Black Coffee Blues

Tour de Irrele-France

2008-02-13T16:20:00.002-05:00

The big headline today is that the ASO (the company that owns the Le Tour) has decided not to extend an invitation to theo 2008 tour to team Astana. In my opinion, this is just one more punchline in the comedy of errors that the sport of cycling has become.

In the cycling offseason, many changes happened with some teams folding, others starting up, and many strong riders choosing to change teams. What I think has resulted is a greater parity between teams across the board, but clearly, Astana came out quite well and have one of the strongest (The strongest?) teams. Their top 3 riders consist of last year's Tour winner (Contador), the 3rd place finisher (Leipheimer), and another who I think had the talent for a podium spot in Andreas Kloden.

For all these riders to be absent from all ASO events (most notably the Tour) and the Giro d'Italia will call the legitimacy of the winner of all those races into question.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand some of the motivation behind these decisions: the sport simply can't handle more scandal! But is this decision not a scandal in itself? The only commonality between this year's Astana & last years is that both teams had ugly outfits. Entirely new staff and riders have been brought in. If the current squad resembles anybody, it's the Discovery team! Nobody in the current squad is under investigation for any doping-related offenses. I've got no doubt that Cofidis has their invite in the mail already, and they have a worse record than nearly anbody!

The real source of all this scandal is that there is no unity or consistency within the sport. Every race has a different organizer, and the UCI's ProTour seems to have ended up being more of a divisor than the unifier it was supposed to be. What the sport truly needs is one governing body, and one union to look out for the interests of the riders (who must be starting to think getting the shaft is in their job description).

Almost as muich as it needs a scandal-free season, cycling needs to legitimize itself again, and having the world's top riders laying on the beach rather than racing isn't going to accomplish either.

Cost of poor diet more than just grocery bill

2008-01-17T11:24:00.000-05:00

I was shocked yesterday when I came across the cost of type 2 diabetes in the US each year: $132 billion!

In my opinion, the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes over the last decade or so is very much attributable to changes in our choices in food, activity and lifestyle. This got me thinking: how much of our medical costs overall are self-inflicted?

It's estimated that obesity directly costs Americans another 50+ billion each year, and that smoking costs approximately 160 billion more.

To be conservative, let's assume there is some overlap in the numbers I've just quoted... in fact let's be very conservative and assume there is $100 billion worth of it. That still leaves us with around $250 billion each year spent covering the medical costs of smoking, inacivity and poor diet alone.

In 2002 total medical expenditure in the US was approximately $1 trillion. Based on what I've come up with above, that's a full 25% of medical costs on spent on very avoidable diseases, if a little preventative care were taken.

I think I've got a great idea on how the upcoming presidential election can be won. Promise to squash the above diseases, and to use the remaining medical budget to write each American a personal cheque! That would be about $750 per person, and if $300 was enough to get GWB back in office then Hillary should have no problem.

World of Reality v. World of Warcraft

2006-11-28T11:31:00.000-05:00

According to Dr Maressa Orzack, founder and coordinator of Computer Addiction Services, 40% of people who subscribe to World of Warcraft choose the latter.

In a recent interview she estimates that 40% of those that play the game exhibit addictive behaviors. A staggering number when one considers that many activities considered to be addictive show rates of only 5-10% addiction. Granted, 40% is only an estimate. But, if we are very generous and assume that the actual value is just half of that, we're still talking about 20% of 6.5 million subscribers (and growing) that are hooked.

According to Dr Orzack, addiction to video games is nothing new, but has skyrocketed with the advent of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG's) like Worlds of Warcraft and others. She explains how video game addiction is very real, and is analogous in many ways to gambling addiction. Orzack says that both gambling and video game addictions are addictive because the rewards are presented as variable ratio reinforcement. This is characterized by a system that has the player (playing the slots, or a video game) continuing to play despite failures until they've achieved a goal. But, once that goal has been achieved, they'll still keep playing.

Games that were once stored entirely on a cartridge or DVD, by nature, had to have an end. So regardless of how addictive the gameplay may have been, the games that I grew up playing could only keep me roped in for a finite amount of time. However, with online games, the gameplay is potentially ever-changing. Because developers are now able to add new content to their games post-purchase, there need not be any end to the game.

I'm no expert in the field, but I'm of the opinion that people become addicted to behaviors (not substances) to cope. There is some coping skill that they need to get by in the world, but lack; so the solution is to engage in a different reality (the casino, or the internet) in which that missing skill is not required in order to get by. I don't think that record addictions to internet gaming is a sign of corporate brainwashing. However, I do think it is such a perfect illustration of our times, that this much of our younger generation are so thoroughly unprepared to handle the real world, that they opt to live in another one.

"World of Warcraft: like the real world, only easier".

Blame somebody else

2006-11-16T12:08:00.000-05:00

Listening to CBC radio's Quirks & Quarks show the other day, Steven Heine of UBC's social psychology dept was speaking about a recently published study of his investigating whether there truly is a sex difference between male's & female's math abilities.

The observation is that men generally do better than women in math, and science related fields. The question is whether that difference is a result of some sex differences (for some reason(s) the male brain is better equipped to solve math problems than the female's) or whether it's due to women being socialized to do poorly with math.

Heine took two groups of women, and had them read one of two articles before writing a difficult math test. Both articles were fabricated for the experiment, but were presented to the women as real. The first told the women that females performed worse on math tests because there is a gene on the Y chromosome (which men have and women do not) responsible for improved math performance. The other article told them that their historically reduced performance was due to social mechanisms holding women back. On average, the women that read the second article got twice as many questions correct on the math test written immediately afterwards.

This result doesn't rule out the idea that there is some sex difference in math performance, but it clearly indicates at least that there is a social component as well.

This reminds me of a particular model in Sport Psychology, in which attributing failure to some extrinsic factor results in greater future success than attributing a failure to an intrinsic factor. Regardless of whether there is a sex difference of not, women's performance on math tests will be best if they believe that their ability is high. And given a poor performance on one test, they will perform better on future tests if they attribute that failure to something outside themselves, like the professor, or social mechanisms, than if they attribute it to themselves, by saying "I'm just not good at math" or "my sex limits my math ability".

Maybe, just maybe, this can be a watershed for relations between nerds and jocks across the nation: the same guiding principles for the captain of the soccer team, and for the captain of the Reach team.

Kissing hands and Shaking babies

2006-11-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

Municipal elections are fast approaching here in London, and candidates are turning up the heat in their campaigns. After classes today, I got out for a quick bike ride, and on two separate city corners, I came across throngs of sign-waving supporters. More surprisingly, the actual candidates were with them on the street corner, petitioning Londoners for their votes.

It's been said many times that actions speak louder than words, probably because it's true. Nothing a candidate can say on the radio or television will convince me that he/she cares about London (or wherever) more than coming and speaking with the public.

Howard Dean said on last night's Daily Show that he attributed part of the Democrat's success in the recent Mid-terms because they went to classically 'red' states and agressively campaigned for votes. They went out into Republican territory and asked people to vote for them. To get out of the office and into the community, particularly into a community that's unsupportive, I think shows tremendous respect for the voting public, and says to me that "this candidate understands that her power comes from the people".

When I see politicians pounding the pavement it reminds me of the above photo of Adlai Stephenson, and how he wore through the soles of his shoes along the campaign trail. I rarely see in politicians today, the humility and determination that I see in that photo. I'd be glad if I would see it more often.

The three O's: Omentum, Oz and Oprah

2006-11-06T18:05:00.000-05:00

Last week Dr Mehmet Oz (and his colleague Dr Michael Roizen) appeared on Oprah. The two M.D's have written two fabulous health & wellness books (You: The owner's manual, and You: on a diet), the latter of which is a new publication. The docs are very enthusiastic but very non-sensensationalist which is a nice change in the world of health information.

The first book is great for the person that wants to lead a healthier life, as it gives accurate, no nonsense information, and (unlike most books it will compete with) gives the reader an understanding of what 'health' means, and is.

The second I haven't yet read, but I'm sure it's more of the same, with a focus more on how our bodies metabolize what we eat, and how that impacts our health.

What impressed me most is how Dr Oz made the focus of his presentation health, not weight loss, not aesthetics. For example, everybody wants to have their waistline under control, but Oz let the viewer visualize why that's so important. The omentum is an organ that sits underneath your stomach, between your abdominal muscles and your digestive system. The classic beer belly is really a beer-omentum. I'm no expert on the organ, but my understanding is that it works like a kind of filter. The omentum is able to absorb toxins and particles that are taken up by the intestines. Fats, and trans-fats in particular, are readily absorbed by the omentum, and as they lie inside the actual torso (not under the skin) they represent a huge health risk.

The viewers were able to visualize how McDonalds and french fries impact their bodies by showing them two human omenti, one from a heathy person and one from an overweight person. The first was looked like a dishcloth; the second omentum was about as big as my book bag. This person who was about 30 lbs overweight, was carrying 10-15 of that right on top of his/her liver & intestines. 30 lbs overweight isn't a huge amount by todays standards either. It corresponds with about 25% of the population of the US. Even as someone with a concept of what that type of fat can do to a person's health, to see it was shocking.

I don't ever watch Oprah's show, but I do realize how many people do watch it, and what a hugely influential woman she is. For example, in 1994 Oprah ran the New York City Marathon, the biggest marathon in the world, with 90 000 participants last year. That year 20% of the runners were women. The following year, 45% of the runners were women. Without knowing how many total participants there were in 94 or 95, even extremely conservative estimates are that 10 000+ women ran a marathon because they saw Oprah do it.

Rundown on our 3 O's for today:

Omentum: know what it is, and if yours could kill you, do something about it

Oz: Check out either one of his books and learn how to treat yourself better

Oprah: You don't have like her or her show, but appreciate that she does a lot more with her good fortune (and financial fortune), than most in her shoes

Save the Earth: Buy a Segway

2006-11-03T16:09:00.000-05:00

According to his latest publication, Karl Ulrich (Researcher at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania) might have us all slugging down tequila & whizzing around on motorized scooters for the sake of the environment. Okay, that's a little unfair, but Ulrich does have a very novel take on our efforts to save the world.

Admittedly, I've only had time yet to read the abstract, and a summary written elsewhere, but the gist of his paper is that riding your bike to work takes a greater toll on the environment than driving to work. Sure, you small-picture thinkers might disagree, but those Pennsylvanians are big-picture people! While you might save energy & emissions immediately, there are side effects to regular cardiovascular exercise: weight management, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, reduced risk of cancer, reduced risk of osteoporosis, improved mental status. These factors all conspire to keep bike-riders alive for up to a decade longer than their chain-smoking, binge-drinking counterparts.

And what are our health-nuts doing for those 10 extra years? Consuming energy, that's what! The improved longevity of bike-to-work-ers results in a net overconsumption of energy when compared to commuters, who do the whales and penguins a favor by dying in a timely fashion.

The real cuprit to blame for our energy crisis though isn't bike commuters. It's recreational cyclists: the worst of both worlds. They still drive to work, but afterwards they zip around reaping the health benefits of pedaling that will keep them consuming well into their 70's, 80's & 90's.

While it's an interesting persepctive on the topic, I can't say I buy Dr. Ulrich's logic.

I should be reading, not blogging

2006-10-24T19:25:00.000-04:00

So I'd better make this quick!

So not only will our kids never know the joys of travel toothpaste, they'll never know the joys of playground tag either. I'm nearly speechless after reading this. Only two thoughts come to mind: A) are you kidding me? B) seriously, are you f%&king kidding me!

The principal of this school that's banned playground tag, supports it by describing the game of tag as "a time when accidents can happen". Shall we then limit our kids to activities with no risk of accidents? I argue that that activity does not exist, so I'll go with no we should not do that.

Have our teachers lost sight of why the kids are there? To learn. To be exposed to new things, and to learn coping skills. Whether in the schoolyard or not, our kids will encounter accidents. If we truly believe that they can't handle tag-related accidents, how can we expect them to handle automobile accidents? Having minor accidents happen in a controlled environment is healthy for children, and will prevent them from more serious accidents in the future.

This anti-tag school is following the lead of another nearby school that recently banned dodgeball which it described as "dangerous" and "exclusionary". Sometimes exclusion happens at school, but not just at school. It happens in the world. Do you know what's even more exclusionary than having to deal with 30 minutes of a game you're not great at? Having to deal with an entire lifetime without developed social skills.

I think this type of prohibition does such a disservice to the young generation. They're being robbed of the opportunity to explore the world with the help & supervision of a teacher, and the luxury of that safety net isn't there very long.

Thanks to Calvin for this one... back to work!

HEY HEY HEY Does correlation imply causation?

2006-10-24T02:41:00.000-04:00

The above diagram is the product of the Eyetrack 3 project in San Francisco. It took a group of people and tracked their eye movements as they viewed webpages. The goal of the study was to identify a person's habits when viewing websites, so they can design more ergonomical sites in the future.

Among other things, the pattern shown above was identified. This was the most common pattern the study identified in its subjects, with the first area to be viewed starting near the top left at the square, and ending in the top right, at the arrow.

When I see this pattern though, I wonder how much have we truly learned about our 'instinctual' viewing habits? I imagine what our stereotypical San Franciscan study subject might be thinking as he/she goes through this pattern:

Here I am just to the right of upper left... seems like a good place to start as I've just typed in the url blackcoffeeblues.blogspot.com. Let's peruse the top corner here to check out the new headlines.
Well now that I know the new headlines, I'd better head to the navigation bar if I'm going to get anywhere on this site. Is this nav bar in the far right column or far left column? I can never remember, I'd better check both just in case.
Aha, here's my article! Now I'll just start at the top and work my way down, as I so often do whilst reading.
Great post, another head scratcher. I'm going to need some time to think about this one. I'll come back to this later, but for now I'll just go up to the top right corner to close this browser window.

What a coincidence! It seems to me like I could pretty easily navigate any website intuitively if I followed that pattern. It also seems to me like we're much more likely to be using a visual search program that has been determined by the way websites are designed, than that we are designing websites that conform to our visual search patterns. We're very adaptive creatures, which is one of the reasons we're still around.

If things do happen the way I've suggested, I don't mean to say that Eyetrack 3 was a waste of money. Empirical confirmation that indeed we do look for important information in the places that we most often find it is an important step in understanding how our decision making really works. It's also a confirmation of how malleable our minds truly are. In relatively few years, the internet has become so integrated into the lives of so many people, largely because we are so very good at adapting to our environments. Intuitively, we now know exactly where to look to quickly evaluate where the important info can be found.

There really is some good interpretation of results in the article as well. For example, because how long does a person look at a headline? Less than a second according to data collected by Eyetrack. So for me, I probably won't attract as many people by simply titling my post 'Does correlation imply causation'. Admittedly, a little dry. Most will probably get as far as "Does correla---" and have already moved on to MTV.com. But HEY HEY HEY.. now that's an attention grabber! And just to the right of top left, why that's the perfect spot!

"Cool Tags" for sale!

2006-10-23T21:03:00.000-04:00

Buying "Cool Tags" is not the latest thinly-veiled attempt to capitalize on our nations's insecurities. Rather, it's a great initiative, as the team says, to help Start Global Cooling.

In particular, the TIAA-CREF/Clif Bar Pro Cycling Team are selling Cool Tags at each of their races. Really, a Cool Tag is a $2 donation to Native Energy which goes towards clean wind-powered energy. Your $2 donation will produce enough energy cleanly to offset about 300 miles of driving emissions. The idea behind this particular promotion is that if everybody who came to the race purchased a Cool Tag, they could offset their emissions by funding an equal amount of clean energy.

Now, by purchasing the Tag you don't 'unburn' the gasoline you spent getting to the race. Still, I think it's a great way to raise awareness, and it gives people a way of associating their impact on the environment with their daily activities, and to give them a dollar cost associated with living a sustainable lifestyle.

In 2006, for the third year running , the TIAA-CREF/Clif Bar Pro Cycling Team purchased purchasing enough credits to offset the carbon footprint they created over the course of the entire year. Additionally, they planned ahead so that they would be able to buy the as much of their cyclists' food as possible from local, organic farmers. Check out the team's blog for more info on current and future initiatives.

I like the paradigm shift these groups encourage us to take on: not to aim for a reduced carbon footprint, but to aim for zero carbon footprint.

Floyd Update

2006-10-17T18:10:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I've had a chance to read the Powerpoint presentation that Floyd and his team presented to the ADRB, and to browse through some of the paperwork used to process Floyd's samples.

First of all, I don't know enough about the process to say with 100% certainty that the claims Floyd are either legit, and if so whether they exonerate him or not.

However, within the realm of what I do know about the process though, the claims he makes cast the whole testing procedure into serious doubt.

Throughout the documents, Floyd's sample is referred to using 4 different identification numbers. The lab's identification number is mislabelled in one spot, and unidentified alterations have clearly been made to Floyd's sample number.

In addition, the A sample is tested a second time to confirm the result of the first test. The confirmation test returned a similar T/E ratio. However the results that are similar relative to one another, but the absolute results are significantly divergent, to the tune of ~300%.

I could theoretically interpret these results as meaning Floyd had a 3.5 : 1 , or a 28 : 1 T:E ratio, just as easily as he had 11.5 : 1 as the lab reported.

I certainly do agree with some of the conclusions drawn in the report, and even regarding the ones I'm not confident in, I don't have much more confidence in the conclusions the lab drew from the same information. There's more to the report, but suffice to say it makes adherence to lab procedures, and interpretation of results seem somewhat loose.

More than likely, I won't ever truly know whether Floyd won the Tour while doping, but I do know that whether he was clean or not, this whole debacle is a shame. If he was clean, it's a crime that the career and reputation of such a talented rider have been dragged through the mud. If he was doping, it's my opinion that Floyd was the strongest rider in the Tour anyhow, and would have won the Tour clean if he'd played his cards right.

Tour de Floyd

2006-10-17T12:25:00.000-04:00

For those who haven't been following the Floyd Landis doping scandal, allow me to start by informing you that it's a debacle of the highest order.

The latest news comes as Floyd presents his defense case to the Anti-Doping Review Board (ADRB). In an unprecedented move, Floyd has made the details of his case, and its presentation, available on his personal website.

As it's a huge file to download, it's still on the way to me and I've only read summaries so far. Still, I can comment (both as a cycling fan, and someone that wants to see justice served) that I'm very happy Landis has done this. The World-Anti Doping Agency, and the Tour de France organizers have both weakened thier cases by failing to live up to their own protocols for how a positive result is handled, and have on multiple occasions given us all reason to question their testing procedures.

Landis, infuriated no doubt by the lack of honesty and transparency from his accusers, is using their weakness to strengthen his defense by making the press and public privy to the same information that he is.

One factor that contributes to this scandal (and has contributed to nearly every TdF scandal over the past 10 years) is that the Tour is run by French sports magazine L'Equipe. Without fail, the first source of scandalous accusations regarding the tour, comes from L'Equipe. The magazine's their anti-American slant is painfully obvious, and they have accused every successful American rider since 1990 of doping. Many see the domination of the Americans, and the perpetual failure of French riders to win their own race as a source of frustration and bitterness from French cycling beaurocrats.

In the particular case, scandal began when an employee at the testing lab leaked confidential information to L'Equipe. Two samples are taken from each rider during drug testing. If the first one (A sample) returns a positive result, then the second (B sample) is tested to see if it returns positive as well. One positive is an erroneous result, two positives is an indication of doping. For this reason, the lab isn't allowed to report anything until both samples have been tested, both to protect the rider's career, and to protect the lab's credibility. Still, L'Equipe reported that Floyd's A sample was positive before the B had even been started. In fact, L'Equipe likely knew about the A sample result before Floyd did. Landis had been widely judged as guilty in the court of public opinion before the results of the test were even in.

I'm not so sure it will affect the decision reached in the court of law, but in the court of public opinion Landis has presented a public defense to the very public way he was accused. I'll admit my bias: I'm a big fan of Floyd's and would like only one thing more than to find his innocence proven; I'd like to see the correct verdict reached after all the bungling I've seen thus far. I hope this example of transparency will be followed from here on.

Have I made some Aussie enemies?

2006-10-15T19:26:00.000-04:00

I'm not 100% sure what to make of this, but somebody in Melbourne, Australia reached my site yesterday by googling the following:

Cam Smith Eat It

Apparantly there is a Cameron Smith who plays rugby league for the Melbourne Storm, and is thier hooker and captain. I'm guessing she was googling him, not me. However, the fact that I have been to Australia, and that I've got both a healthy ego and a vivid imagination allow me to retain some thought that Australians are googling me.

Still, whoever this is doesn't seem to have good feelings for my namesake (or myself), and I'm pretty sure I take offense to that!

Edit:

Wow, I may need to take a look at what readers I'm targeting my material to. Here's another google search that will lead you to my site:

Why does black coffee give me significant flatulence

Dear loyal reader,
Without having too much information about your colon (and virtually any could be considered too much) I'd say eat more fiber and yogurt/raw milk & your flatulence should be much milder & more pleasant.

Legalize Marijuana?... how 'bout no!

2006-10-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

Over the last few years, I think my opinions on marijuana use have been quite galvanized.

I used to think it was something I just wasn't really into, but that it was a fairly recreational drug without any real long-term effects.

I definitely do not believe that anymore. I'd like to see more information compiled on the long-term effects of pot smoking, because:
A) Anecdotally, I know people who have used the drug for a long time and whose personalities have changed significantly more than that of my drug-free friends.
B) I have a hard time believing that any frequent use of any complex mind-altering drugs has no long term effects.
C) I see glimpses of very scary information that we do have, and it makes me think we need to find out more.

For example, I came across the following study by Lane et al which demonstrates a few unexpectedly marked responses to pot smoke.

I'm primarily interested in how physiology changes when a person is high. For example, just by smoking and then sitting on the couch, a person's heart rate goes up by approximately 32 bpm. My resting heart rate is close to 50, so for me that would be a 64% increase in HR. For the average Cheech or Chong, resting HR is probably more like 70-75, so just by smoking, they've entered into a very light exercise HR zone without even moving.

If they then decide to wrestle their buddies & get a bit of exercise, HR's were found to be elevated during recovery from exercise by an even wider margin, to the tune of 50%. Now an unfit person could be in the same HR zone as some of the riders in the Tour de France find themselves during the race.

Lane was primarily interested in pot's effect on a person's decision making. I'm not sure which results were scarier, but after exercise, sober and high subjects were asked to make a series of decisions which were determined to be either risky or not risky. Compared to decisions made before the test was conducted, sober subjects made on average one less risky decision after exercise. High subjects? They made on average 28 more risky decisions than before smoking. if the placebo is any indication, the exercise they conducted before decision making caused underestimation in judgement impairment if anything.

Living in a society

2006-10-12T21:50:00.000-04:00

In what is at least 50% coincidence, Matthew's return to the blogosphere has prompted me to share some of my ideas with you all (is anybody still reading this?) again, and the title of his blog seems appropriate to what's got my attention tonight.

Prologue: my soccer season has just ended, and my cadaver anatomy class has just started. I stopped to read my soccer league's forum after the final game to see what people had to say: a tremendous volume of posts communicating virtually no comprehensible thoughts. Very shortly afterwards, I'm standing in my anatomy class in front of a preserved body that I and two other people will dissect over the course of the next 8 months, and will use to gain a truly unique insight into how the human body works its magic.

This got me thinking about what a waste of my life it was to have read that stupid forum. Not because reading, or the internet are a waste of time, but because what's been posted contributes nothing at all to my life. Really, nothing posted there contributed anything to anybody (including the author!)

In stark contrast, some woman that I never knew in her life, will change mine by having contributed her remains to science. Her donation will give me the opportunity to learn what I never could have otherwise, and will drastically improve my education and my career.

I don't want to get too zen with this little nugget, but anytime I can get myself, or anybody else to remeber the following, I think the whole world benefits: whenever you can, make a contribution. Even if it's something as simple as your next soccer league forum post, just think: what can my post contribute to the people who will read it?

The next day:

Okay, I realize now that I never did explain how the title of Matt's blog fits into the topic of this post.

I believe that the reason we all choose to engage in society rather than live in the mountains, is that other people in society contribute to our lives. However, the rest of society don't want parasites feeding off all of their hard work. So I believe the understood trade-off is that the price of membership in society is that you must contribute something to the rest of its members.

It's a reciprocal relationship. The more you put into your society, the more you will get out of it. That means: whatever you choose to do, give it some effort.

Because I can

2006-05-29T22:49:00.000-04:00

Somewhat out of the blue, I was reading an article on the net, to which a thread of replies started where posters were discussing the quality of a particular handgun.

Now, you could talk to me all day & night & not make me appreciate the pleasures of shooting guns. However, what I can appreciate is that some people out there have interests that I just don't get; I also see no reason why any person should be denied any pursuit, as long as he's not hurting anybody.

I feel like smashing my head against a brick wall when I listen to gun enthusiasts because their inability to understand that their keeping collections of handguns in their homes results in innocent people dying, matches my inability to understand what makes them want the guns in the first place.

I understand that in Australia owning a gun is legal, as long as you're a member of a gun club, and that you must keep your gun at your club at all times. Perfect! Shooting enthusiasts get to keep shooting, guns are kept in safe, secure places where they're used exclusively by trained individuals who have agreed to take on the risk of entering an activity where their lives are potentially in danger. We install similar laws in the US and problem solved right?

I doubt that very much. I'm editorializing big time here, but I'm willing to bet that if you said to your average NRA member "You can either keep your gun in your gun club where you can safely pursue your shooting activity, or you can keep your gun in your home, but under no circumstances would you ever be allowed to fire a bullet", your Hestonite would choose to keep his gun in his home. That's why NRA members are called gun-nuts and not shooting-enthusiasts. Their premier desire is not to use their arms, but to bear them.

So many Americans exercising their right to bear arms costs the lives of hundreds of families & young children every year. Unless gun owners hold their guns closer to their hearts than their families, continuing this kind of behavior doesn't make sense. And in the words of the surprisingly insightful Shatner: I can't get behind that!

98 Degrees

2006-05-12T17:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's not quite that warm yet, but summer's here, life's good, and I imagine planting the term '98 degrees' will get me more hits than anything I've written to date.

The first few weeks of summer haven't granted me the immediate time I expected to have: I've been busy lining up new tasks & closing up old ones. I'll be working part-time at a lab here at UWO, and have tentatively lined up a job in another lab come september, which is a huge boost for me.

I've also been reading quite a bit, which has been very refreshing as it's not mandatory reading. I finished The Da Vinci Code in time for the movie release, & thoroughly enjoyed it... easy, entertaining & I was very pleased with it's Indiana Jones feel.

I've also been reading a bit on a method of food planning called Metabolic Typing. It's fascinating stuff, and I think it will be a large part of the future of nutrition. The idea behind it is that because of ancestral genetic adaptations, each of us metabolizes our food in a different way. Because of that, a food that might be great for me, may offer no benefit to you, and may harm a third person. Metabolic typing determines the group of foods that will work best for your type, and from there a person can fine-tune to determine their ideal. I haven't read it all yet, but still, very interesting stuff.

That's all for now

The true sound of fat-loss pills

2006-04-21T00:38:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's nearly 1 in the morning.. or evening. Whichever you want to call it, I should be sleeping right now, but I'm doing a little last minute studying before my exams tomorrow morning. After briefly resurrecting my blogging, it died off going into exam period here, but after tomorrow I'm home-free & will hopefully be posting more regularly.

However, it's very late & I just read a little blurb on a proposed OTC (over-the-counter) fat loss pill that is currently under review by the FDA. It's a fat-blocker called Alli and it works in much the same way as other pills you may have seen advertised on TV, right around this time of day. It blocks up to 1/3 of the fat you consume from being absorbed, so you consume the same # of calories, but actually absorb a smaller number. However, it's prone to many of the usually side effects associated with this type of pill which, while probably not terribly harmful to you long term, are also probably not worth the trouble. Side effects may include: "abdominal cramping, oily stools, and rampant bouts of wet, uncontrollable, "chainsaw-like" flatulence ripping through the seat of their elastic-waisted pants like the tusks of a wild boar tearing through rotted cheesecloth." (not my words, although I wish they had been)

I read this description and had a true moment of clarity: Chris, we have finally uncovered the secret to your svelte & shapely curves! Since you have clearly been taking this product since 1993 at the latest, I suggest you contact Xenical (the company manufacturing it) and demand compensation.

It's just a little late, it's still good!

2006-04-05T13:25:00.000-04:00

So, probably 3 weeks ago now, calvin 'tagged' me & although I did read the post, by the time I got to the last entry I think my mind had already moved on to something else & I didn't even realize that I was supposed to keep the thing going... oops!

So, better late than never:

Four jobs I’ve had
"Sports Advisor" (aka. SportChek guy)
"Golf club Draft beer & Burger Technician" (aka guy you buy beer & food from after 9 holes)
Bartender (aka Bartender)
Restaurant Manager (aka guy who gives you the free stuff when you complain)

Four movies I can watch over and over
Braveheart
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Meet the Parents
The Matrix (any one of em)

Four places I have lived
Concord, Ontario
Newmarket, Ontario
London, Ontario
Surfers Paradise, Australia (breifly)

Four TV shows I love to watch
LOST
Prison Break
Daily Show
Sopranos

Four places I have been on vacation
Australia
New Zealand
Florida
Ottawa

Four websites I visit daily
T-Nation
Soccernet
Mercola's Health Blog
YOUR website!

Four of my favourite foods
Fall off the bone, Back Ribs
Organic Royal Gala apples
Sea Scallops
Milk

Four places I would rather be right now
Cycling anywhere in Europe
At the Human Kinetics bookstore with a pocket full of cash
Playing soccer
In Cairns, reading on the beach with a Toohey's New in one hand & a Kangaroo steak in the other (...but how would I hold the book?)

Four bloggers I am tagging
Everybody I want to hear from has posted already, so I'm gonna let this be a dead end

Death by Hobbying

2006-03-15T00:44:00.000-05:00

In discussion with a friend recently, the topic of hobbies came up. The conversation was on how depressing a prospect it is that once a person has set up a nice life for himself (house, car, young family etc.) he/she usually spends the next 25 years working 40-50 hours a week at a job he wouldn't be doing if he didn't have to pay the mortgage & car payments & buy diapers.

What he does in his spare time is a hobby, which keeps him sane through the drudgery of 9-5 work. The catch-22 of this situation is that if he took the 10-15 hours a week that he spends on his hobby & directed that time & energy towards his dream, he might actually be able to live that dream that he spends his hobby-time imagining.

The question is: is the hobby an inherently evil thing, that keeps us from achieving our potential? I say yes it is.

A hobby is defined as 'an auxiliary activity'. Hobbies are unnecessary. Hobbies are distractions. I know from my personal experience that whenever I find myself doing very well with my hobbies, then I am always letting things slip elsewhere in my life. I now use that as a kind of alarm that goes off whenever I'm spending too much time enjoying activities in which there's no criteria for success or failure, or when I'm doing mostly things that are very comfortable and familiar to me.

However, without consciously examining the situation, it probably seems like choosing to spend time at a hobby is the better choice. It is the safer choice. If you spend your spare time trying to start a small business, you run a huge risk of failure. There is a lot on the line, not the least of which is a person's dignity and self-worth. However if building model trains is your activity of choice, while you have very little opportunity to succeed, there is equally little risk of failure, and most people find the comprimise offered by hobby activity to be perfectly satisfactory.

But just imagine for a minute what power over your destiny you could have if you spent your time working with focus towards your dreams? I'm willing to bet that 50 years from now, no matter how hard, and with what focus I work, I will look back and say 'I could have done more, I could have spent my time more wisely'.

I realize the irony in using a medium (my blog) that is textbook hobby material, to sound off on how hobbies will evaporate our dreams. I am okay with that irony. I think it's pretty difficult to go through life distraction-free. However, I also know that we only get one go at life, and that trying to keep myself focused on my true goals and beliefs as much as I possibly can, is a worthwhile goal.

A good rule of thumb is that: "Not wanting to do something is an indication that it's exactly the thing you should be doing". If it seems difficult, then you will have no choice but to learn something you don't yet know. If it seems scary, then you must be afraid to fail, and that's a good indication that whatever's on the line is actually important to you.

If any activity seems easy, and you're not afraid to fail, then that's a good indication that it's a waste of your time. Hobbies epitomize this idea, and in my opinion are life-sucking distractions that should be avoided like the plague whenever possible.

You are what you eat

2006-02-18T23:44:00.000-05:00

Matt's comment to my previous post makes me want to elucidate the bigger view that I believe drugs like rBGH , and other additive and pesticides used on our food, fit into.

Matt makes good points: usually people do not become sick as a reuslt of drinking bad milk, because that milk has been pasteurized, and if our milk supply was cut in half because we stopped using rBGH then we would face the problem of making up a lot of milk that is no longer being produced.

At one time, farmers were not using rBGH and we were producing enough milk naturally to feed the nation. When the decision was made to start using the hormone, I don't think the long term implications were considered. Widespread use has now put us in the situation that if we chose to stop using rBGH, or to stop pasteurizing our milk, we would have some very challenging problems to solve.

We eat food to be nourished. While modern food additives, pesticides, hormones, and production techniques have allowed us to eat more food, they have not necessarily allowed us to be better nourished. In many cases, despite consuming more food, we are less nourished than we would be eating less food without the modifications. To use milk as an example, rBGH means the cow is producing twice the milk, but is not able to spare the nutrients (calcium for example) for that milk to be as nutrient dense as it would be otherwise. Then the milk is pasteurized, destroying all of the enzymes and probiotics in the milk, and changing the configuration of many of the protiens making them more difficult to absorb, if not altering them beyond recognition. After that we skim the fat from the milk, removing many healthy short chain fatty acids, and losing the vitamin A and D it contains. The homogenization process makes the milk smell atrocious, so deodorizing chemicals are added to hide the odor. Milk fats which are removed during homogenization also make milk's vitamins and minerals more available for absorption, an effect which is lost when the fat is removed. The milk we drink commercially has much less in common with natural milk than we think.

In the early 1930's Weston A. Price created a comprehensive documentation of the dietary and nutritional variation among dozens of primitive societies, as well as the average North American of the day. His book Nutrition and physical degeneration documents his studies and is still available at online bookstores. Among other things, he found that the food consumed by every single primitive society contained at least four times the vitamin and mineral concentration as analagous foods in the North American diet. Consider how much food we are now squeezing out of the same resources compared to what we did in the 30's, and you can imagine that food today is likely contains much less 1/4 of the nutrients it used to. Not only are we removing nutrients from our farmland faster than the bacteria and microorganisms that live in the soil can replenish them, but the rate of that replenishment is being reduced, as the same pesticides and antibiotics that protect the crops, are destroying the soil that feeds them.

I believe that for the first time in the history of this continent, we will see the quality of life of an entire generation significantly reduced from the generation before it. As baby boomers move further into retirement ages, I believe we will see diseases like arthritis, osteoporosis, digestive and gastrointestinal disease, and cancer changing the lives of our elderly more extensively than ever before. And I believe it will be largely a result of a lifestyle which allows highly processed foods, white flour, refined sugar, and food additives to constitute the bulk of it's food sources. If 30 is the new 20, then 60 will be the new 70.

In North America, we no longer face any type of food shortage. Nobody suffers because there are not enough dietary calories to go around. Many countries still face severe food shortage crises, but we have spent a great deal of ingenuity and effort to extend our food production capacity, and in North America we have done a very good job in producing enough. Now that we succeed so well in providing the voume of food our society needs, we are doing our society a disservice by allowing it to consume such a low quality of food.

rBGH: does it do a body good?

2006-02-17T12:55:00.000-05:00

After reading Chris' latest post at One Finger..., I was inspired to write a related piece that had been on my mind lately.

Chris' piece was mainly on fraudulent research projects and the lack of an effective system to monitor & punish fraudulent researchers.

I'm a big proponent of raw & organic foods, and after recently getting on the bad side of some foul organic milk, I started some more research into how & when milk becomes tainted.

Normally, a cow will produce milk for approximately 12 weeks after giving birth. Farmers that produce commercially sold milk give their cattle rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) to double this period of milk production & get twice the milk from the same number of cattle. Cattle that are on rBGH are at an increased risk for mastitis, and an infected cow is likely to produce infected milk. Risk of producing infected milk rises by nearly 80%.

The FDA has approved the use of rBGH in cattle because studies have identify that 'no significant difference has been shown between milk from treated and untreated cows'.

Who conducted these studies? Mostly Monsanto enployed scientists. What else do we get from Monsanto? Prosilac, the drug containing the rBGH that milk farmers give their cattle.

As Chris points out, as there are not enough resources for us to investigate all of Dr. Chandra's research projects, there are not nearly enough resources for the FDA to conduct its own unbiased research on all the food additives & food related products that are introduced every year. Placing the burden of proof on the manufacturer of each product is a great solution. However, if we also allow the manufacturer to evaluate that proof then the system is useless. Monsanto (& every other food product manufacturer) is able to fund, design, staff & conduct all their own research, and then to interpret the results of that research themselves.

Having no way of consistently distinguishing fraudulent research from valid research not only harms the credibility of responsible scientists, the impact of fraudulent research puts every one of the general population at potential risk.

Say it ain't so Wayne

2006-02-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

I think this whole Rick Tocchet gambling ring issue has gotten a little out of hand (in Canada anyhow).

I'm no lawyer & I don't think all the information that will determine the legality of this ortanization has come out yet. However, most of the articles & reports I've seen haven't been forcusing on the legality of the issue but the morality of it. Athletes shouldn't be gambling because it brings the sport into disrepute. Illegal gambling goes on all the time & is being uncovered all the time; it's the fact that athetes are gambling that makes this situation newsworthy.

If the hockey players involved have been gambling on NHL hockey, then they are certainly in the wrong, and are certainly bringing the integrity of the league, the sport, and their reputations into question. However, there doesn't seem to be any indication yet that any hockey bets were placed. I don't think involvement in the NHL gives a person any moral obligation not to gamble on the NFL, or MLS or any other non-hockey sports league.

I think the potential involvement of Wayne Gretzkey adds an extra emotional component for us Canadians. He's such an icon, and on such a pedestal that we hold The Great One to moral standards much higher than your average Canadian. We can't stand the idea that Wayne might be involved in some questionable activities. We make a moral judgement on the whole issue based on our perceptions & desires of Mr Gretzkey.

I love Wayne & I hope I can maintain my shining perception of him after this whole debacle is resolved, but I try not to judge him, nor the rest of those implicated, unfairly. The legality of the whole situation will come out in the courts, and as far as I'm concerned, as long as they've kept their hands off hockey, Tocchet & co. can have one less thing on their consciences.

What energy crisis?

2006-02-11T15:41:00.000-05:00

It seems that over the last couple of years the impending energy crisis is finally being recognized by the wider population (in North America anyhow).

SUV sales have plummetted, hybrid vehicle options are becoming widely available and are a huge selling point, the car companies leading the industry are the same ones offering the most competitive and available highly fuel efficient vehicles. Way to go North America.

I'm reminded of this because of two articles I read in the Globe & Mail this morning:

The first was on Joe Clark's company Clark Sustainable Resources (or some similar company name... I can't find it online) and how they're planning to log an old growth hardwood forest in Ghana. Since when is a old-growth forest a renewable resource? When the forest is underwater! I just thought this sounded more like the plot for Michael Bay's newest movie than a real resource concern. The project still has all the trappings of the old clear-cutting projects: we're going in and removing millions of tonnes of biomass, which will disrupt or destroy the existing ecosystem.

By now you may be wondering why an old growth forest is underwater in the first place. The Ghanan government made the lake by damming one of their rivers. If we're going to exonerate ourselves from the label of 'clearcutters' in any circumstance in which the forest is underwater, it doesn't work if we're the ones that drowned the forest to start with. The article didn't go into what Clark's intentions are with the project so I can't judge him on that, but if I were running a sustainable resource company, I can't imagine a good reason that a logging project would even show up on my radar.

Also, if nuclear energy is going to be the next big energy resource, finding new sources of nuclear materials had better be on our priority list because since the turn of the century our uranium resources have been depleting quickly as was the subject of the second energy article of the morning.

That was one of 4 articles I saw this morning focusing on how we're getting and using our energy and how it's impacting our lifestyle and environment. It's very heartening to see the attention that's been given to the issue lately, but it also seems that as we look further into the problem of feasible alternative energy sources, we end up with more questions than answers about how we'll heat our homes 30 years from now.

Finally, closure

2006-02-09T15:45:00.000-05:00

After 8 years, I've finally got some closure on a debate my friends & I started in Mrs Hines' grade 10 chemistry class: is the little ledge on my hole-reinforcer dispenser a mechanism, if the reinforcers pop off the tape when I pull them out?

We can't really agree on who was arguing for which side at the time, but the debate has been resolved regardless: it is a mechanism!

Okay, so 8 years in the making, it might be a little anticlimactic.

Still, the best part is that those people I chose to spend my time with in grade 10 are the same people I chose to spend my time with in grade 4, and are the people I choose to spend my time with today.

Cheers to good friends, and to pulley mechanisms.

Getting Things Done

2005-12-02T20:33:00.000-05:00

For those of you who aren't already converted, let me tell you about my love affair with David Allen.

A friend told me about Allen's book Getting Things Done & how great it is, so I went out, bought the thing, and read it. It was well worth every penny, & every minute put into it.

Basically, it's a productivity book, but much like Richard Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, it focuses more on being a productive human being, and getting what you want out of your life, than it does on being an efficiency-driven automaton.

More so now than ever, I think our inborn instinctual behavior, and the behavior a person should adopt to be their best in today's society, are two very different things.

What can I do to make myself more comfortable? What can I do to reduce the amount of work I have to do? When I finish this, will I be able to relax & switch off? As the second law of thermodynamics tells us to, we're always trying to find a way to reach a lower state of energy.

However, a person in today's world can't do nothing. We have to work, we have to do things we don't want to do. Once we finish one task another always crops up (until you die, at which time you would most likely give anything to be able to do the most mundane of tasks)

So if our goal is always to be in a lower state of energy, and a higher state of comfort, but those conditions can't be realistically achieved for any significant portion of our lives, then we're doomed to disappointment. What we need is to figure out how a person can incorporate work and discomfort into a lifestyle that makes them happy.

This is why I think personal productivity books have been so fashionable the last few years. People can take a lot away from a book that teaches them how to combine work and play. How to create a system that will take all the anxiety & tedium out of out a busy life & allow us to enjoy the process. That's what they do for me anyhow.

Organizing my tasks list? Hell yeah! Unexpected demands thrown on my plate? No problem! I've got a system that lets me get work done well & have fun doing it.

For a little taste, check out David Allen's weblog in my blogroll. It's a little different from his books but you'll get an idea of the kind of thinking that leads to being able to better get things done, & when you're not working, losing the anxiety over what you're not doing.

Tastes Like Insulin

2005-11-26T16:13:00.000-05:00

Here's a little idea of what a great state your body & mind might be in if all the food sold to you wasn't pumped full of sugar:

Recently, a friend's girlfriend was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). The medication she had just finished had had an impact on some of her hormone levels & sparked this condition. It's not super-serious, but if left untreated, can have irreversible long-term effects. The doctors suggested starting the medication again to solve the problem, but this seemed like a band-aid solution: eventually she will want to end the medication again & the problem will just have to be dealt with then... & will concievably be more difficult to solve after spending more time on the drug.

So, after some looking into causes & relations to PCOS, she decided that insulin resistance, caused by repeated intake of high sugar foods, was contributing to the syndrome. She decided not to go on any medication for the syndrome, and instead cut out high sugar (& other high insulin-response inducing foods), started taking fish oil supplements (which decrease insulin resistance), and started exercising regularly (which also decreases insulin resistance).

Within the month her symptoms of PCOS had vanished.

I believe that much of our health focus is misguided, and I hope over the next several years we're able to see more research into the benefits that proper exercise & nutrition can provide.

The support this story gives is only anecdotal, but I think it's a demonstration that combined properly, lifstyle changes can have absolutely drug-like effects.

London Bombings

2005-07-10T14:27:00.000-04:00

As horrible as these London bombings have been, I don't think I'm the only one who's thinking it was just a matter of time before it happened.

Tony Blair has adopted a more than agressive foreign policy towards fundamentalist middle eastern terror groups. In fact, he directed all his efforts towards the same fundamentalist terror group that had just committed the most horrific terror crime in decades, which was in response to exactly the foreign policy Blair was so eager to implement. If anything, I'm surprised it's taken this long for terror to strike the UK.

In my chattings with the war-niks who think islam should be exterminated in response to 9/11, I'm surprised at how blind they seem to be to the whole picture of how this terrorist thing works. I liken it to a schoolyard encounter. One kid (lets call him George) is bullying another kid in the schoolyard. When the kid gets fed up & punches George in the face, it's not an acceptable response, but who's surprised. But then Tony comes along, & cluelessly starts bullying the same kid, in the same way. What do you expect to happen?

The people responsible for the WTC bombings, & now the London bombings absolutely must be brought to justice. And in the interest of not being terrorised anymore, we westerners should at least re-evaluate our foreign policy of crushing the economies & dreams of foreign nations so that we can drive Escalades.

The McDonald Diet

2005-03-14T13:24:00.000-05:00

By now this is kind of old news, but I haven't been able to log into blogger for a while now & I'm not gonna let that stop me from posting about it. We've all heard about the 'Super Size Me' documentary showing how unhealthy McDonalds 'truly' is. I haven't seen the film myself, but I know the details: hideously fatty liver, increase in body fat, & the fact that McDonalds burgers & especially fries don't seem to decompose.

Part two of this comes from a teacher in Edmonton who went on a diet similar to (but different in important ways) the Super Size Me diet. Rather than packing on the McPounds like Morgan Spurlock did, this teacher actually lost weight.

How did this teacher manage to get entirely the opposite result of what Spurlock did? I'd say he did it by not being an idiot. The nutritional information for McDonalds food is available to everybody fairly easily, and Spurlock could easily have calculated how much energy he was expending in a day, and realized he was consuming much more than that in food. Whether Spurlock is eating McDonalds, or Broccoli, he will put on weight if he consumes more calories than he spends. This is not a feature of fast food.

The other main thing our Edmonton teacher friend did is to add an hour of exercise (just 3x weekly I believe) to his lifestyle. In my opinion, this is the power of exercise: you can eat McDonalds every meal every day, but with exercise, you can lose weight doing it! Spurlock ate Maccers and sat on his ass all day. If I do nothing but sit on my ass & eat, I'll put on weight no matter what.

As for the fatty deposits on Spurlock's liver, exercise will take care of that, and probably a lot more health concerns such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and on and on. Super Size Me was basically a get fat plan. The McDonalds food didn't help, but it wasn't the main factor in Spurlock's big health disaster.

What does concern me about McDonalds is that it didn't break down like the other 'real' hamburgers when kept in solution. When I make a burger at home from extra lean ground beef I know approximately what's in it, but I have NO clue crazy chemicals are in Mickey D's food.

All in all, I'm not saying Maccers makes food that's any good for you, but I am saying at least it's still food. I'd put McDonalds way higher on my health list than potato chips, or pop. In fact, the fries & drink are probably the worst part about a McDonalds combo anyhow.

Women & tuna (oh sick! not like that!)

2005-03-05T00:14:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Dr. Mercola, is a scary story on how bloodborne mercury in our pregnant mothers is affecting our children.

Research indicates that 10%-15% of children born annually in the US (thats 316,000-637,000) have blood mercury levels high enough to have a measurable impact on their IQs. What kind of an impact? A decrease of as little as 0.2 points... or as many as 24!

Other data indicate that mercury levels are not as high now as they were during the study, but this still crystallizes to me how dangerous a substance mercury really is.

I've seriously curbed my canned fish consumption over the last 12 months, which more than slightly annoys me because I likes my fish! However, tuna fish aren't the root of the problem. In the US, coal energy power plants produce nearly half the annual mercury.

Two more reasons to find alternative energy sources: smarter kids, and Cam being able to eat all the tuna he wants.

Toronto Auto Show 2005

2005-03-01T00:15:00.000-05:00

On Friday, Dad & I made our annual trip to the Toronto Auto Show. It was a great time as always, and this year I had a digital camera to capture some of the snazzier cars. Most impressive car of the show? Definetly the Toyota Prius. Toyota is doing some fantastic things with their hybrid program. BMW has also got some exciting stuff going on with their hydrogen fuel program. They've committed to having a hydrogen ready vehicle commercially available before 2009.

This picture will fuel me 'til I've got a Harley of my own:

Update: Courtesy of Quark Soup & somewhat related:

Washington Post: "...Today's automobiles are packed with about a thousand times as much computing power as was in the Apollo moon landers, according to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Computer chips run more than 86 percent of the systems in an average vehicle, according to the alliance...."

This doesn't impress me with today's autos, it makes me impressed with the Apollo astronauts. They flew to the moon & back using slide-rules! I am spoiled rotten.

Velocity Day 5

2005-02-28T23:24:00.000-05:00

You may be noticing that Thursday was day 4, and monday is now day 5. I was back home for the weekend for my best friend's engagement party, and decided to take a couple of days off velocity. It's a bit of a cop-out, but I realized that such a milestone occasion lies far higher on my priority list than this experiment, and also that I don't ever want to be that guy that snubs social situations because 'he's on a diet'. I'm committed to achieving this goal, but before that I'm committed to participating in society.

On the topic, I love my food. I love cooking, I love tasting, I love it all. During the decision process that led to my velocity break, I considered what a social instrument food & drink are. Somehow good food and good company create a synergy that absolutely pale the Disney-ABC conglomerate. I would never enjoy a veggie meatball as much as I did whilst catching up with great friends. (I would almost certainly never eat a veggie meatball otherwise, but the statement still stands).

That being said, I'm back in the saddle now. Today was a breeze. Having experienced this last week I knew what to expect today & I imagine it'll just get easier from here on in. Also, I was eagerly waiting to see what kind of results I'd get & was kind of expecting not to notice a visible change before my weekend eating spree. However, Thursday night before I went home I realized that there IS a visible change already! That gives me a huge boost in pumptitude going into this week, which is a key factor in keeping myself going strong.

In other news, the engagement party Saturday night was great. It was awesome to see some old friends I hadn't spoken to in far too long. It was a real eye-opener to see Chris & Ashley (the bride & groom) in their new element too. Chris is the first of my friends to take the plunge and until the party their engagement hadn't really manifested itself visibly. It was definetly a splash of reality to see the marriage wheels start to turn. Having seen them in action though, I'm still convinced that they'll be brilliant together & I'm super happy for them both.

Token Non-Velocity Post

2005-02-23T23:20:00.000-05:00

This is kind of old news now, but Lance Armstrong has officially voiced his intentions to compete in the 2005 Tour de France. This makes me very happy.

I think it'll definetly be one of his most difficult tours to date, but I'm confident he can take it. I think he's made of steel.

Velocity Day 3: First Hurdle

2005-02-23T19:50:00.000-05:00

At work tonight I hit my first real obstacle. I felt terrible. I felt like I was about to fall over. Obviously I knew this was not what was supposed to be happening with velocity, so I ate. I had salmon, a potato, and a glass of milk... and I felt better immediately.

So I definetly encountered a problem in the current diet plan today: it makes me want to pass out at work (or more generally: when I'm doing something that requires more energy than watching champions league soccer). On the bright side, I was able to address it: by eating something different than what I had been.

By no means do I plan to abandon my project, but I'm not going to continue doing things the way I have been. After all, this is still a work in progress. Clearly I need to rewrite part of the plan to solve this issue permanently. I identify three possible areas I may be missing something in my diet that my meal gave to me: 1) some micronutrient (vitamin or mineral) 2) carbohydrates 3) some virtue of eating whole food.

I don't think the problem is 1. From my measurements, I'm probably getting more nutrients than I was before I was on the diet. Additionally, I felt better almost immediately. A vitamin or mineral deficiency would probably take more time to manifest itself, and take more time to rectify than what I encountered. However, I could be wrong. I know not all nutrients are absorbed as effectively in supplement form as they are in whole food form, so this is a concern I'll put on the backburner for now rather than discarding entirely.

I do think 2 and 3 are likely candidates. My first guess would be that low carbohydrate intake is the culprit. Physically I felt okay (not hungry, not weak) but mentally I felt a little sluggish. Since the muscles & organs can use protein or fat for energy, but the brain & nervous system can use only glucose, I think the fact that I felt nervously drained but not physically drained is another indicator that carb depletion was the culprit. However, I think the wisest course of action will remedy both 2 and 3.

If I'm going to include new carbs in my plan, I want to include a source that will create a smaller insulin response from me. This means that it will provide me with energy more slowly, and that it will have a smaller potential for fat storage. Veggies are probably my best bet, which is nice because they're whole food. Starting with greens like spinach, brussel sprouts & brocolli, I'll add veggies to my diet until I feel good again. The caloric impact should be fairly low, but for every cal of veg that I add, I'll subtract calories from the whey powder I'm ingesting, because I'm getting plenty of protein as it is. This will also provide me with some more whole food nutrients & I guess it'll address 1 as well. Perfect.

Velocity Day 3

2005-02-23T16:25:00.000-05:00

Day 3 thus far is much stronger than day 2 was. I'm feeling pretty much unaffected by my restricted calories, and am as sharp as usual. I realized this morning that the chocolate milk I've been drinking is not the same as the one I'd quoted when arranging my plan. This actually has 167 cals rather than 208 per 250ml. I included a bit of that this morning to my first meal & I think it might have helped me find a better balance.

Jon got back today & I used his bioimpedence calculator to see if I'd had any measurable results yet. What was the verdict? My body fat had changed by 2%.. up! After getting a little more info on how the machine works, the result made more sense. Fat is a poor conductor of electric current, so a lower measure of conductivity correlates with a higher % body fat. Conversely, a higher measure of conductivity correlates with lower fatty mass. One great conductor of current is water. All the water I've lost between my reduced carbohydrate stores and the diuretic effect of all the protein I've ingested has measurably reduced the conductivity of my body & has affected my result. At least I've got a benchmark now so I can interpret what kind of changes come about over the upcoming days & weeks.

Thanks to my friend Matt for promoting my adventure! I figure that the more hype I can generate, the easier it'll be for me to adhere to my plan.

For now though, off to work.

Velocity Day 2 cont.

2005-02-22T23:44:00.000-05:00

Day 2 has come to a close. Today's workout performance didn't excel, but it was up to par, and my carbohydrate depletion didn't stop me from completing it with full effort.

I was feeling pretty rough in the early afternoon, so I split my post workout chocolate milk. I had 100ml before hand and 150ml afterwards but the extra carbs were a huge help to me. I'm feeling pretty flat still, but I've got the energy to get my daily tasks done and I'm not particularly hungry. If I start feeling rough regularly, now I know the chocolate milk will pick me up.

I was thinking today about how a lot of people have trouble reprogramming of their dietary habits. The common approach is to try to subtract bad habits from your lifestlye. I notice in myself that I have a hard time making that stick long-term. Maybe a more effective approach (for people who have the same trouble) is to subtract all habits. Starting from a clean slate a person can be more aware of what their habits truly are, and maybe be more effective implementing a style of eating that suits them. Coming off the diet & trying to incorporate food back into myself is going to be another adventure altogether.

As a parting note: I didn't realize 'til today what a fantastic job restaurants do of marketing their food! I hate them for it. I think my first meal back is going to be Red Lobster... they've looked very convincing!

Velocity Day 2

2005-02-22T11:17:00.000-05:00

Day 1 was easier than expected. I felt 'empty' most of the day, but didn't feel hungry, which I attribute to the psyllium and protein. I mentioned my pizza temptation, and then again after work I sat with a friend of mine while he had a quesadilla and a beer, and I didn't feel the pressure to eat. For those who don't already know, I work at a restaurant and somehow thought I'd be able to go a month without eating. Ballsy? Stupid? I'll let you decide.

Because I hung around after work I went longer than I'd planned without any calories last night and I could feel it. Making 100% sure to have a shake on hand when I need one will be big for me I think. Also, I was tired last night! That's a big deal for me because I'm a real nighthawk & rarely get tired 'til after 1am. I'm not sure if that's related to my energy intake on velocity, or the binge of drinking and partying I was on over the weekend. Either way, if I can start getting to bed earlier & getting up earlier I'd call that a positive adjustment.

I've got mostly reading, note taking & watching of soccer planned for today (Champs League matches this morning... exciting!). I'm also gonna fit a workout in there & see how my performance is affected by my low carb intake. I'll update again later tonight

Velocity Day 1

2005-02-21T16:05:00.000-05:00

Velocity has officially begun! To start with I'll outline what the final draft of the diet is.

Breakfast:
1 egg cooked in microwave omlette tray
1 cup spinach, cooked with egg
1 tbsp olive oil drizzled over omlette

total calories: 121

Oil Supplement:
5 tsp cod liver oil throughout day

total calories: 225

Fiber Supplement:
25g psyllium/milled flax seed mixture throughout day

total calories: negligible

Vegetable Supplement:
3 tbsp Greens+ taken with psyllium mixture

total calories: negligible

Protein Supplement:
251 g Power Whey taken in 5-6 shakes*

total calories: 1050

Post Workout Carbohydrate Supplement:
250 ml 1% Chocolate Milk

total calories: 208

Eating like this, I'll be getting 1396 cal on a non-exercise day and 1604 cal on an exercise day. Also, as per my *, I'm using Power Whey as my protein supplement right now, but I'll be using a different supplement each time I need to replace my container. This way I won't get as sick of the flavor, and I'll hopefully be minimizing my chances of suffering from a deficiency of a nutrient one particular mixture might be low in. I'm also taking a multivitamin, split in two & taken 6 hours apart to maximize my absorption.

Day 1 so far is a success. I passed my first temptation this after noon when I was out with my roommate scouting for a new place for next year. He decided to get lunch & bought a $5 pizza from Little Caesar's. So we're driving along in his little sedan with an entire pizza in the front seat with me... and he offers me a slice! I didn't have any but I hope they make pizza flavored crystal light to help me through the next few weeks.

I'm trying to be conscious of how this diet affects my concentration & memory and if I find myself lightheaded at all I'm going to consider upping my carbohydrate intake. No real minimum recommended carbohydrate intake exists; i've read values anywhere from 10g daily to 100g daily. The outline I described above gives me 50-75g daily (depending on whether I drink the chocolate milk) which I'm going to adjust if I feel I need more. So far I feel okay, but further updates will see how I am after a few more days of this. Surprisingly, I don't feel hungry at all. I'm consuming calories every 2-3 hours or more, and the fiber supplements fill me up so I'm thinking hunger might not be as limiting as I'd predicted. Once again, a few more days will tell a more complete story on that! I work tonight as well so I'll guage how my current carb intake affects my work performance & see if that's up to par.

To summarize, day 1 is well under way & is a success so far. I'm organized & ready to have my way with this diet. Wish me luck!

Retraction & Velocity

2005-02-16T00:06:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I wasn't back for real last time. I seriously overestimated the spare time 2K5 would afford me, but now I've got a whole new motivation for my resurrection. I'll start at the beginning.

I took a hiatus in 2004 from resistance training in favor of a more endurance oriented style of activity. About four weeks ago I finally returned to the gym & I've begun soaking up training info as quickly as ever. Most of the researching I've done has been related to how exercise and nutrition affect my metabolism (and vice versa). Cutting to the end of that chapter, I came across something known as 'The Velocity Diet' conconted by T-Mag contributor Chris Shugart.

Essentially velocity involves stripping one's diet down to only the nutrients essential to maintaining proper health and metabolic functioning. Chris' original diet was essentially a liquid diet. It was virtually 100% supplement based and involved only one solid meal weekly (oatmeal & berries) over four weeks. Four weeks, four solid meals.

How did it work? From his testimony it worked fabulously. Chris melted away fat at more than twice what is predicted to be possible whilst maintaining lean body mass and metabolic rate. I've decided I've started too many bad habits lately and I've had it too easy. To boot, I love a challenge! So I've decided to undertake the four week torture session known as Velocity.

I've modified the diet somewhat to ensure I conver all my nurtitional bases. I'm still sticking with Chris' framework, but adding a few noncaloric nutrient sources, and one egg daily just to put my mind at ease.

In my next post I'll outline exactly what I'll be eating over the course of these four weeks. Afterwards I'll be posting updates on how I'm progressing day to day for the duration of the diet. Personally, I can't wait! The start date is Mon 21 Feb 2004. Synchronize your watches people, and check back for more info. I think it's gonna be great!

I'm back baby!

2004-12-28T13:41:00.000-05:00

As I'm sure you can all see, a hectic work schedule plus exams & assignments severely curbed my blogging. Curbed it to zero in fact.

I'm hoping in the new year to be able to balance everything better & keep the blogging going strong.

So whats new with me? Chrismtas was great, but also hectic. I got some posh clothing, a couple of CDs, a burner so now I can sample (read: steal) music. I don't really enjoy Metallica, but I think they'll be the first just because they hate it so much.

I hope everybody's holiday was great, & if all goes to plan you'll be reading more here soon.

Dirty rotten scoundrels

2004-11-24T13:06:00.000-05:00

Lately, when I watch my Sportsnet for my hockey lockout news (or lack thereof) I hear about more & more players realizing their season is pooched an leaving to play in Europe for a year. Somehow, the players have found a way to demonstrate their greed and short-sightedness in even more blatant ways.

At first I thought it was great that players were leaving to play elsewhere. They were showing their distaste for the dispute and leaving to do what was important: play hockey. But then I realized that they weren't leaving the situation. The NHL-ers playing in Europe have got two active contracts (some more active than others)... they're still obligated to their North American clubs. In order to stay in shape for next year, they're putting European hockey players in unemployment lines.

Granted, the best hockey player gets the job, but I think it's unfair for Joe Thornton to be occupying two contracts in a limited job market, regardless of how talented he is. It would be fine if he quit the Bruins to take his spot in Europe & saw out his contract with his new European club. In reality, we all know which contract he'll breach when the NHL gets itself sorted out & he's got to make a choice.

Again, 'what suits me best right now' has been reinforced as the mantra of the NHLer.

Teenage Wasteland

2004-11-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

Music is something pretty important to me. I like it a lot. That's why it makes me so mad when I see it twisted into a humiliating impression of its former self. Unfortunately, that's something I see a lot of these days & sometimes I just can't take any more.

Metallica, HMV and Interscope demand that I keep buying CDs instead of downloading them for free, but I'm being given no incentive to do so. Ideally, everybody buys music from bands I want to continue making music, and the good bands make money while the crappy ones don't. Except, whe I buy my new Hives CD, I know that my hard earned dollar isn't just going to The Hives. It's also going to 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks, who I'm sure are the two highest paid "artists" (that was hard) on Interscope. I'll go out and buy my Kings of Leon CD, but I know that simply buying my favorite band's music isn't enough, because unless you're on MTV you don't get those big bucks from your record company. The big get bigger while the small stay small.

I know that when I steal music, I'm actually stealing from Interscope and Bubba Sparxxx, not from the bands I like. And I just can't put into words how much it angers me that I'd be supporting 50 Cent in any way. Forget about whether I've got to pay for my music or not, I'll pay double as long as I don't have to support bullshit rap stars.

I can see that this sounds like the old broken record: "it's not about the music anymore". Maybe it never was because I'm sure people have been saying that for years.... but it's really not about the music anymore! I listen to people like Springsteen and Tom Waits, and their music is so honest, and then I turn on The Ashlee Simpson Show (I saw it last night, that's what incited this whole post) and I see how dishonest and contrived it all is and I just can't understand how we've gotten here. I think I need a cold shower.

Decompression time

2004-11-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

Between my health crisis, exam stress, frantic job searching and training at new job & soccer withdrawl, the last couple of weeks have been rough. Virtually no blogging has been the result of all this. I'm glad to report I'm back to full health, and after writing my last midterm this morning (they all went quite well) & having my final training shift at work tonight I'll hopefully be in the groove and back to my relatively productive (and regularly posting) self. It's nice.

I haven't caught much news this week other than Colin Powell's resignation from the Bush administration which reduces semi-rational minds in the administration from one to zero.

What may be of interest is something I learned in my business marketing class this week regarding corporate taxation. As we all know, large corporations pay ridiculously low rates of tax. In theory, I think this is a bad thing. An interesting twist to the story is that a corporation pays tax in the country that it's head office is in, regardless of where it does business. Let's say we've got a corporation with factories & employees in London, Ontario. If Ontario raises its taxes on corporations like this one, they can move their head office to Detroit and avoid the tax hike. Now all the Canadian dollars you and I spend on their products goes to the residents of Michigan, not Ontario. The same works for Detroit based companies. If Ontario makes it desirable to run their business from here, we Ontarians can fund our social programs with a bunch of American consumer dollars.

Also, if a big company like GMC gets a tax break, those $100 million aren't lining the CEO's pockets. Sure, a few of them are, but most of them are invested in the business helping to create new jobs and to keep existing jobs around. In principle, I still have opposition to the idea of taxing corporations less than individuals, but in practice I'm not so sure anymore. The question may be which do I value more: that Canadians have well funded social & health care programs or that we tax the hell out of the man.

Rememberance Day

2004-11-12T02:22:00.000-05:00

I'd been trying to think all day of some way I could write about this day that's somehow different from everything else we read every November 11th. Calvin's provided me with a little inspiration.

He blogs about how we remember only one minute annually the countless millions who surrendered their lives under horrible conditions for us. It seems odd that we do this for one minute, but scarcely ever recall our brave soldiers for the remaing year-less-a-minute.

I think that is exactly why rememberance day is so important. They gave their lives so that we could do just this. So that we wouldn't have to think about war always. So that we wouldn't constantly have to worry whether our loved ones were safe or alive. That year-less-a-minute of peaceful and happy living is the fallen's gift to us. Out of our otherwise war and pain free lives, this is why we regard this single day, and single minute annually so closely and why we must never, ever forget those by whom we were given the other 364 days of the year.

America attacks America!

2004-11-10T02:03:00.000-05:00

George W preparing to declare war on tyrannical Bush administration after an F-16 jet fires it's cannons on a New Jersey elementary school.

On the force

2004-11-10T01:16:00.000-05:00

PART1: WORK

While I haven't heard back yet from my interview last week (which makes me think I may not have done as good a job concealing my hideous boil as I'd thought), I did get a call out of the blue from the restaurant second on my list. I had an interview with them this morning & I was asked to start friday, so big Cam's a working man again.

And what I naively referred to last friday as the longest week ever, was in fact much longer than I'd anticipated. Upon my return to the clinic to pick up doctor's note ($20... I'll get to this later) I inadvertently picked up some type of virus along with it. So I spent the following 3 days with a blazing fever and tonsils visibly bulging from my neck, making the weekend far worse than if I'd not gone back to the clinic at all, and just toughed out the antibiotic side-effects.

PART 2: BEEF

Now for the $20. On tuesday I went to the doctor's to get my neck thingy checked out. The doc got some information from me, checked me out, diagnosed me with a neck boil, prescribed antibiotics, and I left a happy man.

I returned on thursday because I was suffering side-effects from the antibiotics. On the second visit, I was in the waiting room for 45 minutes, the doctor spoke to me for approximately 2 minutes, and gave me no medical procedure, treatment, or advice whatsoever. I was only there to document that I was indeed on antibiotics, and they indeed had side-effects (you can get that info from Shoppers, it's not an MD-specific skill).

The first trip had no fee, the second trip cost me $20. I'd totally forgotten until they asked me for it, that at some doctors' you have to pay for a doc's note (and handsomely in my opinion). I've got a problem with that. If you wanna charge me extra, charge me for your expert medical services. Being charged $20 for my doctor's signature is so reminiscent of the pain I feel when I've gotta pay $8 for a shitty airport grilled cheese.

Treating patients the central part of a doctor's job, and providing documentation of that treatment should be a trivial matter if the treatment itself has been paid for. To offer the treatment for cost, but tack on charges for documentation of it seems backwards, and like a real cash-grab because the clinics have a monopoly on the doctor's notes.

I'd expect to pay if he were endorsing a passport or something peripheral, but a doc's note is pretty directly related his main work, and paying extra for it I can't help but feel bamboozled. It's not a lot of money, but doctors are supposed to be bastions of ethics, and to feel conned by them doesn't sit well with me.

Early november roundup

2004-11-05T02:06:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer to my vast swatches of American readers: Obviously, you are not included in the upcoming post. I know there are a lot of very hip, intelligent people down there... you just seem to be outnumbered right now.

To start with: I am truly surprised that the US wants George W Bush to keep sleeping in the white house for another 4 years. I always knew he had supporters, and I always knew that he could win the election, but I really never thought he would.

This result makes me realize that my opinion of the American public isn't true. I thought they realized what a doofus he is, and that he's done nothing, nothing, to merit another 4 years in office. I thought they understood that the issues facing the nation are what should determine the nation's captain, not his family values. Strong moral fiber in a leader is important, but I would never poll that 'values' was the issue that determined my vote (like exit polls on tuesday indicate determined the lion's share of votes). Even if it were a referendum on religoius/family values, which positive values does Bush represent? Is he a good christian? Does he believe in equality? Neither. Yet he's the captain of choice.

This leaves only one possibility, the average American must believe in the same bullshit version of religion that Bush practices. They must truly believe that two women kissing is more dangerous to their freedom than brutally torturing and humiliating POW's. I find it scary enough that one person (GWB himself) believes all that rubbish, I am stunned that the majority of American agree with him. It's true, only 51% fit this bill, but that's a majority, and it's a helluva lot more than I would have liked to believe.

IN OTHER NEWS:

It's midterm time here in Cam-ville, and what a week it's been. Election issues aside, I had 3 job interviews this week. After discovering that it really is hard to find a job here in London, I've finally landed one, and have at least 2 other great opportunities on the burner. Wouldn't you know it, the very night before my interview for a bartending spot at a classy London steakhouse, I get the first boil of my life. I haven't had a pimple in years, and on the day when my presentability is most important, I've got half a shiny, fire-engine red golfball growing from the side of my neck (right above the collar, of course).

The interviews went fine & I think I'll get the job, but the antibiotics the MD put me on to save me from the scalpel hit me with a healthy dose of side-effects. I've taken this antibiotic before & noticed no effects at all, but this time it floored me with an array of gastro-intestinal disasters I won't further describe. Suffice to say, I didn't write me scheduled exam today, & will write it next week instead. One 4-hour exam on Saturday (!?) to go & one of the longest weeks of 2004 will be over.

Pre-emptive reminiscence

2004-11-02T01:04:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm overdramatizing the moment, but tomorrow is going to be a turning point in US history. Regardless of who you support, Bush and Kerry represent two very different paths for the US to follow, and for better or worse, the American people will choose one tomorrow. Actually, it's quite possible the supreme court will be the ones doing the choosing, but let me be optimistic this year. I hope four years from now America (and the world) can look back at this election with satisfaction, not regret.

Sometimes I wonder why Canadian politics, while interesting, doesn't seem to have the same drama that US politics does... especially in 2004. I think it's in part because there are so many more voices in the Canadian system that it lacks that head-to-head showdown feel this US election has. The two party system in the US makes the election look a lot more like a game of gridiron football. If the election fell on a monday, having John Madden cover the results would make for good viewing.

What I think is the other main factor, also reflects on what a particularly important election this may be. Listening to the most recent Canadian political debates, I decided which candidate I thought was best. Although I didn't think all the ideas were equal, I didn't question that each candidate had my best interest in mind. Thats usually the case, but this time around, a lot of people question whether or not Bush really has the best interest of Americans in mind. I've got no doubt that he truly loves America the nation, but I'm not so sure he loves America the population with the same fervor. Rather than choosing between the greater of two goods, this election is being painted as good v. evil even more than it usually is.

You all know who I'm rooting for, but this race really does seem too close to call. Tomorrow should be exciting (too bad I'm in class 7-10pm).

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2004-10-31T15:06:00.000-05:00

Taking a little break from my mad science.

Democracy in action (sort of)

2004-10-31T15:05:00.001-05:00

If this guy showed up on my street, I wouldn't want to vote either. I think somebody should do a study investigating any correlation between eligible voters who don't vote, and eligible voters visited by campaigners on segways. Also, I've just learned how to post pictures to my site so bear with the excessive photo barrage 'til the novelty wears off.

Krabby Keyes

2004-10-26T15:01:00.001-04:00

Stephanie points out that Alan Keyes' (a republican senate candidate) derogatory comments about Mary Cheney's sexuality go all but unnoticed by republicans, whilst republicans remain outraged over Kerry's neutral observation that she is homosexual. Not only is this a ridiculous double standard, but the article she cites gives examples showing how deep this runs in the conservative mindset.

Alan Keyes condemns homosexuality as "selfish hedonism". He illustrates his ignorance further: "If my own daughter were a homosexual or lesbian, I would love my daughter, but I would tell her she was in sin." Extra scary because his 19 year old daughter does appear to be a lesbian.

With regards to the Cheneys' attempts to downplay the issue of homosexuality in the upcoming election, Conservative policy analyst Peter Labarbera says "It trivializes people’s deeply held religious convictions by seeking to make homosexuality a ‘non-issue’ in the GOP. And it insults advocates of healthy morality by comparing opposition to homosexuality -- the clear teaching of Christianity and other major religions -- to racism."

Conservative Reverend Jerry Falwell dubs Mary Cheny as "errant".

Mary Mostert, writer at conservative fringe website AmericanDaily.com writes, "Keyes’ sex education lesson to a confused homosexual ought to be required reading in every sex education class in the country."

You get the idea.... but can these people serious? Surely they can agree that some children are born different from their parents. They have different preferences in food, clothing, music, friends. Why is it so difficult to make that last step and see that it's not that unusual for people to have different preferences in partners too? Its paralell to scaling mount everest to devoted conervatives, when in reality it's such a tiny curb to leap over. Not even a leap, hardly even a step! And I sincerely hope that nobody truly believes homophobia is part of 'healthy morality', or that it's anything but synonymous with racism. There are tons of Eurpoean Americans who are thoroughly anti-racism, but straight men & women who can see through the gay issue seem to be in short supply.

I hate to rant, but it just seems like such a kindergarten-level problem to me, and I'm boggled that grown men and women can't figure it out. Maybe it's not them, maybe it's a limitation of mine that Alan Keyes could lecture to me for an eternity and never make me understand why gay people go to hell.

Why do they make it so easy?

2004-10-25T21:52:00.000-04:00

US senator Jim Bunning refused to confirm reports that US soldiers in Iraq had refused to accept a fuel delivery mission. Apparantly the group's vehicles were too lightly armored for their liking, and refused to go on a "suicide mission". Good for them I say. From what I can tell the US is hanging it's soldiers out to dry, so why put your neck on the line for such ungrateful leaders. Here's the gold, courtesy of our baseball hall of faming senator Bunning:

"Let me explain something: I don't watch the national news, and I don't read the paper. I haven't done that for the last six weeks. I watch Fox News to get my information."

Read: "I can't confirm these reports because I have no idea what's happening in my country."

If the news keeps up this way, we can expect some great Daily Show this week.

This week in Cameron

2004-10-25T21:08:00.000-04:00

A busy week has kept me pretty much entirely away from blogging & anything else not school or work related. The impoverished student life is getting pretty old, so I've been looking pretty hard the last couple of weeks for work, but haven't had any luck yet. In this city of 375 000 people, I haven't found a single restaurant who's hiring.

One tidbit of "news" that caught my eye is that Ashlee Vanilli er, Simpson, was holding her microphone at her waist at an SNL performance when the audience mysteriously heard her start singing the song. Her story is that a full recording of her song was played by mistake, instead of the pre-recorded percussion track. I for one don't buy it, but I'm oh so glad it happened!

This is such great material for people like me who love to see celebrities' bullshit catch up with them. To me, this is so synonymous with pop culture. Jessica Simpson gets her little sis into the music biz because little Simpson is the sister of a famous singer, and somehow because of this, her credibility with her autience goes up by an order of magnitude. I think I was asleep when a person's credibility began coming from MTV, YM, and People Magazine.

The beauty of all this is that reality finally comes through in such a perfect, public way. The reality is that the way little Simpson got into the business reduces her credibility with me by about ten orders of magnitude. The fact that this is even a pop issue is that pop issues are so totally skewed to begin with. You and I can see this coming from the start. You and I aren't surprised by this. You and I are able to see the irony. These sweet moments of truth are almost worth the whole teeny bopper culture. I say almost, because then I remember that the Simpsons are multi-millionaires. Then I cry.

The Greatest Canadian

2004-10-20T01:38:00.000-04:00

The talk of the domestic blogosphere lately has definetly been the CBC's new miniseries on who 'the greatest Canadian' is. Regardless of whether or not trying to name a single best Canadian is a stupid idea to begin with, I think what's not stupid about the whole procedure is that Canadian citizens are spending time thinking about what kind of person the greatest Canadian would be, and what kind of qualities would make him or her great.

As much as I think Dr. Banting and Alexander Graham Bell were great scientists, and made massive contributions to humanity, they don't qualify as 'greatest Canadian' material for me. To me, these two bring what is wonderful about biochemistry, or engineering, not about what is wonderful about Canada in particular. Also, if CBC insists on having somebody from Hockey Night in Canada on their top 10, Ron Maclean would have the reasonable choice. I love Cherry, but honestly. Honestly.

To me, the greatest Canadian is an epitomy of what is great about Canada and Canadians. As much as the nation determines it's greatest, the greatest must have contributed significantly to exactly those characteristics that make Canada great. I could narrow my list down to five Canadians, but I'd have a tough time going any further:

Tommy Douglas
Pierre Trudeau
Lester Pearson
Terry Fox
David Suzuki

I think the first four speak for themselves. As for David Suzuki, I think he belongs on the list, despite what I think a lot of Canadians think of him. To me, he's nearly the personification of my ideal Canada. Over the last twenty years, Suzuki's continuous efforts to make Canadians aware of the sustainability of our society, and of the environmental responsibility we all have has been a great contribution to making Canada the progressive thinking nation I believe we are. I think he's earned his way on there. As Matt points out, since he's still alive it might be premature to call Suzuki the greatest. We may find out in 5 years time that he drives an Escalade, guzzles JD and clubs baby seals, which would severely damage his reputation. I for one, am confident that this won't happen.

The odds seem to be on Terry Fox to win. I think he's very deserving, but if I had to choose I'd vote for Pearson.

Electronic, supersonic

2004-10-16T18:57:00.000-04:00

If you're feeling that incredible urge for award-winning music videos that I know you get from time to time, then I can help you.

Electronic, Supersonic - ??? (best line: my blue jeans is tight, so climb onto my love rocket)

Chill Out - Youth of Britain

*Disclaimer* music videos may not be award-winning

Who's surprised?

2004-10-15T02:01:00.000-04:00

The HMCS Chicoutimi catching fire, killing a young Canadian naval officer, and being left virtually derlilct off the coast of the UK is not news. Rather, it's the most recent in an ongoing string of equipment failures costing Canadians their lives.

First let me get out of the way that the Canadian military is in such a state that it can't keep its submarines from catching fire. Enough said about that.

Military spokespeople told CBC that Canada wouldn't buy "just any submarine" and that they were all shocked by this latest tragedy, because in testing the sub had originally met all the requirements. Keeping in mind the helicopter crashes that have put the Canadian military in the news over the last several years, equipment meeting Canadian standards doesn't preclude it from later killing its operators. The problem is not that the sub doesn't meet Canadian standards, the problem is that it does meet Canadian standards.

If we value our nation as much as we say, we need to be prepared to defend it with more effective means than our out-of-retirement equipment.

Ice cream that WILL make you scream

2004-10-14T02:22:00.000-04:00

From what I've read here, this appears to be an actual website and company. I don't know what I can say about this that won't make me sound like a pretentious bastard, but I think the site speaks for itself.

Not only is that absurd, but so it seems is Ted Nugent. In his book advertised at the aforementioned site, Ted makes such ridiculous claims as then Nugent family, "has not bought domestic flesh sice 1969." Incredible.

NHL update

2004-10-14T01:43:00.000-04:00

I listened to Ted Saskin representing the NHLPA on Sportsnet today and I was totally astounded by how little grasp of this lockout situation he really has. Saskin stated that the NHL fans would hold this wasted season against the league, not the players association, and that if the NHL ever tried to replace the NHL superstars, no hockey fan would accept the new roster of players.

I hate to break it to the NHLPA, but I am one hockey fan who feels the league is entirely justified in locking the players out, and if this season is pooched (which I'm confident it's doomed to be) then i'd happily watch an entirely recast NHL.

An independent audit by former Chair of the US Securities & Exchange Comission Arthur Levitt determined that last season the NHL lost nearly $275 million dollars. NHLPA spokespeople are discrediting the numbers which I think is ridiculous. A) Arthur Levitt doesn't give a fuck about the NHL... he certainly won't put his reputation on the line for Gary Bettman. B) even if the numbers are wrong... lets say they're off incredibly by $100 million dollars, the league is still losing $175 million a year, which is still so unsustainable that the difference is negligible.

I'd love to see a televised debate between Bettman and Saskin... possibly followed by a fan vote determining which side had to make the concessions that would get the players back on the ice. If this dispute isn't resolved soon the NHLPA will probably find themselves with no bargaining power seeing as how they'll have no league to speak of.

NHL part 2

2004-10-14T01:02:00.000-04:00

Just to follow up my last hockey post, regardless of how quickly NHL hockey returns to us, I predict a return to a 24 or 25 team league. Already the sport is treading water in the US, and I think we can expect teams from Florida, Carolina, Anaheim & Phoenix to be looking to relocate or fold entirely. Anybody from the US reading who can enlighten us on the hockey atmosphere down there?

Also, I've heard rumors of NHL hockey returning to Winnipeg which I think would be awesome. I'm sure Winnipegers (?) feel the same way.

??? how did this post end up below the first one?

The virtue of focus

2004-10-12T01:31:00.000-04:00

A weekend away from my stresses & troubles (which are admittedly & thanksfully few) can sometimes do amazing things for my perspective. Thanksgiving's always beautiful for that.

The conversations I had & probably the book (Every second counts by Lance Armstrong) I'm reading got me thinking about how the amazing things that people do make the doers themselves seem amazing. Not meaning to detract from anybody, but I personally don't buy into that, and I think that most prominent figures probably don't either. I think the Lance Armstrongs, Dali Llamas, Nelson Mandelas, and Brian Greenes of the world are people like you and I who worked very hard. Very hard. The point is though, that aside from a bit of genetic predisposition, you and I have essentially the same tools to work with as these amazing human beings. With the right education in how to use them, and the right work ethic, you and I can do these incredible things too.

I don't mean to imply that the leaders in thinking and achieving today aren't doing incredible things, and that they aren't incredible people. What I do mean to say is that every person is equally incredible and has the potential to achieve equally incredible feats. What I see myself struggling with the most, and what I imagine holds back so many others, is focus.

It's so easy in today's environment of constant stimulation to get diverted from your goals. Constantly we're bombarded with easier and more comfortable options to what is truly good for us. Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to stop, look at what's important to us, think about where we want our lives to go, and to take definitive action. Also I'm unapologetic about any melodrama here because this stuff really fires me up.

More than ever, focus matters in today's world. More than ever, somebody is trying to get rich by selling you something that will distract and destroy you. A person who could take a look at the world objectively and choose to do things that made him or her ultimately more happy, and ultimately more fulfilled would have a huge head start towards fulfillment.

I believe like Lance that 'every second counts' but I'm not sure we agree in the meaning of that. Every second counts away, regardless of what any of us chooses to do with it. It's up to me whether that second counted towards my life, or went unnoticed.

Man that fires me up!... I don't know how I'm ever gonna get to sleep tonight.

Leave Ralph alone

2004-10-07T02:28:00.000-04:00

Does it drive anybody else crazy the way it drives me crazy when people bash Ralph Nader for handing Bush the 2000 election? I'll tell you who you should really blame for getting Bush elected, and his name doesn't rhyme with Alph Ader.

I realize that if a few greens had voted democrat then Bush wouldn't have won, but do you know what would have made an even bigger difference? If a few republicans had voted democrat instead! Forget Nader, if a few people had decided not to vote Bush then he definetly wouldn't have won. Also, if you want to rip on a demographic for not representing itself in favor of the democrats in the polls, forget the tiny number that voted green, and lets talk about the 100 million eligible voters who decided to watch Survivor instead of hitting the polls! If even one in a thousand of them had shown up, it would have been enough to put Gore in office.

And to those who harp on Nader that he should keep himself off the ballot for the upcoming election, I would like you to realize that giving the voters options on the ballot is the whole idea behind democracy. In fact, in the spirit of democracy, I say we petition to keep Kerry (who is virtually identical to Bush on all but a select few issues) off the ballot so he doesn't take all Nader's votes... then we'd have a real contest of values on election day. A two horse race is bad enough, but taking Nader off the ballot makes it very nearly a one horse race. It's difficult enough for fringe parties to run for office, lets not make it any more difficult.

Peace, I'm out.

The mind or the molecule

2004-10-07T01:06:00.000-04:00

This is a reader response post, so get ready. To set the stage for this post, my roommate is taking a course called 'The Philosophy of Death'. I know, it sounds like a stinkin great course. He was reading a dialogue tonight that presented the following scenario: A child is crossing the road about to be hit by a car, a middle aged male jumps out & saves the child, but is hit by the car. His body is crushed & he's killed instantly. The boy's father sees this all happen from the sidewalk & has a stroke, which kills him too. The doctors realize that they can perform life-saving surgery by putting the stranger's unharmed brain, into the unharmed body of the boy's father. Whose life does the surgeon save? Does he save either of their lives?

At first, I thought that neither were saved. A person's brain & body both contribute to who that person is, so a new brain/body combo would yield a new person. Neither are saved, but a new person is made.

Then I was presented with a different but paralell situation. A woman dying of an incurable disease is offered the option of having her brain put in a new body. She agrees, and the doctor recommends that she take an asprin so she won't have a headache afterwards (I see the problem with that idea, but thats not important to the point). She says that asprin gives her a stomach ache but she'd rather put up with a stomach ache now than a headache after the surgery. If the woman is the one who will have to deal with the headache afterwards (which makes sense to me intuitively), and the person whose body she was in wouldn't have to deal with it, then it seems pretty clear the woman survives, but the donor doesn't. This makes me think I'm my brain, not my body at all.

My roommate then presented me with another side to the problem. If the stranger from scenario one (whose brain now inhabits its new body) were to have a child, whose child would it be? It would carry the boy's father's DNA, as would any of his offspring. More importantly, this person has the boy's father's DNA, so maybe it's the body that surivives, not the brain. It's the body that's able to pass on its genes, which is the ultimate goal of life as we know it. Imagine a crime scene in which this new person leaves his DNA evidence all over the place. All the physical evidence seems to indicate that the boy's father certainly does exist, where there's no tangible evidence that the stranger exists at all.

I think the idea of who we are is pretty important. I think it's pretty murky too, & the murky ideas are always the most fun to discuss... I'd like to hear any ideas all of you have on it.

Turning the tables

2004-10-02T21:37:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow morning I start intramural soccer here at school & I'm pretty pumped about it. We practiced together last week & I discovered I'm in a bit of an awkward situation not like one I can remember ever having been in.

Not knowing a team I could play with, I registered as a free agent & was drafted this week... by the Vientamese Club. My name's Cameron Smith... about as white as it gets, so I can't explain why the VC decided to draft me. Anyhow, its wierd to be part of a group in which you're the drastic ethnic minority, are speaking a different language (some of the time), but are still in your home. I expect to feel this way when I travel abroad, but still being at home it's an especially awkard to be the outsider all of a sudden. Also, being a young, white, middle class male I'm pretty used to being in the majority wherever I travel inside Canada.

It's good to have a wake-up call once in a while to bump you outside your comfort zone. I think I'd probably benefit big-time from being shoved into a spot like this on a daily basis.

Some thought for food

2004-10-02T18:18:00.000-04:00

This weekend the house is pretty empty. Two of my roommates have gone to Toronto to attend a seminar hosted by nutritionist John Berardi. For those of you looking to improve your diet (that should include most Canadians) there is a whole spectrum of information out there and its tough to decipher what works and what doesn't. If you're looking for the best story science can put together, I suggest you try out John Berardi.

I think thedisparity of mainstream nutrition information is due in great part to the slew of new discoveries in nutrition being made on a regular basis. Nutrition is a fairly new science (the first vitamins wasn't discovered til 1897 & the first protien structures weren't described til 1945) so the information we've complied so far doesn't paint as clear a picture as some would lead you to believe. Many contemporary "nutriiton experts" give bad advice because they don't understand the full picture. The Atkins diet works because it exploits certain aspects of human metabolism, but its an atrocious diet to put oneself on because it's an incomplete theory of nutrition; it ignores many long-understood basics of nutrition. What we need to do with this new information is find a way to marry it with what we already understand to be true.

Basic nutrition is pretty much covered in the old school of thought, but ideal nutritional strategies to achieve specific goals is the target of this new school of thought. If you just want to be relatively healthy & have your bases covered, then look to the Canada Food Guide to Healthy Eating.

If you've got a specific goal in mind like sports nutrition, or fat loss, or are willing to put in some extra effort to be more nourished, then forget you've ever heard of Dr Atkins or Dr. Phil, and check out Dr. John Berardi. He's probably one of the most cutting-edge nutritionists that I've ever read, and he's got a real knack for marrying old ideas with new, and for tying all the soundbites Atkins and Phil throw around into one cohesive picture of how people should really eat.

*UPDATE*
Here's a link to an article on Berardi's website which I think is a perfect intro to his methods. It's a pretty simple set of 7 principles to eat by, but when followed can have a dramatic effect on your health, wellness & appearance.

Canada to flex military muscle

2004-09-27T14:39:00.000-04:00

For a long while I was perfectly happy with Canada's virtually demilitarized state, but recently I've seen the need for competent military strength become more apparant. Now, I'm fully in support of efforts to significantly increase Canada's military strength, so that we'll never have to deal with a Darfur or some other such situation here at home.

In a move that's great and I'm glad was made by us, Paul Martin has decided to make the first move in Sudan by offering to train African peacekeepers to help defuse the tensions in Darfur. I think its great that we're all willing to help out a country in need. Also, I'd be equally sad if I lived in Sudan, and didn't have peacekeepers of my own to handle the situation.

Also, I think something's going buggy on a global scale when the first country to resort to military intervention is Canada.

A TRUE Canadian Icon

2004-09-27T11:52:00.000-04:00

Trudeau? Fox? Frye? No, I mean an icon that truly is a bastion of all things Canadian... William Shatner!

He doesn't always represent the best of what Canada has to offer, but we all know he's got a LOT of whats true about us in him. Funny, but kind of wierd. Successful, but nobody's really sure how he got there.

For those of you who love Shatner as much as I do, he's got a new audio CD entitled Has Been (I'm not sure if thats ironic). It's produced by Ben Folds (of the BF Five) and features Joe Jackson, Henry Rollins, Aimee Mann, Adrian Belew & Lemon Jelly.

And for those of you who are wondering, I am unabashedly plugging Shatner's new CD, but who in my shoes wouldn't do the same thing? Just to put this out there: Shatner for PM. Think about it.

I think we've been here before

2004-09-26T14:31:00.000-04:00

I've been wondering for quite a while about what's really going on in Iraq right now. When the war in Iraq began I knew what American soldiers were fighting for: to capture the Iraqi oil fields... I mean dictator.

Now that the target has been captured, things are different and I'm not too sure what it is troops are fighting for over there anymore. On top of that, young kids seem to be getting sent home in bodybags at an ever increasing rate, which seems counterintuitive to me.

This article in the star painted a picture that I'd somehow always expected to be pretty close to the truth. What is being accomplished in the middle east that requires the generation of 30 to 55 wounded soldiers per day... per medical centre?? I don't know... it's not a rhetorical question so if you know, please email me.

While we're at it, another stunning example of the logic behind these wartime decisions (I believe it was David Cross who made this observation) involves the US calling a portion of their retired military band back into service. They were one of several groups called out of retirement, but the musicians were needed because the army was sending too many bodybags back and didn't have enough musicians to play at all the military funerals.

To clarify. Imagine one government official reading his war statistics and he realizes that the army's taking huge numbers of casualties in Iraq, and can't even give these shiploads of dead kids proper funerals because the whole band is already committed... at other funerals! He thinks for a second & says out loud: "We're gonna have to hire more musicians." It's a funny image, but the reality of the situation is not so funny.

At this point I think the US has pretty much two options: stay in Iraq indefinetly, or pull out asap. Anything in between is probably just going to waste lives & money. The first is a totally unreasonable and unconstitutional situation I think, and the second basically puts us back to where we were after Bush 1 left Iraq. The difference being that the country is now in a deeper state of chaos, and is filled with more new, young, ambitious terrorists. John Kerry's going to have a big hole to dig out of.

George W....Sudan Has WMD!

2004-09-20T01:08:00.000-04:00

Okay, maybe they don't. But if I've learned anything from Desert Storm Episode 2, it's that only those countries undergoing catastrophic humanitarian crises who can also provide sketchy, incomplete evidence of nuclear weapons programs will be considered for intervention.

Foreign officials from both the UN and the US have been reporting all year that the Sudanese government is attempting to ethnically cleanse its own country. What has been done to remedy this situation? We've dropped plenty of food, reviewed many proposals, reported unfavorably about the Sudanese government... and not much else from what I can see. In one of the aforementioned reports, the US proposed using sanctions to help coerce Sudan's government into putting a halt to their genocidal efforts. The UN Security Council had some concerns over the wording... I think it went something like this:

SECURITY COUNCIL: We have some concerns over the wording of this document, we think the term you've used here may be too harsh

U.S.: Oh, Genocide you mean?

SECURITY COUNCIL: No! Gosh no, we meant sanctions. Any fool can see we've got a genocide on our hands... but lets be careful about throwing words like sanctions around.

Now I don't endorse the war in Iraq, but thats another post for another time. What I will say is that the appalling degree of inaction the UN has displayed in Sudan just begs for Iraq-type conflicts to happen when nations as frustrated with the situation as I am, decide to act unilaterally. If the UN Security Council is going to be an effective sheriff to the wold then they're going to need to find some bollocks.

One Year Older, Somehow No Wiser

2004-09-18T13:42:00.000-04:00

Mazel Tov! Today's my birthday!

I'm sure it affects very few of my vast swaths of readers, but I feel the need to share my milestone with all of you anyhow. I guess thats why I started this thing in the first place.

Do You Rememeber Rock & Roll Radio?

2004-09-17T19:23:00.000-04:00

It's bad enough that the most successful musicians of today are primarily rubbish; the last thing we need is for what greats we do have to be taken away from us.

Yesterday Johnny Ramone died after a 5 year battle with prostate cancer. After having lost Joey Ramone in 2001 and Dee Dee Ramone in 2003 the only living original member of the legendary 70's punk quartet is drummer Tommy Ramone.

I know its cliche to say that all new music sucks so I won't. What I will say is that very seldom anymore do we hear anything new. Johnny Cash, The Ramones, The Clash, Nirvana... all great bands not necessarily because they were musically talented, but because they pioneered new movements in music. Kurt Cobain & Nirvana ushered in the era of grunge rock that the 90's is so well known for. Cobain has been dead for over 10 years now, and I'm hard pressed to think artists who have taken music in a new direction since then.

In honor of Johnny and his contribution to our lives, I propose that each of us heads down to the local record store, and purchases a CD by somebody we've never heard of. You could be listening to the next Radiohead, or Andrew WK.

You Think You're Pretty Hot Eh Beaver? Try This!

2004-09-17T01:20:00.000-04:00

From time to time, I see something like this that makes me absolutely love, and somewhat question, the country I live in.

To fully appreciate the implications of this article, there is one line of paramount importance: "The dog was possibly celebrating the Canadian victory in the hockey game".

I don't think I even need to comment on that, it writes itself. Only in Canada.

An invitation?... for me!?

2004-09-16T01:43:00.000-04:00

This image appeared as a quarter-page ad in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times. It's a couple of weeks old, but it's pure gold.

Say it ain't so Bob!

2004-09-15T15:45:00.000-04:00

Am I missing something? It seems to me that the NHLPA cannot be stupid enough to think they will benefit from allowing themselves to be locked out. According to the NHL, player salaries last season accounted for approximately 75% of the revenue brought into the league. The league figures that in an economic system that works for all NHL teams, player salaries must eat up no more than 50% of the league revenue. If I'm a highly paid player, that means there's a lot of money I'm no longer going to be getting. I can see that each side has a valid argument here. But...

An acquaintance of mine here at school has a cousin who plays in the NHL. I won't mention who the player is, but his defense of the players' decision to allow themselves to be locked out went something like this: "Just like doctors have a reasonable expectation to make a large amount of money because they're at the top of their field, we hockey players expect to make a certain amount of money for being at the top of our field, and we won't accept anything less." My problem with that attitude is this: YOU WILL STILL BE INCREDIBLY RICH! Playing in the NHL is not an easy job, but it's a fantastically good one nonetheless. I would be more than happy to switch places with any player who feels he's being ripped off in his industry.

Yes, if you are one of the more highly paid players in the league, you will be getting paid substantially less... but you will still be making a shocking amount of money. This makes it very difficult for me to support the NHLPA's position in this dispute. The reality of the situation is that they salaries they're currently being paid are simply not sustainable. Either there's no hockey right now because of a lockout, or there's no hockey five years from now, because the NHL is bankrupt.

In any case, aren't I indirectly the one who pays the players' salaries? If they aren't happy with what they're being offered then maybe I don't want to give them any of my money anymore. I'm not joking, just ask the Blue Jays.

Can't we all be friends?

2004-09-15T14:07:00.000-04:00

For every person you speak to and for every news article you read, you will likely find a differnet take on Canada's current health care summit, and the problems it needs to address. As Matt F points out, each of these arguments seems valid on the surface, backed up by reasonable figures and (usually) sensible ideas.

What's a citizen to do then, when faced with contentions that (a) Lack of federal funding is the problem (b) Lack of federal funding is not the problem? What if both arguments seem true?

I think the reality of the matter is that most of the arguments we hear from experts are true. More federal funding would probably help our health care a lot, but it certainly won't solve all our problems. Our health care has a lot of issues; thus, there are a lot of approaches which will be beneficial.

What we (that means you bureaucrats too!) tend to forget is that every person at the health care summit genuinely wants to make Canada a better place. Whether it's the premiers or the PM, I'm willing to bet that any one of their ideas would improve my health care, if only they could implement it. I would love to see Canada elect a group of officials who would act like adults , and put the good of the nation before their own egos. "This isn't my idea for health care reform, but goddamit its going to make Canada a better place so lets get to it!"

Maybe its naive of me to think that would be good for the nation, but wouldn't it be great to see our so called leaders rallying together... all for you! Plus, I prefer that type of naivete to the kind of cynicism I currently suffer from, which makes me believe that we will achieve absolutely nil at this summit.

The time has come

2004-09-14T18:16:00.000-04:00

WIll it never end?

I've been considering starting a blog of my own for quite some time now, and with blogs run by my friends suddenly cropping up in every direction, I think its time for me to make myself heard as well.

Over and above my own selfish desire to be noticed, I think I've got something to offer the blogosphere. After a brief hiatus from school and career related business, I believe now that I'm back I've got more relevant and pertinent material to share with the blogosphere than I did earlier. Thus, now is the time for Black Coffee Blues to come to life.

Knowing myself, I imagine most of my subject matter will revolve around health & wellness, politics (with a bit of a green tint most likely) & what I hope will be a perspective on whats going on around me that's worth the time it takes to read. If its not, I encourage you to continue surfing. If it is, I encourage you to let me know.