2 and settle in for a couple of laughs. Read the story before the movie release and you'll probably get even more out of watching it on the big screen.

Competitive Waking

   Have you heard about it? It was detailed in a New York Times article that ran on March 27, 2005. People like Robert A. Iger, the new president of the Walt Disney Company and Dave Wirtschafter, the president of the William Morris Agency are held up as sterling examples of the new and improved sleep-deprivation model. Iger is "up at 4:30 in the morning, works out and arrives in the office by 6:30." Wirtschafter makes the claim that he "usually drops off for only about three hours a night" and then is up and back at business.
   Warren St. John and Alex Williams, the writers of the article, tell us that there was a time when rising with the crack of dawn was all you needed to be seen as an achiever. To get up at that hour of the morning, however, is now being viewed as getting a late start to your day. "To really get ahead in the world, to obtain the sacred stuff of C.E.O.'s and overachievers, one must get up before the other guy, when the roosters themselves are still deep in REM sleep. And of course since so few people are awake at such an ungodly hour, the early risers of the world take special pains to let everyone else know of their impressive circadian discipline."
   Dr. Daniel F. Kripke, a sleep researcher at the University of California, San Diego, disputes this claim. He refers to a 2001 study of adults in San Diego that showed no correlation between waking time and income. Edward J. Stepanski, the director of the Sleep Disorders Service and Research Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago refers to a study conducted on subjects who claimed they could get by on just five hours' sleep. Researchers found that the subjects were taking long naps and sleeping in on weekends to make up for sleep lost to early rising during the week, although they had entirely neglected to mention these compensatory habits when describing their sleep patterns.
   What all of this revolves around is the phenomenon of the circadian rhythm. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language defines the term as meaning: A daily rhythmic activity cycle, based on 24-hour intervals, that is exhibited by many organisms. Whether people like Iger or Wirtschafter like it or not, they are subject to the vagaries of the phenomenon, just like all the rest of us are. The article points out "...for hardened members of the early-to-rise crowd, any talk of being a slave to a notion as wispy as circadian rhythms is a sure sign of weakness." Nonetheless, the truth is out there, folks and it's right in your genes. There is no way to escape those, so you can go ahead and play the sleep deprivation game all you want to. Just understand that it will catch up to you. Sooner or later, it will come knocking and present you with a bill to be paid. The bill may take the form of one of those long naps that the early-riser subjects in the aforementioned study conveniently forgot, or it may be a longer bill with an itemized list that includes your state of overall health.
   Brian Tracy, author of “21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires” and a motivational guru, has this to say "Most successful people try to get up by 5 or 5:30 in the morning.Getting up late (is) for losers" It would be most interesting to know the exact details - ALL the details - of Tracy's sleeping habits. In order to attempt a change of a person's circadian rhythms, treatments involving light therapy, melatonin and large doses of vitamin B12 must be maintained continually. Otherwise, you will revert to what is programmed in your genes.
   The message of the super-achiever to the rest of us is supposed to be "Get an alarm clock." Maybe it should be simply "Get enough sleep."

Giggle Snort!

   I'm getting a great laugh out of the royal wedding. How about you? Poor Chas and Camilla had to postpone the nuptials because the pope exited with the worst of timing. The original date of April 8th had to be moved to the 9th so that Chas could go to the funeral and get himself in just the right frame of mind for the big occasion the next day.
   The bobbies are less than pleased, however, because the move to Saturday means those assigned to guard big-ears will now have to be paid overtime. Some are suggesting that the prince should cover that expense himself.
   The Brit newspaper "The Daily Star" reports as well that Charles felt the need to order a "boob ban" for the occasion, since his niece Zara Philips has a penchant for rather indelicate decolletage. The ban, however, raises the question of exactly how he defines the word "boob". My dictionary lists more than one meaning for the term. Not until # 3 does it get around to "vulgar slang: a woman's breast". In fact, the # 1meaning listed is "a stupid person, a fool". Now that's where the real problem arises, since that use of the word will mean that neither Chas nor his lady love will be allowed to attend their own wedding. Problems, problems, problems!

Duh!

   Colleen Clarke is a career specialist, corporate trainer and author. I saw a recent article by her giving suggestions on how to manage workplace stress. Based on the article, I would save my money rather than buy anything by her. For instance, she suggests getting a rubber chicken and hiding it in a different place every day; or putting your garbage can up on your desk, and labelling it "Inbox". I suppose these are meant to be absolutely hilarious, but I just think they're absolutely imbecile. Anyone who indulged in too many of her suggestions would quickly gain themselves the label of office loser. That would do wonders for their career, and their stress level, too!

A Pet Peeve

   Can anyone explain this to me? I have volunteered in several ESL classes now and in every bloody one of them, the person who is teaching the English is NOT speaking their mother tongue.Why is that? These teachers are frequently from Asia, but they hail from other places as well. They bring a variety of accents to the language, which in itself is no great problem, but they also bring a range of pronunciation errata and other gaffs galore to the usage and understanding of idioms. It drives me nuts, sitting there listening to someone present to the students as correct a statement that is anything but! I don't care who the agency or organization is that is hosting the class, they should damn well make sure they have a teacher who actually is fluent in the language, and can teach it with accuracy.

Itsy Bits

   The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City is currently hosting a display of super-engineered fibers. Among the items to be seen is "smart rope", metal fibers braided into polyester rope. This rope can sense weak points in itself. Used for floating offshore platforms, it offers the ability to measure the strain distribution along its length, giving enhanced security to the platform. Used in a ship's rigging, each rope could transmit its status to the bridge. Think of how history might have been changed if this super-rope had been in use on some of the vessels now lying on the ocean floor.


   Introducing the "nouse"! Standing for 'Nose as Mouse' this concept is a solution to one problem involved in making IT user-friendly for those with special needs. It is based on tracking the convex-shape nose feature, the tip of the nose. Since the nose is visible at all times, regardless of face orientation, it can be tracked with sub-pixel precision, making it possible to operate with your nose, as with a mouse. Since the nose is located right in the middle of the face, between the eyes, and is the furthest point on our face from the axis of face rotations, it is the part of our face that is the best for computers to detect and, at the same time, the most convenient for humans to operate with!

   Talk about making the world accessible to all ... Today I boarded a bus to get to the subway, heading downtown to the Parliament Buildings at Queen's Park. Not once, on either form of transport did I hear the stops being called out. While that is not a big hardship for me, I was very aware of the lack because of the purpose of my outing. I was going as a volunteer, to meet some ESL student-clients of the CNIB, and accompany them on a guided tour. These students were coming from their various starting points in the city, to meet at the Queen's Park subway station. What an undertaking for them to tackle! Not only were they venturing out into a city some of them are not familiar with, but they also were unable to read any street or subway-stop signs. How is the TTC making itself "the better way" for those riders? I was under the impression that it is supposed to be such for every single rider who boards one of its vehicles, not just for the sighted. It does not cost one cent extra for the stops to be called out, loudly and clearly. This time, the TTC can not whine about funding cuts and hide behind that smoke screen. They should do more to make sure their "better way" claims are not just hot air.

Toronto Papabili?

   Apparently some idiots think Toronto's Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic should be considered as the next pope. God help us all. It pretty much goes without saying that there is very little hope of the next pope actually being a man of intellect, but to place Ambrozic in the vatican would be to rule it out completely.
    Years ago, as a young teacher, I went to listen to the misogynist address a group of primary-division teachers at a Professional Development Workshop. He stood there and berated the females of the audience for failing to do their "duty". He felt that all of the married members of the teaching ranks should have been at home, pregnant. He actually stood there and thundered at us that menstruation was "the weeping of an unfulfilled womb". It was a scene that would stay with you forever. Ambrozic is a brain-dead moron. Let's at least leave open the possibility that the next pope might have half a brain, and keep Ambrozic out of this.

Get Over It, People

   A message has been issued by the Archbishop of Toronto, Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic: "A giant of our time has died," he said.
   A giant ego, yes. A man who did his very best to take the church back several centuries in time, yes. A man who missed entirely the point about no being than the least of his flock? Yes.
    A man worth making all this fuss about? No.

   At 9:37 p.m. John Paul II made his final exit. Said a Vatican spokesperson, "We all feel like orphans."
   Give me a break.

Following Her Dream/Suivre Son Rêve

   At 26 years of age, Maud Fontenoy, a French adventurer and woman of steel, has become the first female to complete a solo crossing of the Pacific Ocean, in a boat powered only by her muscles and an oar. She started from Callao(Lima), Peru on January 12th, and followed the route of the Kon-Tiki to Hiva Oa, the largest island in the southern group of the Marquesas, French Polynesia. She was 72 days alone at sea. During that time she traversed 6,900 km (4,300 nautical miles). Upon arrival on March 26, she was carried ashore on the shoulders of wellwishers waiting to celebrate her achievement.
    In 2003, Maud became the first woman to complete a solo row-across of the North Atlantic. On that journey, she rowed 117 days to become the first woman ever to cross from Canada to Spain, joining the ranks of only seven male rowers who have accomplished the trip. Why is this incredible woman's story tucked away in single little paragraphs on the back pages of the newspapers? Why hasn't it been blazoned across the front pages? Where are the photos of her smile of triumphant accomplishment? Tell me why she hasn't supplanted the likes of Spears and Lopez in this week's news. Just for once, give the young women of the world someone else to look up to and emulate beside those puerile-brained doxies.