This is the park I walk through to and from work. It’s a great park, I think, with lots of great trees, plenty of space for many different activities, and a wonderful place to toboggan in the winter. In the front of it is a community center that has won awards for the excellence of the architecture.  I don’t have a big yard, but with such a great park 2 minutes away, I don’t need one.

Fashion week is held in various parts of the world, and it is often (big) business as usual. But it is a big deal when it comes to other places, like Pakistan. After many challenges, the first Fashion week has comes to Pakistan, despite the difficulty of mounting such a show there. This Yahoo! News/AP news story nicely illustrates the difficulty of mounting such a show in Karachi. The story also highlights the multifaceted nature of fashion, which can represent freedom, beauty, shallowness, wealth, style, and so much more.

For my part, I thought the clothes and the models look great. I’m not sure the Taliban would agree. Then again, that’s partially the point.

(Model unknown. Clothes by Pakistani designer Feeha Noor Jamshed. Photo by Athar Hussain (PAKISTAN FASHION)/REUTERS))

There is a fascinating article here, Cheap mobile calls help more young couples elope from Yahoo! News/Reuters, on how mobile phone technology is rapidly changing life for people in Somalia. This is not to underestimate the overall situation there. That in itself is a large factor in the rapid change in society in this Horn of Africa country. But certainly mobile phones are accelerating the change.

Like many cultures, marriage and courtship is changing rapidly. But what is happening in Somalia is dramatic to me. Where once,

you gave the girl’s parents 11 camels and an AK-47 assault rifle as bride price and then waited respectfully…
Today, even reasonable boys pay just $50 bride price and a copy of the holy Koran after making the girl pregnant or seeing her secretly for months.

 

And as a parent in Canada, I would agree with this:

Many older residents say the prevalence of handsets and such cheap tariffs — among the lowest in the world — is making the lives of youngsters unrecognizable.

 

If anything, I would argue this is a universal refrain among parents and other adults, regardless of the part of the world they live in.

Like I said, it’s a fascinating story (and fantastic material for a novel). Check it out.

(Found on Matthew Ygelsias’s blog. Photo of women from Somalia from ctsnow’s photostream on flickr.com)

The term “bug”, used to describe a computer or software problem, had its origins in an actual bug (a moth) causing failure in an old Mark II computer from the 1940s.

It appears we need to come up with a new term: a bagette. For it seems that the Large Hadron Collider stalled again… thanks to chunk of baguette, according to the Times Online. Perhaps “bug” can be used for small problems and “bagette” can be used for larger, more expensive problems.

So, kids, no miniature black holes being created this time. But given that the LHC can be shut down over a piece of bread, I am less assured when scientists say that such a device can’t create a black hole.

I have often read about the dreaded “pre-existing conditions” that prevent people in the U.S. from being able to optain health insurance. I assumed these were serious medical conditions, like cancer or some other chronic or life threatening problems. But according to this, Healthburn | Dustin Curtis , the author was denied insurance because he reported having had heartburn. Yes, that’s right.

You should read the whole thing.

The more I learn about health insurance in America, the more I think it is the biggest  bamboozlement pulled on the American public since cigarettes.

Taken from the Centre for Disaease Control’s web site. Here’s what’s on the page, CDC H1N1 Flu | H1N1 Flu and You ( Iadded the bold):

How does 2009 H1N1 flu compare to seasonal flu in terms of its severity and infection rates?
With seasonal flu, we know that seasons vary in terms of timing, duration and severity. Seasonal influenza can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. Each year, in the United States, on average 36,000 people die from flu-related complications and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related causes. Of those hospitalized, 20,000 are children younger than 5 years old. Over 90% of deaths and about 60 percent of hospitalization occur in people older than 65.

When the 2009 H1N1 outbreak was first detected in mid-April 2009, CDC began working with states to collect, compile and analyze information regarding the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak, including the numbers of confirmed and probable cases and the ages of these people. The information analyzed by CDC supports the conclusion that 2009 H1N1 flu has caused greater disease burden in people younger than 25 years of age than older people. At this time, there are relatively fewer cases and deaths reported in people 65 years and older, which is unusual when compared with seasonal flu. However, pregnancy and other previously recognized high risk medical conditions from seasonal influenza appear to be associated with increased risk of complications from this 2009 H1N1. These underlying conditions include asthma, diabetes, suppressed immune systems, heart disease, kidney disease, neurocognitive and neuromuscular disorders and pregnancy.

I realize this is very specific, but better more (good) information than less. I received this from my councillor:

This is to advise you that the City’s Public Health Department will be holding H1N1 vaccination clinics for 6 weeks, starting Monday November 2nd.  Public Health has designated the North Toronto Memorial Community Centre, 200 Eglinton Avenue West , as one of the clinic locations.

Toronto Public Health has just announced that the H1N1 vaccination clinics to be held next week will be open to members of priority groups only. This restriction of the vaccine has been mandated by the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.  This measure ensures that those people most at risk of serious illness will get their vaccine.  Public Health is asking healthy people who are not in the priority groups to be patient and to not attend these clinics.

The priority groups include:

pregnant women;
children 6 months to 5 years;
people under 65 with chronic conditions;
people who live with or care for infants under 6 months old and immuno-compromised people; and
health care workers.

For the first two weeks, the vaccine clinic hours will be:

Monday, November 2nd – Friday, November 6th, from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m. AND Saturday, November 7th, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. <For Priority Groups Only>

Tuesday, November 10th – Friday, November 13th, from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m. AND Saturday, November 14th, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. <For the General Public>

Please note, for the first few weeks Public Health is anticipating that a large volume of people will be visiting the clinic so please expect delays.  There are vending machines (drinks only) at the Community Centre but no food is available in close proximity.

We are doing what we can to manage the situation but please keep in mind that parking is limited at the Community Centre.  Therefore, we are asking people to use public transit or carpool.  Your patience would be appreciated as there will be increased traffic and a higher volume of cars parked on nearby side streets for the next 6 weeks.

For more information on other clinic locations or the H1N1 flu virus, please visit the City’s website at http://www.toronto.ca/health/cdc/h1n1/index.htm

I would highly recommend that anyone wanting more information on this go to a more authoritative source, such as your doctor. Or visit the City of Toronto’s web site on H1N1

The park near my house is beautiful, with a wide variety of great looking trees. However, sometimes scenes of beauty can be at your feet. Like here:

The sun was bright white this morning, and the leaves were scattered nicely across the dirt. I love Fall: it’s a season so nice, they had to name it twice. 🙂

I was very impressed by this story and this student shown above. Apparently this student recently challenged the supreme leader in Iran by asking him, Why Can’t Anyone Criticize You? According to a number of blogs, including “Persian2English”,

Supreme leader Khamenei usually holds conferences with top students who are pre-selected to speak. These students usually go on stage and praise Khamenei. Then Khamenei usually speaks and talks about how much he values their ideas.

But this Wednesday October 28th, the conference was different. After the students spoke, Khamenei asked if anybody had any questions. Mahmoud Vahidnia, a math student from Sharif university who is also winner of the International Math Olympics, stood up and said courageously:

“Yes, I have some words with you.”

Here is a summary translation of what the students said to Khamenei:

“Why can’t anyone criticize you in this country, isn’t that ignorant? Do you think that you make no mistakes? Why have they made an idol out of you that is so unreachable and that nobody can challenge? I have never read an article about your performance in any newspaper because you have shut down all the media that is against you in the country. Why does national TV show all the events untruthfully? For example all the events after the election. Why do you support them [national TV shows], when everyone knows they are lying? Since the president of national TV is directly selected by you, then you are responsible for all this.”

Khamenei evades answering the student and calls his words not truthful. He claims that people criticize him everyday and he listens to them and then fixes his errors.

Everybody knows that this is just another lie. Rumors say that the student has been arrested.

I hope he is ok, though I am not optimistic.

(Found via Andrew Sullivan).

Kevin DeMaria has created a wonderful/sad photoessay blog illustrating the Last Days of Gourmet magazine. It is a story that has played out at many offices recently, though Gourmet magazine’s offices were ones that created many a great publication that influenced and inspired many people. Regardless how you feel about Gourmet, it is a really good photoessay. Go see.

There’s two arguments — at least two — that sum up the arguments why one should not get the H1N1 flu shot. 1) The vaccine is worthless or worse than the flu itself. 2) It is a racket set up by the drug companies to make money.  This article, Fighting the anti-vaccine brigade – with science – Short Sharp Science in New Scientist, is well written, well reasoned, and very clear.  Anyone who argues #1 should read this. As for #2, I think it is questionable. And even if it is true, it should not convince you to not get the shot. Especially if you are in the high risk group.

I can understand people’s skepticism about the flu vaccine. People should be skeptical. But to me, the price of being skeptical is that you should be aware of the arguments against you and you should have your own good arguments. Anything else is simply ignorant, superstitious and lazy. So read the New Scientist article.

Likewise, scientists need to get their heads out of the clouds, be less arrogant, and be more accountable to people’s concerns. This is as much about politics as it is about science. They need to approach this politically, not just: trust us, we know what we are doing.

Stay well.

Erykah Badu – Orange Moon (Live)

Though both Letter to Jane and Time’s Looking Around, I’ve learned that a great American photographer died this week: Roy DeCarava. These three sites can give you a better appreciation of why he is a great photographer. Looking at his work, I love his mastery of shadow as in this photo:

Indeed, a lack of light is a major element of this work, be it from the darkness of the room or the opaqueness of the window. I find my eye working harder to draw what little light there is in this photograph. The lack of light is one of the things that engages me when I see this image. (It’s a great composition, generally, with the parallel angles formed by the clothes lines and pot handle, the parallels again of the water tower and the pot, the way the stove “connects” on an angle with the middle line of the window, giving the photo depth, and the tryptch quality that comes from the three “panels” formed by the window on the left and middle and the wall on the right.)

One of the things I love about Manet’s paintings is how well he is able to use the colour black in his work. Not just as one more colour, but as a major element of the composition that changes the way you look at the work. DeCarava does that well too. And so much more.

Great works of photography. Go (re)visit.

Seriously. This is meatloaf:

Not only that, but there are detailed instructions on how you can make it! Ugh. See not martha – Meat Hand for more details. Honestly, I never got the entire let’s-make-food-look-disgusting idea. But if you want to make something gross for Hallowe’en, this could be it.

The great Canadian photographer, Ed Burtynsky, has a new exhibit showing at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. It’s called “Oil”, and it looks at the effects of oil in our lives. Just that alone got me excited about it.
 
Anyone fortunate enought to be in the vicinity of that gallery in the next while should visit. 

Here’s a video the gallery has:

If you’re like me, when you think of stout, you think…well, Guinness. I love Guinness, and I enjoy the rich darkness of stout generally. What was surprising to me, though, was after reading this article, Beers of The Times – Call It Stout, Though It Isn’t – Review – NYTimes.com, I learned that a) stout generally isn’t as heavy as I thought, and b) there are alot more good stouts out there other than the grand stout from Ireland.

So, what are the best stouts? According to the review:

“…our No. 1 beer, Black Hawk Stout from Mendocino Brewing, which has breweries on both coasts, evoked visions of classic Irish stouts. It was light and dry, yes, but graceful and deliciously refreshing, too. I could see it easily becoming my new midday or ballgame tipple. Would somebody please get Yankee Stadium on the phone?

… the St. Ambroise oatmeal stout, from McAuslan Brewing in Montreal, was No. 2 on our list of North American stouts. It was bigger and richer than the Black Hawk, with the smoothness and slight sweetness that come from adding oatmeal to the malted barley.”

See the article, then get yourself some stout. It’s practically a health food! 🙂

(Photo of a Japanese stout from mdid’s photostream on flickr.com)

Anyone looking to live in a small studio apartment like this place featured in Apartment Therapy Los Angeles could steal some tips from how this place is set up:

The apartment nicely takes the space and divides it in two with a floor to ceiling curtain that can be drawn back if need be. This curtain is more to accentuate the divide than to provide privacy or to hide the other room. Although with a darker curtain, you do that if you wanted. Here, the purpose is more to designate the bedroom space as opposed to the living space.  (As well, the bedroom space is painted in a darker tone than the living space, which also emphasizes the division of the rooms. )

The colours in the room are well coordinated. There are blue and green tones throughput, from the walls to the tables to the pillows to the lamps. There is also a nice mixture of bold colors and neutral colours, with the bigger pieces being neutral and the furniture being darker. Overall, though, the room is light, and the mirrors help bring that out.

There are few arms on the furniture, and the bed has no footboard. This helps in a limited space. As well, the coffee tables are stackable, which is also versatile.

A nice little package of an apartment.

Listen to Nneka now. Everyone else will later.

YouTube – Nneka – Heartbeat

It’s the opposite of digital cameras with the increasing megapixel ranges. It’s not even 35 mm film. It’s 120. It comes on a spool. After every picture, you have to manually set it to the next picture. I love that!
Almost the entire camera is plastic. Even the lens. That low quality makes for more interesting photos.
There are still lots of places in Toronto to get 120 film developed. Likely for other cities as well. There was a long discussion forum on flickr talking about all the places that develop it in the city. I was afraid it would be hard to get it done, but in fact it’s very easy.
There are a number of flickr groups dedicated to photos taken by Diana owners. Even the most basic picture taken by a Diana camera has a nice look to it.
You can do multiple exposures easily. You can use it as a pinhole camera. It can either be automatic or manual shutter speed.
When people see it, they want to ask you about it and they start talking about photography.
It’s still fun waiting and seeing your photos developed.
It has just enough controls on it to make it interesting and give you things to play with,  but not too many.
It has a great vintage feel to it. This camera is new, but it is based on cameras of the 1960s.
It just looks cool, doesn’t it?
You can find more about it here: Diana F+ camera, but there are lots of sites that talk about the camera.
Thanks to the the Tech Style blog for pointing it out, and for Urban Outfitters for carrying it. You can get them cheaper on eBay, but I liked the package it came in at Urban Outfitters.
If anyone is interested in the camera, let me know. I am also bookmarking interesting links on delicious.com.
Now…say cheese! 🙂

…because I think she’s the best.

YouTube – Mary J. Blige – Come To Me (PEACE)

Ok. This is kinda weird. But very funny. And one of the more novel ways to recycle!

 

For more of such zaniness, see Greenwala – Green Art. It would likely even be better if you knew German!

I have often heard the expression, the lion’s share, but I didn’t know that it is part of Aesop’s Fables.  Nor did I know what Aesop meant by it. I thought it just meant: the biggest part of what is being shared. But if you read this, The Lion’s Share. Aesop. 1909-14. Fables. The Harvard Classics, you will see there is a bit more to the fable.

Once you check that out, poke around and you can find more of Aesop’s Fables.

Image of Aesop from wikipedia, where you can find out more about him.

If you want to check out a wide range of styles, prices, makers, colours…you name it, then check out the  Shop-A-Matic part of New York Magazine.

It has a ton of great coats and jackets, from as low as $29 to over a $1000. Surely even someone as smart and particular as yourself could find something to love here.

You may have seen this already. And no wonder! It’s funny and smart. See:

YouTube – A Day at the Office

I am a big fan of Philippe Starck’s design, be it an entire hotel, a cafe, a watch, or even a fly swatter! He is innovative and stylish. At least I thought he was until I saw these. Apparently he designed these gnome thingies!

There is really no excuse for that.

Found via the mogg blogg

Karen Ryan takes second hand plates and removes the ordinary patterns to make extraordinary works of art.  Plates like this

Lest you think it is just technique, look again at what has been removed and what remains.

And as Richard Lacayo in Time points out, things are not looking good. At least, so far.

Lacayo notes examples of how critics are lambasting Hirst for his new works, dismissing them as derivative, to say the least. Given that Francis Bacon is one of his inspirations, the “derivative” comment is right on the money. What remains to be seen is whether or not Hirst has the ability to grow any further. If so, these recent works may just be a weigh station on the road to newer and better work. If not, then he is done and he will be remembered as much if not more for his ability to rake in the dough than for his ability to produce inspiring and influencial works of art.

For more on this, see: Damien Hirst: Dead on Arrival – Looking Around – TIME.com

Soon Au Revoir Simone will be bigger and they will have fancy official videos on YouTube. In the meantime, there is this lovely fan video:

Which gives you a nice way for you to get to know Au Revoir Simone and “Through the Backyards”

What is Letters of Note? Simply

… an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.

And fascinating they are! The blog nicely gives the context, reproduces the correspondence, and then transcribes it. That’s all good. However, it is the selection of correspondence that makes it great. If you have any time at all, go see it. It’s noteworthy indeed.

(thanks to kottke.org for this)

This is going out the Goldman Sachs and their mind bogglingly stupid bonuses, who no doubt feel they work hard for the money! 😉
(Goldman Sachs can give out huge bonuses because of people who do work hard for the little money they do get. )

But enough about greedy bankers.

I always felt Donna Summer never got enough credit for her talent. She had great range, both vocally and in what she sang about.  True, she did Love to Love You Baby, but you miss out on alot of good music if you only focus on that.

I also know that some people think: 80s music/video…lame! Yet lots of people give credit to the look and music of the 70s, and having lived through both the 70s and the 80s, I’d take the 80s any day. And mark my words: big hair and big shoulderpads WILL come back soon. 🙂

Enough soap box rantings from me. Here’s the very good, very 80s, Donna Summer:

YouTube – Donna Summer – She Works Hard For The Money

P.S. Ok, just to drive home my point, here is You to Love You Baby from the 70s. (The other video is ’83). Not only is this NSFW, it is Not Suitable Anywhere! I cannot watch the “interpretive dance dude” without bursting out laughing. Not to pick on him in particular: there was ALOT of this going on in the 70s. He just manages to capture it so well, combining the best of Snoopy and Christopher Guest.

Just try watching it with a straight face.

80s 1, 70s 0.

Unlike B of A, Goldman Sachs appears to never have been in serious trouble as a result of the financial meltdown. If anything, they took a bit of a hit and roared back bigger and stronger. But as this  NYTimes.com article illustrates, they are at risk of being the poster child of tone deaf / stupid American corporations. How so?

“Goldman Sachs is on pace to pay annual bonuses that will rival the record payouts that it made in 2007, at the height of the bubble. In the last nine months, the bank set aside about $16.7 billion for compensation — on track to pay each of its 31,700 employees close to $700,000 this year. Top producers are expecting multimillion-dollar paydays.”

How big is that? Apparently

“Goldman set aside nearly half of its revenue to reward its employees, a common practice on Wall Street, even in this post-bailout era.”

And I love this comment:

“Goldman executives know they have a public opinion problem, and they are trying to figure out what to do about it — as long as it does not involve actually cutting pay.

Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive, finds himself in the unusual position of defending a successful company in a nation that normally celebrates success.”

Of course, they would not be celebrating their success if the taxpayers of the United States had coughed up significant money to prevent Goldman and their counterparts from going under (even though some of them still have in the form of mergers and acquisitions).

So what is Goldman Sachs proposing? Well,

“”Goldman said Thursday that it would donate $200 million to its charitable foundation (that figure represents 6 percent of its third-quarter profit, or about six days of earnings).”

Now they are putting almost 50% of their annual revenue aside for bonuses, and 1.5% of their profit for charity. See something wrong here?

Then again, this canard comes up:

“But he said Goldman had a duty to its employees and to retain staff. By paying big bonuses, he said, the bank was trying to make a difficult trade-off between “being fair to our people who have done a remarkable job” and “what’s going on in the world.”

As always, my question is: where are the staff going to go? No where, that’s where. There is no where to go.

And then I love this:

“Goldman, Mr. Viniar said, was being unfairly singled out over its bonus culture. “Yes, I think that is too big a focus,” he said. “I would prefer people to be focused on the success of our business, how well we’re doing, and how well our people are performing.”

People! We should be happy for Goldman! Geez. Seriously, is this the best they can do? I thought the folks from Goldman were smart.

So, here’s what I think. Other banks, like Morgan Stanley are going to execute on reform, like “introducing three-year clawback provisions”. Whether this is still good is a question, but it is better than Goldman. To make a level playing field — corporations love level playing fields! — Goldman should be legislated to execute on the same reform that Morgan Stanley and others do. Smarter people than me can likely come up with all kinds of ways to rein in Goldman. But they need to be reined in and made an example of.

Otherwise, the next big crisis to occur, the tail (Goldman Sachs) is going to be wagging the dog (the people of the U.S.A.). (Although some would argue that they did that this time. And if they get away with this, I will believe them.)

From what I can see, there has not been enough new governance or accountability following the bank meltdown that precipitated the Great Recession. However, there have been some significant activity here and there, including this from the NYTimes.com:

Bank of America’s embattled chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, agreed Thursday not to take a salary or bonus for 2009, as new information emerged about legal advice the firm received on its ill-fated merger with Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Lewis also agreed to reimburse the bank for paychecks he has received since January, after Kenneth R. Feinberg, the government’s overseer of executive compensation, urged Mr. Lewis to take no compensation this year.

Sadly, I think this is only occurring due to serious legal steps being taken by New York’s Attorney General. Not alot if anything seems to be coming from Washington. While I am faintly hopeful that after the Health Care legislation is finished, this is taken up, I cynically think it is going to require a new short sharp shock before anything of note happens.

It’s great to have friends in useful occupations, be they doctors, lawyers, plumbers, or cooks.  In my case, I have some smart friends who are physicists. Which is great when I read an article like this on Slashdot about how a group of scientists have created a black hole for light, because I can ask them: should I be concerned? And they can reply:

…it’s an analog of a gravitational black hole rather than the real thing.

If it were a gravitational black hole, my answer to you would be: Yes, Worry! That’s because all matter responds to the gravitational field. In this case, the hole would start absorbing everything that came within its radius, and that radius would expand as a hole grew. The radius could in principle and rapidly grow large enough to absorb the entire earth!

But happily this particular analog affects only light, so all other kinds of matter are unaffected — including the device that is creating the effect.

Moreover, the actual analog “black hole” has a relatively small radius, so the only light it affects will be light that finds itself within the device.

All in all, it’s safe enough then…