Farming Without Harming

Here goes - what did you have for breakfast this morning? If you're looking around for something new to try, but you want it to do the max, both for you and for the environment, you can find yourself in a bit of a hard spot. Not to worry, I have a suggestion. Try JORDAN'S MORNING CRISP. The good folk at Jordans have some interesting things going on.
For those of you who skip breakfast in an attempt to limit calorie intake, you might be interested to know that more than one study has found breakfast eaters tend to be slimmer than those who skip the meal. If you visit their website and click on "You & Nutrition", you won't find yourself looking at a thousand reasons why you should load up on their cereal. You will, however, find more than one helpful suggestion on how to eat well at the start of your day. Obviously, the idea for them is for you to include their products, but there is no hard sell anywhere. Rather refreshing. If you click on "Our Cereal", you find a simple little listing of the types they make, with quick descriptions of the contents of each.
It's when you go to "Jordan's & the Environment that the reading, certainly for me, really gets into the nitty-gritty. All of their supplying farmers live up to the slogan "Farming Without Harming" by practising conservation grade farming. Following is their explanation of this practise:

Conservation Grade ... uses good old-fashioned crop rotation, which preserves soil structure, and it optimizes the time between harvesting and reseeding, which provides natural weed control. Organic fertilizers (manures) are encouraged instead of artificial fertilizers. Any chemicals, whether pesticides or herbicides, are banned if they have a dubious track record, even if they have been approved by official government agencies. Genetically modified crops and their by-products are also banned.
The Guild of Conservation Grade Producers also requires Conservation Grade farmers to actively encourage wildlife. Thus broad headlands between cultivated areas must be left for the benefit of wildflowers, birds and animals. Hedges must be preserved and maintained, woodlands cared for and additional trees planted.
These stringent rules ensure that insects, birds, animals and plants are protected from harm. It also means you don't have to worry about what's getting into the food chain. There are only 120 Conservation Grade farmers in Britain and each one is inspected yearly by independent qualified experts from the Guild. Farm records are scrutinized and a conservation audit is carried out. There's even a biannual award for the farm that demonstrates the most progress in environmental enhancement.

Imagine, you can be part of cultivating wildflowers and birds just by chowing down on a bowl of Jordan's. Probably some of the easiest conservation work you'll ever do, especially since Jordan's is committed to supporting the World Wildlife Fund, as well. The crane you see here is nesting on a reserve set up by Jordan's Cereals.
Geez, what's not to like?

Odds 'n Sods

Did you know that the only one of "Hitler's trees" brought here to Canada has gone missing? Not that I would expect anyone to be losing much sleep over this, but it is apparently of great interest to Carleton University journalism professor Klaus Pohle. It was presented to Canada's only gold medalist, Frank Amyot, in the 1936 Olympics, and then given by him to Ottawa's mayor at a ceremony honouring his Olympic achievement. After that, it disappeared from record. There are others still thriving in places as far spread as the Netherlands and New Zealand, including the one awarded to Jesse Owens. The Olympic Oak was given to him as one of the 130 gold medallists at the Berlin Games, and taken home to be planted at his high school practice field, where it still scatters its acorns each year. But the Olympic Oak brought here to Canada can not be found. Professor Pohle has gone on record as saying he is not sure that he would divulge the location graced by Amyot's oak, even if he does find it, out of concern for the well-being of the tree. Because the oaks were awarded at the games presided over by Hitler, Pohle fears there would be those who would hack the tree down if it were found.



Still here in Ontario, there is once again a move afoot to introduce a bill giving presumed consent to organ donation. Two MPP's at Queen's Park are pushing for a law that would grant automatic donor consent unless a person takes steps explicitly to opt out. The law is being touted as a way to address the issue of the currently lengthy waits for organ transplants, not only here in Ontario, but nationwide, as well. At the moment, between 140 and 250 Canadians die annually, while waiting in vain for a transplant that could have saved them.
The two MPP's, Peter Kormos and Cheri Di Novo, have the right idea. There are too many people who do not sign the donor portion of their drivers' license, for instance, not so much because they really oppose the idea but because they just don't bother. It is currently assumed that unless a person takes steps to fill out a card indicating their wish to be a donor, they are not willing to give such a gift as their last gesture of goodwill toward humankind. Why should that be the case? It is not the assumption made in either Belgium or Spain, where everyone is registered as a potential donor, unless they very specifically state otherwise.
Once a person is dead, time becomes of the utmost concern in the harvesting of organs. For the attending medical personnel to have to approach grief-stricken survivors takes valuable time, not to mention the time they might want to consider and discuss the move. A cornea taken in optimum time could allow a recipient to see the light of day again; to see the faces of their loved ones again. Why should anyone have a problem with being part of such a miracle? Obviously, the lack of a properly functioning cornea will not kill anyone, but the lack of a properly functioning kidney, lung, or heart can and does kill. The patient survival rate is now approximately 78% according to data released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and heart transplants are performed at an approximate rate of 5.1 per million population. It could be more, and the question that needs answering is why it isn't. It's a question that that should be answered by all who oppose the bill being proposed by the two MPP's.
Some, of course, will utter dire warnings about supposed donors being whisked off to the dissection labs before they're even dead, by doctors in a hurry for organs. Such a scenario has not occurred in Spain or Belgium. Others will whine about God needing them to be buried intact so that they can be resurrected intact. Anyone who indulges in such nonsensical opposition needs first to give their head a good shake, and then to consider a fact, or two. If Great Aunt Matilda knocks off tomorrow, then J.C is going to have to get his act in gear damn fast. Unless the Parousia happens right after Matilda's last waltz, the process of rot is going to set in, and who the hell wants to picture themselves spending eternity with half their visage vanished? It seems to me that assuming god is omnipotent means s/he will have a solution to any possible problem posed by decomposed human flesh, and it isn't going to be based on the corpse's having rotted in its entirety. I'm betting the deity will be perfectly able to improvise "missing" lungs, hearts, kidneys, and corneas for donors the same as s/he will for all those countless others who have already gone on to their rest and rot.
For god's sake (pun intended or not, as the reader sees fit) pass the law!

Birthdate Unknown

This is Mrs. Félicité Avice, a native of Togo who was born "around 1969". She is one of the entrepreneurs featured on Kiva's website. Félicité is seeking a microloan to help her getting her travelling sales business up and running again after her recent illness. She sells several items, but most of all, soap, and she intends to use the loan to buy eighteen cases of soap, among other items.
I've blogged before about Kiva, and if you go to their website, you're going to find a whole list of worthies, all seeking financial aid to lift themselves and their loved ones out of poverty. No matter whom you chose as the one you want to help, the loan you would need to make is just $25.00. That's it. That's all. The cool thing about giving here is that you never need to give any more, because once the recipient of your first loan has repaid it, you can re-invest your money in the cause of a second entrepreneur, and so on, to the Nth degree. Of course, if you feel so inclined, you can give more, but there are so many of us who could afford to give that $25. without it making any real difference in our lives. It's at the receiving end that our little gestures of generosity assume gargantuan proportions. Félicité is requesting a total loan of $575.00. We could get that to her. Just 23 of us need to send off those $25.00.
The reason I'm asking extra help here is because of that little detail in her bio - born around 1969. This woman has already had more than enough in her life of being so insignificant that no-one pays attention to her. The detail about her birth really struck me. Not even knowing your own birth date would be beyond the imagination of most North Americans. We need to reach out to more people like Félicité, and let them know that we do care.
Can you help?

Lies. Lies, Everywhere

Finally, the Beijing debacle is over, and debacle it was, indeed. After some of the details that have come to light about how the truth was played with there, it casts a pall over every medal awarded.
Perhaps one of the very worst examples of bending the rules done by the host country came to light in the gymnastics venue, where He Kexin, took gold on the uneven bars. The child, for so she most obviously was, "won" her medal under false pretenses. Cui Dalin, vice minister of the General Administration of Sport of China, has gone on record to assure doubters that "a series of misunderstandings" about her age all arise from one mistake made on one registration form when she moved from one team to another last year. He's spreading around enough bullshit to grow a whole field of daises with that one. His see-through lie fails to deal at all with the registration list for a 2006 intercity competition in Chengdu, China, and several other online registries in China including national registries compiled by the state sports bureau wherein the child's birth date is listed as January 1, 1994. Do the math, Cui Dalin, if you're capable. After you finish working with your calculator, maybe you could also explain why a government that has naught to hide would take the step of blocking access to many of the registries since the first report surfaced last month accusing the Chinese of having played loose with the facts.
What happened to the ruling that says Olympians must be 16 in the year of the games in which they compete? One has to ask, if that rule can so obviously be sidestepped, then why couldn't other rules be bent to benefit athletes who are not Chinese? In the men's 200, Wallace Spearmon was first placed as the winner of the bronze, and Churandy Martina as the silver medallist, but then both were disqualified for having stepped outside their lanes. Really, what could possibly be so bad about stepping outside their lanes while they ran, when He Kexin was taking medals even though she was outside her lane too, so to speak?
Beijing declared its intent to play with the truth right from the word "go", starting with its pathetic voice dubbing decision for the opening ceremonies. Little Yand Pelyi was deemed too ugly to represent her country. Take a good look at her and see if you can tell what the little one's downfall was. Is it the baby teeth that are a little less than perfect? What was it, exactly? Whatever it was, China decided she wasn't good-looking enough to meet its lofty standards, so it substituted 9-year-old, pig-tailed Lin Miaoke, already a veteran of TV ads, and had her mouth the words. Somehow, they just forgot to be honest with the rest of the world and say they were hiding the real singer in the wings. Now who could possibly question the veracity of statements made by such a regime? Even though He Kexin is listed here, there and everywhere as only 14, China says she is 16, and the rest of us are expected simply to accept their lies.
The furor over protests staged during the games has helped to keep China under a smog of deception and dissimulation. No matter that they had assured the IOC, as part of their being given the games, that they would allow protests during the games. They designated three parks as protest zones and then denied the applications of 77 would-be protesters, with the end result that only a few small, "illegal" protests took place in Beijing. Again, having made the promise that the international media would be allowed the freedom to cover events in Beijing, other than just the games, was no problem for China. They had simply lied, yet again, and proved it by roughing up any journalists who tried to cover the protests.
The Olympics often bring out the very best and the very worst in both the competing athletes and the host country, but this time it would seem that China has taken the duplicity to new heights, or should it be said, new lows?

DESPICABLE

Last week, on August 10, a story played out in one of the homes on Katherine Road, closest to the exploding Sunrise Propane Industrial depot, that must have Florence Nightingale spinning to a boogie beat in her grave.
J.P. Pampena, who lives in a bungalow on that street, is the blind 52-year-old father of a daughter with cerebral palsy. This girl is totally dependent on the help of others, for all of her needs, including personal safety. She is unable to swallow and is therefore fed through a tube. Because she is unable to swallow, she needs constant suctioning to clear her mouth of her own saliva. Since Pampena and his wife are not able to provide the round-the-clock care their daughter needs, there is always a nurse present in their home. On the Sunday night of the explosion, the nurse in the home was a newly-assigned woman who had only been there a couple of nights.
Pampena looked first to the nurse for an explanation of the noise assualting his ears, since she was already at the front door. Then he expected to be able to look to her for help in getting his daughter safely out of the house which he thought might be blown up at any moment. The problem was, the nurse expected the same outcome and so she ran past the frightened father to retrieve her purse. Declaring herself unwilling to die there, she shoved the daughter's suction apparatus into the father's hands and ran to her car. Pampena says he heard her squealing the tires in her rush to escape the danger. He saw his wife and daughter safely out to their driveway, then returned to the house to phone his mother who lives close by. He wanted to alert her to the danger before he joined his family in their flight to safety. On a CBC radio interview this morning, he described how his daughter, incapable of speech, was making sounds he said were panicked cries. He tells of how he kept assuring her they were on their way to safety and that everything would be OK. You have to wonder if the coward who abandoned this little family gave them even a second thought as she fled the scene. You have to wonder if anything disturbed her sleep that night, or if she had no problem at all getting a good rest. The latter would seem to be the more likely scenario, given her clear lack of concern for them when she bolted for her car.
This home care nurse was arranged for by Community Care Access Centre, whose acting executive director says he is unable to comment on her behaviour. Pampena has been told this compassionate caregiver was dismissed, but surely one has to ask if that is enough. Hopefully, there will be further action taken against this malfeasant who violated a trust that should be held by her as sacred. If the helpless can not depend on a nurse for their lives, s/he has no business pretending to be worthy of their trust. This woman should be barred from nursing anyone, anywhere, ever again. Her name should be blazoned across the front page of every newspaper, as should her picture. She brings new meaning to the word "despicable".

More Fodder for the Idiot Files

What a shame that additions to the Files should arise from the Olympic Games. If you hadn't yet seen the picture of Spain's Olympic Basketball team, just take a gander to the left of this text. There you will see the whole gathering of idiots, posing for a pre-games advert for a courier company which is an official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation. The advert, which included the women's team indulging in the same thoughtlessness as the men's was given a full page in Spain's best-selling sports daily, the Marca. There they all stand, every one of the players, pulling at the sides of their eyes in a "slit-eyed" gesture. How fucking stupid do you have to be to take part in such a photo shoot?
Apparently, the claim is being made that no offense was intended by the advert. Bullshit. This whole thing makes you think of a schoolyard bully, who when confronted, claims s/he didn't mean anything and really, can't the target of their nastiness "take a joke"? Especially when you combine this photo with Spain's track record for openly indulging in racism - think Spanish coach Aragones using a racial slur against World Cup player Thierry Henry and receiving nothing more than a slap on the wrist from the Spanish football federation, for instance - it's a real challenge not to see the photo as intentionally racist.
The lack of a functioning brains does seem to be one of the prerequisites for a place on Spain's Olympic basketball teams.

Cleaning Out Cobwebs

A sporty new addition to the Idiot Alert Files has just been made in the person of the coach of the Chinese women's water polo team. Having called a time-out with eight seconds to go in the game, he sounded like he was berating his team as they clustered near him where he stood at the edge of the pool. The team, up to that point, had given the American women one heck of a run for the money. They were even in the lead in the second quarter, but when that time-out was called, they were down one point. Although I did not understand the words the coach was using, I did understand the tone of voice, and there was nothing positive in it, as far as I could tell. Eight seconds later, when the Americans began to celebrate their 12-11 victory, he proved my understanding to be correct. While the American commentators were saying the Chinese had made a "tremendous effort", he began his mean-spirited posturing in front of the cameras that broadcast his lousy attitude worldwide. He made clearly taunting faces and derogatory gestures at the team. What a pea-brained idiot.
He was not in the water doing his best. He was merely on the sidelines demeaning those who had. He should have his head held down several times in a flushing toilet. It might help to clear out a few of the cobwebs of juvenile bullying that seem to be the only way he knows to communicate with the athletes. Of course, it might also do nothing more than dirty the toilet.

Idiot Files' Standards

It seems the whole world has heard about the horrendous killing of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus last week. Included among those who heard the news are the ones who reacted with sympathy for the bereaved family, and those who reacted the way that PETA members and Westboro Church members did. It has been suggested to me that the two groups made prime candidates for the Idiot Alert Files, but I beg to differ. Even a group such as the Idiots have to draw the line somewhere, you know. Though their ranks have made room for many an imbecile, the simpletons of PETA and the hatemongers of Westboro will find no more welcome there than they did in Winnipeg where ordinary citizens lined the street outside the church where the funeral was held. Their numbers included many who had never even met the deceased, but were there nonetheless to help ensure that the family's farewell to its loved one was not marred by the presence of the insanity represented by westboro. At the Canadian border, several westboro nitwits were denied entry after Canada's Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day issued an alert against them. Winnipeg's constabulary were posted at the doors and roof of the church while seven police cruisers and a van kept watch against the possibility of these brain-dead dolts disturbing the funeral. The church of assholes, also known as the westboro baptist, had declared that the killing was "a gift from God" to punish Canada for its official acceptance of homosexuality and abortion. The "church" founder said that Canada is a "nation of rebels ... who will be punished" and that they would be here to declare their warped views during the family's farewell to McLean. Fucking moron.
The pathetic PETA dummies had actually tried to take out newspaper ads comparing what happened to McLean to the experience of animals in slaughterhouses. Give us all a break, you mental midgets. There is many a vegetarian out there but you would never find the ones with functioning brains claiming that the bereavement of McLean's family represents any kind of an opportunity to attempt shoving their views down others' throats.
No, the members of the Idiot Alert Files have drawn the line at admitting these pieces of scum to their ranks. After all, even idiots have standards.

What Colour Is Your Bra?

I guess the better question is: no matter what colour it is to the eye, is your bra green? If you're buying bras from Marks & Spencer, they're likely a beautiful shade of green, since the building of the "eco-factory" in Sri Lanka. MAS Holdings, which produces bras for Marks & Spencer has created a green lingerie manufacturing facility that will reduce carbon emissions now and aim to become carbon neutral in the future.The facility boasts Sri Lanka's biggest installation of solar panels to provide about 10 per cent of the plant's needed electricity. It also includes the use of extensive daylight to help light the premises; energy efficient lighting and LED based task lights; low energy cooling systems to replace air conditioning; cooling measures such as green roofs, roofs with high solar reflectivity; strategically positioned courtyards with greenbelts to cool the microclimate; and the use of eco bricks in construction to help maintain a cool interior. All the above features will save about 49% on electricity use compared to other similarly sized factories. It will also be able to reduce its water usage by about 50% by using rainwater in toilet facilities, waste water management systems and low-flow fixtures.
While all of this is, of course, great for environmental concerns, no matter how green a plant may be, it still needs workers to run it, and a concern that should be just as important is their welfare. If you visit MAS' website, you will see their claim that "MAS was doing the Right Thing before CSR became a Corporate buzz word" and that doing the right thing is "a part of (their) DNA". Keep reading and you'll find some very convincing material supporting their claims. For instance, their facilities provide a safe working environment for the staff and include healthcare facilities. Among other concerns, this self-proclaimed responsible global entity focuses on empowering their employees and championing the cause of women's empowerment in society so that the sweatshop modus operandi "flies out the nearest window". In 2005 they began their "WOMEN GO BEYOND" initiative aimed at empowering women in the workplace and beyond. It's the beyond part that really gives a little halo effect to MAS, for me. In connection with GAP Inc. they have started the GAP-Go Beyond programme which is "an initiative to champion empowerment of women and youth in the community, focusing on sustainable development education and practice in schools' supporting education and sporting talent; and promoting entrepreneurship among women in the community.
Geez, those green bras are sounding better and better all the time, don't you think?

Happy Day, Everybody!

Specifically, Happy Simcoe Day! I know, I'm a little early, since Simcoe Day is always the first Monday in August, but the civic holiday is a day when I intend to be doing great things with my family, hence, the early wishes.
I was watching a bit of TV this morning while I was on the elliptical at the gym, and the news person was doing a few people-on-the-streets interviews, asking if people knew why this was a long weekend. No one to whom she spoke actually did know why. Some even guessed it was because of Caribana. That's an irie suggestion, alright, but it's still not the right one. Several others of whom she asked the question, "Do you know who John Graves Simcoe was?" were only able to answer in the negative. Either they were not listening in history class, or they have the excuse of not being from this neck of the woods.
If anyone is interested, Simcoe is worth at least a bit of attention, for two main reasons. Yes, he was a tactician who performed a military feat or two fighting against the colonies in the American Revolution, but in 1791 he was appointed the first lieutenant-governor of the newly created Province of Upper Canada (now Ontario), and it's what he did in that position that's really noteworthy.
First of all, among other duties he undertook, he began construction of two main routes through Ontario, along which all of us still make our way now and then. Work on Yonge Street was started in August 1793. Dundas Street was the other main thoroughfare that Simcoe was responsible for. He intended both routes to facilitate the movements of troops needed to defend the province from the Americans, and to help encourage trade and settlement throughout the province. Both roads have more than fulfilled his vision for them.
The accomplishment for which I accord Simcoe the most respect, however, was his work to abolish slavery in the province. He wanted the outright abolition of the horrendous inhumanity, but he was opposed on this by the provincial government because so many Loyalists (those who remained loyal to the British monarchy and had to get the hell out of America after the War of Independence) had fled to Upper Canada bringing their "possessions" with them, including their slaves. After all, how could the government ask these dear, loyal souls to deprive themselves of any more than they had already lost by continuing to support the loony King George?
That aside, Simcoe would not be swayed from his purpose, persevering in being a thorn in the side of the legislators until the Anti-Slavery Act of 1793 was passed. This act is indeed noteworthy, being the first in the mighty British Empire to limit the owning of other humans. Under the terms of this act, Simcoe actually won his point, but just a little bit more slowly than he had originally hoped. The Act declared that slaves already in the province would remain property until their death. No new slaves, however, could be brought into Upper Canada and any children born to female slaves in the province would be freed when they reached the age of 25. Surely, it was John Graves Simcoe who laid down the first tracks on the Underground Railroad.
So, whatever your colour or your country of origin, if you're in Ontario this weekend, I hope each weekend day is filled with smiles and laughter for you. I know Simcoe would approve.