Ideeahs

On July 30, 2008 Tim McLean was brutally murdered by a psychopath named Vince Li.  Apparently he believes he has been hearing God's voice since 2005 and, that day in July, the voices told him that the man sitting next to him was a demon.  So he knifed, decapitated and eviscerated Mr. McLean, spreading his organs all over the place. On March 5, 2009 Justice John Scurfield ruled that Vince Li was not criminally responsible for his actions that day in July.  He was not charged with murder and he will not have a criminal record.  He will be sent to a mental health institution and be evaluated annually to determine whether he is fit for release.  Now the chances are that he will be in this institution for most if not all of his life...so in essence his freedoms have been limited and he is off the streets.  The theory behind all of this is troubling to me however. A man who brutally murdered another may at some point, theoretically, be seen fit for release and not have a criminal record....

Turned on my iPod recently while folding laundry.  What was the first tune to play?  The Voice from the Alan Parsons Project's I Robot album. The day before I had made a list of all my old LPs and 45s, with the intent of sending it to a few local stores to see what they might offer for my collection.  My eyes fell upon the I Robot album. That same day my cousin mentioned that The Alan Parsons Project was playing Ottawa this summer. So what the heck is it with Alan Parsons all of a sudden? Memory - sitting on the floor, leaning on my grandmother's bed, with my cousin.  The Voice is playing and we have the inner sleeve of the album between us.  On it are the words to the song and we are singing away - loudly, without inhibitions, without care. As the years have gone by I have become more robotic.  I don't sing as loudly, I have inhibitions and I care too much. Maybe I am being sent a message? Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

There is a story making the rounds today regarding the Government of Canada's requirement that folic acid be added to certain flours and pastas.  This requirement became law in 1998.  The theory is that by increasing the amount of folic acid that women consume the rate of neural-tube defects (like spina bifida) would decrease.  The theory proved true as the rates of these types of defects has decreased substantially. Today a study has come out stating that there may be a link between the consumption of folic acid and the rate at which pre-cancerous polyps turn in to cancers - prostate, colon and others.  As it stands this is not proven and remains a theory - but it raises multiple questions in my mind. and reminds me of a situation that my family faced many years ago. The fact is that we do not understand the human body completely.  There may be some systems within it that we understand fairly well but when you begin tackling the interdependence and interactions of the various syst...

A few days ago my son wondered why there was a glass window over the fire extinguisher in the underground garage in our building. Here is the scenario.  Your car is burning (or maybe someone else's as that might make you a little more relaxed).  You start thinking about all the movies you have seen where people escape within a second of the car blowing up and wonder whether you might be so lucky.  Quick, you need to put the freaking fire out so that it doesn't blow!  You can't really recall where the extinguisher is but you know there is one somewhere in the parkade.   There it is..in the far corner near the exit.  You run over.  Crap...I need to break the glass?!?!  What the .....  You grab hold of that minuscule metal tool hanging and you give it a bang.  Not hard enough.  You are afraid that you might cut your hands on the glass.  A bit harder.  Still no breakage but a slight ding.  Finally, you lose you patience and give it a whack.  It breaks.  Out comes the extinguish...

Today I played soccer with my family on one of the new soccer pitches in our neighbourhood.  They are beautiful.  Not one bare patch.  The grass is the perfect length.  The lines are straight and bleach white.  The plane is also perfect...no divets of any sorts. How can this be?  In this city of rain, of mud, of little to no maintenance budgets. Take a closer look. The "dirt" that this "grass" "grows" on is made up of little black plastic pellets.  The "grass" is actually made of green and white plastic strips.  While playing, if you concentrate on your sense of smell you will notice an unidentifiable odour - tires?  paint?  dye?  glue?  Anyhow....it is not natural. I understand our desire to play sports on perfect pitches.  But I also know that one can still build real grass pitches and, with money, proper maintenance and usage restrictions, it will remain perfect.  Interestingly enough the people who commissioned these new artificial pitches kn...