Tommy Emmanuel - Classical Gas

Oh my!

Usain Bolt’s disqualification ends three-year reign

There are few sights more thrilling than watching the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, break away from the pack and turn on the steam to cross the finish line ahead of everyone else.

Today was not what the world was expecting from the 25-year old Jamaican sprinter. He broke out of the starting block early in Sunday's 100 meter final in South Korea and was disqualified from the race, providing an abrupt end to the dominance he's maintained in track's biggest event since the Beijing Olympics.

It's a disaster scenario for track & field, a sport that thrives on star power more than any other at the Olympics. The IAAF has to ask itself whether it's worth running the risk of seeing a race without Bolt just to prevent a two-minute false start delay.

An angry Bolt refused to talk about the disqualification with reporters. "Looking for tears?" he said to a group of them following him around the track. "Not going to happen."

At the 2009 world championships in Berlin, Bolt ran what was considered a perfect race. His 9.58 still stands as the world.

Iconic Steve Jobs resigns as Apple Chief Executive

Been off-line for most of the afternoon-early evening – just discovered the news that Steve Jobs as resigned his job as chief executive of Apple computers. 55-year-old Jobs has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since January of this year. Jobs, who underwent a liver transplant following pancreatic cancer seven years ago, said he could no longer meet his chief executive's duties and expectations.

I know it’s macabre but when I read the story on the BBC about Job’s resignation, my first thought was of Jack Layton. Certainly, any recent pictures I’ve seen of Jobs have shown the toll that illness has taken on him.

An accompanying analysis from BBC Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones only served to heighten the comparison with Jack Layton.

“But Steve Jobs is a rare example of a chief executive who is synonymous with his company … and has been the public face of just about every major product launch in the past decade. It's difficult to imagine Apple without him - but he's leaving having revived what was an ailing business when he returned in the late 1990s, and turned it into the world's wealthiest company and one which has done more than any other in recent years to shape consumer technology.”

So tonight as Jack Layton rests in peace in the House of Commons, hopefully, we can join together in sending positive energy to Steve Jobs in whatever way we choose.

Jack Layton's final testament to Canada

August 20, 2011

Toronto, Ontario

Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Jack Layton dies in Toronto

Canada has lost a champion ... a man who took this country to a new level in the political realm ... a level of respect, decency, positive-attitude and none of the mud slinging that has so characterized the Liberal and Conservative practices over the last few years. The Honourable Jack Layton, PC, MP died this morning at his home in Toronto at age 61.    I extend my condolences to Olivia and the family.

The President of the NDP, Brian Topp, best described Jack Layton's contribution to Canadian politics, “He taught us some things that we must not forget, he taught us that the alternative to the kind of angry politics that you see in so much of North America these days is it’s opposite. That basic note of hopefulness and optimism was his antidote to angry and small politics and I think you can see in the remarkable result he got that people responded extraordinarily well. Because that’s what they’re looking for. Nobody can replace Jack Layton, but it falls to us to carry on his work.” (Source: Globe & Mail)

Please take a moment to read John Ibbitson's column in today's Globe & Mail.

R.I.P. Jack Layton.

A glimpse into our world

Ever read headlines that make you wonder about where we’re headed?  We seem to be able to muck up things on our own pretty good, so much so that the old "hell-in-a-hand-basket" line doesn't seem quite so far fetched as it once did.  Is it any wonder that bloggers never seem to lack for material?  :-)

Here are four real recent examples:
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Police scramble to fight flash-mob mayhem

It seems to be the latest evolution in a crime wave. Groups of youth will text one another on their smart phones and gather at a store to steal merchandise. The sheer number of people who show up make it impossible for the store employees to control or apprehend any of the criminals. Why am I not surprised that these yobs and chavs can afford smart phones?

McGill University strikes deal with Quebec gov't to keep charging $29K for MBA

One thing I learned about Masters programs is you get out of them what you put into them. Consider that MUN offers an MBA for about $4300 (depending on the number of semesters), thanks to a tuition freeze that’s been in place since 1999. I would much prefer to do an MBA at MUN with equally qualified learning and about 600% less stress.


I’m supersizing to be the world’s fattest woman, says 52st mother of two 
This 32-year old Arizona single mother has some serious mental health issues. She currently weighs about 700 pounds and wants to double her weight. She’s pictured in the story sitting on a sofa with her normal-looking 16 and 12-year old sons. One can only imagine the pain those kids must feel because of their mother’s desire to be the world’s fattest woman.

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists

ET may be phoning home but it’s not to tell the folks at home how great the earth is, according to these researchers. They say we’ve done such a miserable job at steward-ship that it might be easiest for some alien race to just blow us away to protect the rest of the universe. Frightening to think of how we may be condemning ourselves.

George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg couldn’t come up with the fantasies that we turn into reality for ourselves.

Matt Andersen

I've been a fan of the blues for a long time. There's a young guy from a little village in New Brunswick (Bairdsville) who has been on the scene now for ten years and a bit. His name is Matt Andersen and while he hasn't hit Carnegie Hall yet, he's blowing audiences away all over North America and Europe. He performed this summer at the world famous Glastonbury Festival in England and last year he won the International Blues Challenge Single/Duo Finals in Memphis, Tennessee. Here's a video of his award winning performance. Enjoy!

Keep >>Polemic & Paradox<< alive

One of the things I’ve learned through blogging is there is no limit to the stupidity of our species.

Once you put your opinion out there, it’s open season and regardless of what sort of reason or logic you use to express your opinion, many webizens are committed to showing you the error of your thinking in the most vitriolic manner. Just read some of the comments on the CBC website sometime if you want to see a shallow gene pool.

In some ways, I’m lucky with this blog – I don’t have that many readers and those who do read it generally don’t express any opinions. I’m grateful for those regulars (shout-out to WWW, GNB & Chris) who take the time to offer comment. It’s their participation which often prompts me to write another post when it’s 2am and I can’t sleep.

It burns my butt when someone who contributes mightily to the blogging canon comes under attack to the extent that they decide to pull the plug. That’s what happened with Peter Whittle, the author of Polemic & Paradox who decided today to drop what he describes as “The Final Curtain”, “With only 55 days to go before this fall's general election, some folks are getting a bit touchy about my political commentary and observations.  As a result, P&P is going to take a break for an undetermined period. I thought about switching gears but it is difficult to teach an old dog a new trick.”

I enjoy reading Peter’s extensive writing on a broad range of issues. He is always respectful with his opinion and backs it up where need be with fact and personal experience. To me, that’s the three-legged stool of personal opinion blogging.

The blogging world will be the poorer for his absence. I urge you to visit his blog and encourage him to keep Polemic & Paradox alive.

Salt = $$

Just when I thought it was safe to dig out the can opener again, the Campbell Soup company says it will put more salt back into some of its soups.  (http://tinyurl.com/3bjb39l)

Remember the picture of the guy in the room with all the salt that was taken out of the soups?    Doesn't apply any longer.

Campbell’s says the increase will be from 480 to 650 milligrams. By my calculation, that’s a 170 milligram increase in salt … about 35% more. According to a nephrologist I talked with a year or so ago, two cans of that soup in one day would put me 100 milligrams over his suggested limit of 1200 milligrams a day.  We do not need MORE salt in our diet. Our collective blood pressures are far too high as it is.

The move is intended to boost some drooping sales.

If we need any more indication that the corporate world doesn’t give a hoot about our health, then this is it. I’ve just been reading a fascinating article in Men’s Health about how nutrition claims can be so misleading and that while the claims sound as if the product is good for us, there is so much artificial creation behind the tastes and textures that we have no idea of the cumulative effect on our health.

Same with this example from Campbell’s. There’s lots of evidence to suggest the damage that excess salt does to our body systems and this decision by Campbell’s really puts their earlier claims of salt reduction right into the dumpster where they belong.

Buy a bag of lentils, some other vegetables and a few bones for flavour and make your own soup. It really does taste better and your blood pressure will thank you for it!

This other Eden, demi-paradise

Rex Murphy's take on the riots in England from today's National Post:

"The parade of violence, mayhem, callousness, petty greed and ignorant arrogance that has torn through the "other Eden" and roiled the "happy breed of men" is really quite beyond any ready or rational comparison. Some demi-Paradise - where people leap out of buildings deliberately set on fire by the yobs and chavs (Brit terms for thugs and gangsters), where the oppressed wander in and out of street shops to liberate their merchandise, terrify the staff and smash everything they cannot steal."

You can read the rest of his column here

Kudos to MUN & a question mark

MUN has made the right decision in revoking the registration of Qiang Tang, the Chinese student who was found guilty of stabbing another student because he was talking too loud in class. Tang was taking English as a second language classes at MUN when the assault happened. He’s been sentenced to a year of house arrest. I remember talking to people at Spencer Hall a few days after the incident happened and they were nervous. Clearly the guy is unstable and people shouldn’t have to worry about their safety while attending class on campus. Now, the immigration department should send him back home. He’s forfeited his right to study here.

Another student in the news. 21-year old Kurtis Coombs will be the NDP's candidate for the district of Mount Pearl North in the next provincial election. You may remember he was the 19-year who ran for Mayor in Paradise and almost won. Then, he tried to be nominated the as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the Topsail by-election. He was rejected there, but now he has an NDP nomination. At least, unlike Quebec in the last federal election, people know who he is but one has to wonder whether he has any political commitment or simply an interest in getting a political job. He says the NDP is now the best fit with his political views. It will be interesting to hear his political views.

Miscellany ...

Some items from the news …

Our very best and belated wishes go out to Yvonne Jones as she takes more time for herself and her recovery from breast cancer. I think most of us who have had experience with chemo-therapy (either personal or indirect) know how much it can take out of a person. For Yvonne to try to soldier on says a great deal about her personal integrity. She needs to take the time now to work on her personal recovery, knowing that the good wishes of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are with her. God speed!

The campaign to replace her is beginning to take on a bit of race quality. Latest candidate to enter is that man of all parties, Brad Cabana. First he wanted to be PC leader and now Liberal leader. Stay tuned for an announcement from him when Lorraine Michael announces her retirement a few years after she forms the next government.

Eastern Health has re-hired a suspended psychiatrist who had his Newfoundland medical license suspended. The College of Physicians & Surgeons found that Dr. Mohamed Mekawy erred by prescribing pills to patients in the US via the internet whom he had never met and by responding falsely in a 2008 application to have his Newfoundland and Labrador medical licence renewed. (No comment from the Medical School as to whether the doctor will be able to continue teaching medical students who should be learning about ethics in medical practice at this stage.)

Stephen Harper’s senior staff members are denying reports that the Prime Minister locked himself in a bathroom in Brazil and refused to come out until he got his way in a protocol issue. It was first reported by a Brazilian newspaper and Canadian reporters travelling with the Prime Minister on his latest photo-op tour say they don’t know if it’s true. The fact that his office is denying may suggest there’s something to it. There are suggestions this is not the first time the Prime Minister has done the bathroom door locking thing.

Should the British government resign?

In light of the recent protests that are spreading throughout England, it would appear that the only reasonable choice for the British coalition government, led by David Cameron, is to resign en masse and allow new elections to be held. Failing that, NATO should immediately undertake a military campaign including targeting #10 Downing Street, the complex in which Prime Minister Cameron and his family live.

Admittedly, there will be innocent civilian causalities because of the fact that the bombing is happening in a densely populated area, but such are the costs of a war of freedom.

Anything wrong with that logic?

There didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it when the USA, Canada, France, Italy and other players began bombing Tripoli, Libya and concentrating on the residential complex of Muammar Gaddafi and his family. Different strokes for different folks, perhaps? After all, the justification for the bombing was that the Libyan people had risen up in protest, taken to the streets and were making a very clear statement of their displeasure with the current state of affairs.

It’s even “closer” to the situation in Tunisia where the protestors took to the streets to condemn the death of 26-year old Mohamed Bouazizi, who burned himself to death to protest injustice from the government. In England, the protests began after the police shot and killed 29-year old Mark Duggan, who was travelling in a taxi. Initially, the demonstrations were to focus attention on what the demonstrators felt was clear injustice by the police.

Admittedly, the forms of government are much different in the two or three countries, but aren’t the complaints of those who are doing the protesting much the same? They are dissatisfied with their state in life, feel the government is not serving their needs and want to see massive change. The degree and quality of that change is up for discussion.

There is one significant difference though.

In an “attempt” to “understand” the violence that has devastated several English cities over the last few days, social scientists have been asking us to consider the state of mind of those who are doing the violence. They feel that if we can “understand” the motivation behind the mindless violence, thuggery, thefts, assaults and destruction of public and private property, it will somehow help us to feel less antagonistic towards those responsible for the violence.

What we’re being told is that at base, they are essentially a lot of misunderstood youth and not-so-youth who need to express their frustration with the system which denies them meaningful work and the right to buy and own high-end luxury sneakers and other fancy goods. So, they bust open the store windows and steal the sneakers, TVs, clothing and just about anything else you can imagine.

And you know the most amazing thing? It’s the same technology that has enabled the riots and protests in England, Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – smart phones, texting and facebooking. There are widespread distributions of messages telling everyone that a store on such and such a street is being ransacked or that a police car is being torched at a certain intersection. And, like a horde of locusts, the mob moves to the new location and more violence follows.

What really tears the heart out of me is to see hard-working people who built small stores to feed their families, finding that the store has been destroyed and the contents stolen – not all of these stores sell luxury items. 

A lot of those people are immigrants who came to England to escape the violence at home. Many of them started out doing jobs that other Brits wouldn’t do – cleaning buildings, toilets, washing dishes in restaurants, collecting garbage – and built themselves up from scratch. Not all of them, granted, but a large number. Same situation in this country. And yet, the people who wouldn’t do those jobs in England are the ones who are doing the violence against those who do.

We know there is a huge difference between what’s going on in England at the moment and what happened in Africa and the Middle East. It’s just sickening to hear these so-called social scientists trying to explain it as some sort of sociological mistake.

So please, don’t try to excuse the thugs with some sort of social science baffle gab. And, please, don’t spare the rod.

Will Harper do the honourable thing? NOT!

Interesting story out of Ottawa today.  Turns out that one of Stephen Harper's senior cabinet ministers had a membership in the Bloc Quebecois.  Here's an except from Jane Taber's story in the Globe & Mail:

"Reports Tuesday noted that Denis Lebel, the Transport Minister and a senior member of the Conservative team in Quebec, had been a member of the Bloc from July 1993 to April 2001. Some Tories, however, are arguing this is much different than the situation of NDP MP Nycole Turmel, who was a member of the Bloc for four years before she turned to federal politics.  A senior Conservative source said Tuesday morning that as Mr. Lebel is not head of the party a different argument would be applied."

Can we dare think that Stephen Harper might dump his senior cabinet minister in the same way he's suggesting that Nycole Turmel, the interim leader of the NDP be dumped?????

No, because Harper is a hypocrit.  The tories will find a way to make it seem reasonable regardless of the ethics that might be involved.

Of vampires and nipples

Have you noticed the upswing in “vampire” related movies, television shows, books and the like lately? Wonder why?

That thought occurred to me the other day as I was reading an article in Men’s Health about an actor in a current vampire show and his fitness routine. It appears that not only do you have to be partial to blood for nourishment but you also have to have a killer set of abs. Regrettably, it leaves me out on both counts. My experience with blood pudding in Ireland while I was going to school there many years ago turned me off that and a killer set of abs is not in my future.

The actual term vampire was not popularized until the early 18th century. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula provided the basis of modern vampire fiction. Maybe it’s some sort of evolution of the macabre Goth culture that was so popular a few years ago.

I just wonder why there’s such a fascination now.

As for nipples, there’s no real connection with vampires except that every time a nipple pops out of a bustiere, there seems to be this hue and cry about the moral turpitude of the masses. Many of us will remember Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” during Super Bowl 38 in 2004.  Justin Timberlake still has trouble keeping a straight face when he talks about how surprised he was when it happened.

Recently on the ABC television show Good Morning America, another singer had another wardrobe malfunction and out popped another nipple. Once again, up goes the hue and cry.

My question is why?  Are we such prudes that seeing a nipple causes us to go into anaphylactic shock?

I think I saw my first nipple at about age day one. I’m very glad that I did. It certainly beat the vampire option.

Wardrobe malfunctions are publicity stunts. Why give them any more mileage than they already have?

Considering the amount of material used these days, nothing is left to the imagination anyway, so why get our collective knickers (or otherwise) in a twist?

Ethics in the shark pool

Been watching the media feeding frenzy over Nycole Turmel’s former membership in the Bloc Quebecois with interest.

Turmel, who is now the interim leader of the federal NDP, admits that she had a membership in the Bloc Quebecois before she joined the NDP. It’s a slow news cycle in Ottawa these days so Turmel’s previous membership in the BQ has become a cause célèbre in the offices without air conditioning.

Both Stephen Harper and Bob Rae have weighed in on the news, offering sage opinions about how effective a leader she can be with that sort of past.

Harrump.

As Jane Taber points out in the Globe & Mail, Stephen Harper was a young Liberal in high school, has been a Reformer, a Canadian Alliance member and a Progressive Conservative; Bob Rae was an NDPer; Elizabeth May had a membership in both the NDP and the Liberal Party. 
Gawd, that means by the current standard that Harper and Rae are presenting that NONE OF THEM are fit for leadership.

Elizabeth May is the only federal leader who is saying, hold on here … it’s a case of the pot calling the kettle black ass. But it’s the Ottawa way.

Especially since Harper and his band of tory evangelicals have taken over.

I was naïve to think that Bob Rae had a little more ethical depth.

Computer security company McAfee discovers "enormous" wave of cyber attacks

by Jim Finkle, Reuters, Boston

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Security experts have discovered the biggest series of cyber attacks to date, involving the infiltration of the networks of 72 organizations including the United Nations, governments and companies around the world.

Security company McAfee, which uncovered the intrusions, said it believed there was one "state actor" behind the attacks but declined to name it, though one security expert who has been briefed on the hacking said the evidence points to China.

The long list of victims in the five-year campaign include the governments of the United States, Taiwan, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); the International Olympic Committee (IOC); the World Anti-Doping Agency; and an array of companies, from defense contractors to high-tech enterprises.

In the case of the United Nations, the hackers broke into the computer system of its secretariat in Geneva in 2008, hid there for nearly two years, and quietly combed through reams of secret data, according to McAfee.

Read more here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/03/us-cyberattacks-idUSTRE7720HU20110803