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May 10th,2008; Today it is 10°C
with a few clouds with winds from the SW. With that south west wind, we should be getting warmer weather. That Canadian train which was put into quarantine after the discoverey of that dead woman and the illness of some of the train passangers had not been on account of some outbreak of an infectious disease. I suppose it is better to be cautious than to have some sort of epidemic on our hands. Or could it be that we have become a society so paranoid, that it has come to this? Well, I see that the Smoke-Free Ontario imposition has come into effect. People who use tobacco products will no longer be able to see what tobacco products a store has, or if they have your brand on hand, because according to this new anti-smoking inquisition, excuse me, I meant to say imposition, all tobacco products must be hidden from view. In effect, under the Smoke-Free Ontario act, the "point of purchase" the display of tobacco products will be banned. All places that sell commercial tobacco are no longer permitted to have any tobacco products visible to the public, except for the brief time that it takes the cashier to retrieve the product. This includes all types of tobacco like chew and snuff, and also any type of tobacco branded paraphernalia. This seems to be the new twentieth-century "type of inquisition imposition" which is being foisted upon a certain segment of our Canadian society. Celine Pullen, who is acting as a health promotion representative, feels the ban will go a long way in protecting children as well as encouraging current smokers to kick the habit. That this display ban will really help others to stay quit - out of site, out of mind. I recall a religious group who said that about children... "out of sight, out of mind"! Oh yes, now I remember, it was those Je-Zeus Christ freaks who had said that. First spoken by Louis XIV (born in 1638 CE.) who was a Roman Catholic Christian, the king of France, known as the Sun King who had suddenly revoked the Edict of Nantes and banned all none Catholic worship, which effected mostly Protestants, in 1685 CE which forced many to flee to the New World. Be they Catholic or Protestant, it seems that these people have now expanded and imposed their inquisition and imposition techniques from their religious centres, out onto the privet, non-Christian sector which increasingly intrudes into our private lives and impacts on our everyday activities. It is interesting to point out at this juncture, so far, countless new ban laws have been passed, causing massive reduction of civil liberties, and countless examples of infringements upon our human rights. Yes, we are fast becoming an Orwellian "Big Brother" society as this type of imposition and surveillance spreads into every aspect of our lives. I think it was an American, Benjamin Franklin, who once said that; "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security". Sadly, this is fast becoming a reality here in Canada.
Ash from the Chaiten volcano is irritating the eyes and throats of people. The situation could last for months. This is the first eruption the Chaiten volcano had in a thousand years. Scientists continue to monitor the Chaiten volcano, but there was no consensus on what would happen next. The great fear is a catastrophic explosion with hot flows of fast-moving gases and molten rock that could destroy much of the countryside. The current state of periodic eruptions of ash, gas, and even lava, could continue indefinitely. The ash from the Chaiten Volcano is reportedly spreading into the Atlantic, rising to 10.6km into the atmosphere. According to recent reports, there is no let up to the amount of ash being ejected. This high atmosphere ash/dust will no doubt have an effect on our weather. I will not be the least surprised if we end up having a much cooler summer this year because of all that ash and dust floating in the atmosphere.
May 12th,2008; This morning we have a cloudy sky with sunny breaks, with temperatures around 6°C which is expected to rise to a wonderful 19°C by this afternoon according to our weather forecasters. After having made comments on the recent ban which had been enacted to prevent tobacco products from being displayed in various stores, I could not help reflect upon how much laws we had added in our Canadian society from the time the first settlers had come to these shores to our present era. We seem to be a people who are infatuated in making laws. Every time something goes awry in our Canadian society, we just add one more law onto the already pile of laws we had already enacted, and think we have solved the problem. We have adopted and accumulated so many laws, that one almost need to have a law degree just to get by, living in our society. If we took all the laws we had enacted in Canada, laws from the Federal, Provincial and municipalities, and piled them up in neat stacks, it would no doubt fill an entire large room right up to the ceiling. We tend to add more laws, year by year, almost unnoticed, until one day we wake up and we realize that we in effect have strapped ourselves into a straightjacket of laws which forever hinder our freedoms and ability to do things. Which reminds me of the novella by George Orwell, Animal Farm which was first published in 1945. It shows how a society can quickly turn into a totalitarian regime by the enacting of so many laws which severely restricts people's freedom and their ability to do things. This reminds me of the 613 Mitzvot (secondary) laws (Halakhah) the Jewish people had expanded from the original Ten Commandments of GOD which was given on stone tablets. I greatly suspect that this practice of enacting so many laws stem from that, and was later adopted through the Judean-Christian beliefs which people brought to our Canadian shores. Laws were continually added and enacted over the years which would put the volumes of Britannica Encyclopaedia to shame. I believe we greatly need to whittle down all the laws we have enacted over the years, down to a managable size (Preferably down to 30 basic laws) so that we can once more make life more enjoyable, and less restrictive and/or oppressive.
It seems like people in the USA are really getting clobbered by these tornadoes. More people are found dead after a new round of tornadoes hit the USA. Tornadoes that spun across the Oklahoma-Missouri border had killed at least 18 people so far, as severe storms raked the nation's heart, injuring many and mangling buildings in the storm-weary region. Emergency personnel count body bags after a tornado ripped through the northeastern Oklahoma town of Picher, on Saturday May 10, 2008. The town of Picher (pronounced PITCH-er) was a depressed and pollution-scarred mining town that many of its residents had long ago fled the area. The tornado caused major damage to the entire town. Emergency personnel are going through the rubble, trying to find people who are missing.There had been numerous people with injuries. The twister had killed at least six people in Picher, then skipped over the Missouri state line to wreak further death and destruction. Several homes sit destroyed and several overturned cars were found scattered in a field after the tornado swept through Seneca, a town near the Oklahoma border. The thunderstorms remained active as it is sweeping eastward, with storm watches and warnings abundant across a wide swath of the Plains and South."We were blessed," said Donald Peebles, the fire chief in Kite, Ga., things could have been worse. More than 20 people were killed as storms races across the USA. A powerful storm system that has spun off several tornadoes and killed more than 20 people from Oklahoma to Georgia is expected to continue soaking the Washington area today, dumping up to two to three inches of rain on already-waterlogged ground. The worst storms began about 5 p.m. on Saturday, near where northeast Oklahoma meets Kansas and Missouri. A mass of moist air quickly fueled the storms, and winds in the upper atmosphere caused clouds to rotate. Meteorologists said the storm, moving at up to 50 mph, created several tornadoes, including one that might have had winds of nearly 200 mph. Meteorologists said that Washington would probably be spared the kind of damage inflicted on Picher, Okla.; Racine, Mo.; and Kite, Ga. The fast-moving storm, the latest in an especially deadly year for tornadoes, sped from the Great Plains to the Georgia coast in about 24 hours, flinging cars, toppling trees and smashing houses into fields of debris.
May 13th,2008; This morning we have
a cloudy sky, with temperatures expected to rise to 19°C again by this afternoon. Night time temperatures tend to drop between 3°C to 6°C with clear skies. That powerful 7.9 earthquake which struck China yesterday caused huge amount of devastation and deaths. Most of the office buildings, factories and schools were full of people when the earthquake struck. Rescuers are picking through the rubble of collapsed homes, schools and office towers. The official death toll from that earthquake is around 12,000,00 according to Chinese officials. Meanwhile, heavy rain is making it difficult for rescue workers to reach the epicentre of the disaster. A lot of the county roads are badly damaged and are almost inaccessible in many places due to the heavy rain. Military personnel were forced to turn back in some area because it was too treacherous to get to. Aftershocks also rattled the region today, creating panic in the city streets. U.S. Geological Survey measured the shocks between magnitude 4 and 6. In the meantime, our Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said Canada is ready with humanitarian assistance of tents, food, clean water and medicine when they are given the green light to enter the country. China's officials declined any humanitarian assistance from other countries, stating that it has all the equipment and resources to handle the situation. This is China's worst earthquake in three decades. Previous to this earthquake, Cyclone Nargis had ripped across the coast of Myanmar (Burma), and had brought misery & devastation to tens of thousands of people. So far, officials have refused to allow humanitarian assistance into Burma. Burmese generals had said no foreign aid workers are allowed in Burma.
I can't wait for the time I can purchase a wilderness plot of land so that I can build that log cabin on it. But that won't be until the spring and summer of 2010 CE. Until then, I can only keep dreaming about it. I sure do not want to focus on all the death and destruction that is going on, because that is just too depressing to think about. I have no interest in hockey, baseball or in any of those kinds of sports. Not even when I was a child or teenager, had I any interest in sports. Girls? I have no luck in that department, and do not expect that will change any time soon. That is my fault, because I am not aggressive enough to impose myself upon women as most men do. I do not flip out or get all bent out of shape every time I see a pretty woman. Besides, most of the women around here are either married or are single mothers with a child or two. At this point in my life, what with my intention of working towards my dream to build a log cabin in the wilderness, I do not want to get involved with a women with children. Only to be a casual friend with them. Besides, I am sixty-four years of age and I am still attracted mostly to single women around the age of 20 to 40. So I have cut down my options of finding a women to share my life with, pretty greatly or next to impossible. Be that as it may, them’s the breaks. It is that or nothing. Maybe I should get back to painting, but there is no incentive in me to do that. Artist material around here is pretty expensive and I do not have the money to waste on it, especially if I can not sell my artwork. Maybe I will learn to play an organ. Irene had given me a small organ that she was going to throw out, but I had salvaged it. I had not much time to pratice on it. It works well sinced I had repaired it. I have always liked the sound that comes out of an organ. Then I can always try my hand at playing the guitar that is hanging on my wall and sing "Home on the Range". Then again, Buddy might have something to say about that. I do not think I would make a good singer, especially if I have to carry a tune. I can't stand that hard rock or that rap crap, one hears on the radio. I would rather listen to Beethoven, Bach, some Movie Themes, and organ music. I even like some folk and country music. But none of that "Your Cheating Heart" or "You left me for another man" type of crying in my beer songs. Besides, I can't stand the taste of beer. I would prefer a nice glass of red wine, especially with a meal, or sip on a smooth Canadian Club at a beach watching the sunset, or sip it by a fireplace in the winter. Preferably with someone one can have a good, interesting conversation with. When I look at Buddy, I always wonder what he must be thinking about, if only he could talk.... Well, Journal, I must end this little talk and take Buddy out for his morning walk and run. He is still quite bulky to what he should be for his pedigree. While I was running Buddy on his exercise program, I had made up my mind that I will no longer divulge any more information on the things of GOD, or what is going to happen concerning the near future. I had already divulged enough information on these topics to warn people of what is to come and what to expect. The rest is up to individuals in what they do, or do not do. Buddy and I had a good run along the waterfront to City Hall and back. Hopefully, that will knock off a few pounds from Buddy. We are expecting to have rain tomorrow, which will be good. At least it will keep the forest from drying out, and that will help prevent any risk of forest fires. I see that there is more talk of gasoline going up to $1.50 a lt. They do that so that people will not be shocked when the price of gasoline do go up to $1.50. I wonder how high will the gasoline have to climb up, before something is done to put a clamp on it? Will see. I had helped Irene and Woody today with some task that needed to be done. It at least gives me something to do and it keeps me young and trim. As soon as I get a long beam from woody, I can replace the broken one in the garage shed. It had broken due to all the weight of the snow on the roof. It had buckled the tin roof and broke one of the rafter beams. Another small job that needs to be done. I had received a letter which had informed me that I will get a new lens for my right eye. While I can see fairly well from that right eye, things do look a little fogy compared to my left eye which had received a new lens. I can see real clear through that left eye now. Once I get a new lens in my right eye, I will have clear vision in both eyes. That will be GREAT, having nothing to obstruct my vision. I thank GOD we have such fine doctors/surgeons who can do this kind of work, which give sight back to people.
May 14th,2008; This morning we have a cloudy sky, and we can expect rain today. Temperatures is around
19°C and we can expect some lightning by this afternoon. Don't forget to unplug your electrical appliance in case lightning strikes some hydro wires. Each year during the spring and summer, people are struck by lightning. About 10 percent of people struck by lightning actually die. Lightning delivers a massive amount of electricity. Lightning can either kill or injure a person. When lightning strikes a person directly, it causes gigantic electrical currents to surge through the body. A person may even get seriously injured or killed by lightning striking something connected to the person, such as an electrical appliance cord a person os holding, or an appliance that is attached to a person. Or when a person is connected to water, as when taking a shower or boating during a lightning storm. Any of these things completes the circuit to ground, which will cause huge amounts of electrical currents from lightning to flow through a person's body. Lightning kills primarily by interrupting the heart's rhythm. The heart stops, or perhaps beats erratically, and breathing may cease. The heart can start up on its own, but breathing may not. If no one is there to help the victim, the lack of oxygen and possible nerve damage can cause the heart to stop, permanently. This is the reason why a respirator or giving mouth to mouth resuscitation is critically important in saving a person's life who had been struck by lightning.
It seems that US President George W. Bush must have changed his mind and went to Israel after all. I recall that White House National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, had stated that Bush’s itinerary for the trip to Israel for the 60th Independence Day celebrations had been hastily reworked in light of recent allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Well, according to reports, US President George W. Bush has greatly reduced his expectations regarding a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority before he leaves office in January 2009. Israel Prime Minister Olmert called the US President's visit to Israel an "extraordinary gesture of friendship". US President George W. Bush in return underscored the strong relationship between Israel and the USA. In light of what Hamas and Fatah (Mahmoud Abbas) have done over the past years, it seems more like US President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice have a stronger relationship with the so-called "Palestinian Arabs", than with Israel. After all, US President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice are giving confront and aid to these "Palestinian" terrorists and tyrants by wanting to give over Israeli land to these Arabs. In the meantime, hundreds of Arabs riot near Ramallah to mark their 'Nakba' (the catastrophe), as more than 200 Arabs hurled rocks at Israeli soldiers at the Kalandia security checkpoint near Ramallah. At the same time, "Arab Palestinian" missiles hits the top floor of the Clalit medical clinic at the Chutzot Mall shopping centre, in southern Ashkelon, Israel. The direct hit from a Grad-model Katyusha rocket, which was Russian made, had exploded and wounded 15 people, including a mother, a baby and a doctor. Four people were seriously injured, included was a 24-year-old woman and her young daughter. 87 people were treated for shock. The Grad-model Katyusha rocket is believed to have been fired from a neighbourhood of Gaza City, which is a militant stronghold near the Israeli border. The Popular Resistance Committees and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, claimed responsibility. All this violence from these Palestinian Arabs is due to the establishment of the State of Israel. The riot coincides with the proclamation of the new nation of Israel in 1948. Is US President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Israel Prime Minister Olmert really the friends of Israel and the Jewish people living there? The people of Israel should think twice before answering that question!
May 15th,2008; This morning at around 5:30 AM, when I took Buddy out, it felt pretty warm. By 9:30 the temperature had dropped with a cold wind which felt very cool. I had given Woody and Irene a hand at their house. By noon, the sky cleared and soon we had a nice sunny warm day. We did not get any lightning last night. No doubt most people will be thinking about summertime and of barbecuing and those pesky mosquitoes and black flies. People will arm themselves with bug repellent, ranging from sticks and sprays containing concentrated chemicals or homeopathic agents to eccentric treatments involving bright-colour clothing and Bounce fabric-softener sheets. People need to take mosquitoes very seriously, given the threat of West Nile virus. In places that have hot climates, like around the equator, they have added diseases to contend with mosquitoes, like encephalitis and malaria. Their bite is also incredibly irritating. So how do you fight these pesky varmints? For decades, people had used DEET products for their personal protection. Some people hate to use DEET because of toxicity concerns surrounding health hazards, though Health Canada has declared that low doses aren't toxic for humans and they endorse using DEET products. Personally, I have found DEET products not to have worked very well for me. I had tried all sorts of BUG Repellents and still got stung by those pesky critters. So this year, I am going to try an inexpensive homeopathic treatment I came across from people out west. This spring and summer, I am going to eat a lot of garlic. I had found out that in Alberta, ranchers feed their horses and cattle herds garlic, to keep swarm of insects, horseflies and mosquitoes at bay. The horses and cattle’s neck and legs would get bloody from their bites. Ranchers found fly spray and various bug repellents didn't protect them all that well. By giving their animals garlic, the no-see-em bugs, ticks, mosquitoes and horseflies would just about land on them, but would quickly take right off. Garlic is a safe, natural product that actually works. So if it works on horses and cattle, maybe it will also work on me. Besides, I like garlic and it is worth a try. If it do not work on me, then at least I will have boost up my immune system. Garlic is great for that. I plan to start to giving Buddy a clove of garlic with his meal. I hear it is good for getting rid of ticks & fleas which they will pick up during May thru August. I will dice up a small clove and mix it in with Buddy's dog food. Two cloves mixed in with the dog food is recommended for big dogs such as Buddy who is around 60lbs. People who have used garlic on their dogs had no side affects or problems with fleas & ticks. After doing much research on this, I feel very confident that garlic is safe to give to Buddy. Dogs, like people, are different and their chemistry may be slightly different. What works well for one may not work for another person or dog. It's always best to use good common sence, there's pros and cons for everything. A person has to feel comfortable with the choices one makes. But for me, I am going to try garlic on Buddy and see if it do repel fleas & ticks on dogs. I feel it's safe enough to try a small garlic clove for a while and see to it that there are no harmful side effects. Don't make the mistake in thinking that the more you give garlic to your dog, the better it is. Garlic is harmful to dogs in large quantities, just like onions. Frankly; It would take 20 cloves or more of garlic eaten all at once, to harm a dog. But one or two clove daily will not harm a dog. One clove once a week for small dogs and two clove a week for large dogs. I am told that people have been giving small and large dogs fresh garlic cloves, once a week for small dogs and twice a week for large dogs, for the past 30 years, and they all lived long healthy lives. I know when I used to eat garlic on a somewhat daily basis, I never got a cold or flu. One drawback with eating raw garlic though, it tends to ooze out of the skin pores and make you stink of garlic. That is the reason why it makes such a good insect and bug repellent. As I said, there are pros and cons to eating garlic. If a person do not want to eat garlic, then maybe they can try and make this homeopathic bug repellent. Simply peel a bunch of garlic bulbs, the cloves, and put these in a blender untill it becomes a pulp. Rinse the blender container into 4 litres of water, in a bucket, and let pulp stand in the water for 24 hours. Then strain this mixture and add 4 ml rubbing alcohol to it. Another garlic recipe you can try is; Steep 20 g of chopped garlic in 20 ml of vegetable oil for 24 hours. Then strain this mixture in a plastic bottle. You can bottle any one of these garlic recipes in one of those perfume or window cleaner sprayers. Now it is ready to use when you think you will encounter those pesky, biting no-see-em bugs, ticks, mosquitoes or horseflies. Just spray yourself with this garlic solution and see how it works. Make sure you close your eyes and apply this solution to your face and neck with a cloth. Spray all other parts of the body, on the skin, of course, with the garlic solution.
May 17th,2008; It has been raining, on and off throughout the day and it felt very cool and damp, that I had to turn the heater back on.
This evening, the sky had been so beautiful and ominous at the same time that I had to take a picture of it. I spent the day quietly, meditating on the massive destruction caused by recent storms, floods, tornados, cyclones,volcano eruptions and earthquakes which had effected so many people's lives these past few months. Just thinking on the recent earthquake in China, is hard to fully comprehend the massive death and destruction that powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake had on China last Monday. Recent pictures coming from China show the great amount of death and devastation, which looked very similar to the aftermath of the US atomic bombings of Japan's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The official death toll in China so far is around 29,000 people killed, though I think it is a very conservative estimate. Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake had struck at 2:28 p.m., followed by aftershocks including a magnitude-6 quake which had hit the area 15 minutes later. A second powerful tremor struck China's Sichuan province just today (Saturday), as thousands of people are fleeing the epicentre. The 6.1-magnitude earthquake had hit the province five days after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake had caused widespread death and destruction. This latest earthquake caused more mudslides and collapsing buildings, burying a great many people under the rubble. People who have survived the earthquakes are heading for high ground because they are afraid the aftershocks will cause blocked rivers to burst their banks and cause massive flooding, killing more people in its destructive path. The area which was hit by the earthquakes was home to 11 million people. Now those who had survived the earthquakes, are homeless people. The Chinese government estimates that four million homes and apartments were destroyed. It is hard to wrap your mind around the amount of death and destruction that China quakes had on its people. It is something one might expect from a science fiction movie, rather than from reality. Unfortunately, I am not the least bit surprise that this kind of massive destruction has happened recently. As I have already stated, this kind of massive destruction we have seen lately, is only a foretaste to the type of global destruction which is yet to come. That will be something which most people will be totally unprepared for. Most people will not be able to overcome, let alone comprehend that kind of destruction and massive amount of deaths, with their present false sense of security, in their present frame of mind.
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