Global Warming: Article of Interest

"The Kyoto Protocol divides the world into two groups. The roughly 1.2 billion citizens of industrialized countries are expected to reduce their emissions. The other 5 billion—including both China and India, each of which is about as populous as the entire Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development—aren’t. These numbers alone guarantee that humanity isn’t going to reduce global emissions at any point in the foreseeable future

...

If we’re truly worried about carbon, we must instead approach it as if the emissions originated in an annual eruption of Mount Krakatoa. Don’t try to persuade the volcano to sign a treaty promising to stop. Focus instead on what might be done to protect and promote the planet’s carbon sinks—the systems that suck carbon back out of the air and bury it. Green plants currently pump 15 to 20 times as much carbon out of the atmosphere as humanity releases into it—that’s the pump that put all that carbon underground in the first place, millions of years ago.

Source: City Journal

The Vicissitudes of Vitamin D Deficiency

It was probably in October or November of last year when I noticed that I was feeling very tired all through the day, every day. No matter how much rest I got, I was always drained of any physical energy.
I put this tired feeling down to being, well, tired. Sick and tired. I was plagued by neck and shoulder tightness and headaches. By December, my symptoms of aching muscles and tiredness bloomed into complete loss of energy, still aching muscles and now, joints. My mood as well turned south.
In an attempt to explain my symptoms, I began to think that maybe, no, for sure, I was burnt out and needed a break. By January, I decided to take a week off and head south to Florida. I hoped that being away from family demands and work life would help me to re-charge my batteries. Unfortunately, I returned home only somewhat refreshed. My overall symptoms did not improve.
I finally consulted my family doctor, who put my symptoms down to possible depression. It seemed a plausible diagnosis. Achy, tired, lack of motivation, needing to sleep for longer and longer periods of time and the concurrent low mood due to months of experiencing the same old symptoms. But I did not feel sadness, was not especially bothered by any one or constellation of problems. I was not crying but was in fact feeling down because of the annoying physical symptoms I've mentioned.
I went back to my G.P. and he relented and had a slew of tests completed, including an abdominal ultrasound, and an x-ray of my chest. There was only one test which gave any direction to my physician. I had a very low level of vitamin "D".
I was prescribed 1000 iu of Vitamin D3. Still, none of the three doctors whom I consulted gave any indication that my physical symptoms had anything to do with my vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D can only be had from a few sources. As I later learned, people with darker skin tend to end up being deficient of the vitamin in northern latitudes during the winter months. I suppose most people get by as I have for the past 35 years in Canada. The two major sources of vitamin D in my life would be egg yolks and milk with my cereal. Unfortunately, neither of these two sources turned out to be enough this winter. Exposure to the suns rays, of course, is the primary mechanism by which people are able to produce vitamin D.
What exactly is Vitamin D good for? It is essential in aiding bone growth and maintenance, however, more recently there has been indications that it may prevent certain cancers, fortify the immune system, etc. Read about it at USA Today or at the CBC website.

Tiny Titan

We walked to Blockbuster today. It's about a half kilometre walk from our house to the store. On the way back young Tarah decided she wanted to pull the wagon with her brother in it. She surprised this pundit by pulling the wagon almost all the way from Blockbuster. The third picture below is the muscle-bound princess close to home and still full of beans! Seth is lying down in the wagon on a comfy blanket.


In her own words: "It's okay dad...I'm a big girl...I can handle it!"


Walking away from me because she still wanted to go around the block and not home.

From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy by Kenan Malik

I think the headline says it all...read it at TimesOnline.

Articles of Interest

Guernica Magazine has an interview with African author and economist Dambisa Moyo on ending western aid to Africa in the next five years.

Dambisa Moyo is a unique voice in the debate over African aid. In a conversation dominated by white, male westerners—and most conspicuously by celebrities such as Bono or Bob Geldoff—Moyo is a black, African woman. Born in Zambia to a banker mother and a father who now runs an anti-corruption organization, Moyo earned her master’s from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Economics at Oxford.

If you follow my blog you may remember me posting an article about Michael Crichton's contrarian views on global warming. Namely, that it don't exist. Now comes an article about in the New York Times Magazine site profiling

eminent physicist Freeman Dyson (who) has quietly resided in Prince­ton, N.J., on the wooded former farmland that is home to his employer, the Institute for Advanced Study, (America's) most rarefied community of scholars. Lately, however, since coming “out of the closet as far as global warming is concerned,” as Dyson sometimes puts it, there has been noise all around him.
...
Dyson is well aware that “most consider me wrong about global warming.” That educated Americans tend to agree with the conclusion about global warming reached earlier this month at the International Scientific Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen (“inaction is inexcusable”) only increases Dyson’s resistance. Dyson may be an Obama-loving, Bush-loathing liberal who has spent his life opposing American wars and fighting for the protection of natural resources, but he brooks no ideology and has a withering aversion to scientific consensus.

Bird on a Wire

"Leonard Cohen has spent much of the past decade in solitude, exploring his own spirituality and his place in an ever-changing world. But in July of 2008, he took the stage at London's 02 Arena and gave a stunning performance, as part of his first tour in 15 years. The concert included some of his most influential and best loved songs, including "Hallelujah," "Bird On A Wire" and "Dance Me To The End Of Love." The historic performance was recorded and will be released as a two-CD set on March 31. Until then NPR Music will stream the entire album online, as an Exclusive First Listen, beginning at 11:59 p.m. March 23."

Are Green Cleaners Really Effective?

When I used to work at group homes I was known by some as the "germ boy." Why, you might ask? Well, it wasn't because I am a walking talking vector for germs; rather it was because of my propensity to use chemical dis-infectants around the group home for everything from the floors to the counters and door handles.
I have often touted, especially to young mothers, the wonders of a product known as Benefect which is 100% natural (and by the way, Canadian) and 99.9% effective in killing all those nasty household germs. The kicker is you can spray Benefect directly into your mouth and it will do you no harm whatsoever. Which means you clean any given surface, wipe and then spray Benefect and forget about it. It is even safe on kitchen counters.
I was happy to come across this very informative article at slate.com which explores and explains which "green" cleaners work and which may work.
Read, enjoy, kill!

Everything's Amazing, Nobody is Happy!

Comedian Louis CK's appearance on Conan O'Brien.

Photo Update

Seth and Tarah on our trip to Niagara Falls


Marsh getting breakfast at the hotel

At the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls

I rented a scooter for a day of sight seeing in the Fort Lauderdale area

Tarah and Seth up to the usual antics

Seth and Mom relaxing at home

Tarah at her recent ballet recital

Tarah and classmates at ballet recital. That big kid is actually a teacher

Tarah at ballet recital

Seth at his 8th birtday party at Chuck-e-Cheese

Tarah may just have a career in spying as she was pretty good at locating the moles

Seth and his friend, Britanny, at Chuck-e-Cheese

Tarah on the tiny carousel

Mujhse Bichhad Ke Khush Rehte Ho

Listen to this Ghazal on YouTube


Artist: Jagjit Singh
Album: Saher

Mujse bichad ke khush rahthe ho(2)
Meri tharah thum bhi jhootte ho(2)

Mujse bichad ke khush rahthe ho

Ik tahani pe chaandh tika tha(2)
Mein ye samjha thum baitte ho(3)

Ujale ujale phool khile the (2)
Bilkul jaise thum hasthe ho (3)

Mujhko shaam batha dhethi hai(2)
Thum kaise kapade pahane ho(3)

Thum thanha dhuniya se ladoge(2)
Bachom si baathein karthe ho(3)

(mujse)

Article of Interest

"The human mind has been unintentionally designed to respond in perverse ways to large-scale suffering."

The Well Written One Sentence Paragraph

One of my favourite authors for the art of writing the overlong sentence and making it sing is John Le Carre. The late John Leonard was another writer who could write a wonderful streak.

For your reading pleasure here is an excerpt from Le Carre's recent novel, A Most Wanted Man:

And that taken all in all, Barlach's message to the world was one of deeply perplexed pity for its suffering, which was why, ever since that day, Brue had come here maybe a dozen times, either when he was in temporary despair -- the black dog as Edward Amadeus used to call it -- or when things were going seriously awry at the bank, or for instance when Mitzi told him, practically in as many words, that he didn't match up to her exacting standards as a lover, a thing he had more or less assumed, but would have preferred no to hear. (pg. 167)

OR

Not rubber-stamped by Frau Elli, at that time you young, devoted and very private secretary, but hand-inscribed by you in fine blue strokes of your ubiquitous fountain pen, ending with your signature in full, lest the casual reader -- not, God knows, that there ever was one -- happened to be unaware the EAB stood for Edward Amadeus Brue OBE, the banker who throughout his life never bent the rules, until the end of it when he broke them all (pg. 40)

John Updike

Ian McEwan, one of my favourite authors, who has written, among other acclaimed novels -- Black Dogs (1992), has now written a wonderful article on the occasion of the recent passing of another one of my literary favourites -- John Updike.

Updike died on January 27, 2009 at the age of 76. The Guardian's obituary headline read: "John Updike, chronicler of American loves and losses, dies at 76." One of my favourite novels by Updike was a novel published in 1978 entitled, The Coup; and one of the best collection of essays I've ever read is, entitled, "Self-Consciousness:Memoirs (1989)."

Lost and Found: Underwater in Zanzibar

Zodiac Killer

A Non Ymous writes that I have some resemblance to the Zodiac. Who the heck is the Zodiac? Glad you asked:

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. His identity remains unknown. The Zodiac killer coined his name in a series of taunting letters he sent to the press. His letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers), three of which have yet to be solved.

The Zodiac murdered five known victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. Numerous suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced.

In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive" but re-opened it some time before March 2007. The case also remains open in the the city of Vallejo as well as in Napa and Solano Counties. The California Department of Justice also has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.

In August 2008, a Sacramento man claimed he had discovered evidence that pointed to his stepfather being the Zodiac Killer. A black hood, a knife encrusted with blood, writing samples, and rolls of photographic film were collected by the FBI.^[1][2] The FBI has not said when it will release the results of its tests.^[3] As of January 2009^[update] those tests have neither concluded nor ruled out the suspect as the Zodiac Killer,^[4] and the FBI continues to collect more evidence to build a DNA profile.^[5]

^Source