Fighting Brain Freeze - one ice cream cone at a time

Being a lover of ice cream, this bit of info on HealthBolt is invaluable. I've copied below, but check out their website for more fun health-related facts... and eat more ice-cream!!!

Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. “Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too,” says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. “In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache.” The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

Little Sisters - Big Loss

Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium, a bookstore in the Davie Street area of Vancouver, have decided to abandon their 20 year legal battle against the Canadian border guards. For those of you not familiar with it, it is a sad tale of Canadian border guards censoring/stealing books and reading material entering Canada.

The Globe and Mail has an article in today's paper about the battle and obstacles Jim Deva, the owner of Little Sisters, has faced since his fight began 20 years ago when they first found delays or disappearances of stock shipped to Little Sisters. Often shipments would go missing. Other shipments that did arrive would have the boxes taped back up although it would be obvious that customs had opened up and disturbed the contents. The contents of the stock would often be sex manuals or other sex-related materials as the store carries sex items catering to its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender customers. Many of us, and I am one, would assume that perhaps the bookstore was over-reacting to a few misplaced or border-examined orders but as the excerpt below points out, there was a definite pattern to the disappearances.


Those unexplained disruptions stopped while litigation was active, Mr. Deva said, adding that he believes Customs did not want to add to the evidence before the court by intercepting shipments.

In 2000, when Little Sisters won its Supreme Court case, shipments began disappearing within two weeks of the verdict.

"It starts with shipments we can't find," Mr. Deva said, predicting that Customs will intensify its scrutiny.

Derek Mellon, spokesman for Canada Border Services Agency, said he did not wish to comment directly on a case still before the courts.

But he said the agency has a constitutional duty to prevent obscene material from entering Canada. "We remain committed to fulfilling that obligation."

I think it is really sad that they are giving up. I understand why they are and they are probably doing the right thing, both personally and professionally, but I would like to think that Canadian law courts are a place where private businesses can challenge the practices or government organizations and both will be judged impartially and fairly. Looks like I might be wrong.

Thanks to Shelf Awareness for their piece on this.

Congratualtions to Drexoll Games!!

Claude just pointed out to me that they made the Jan 07 issue of Vancouver Magazine's Best of the City (check out page 3)! Yay Drexoll!

If you don't know Drexoll Games, they are a super-friendly and super-knowledgeable board games store. The owners, Tamara and Darcy, are great owners that have come to know their customers and are doing a fantastic job of being the best games store in the Lower Mainland. Claude and I have gone in many times to buy or play games there. They also have a great selection and knowledge of German board games - which Claude and I love!

Today is...
Hug-a-Writer Day!! I'm going to go right home and give Claude a good squeeze because he's a writer AND... he finished his book 6 days ago. Yes, of course, he was a writer before that, but now he is a writer with a book completed and is sending it off to agents. Very exciting!!!

Anyway, if you know any writers, go out and give them a hug... if for no other reason than everyone can use a good hug.

Happy Wednesday!

ps... if your a literary agent, I know a really good author you would be interested in...

Net Neutrality Event!

I am really excited to mention an event to discuss internet policy and the government, specifically the issue of net neutrality, that will be held on February 6 in Ottawa organized by the fab folks at LibrarianActivist.org. For those of you who have read my blog before, you know this is something that I have very strong feelings about. In the coming year I hope to become more active and vocal in my area in the hopes of making the issue better known.

The event details are below. Sabina from Librarian Activist, who emailed me about this event, also mentioned that they will have a video of the event up for those of us who can't attend. I will definitely be linking to it when it is available.

For any of you in the Ottawa area or who have friends in the Ottawa area, I would highly recommend dropping in. They have some excellent people on the panel and I'm sure it is going to be a facinating evening.

Any of you out there who are able to go, I would love if someone were able to blog it. Please let me know if you do!

Now I think it is time to see if we can get some more of these events organized across Canada. Anyone want to help me get something together for BC?

_________________________

Net Neutrality:
A Public Discussion on the Future of the Internet in Canada


Date and Location:
February 6, 2007 , 7 pm
Admission: Free
Ottawa Public Library Auditorium
120 Metcalfe St.

Moderated by:
Pippa Lawson: Executive Director, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) at the University of Ottawa


Panelists:

Michael Geist: Professor of Law, Research Chair of Internet and E-Commerce Law, University of Ottawa
Ren Bucholz: Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy Coordinator, Americas
Andrew Clement: Professor, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto; Principal Investigator, Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking
Bill St-Arnaud: Senior Director, Advanced Networks for CANARIE, Inc.


Event:
Please join us for a an important public discussion on the future of the Internet in Canada. Network neutrality recently became a major issue in the United States when telecommunications companies issued public statements asking for the ability to charge Internet content-providers for preferential access to Internet users. That meant that big corporations, especially media conglomerates, would get to Internet users fastest while smaller ones, which would be unable to pay the “tolls”, would be left trailing. Meanwhile, Internet users could be restricted from using certain applications, and would likely have to pay more to access content of providers that weren’t part of the telecommunications company’s exclusivity deals.

Net neutrality has been an issue in Canada for at least two years, but the release in March 2006 of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel’s Final Report renewed both corporate and public interest in the topic. In the United States, net neutrality is currently on hold as legislators debate the issue; in Canada, the federal government is considering major changes to telecommunications regulation and its commitment to network neutrality is uncertain - hence the need for public debate before more decisions are made.

We are also inviting politicians to attend this panel discussion, and we hope that with a good turnout, our policy-makers will understand what an important issue network neutrality is for Canadians, and that the separation of telecommunications companies from content providers is in the interest of all Internet users. While the Internet has largely been managed as a democratic commons there are hints that it can become a privately-controlled medium. The 2005 move by Telus to block customer access to the “Voices For Change” Telecommunications Workers Union website is but one example of a private-sector threat to network neutrality.


If you are unable to attend, please note that a video of the event will be made publicly available.

Hat's off to Scotland!

This is an encouraging sign that the message is starting to get out to governments that we need to stop farting around and start making some changes. Global warming isn't a matter of whether we believe it or not - it is a fact and we need to start changing our habits and behavour accordingly. And governments need to stop using green iniatives as election platforms and start making some changes.

This article also reminded me of a thought I had while in India. Claude and I were in Bombay taking the ferry over to Elephanta Island to see the Buddist caves. It was Dec 24th, making it a VERY busy day to do a day trip. Bombay is a popular place for vacationing for Indians and many of those of vacation had decided that Elephanta Island was the place to be. After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we finally made it onto the ferry for the hour-long ride to the island. On shore there were many sellers of fried gram snacks and other assorted goodies. Once we were underway, our fellow passengers opened up their snacks and started digging in. The unfortunate part was that once people finished up their yummies, they threw their garbage into the water. And it wasn't just one or two, everyone did this. The state of the water around Bombay told the tale too. It was filthy from years and years of acting as the city's trash can.

This behaviour is standard in India - it is part of the culture to litter. It is really too bad, as it is a beautiful country. If the government were able to provide a bit of education and a system for disposal of garbage and a recycling program, I think a difference could be made. Although, I don't think the differnce would happen soon - it really is an ingrained part of the culture to just throw your trash in the street, on the ground or in the water.

Anyway, while we were on the boat enjoying the ride but wishing people would appreciate the natural beauty around then and not cause any more harm to it, I had this thought:
Al Gore needs to take his movie "An Inconvenient Truth", translate it to Hindi, add a few musical numbers (a la Bollywood) and distribute it all over India, providing free tickets to everyone.

So, my hat's off to the Scottish government!! I wish more countries around the world would follow suit.