BLUEJAMIS BLOG

Meet Edith Widder, a marine biologist who was featured today on Nova Science Now.  Edith has been studying marine life in the deepest and darkest parts of our oceans.  The problem is, our senses are not best suited for studying species in this environment.  The only sense we can really use is sight and that requires light.  Life forms in this area have grown rather wary of bright light and tend to avoid it.  You can see the problem.  Edith has devised several instruments to help monitor species in this environment.  She is also engaged in studying the way species use light to attract mates and lure prey.  So drop by the PBS site and give a read.

I am, what some might call, a bit of a peacenik.  I oppose most conflicts.  I feel our troops should be kept at home to be in the service of defending our country from attack and disasters.  I do support the use of our armed forces on foreign soil when it is justified, which is why I support the troops in Afghanistan but do not support the way they have been (mis)used.  I feel that ridding Afghanistan, and the world, of the likes of Osama Bin Laden is a worthy cause and I blame the US administration for screwing the whole thing up (like there was ever a doubt of that). 

However, I do support the men and women in the armed forces.  I appreciate what they do and the sacrifices they and their families must make.  I know that it is a hard job for which they receive little real compensation.  I have encouraged my MP's to support bills that would have seen increases in pay and benefits, as well as encouraged free medical benefits for families and free living quarters while on military bases.  Combined, these measures would have prevented the government from raising pay only to claw it back through raising rents.

But, I guess what I should be doing is driving around with a ribbon on my car and blindly supporting the Harper government and the attacks on personal freedoms and then treating injured service personnel like they are treated in the US.  PZ Myers has an interesting story about one such serviceman in the United States, and I am sure there are similar stories here in Canada.  When I read these kinds of stories it makes my blood boil to know that the people responsible for the lack of fair treatment are the same who will accuse anyone who questions the war in Iraq as unsupportive of military personnel.  I will say again: I support the military personnel but I do not support the government that has misused and abused them.

Canada's Open Championship of Golf gets underway this week at Glen Abbey.  Unfortunately, it is a busy week for me and I may not be able to get there.  But, I would encourage anyone to go see the world's third oldest national championship and second oldest stop on the PGA.  The amount of history that has been made at the Canadian Open is impressive and this year looks to be a good one despite the events declining importance amongst pros of late. 

RBC is the new title sponsor this year and it looks like they may be driving the RCGA to try some new tricks to revitalize the experience for fans.  Included is a series of concerts by Canadian acts at the 19th hole.  I think this is a great idea that can only improve with time.  It is about time that the open had a sponsor interested in making golf and Canadian golf history the focus of the event and I salute RBC for their efforts. 

And now for my advice on what they could do to improve the experience:

1) Let the non-title sponsors use the event to promote new products and encourage them to provide free samples and give-aways.

2) Give junior golfers a day of golf with the pros ala a pro-am style event, say a 9 hole tournament or putting tournament

3) Raffle off a "walk with the pros" during practice rounds

4) Encourage autograph seekers and plead with the pros to accommodate. Kenny Perry could give them all lessons.

5) Ex-champions clinic

6) Make the price of souvenirs and food more reasonable. 

7) Ask equipment suppliers (who have to move trailers off site once play begins anyway) to set up at a local driving range for a demo day for fans attending the open.

8) Try to bring the Open into the World Golf Championships as the lone open event.  The winner could be granted an exemption into other WGC events and majors.  This would give younger golfers the chance to springboard their careers and would elevate the status of the tournament to what it rightfully deserves.

9) Don't charge volunteers for their shirts and hats.

10)  Since the tournament is not always at Glen Abbey, invest in a travelling Canadian Golf Museum so Canadians around the country can get a taste for what Canada has meant to the game and the game to Canada.

Sometimes a good comic strip says it all.  Like this one.

I took the PEWNews IQ test and scored a 9 out of ten.  I want to say that I did initially have the right answers on the 3 questions I missed, but changed them before submitting.  That'll teach me for thinking too much.  On the plus side, I did better than 76% of the people who took the test.  Go take it the test and tell me how you did.

Ok, I will be the first to admit that our healthcare system is far from perfect.  I understand that people need to wait a long time for certain procedures (due mainly to a lack of specialists who migrate to the US out of greed more than anything).  But, here is an excellent summary of a recent report on how well (or ill) the US system is; it's not a pretty picture. 

In contrast the UK system has been touted as the best in the world, and while I think they have some great ideas that Canada should implement, this story shows that even they are far from perfect.  One of the problems in the UK is that doctors receive bonuses based on the numbers of patients they see.  The intent is to have more people visit their family doctors regularly to catch preventable illnesses early.   Health Canada has been aware of Lyme disease for some time and has been researching the disease and educating our health professionals.  It would be quite rare for a case to go undiagnosed.  I am sure that there are instances where disease uncommon to Canada would also take a long time to be properly diagnosed.  But to Health Canada's credit, they try to respond to issues and alert the provinces accordingly. 

So, while there is still much room for improvement, no system is perfect.  But, I would rather a system designed to be accessible to and benefiting the majority rather than one designed around greed or rewarding doctors for simply "seeing" the most patients.  Still, the issue of funding is still the one area that Canada is lacking, and the federal governments of the Conservatives and Liberals are to blame for that.  How many years of record surpluses have we just gone through?  And at the same time, governments have continued to cut funding and refused to provide laws to ensure that funding.  This needs to change and Canadians deserve better.

One way to ensure that our health system continues to receive proper funding is to have a bill pass that would require natural remedies to prove their efficacy and safety.  This should include stringent testing of chiropractic, massage therapy and acupuncture procedures, as well as naturopathic and holistic treatments, before considering funding them.  Every accepted and funded procedure should be evidence based and it should be the responsibility of the companies to prove that efficacy and safety, through large scale, double blind, placebo controlled studies as it is with conventional medicine.  The House adjourned for the summer without addressing this issue and allowing such a bill to die due to political maneuvering on all sides.  Again, we deserve better.

The Pope is in Australia this week, giving the usual hypocritical sermons about how bad modern society has become.  It seems to me that a man who lives free of expense, in a huge home, surrounded by luxurious items, great works of art, draped in the finest tailored materials, served on hand and foot, chauffeured in a Mercedes-Benz and flown around the world in a private jet ought not to lecture others about the perils of consumerism and greed.  Nor should he be touching on the subject of the environment when he freely admits that he observed the damage to the earth "while flying in his private jet."

The Pope also used his visit to commend the Australian government for their apology to aboriginals for the atrocities they suffered.  One would think that the Pope would take the opportunity to apologize, as he did in the US, for atrocities committed by Catholic clergy against Australian youth.  This seems unlikely.  In fact, it has been suggested by Vatican officials that the US apology was a one-off.  They should be apologizing to every Catholic community in the world for those same atrocities were committed everywhere.  Well, since he doesn't feel the need to apologize I see no reason for those communities to forgive and show mercy; just sue the bastards.

But, this is the quote that caught my attention:

"Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises,"

If he was talking about catholicism I would have to say "amen" to that!

Well, this is how stupid the Republicans think they are.  Time will tell if they are right.

In Canada we take a lot our freedoms for granted.  It is nice to see that the freedom of the press continues to be quite strong, though falling.  This list of the world's worst and best countries for press freedom is an interesting read.   It is not a coincidence that the worst countries for press freedom are also some of the worst countries in which to live.  Protecting rights that seem insignificant at first sight, and indeed bothersome at times, is crucial to any society's overall standard of living.  Now, if we can only get the press out of the hands of the very few corporations that own them, we might start that arrow moving upwards again.

Here is more proof of the continuing spiral into third world status of the United States.  Jim Rogers has some pretty good credentials when it comes to investing and if he is nervous, there is a good chance tax payers - who will be footing the bill - ought to be nervous.  Good luck to my friends and relatives in the US (more so to their children and grandchildren).

When is a piece of bread not a piece of bread?  Why, when it is the body of Christ of course.  Or so says the Catholic church.  So a student decides to save the communion wafer to show a friend to help said friend understand the weirdness a bit better.  Then all hell breaks loose.   Now, I understand that some things are sacred to some people and for the most part I respect that.  But in this case the hyperbole of the church is, well, hypocritical to say the least.  Keep in mind that this is a wafer of dough.  And then try to wrap your mind around this statement:

"It is hurtful," said Father Migeul Gonzalez with the Diocese. "Imagine if they kidnapped somebody and you make a plea for that individual to please return that loved one to the family."

Now I might not have a problem sympathizing with the priest, except for this little tidbit from very recent church history.  So I ask, what is more reprehensible: taking a disk of dough that metaphorically stands for the body of a loving son of a loving god, or taking a child away from the parents, brainwashing it and refusing to allow the parents to even communicate with said child (a child not even of your faith)?  Only the religious would have the sack filling to even suggest the former is worse.

Check out this video:

Then read the story here.

Vij's Restaurant in Vancouver is one of the "must eat at" places in the city.  The food is phenomenal and the service impeccable. But, I would hesitate to call it a traditional Indian restaurant as they are forever pushing the envelope.  Like most good ethnic restaurants in Canada, Vij's takes locally available products and treats them in a traditional Indian manner.  This usually makes for some interesting concoctions and an amazing eating adventure.  Vij's has become world renown for their ecological approach to the business as well and have always been outside the mainstream as an eatery.  Which makes this story surprising not for the cuisine, but for the reaction to the cuisine.

I think for anyone in the Indian community to find this an abomination of Indian food is like the French being upset at Lumiere.  The concept is Indian in style only and has never been what would be considered a traditional Indian menu.  This fusion of style with local produce is what makes a restaurant like Vij's so exciting.  Although not many North American's would order the cricket dishes, I think those who eat at Vij's are sophisticated enough to know the difference between experimental and traditional cuisine.  The Indian community in Vancouver would be well advised to celebrate the success of this fine restaurant and its imaginative owners instead of embarrassing themselves by under estimating Canadian diners. 

By the way, Vikram Vij also has a cookbook available ( I know, who doesn't? ).  If you like Indian cuisine and would like a reference for cooking it at home you could not find a better book.

They say it is darkest just before the dawn and certainly it was pitch this evening in Whitby.  The home team's dreams of an undefeated season resting on their final at bat.  Facing the opposition's ace pitcher and down a run, the first batter walks and is bunted to second by the second batter who makes it to first safely.  Maybe the dream will continue. 

The third batter hits a weak come-backer and becomes the first out of the inning, but moves the runners over.  The next batter strikes out on 3 straight pitches without taking the bat off the shoulder and suddenly a feeling of anxiety fills the home team bench, for their least experienced rookie comes to the plate with two away. 

She takes the first pitch, a called strike.  OK, they think, she is just gauging her stuff.  The second pitch, she swings: later than a GO train in winter.  Shoulders slump and heads hang as it dawns on all that this dream may indeed come to an end.  The rookie can not possibly hit this ace's best stuff. 

Words of encouragement are yelled from the bleachers and with the calmness of a ten year vet she acknowledges them with a nonchalant "yeah, yeah." 

The ace winds and delivers...a mighty swing and the rookie says: " not tonight!"  The ball sails into the outfield, the fielders giving chase.  One run scores.  A second run scores.  And by the time the ball is returned to the infield the rookie arrives standing at second.  Game over, home team wins, home team wins!  The dream lives!

Congratulations Boo, I love you.

If you are like Ben Stein, you might have an unflattering view of what a scientist is.  In Stein's case, scientists are evil old men bent on destroying jews.  If you are more generous, you might expect a scientist to be a bespectacled old man in a white lab coat who spends his time staring into microscopes and has no real creative talent.  Well then, meet Pardis Sabeti.  I think we need to do more to promote the people who have dedicated their lives to improving ours, and so, I salute NOVA Science Now and PBS for doing just that.  I will post a link each week to subsequent scientist profiles from the show. 

Christopher Hitchens is a British atheist and libertarian who supports the war in Iraq, and has said he would support a war with Iran.  I am not fond of Mr Hitchens' views on war and politics, though I do share many of his views on god.  Hitchens was challenged by Graydon Carter to subject himself to water boarding.  To his credit Hitchens accepted and agreed to share his experience with Vanity Fair readers.  Here is the video:

I have followed, closely, the debate on torture and each time I listen to a proponent I can't but recall the words of Bertrand Russell that are in the heading of this post.  I respect Mr. Hitchens for his agreeing to this demonstration and also to his honest assessment of the experience.  Torture is about the most dehumanizing thing anyone can engage in and for any enlightened society to try and justify it and claim to be a beacon of democracy is the height of hypocrisy. 

If you would like to read a book that will change your views on state sponsored torture I highly recommend: Waiting For The Barbarians by JM Coetzee.

I have been accused of getting a little hot under the collar while playing golf.  All of which is a constant source of entertainment to some.  I wonder, though, who else gets a little hot at themselves when things don't go well?

First, go to this Urban Dictionary entry for Poe's Law.  Then, go to this link to see that definition illustrated in a hilarious real life example.

PZ Myers makes another creationist look stupid in this post at Pharyngula.  The key statement by PZ is "how does creationism explain it?"  There in lies the challenge for creationists: if all you can say is I don't get it so god must have done it, then you are not explaining anything and your "theory" is not a theory.  This is why creationism should be excluded from science classes and why John Tory was a fool for suggesting otherwise.  The purpose of an education is to further your understanding; to simply give up and find a supernatural explanation for something is not furthering understanding but limiting it.  Of course, limiting human intelligence is something religion does all too well.