PETE McMARTIN: A pebble dropped in a pond: the widening legacy of Hannah Hatlen

Read this amazing story that has triumphed in spite of sadness. With that, I share this link in my hope to inspire others. Click on the link to read the entire story or read an excerpt below:

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The Hatlens, in their grief, asked themselves what could be done to address that medical void. In answer to that, in the year after Hannah’s death they established their own registered charity, the Hannah’s Heroes Foundation. It was designed to raise public awareness of pediatric brain cancer and to raise money for its research.

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It was a mom-and-pop operation. The board was composed mainly of family. There were no paid employees: All work on it was volunteer. In a world where large charities were burdening themselves with expensive bureaucracies, its aim was consciously lean and modest. Every single dollar raised would go toward its intended goals. None would go toward administration costs.

The fundraising was grassroots. An annual dinner, a golf tournament and a 10-K race over the back roads of Point Roberts all brought in money. And a mainstay of the charity was the annual sale of Hannah’s Heroes Christmas cards.

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“We had lunch at Van Dusen Gardens,” Dunn said. “She had just lost her daughter to a particularly nasty type of brain tumour, and she wanted to know how the money the foundation had raised could best be spent. I told her that in terms of research equipment, the $35,000 she had wouldn’t go very far. I told her it would be better spent on establishing a fellowship for training a research student, because that’s where the future was. It would be like dropping a pebble in a pond: the funding of one talented student researcher who could improve the science would have an impact that would radiate outward for a greater effect.”

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That belief led to the recent green-lighting of a cross-country project to test PLK inhibitors on a broad range of childhood cancers: BC Children’s will concentrate tests on pediatric brain cancers; the University of Calgary will look at the potential of PLK inhibitors in treating childhood leukemia; and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto will test the effectiveness of PLK inhibitors against childhood neuroblastomas and sarcomas. The rings from the pebble dropped in the pond were growing farther and farther afield.

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$250 gadget helps you stay InReach when off the grid

Click here to read about this. I haven’t tried it myself but $250 to stay connected from anywhere seems like a bargain to me! Especially for those that like to go hiking.

Dogs Walked by Men More Aggressive

Click here to read the entire article or read an excerpt below.

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As for the connection between male owners and dog bites/threats, Peterson said it could be a cultural phenomenon perhaps tied to how men train their dogs in the study’s region.

Fricke added, “The increased incidence of bites when dogs are being handled by males, rather than females, may simply be a reflection of dogs mirroring the emotions of their handlers; if their handlers are acting either defensively or assertively upon meeting, their dogs are likely to sense and reflect that.”

The Mysterious Pain of ‘Charley Horse’

Here is an article worth reading on this topic. Click on this link to read the entire article or read an excerpt below.

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Ultimately, doctors suspect the different physical triggers cause the same thing. Key minerals — sodium, potassium and calcium — all play a role in causing muscles to contract. When the levels of one or more of the minerals are depleted or changed, say, from lack of hydrating or from excessive sweating, muscle contraction can go awry.

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Soothing the Spasms

Clearly, no fail-safe cure for charley horses exists, but doctors have a slew of tips to keep the spasms at bay: drinking plenty of water, eating enough potassium, and stretching before and after exercise is supposed to help avoid nighttime cramps.

When you get a charley horse, massages, stretching, warm baths, and ice are all generally recommended (although none are scientifically proven to work). Those who want relief in pill form can try vitamin B12 supplements.

The more risky treatments are muscle relaxers, anti-seizure medicine, dopamine, and the old school tonic, quinine. Quinine was regularly used as treatment for cramps until the FDA warned against its dangerous cardiac side effects.

Jack Layton, The Last Speech

Text of Jack Layton’s letter to Canadians – His letter is too good to not archive in its entirety. A very inspirational man, person, and politician; he will be sadly missed. I hope those who read this letter take his words to heart as they are spoken from the heart and with lots of wisdom.

TORONTO – Jack Layton’s family has released a letter the federal NDP leader wrote just two days prior to his death today at the age of 61. The text of that letter follows.

August 20, 2011

Toronto, Ontario

Dear Friends,

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

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

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

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

A few additional thoughts:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All my very best,

Jack Layton

Is Sugar Toxic?

Gas Stations are Toxic Neighbors

Click here for the entire article, or read an excerpt below.

Anyone who has ever pumped their own gas downwind of the tank knows the tell-tale smell of fuel. But even from a distance those fumes linger. Researchers in Spain found that gas fumes contaminate the air up to 100 meters, or 328 feet, away with potential health hazards.

The airborne chemicals came mostly from unburned fuel evaporating during refilling of the stations’ storage tanks, during automobile refueling, and from spillage. The researchers from the University of Murcia measured the levels of two common gasoline related pollutants, benzene and hexane, in the area around the stations. They then compared these levels to the contamination caused by normal automobile traffic, and found higher levels in areas around gas stations.

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The research suggests housing should be placed a minimum of 50 meters (164 feet) from gas stations. Vulnerable places, like hospitals, retirement centers, and schools, should be kept 100 meters away.

Bits, bytes, bills and Bell (and Rogers and Shaw and Telus …)

Click here for the entire article or read extracts below.

Usage-based billing refers to the practice of charging consumers according to how heavily they use the Internet.

The largest Internet service providers (ISPs), such as Shaw, Rogers and Bell, have been doing this for years: Customers pay a flat-rate charge that allows them to download a certain amount of information per month (similar to the way many cellphone plans give customers a specific number of minutes per month). If a customer exceeds the monthly limit, she is charged extra.

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The CRTC, Canada’s telecom regulator, issued its decision last week to give large ISPs a financial means to manage increasing amounts of Internet traffic.

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6. What is a gigabyte?

A gigabyte is a measure of digital information. One gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes.

7. So how does my Internet usage translate to gigabytes?

According to Rogers Communications, downloading about 1½ standard-definition movies, or about ⅔ of a high-definition movie, represents one gigabyte of usage, as do each of the following:

- Downloading about 200 songs.

- Playing online games for 240 hours.

- Viewing 26,000 Web pages.

- Sending 105,000 e-mails

Headaches by the glass: Why wine isn’t always a pleasure

Click here for the entire article or read an excerpt below.

Wine is synonymous with pleasure, yet it’s a source of pain for many frustrated drinkers. Allergic reactions, including headaches, skin rashes and runny noses, affect as many as 8 per cent of wine drinkers, according to some estimates.

Now, recent news out of Denmark could spell hope for many sufferers. Scientists have isolated molecules in wine that may be the source of a large number of these allergies. And here’s the twist. They are substances unrelated to such usual – and often falsely accused – suspects as sulphites, tannins and pesticides. The discovery could lead to new winemaking techniques that would reduce or remove the culprit molecules, ushering in an era of headache-free merlots and pinot grigios for those with sensitivities.

New cancer blood test raises hope – The Globe and Mail

New cancer blood test raises hope – The Globe and Mail.