Here’s how I skied the LAST DAY EVER on my old boots.
Completely unlatched, I could feel the wind.
(I have bunions and any pressure at all on them is agony.)
My ancient skis and bindings have had it, too.
Any advice on where to shop for skis in the Calgary area?
Good end-of-season sell offs?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much snow at Sunshine. Rocco cannot recall this much snow in the Banff Rockies ever.
Here’s one of the slave Aussie staff shoveling snow off the roof of a building at the base of Goat’s Eye Mountain.
And the snow is still falling. They’ve had 30cm over the past 72hrs as I post.
Ski on week days, if you can. The runs were empty today.
Doctor, my eyes have seen the years / And the slow parade of fears …
… As people age, their ability to focus is lessened and many decide to use multiple-focus lenses, which can be bifocal or even trifocal, to cover all the situations in which they use their sight. Traditional multifocal lenses have two or three distinct horizontal viewing areas, each requiring a conscious effort of refocusing. Some modern multifocal lenses, such as progressive lenses (known as “no-line bifocals”), give a smooth transition between these different focal points …
It was time. Time to get either Bifocals or Progressives.
Yet I knew a dozen people who couldn’t get used to progressive lenses. … They’re sitting on the shelf.
Click PLAY or see how they work on YouTube.
Happily, I’m getting used to them quite rapidly.
The worst thing I can report is that I need to have a ‘head on a stick’ (vague sports cliché) … For each focal length I need adjust my head position exactly. When I get it wrong, the world is plenty blurry.
Imagine yourself on a ship in stormy seas, drunk. … That’s what progressive lenses are like when you don’t focus.
I do find myself fatigued end of day after concentrating so much positioning my head.
Also, lens cleaner is essential with these, once or twice a day.
Leave a comment if you’ve an opinion on them.
How ‘advanced’ is your country?
Red is bad.
via Peter and Warren Long.
I’ve never been more powerless and vulnerable than when lying on the dentist’s chair.
But having had so much practice over the years, I believe I’ve gotten quite skilled at being a compliant patient.
Today I had 3 of the 4 corners of my mouth frozen prepping for the installation of permanent bridges. My dentista popped the question: … while we’re here, do you want to fix the 4th corner?
… Why not.
I’m very happy with Dr. Lorenia Estrada, my lady dentist from La Paz, Baja. (I’ve written of my Stockholm syndrome for her before.)
One new thought came to mind on the death bed this time. I believe women make better dentists than men, on average.
They are more empathetic and gentle.
Male dentists are dead to me from here on in.
My cost for all the dental work I’ve had done in La Paz is about $4800.
Estrella Damm is a Spanish pilsener. It has been brewed in Barcelona since 1876.
It’s now available in the USA, stocked by retailers such as Whole Foods, Publix, Harris Teeter, Total Wine & Spirits and BevMo.
Rockin’ can get it in Vancouver and strongly recommends it.
I think it tastes Damm Fine.
I’ve almost never felt “lonely”.
It’s a condition I know nothing about.
Film critic Roger Ebert, a bit of an internet shut-in himself, has read 80,000 comments on his blog. Many, he tells, are from lonely people looking for connection with strangers.
… For days I’ve been reading waves of messages from the lonesome, the shy, the alone, the depressed. Some who live as virtual hermits. Some who have few or no friends. Some who rarely speak with their families. Some who have never dated, or ever had sex. Some who consider it a good day when they never speak to anyone. Some who are sad to be alone. Some who are relieved. Some who can’t do it any other way. …
He reflects on loneliness in that post, and an earlier one – All the lonely people.
… After all that, Roger’s not sure whether or not the internet actually helps the lonely.
Scientific American on Greenwashing:
Food-makers should have to prove the validity of their health claims …
In March the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to 17 food and beverage manufacturers concerning false or misleading health and nutrition claims on their products. It was an unusually expansive crackdown for the agency, whose regulatory power over food companies has declined over the past decades, thanks to Congress and the courts, which have tended to come down on the side of the food companies. …
In 2006 Europe began holding food makers to rigorous scientific standards. Since then, the European Food Safety Authority has rejected, on the basis of insufficient evidence, a whopping 80 percent of the more than 900 claims they have assessed thus far. …
Differences between the lenient U.S. system and the more restrictive European system are easily apparent. For instance, visitors to the Web site for Activia (www.activia.com)—a yogurt product from Dannon—will have a very different experience depending on which country they indicate they are from. The U.S. version prominently displays the product’s putative health benefits, asserting that it can “help regulate your digestive system by helping reduce long intestinal transit time.” …
I assume over 80% of green packaging and health claims are tainted.
Still a hot topic.
Yet after listening to two audiocasts on the topic, I’m convinced that we need not worry … much.
(There are hundreds of more important things to worry about. Imported green grapes being on the dirty dozen list, for one.)
… Mobile phones use electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which some believe may be harmful to human health. A large body of research exists, both epidemiological and experimental, in non-human animals and in humans, that shows overall no evidence for harmful effects. Other digital wireless systems, such as data communication networks, produce similar radiation.
The World Health Organization, based upon the consensus view of the scientific and medical communities, has stated that cancer is unlikely to be caused by cellular phones or their base stations and that reviews have found no convincing evidence for other health effects. …
Some of the alarmist articles you may have seen were based on research of dubious quality.
Two studies are deemed best:
… In 2006 a large Danish study about the connection between mobile phone use and cancer incidence was published. It followed over 420,000 Danish citizens for 20 years and showed no increased risk of cancer …
details – Cellular Telephone Use and Cancer Risk: Update of a Nationwide Danish Cohort
… The 13 nation INTERPHONE project – the largest study of its kind ever undertaken – has now been published and did not find a solid link with mobile phones and brain tumours. …
details and links to the many reports out of this study – International Case-Controlled Studies of Cancer in Relation to Mobile Telephone Use.
The final question: What about kids?
My answer: They mainly text, not talk. The phone is rarely anywhere near their brain.
Rick McCharles 