My Musing Space

No roses for me

2011-11-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

I am often bemused when I hear about women getting upset for their husband not gifting them for their wedding anniversaries. When it comes to gifts, men are known to have a hard time finding appropriate stuff. So, even when they do remember the date of their wedding anniversary, most of the time they just grab some red roses.

But what are those roses good for? You can show them off to relatives and friends, provided they happen by. Otherwise they wither and die in a few days and there goes your beloved's hard earned money. Seriously, ladies, wouldn't you rather gift yourself quietly with something more enjoyable, chosen by you, fitting your "needs of the moment"?

Of course, that's just me. The fact of the matter is that men keep on buying roses and women keep on sniffing them, like they were the things they desired the most.

Darling husband of mine, thank you for not buying me roses. I prefer a big hug and kiss, and a warm "thank you for all the years you stood by me...".

Bedbug prevention

2010-11-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately these little buggers are around us, we never know when and how we acquire a nice little collection of eggs. The most probable source is clothing items or other things made of cloth, from sheets and towels to floor mops. Luckily there is a way to kill those eggs: HEAT. So whenever you buy something that may potentially harbor eggs, make sure that right after you got home from shopping you chuck the items into the clothes dryer and run it at high heat for 20 minutes.

Inglorious Basterds - a subjective review

2010-01-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

After I heard so many people ooh-ing and aah-ing over this movie, I went to see it. But I was not that impressed. And I have several reasons for not liking the movie much.

-- My first reaction was that it is too much of an American gunslinger macho movie, that glorifies the idea of bloody revenge.
-- The characters are too caricature-like to my taste. Because of this it is not that easy to identify entirely with the good guys.
-- The historic time frame in my opinion is already too far away for the strong anti-German sentiments of the movie.
-- The creators of the film forgot that in Germany it is the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of fallen German soldiers who go to see the movie. How do you think they may react to the scene where a brave patriotic officer (who may be a Nazi, but may perhaps not be one) has his head bashed into a pulp by a baseball wielding American (be he Jewish or otherwise). Or what about the young soldier from Hamburg in the pub scene, celebrating the birth of his first child, who is tricked into putting his gun down by appealing to his humanity? Did he really deserve to die?
-- And finally: do we really need another medium that portrays some fictional bloodthirsty vengeful Jews of the past, when Islamic and other world-wide antisemitic propaganda in our days already created an image of the bloodthirsty Zionist Israeli of the present, an equally fictitious but increasingly accepted image?

Numb chin syndrome update #8

2010-01-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

I thought that by now no sign will have been left of the paresthesia. But there is still a little odd leftover sensation hanging in there, an occasional occurrence. By now when brushing my teeth everything feels completely normal. Instead, whenever I eat or drink something too warm or too cold, the little quarter sized area of the lip in front of my canine (the end bit of the "mental" nerve) reacts to it, and the hot or cold sensation feels stronger, amplified, just in that small area. It is not unpleasant at all. Just odd. And a reminder of what is thankfully now behind me... :)

Saudi TV presenters in full niqab

2009-12-18T23:30:00.000-08:00

I found this on the Al Arabiya website. Apparently a new TV show started on the Saudi Awtan TV that discusses issues concerning teenage girls. The panel consists of three fully covered females.

No further comments...

Please, read this blog post, also, written by an Egyptian-American girl: Niqab:Veiling the True Message of Islam?

AIR CAR - the ideal green alternative.

2009-07-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

In spite of all the hoopla over electric cars, my fascination with air cars is still alive and well. I am absolutely decided to own one day (read: as soon as possible...) one of those little beauties. My big grievance, though, is that MDI does not have any agreement yet in place for a Canadian presence. They did sign agreements with Tata of India, IT MDI-Energy of Australia and New Zealand, ZPM of USA, Motordeaire of Spain and Catecar of Switzerland. I suppose I will have to get one from ZPM then. If you are curious, you can have a look at MDI's news page, or another five pages of photos at DoubleVue.

The cars use compressed air which is held by long cigar shaped cylinders, shaped in such a way that in case of an accident they burst like those Pillsbury cardboard tubes, unraveling in spirals. The cylinders they use can be refilled by regular air compressors. I heard objections that these compressors run on electricity, which is created by electric companies that are regarded as big polluters. Of course, electric cars have the same issues with the source of their electricity. But if you think it over, the world is going in the direction of domestically produced electricity, our own household solar panels and wind turbines. Long distance trips should not be a big problem, either, since our own small air compressors can be carried along and used with any electric outlet on the way.

New garbage bin program in Toronto. Fair or unfair?

2009-02-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you, I am more than a little annoyed by the odd decisions Toronto City Hall keeps coming up with. The one that irks me most (at this point) is the garbage bin issue. For one thing, I am not happy about these new large, unsightly bins that are hard to park in our tight, overcrowded downtown neighbourhoods. But I understand the garbage collectors' union prefers these types of bins with hooks that are lifted by mechanical means, so that our garbagemen will not strain their backs having to empty them by hand. Since both the cost of the bins and the necessary health care when those people needed help came out of our taxes, I suppose things even out.

What I do not understand, though, is why do they use at City Hall negative incentives to achieve positive goals time and time again, particularly in the case of recycling which seems to have been quite successful in Toronto. Single family homes account for most of the success of the garbage separation program. Multi-unit dwellings (apartments and condos) recycled only 13% of their garbage in these last few years. Plans are in place to find solutions for those, also. Yet, City Hall decided to introduce a neat punishment for the otherwise conscientious single home owners. They decided to impose sliding scale fees for the amounts of garbage produced by each household.

Let me tell you why I think this can be very unfair.

First of all I am surprised at the notion that the consumer "produces" their garbage in the first place. If you have a second look at the previous sentence, we are consumers not producers. They are suggesting that we, as consumers, are supposed to always choose the product that has the least packaging, to clamour and lobby for the factories to reduce said packaging. I must disagree. We, as consumers, specially in these hard economic times, are concerned by the financial well being of our families, we buy the products that are the most cost efficient, regardless of their packaging. We do not have the luxury to busy ourselves with the task of pestering individual companies, particularly if those products come from different countries around the globe.

Now, according to the Smart Guys at the City Hall there is an average amount of garbage each household is "supposed to produce". If the household produces more, they will have to pay an appropriately higher yearly fee (tax), while those that produce less will get a certain amount of money back. So what does this mean in practice? Large families with kids and stay-at-home moms will generate above average garbage simply because there are more people in that house, they cook "from scratch", do money saving projects themselves at home with appropriate amounts of by-products. Think of just the number of worn out size 13, large and heavy gym shoes a family with several teen aged boys produces at regular intervals. They also tend to use their clothes, towels and bed covers until they are in a near-shreds state, which can mean considerable bulk when they hit the curb. And when they do, they will not fit into the otherwise already oversized garbage bin, they have to be bagged and labeled separately, so at the end of the year the family can pay the extra, per bag fee for that extra rubbish.

Let us contrast this now with the couple next door who chose not to have kids, both work and so their are far better off financially. They eat out during lunch at restaurants that cannot really care about packaging issues lest they geopardize their business, or when pressed for time, the couple will have take-out that comes in loads of packaging, but that is discarded at the food court or the office. On the way home they often pick up ready made food from the supermarket which comes in a single box to discard when finished, instead of the bags, tin cans and styrofoam trays that thriftier families have to deal with. The refuse created by the couple's dinner disappears at the supermarket's end of the process.

This wealthy couple also buys more goods and more often. But they don't use those items to the fullest, at regular short intervals they are packed up, sent to a charity and replaced by new things. Let the poor folks deal with them when those items reach the end of their natural life span. So who will then pay the penalties for the extra bulk when they are discarded in the end? The poor and the thrifty relatively poor. And who will be rewarded by the money back arrangement for their model curb-side behaviour? The over-consuming wealthy childless couple.

Now tell me, is this fair...?

Numb chin syndrome update #7

2008-12-22T13:31:00.000-08:00

Ohm'gosh! I just realized how long ago I posted my previous update, or any other blog entry on any of my pages for that matter. Well, busy life...!

I have good news, though. There is no more "numb chin" any more to speak of. On the outside all numbness, sparky feelings, etc. are gone. The only thing left now is the odd semi-numb yet oversensitive feeling in the gum persisting around the bottom left front area when I brush my teeth. But that is something not too hard to live with.

So, as far as I hope, this is my last update on my chin problem. For those of you who are looking for reassurance that what just happened to you will have a happy ending, I can hold out that ray of hope. Your lives will get back to normal, although most probably it will take a few months. In my searches I found that most of the time the numbness eventually disappears completely, sometimes quickly, sometimes a bit slower. There are of course cases when there is some small residual sensitivity that stays on, and I also spoke with one person whose numb chin became a permanent feature. To her credit, she cheerfully reassured me that "I got used to it..." So there!

One last thing I should add, it doesn't hurt to help along the healing with a nutritious diet and some extra vitamins (see my earlier posts).

Numb chin syndrome update #6

2008-08-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

Everything was not all well, after all. After a posted my update nr. 5, I had a pretty bad relapse. Not of numb chin, to be sure, but of paresthesia, the funny sensation of tiny electric sparks whenever I ran a finger across my chin under my lip.

The area is not larger than a quarter, but it is right across from the bottom left first molar, which happened to have a root canal work done on it just four days before the extraction. When my numb chin problem appeared to be mostly gone, without actually realizing it I started to chew happily on that side. Well, the treated molar wasn't happy. I developed a dull pressure pain, on top of the symptoms described in update 5. We took X-rays at the dentist but nothing out of the ordinary showed. It is obvious that the root canal work and the extraction were just too much for the nerve to deal with, and when I resumed vigorous chewing, it protested indignantly.

Also, by that time I ran out of benfotiamine. So I reordered it and soon I restarted the treatment: benfotiamine(150mg) + B6(250mg). To this day now I take them 3 times per day, and I do not chew on my left side for the time being, at least not heavily. Indstead of the methylcobalamine I just take regular B12, actually a B complex tablet once a day. There has been gradual improvement, although another two months passed now since the relapse. The progress is slow. The electric sparks are gone, I have just a slight "grainy" sensation when I run my finger over the area. There is more pronounced discomfort when I brush my teeth, but I can sort of take it by now.

In any case, I will let you know of any future development, hopefully, VERY hopefully of positive news...

Numb chin syndrome update #5

2008-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hmm! I thought that Update #4 would be the very last, but now I feel like posting one more "last" update. First off, let me assure my dear visitors, more precisely my co-sufferers, that this is not a negative post. All is well! But I noticed an interesting sensation that developed quite recently and seems to linger on.

When we brush our teeth, if we pay attention at all to the sensation as the brush touches the gum, normally we hardly feel anything at all. Now the area of the final nerve endings, the bottom left side around my teeth, both in front and behind, became super sensitive. No, it is not painful at all. It is quite ticklish, more like as if I was brushing the palm of my hand. Giving it a second thought, I just ran my tongue over the area and I do feel it more acutely than in the other gum areas. But I would not have noticed it otherwise.

I don't know how long this phase will last but it doesn't really matter. As far as my "quality of life" is concerned, this sensation does not constitute an interference. As I wrote higher up: All is well! :)

Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil

2008-06-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

I was very happy to find out that there are uncontacted indigenous tribes still in the world. Recently a previously uncharted village has been photographed from the air. I am also pleased to read that the Brazilian government is aware of several such tribes along the Brazil-Peru border and plans to protect them from the outside world. It is VERY important to do so! We have inadvertently destroyed many indigenous micro-cultures by allowing well meaning ethnographers, to start, then missionaries and later indifferent government agents, tourists, and unscrupulous traders to slowly erode those cultures, luring them into our "civilized" world where they without fail end up at the peripheries of society, broken and exploited.

Numb chin syndrome update #4

2008-05-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hallelujah, this is it! Today I woke up with no trace of the affliction!

Numb chin syndrome update #3

2008-05-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, that's about it! The whole thing is more or less gone. I still have a slightly numb short line running from that previous sore spot up to the edge of my lip, but the crackling sensation I felt whenever I ran my finger over the area is completely gone. Under normal conditions I hardly feel anything, only when I twist my mouth in an unnatural way do I still feel that "there is something there". Instead, I feel an occasional sharp jab a few times a day which I learned to associate with the healing process.

Looking back, I think my case was unusually short. At least that is what both the surgeon and my dentist say. Of course that makes me very happy and pleased, after all it was quite scary to contemplate the possibility of permanent damage. I cannot be sure if the extra vitamins had anything to do with the speed of recovery, but I am sure it did not hurt. So I highly recommend to everybody who chances here while going through similar hell to step up their vitamin intake and make sure they eat extra nutritious foods while convalescing.

Numb chin syndrome update #2

2008-05-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that things got much better in the last week or so. The small lump in the middle of the chin is gone, instead I have a very sore small spot the size of a dime a bit lower, one finger width to the left from the center, one finger width above the jawline. There is also a (finger width) semi frozen strip all the way up to the lip, but the lip itself is fine now. So I am very hopeful that there is not much now until I can report to be completely rid of the affliction.

In spite of the end being in sight figuratively speaking, I did not stop my extra vitamin intake, particularly the Benfotiamine and Vit D combination. With the others I am more laissez faire, I pick and choose daily. I also recommend to my fellow sufferers to make sure they get a full nights' sleep and follow a diet full of fruits and veggies. One can't go wrong doing that.

Numb chin syndrome update #1

2008-05-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

I got very busy in the last few days, which is a bit of a blessing because it took my mind off of my mouth problem. Not that I am not aware of it every minute of the day, just that, as human beings are apt to do, I am getting used to it. The again, not focusing on it all time allows me a certain degree of perspective when I do pay attention and compare all the details.

Doing an assessment now, I can say that there has been further improvement. The intensity of the sensitivity of that small triangle between the small lump in the middle of my left chin and the left half of my lower lip is slowly diminishing. It doesn't hurt as much when anything touches the area. The numbness itself is still there, but my impression is that even that is getting better.

Besides the lingering discomfort I still have a patch of bruise, from the lump down to the top of my neck, not on the surface but in the underlying tissues, so it is just barely visible. My cheek is also slightly swollen still, but that is only noticeable if someone points it out. A drawback of this swelling, though, is the fact that I keep biting the inside of the cheek. The most unpleasant part of the whole healing process is that, as nerve activity improves, the teeth of the whole area react by experiencing sharp jabs, dull "squeezing" pain, or a low level throbbing pain. It is worst on rainy days.

To summarize it: all in all things are looking up,

Numb chin syndrome

2008-05-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

I have two pieces of good news:
a) I managed to deliver the family tax returns to Front Street last night in the nick of time (11:40pm),
b) I can report some noticeable progress in my wisdom tooth extraction saga.

As a matter of fact the name of today's post reflects this change. I can declare the actual paresthesia more or less gone. To be specific, there is no more spontaneous and ongoing tingling or prickly jabs, which means that my nights at least are peaceful.

The rest of the problem is far from being gone, though. The left side of my chin still feels numb, half frozen, and the corner of my lip is still very sensitive to any touch, almost as if it was an open wound. The most dramatic sensation is whenever I have to use my muscles is that area, like puckering up or shifting a food item from side to side. In the very centre of the left side of the chin I have a small tumor-like lump, about 5mm in diameter. It is just barely palpable when I spread the area by smiling. But this is the spot that is the most "frozen", and when I do the above described movements, it feels much larger and is a source of quite a bit of discomfort.

Above this lump radiates out a triangle, one side of which takes up about two thirds of my left lower lip. This area is very sensitive, and often I have a sensation of hot and cold at the same time in it. I do have memories of a bad burn I had once when I splashed boiling water on my thigh. The area was red and extremely sensitive to the touch for quite a while even after the skin surface healed. Most probably that was also caused by peripheral nerve damage which took a long time to heal. If I recall, the sensation was very similar to this one.

Part of the change is another not very pleasant development: the bony areas of the jaw, including my teeth, became painful this week. Two teeth in particular that were treated not too long ago started to "complain", though not exclusively those. There are occasional sharp jabs of pain, or pulsing waves of pain, or sometimes as if the whole area was pinched in a gradually tightening clamp. Most of the time I can bear it, but there were times when I needed to take two or three painkillers over the course of the day.

In summery, it is not fun... But if I look at it from a perspective, I definitely see that things are going in the right direction. Actually, when I sit still, not moving my mouth, I can almost feel normal for short periods of time. :)

I don't know whether the improvement is due to my extra vitamin intake or it would have come about anyway. Of course, I like to think that it helps because doing so makes me feel more in control. Either way, I hope these posts of mine will provide some reassurance to people who are here, reading them because they are fellow sufferers who also fear the future.

I am still not sure what lies ahead. The numbness may stay for a long time, it may even be permanent. But I intend to record here everything, and hope that people with interest in this topic for whatever reason can get a better understanding of the problem by reading about my experiences.

Paresthesia update #2

2008-04-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

There is (I think) some positive development. At least I have the impression that I regained some sensation in the gum area. I went to see the surgeon yesterday. He checked the degree of numbness of the chin, and was "pleased" to note that I do feel touch. He was quite nonchalant about the whole thing, reassuring me that it will go away in no time. I certainly hope so!

Not leaving it completely to chance, I did purchase two new types of vitamins that apparently are used for treating nerve damage:
a) benfotiamine - a fat soluble form of B1 and
b) methylcobalamin - a B12 coenzyme

Paresthesia update #1

2008-04-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up realizing that the lip sensitivity is still there. The skin is very thin and extremely sensitive, almost as if it was "majorly burned" by some kind of strong spice. It is a very annoying sensation, specially combined with the general tingling of the whole chin (left side only). By the afternoon I actually started to sink into depression. On top of the local pain I also have had an underlying low level headache for the last three days which today produced a quite strong nausea. After lunch I just went to bed and ended up sleeping a few hours. When I got up, the headache was still there but the nausea was thankfully gone.

Now I decided to do some further research. I have been taking extra vitamins and minerals already from before the surgery, just based on my previous understanding of helpful stuff in such instances. These are (per day): 1 multivitamin, 1 B complex, folic acid (2mg), zinc (100mg), Vit E(400mg), Vit B12(1000mg), and Vit B6(50mg). Sifting through info on the net I realized that I was on the right track. The only extra they recommend is Vit B1 (Thiamine), but of course I got some of that, too, in the B complex. What they say is that if the axon in the nerve was not actually severed, one must not give up hope on the body eventually repairing itself.

I also found a very interesting interview with Dr. Les Weiner . From it I found out that there already exist some neuroprotective drugs that they use for stroke patients and trauma cases. I was just thinking, shouldn't third molar extractions be worthy of consideration for such measures? Particularly after an onset of paresthesia becomes obvious?

The story of an extraction

2008-04-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

The swelling started to subside but under my chin there is a large elongated bruise (ecchymosis) that reaches halfway down my neck.

Unfortunately the paresthesia is not getting better. As a matter of fact I have noticed that while the lips and chin do experience tingling and have a degree of sensation, the buccal side of the gum is completely numb. The tingling of the chin is very unpleasant, almost as if tiny sharp needles covered my fingers or tongue when I run them over the affected area. And it reacts accordingly, particularly the lip. By the evening it is swollen, red, and very very tender.

I find the possibility of this becoming a permanent condition exceedingly disturbing.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2008

My dentist agrees, I do seem to have paresthesia. As she wrote to me in her email: "-- the risk was always there. Researches have indicated about 1% incidence rate of paresthesia after impacted wisdom teeth extraction with higher number in female patients with the age of older than 24. But a lot of cases are temporary, which might resolve in a few months or up to 12 months." Hmmm... In a few MONTHS? And what if the damage is permanent??

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SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008

I have woken up with my left chin still semi-frozen. There is quite a bit of swelling, but otherwise I am pain free. This "frozen" area is quite large, basically the left side of my chin, from the lips to the bottom of my chin. It is not completely numb, and that is what makes it very annoying: I am constantly aware of it, there is a constant tingling sensation. But that is what also keeps my hope up that the sensation may indicate some sort of nerve activity or healing process. When I run my fingers over the area, I feel it. It feels exactly as if the coming-out-of-freezing stopped somewhere halfway.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008

Although a few days passed already from the day of the extraction, I will start at the beginning. The Tooth was an unruly lazy *&$% wisdom tooth that chose to grow in a completely horizontal fashion, staying under the gum, pushing against the second molar in front of it. That would not have been such a big deal, had the gum not decided to retrieve exposing the Tooth partially. As a result one day the dentist discovered some undesirable development under the remaining partial gingival cover. It was time to make a decision, or rather: there was no choice, the Tooth had to go!

On Friday, April 18, I positioned myself in the Big Chair. Given the fact that it was going to be a complicated extraction, I was supposed to have partial sedation. The preparations went very quickly, within minutes I was "out". By this I mean completely gone! I have no recollection whatsoever of any activity around me.

After the procedure I was told that everything went seemingly well and, although I had quite a bit of bleeding, they applied gelfoam to the bleeding site and have sewn up the wound tightly. I was given Amoxycillin to take for a week and I was on my way home.

Surprisingly I only needed one painkiller just after the freezing started to wear off. But very oddly by night time I felt still frozen.

Air cars coming to North America!

2008-04-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

As you have seen in my earlier posts, I am a big fan of the concept of compressed air propulsion. I fell in love with the little Mini C.A.T. from France, and I was trying to find out when would they be available in Canada, figuring that they would show up sometime, in Quebec at least.

Well, I was even happier when I found out that the enthusiasm for air cars is growing, that an American company also jumped on the band-wagon. Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) will start production of several models by 2010, cars that will be using compressed air motors, built by Motor Development International (MDI), a 15-year old company based in Nice, France, and headed by inventor and Formula One race car engineer, Guy Negre. Here are some videos.

True to North American standards, their passenger car will be larger, a six seater, yet it will cost not much more than a used 2002 Mini Cooper.

Of course, I was happy to see that my earlier consternation about Tata of India was ungrounded really, that they are also committed to come out with the compressed air version of their new minis soon.

The only concern regarding these particular cars is that the engine is a bit on the noisy side. The cars, of course, can be soundproofed for the passengers but they may not be so well liked by pedestrians. Solution is on the way, though. The Australian company EngineAir is working on a rotary type air engine that is supposed to be simpler, lighter and, most of all, quieter. But, unfortunately, they are in competition with ZPM and MDI. So what are we to do? MDI does plan to hit the Australian market sometime soon, so hopefully they will arrive to an agreement with the Australian engine's inventor and producers to use it in their cars, or else the Australians will start a fierce competition for the Far East market. Whatever will happen, though, we the consumers (and Mother Nature) will benefit. :)

Feeling homesick

2008-01-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

I have read someone's blog notes wondering if it was possible for us to be homesick for places other than our homes. So I asked myself: what is Home?

I grew up in a family that moved a lot, therefore in my childhood home was where my family was, wherever that may have been. At a young age I learned to differentiate between the warmth of familiar faces and the setting that surrounded them. The physical arrangement of the home may have been different every time we moved, but the warmth and the love inside the walls was always the same.

When I had to go away to university, the first time away from those faces for a longer time, I felt the pain of separation, I missed my family. Yet, the pain was strangely familiar. Contemplating it, I realised that I felt the same pain every time we moved. Familiarity breeds attachment, and we can get attached not only to family and friends, oddly enough we can miss annoying neighbours, too. Not to speak of familiar surroundings, places where something significant took place at one time or another. When we walk through familiar neighbourhoods, pass in front of cafes we used to frequent with good friends, or even shops where we found items that later became part of our lives, without actually thinking about it. our brain registers the significance that those places hold for us, it generates a certain warmth inside of us, they feel familiar, comforting.

Now let me repeat the question: what is Home? Home is the place where we feel comfortable, to which we feel a certain degree of attachment, familiarity, a place or moment in time that makes us somehow feel at peace, at home. This feeling can and does develop every time we live in a place long enough to collect a bagful of pleasant experiences, so that next time we are there we can evoke those memories and they make us feel warm inside, make us feel that slightly bittersweet pain of knowing that we left that place behind, of missing it when we are somewhere else and remember being there. This means that we can and do feel homesick often in our lives, longing to be again with people with grew to like, to be in in certain spots where we experienced moments of a sort of joyful connection with the "here and now".

Looking back on my life, a life that starts to reach a significant length by now, I realise that I had lots of such moments. Moments that did not register for what they were for a long time. Now I know them and I savour them when I experience them. We do so throughout our lives. So that is why I often feel homesick.

I remember and miss the moment of sitting on a sunlit bench in Nice, France, pregnant and full of exuberant expectations, munching on a generous piece of warm, spicy socca, bathing in the noises of the city, the shouts of street vendors, the hungry squawking of seagulls... But one cannot ever describe the full experience.

I remember and miss the friendly couple in Mexico, who invited me to the back of their modest shop, which happened to be their two room apartment, and where we spent a wonderful evening together with their delightful children who looked at us, odd strangers from another land, with condescending acceptance. I miss them...

Tata 'NANO' The People's Car? Why? When they have the MiniC.A.T.

2008-01-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

Someone sent me the news of Tata unveiling their new
mini car, the 'NANO' or The People's Car:

I rushed to check it out, particularly excited because a short while ago I read about an agreement that Tata signed with MDI of France, a company that developed an engine driven by compressed air. MDI has a delightful mini coming out later this year, the MiniC.A.T. (although the colours are a tad too flamboyant to my taste):

After the comparison I became quite disappointed. First of all, the two cars look very much the same, which means that Tata adopted some innovative aspects of the MiniC.A.T.'s design - after all, having signed the agreement, they bought the right to do so. Sure, the NANO is even cheaper, but it runs fully on GASOLINE! Which means lots of money spent at the pumps in the long run. And the mileage is not that much better than that of the MINI Cooper, a somewhat heavier, more expensive but loaded, American mini. So why the excitement?

We can, of course, speculate. Maybe Tata wants to (is supposed to?) wait until after MDI starts the sales of the MiniC.A.T in Europe. Maybe they are afraid that if they introduce the NANO right away as an air car, people may not be as willing to try it out. Maybe they want people to get used to the car itself first in its more conventional format. Or maybe, just maybe, they were persuaded by some interested parties who want to maintain the rate of consumption of their product...

I for one cannot wait to see, and hopefully experience, the air car as soon as possible. The idea is already inspiring other engineers around the world to produce better, more efficient technology for the air driven engine.
So, move over bio-diesel driven cars, hydrogen powered cars, even electric cars! Let us all root for and support The Air Car!!!

Spanking revisited

2007-11-14T23:36:00.000-08:00

Almost a year passed and I decided to revisit the topic. I did my search on the web only to find that religious disciplining, both Christian and Muslim (I did not search for others) are alive and well. (Spanking As A Discipline For Children , Using Spanking Discipline , bible.org - The Board of Education). Yet, there is mounting evidence that spanking is undoubtedly harmful. Here are a few good links:
Experts: Spanking Harms Children, Especially Girls,
Study: Spanking kids leads to long-term bad behavior,
10 REASONS NOT TO HIT YOUR CHILD.

With horror did I read this webpage where the child is left with a babysitter, she misbehaves horribly, and when the mother return, she receives her with a beaming smile and the request: "'Pank me."

I quote:
"--"Do you want Mommy to spank you?" I asked, my jaw dropping in astonishment.
--"Yes!" said Haven, and she jumped out of bed for her correction. Afterward, she locked her arms around me in a bear hug.
-- As this story reveals, correction can reach the heart of a child. And it should! Corporal punishment is most effective when our kids know what God says about discipline."

Can you believe this? And the mother is totally blind to what this really means.

To prove my point, here is a site which shows the results of this "loving" childhood spanking, or at least one of the ways it carries into adulthood -
Loving wife spanking...?
To quote from the site: "After all, HE created eroticism to be enjoyed inside a Christian marriage."

Now for a few examples of Muslim discipline, I particularly like the ones on wife beating... :P

Discussion on Egyptian TV, one on Saudi TV, and finally an educational show, where the cleric explains to some young boys how to go about the business of punishing their spouses.

Why do I like these video snippets? Because I found out from them that, as they acknowledge it in the last video, it is all right for wives to beat up their husbands occasionally, too, and (according to the interviewee, at least...) this practice isn't frowned upon in the Middle East. So, my logic goes, if Allah and God are the same person, and Islam is the newer religion, then maybe these people are right, now He approves of it. If so, then when my husband gets out of line next time, I will get my peddle, bare his bottom, lay him across my lap and will administer the appropriate punishment. (Ah, it feels good sometimes to be a FEmale CHO(au)vinist!)

Encouraging child abuse in North-America

2007-01-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

By chance I became aware of this book: Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. This book impresses upon parents that if they are God-fearing parents, they MUST discipline their children by heavy handed spanking and/or whipping. And they have to start disciplining the day they come home from the hospital, for such offences as "struggling against a diaper change or stiffening out his body when you want him to sit on your lap" - p. 154. A bit of search led me to the Stop the Rod website, where then I found the above quote, along with tons more, and with quotes from other books that apparently enjoy great success in religious circles.

I agree with one of the reviewers of this book on Amazon where (s)he says that the remark "spare the rod and spoil the child" is in the Old Testament, and those who are true followers of the new Testament and Jesus should realize that Jesus's way is through Love not physical punishment.

How can it be that Jews, who only follow the Old Testament, left the use of corporal punishment behind long time ago? Why is it that Christians in the 21st century turn their backs to Jesus's teachings and dust off some old and outdated idea, turning loving parents into worse abusers of power than prison guards, who by law are only allowed to use physical force when the prisoners' behaviour goes beyond minor offences.

But let us think this through rationally, from the secular point of view. Yes, I am aware of the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada decided to uphold the spanking law, and I actually agree that it was right to do so. Parents sometimes, out of sheer frustration, may administer a quick whack, specially in face of a dangerous situation when there is no time for lengthy explanations. I myself made my son stand still once by using a quick tug and a slap on the bum, to stop him from dashing boldly around at Niagara Falls. If the law stood in full force, a parent theoretically could be jailed for just a slap. But they made the necessary changes to the law, which now states that "corporal punishment should be legally acceptable and must involve only 'minor corrective force of a transitory and trifling nature.'"

Now let us return to the analysis of these books. Laying the child coldly across your knees and "whipping a 3 year old until he is 'totally broken'" ("To Train Up a Child" by Michael and Debi Pearl, p. 44), and "continue whipping until their crying turns into a 'wounded, submissive whimper.'"(p.46) is definitely not of a "transitory and trifling nature". Therefor, in my opinion, these books do not belong on the shelves or webpages of Canadian book sellers.

Having become aware of this seemingly growing trend, I decided to not let it go without some action from my part. I will first try to impress on Canadian companies, at least those I am aware of, not to carry these books, and I will call the attention of Canadian authorities to the dangers of a possible increase in child abuse as a result of these books. If you care, please, join me in this effort and do the same!

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PS Study: Spanking kids leads to long-term bad behavior. Not to speak of possible aberrant behaviour later in life. Doesn't this illustration make you wonder? (From the website Smart Spanking.)

To battle! For the chicken farmers...!

2006-12-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

Aha! I got your attention, didn't I?

But I did it for a good cause. It just came to my attention that Ontario chicken farmers are bound by some antiquated, unfair regulations created by the provincial marketing board. Originally these regulations were meant to protect the small farm, but slowly the tables turned and now the marketing board came to actually represent the huge corporate mega-farms. Small businesses are literelly choked off, in spite of the fact that they are the ones who are often committed to organic farming, they are the ones who come up with imaginative new ideas, who can change faster, who can ensure greater variety for the consumer, and follow better the ever changing demands of a free market.

To see for yourself what exactly I am talking about, please, visit Frey's Hatchery, where you can find a petition form that can be circulated if you decide to help.

I found the information on a blog, called the Red Farm Troll. The blog is inactive now. It was created at the end of 2003 and ran until March 2005. During that time it followed (spied on...?) life on a small organic farm. The blog entry on the marketing board problems is called Scrambled or Sunny Side. The main website, Greenfields Farm, has some interesting recipes, too.

Witches in the 21st century

2006-11-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Withcraft across the world is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. While the average educated Westerner chuckles goodnaturedly when watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sabrina, there is also a revival of pagan religions, like the Wiccans who believe in a central Great Mother goddess figure and "practice witchcraft". To me personally they are harmless history buffs who like to revel in retro theatrical play-acting like others do at the Renaissance Fairs. The problem starts only when they start meddling. But this is exactly what they are doing right now in India.

In underdeveloped countries people lack scientific knowledge and so they explain away things any which way (pun intended :) they can. In Africa for instance people think that it is witches who call down lightnings during storms, or cause HIV/AIDS. Therefor it is common practise to exorcise their houses when they get infected, hoping that the sickness will go away, or in more extreme cases they "go after" the witch who they think placed on them this curse, sometimes actually killing her.

Similarly, witches are still being killed in India, according to this report hundreds of them each year. We would think that the only way to fight such practices is by stepped up educational programs. After all, if a person understands why a phenomenon occurs, he or she will not try to find an explanation in the occult. Not so the Wiccans. They think that the best way "to protect Indian witches" is by spreading Wiccanism, so that people will understand that witches are "not always bad".. That way they feel that they can plead for the women who are accused of witchcraft and are persecuted. Do you think it will work?

Iraq National Museum looted during the war... not!

2006-10-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

I was discussing the fate of the looted National Museum in Iraq with some friends the other day, a most heart wrenching story back in 2003. We all bemoaned the sad fact that "thousands of years of history went down the drain in a couple of days". We disagreed on some details and so I turned to our trusted Google to help find the details. Did I ever find details...!!!

According to this report by Charles Krauthammer, the looting never happened! Yes, some items did go missing but altogether only 33. To quote from the report: "The source of the lie, Donny George, director general of research and study of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities, now says (Washington Post, June 9) that he originally told the media that "there were 170,000 pieces in the entire museum collection. Not 170,000 pieces stolen. No, no, no. That would be every single object we have!"

The funny thing is that while the original (now proven) lie went around the world several times over, the correction did not. Why? Because it was not "sensational news", there were more interesting other war stories at the times, so why bother with something that would have possibly caused some red faces in media circles.

Speed bumps

2006-10-09T12:38:00.000-07:00

Speed control bumps have been around for a while now, they are an accepted part of our street landscape. I remember at the beginning they even had large flower pots on some streets, placed at about 100 meters apart, alternating on the right nd left sides of the street. I remember feeling very unsafe winding my way between them. Once I even had a real scare when a cat slowly ambled into my path from behind one of them. These pots have luckily been removed since then.

As for the speed bumps, (I thought) I have become used to them, I accepted the fact that they must be justified in the number of lives they save every year. This week I had to drive through a street I regularly use which was recently resurfaced and for a few days had no bumps. I was amazed how much safer I felt. My eyes were zooming left and right the way I usually drive, checking for any movement between parked cars. That is when I realised that I probably do not, cannot do that when I have to keep my eyes on the upcoming next speed bump.

Now for a few days I have been consciously comparing my driving on streets with and without those speed bumps. Not only do I drive less cautiously because of them, but I also noticed something else. I have a Toyota Camry with a low front bumper. If I drived onto those bumps with the full maximum speed of 30 km/h, it woud bump down and scratch the ground, as a learned it very quickly at the beginning. Which means that I slam on the brakes before every bump and speed up as I leave it. I then paid attention to other drivers and I found that most of them do so. Do you know what this means for air quality...??? Noxious exhaust emissions considerably increase during slow-down and speed-up. Now calculate how many of us on these side streets can be doing our little dance every minute of the day - world wide(!), multiply the extra emissions by this number and WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!!!

I would like to urge anyone who happens to read this entry of mine, and who has access to statistical data to, please, please, check out by how much did traffic deaths decrease since the introduction of speed bumps and by what amount did cancer deaths increase...

3000 year old writing found in Mexico

2006-10-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

They found a stone slab in Veracruz, known now as the Cascajal Block, that bears text that is believed to have been carved onto it during the ancient Olmec civilization cca. 900 B.C. The Olmec culture predates those of the Mayans and Aztec. They are thought to have flourishes between 1200 B.C. and 400 B.C.

People in coma may be aware of their surroundings

2006-09-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

Real life imitating art???

An interesting news item was presented today on CNN. In Britain a woman, seemingly in a vegetative state, reacts to people talking to her by imagining things on demand, which then can be observed on the MRI machine. Last year, in a successful Canadian TV series, ReGenesis, a British scientist devised a way to communicate with a young man in a similar vegetative state. Coincidence? Maybe yes, maybe not...

The woman had the accident 11 month ago. The discovery of her being aware of her surroundings was made 5 months after the accident, which puts it at six month ago. Could the film makers have heard about this discovery? Who knows! I suppose we could only find out if we spoke to the writer of Regenesis.

BlogDay 2006

2006-09-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

I discovered today that I just narrowly missed BlogDay. It was supposed to be a big celebratory day for bloggers when they went on searches to discover other bloggers at, to them, faraway geographical points whom they find interesting, worth recommending to others. Well, I decided to ignore the fact that the official date of August 31 is gone, and I went ahead with my thorough search of the blogging world. I am pleased to present you with the results of it, to be exact (according to the rules) the five best of the pickings.

1. Korea&KoreansA wonderful blog about Korea and Koreans by a Korean... :)

2. Little Town in HungaryThe daily life of a small town chronicled by a young lady (originally from Malaysia?). Charming stuff, lots of photos.

3. Examples of Paradox: Blog maintained by a young Singapore working mother where she lists all the paradoxical things she encounters in her daily life. She is at #49 as of now...

4. Partha Bijjam, a blog by handsome young Partha Bijjam. :) Lots of different topics touched upon, from the science of creation, to daily deals on the internet. Worth visiting!

5. Zoom Vienna. A wonderful photoblog with photos posted daily of life in Vienna and the surrounding Austrian landscape.

Lessons of the Tsunami

2006-08-31T00:15:00.000-07:00

I just watched the documentary about the 2004 tsunami in South East Asia. It was shown by the CBC as part of their Passionate Eye series. The film used a lot of original amateur footages as well as inerviews conducted half a year after the event. I don't have to tell you that it was at the same time scary, fascinating, heart wrenching, and touching. It also had a section where they asked some survivors about their thoughts on why did the calamity happen and why did they survive.

There was a young orphaned boy, the only surviving member of a family of ten, who felt that he was spared by the gods to be able to transmit their traditions to the next generation and teach them how to be more prepared.

On an island inhabited by relatively primitive indigenous people no-one perished. The reason: they hang onto their mythology and legends, which warn them that Earth and Sea are in constant competition. When they fight and the "bad spirits" shake the Earth, people must immediately seek higher ground to get out of they way of a possible battle.

Then there was a Catholic priest who used the tragedy as a message to the people that they were hit by God's wrath because of their sins and the way to protect themselves from future calamities is by becoming more devout.
:-P

Gridlock vs traffic jam

2006-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a growing beef of mine. In the last few years there has been a gradual increase in the use of the word "gridlock", when in fact they mean "traffic jam". I have the impression that they choose it, maybe because it sounds more trendy, more with it, while the newer generation simply doesn't know better any more.

Well, here is how things actually are!

What is a GRIDLOCK?

If you look at maps, you will see that city streets form a grid. When two main arteries get clogged up at an intersection to the point that all movement stops (the city grid gets locked down) for a long time, that's gridlock. For example: imagine that right at the Yonge and Bloor intersection (two major thoroughfares in Toronto) there is a big fire, and fire engines have to be positioned in such a way that no cars can pass them by. Soon there is a buildup that stretches miles in all directions. On top of it, it is the middle of winter with snowbanks, so cars can't even make a U-turn. They have to sit there all the way through the incident until the fire is cleared up. Now THAT is gridlock! A smaller version of it is when cars inconsiderately push into an intersection during rush hour just before the lights turn red, but traffic is still standing in his direction, so now the cars cannot get across the intersection in the other direction, even though it is green for them, because that inconsiderate driver blocked their way. That would be a short term gridlock.

What is a TRAFFIC JAM?

Traffic jam is simply the a slowdown of traffic due to too many cars on a particular artery. It may be just slow moving or downright stop and go. Think of the Don Valley Parkway during rush hour. Or think of lots of other such clogs due to the wisdom of our city elders that cannot make the extensions of the Allen Expressway or that of Hwy. 400 happen, even though the size of the city would have warranted it decades ago, so now we have to live with delays on the roads almost all the time.

Yes, we have to deal with a lot of traffic jams, but actual gridlocks are rare. So I ask you, why do we have to use the word gridlock for every minor traffic problem? What if an actual gridlock, an actual lockdown of the city grid, will occur? How can we tell the difference? Should we come up with a new expression for it? Or maybe just clean up our language usage and return to the good old traffic jam instead of the trendy gridlock!

Overpopulation? Solution: Mars!

2006-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

It has been a favourite buzzword since Malthus that the world is getting so overpopulated that we will not be able to feed ourselves, meaning already back then. Yet, we somehow do, to the effect that our numbers are growing exponentially. My point is that some people see overpopulation as a problem, others don't. I do fall in the latter category. Why? Because I see a pattern, the vague outlines of a direction.

First of all, as we grow, we do manage to find ways to solve our problems. We are quite an inventive bunch! As for the direction? I believe that this population explosion is coming at a very interesting time in history. Space exploration is just about to reach the point where humans are ready to start their grand scheme (is it theirs or Nature's/God's...? - depending on your viewpoint :) of populating the rest of the Universe. Consider X Prize founder Peter Diamandis's announcement of the Mars Citizenship Program*. According to this plan there will be private spaceships going to Mars within the next decade, preparing the ground for the actual settlers who will go there to stay. They will be in enclosed environment until terraforming will make it possible to live an open air, normal life there. Sounds farfetched? There are active forums where people discusse the issue, preparing themselves psychologically for the "Big Step". There seem to be lots of people ready to face the dangers, just as it has been done throughout history, even though those ancestors of ours could not have been half as knowledgeable, and therefor much less prepared for all the odds as our future Mars settlers. If you want to check out some of the discussions, here are a few:
Red Colony
Cosmic Log
Uplink
SEDS
New Mars
Marsdrive Consortium
The Spacearium
Space Generation Network
Science&Nature: Space

*There is yet another name seemingly connected to this project. I found a thesis published by one Talmon Feuerstein (International Space University, Strasbourg, 2003), also called Mars Citizenship Program. He appears as speaker at conferences and works for a German company. I wonder what his role is, if any, in Diamandis's project.

Are childless people penalized by family-friendly policies?

2006-06-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

While coasting around, I found another musing webpage,
"Jerry's Musings", about overpopulation on Earth, and the desirability of remaing childless. And he is arguing it here in Canada, in a country where without immigration we would have negative population growth. See the forecasts of Statistics Canada.
Although we are still in a growth phase globally, by observing social behaviour in developed and developing countries, we notice that as people are able to aquire more and more "toys", and I don't mean only objects but also such things as the ability to spend more on travel and other amusements, they become ever more reluctant to give that up for the selfish chore of child-rearing. This is already clearly observable all over in the developed countries and, while obviously I will not live long anough to see it happen, I predict that as living standards will improve worldwide in the near future, at a given point the opposite (negative growth) will become the problem.

Jerry's "No Kidding" social club would like us to believe that they are doing a favour to society by not having children. They even have the gall to question society's favouring those families who are ready to undertake that task. They ask: "How dare people with children ask for time off at work? How come childless people don't have the right to ask for time off for, say, joining a recreational voleyball team? How come childless people have to pay the same or more taxes while not using the facilities that those taxes pay for?"

Well, I see it this way. I, a postgrad, with an impressive job, decided at one point to take my family's affairs in my hand and left work for good. This way I vacated a nice position for someone, possibly someone without children. Instead I struggled with unpaid housework, raised two boys, cared for as long as I could for my mother who was dying of cancer, cared for my grandmother until she was almost 100, and now I take care of my octogenarian mother-in-law. All this while I have been saving the country huge sums in each of these cases simply by not putting these people into institutionalized care. And what will happen when I retire? I will not get the comfy pension that my childless working colleagues will get. I will only get social security pension, the very same that my esteemed colleagues will also get on top of their private pensions. And who pays for those state pensions? They are financed by the taxes of the working next generation, MY SONS...! Do you still think society is treating the childless unfairly?

I have one last beef with the Jerries of the western world. As a matter of fact I personally would prefer if Jerry and the other NoKidding members changed their minds and decided to bring children into this world, because I would much rather see the world be (over-)populated by them, then by those Middle Eastern mothers whose expressed goal is to produce a lot of children to a) eventually tip the balance of the world population in favour of the Muslimiyye
(see clip #1121 - a televised speech of Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi on the inevitability of Muslims flooding the western world), and b) to have enough children to be able to sacrifice a few of them for the glory of Allah as suicide bombers (see clip #1134 - a discussion on Syrian TV by Arab intellectuals about jihad, praising Muslim mothers for producing a lot of children and raising them to be prepared for martyrdom).

Here we go!

2006-06-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am about to plunge into this new world of BLOGGING! Don't get me wrong, I am not entirely new to internet publishing, I do have several websites. But blogging is a concept that has been relatively foreign to me until now. So here I go, I am ready to tackle the technicalities. I do hope that soon I will be comfortable enough with them so I can actually post some worthwhile musings. Who knows, some people then may even find my humble pages worthy enough to revisit it every once in a while. :)