Your Health

BIZ 120

In Jewish tradition, it is customary to wish someone a long and healthy life. The Jewish version of the Vulcan “Live long and Prosper.’ is the shorter “Biz 120” which means “May you live to be 120 year old.” The reference is to Moses whose death is described in the Bible as:
“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” Deuteronomy 34:7
So, the Jewish blessing is not just for long life, but full health to the last second.

What instigated this blog is the fact that people are now getting closer and closer to the Moses target.
In Okinawa and pockets in Italy and elsewhere, there are so many healthy and active centenarians that they have been the focus of scholarly research and documentary coverage. Just recently, the media had extensive coverage on the death of the oldest surviving U.S. soldier from WW1 – at an active 110. Similarly, in the Canadian Jewish News (Feb 24, 2011, page 17) there was an article on a woman, age 104, who still cooks and bakes for her family and grandchildren.
Moreover, according to Maclean’s (March 21, 2011 pages 42-43) new research has found that centenarians in good health have 2 characteristics: elevated levels of so-called good cholesterol and a tendency to have their bodies ‘reprogram’ cells with fewer ‘errors’ that lead to cancer and other health issues -- an ongoing process called methylation.
The over 500 individuals in the Longenity study had diverse weights – including obese, many smoked and drank or did little exercise, but the above 2 factors (and possibly others yet undiscovered) have allowed them to actively carry on into their 2nd century.
As anyone can increase their good cholesterol levels through diet choices, and the discovery that some new anti-cancer blood drugs can reverse defective cell production during methylation, Maclean’s is optimistic that a longer and healthy lifespan will soon be upon us.
So there is much on the upside of aging to celebrate and look forward to.
May we all be ‘biz 120.”

Charge of the Light Brigade

F35 or rice cakes

While Canadian opposition party politicans continue to criticize buying new F35 jet fighter and what it 'might really cost', China has just unveiled the J 20-- its own stealth -- state of the art -- jet fighter. Thew plane is totally made in China and designed to keep the Communist state at the leading edge of military technology, defense and offense.

The revelation was via a fly over of the J 20 during a visit by high ranking U.S. government deligation. Oh how chagrined the Americans must have been!

For some 10 years China has worked secretly on this project and its sudden leap to the forefront of world aircraft technology must have been a huge shock to the U.S., Europe and the Russia.

So, the military game of chess has changed and ratched up a notch or two.

The Chinese understand the importance of staying up with the lastest war technology.

Maybe its time all Canadian politicans do the same

Do the Math

Statistics Canada blows it big time!

According to an article buried in the business section of the Globe and Mail (“No Longer Tops in Recovery”, January 29, 2011, B4) it is now revealed that Statistics Canada has been using 2001 census data to calculate the size of Canada’s labour force and related employment/unemployment numbers to December 2010!!!

Just now is Statistics Canada beginning to use the 2006 census data! So, low and behold, the information used by Canada’s federal and provincial government, the media, financial advisors and investors was way off – as it was way off due to data that was 10 years old!!!

Even the new database Statistic Canada has just started using – the 2006 census – is already 4 years old and probably equally ‘unhelpful’ and misleading.

Governments, business and investors need accurate and current data for decision making.

Instead of the fuss over the Tory elimination of the long census form, maybe Statistics Canada should look after getting it core information correct and help the economy make rational, informed decisions.

YOUR HEALTH

Taste bud Lament

The announcement Monday, January 24, 2011 that the Open Window Bakery is closing down (Toronto Metro p. 04) completes a series of recent culinary losses to the Jewish and broader Eastern European communities of the GTA and across Canada.

Some 2 years ago, Open Window discontinued manufacturing Hamishe farfel to the chagrin of many. Farfel, a pasta-like side dish is traditional in Eastern European Jewish and non-Jewish homes and Open Window’s Hamishe formula was spectacular. Sold through various local groceries and major chains, it was the Rolls Royce. While competing brands end up congealed -- like lumpy mashed potatoes, Hamishe – even if merely boiled in some water – produced the equivalent of the French fry – crisp, separate bits with a uniquely tangy taste.

About the same time, as a result of a fire at its Bathurst and Lawrence storefront and processing plant, the half-century old Perl’s Kosher Meats also disappeared – any hope of re-opening dashed just last month as the partially rebuilt property went up for sale.

Anyone who ever tasted Perl’s spicy salamis, their sweet coleslaw and cucumber salad and other delicatessen products knew the taste of heaven.

Now, to add to these losses comes the closure of Open Window Bakery itself, another Holocaust survivor enterprise ( like Perl’s) opened in Toronto soon after WW2. For years, Open Window and a small handful of local bakeries offered Eastern European rye bread, Pumpernickel (black bread), Challah (egg bread) and a host of related buns and, the ultimate – the bagel – when normal Toronto bakeries where the home of white toast.

As well, because of its Jewish ownership, Open Window followed Jewish tradition and did not use lard whatsoever. Nor did the company add whey powder and other dairy ingredients to its complete line up like standard, non-Jewish bakeries. Clearly marked ‘cheese buns’ and like signage ensured no confusion as required by traditional Jewish dietary rules.

I still remember from my childhood their mouth watering chocolate éclairs, butter tarts and great blueberry buns (chock full of berries enclosed in a thin, sweet dough). [Unfortunately, Open Window switched its blueberry bun formula long ago to a minimal filling and heavy dough shell. Only Bagel Plus (at Bathurst and Sheppard) has maintained the soft dough, blueberry filled recipe.]
So, now, in early 2011 a double era comes to an end. The Jewish community has lost 2 key holocaust survivor institutions that thrived for a half- century and filled mouths and bellies with unique delights.

Maybe someone in the food industry or a young entrepreneur or two will come forward and buy these great recipies; pick up the torches, so to speak.

My mouth and stomach can only hope!

Technology

3D up your life - again?

So far, the 21st century has seen 3D image mania. First Hollywood went 3D for its new animation tales and even live action features on the big screen. Then Sony and other manufacturers released wide screen 3D TVs requiring brand specific glasses.

Now, Toshiba has released a 20 inch 3D TV that does not require any glasses and Fuji offers a 3D camera -- so you to can create 3D stills of your vacations, family birthdays or just your dog sleeping on the couch.

3D is so hot that sports TV broadcasts are not only jumping aboard, but redesigning how they shoot events. Traditional high angle camera work does not translate well to 3D which requires the camera to be at eye level alongside the playing field or ice surface.

So, is all this impressive explosion of technology a boon or a minor blip from the consumer’s perspective?

Firstly, realize that 3D motion is not reality or normal 3D. It is a gimmick that allows some objects to jump off the screen directly at you or float in front of the rest of the background.
It is a form of hologram effect.

This is not what happens in real life but gives the viewer a brief jolt like riding a roller coaster down a hill or in a sharp curve.

Do you want such a pit-in-the-stomach experience non- stop? Maybe gamers do in their virtual worlds that are already so non-real that an extra 3D boost would not be disruptive.

But to watch for hours on end the news, a talk show or some ‘reality TV’ would be difficult on the eyes and the brain. Even sports events would suffer except for hockey body checks into the boards (as if the players are flying at you) and shots on net or goal from the goal’s point of view as the ball approaches.

Personally, I suspect that for most film and TV viewing, 3D will prove a limited gimmick and a huge waste of money for the special camera and TVs.

TECHNOLOGY

America gives up on Star Trek!

The last launch and trip by a US space shuttle is scheduled by NASA for February 3, 2011 -- after which the entire fleet will be mothballed or disassembled. No new astronaut launches are scheduled for the next 3 years and beyond ( see www.nasa.gov/missions/calendar/index.html) And there is no sign of the 'replacement' ship' debated since 2004. Supposedly, money and the high cost of the shuttle-like missions is to blame.

The US will, for the foreseeable future, rely on Soviet rocket missions to the International Space Station -- for supplies, crew replacement and equipment delivery. NASA, instead, has been given orders to focus on one way only missions to outer space -- other planets, asteroids or moons --using cheap miniature spacecraft, land rovers and robots.


Meanwhile, China has accellerated its own space program. Since 2003, 6 Chinese austronauts have gone safely into space, and in 2008 Chinese austronauts worked outside of their spacecraft for the first time. According to western reports in 2006 and, official Chinese government statements again this year, a moon landing is the next goal!

With Russia weakened by the collapse of the USSR and relying on old technology, and with the abandonment of human spaceship program by the USA, look for China to soon be our planet's 'face to the universe'!

I am sure President Kennedy -- if he were still alive -- would be apoplectic.

The next flag on the moon and beyond will have stars on it -- but only 5 on a red background!

And say goodbye to any hope of a USS Star Ship Enterprise!

Peace and War

The Iraq blues

Now that the United States is withdrawing its last military forces from Iraq – as have the British and other allies – America is going through the same introspection and malaise as it did after Vietnam.

Columnist Joel Stein in Time magazine, August 5, 2010 issue, regrets his earlier, mild support for the 7 ½ year war and now says the cost in US military lives, civilian deaths and ongoing civil strife in Iraq mean that the US should never take military action ever again unless under attack or under imminent attack. (3rd last sentence.)

Such heartfelt guilt and dismay at a war without ‘real victory’ is a reemergence of the old Vietnam syndrome three and a half decades later.

Yes, the ‘war’ and American troop withdrawal did not come after a resounding victory and ensured stability in Iraq (or Vietnam) and thousands of American troops did die, and countless more Iraqis.

But to follow Stein’s closing advice is suicidal.


We no longer live in a world were enemies send formal declarations of war or ultimatums before the fighting begins. We no longer live in a world were nuclear weapons or deadly biological and chemical substances are under the control of a few states who realize (or care) that the ensuing WW3 will be the end of mankind.

Allowing unstable, megalomaniacal state leaders – whether motivated by religious or other ideology, or past history – to possess nuclear or biological and chemical weapons cannot be ignored.

Allowing terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda to obtain such weapons is even more unthinkable as the mind of the suicide bomber does not fear Armageddon and sees it as the doorway to some Messianic Age. As these groups rely on money and a secret supply of weapons from ‘mentor states’ and ‘backers’ – some of whom have long been in the process of developing or already have such instruments of mass death (think Saddam’s Iraq, Gaddafi’s Libya, today’s Iran, possibly Pakistan) the danger factor multiplies.

So, should we just hold back and watch and wait until an attack is ‘imminent’ or ‘begun’ as Stein suggests?

I think not.

Constant world wide vigilance and improved spying is key, but there is never 100% proof in advance any more.

The age of chivalry and lining up armies at a preset time and place is gone. And with weapons more deadly than in the past, the margin for error – for inaction – is close to nil.

So, a guessing game ensues. Which leaders, which groups can be merely watched and ‘contained’ and which constitute a deadly threat today -- or tomorrow.

And, maybe, Joel Stein should remember that soon after the overthrow of Saddam, Libyan Omar Gaddafi suddenly ended his quest for nuclear weapons and nuclear North Korea began to make overtures for peace.


_______________________


As for Iraq in particular, yes, Iraq has not gone as expected.

In the post 911 environment, in light of Saddam’s megalomaniac dreams of heading a new Persian empire (remember his decade long war with Iran in the 1980s) and Muslim world caliphate (invading Kuwait and vicinity – and possibly Saudi Arabia with its oil and holy Mecca in 1990 -- blocked by the West in the first Persian Gulf War), his ongoing support for anti-west terrorism, and with phone chatter intercepted by American, British, French, Russian and Israeli intelligence: between Saddam, his officials and scientists working secretly on completing nuclear weapons, etc.,** ongoing containment was no longer the option in the minds of at least the United States, Great Britain and their allies.

As for the ensuing war, it lasted less than 2 weeks in a resounding victory for western military strategy, superior equipment and well trained troops.


However, what was not expected was the subsequent fratricide, and ingratitude.

The Kurds, for the first time in over 3 decades, are living in peace in the north,
but Iraq’s two main groups, the majority Shiites and the previous dominant Sunnis have been unable to find a modus vivendi within a democratic framework.

Blood revenge for Saddam era atrocities was common at first, and then the battle for clan and warlord turf -- with its attacks and counter attacks – began. This is what has turned much of Iraq into a fratricidal bloodbath – usually misreported as religious strife of Sunni vs. Shiite.

With the exception of a small influx of anti-western Al Qaeda mujahidin terrorists, attacks on and battles with western troops have been part of these turf wars, as American and other troops ‘got in the way’.


Being ‘peacemakers’ is never easy; you become collateral damage.




** While weapons of mass destruction have not been found, Saddam did think he had such weapons at or near completion. The phone chatter convinced him and the world spy agencies. But the scientists and officials were lying to him – for fear they and their families would be killed.

Note: Even Canadian experts and news people were convinced. On the TVO show Diplomatic Immunity, just before the war started, all the experts from diverse backgrounds agreed Saddam did or would soon have such deadly, secretly developed weapons. They too trusted the intercepted phone chatter as well as the reports from Iraqi scientists who had fled to the West.