10:20 p.m. - 2004-02-28
Spirit and Resurrection
So there were rolling blackouts again last night. According to the paper today, the cause is an unusual occurrence of atmospheric conditions where a layer of arctic air is overlayed by heavy, moist, warm air from the Pacific. The resulting formation of hoarfrost coats exposed electrical wires that have already got a fine coating of salt and dust thrown up into the atmosphere when the roads are sanded. That coating creates an electrical conductor that "bleeds" the electrical current off the wires and into the air. Got that? Glad I'm not one of the repairmen who have to deal with it. Electrocution by air. From the feel of the air tonight, when my youngest and I went out for a walk, there are likely to be more outages tonight when the temperature gets to about 0 C/-17 F.
I got a call from my Automation Co-ordinator last night - just touching base about work and personal stuff. She was telling me that she and her daughters had tried out the belly dance tapes for their phys ed program. She said the five of them were all laughing and having a great deal of fun, but that she also found that her muscles really were stiff the next day. This morning, as I was striding over to the grocery store, I could feel the effects of the hip hop workout I was doing too. Hips,tummy and the top of the thighs, exactly where I need to tighten up, were all feeling that after exercise burn - who says exercise has to be monotonous.
Building on my essay about the social value of grocery stores last night, dear diary, I ran into one of the moms I volunteered with for years and who has worked for me during elections. A lot of useful discussion about community and work issues. She had talked with the wife of the volunteer who died a couple of days ago. He had just stepped into the washroom to get dressed before heading out to a meeting. When he didn't come out or respond to her knocking and calls, she asked her son-in-law to remove the door. Her hubby must have died instantly from the heart attack he experienced from what B was telling me. I've often wondered about how western medicine works with people with heart and high blood pressure. A lot of the meds they prescribe make no sense, especially since the side effects can be worse than the illness. The "one size fits all" attitude is even worse and more dangerous. Numerous articles lately on current research, implicate inflammation as the real problem that actually leads to death, yet inflammation is rarely addressed in standard treatment protocols. This article showed up in my in-box a couple of days ago. I wonder if the medical community is even paying attention.
"Researchers in Buffalo, N.Y., said Monday insulin can help clot-busting drugs become more effective in treating patients following heart attacks. The researchers,from the State University of New York at Buffalo, said incorporating insulin into the mix of clot-busting and anti-coagulant drugs administered to a patient suffering a heart attack lowers inflammation in the blood vessels following the attack -- a response that can improve a patient's chances of survival. Insulin can reduce two critical markers of inflammation by 40 percent and 50 percent, respectively, during the 48 hours following a heart attack, the researchers found. The treatment also lowers concentrations of three other inflammatory factors significantly, compared to patients who were not given insulin, they said."
Other interesting things in my e-zines? A philosophers' magazine in the UK has a really interesting website. They have a games section where you can test your logical - right brain - functionality. I tried out the test on faith and reason - interesting. Thinkers. The next piece, that followed up on my essay on the movie industry in India, was written by an Indian writer just commenting on their version of the Academy Awards Bollywood. The third article that piqued my interest was on the culture in Sri Lanka (Ceylon). I had just received an e-mail from my friend who lives in the Middle East, detailing her holiday in that country - it sounded really intriguing. This is the gist of the e-zine's text (Paranormal Insider Paranormal):
"Astrology plays a big role in the island nation of Sri Lanka,off the southeast coast of India. How big? Well, "Sun and Moon," the leading astrology magazine, has a circulation of 500,000 - more than the national daily newspaper. Businessmen routinely read the stars before making an important decision and often don't hire a new employee until working up his or her astrological chart (Is a psychological profile, like that administered by many U.S. companies, any better at predicting a job applicant's future performance? - Gus). There's even a birth chart for the nation as a whole, using Sri Lanka's independence day as the date of birth." Further discussion about the strong influence astrology has on elections in Sri Lanka had me wondering what the stars say for the political leaders queuing up to run in our probable spring election.
The stories that really made me cross? This one about the $250 million scandal that is threatening to delay our Federal election until it is sorted out. The article today was about one of the heads of the agencies who is under investigation for his part in the theft. One of our Olympic athletes - she won two gold medals in the Biathalon - who worked for his agency protested what she saw going on and was forced out of her job as a result. Olympian.
When asked about her testimony, the fellow responded that her testimony wasn't credible because a) she didn't have a husband, b) she was a single parent, and c) she was poor. His second in command accused her of being on drugs. I'm surprised they forgot to add that she was probably menstruating too. What makes me so frustrated with this is that these two very powerful men obviously thought that those comments constituted the strongest defense they could mount for themselves - that everyone would understand that the "deficiencies" and "character flaws" they listed for this woman would make it obvious to everyone who heard them that her testimony would have to be false. It is a very common attitude in the corporate and public sector among management - I've heard those comments myself about myself and all the other single mothers who make them feel challenged in some way. I and many other single moms have also been told when being hired that as a single parent we will accept whatever treatment they choose to dole out because we have no choice if we want a job in the industry - that we are at their mercy. That a very public attack on the character of a very highly regarded Olympian could occur on that basis says it all.
The international stories that made my tummy churn were about the death of the leader of Macedonia in a, perhaps, suspicious airplane crash. Right now Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial is being compromised and now one of the men who has been successful in stabilising the social conditions in the former Yugoslavia is suddenly dead. The reactions of the international community on learning of the tragedy show that they are equally disturbed by those "coincidences". Macedonia.
This story about the flaying death by Iranian officials of the brother of three Iranian refugees living in Vancouver in, and because of, their absence clearly demonstrates what fixed elections in a third world country can do to its citizens. One can't blame the women or their community, because they had no way of stopping the abuse of power, but it underlines how difficult it is to address governmental violence undertaken against their citizens in the name of faith or tradition. Might be an Easter lesson in there somewhere, but at what cost? Iran. The last disturbing piece was about illegal arms trading carried out by the UK government against their own legislation - not exactly the letter of those laws but definitely the spirit of it. England_arms. Oh yes profit and power are much more important than the stability of other nations or regions.
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