Ottawa, Canada – The 2012 Paralympic Games are just a few weeks away, and the Canadian Para-Cycling Team will be looking very strong as it enters its final preparations for this biggest para-cycling race in the world.

A total of 13 athletes, men and women, along with four pilots, have been nominated by Cycling Canada to the Canadian Paralympic Team that will be heading to London to compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games from August 29 to September 9, with the objective to secure medals for Canada and make our great nation proud.

“It’s very exciting to have the para-cycling athletes nominated for London, as they are expected to be one of Canada’s top medal potential sports at the Paralympics,” said Chef de Mission, Gaétan Tardif. “We’ll be looking to this team to lead the way for Canada with their chances to win medals early on in the Games.”

“Our team will be ready to compete with the World’s best, and come back home with medals to make our nation proud. We have all the items in place for strong performances, with resilient athletes, great coaches and a solid group of support staff,” said Jacques Landry, Team Leader and High Performance Director for Cycling Canada. “Our Canadian para-cyclists have proven race after race that they are a force to be reckoned with, in all disciplines and all categories.”

Canada has enjoyed a highly successful season in 2012, grabbing six UCI World Cup titles, an all-time high, and has been a strong medal contender in every para-cycling race it has entered in 2012.

The team will be headlined by the very powerful tandem of Robbi Weldon and Lyne Bessette, two athletes who have dominated the international scene over the last two years, in both the road race and the time trials. The tandem won the 2010 World Championships Road Race, and in 2011 went on win the Time Trial race at the Worlds. Over the last three years, the powerful team grabbed the coveted White Jersey, awarded to the overall World Cup Champion.

The women’s tandem of Geneviève Ouellet and Emily Roy will be looking to defend and improve on their bronze medal performance from the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

“I am very pleased to attend my second Paralympic Games. It is always gratifying to see that efforts Emily and I are putting in sport are recognized by Cycling Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee. The very good start that Emily and I had this season and distinguished career give us hope for a podium on the road in London. One thing is certain, we will work very hard in the next 40 days to achieve this objective,” commented blind athlete Geneviève Ouellet.

The Women’s tricycle race will be another great event for Canada, with three contenders for medals. Marie-Ève Croteau won back to back World Cup titles, and won the World Championships title in both road events in the last two World Championships. Shelley Gautier could also be a medal threat, and so is rookie Dominique Mainguy, who surfaced this year and has shown great potential for success at the Paralympic Games.

“Since I was little, sport has always been part of my life and the Olympics have always been for me an impossible dream after many obstacles that life has given me, but now today, my dreams come true having the honor to represent my country at the Paralympic Games in London on August 29,” said Croteau, who is a two-time World Champions and two-time World Cup Champion.

“Is this the reward for having made it through all these challenges, having kept my head high, to have kept my positivism but also never giving up despite my many obstacles? Who knows! But one thing is certain is that I will have even bigger smile and my heart beating to get a medal even if I have to compete with men.”

Gauthier is thrilled about her nomination to the team: “Before my accident my goal was to go to the Olympic or Paralympic Games as a physiotherapist. Now it is to go as a para-cyclist. I am almost there, going as an athlete.”

Handcyclist Mark Ledo is making his cycling debut at Paralympic Games, but is no rookie to the environment. Ledo is a convert from Athletics, and represented Canada at the 2008 Games in the wheelchair marathon and the 5000m races.

“It’s an honor to be nominated and selected to represent Canada, the country I love. I look forward to the Paralympic experience once again. I would like to thank my family, friends, coaches, trainers, sponsors and staff for making this all possible!,” said Ledo.

Mark Beggs, which became the first Canadian hand cyclist to race at Paralympic Games as the discipline was introduced in 2004 in Athens, will be making his third trip to Paralympic Games. “These games will be my third and I’m still as motivated as my first. This was my most difficult selection because I really worked hard to get there and it did not come easy.

With my experience of two other great games I am able to anticipate a little how it will happen, even though there are always unexpected challenges. The two other Games that I attended are undoubtedly the most beautiful experience I have lived as an athlete and those who come in this summer will be equally as beautiful, and even more because I will not repeat the mistakes I’ve already done. I’m more prepared than ever.”

“I will always be the first athlete in hand bike has represented Canada at the Paralympics and I’d even be the first athlete in hand bike has to earn a medal at the Paralympics.”

Also noteworthy is Alexandre Cloutier’s fourth appearance at Paralympic Games. Cloutier, who has piloted blind cyclists to many Paralympic medals, will be looking to secure a podium performance along with Daniel Chalifour.

Canada will field seven rookies to the Paralympic Games: Marie-Ève Croteau, 2012 World Cup Champion Robert Labbé, Dominique Mainguy, pilot and Olympian Lyne Bessette, Jaye Milley, 2012 World Cup Champion and world record holder in the individual pursuit Marie-Claude Molnar, as well as World Champion and World Cup Champion Shelly Gautier.

Molnar is seeing her selection as trust from her coaches: “Each must prove that he/she belongs on the team to represent Canada in cycling at the Paralympic Games in London. I see a selection for the Games as trust from my coaches. Not only it is the confidence of a coach, but the confidence of all people involved directly or indirectly in the story of an athlete. The athlete is chosen because he/she accomplished something that is not easy for everyone, because otherwise everyone would do cycling and high-performance would not be as well. To be selected is not only an honor but an invisible contract that the athlete signs with the whole country, with an athlete promising to be at its best when it comes time to race day.

Image Courtesy of   CHEN WS / Shutterstock.com

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Mississauga, Canada — Samsung Electronics Co., a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced the latest addition to its range of Wi-Fi enabled SMART CAMERAs, the MV900F. Following the success of Samsung’s MV800, the MV900F also features Samsung’s innovative 180 degree Flip-out display, making it easy to capture and share your passions from any angle, at any time.

Incorporating Samsung’s Wi-Fi features with beauty-perfecting creative functions, it is ideal for creating a polished self-portrait. Making a beautiful capture possible even in low light conditions, the MV900F features a F2.5 bright lens and 16.3M pixels BSI CMOS sensor as well as a wider 25mm lens for fully framed images. This combination of design, creativity and connectivity ensures the MV900F shows everyone at their best.

“The MV900F is another example of Samsung’s dedication to creating products that allow users to express their personalities, with creative features that ensure every shot is worth sharing,” said Craig McLennan, Vice-President, Consumer Electronics at Samsung Canada. “The unique Flip-out display coupled with cutting-edge SMART CAMERA technology means the MV900F is the perfect social companion for pursuing your passions. Ideal for capturing stunning low-light images of nights on the town, it is also a pocket-stylist for creating and sharing fantastic profile pictures in an instant.”

Innovative features for easy group shots and full self-portraits

Adopting Samsung’s innovative 3.3inch, 180-degree Flip-out display the MV900F allows users to easily capture and frame images from any angle, whether you’re looking to shoot large groups of friends or full-body self-portraits.

Even when subjects aren’t ready for their close-up, the MV900F has a range of functions to easily create beautiful professional shots. A virtual make-up bag, Samsung’s new Beauty Palette feature allows users to choose from ten different make-up options to smooth, brighten and add color to their personal profile shots from the camera itself.

Additionally, to aid the capture of full-body self-portraits or group shots Samsung’s unique Gesture Shot utilizes motion-sensing technology so that users can control the camera remotely through gestures alone. To control the camera’s zoom functions users simply make a circular motion with their hand. When the shot is ready to be taken users move their hand up and down and the image is captured.

Designed for All Conditions

To make sure photos match the real memory of the moment, the MV900F guarantees superb image quality even in low-light situations. Featuring a 16.3M BSI CMOS sensor and brighter F2.5 lens, the MV900F ensures that images shot in dimly lit conditions retain detail without the bleaching effect of artificial light.  Working alongside these features, the Low Light Shot mode automatically selects the camera’s best setting for low light conditions. By taking three continuous shots and merging them together into one this feature creates an image free from the blurs and noise which can often accompany low light photography.

Additionally, for shots that ensure no one and nothing is left out of the picture, the MV900F features a wider 25mm and brighter F2.5 lens with x5 optical zoom making it the ideal companion for nights out or vacations.

Not only does the MV900F deliver in low-light settings, it is also designed for ease of use in the brightest sunlight. The MV900F’s upgraded display boasts a 3.3″ WVGA AMOLED touch display for seeing clearer images even in bright light.

Beautiful Capture, Instant Share

A new addition to Samsung’s SMART CAMERA range, the MV900F features the latest in Wi-Fi functionality, allowing instant connectivity with social networks and devices. At a touch of the SMART LINK button, or through the easily navigated touch screen it is easier than ever to instantly share and securely store pictures without the need for cables.

With a range of wireless functions users can transfer images to their phone with Mobile Link, easily save to cloud services or upload to social networks and email for instant sharing.

Create, Play and Share with Added Creative Options

Boasting 1920×1080 Full HD video recording at 30fps the MV900F creates movies that burst with life and demand to be shared. Combining the best of still photography with dynamic movies the Motion Photo feature cleverly brings subjects to life. Subjects can now become the centre of attention, as they appear to wave from a crowd or busy street whilst time stops around them.

Available in a range of three stylish colors, white, black and red the MV900F suits any style and is designed to turn heads wherever it goes.

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Vancouver, Canada — With FDA approval of a brain amyloid imaging compound in early 2012 and the expected start in 2012 and 2013 of three clinical trials in people with pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, issues around disclosure of dementia risk status are becoming more urgent. Several research efforts have been reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference describing the creation and evaluation of new risk disclosure methods, and the examination of related ethical issues.

Alzheimer’s is a devastating, progressive, and fatal illness. There is a movement in the Alzheimer’s research field to detect and treat the disease earlier – even before there are outward symptoms – so that people do not have to suffer from the debilitating memory and thinking problems that lead to loss of normal daily activities and independence, and eventually death.

A number of Alzheimer’s prevention trials are in the planning stages. They will be conducted in people without memory or thinking symptoms who are considered at-risk for Alzheimer’s on the basis of genetic and/or biomarker positivity.

A biomarker is something in the body that can be measured as an indicator of normal biological processes, disease processes, or changes in response to therapy. For example, cholesterol levels are a biomarker for heart disease. A variety of imaging and fluid biomarkers are under investigation in Alzheimer’s disease. Biomarkers allow investigators and clinicians to detect Alzheimer’s-related changes in the brain and other body systems prior to the onset of dementia symptoms due to Alzheimer’s.

“Biomarkers are being increasingly used in clinical practice and research trials to provide risk information for Alzheimer’s. The goal is to develop evidence-based methods for communicating this risk in effective and supportive ways,” said J. Scott Roberts, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. Dr. Roberts is chair of an AAIC 2012 featured research session where new research on disclosing risk information will be reported and discussed.

One of the most promising biomarkers is brain imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) scans that can show whether a person has deposits of an abnormal protein called beta amyloid, which is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. There also are well-established genetic risk factors, such as the APOE Alzheimer’s risk gene.

Based on current knowledge, APOE-e4 is the gene with strongest impact on Alzheimer’s risk. APOE-e4 is one of three forms of the APOE gene; the others are APOE-e2 and APOE-e3. Everyone inherits a copy of APOE from each parent. Those who inherit one copy of APOE-e4 have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Those who inherit two copies have an even higher risk, but not a certainty. Scientists estimate that APOE-e4 is implicated in about 20 to 25 percent of Alzheimer’s cases. APOE-e2 may provide some protection against Alzheimer’s.

Until recently, the presence of brain amyloid could only be confirmed by autopsy. Now it is possible to look for the protein in living brains using a special type of dye during a PET scan. These PET scans may help determine whether or not a person who is experiencing memory loss has Alzheimer’s disease.

“People with memory loss who test negative on a PET scan using the newly-approved dye do not have Alzheimer’s disease,” said William Thies, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Association Chief Medical and Scientific Officer. “Their symptoms are caused by something else. If they test positive, the cause is likely Alzheimer’s, but that is not 100% certain because the presence of amyloid can be detected in other diseases besides Alzheimer’s. We do not yet know what the test means in people without symptoms. The predictive value of the test is uncertain.”

“The disclosure of test results to cognitively normal older people raises some important ethical issues because researchers and clinicians do not yet know how to interpret them. How will this biomarker information be gathered? When, how, and to whom will it be disclosed? How do we disclose it accurately while minimizing any potential negative impact? These are issues that must be addressed by the research and healthcare communities, with crucial input from Alzheimer’s families and other stakeholders,” Thies added.

The Alzheimer’s Association currently is working with the Society of Nuclear Medicine to develop guidelines for when an amyloid PET scan is appropriate and how it should be interpreted.

Disclosing Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk to people with MCI

The Risk Evaluation and Education for Alzheimer’s Disease Study (REVEAL) is a multi-center randomized clinical trial enrolling people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to investigate the impact of disclosing “imminent” Alzheimer’s disease risk information – specifically, the probability of progressing to Alzheimer’s within the next three years. The trial tests different methods for disclosing this information, including a method where genetic testing is used to refine the risk estimates given to study participants.

“We hope to learn how people with MCI and their study partners respond to health education and learning risk information,” said Robert C. Green, M.D., MPH, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. “We continue to evaluate how well participants understand the Alzheimer’s risk assessment and what they do with the information. We’re monitoring how the people with MCI and their care partners adjust psychologically and what health related and behavioral changes they make in response to the new information.”

Green and colleagues designed and are implementing an evidence-based procedure for risk estimation and an experimental trial of APOE genotype disclosure in people age 55 to 90 with MCI and their study partners recruited at four university medical centers (Harvard, Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of Pennsylvania, and Howard). Participants receive risk estimates for their chance of progressing to Alzheimer’s disease that are based on their age, MCI diagnosis and APOE genotype (intervention arm) or age and MCI diagnosis alone (control arm). Risks disclosed to participants range from 8-57% in the intervention arm and 25-44% in the control arm.

The research team developed graphics and language to facilitate communication of APOE genotype and numerical risk estimate. Both participants with MCI and their study partners are followed up to 6 months following risk disclosure to determine its impact on caregiver distress, health behavior, and insurance/lifestyle changes. To inform further development of educational materials, researchers will also evaluate how well participants understood the information that was provided to them.

“This is the first study to examine the impact of disclosing Alzheimer’s genetic risk information to individuals with MCI,” Green said. “We believe the findings from REVEAL will have important implications for clinicians and policy makers in informing the future practice of educating and treating people at risk for Alzheimer’s.”

Disclosing brain amyloid imaging results to people with MCI and their families

Brain amyloid imaging is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool for predicting whether people with MCI will transition to Alzheimer’s disease.  As this technology moves from the research setting into clinical practice, an emerging concern is that people with MCI may have difficulty comprehending their test results.

Given the lack of research on disclosing this information to people with cognitive impairments, Jennifer Lingler, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and colleagues conducted a study to develop a standardized procedure for effectively communicating amyloid imaging results in the context of MCI, which is often described as an intermediate state between normal cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s.

Based on previous research and insights from a panel of experts in neuroimaging, neuropsychology, risk communication, regulatory affairs, and bioethics, Lingler developed scripts and visual aids that guide clinical researchers in disclosing positive, negative, or inconclusive amyloid scan results. Ten people with MCI and 10 of their family members participated in mock results disclosure sessions and provided feedback on the procedure.

The researchers found that:

• The great majority of participants reported that the session was “easy to follow,” (19 of 20) “included just about the right level of detail,” (17 of 20) and was “just about right” in length (17 of 20).
• All 20 participants rated the information as “clearly presented.”
• Eight of the 10 family members and seven of the 10 people with MCI correctly repeated their mock results back to an interviewer after the session.
• Analysis of interview data from the five participants with questionable comprehension suggested that (a) cognitive factors may explain problems with comprehension among those with MCI, while (b) emotional factors may underlie problems with comprehension among family members.

“Our study demonstrates that it is possible to provide people with MCI and family members with highly comprehensible and acceptable information about their brain imaging results of Alzheimer’s risk,” Lingler said. “However, since some of the participants had some difficulty, we recommend that a family member or friend be present, and that emotional support be provided, when imaging results are discussed.”

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Ottawa, Canada – The July 12 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Alberta (Education) v. Access Copyright upholds the protections in place for students’ to access classroom materials.

The Canadian Federation of Students intervened before the Court to argue against Access Copyright`s position that copies in the classroom setting were not protected under fair dealing. The Court agreed that Access Copyright cannot profit from supplementary materials provided by teachers to students in the classroom.

“The Supreme Court’s decision highlights how Access Copyright’s unending pursuit to profit off the backs of students goes beyond the limits of the law,” said Adam Awad, National Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students. “Students, staff, and faculty were in the right to push back against Access Copyright and to challenge both the ethics and the legality of the fees and agreements it tries to enforce.”

Earlier this year, the Association of Universities and Colleges Canada negotiated a deal with Access Copyright that would see students’ fees increase dramatically, limit access to materials, and introduce questionable online monitoring of student and faculty activity by school administrators. In exchange, Access Copyright promised vague assurances that institutions would not face legal challenges from its members for copyright infringement. The Federation, along with the Canadian Association of University Teachers and other post-secondary education organisations, has mobilised to urge institutions against signing the Access Copyright deal.

“This ruling makes it clear that Access Copyright’s demands are not always legal or ethical,” said Awad. “We congratulate those institutions who have chosen to protect students by not signing the Access Copyright deal and encourage all other institutions to be confident in rejecting it.”

The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada’s largest student organization, uniting more than 600,000 students in all ten provinces. The Federation and its predecessor organizations have represented students in Canada since 1927.

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Toronto, Canada- On Monday, June 18th, the Children’s Aid Foundation hosted the 12th Annual Women’s Golf Classic at the prestigious Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario.  Funds raised at this popular boutique event benefit the Children’s Aid Foundation and help offer hope and opportunity to thousands of Canadian children and youth who are at risk of poverty, abuse or neglect. This year’s event raised over $215,000, bringing the total since the inception of the event to over $2.7 million.

Presented by Rogers Communications, the Women’s Golf Classic brings together many of Canada’s most prominent women executives and entrepreneurs to network, entertain clients and socialize with colleagues while enjoying a day of luxury on the links, including a golf clinic by Canadian golf legend, Sandra Post.

“The Children’s Aid Foundation plays a leading role in bridging the gap between what government provides and what vulnerable children and youth need to heal from their turbulent past and grow into healthy adults,” said Len Gamache, President of the Children’s Aid Foundation. “The stellar record of fundraising success enjoyed by our Women’s Golf Classic is a testament to the commitment of our participants and the generosity of our sponsors.”

“As proud presenting sponsor for the ninth year running, Rogers is honoured to support the mandate of the Children’s Aid Foundation,” said Shannon Valliant, Vice-President, Financial Operations, Rogers Media Inc. “On behalf of the entire Rogers organization, we are delighted at the great success of this year’s Women’s Golf Classic and look forward to many more years in partnership with the Children’s Aid Foundation.”

One in every 25 children in Canada are at risk and need our help. Many suffer in poverty, while others have been victims of abuse and neglect. A staggering 76,000 of them live in foster homes or a residential facility. The mission of the Children’s Aid Foundation is to fund programs that give them skills and hope for a promising future.

Image Courtesy of  Mai Techaphan / Shutterstock.com

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Las Vegas, U.S.A. – National Graphite, formerly Lucky Boy Silver, has announce that further to its acquisition of 65 claims of 60 hectares each for a total of over 9,600 acres in Lochaber Township in Quebec, Canada, management has applied and received approval to change the Company’s name to National Graphite to better represent the overall direction of its major exploration and development program.

The Company will commence trading under its new symbol NGRC on Wednesday June 6, 2012. The Company has a newly expanded website under construction which will reflect its mineral Graphite projects with the domain name of www.nationalgraphitecorp.com.

Graphite occurs in metamorphic rocks as a result of the reduction of sedimentary carbon compounds during metamorphism. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), world production of natural graphite in 2008 was 1,110 thousand tonnes (kt), of which the following major exporters are: China (800 kt),India (130 kt), Brazil (76 kt), North Korea (30 kt) and Canada (28 kt).

The rise of the Lithium-ion battery has caused great excitement in the graphite industry in recent times. Demand for batteries (primarily nickel-metal-hydride and to a lesser extent Li-ion) caused a surged in graphite demand in the late 1980s and early 1990s – driven by portable electronics such as the walkman and power tools. Batteries are the fastest growing end use for graphite.

The advent of the laptops, mobile phones and the Apple iPad and iPhone products has increased the demand for batteries. But it is electric vehicles that hold the potential to see graphite demand boom. For example, the Li-ion battery in the fully electric Nissan Leaf contains nearly 40 kg of graphite.

Continued development of Nevadasilver and gold claims

The Company’s Candelaria silver properties are located in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt in westernNevada. The Walker Lane is a major northwest-southeast-trending zone which displays right lateral fault movement that ranges from 30 to 40 miles in its central portion, and hosts a variety of precious metal and base metal mineral deposits (as well as geothermal activity) along its length.

The mineralization on the Candelaria prospect is primarily silver mineralization with some gold, lead and zinc exposed at the surface and trending east-west across the northern edge of the claims.

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What started as a gruesome mystery involving the severed limbs of a man being mailed to the headquarters of Canadian political parties, has taken a turn for the bizarre as investigators announce that their sole suspect in the homicide is a porn actor. Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, a former stripper and adult film star, is wanted by the Montreal police for the death of the still unidentified victim.  Reports indicate that the limbs all came from the same man.

The case began like something out of a particularly grisly episode of  ’Criminal Minds‘, a bloody package with a poorly drawn heart on it arriving at the headquarters of the Conservative Party of Canada on Tuesday, with staff members hesitantly opening it to find a foul odor and a decaying foot lying inside. The next discovery was by an apartment complex’s janitor, who had noticed a similar odor coming from a suitcase that had been abandoned nearby since Friday.

A man’s torso was revealed upon his unzipping the piece of luggage. Finally, on Tuesday evening, a postal sorting station was searched extensively by the police in Ottawa, where they were able to prevent the delivery of a second package containing a limb – this one holding a severed hand with the recipient listed as the Liberal Party of Canada.

While no other body parts have since been reported as appearing anywhere unexpected, when police searched Magnotta’s Montreal apartment they were only able to recover the other hand and foot. The implication is that the rest of the victim’s body may still be somewhere in the postal system.

Though the targets of the macabre mailings were, thus far, Canadian political parties, there has yet to be any clues as to a motive for the murder or a rationale for why the limbs were addressed to the parties.

On Magnotta’s personal website, which has been taken down as of Wednesday, police found nothing pertaining specifically to politics – though it did indicate what sort of disturbed individual Magnotta is, with nonsensical rants detailing his rage against news organizations and evidence that Magnotta has previously been accused of posting morbid videos and murdering cats.

His penchant for indulging in filming himself may have been his downfall; local police reports that their main piece of evidence against Magnotta is a video that details his killing the victim.

As of now, Magnotta has not been seen in several days – presumably since the murder – and the police are using all available resources in a nationwide manhunt for the suspect.

Until Magnotta is apprehended and able to fully disclose the location of the remaining body parts, both Canadian postal workers and political staffers are treating each package they come across with the utmost caution.

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Toronto, Canada – Adding a bold voice to recent debate over the role, cost, and reach of Canada’s military, a new book Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety by Ian McKay and Jamie Swift, provides a critical perspective on both Canada’s growing effort to portray itself as a militaristic Warrior Nation and its exploitation of history in achieving this end.

Taking examples from the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, and Canada’s UN peacekeeping missions in Africa, Ian McKay and Jamie Swift consider how Canada’s valorization of military history has thrown totemic Canadian ideals of peace, tolerance, and reasoned public debate into question. Replacing these ideals, the authors assert, is a shift in Canadian political culture toward authoritarian leadership and permanent political polarization.

“It’s all about how wars are remembered, not whether we remember them,” co-author Jamie Swift observed. “Warrior Nation describes the way that government attempts to manipulate and indeed mould public opinion to suit its own agenda.”

Historian and co-author Ian McKay added that “many regimes around the world have used the technique of mobilizing fear and drawing us back to cults of blood and death, but very few of those regimes were ever called democracies.”

In pages of exhaustive research, Warrior Nation sheds light on the key players and narratives essential to understanding both Canada’s past and its current direction. Swashbuckling marauder William Stairs, the Royal Military College graduate who helped make the Congo safe for European pillage.

Vimy Ridge veteran and Second World War general Tommy Burns, leader of the UN’s first big peacekeeping operation, a soldier who would come to call imperialism “the monster of the age.” Governor General John Buchan, a concentration camp developer and race theorist who is exalted in the Harper government’s new citizenship guide.

Ian McKay is a professor of history at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.  His previous books include Rebels, Reds, Radicals: Rethinking Canada’s Left History, For a Working-Class Culture in Canada, and the award-winning Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People’s Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920.

Jamie Swift is a winner of the Michener Fellowship for Public Service Journalism. He has authored numerous books, from biography and history to corporate muckraking. His most recent title is Persistent Poverty: Voices from the Margins, co-authored with Brice Balmer and Mira Dineen.

Image Courtesy of   meunierd / Shutterstock.com

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Poverty is one of the world’s biggest unsolved issues. Even though the United States is the wealthiest country in the world, it’s  masses still live in poverty every single day. According to the non-profit organization ‘Bread for the World,’ “more than one in five children live in households that struggle to put food on the table, and most Americans (51.4 percent) will live in poverty at some point before age 65.” Of that percentage, a huge chunk comes from broken homes, including single and teenage mothers. This chunk is being blamed for the poor social mobility in the U.S.

According to a survey in the book “From Parents to Children,” written by a group of scholars, “children born into poor homes in America — where single-parent and teen-parent homes are more common (than in other parts of the world)– tended to remain poor throughout their life, while Australian and Canadian children born into similar families were more successful in advancing themselves.”

One of the scholars who wrote the book, Ottawa University’s Miles Corak, a poverty and education expert, said, “the tie between the educational attainment of children and the educational attainment of their parents is much tighter in the UK and U.S. than not just Australia and Canada, but also the vast majority of comparable rich countries.”

Children in the United States that are born into poverty are considered less developed than children entering elementary school in Australia and Canada. By the time these children enter high school, the gap of development continues to widen. Additionally, according to NewsCore, students born into poverty are much less likely to further their education after high school than impoverished students in other industrialized nations.

In hopes of improving the lives of those born into poverty in the United States, there are several things that the public can do to contribute to the lives of those that are most affected. Educational Charity Sutton Trust, which works to address such inequalities, said, “if we can understand the reasons for the much higher levels of social mobility in nations such as Canada and Australia … then the hope is that we can develop policies that will improve the life prospects.”

‘Bread for the World’ outlines several solutions to end poverty and to change the current statistics of poverty in America. Better jobs with higher wages need to be created for adults to support their families, and work support programs need to expand for families to have access to affordable health care and child care.

Strengthening tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which help working families, and child nutrition programs—school lunches and breakfasts, summer feeding programs, and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program—are critical to ending childhood hunger. When children receive the nutrition they need, they are more likely to move out of poverty as adults.

Image Courtesy of  Gerry Boughan / Shutterstock.com

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Los Angeles, U.S.A. – Singer-songwriter and visual artist Mark Cote will be releasing his new concept album, titled Fun House of the Mind, on May 8, 2012. The album produced and mixed by veteran record producer Michael Frondelli, features eleven tracks which converge to create a colorful palette, luring the listener inside a nocturnal, visual world.

Released on May 8, 2012, Fun House Of Your Mind freely integrates pre-rock styles such as blues, jazz, and Vaudeville, with the breezy pop melodicism of late ’60′s-era Beatles. As a former Character Designer with the Disney Animation Studios with works featured in galleries and private collections throughout Southern California, and as a musician, Cote has always been a seeker, delving beneath the surface of everyday life to the depths of his heart and subconscious. His understanding of the visual arts and desire to explore the hidden meanings within has allowed him to create a truly unique visual, musical experience.

Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Cote’s parents were very conscious about exposing him to all forms of art as a form of personal expression. “There was always music in the house,” he states. “From the moment I was walking upright, I was either singing along to my parents’ record collection or getting my hands wet with paint, creating artwork.”

Mark Cote’s songs, distinguished by his vivid lyrics, playful sense of irony, catchy melodicism and distinct vocal style have been featured in both television and film, and continue to help define the ever-broadening and diverse landscape of pop music today.

In addition to his musical ability, Cote’s talents as a visual artist are in full view within his whimsical, original illustrations that accompany the lyrics in the CD’s booklet. “I always think of music in visual terms”, says Cote. “For better or worse, I think we all have a virtual Coney Island fun house in our heads.”

Image Courtesy of   http://www.markcote.com

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Maryland, US – The Maryland Summer Jazz Festival returns on July 14 for its eighth exciting season of workshops and jams for musicians and public concerts for jazz lovers. Events take place through July 27, 2012.

Drawing adult learners and listeners from coast to coast, the top-rated event features jazz recording and performing artists on stages and in classrooms. Events can help avid adult learners raise the bar on their singing and playing. Some are inspired to go on to professional music careers, others become solid weekend warriors.

Headlining the festival this year are three Canadian jazz artists known internationally as cutting edge performers and charismatic educators energizing the jazz genre. They are trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, guitarist Matthew Stevens and saxophonist Jeff Antoniuk.

Raised in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Jensen attended Berklee College of Music. The trumpeter soon became known for her pursuit of excellence. She performed in the New York subway (long before the Joshua Bell experiment), and has appeared in numerous festivals around the globe, working with greats such as Maria Schneider, George Garzone and Terri-Lynn Carrington. Marian McPartland said Jensen plays “with all the brilliance and fire of a true virtuoso.”

The career of guitarist Matthew Stevens is soaring. The Toronto-born musician was uncommonly dedicated as a teen and, like Jensen, went on to study at Berklee College of Music. He graduated in 2004, Summa Cum Laude and was given the coveted Jim Hendrix Award. He has been recognized by critics at the New York Times, LA Times and Billboard Magazine and been featured in the jazz press. Touring extensively, he has shared the stage with Christian Scott, Jason Moran and Esperanza Spaulding.

Raised in a large Ukrainian family, internationally respected saxophonist Jeff Antoniuk grew up in Nigeria and Western Canada and worked the overnight shift in a factory to earn tuition for the renowned jazz program at University of North Texas. He was touring other continents even before he was awarded a master’s degree in jazz performance and West African ethnomusicology.

Antoniuk has won accolades as a composer and modern jazz musician. A recipient of grants from both the Canada Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, he is a major figure in the Washington, DC jazz scene. He has appeared at the Annapolis Jazz Festival, Juneau Jazz & Classics and the Edmonton International Jazz Festival. He is a master teaching artist with Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) and is the artistic director of Maryland Summer Jazz.

Jazz Camp

At the heart of the festival is a three-day jazz camp. Each day includes intensive instruction for students from 16 to retirement age. Instructors are performing and recording artists, including many university jazz professors. Attendees can hear these fantastic players in concert, and then work directly with them in small group combos grouped by ability level.

Classes help gifted amateurs and semi-pros bring their skill and technique up to the level of working musicians. Playing with others provides critical networking opportunities. Over a dozen popular jazz bands have come together through the camps.

The program also nurtures gifted high school and college students intent on music careers. Scholarships and internships encourage young talent. Electives on such topics as Latin Jazz, vocal styles and rhythm section techniques allow them to progress instead of falling back in the summer.

By popular demand, attendees have a new option this year to take a pre-camp clinic on “The Music of Maryland Summer Jazz” on Saturday, July 14. Participants will get a head start on the camp repertoire of beginner through advanced tunes.

Concert Highlights

The world-famous Blues Alley jazz club in Washington, D.C. traditionally hosts a Maryland Summer Jazz concert on the eve of jazz camp. This year the concert takes place on Tuesday, July 24. Guest star Ingrid Jensen joins Jeff Antoniuk & the Jazz Update for two riveting shows. Another major concert occurs on July 27 at the conclusion of jazz camp. Held on the campus, at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville, Maryland, the event includes a student concert at 7:00 p.m. and an All Star Concert at 8:30 p.m. For additional events, visit the website.

Stellar Guest Artists

Nine artists will teach and perform this season. Maryland Summer Jazz welcomes back bassist Tom Baldwin and vocalists Felicia Carter and Alison Crockett to the faculty. New to the festival lineup are multi-woodwind artist Pete Baren Bregge, pianist Fred Hughes, and drummer Marty Morrison.

Image Courtesy of   Jeff Antoniuk

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Toronto, Canada – Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) led a study discovering a gene for a new form of intellectual disability, as well as how it likely affects cognitive development by disrupting neuron functioning.

CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. John Vincent and his team found a mutation in the gene NSUN2 among three sisters with intellectual disability, a finding to be published in the May issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

The discovery was made after mapping genes in a Pakistani family, in which three of seven siblings had intellectual disability as well as muscle weakness and walking difficulties, says Dr. Vincent, who heads the Molecular Neuropsychiatry and Development Laboratory in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at CAMH.

Intellectual disability is a condition in which individuals have limitations in their mental abilities and in functioning in daily life. It affects one to three per cent of the population, and is often caused by genetic mutations.

Another study in the same journal, submitted together with the CAMH-led research, also identified NSUN2 gene mutations in Iranian and Kurdish families with intellectual disability. As with the Pakistani family, first cousin marriages in these families carrying the mutations increased the likelihood of intellectual disability among their children, and enabled researchers to focus on areas to map genes.

“The combined results from these two studies mean that NSUN2 is among the most common causes of intellectual disability resulting from recessive genes,” says Dr. Vincent.

As a recessive disorder, a child must inherit one defective NSUN2 gene from each parent to develop intellectual disability. This gene, located on chromosome 5p, encodes a type of protein called an RNA methyltransferase.

At the cellular level, the researchers found that the mutated protein was prevented from reaching its target area within the nucleus of a cell. As a result, it was unable to perform its normal role in cell division and/or RNA methylation.

Collaborators from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research in Cambridge, U.K., showed which type of brain cells were likely to be most affected by this mutation. They are called Purkinje cells, a type of neuron that responds to the neurotransmitter GABA. Purkinje cells also control motor coordination, which were affected in the Pakistani family.

“We speculate that the muscle effects may result from the accumulation of the NSUN2 protein outside its target area in the nucleus,” says Dr. Vincent.

To date, Dr. Vincent’s lab has identified five genes causing different forms of recessive intellectual disability.

This research was supported by grants from Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world’s leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.

CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.

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MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking), a campaign to promote freedom and respect for human life, will return to Vietnam after two years. It is estimated that 2.5 million people worldwide are currently victims of human trafficking and that more than half of them originate from Asia and the Pacific.

Often, the victims are young. For example Vietnamese men, women, and girls are trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation in other Asian countries like Malaysia and South Korea; they are smuggled into Arab nations, on to Eastern Europe and all the way up to Sweden and the UK while some even go to Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica.

In 2010, the total number of Vietnamese working overseas in 40 countries and territories is estimated to be around 500,000, and most of them work in construction, fishing, agriculture, mining, logging, and manufacturing sectors. Many state-affiliated and private labor export companies force these migrants to sign contracts in languages they do not understand and charge these migrants high fee in excess of those allowed by law which forces them into extreme debt from which they cannot escape.

In both sex trafficking and labor trafficking, debt bondage, confiscation of identity and travel documents, and threats of deportation are commonly utilized to intimidate victims.

Therefore, the MTV campaign in Vietnam includes a nation-wide initiative against human trafficking, featuring a series of events, TV shows, and the very first multi-media exhibition on human trafficking as part of MTV EXIT Youth Sessions. The exhibition will highlight innovative ways of discussing this issue. It will be divided into a series of different experiences, such as video, music, photography, and interactive activities for young people. The flagship event will be a massive live concert at Hanoi’s My Dinh Stadium on May 26, featuring performances by famous Vietnamese singers along with Canadian modern-rock sensation, Simple Plan.

This will be Simple Plan’s first-ever live performance in Vietnam. Simple Plan‘s members have established “The Simple Plan Foundation”- to support a variety of worthycauses, including various cancer charities.

“Over our career, it’s always been very important for us to get involved socially and support causes that are close to our hearts. We started the Simple Plan Foundation with the goal of helping young people in need,” said Chuck Comeau, the drummer of Simple Plan. “Teaming up with MTV EXIT to raise global awareness around the issue of human trafficking is exactly what our mission is all about.

Human trafficking is a horrible crime with devastating consequences for so many young people and their families. We are proud to stand together with MTV EXIT and their partners in the fight against exploitation. We can’t wait to play in Vietnam for the first time and are looking forward to informing our fans on how they can get involved and help out.”

The organizer of the live concert hope it will be successful as MTV EXIT’s 2010 concert tour in Vietnam, where 80,000 Vietnamese music fans attended four concerts across the country, including performances by K-pop band Super Junior.

To find out more about human trafficking and exploitation in Asia, visit www.mtvexit.org or follow MTV EXIT on the following social media platforms: Twitter @mtvexit and www.facebook.com/mtvexit

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Niagara Falls is more than majestic naturally made waterfalls; Niagara also hosts as a tourist attraction where people from all over the world come to see just what is so amazing about this waterfall compared to countless others around the world.

The falls are approximated to be about 12,000 years old and were formed after the last ice age known as the Wisconsin glaciation. The falls “were formed when melting glaciers formed massive fresh-water lakes (the Great Lakes) one of which (Lake Erie) ran downhill toward another (Lake Ontario).

The rushing waters carved out a river in their descent and at one point passed over a steep cliff like formation (the Niagara escarpment). From the original falls going over the Niagara Escarpment, the water began to wear its way back up the river. The path that it left is known today as the Niagara Gorge (a deeply-cut and very scenic river path,” according to www.niagarafalls.ca.

Many people misinterpret that the Horseshoe Falls is the Niagara Falls however, there are actually two falls that are considered to make up Niagara Falls and are divided by a small island commonly known as ‘Goat Island.’ One is referred to as the “American Falls,” which is on the American side while the one that receives the most attention is the one on the Canadian side called the “Canadian Horseshoe Falls.”

The Canadian Horseshoe Falls is approximately 57 meters high and the water running through the Niagara River goes at a speed of roughly 35 miles per hour. And, every single minute, approximately 6 million cubic feet fall over the crestline, which is equivalent to one million bathtubs full of water. In addition to the breathtaking view of Niagara Falls, it also serves as the main source of hydroelectric power for the city of Ontario, Canada.

Niagara Falls is much more than just a natural wonderland and the city itself has evolved into a man-made attraction arena including parks, museums, dining, nightlife, casinos and adventures for any and every type of tourist. This serves to make the trip to the Niagara a real journey and an unforgettable one.

In fact, Niagara Falls welcomes approximately 12 million tourists annually. The falls feature several man-made tunnels which a tour guide will lead you through as several water lies both above and below you. The end of the tunnel features an opening directly behind the falls where you will find your eyes gazing out in amazement as water pours down just inches in front of you. And if you are interested in seeing more natural beauty, then you can visit Niagara Falls State Park which features hiking trails, cross-country skiing, boating and biking.

For a trip to the museums, some of the most popular in Niagara include the Niagara Wax Museum of History, Niagara Aerospace Museum, or the Castellani Art Museum. For nightlife adventure, the Seneca Casino is a hot spot for traveling tourists who like to dabble in some gambling.

And the Skylon Tower, a must-see dining restaurant, is the most popular man-made place that tourists like to go to while visiting the enchanting Niagara. The Skylon Tower offers fine dining while slowly revolving in a complete circle 775 feet above the ground, giving guests the opportunity to overlook the falls as well as the cities of Buffalo, New York and Ontario.

While Niagara Falls is first known for its beautiful waterfalls, it has proven itself that it is a must visit for anyone and everyone. Whether a newlywed couple, a business convention or a family vacation, Niagara offers both a whimsical and entertaining adventure to every tourist.

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British Columbia has recently become the new popular spot for some of the largest fracking sites within North America. While the exhausting debate continues to unfold all over the U.S., the unpopular and seemingly unsafe drilling methods continue to be used in Canada.

The non-profit independent media institute AlterNet found that early last year, the largest fracking site in North America was opened by Apache in British Columbia. The site alone used 259 million gallons of water and 50,000 tons of sand to frack 16 gas wells side by side, and the company boasted that it was ”nearly four times larger than any project of its nature in North America.” While they have now opened larger sites, it still remains one of the largest of its kind.

The effects of hydraulic fracturing are not completely understood, however communities across Canada have already complained about water contamination. Mirroring their neighbors to the south, many communities across the U.S.A. have experienced that selected water contamination is the largest concern related to fracking.

In a recent survey by Canadians.org, 62% of Canadians said they support “a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all the federal environmental reviews are complete.” Without the environmental reviews being complete, and the companies right to not disclose the chemicals used in the process, it is clear that the Canadians are uneasy with the current uncertainty.

The Council of Canadians states that the Harper government has begun two separate reviews on the process. The first review was requested by Environment minister Peter Kent, asking the Council of Canadian Academies for a scientific examination of the potential environmental impacts of the development of Canada’s shale gas resources. Meanwhile the second review, also ordered by Kent, was requesting department officials to examine any potential environmental consequences of shale gas development.

These reviews could be significant for either the further development of fracking, or the eventual shutting down of these potentially dangerous sites. However, according to The Council of Canadian Academies spokeswoman Cate Meechan, the company is waiting for a formal written request by Kent and then an expert inspection can take up to 18 months, leaving the completion of such a review until April 2013.

Taking frustration levels to a new high, Kent has also claimed that he could stop fracking in New Brunswick, and possibly across the rest of the country, however it does not appear he will intervene anytime soon.

“[While] the exploitation of natural resources is not actually regulated by Ottawa, the federal government could step in and restrict the practice if the review by Council of Canadian Academies finds certain environmental ‘triggers’, such as the chemicals involved posing a threat to waterways with fish,” Kent explained.

“If there is a need for a certain sort of action, we certainly under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act have that authority and wouldn’t hesitate.” He continued,”…If we were to find that there was significant broad environmental risk, then we would have to consider ways of acting to limit or control it.”

So while it seems hydraulic fracturing could be stopped, Canadians are left to wait for the completion of the environmental reviews, while fracking companies continue to drill for natural gas.

Image Courtesy  of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/progressohio/

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Instead of boasting about Canada’s success in avoiding much of the impacts of the recent global economic downturn at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be sharing with them a ground-breaking Canadian plan to stimulate its economy with initiatives that create genuine partnerships with First Peoples.

Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee, one of 120 First Nations leaders from across Canada to participate in what was billed as a historic Crown-First Nations Gathering, said the post-event consensus was that Canada is intent on pushing through its own legislative agenda for First Nations, instead of working with them on comprehensive and creative solutions.

Madahbee said Canada is missing out on an opportunity to be seen as a leader on the world stage. “The National Chief has told Prime Minister Harper that a comprehensive action plan would add CDN $400 billion to the Canadian economy, and eliminate CDN $150 billion in social costs. There are 400 million Indigenous peoples around the globe — over a million in Canada. We are the fastest growing population. We are the students and workers of the future. Why do governments constantly overlook us?

“If financial self-sufficiency of First Nations” is truly the “end-goal” of the Canadian government, they need to be talking to us about the treaty promises and resource revenue-sharing. This is the only way to create certainty for corporate projects. They can no longer expect to barge into our territories without dealing with First Nations peoples.”

“We have epidemic health and social issues, gross inequities in funding for our students, and virtually no share in the billions in resources being stolen from our traditional territories,” said Madahbee, speaking for 39 member communities of the Anishinabek Nation. “What we heard from Mr. Harper was a lame re-hashing of his government’s so-called accomplishments for our communities and citizens.”

Madahbee said the Gathering began with some sources of optimism, a ceremonial opening that included numerous references to the Royal Proclamation of 1763, by which the Crown in Canada envisioned a nation-to-nation relationship in its dealings with First Peoples.

“But the Harper Conservatives just cannot bring themselves to truly honour the treaty relationship of sharing upon which Canada’s creation was based. They should be convening First Ministers’ meetings involving our people and the provinces to create comprehensive action plans.

“Instead, they continue to rely on their bureaucrats who, like the ones who created the racist Indian Act in 1876, still act more as roadblocks to First Nations progress than facilitators.

The Prime Minister himself said in Ottawa that the old rules – like the Indian Act – don’t get good results. ”Let’s start working together on some new rules.”

The Anishinabek Nation established the Union of Ontario Indians as its secretariat in 1949. The UOI is a political advocate for 39 member communities across Ontario, representing approximately 55,000 people. The Union of Ontario Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires, which existed long before European contact.

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As reports circulate that the Prime Minister plans to leave the Crown/First Nations gathering early to attend the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, six First Nations young people, including Shannen’s Dream youth spokesperson 16 year old Chelsea Edwards, are planning a trip of their own.

On February 6, 2012 First Nations young people from across Canada will meet with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva to explain what it feels like to grow up getting fewer government services such as education, health care and child welfare on reserves.

The trip was inspired by the late Shannen Koostachin, a youth education advocate from Attawapiskat First Nation, who had her own First Nations/Crown gathering in 2008 when she met with the Minister of Indian Affairs to demand proper schools and culturally based education for First Nations children on reserves.

She was tired of the horrible conditions of many First Nations schools and knew that even in First Nations that had proper schools, the federal government short-changed First Nations children by $2000 to $3000less per student per year for teachers, books and learning supports.

Her own “school” in Attawapiskat First Nation was composed of a bunch of run down portable trailers set beside a toxic waste dump. Shannen saw talented children in grade 5 dropping out because of the deplorable conditions and she wanted this to change.  The Minister told her the government did not have enough money and she told him she would never give up because “school is a time for dreams and every kid deserves this”.

Shannen was nominated for the international children’s peace prize awarded by the Nobel Laureates in 2008. Sadly, she died in a car accident in 2010, waiting for her dream of equality for First Nations children to come true. Chelsea Edwards says that “I hope the Prime Minister will do the right thing but we are tired of waiting.  Shannen was our Rosa Parks and we have been sitting at the back of the bus our whole lives and we don’t want to wait there anymore.”

Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society says solving the inequities is not rocket science; “there are multiple solutions on the table and racial discrimination against children is not a legitimate fiscal restraint measure. Children only have one childhood. Canada must treat First Nations children fairly now.”

The Shannen’s Dream supports Parliamentary Motion 202 (introduced by MP Angus) to close the funding gaps and give First Nations children a chance to succeed and be proud of who they are.

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While shared-ride transportation is inherently eco-friendly, many members of The GO Group, the world’s largest airport shuttle provider, are going one step further.

GO companies serving San Francisco International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Milwaukee’s GeneralMitchell International, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Puerto Rico’s Luis Munoz Marin International are converting all or part of their fleets to alternative fuels – either compressed natural gas (CNG) or propane.

While GO companies in Los Angeles (serving all southern California airports) and Chicago (serving Midway and O’Hare) also are in the process of doing so. CNG is a fossil fuel, while propane is a by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining.  Both burn cleaner than gasoline or diesel fuels, although CNG is considered the cleaner of the two.

Companies that convert to alternative fuels can earn a 50 cents-per-gallon tax credit as well other incentives from local government and the airports. GO Shuttle Express in Seattle, which has 43 propane-fueled vehicles, began the conversion process last January and has 20 more systems to install.

According to J. R. Rowley, president of GO Shuttle Express, the fuel saving has been around $2 per gallon.  Maintenance costs, however, have been slightly higher due to the learning curve. In San Francisco, GO Lorries has adapted 16 vans to CNG, with another 28 to be retrofitted for CNG by May. ”The conversions are expensive,” says Julio Bonilla, president, “but the fuel savings mitigate the cost.”

As of December, GO Riteway Transportation Group in Milwaukee has moved 21 of its 500-vehicle fleet to propane, experiencing a $7,000 fuel savings since October. According to Jason Ebert, fleet and facilities coordinator, the maintenance costs are lower as oil changes can now be performed every 7,000 rather than every 5,000 miles as in the past.

Ebert reports one reason GO Riteway opted for propane is that it is 90 percent as efficient as gasoline, which allows for a greater vehicle range than CNG, which is only 31 percent efficient.  Also, the cost of a propane conversion is one third less than the cost of a CNG conversion.

The GO Group LLC is a one-stop source for airport shuttles, which transport some 13 million passengers to and from airports in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe.

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An international team of astronomers has produced a map that covers a billion light-years worth of dark matter in the universe. Never before has dark matter been mapped on such a large scale.

Two members of the team, Catherine Heymans of the University of Edinburgh and Associate Professor Ludovic Van Waerbeke of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, presented their findings at the 119th meeting of American Astronomical Society, held last week.

The project took place at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLensS) in Hawaii and collected data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. For more than five years, the team accumulated images of ten million galaxies – six billion light-years away – from four different regions in the sky during each of the seasons. Essentially peering at the universe when it was but six billions years old, they studied  how dark matter warped the light emitted by the galaxies.

The process of producing the map was completed through a method called gravitational lensing, in which bodies (e.g. galaxies, or, in this case, dark matter) are so massive that they curve space-time and distort light, making it travel in a curve, rather than in a line. By studying the distortions of the galaxies’ light, the team was able to determine the structure of the dark matter and plot its distribution.

“It is fascinating to be able to ‘see’ the dark matter using space-time distortion,” says Waerbeke at the American Astronomical society meeting. “It gives us privileged access to this mysterious mass in the Universe which cannot be observed otherwise. Knowing how dark matter is distributed is the very first step towards understanding its nature and how it fits within our current knowledge of physics.”

The universe is more or less a cosmic web of dark matter and galaxies. Dark matter is impossible to be detected by itself, making it seem invisible, though it makes its presence known through warping space-time and light. The mysterious substance makes up a whopping 23 percent of the universe, with dark energy taking up 72 percent and everything else (stars, planets, etc.) only 4 percent.

With creating such a large map of the cosmic web, astronomers and cosmologists are becoming closer to understanding the nature of dark matter and, ergo, a large portion of the universe. Dr. Heymans, a lecturer of physics and astronomy, says, “By analyzing light from the distant Universe, we can learn about what it has travelled through on its journey to reach us.

We hope that by mapping more dark matter than has been studied before, we are a step closer to understanding this material and its relationship with the galaxies in our Universe.”

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The North American Lacrosse League has filed suit against two of its former teams and several affiliated individuals in an effort to restore order to League operations.

Anthony R. Caruso, Esq., Attorney from Scarinci Hollenbeck and acting Commissioner for the League, with the assistance of Joel Kreizman, Esq. of the same law firm, filed the complaint in New Jersey State Superior Court, Chancery Division. The defendants listed include Jim Jennings, Brett Vickers and Graham D’Alvia, as well the Charlotte Copperheads and Jacksonville Bullies.

“This action was authorized by the member clubs in good standing with the League and is necessary to preserve the interests and welfare of North American Lacrosse League,” says Mr. Caruso. “The Plaintiff is in control of the League funds, the League website and the League intellectual property, and seeks to stop the continuous dissemination of false information.”

In addition to the filing of several counts against the defendants, the judge has scheduled a mandatory emergency hearing for next week where the Defendants shall be required to appear and defend their actions. The League has requested, among other things, that a restraining order be issued against the Defendants restraining them from engaging in activity which is disruptive to the League.

“This group has been troublesome to our progress for too long,” says Anthony Chase, principal owner of the Kentucky Stickhorses. ”They have personal agendas that don’t coincide with the League agenda of providing exciting pro lacrosse sooner rather than later. The Stickhorses are excited and ready to play.”

Tyler Low and Jason Wellemeyer of PrimeTime Lacrosse, the owner of the Boston team yet to be named, stands by the League. ”We joined this League because of the integrity and professionalism of the people involved, such as acting Commissioner Anthony Caruso and owner Tony Chase,” says Low. Jason Wellemeyer agrees. ”We are confident that the fans will remain loyal to us.”

The League has announced that, due to the recent actions of the Defendants which have necessitated the filing of this lawsuit, there will be a reduced number of scheduled games. But that doesn’t deter Aaron Musselman, principal owner of the Pennsylvania based Shamrocks.

“We are committed to launching this League for the fans and majority of pro players in the US who wish play competitively in new and exciting markets.” In addition to these teams, there are plans for exhibition teams to visit the League venues from the US and abroad. These teams expect to start their season in January.

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It has long been a pleasant consistency to be well received as a Canadian the world over. This year, that generally well-earned reputation has become soiled. It is still a beautiful country, with friendly folks and a lot of talent, but several high profile events have begun eroding its cherished character as champion of peace and the environment.

Certainly, Canada was a global example of environmental progress: North America’s west coast is widely considered extremely health-conscious, with some of the first anti-smoking laws in the world. Canada is consistently listed among the cleanest, nature-loving countries, with cities topping the lists of ‘best places to live.’

The current Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Steven Harper, has withdrawn Canada from the Kyoto Accord. The government’s antagonistic behavior, as well as its policy, was roundly criticized at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Indeed, Canada was awarded the ‘Fossil Award’ for its inaction against climate change. Sadly, the country’s emission levels have “risen by 30 percent over 1990 levels,” according to beloved geneticist, environmentalist, and broadcaster David Suzuki.

China expressed regret over Canada’s decision to withdraw. Among the vocal critics was Nobel-Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “Canada, you were once considered a leader on global issues like human rights and environmental protection. Today, you’re home to polluting tar sands oil, speeding the dangerous effects of climate change.”

The Keystone XL Pipeline proposal, to run from the oil-rich province of Alberta into the U.S., has further stained Canada’s reputation over environmental concerns, including the plan to pass across the U.S. Ogallala-Aquifer, which provides drinking water for over two million people in eight states. On a smaller scale, Toronto, Canada’s largest city and host of the respected Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), elected mayor Rob Ford, who slashed his own popularity along with funding for public transportation, the arts, libraries, day-cares, and other popular services.

Archbishop Tutu’s reference to human rights is particularly poignant to a country with a long and proud tradition of peace-keeping and its reputation as a gentle and humane nation. As leader of the opposition at the time, Harper’s minority supported the invasion of Iraq. After the Conservatives became the ruling party, they deported U.S. war deserters. The party later defeated an attempt to end the deportations on humanitarian grounds.

The world-famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also fell into considerable disrepute. After several years of recent scandals involving a Taser death and the fatal shooting of a man in custody, this year saw more outrage involving sexual harassment, incompetence, and negligence in the handling of the famous ‘Pickton’ serial killings.

Not last, nor least, is Vancouver. Often credited for its beauty, its cultural and culinary diversity, and its high living-standards, the city became the media focus this year for its riots following the local team’s loss in the ice-hockey championship. Over all, it was a conspicuously poor year for Canada, marked by a loss of the respect and fondness it had earned for so long. What will happen in the following years depends largely on the patience and shifting attitudes of the Canadian people.

However, there have been many positive Canadian events. Its economy did not slide significantly, as did many others, and has held strong. Moreover, the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement began with a blog by Canadian magazine ‘Adbusters.’ Canada’s combat role in Afghanistan ended. Charitable donations increased.

There is a consistent swing of the pendulum in Canadian politics. The RCMP has begun to focus on cleaning its image and its house, and hockey is undergoing intense scrutiny. Next year might not be the disaster the Mayans predicted.

Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com

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Many recall Molly Parker’s breakthrough role, as a sympathetic necrophile in ‘Kissed’ (1996), among others. However, beyond this Ms. Parker has been recognized for dozens of turns in many other films and TV series. Now, she is filming next year’s ‘The Firm’ for television.

Ms. Parker’s career has seen a few understated roles, and she has earned praise for even minor characters. But a number of her roles have been colourful. She played a flat-mate living in a closet in ‘Twitch City’ (1998); a prostituting, married receptionist in ‘Suspicious River’ (2000); an escort in ‘The Centre of the World’ (2001); and an alcoholic mother in ‘Men with Brooms’ (2002), to name a few.

Three of her roles have required singing. ‘Under Heaven’ (1998) and ‘Marion Bridge’ (2002) each featured a song performed by Ms. Parker; ‘Trigger,’ last year, had her and co-star Tracy Wright, who was dying of cancer as they filmed, singing as rock-stars (for which they shared the ACTRA Award for ‘Outstanding Performance – Female’).

It was her performance in ‘Kissed’ that won her not only major acclaim, but also a Genie Award, Canada’s equivalent of the Oscar. She has a dozen nominations in television and film and half a dozen awards, so far.

Her versatility is visible in the styles of projects she has chosen: whether comedy or drama, feature film or music video, Ms. Parker has been a perfect fit in each context.

She played a rabbi in the macabre drama ‘Six Feet Under’ (2001-2005); she narrated the documentary ‘Undying Love’ (2002). Her character was a laudanum-addicted widow in the western ‘Deadwood’ (2004-2006); she was an unfaithful and abandoned wife in the comedy-drama ‘Who Loves the Sun’ (2006).

This last film was directed by her husband, Matt Bissonnette. They gave their son, William, his middle name ‘Strummer’ after the singer of The Clash (Joe Strummer).

Molly Parker’s natural beauty is matched by a gentle and sometimes vulnerable façade, which she uses expertly in many of her roles. She has been the love interest, or part of a romantic triangle, on more than a few occasions. Her interviews, too, give the impression of a sensitive, kind, modest woman with a twinkle in her eye.

‘The Firm’ has her cast as the wife of the protagonist, a high-profile role for her and for co-star Josh Lucas. Her brother-in-law will be played by compatriot Callum Keith Rennie, with whom she has worked in a number of shows. Her steady work continues to offer the balance of quality and quantity and, already, 2012 appears to be a busy year for Molly Parker. So much the better.

Image Courtesy of  Josh Jensen

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Located in the heart of Quebec, Montreal is one of Canada’s most cherished cities. With a strong presence of French culture and joie de vivre, Montreal is a world class destination. The cosmopolitan city is rich in modernity but also has a distinctively old world charm reminiscent of France.

Standing as the second largest city in Canada, as well as the biggest city in the provence of Quebec, Montreal is sure to offer plenty of fun filled excitement for visitors. One of the most unique aspects of Montreal is its famous underground city. Stretching over 20 miles underneath the hustle and bustle of the city is a maze of connected shopping complexes.

It is the largest underground complex in the world. Restaurants, stores, hotels, apartment buildings, movie theaters, museums and even universities are part of the amenities available in the underground city. Metro stations are also connected with the underground complexes, making is possible to spend a whole day traveling from one side of the complex to the other without ever leaving indoors.

With frigid temperatures in the winter, residents of Montreal are able to stay warm and still enjoy the ongoing excitement of city living without staying outside. A trip to Montreal would not be complete without experiencing the massive underground city, which has dubbed Montreal as “two cities in one.”

The spring and summer seasons are the optimal times to travel to Montreal. Although it is widely known for its extensive indoor city, there is also many beautiful outdoor spots in Montreal to explore. Mont Royal Park stands atop the city and allows for magnificent views of Montreal.

This park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed world renown Central Park. Mont Royal Park is one of the most famous parks in all of Montreal and is one of the largest as well. Not far from Mont Royal Park is St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, a magnificent church perched high atop Montreal.

Climbing the steps up to the entrance of St. Joseph’s Oratory gives way to panoramic views of the city down below. Both of these spots are wonderful ways to enjoy Montreal from above. Down below on the streets of Montreal is the charming neighborhood of Old Town. Considered as a historic site in the city, Old Town is the oldest area of Montreal.

The antiquity of the neighborhood can be seen through the cobblestone streets and old world design of the buildings, some originating in the 17^th century. A stroll through Old Town can seem a bit of a tourist trap, but getting lost in its history and architectural characteristics comes as a pleasant surprise. The highlight of Old Town is Notre-Dame Basilica.

This church has Gothic style influences and is ornately decorated on the inside and out. A stop inside the Notre-Dame Basilica to marvel in its colorful interior and grandeur is sure to take your breath away. When it comes to cuisine, Montreal offers an array of international food that can please anyone’s taste buds.

Taking from its French roots, there are plenty of local spots to enjoy traditional French cuisine and small restaurants specifically for crepes. One of the most famous French Canadian dishes is poutine and it is surely a taste into the lifestyle of Montreal. Often reviewed as having the best poutine in the city, La Banquise is a restaurant that serves over 20 variations of the french fries and gravy dish.

Whether sinking your teeth into savory plates of poutine or walking around the indoor and outdoor wonders of the city, Montreal is a wonderful place to visit for a taste of both French and Canadian cultures.

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Tropical storm Maria has officially been upgraded to Hurricane Maria, according to forecasters at the Canadian Hurricane Centre.

Following hurricane’s Irene and Katia, Maria marks the 3^rd tropical storm to be upgraded to hurricane status in the 2011 season. Maria’s projected path has been determined, and should stay far away from the eastern seaboard of the United States. Its current path has taken Maria through the Caribbean Island’s and was predicted to recreate destructive conditions similar to those of Hurricane Irene. That brooding prediction sent some island dwellers into hurricane survival mode for the 2^nd time in three weeks.

Elise Landa, a medical student currently studying at the University of Saba on the small island of Saba said, “I was prepared for the worst, it was said that it was going to be Irene all over again. I boarded up my windows and doors, and stockpiled on water.” However, Maria’s strength had been adversely affected before it reached Saba. The tropical storm ran into unfavorable hurricane conditions before it reached the Leeward Islands and was weakened. “There was only half an inch of rain, if that. I’m not complaining though, I’ve only been down here for a couple of months and I’m not ready to be hit by hurricane after hurricane.” Unfortunately not everywhere was as lucky as Saba, Maria caused a bit of serious damage in Puerto Rico. Considerable rainfall was recorded and caused more flooding to areas still trying to recover from the affects of Hurricane Irene.

From the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria moved northward toward the Bermuda area, the warm water climate enabled Maria to gain some momentum and begin producing stronger winds than any previously recorded. As it passed by Bermuda it caused moderate amounts of rainfall, only dumping 1-3 inches on the tiny island. Like a disinterested tourist, Hurricane Maria left Bermuda just as quickly as it came. Hurricane Maria now has its sight set on a new target, which regrettably happens to be the southern edge of Newfoundland in Canada.

On Friday morning, the eye of the hurricane was expected to either sweep directly over or follow along the southern coast of the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, this is according to a public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center. Maria may not be expected to cause damage of apocalyptic proportions, but Maria is definitely planning to wreak havoc along the Avalon coastline. Rainfall is expected to be in the 1-4 inch range, that increase in rain will cause flooding along the coast and as a result create large and destructive waves. Winds are being predicted to be blustering as they whip around anywhere from 45-80 mph, fully capable of toppling trees and damaging roofing material. It may not be the End of Days for the Avalon coast, but the outlook is definitely gloomy.

But if there are any bright spots to this situation, it is that before Maria reaches the coast of Avalon, it will travel into colder waters. This will weaken, and begin the process of downgrading Hurricane Maria back into a tropical storm, possibly preventing severe damage and possibly preventing the citizens of Avalon from being endangered.

Image Courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6141261157/

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Does your gender define who you are? If so, does being labeled a male or female result with certain treatment of children, which will then effect their development into adults?

Kathy Witterick, 38 and David Stocker, 39 from Toronto, Canada seem to believe so. Witterick and Stocker became the proud parents of their third child, Storm, on Jan. 1 of this year. The parents of three have decided to keep this baby’s gender a secret, until Storm is ready to disclose it.

“This is not a secret without consequences,” said Mike Brody, a child psychiatrist in Washington, D.C., and instructor at the University of Maryland. “This seems more controlling than the helicopter parents.”

The parents justified their decision, “we’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now  a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place? …)” Witterick wrote in an email to love ones.

Only a few people know the baby’s gender, the midwives who delivered the baby and the child’s two older brothers, Jazz, 5, and Kio, 2.

“When the baby comes out, even the people who love you the most and know you so intimately, the first question they ask is, “‘Is it a girl or a boy?’” Witterick told the Toronto Star. Her husband Stocker, a teacher at an alternative school, added: “If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.”

Does concealing a person’s gender change the way people view them, and in little Storm’s case, will it change the way people treat him or her? With the parents concealing the child’s sex people will not have the ability to label the child as a girl or boy and buy them things associated with that gender, such as dolls for girls and trucks for boys.

“What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It’s obnoxious,” Stocker told the Star.

Witterick and Stocker believe children can make meaningful decisions on their own and when it comes to their two sons, the boys have already exercise that ability;  Jazz and Kio pick out their own clothes and choose not to cut their hair.

The children do not attend school, but instead are taught by their mother through “unschooled,” which is a type of home schooling that occurs based on a child’s curiosity.

The idea to keep their child’s gender a secret came to the parents from a book Stocker came across, “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story,” by Lois Gould. In this book, the child is raised with no gender and grows up to be happy and grounded. “It became so compelling it was almost like, how could we not?” Witterick told the Star.

But, regardless of how many times people ask, ‘when will this end?’ the couple simply asks the same question, “Yeah, when will this end? When will we live in a world where people can make choices to be whoever they are?” they told the Star.

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Yes, we all know this: right now is the best time of the year. For many of us in the northern hemisphere, the flowers are blooming as we’re taking out shorts and tank tops from the back of our closet after a long cold winter. The Caribbean’s, especially, are known to be a winter escape, packed with tourists from North America and Europe during the months of December through February. For many places along the Equator, it’s currently a storm season- making it difficult for water sports, and more importantly, possible delayed or canceled flights.

These islands on the list below come alive in summer, when events and major festivals sprung up while restaurants and cafes are bringing out chair and tables for outdoor seating. The weather just couldn’t be better.

Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Being the largest island off the west coast of North America, Vancouver Island is composed of many different ecosystems making it one of the best places for outdoor activities. Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, for instance, allows you to explore the incredible wilderness.  Central Island area allows visitors to enjoy water activities and fishing, since this region is primarily made up of sandy beaches, ocean, and lakes. If you’re more interested in the local gourmet scene, then head to the Cowichan Valley, where there are plenty of wineries, farmer markets, and fresh seafood docks. More of a city vibe fan? No problem, Victoria, a city located in the South Island, has all the things you’re looking for.

Iceland, Europe

Iceland, considered to be Europe’s largest national park, is indeed a great destination for both summer and winter. Moreover, it is an ideal place for photographers, painters, or those who are interested in a beautiful, unspoiled landscape. You won’t find much development in Iceland, comparing to major European cities, yet it has enough metropolitan city atmosphere for a comfortable and convenient stay as there are plenty of restaurants, hotels, bars, and attractions. Once in Iceland, try not to miss its famous thermal swimming pools or spas. Activities such as glacier trekking, whale watching, midnight golfing, and salmon fishing are also easily reached from Iceland’s capitol, Reykjavik.

Hong Kong, China

What could have been a better time to visit Hong Kong if not summer, when the goods go on sale and events are popping up everywhere. The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival is one of the most anticipated annual festivals in the city. It’s a three day competition during mid-June in which each team races their dragon boat. Here, spectators can enjoy a party scene, where cold beverages and tasty snacks are served. Not your thing? Other hot events are Summer Pop Live in Hong Kong, Lan Kwai Fong Beerfest, and Hong Kong Restaurant Week. Most people I know, even myself, tend to go to Hong Kong for unbeatable shopping deals and mouthwatering Hong Kong style dishes. Don’t miss out on a bowl of roasted duck noodle soup or Hong Kong style congee. “It’s certainly the type of place you go for good food and shopping, and not so much about nature and outdoor activities.”

Bora Bora, South Pacific

First island on this list that has the kind of sand and sea most of us would look for, transparent blue ocean and white sand beach. Why visit Bora Bora in summer? Well, since the island is in the southern hemisphere, our summer is their winter when the weather is at its best: less rain, lower humidity, and not crazy hot. Though never have been there myself, a friend of mine who visited this incredible place told me “No doubt, it’s beautiful. It’s a place for a complete relaxation, but it comes at a price. We stayed at a hotel where our bungalow is built over the water. Couldn’t have asked for a better honeymoon location” Here, visitors can enjoy endless water activities (snorkeling, diving, canoeing, jet skiing – really, you name it) or, you can explore the island on foot. If you’re a little bit more adventurous, don’t miss out on the shark and ray feeding excursion, which was said to be the most popular activity in the island.

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This series has history written all over it. The Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins will square off and compete for Lord Stanley’s Cup starting Wednesday June 1^st, in what hockey fans are hoping will be a very entertaining series.

Hockey, a sport so rich in Canadian culture and history, has not seen any of its NHL representatives lift the cup in victory since the Montreal Canadians beat Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in 1993. 18 years is unacceptable for Canadian fans, and they’re hoping that the Canucks can bring the championship back to it’s home country.

Boston on the other hand is a team that has been a perennial contender as of late, but has always seemed to fall short of their goals come playoff time. They are challenging for their first title since 1972 when legend Bobby Orr led them to victory over the New York Rangers. As we all know, Boston fans want rings, not finals appearances, and won’t rest until they see their beloved Bruins skating around the ice with the iconic silver cup held high over their heads.

These two teams tirelessly battled past many good teams en route to where they are now. So what should we look for in this series?

First of all, if any team wants to make a run at a championship, they’re going to need big performances out of their star players. In hockey, especially come playoff time, we all know that a hot goalie can bring a team as far as they want to go. Both Boston’s Tim Thomas and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo are some of the best in the business, and are going to have to show off their cat-like reflexes in this series should they want to lift the cup themselves.

That brings us to the rest of the big-time players on the ice. Let’s start with Vancouver. Everybody knows about Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The twins have had great careers for the Canucks and brought them to the playoffs countless times, but really have struggled at times this year, worrying fans they they might not be the leaders they thought they were. Boy were they wrong, against San Jose they scored points left and right, and began to show why both these first-round picks are the keys to the cup.

Another player Vancouver will need to step up is Ryan Kesler. In fact, if you ask me, he is centerpiece for this team. Much rumor has it that Kesler is in line to compete for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL Playoff’s Most Valuable Player. He will have to keep up his outstanding play if Vancouver wants to knock off the Bruins.

So what about Boston? Two words, one giant man: Zdeno Chara. He is a mammoth on the ice, and not only is he half-impossible for opposing scorers to get around on the defensive end, but possesses a deadly 100+ miles per hour slap-shot that will strike fear into any goalkeeper.

The Canadian fans, and players for that matter, will undoubtedly be ready for this task. They want nothing more than to bring the cup back to Canada where they believe it deserves to be. However, despite the Canucks being the best team in the NHL, the Bruins will not back down to anyone. They may have flaws, but they are scrappy, hard-nosed, and have a fan-base on their side that can match up with the best of them.

Look for an entertaining series with both teams laying everything on the line. My prediction? Vancouver in seven.

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In 2007 Canadian researchers of the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, reported they had found a cure for cancer. Evangelos Michelakis and his colleagues discovered that dichloroacetate (DCA), a common and basic drug already used to treat metabolic disorders, could be employed also for inhibiting the growth of tumors and for killing most types of cancer cells in humans.

Over the years the news of this discovery, after arousing initial interest and curiosity, has been ignored until the recent appearance of a post blog on the Web stating, “Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice,”  which drew attention and spread the news again. This post underlines the fact that major pharmaceutical companies have intentionally ignored the discovery for business reasons.

DCA is a safe and nontoxic drug, it leads cancer cells into self-destruction and consequent death thanks to the activation of apoptosis process by mitochondria, without effecting normal tissues, as it happens instead with patent anti-tumoral drugs produced until now which are focused on glycolysis method.

The reason why pharmaceutical companies are not interested in this “alternative” drug is only business. In fact DCA has no patent, so it can be employed widely and for a cost that is ridiculously low compared to other drugs produced by major drug companies.

“Big Pharma has no interest whatsoever in investing [in DCA research] because there will be no profit,” said Michelakis to Life’s Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience.

Diseases are sources of profit for pharmaceutical companies, which work like any other company, following the logic of business. The sale of drugs that cause many side effects brings the greatest profit. Cancer drugs are the ones which cause the highest number of side effects. Therefore they represent a huge business for drug companies, triggering a mechanism that could be also defined criminal, made by conflicts of interests, cynicism, cruelty and lies.

New generations of alternative methods would largely reduce the profit, for this reason companies don’t invest in research like the DCA one. “If DCA proves to be effective, then it will be a ridiculously cheap drug,” Michelakis said, highlighting the scarce possibilities to make profit on a drug like that.

“Without the promise of a reasonable profit, there is very little incentive for any company to develop new drugs,” explained Omudhome Ogbru, a pharmacologist R&D director at The Medicines Company in New Jersey.

The magazine Forbes classified pharmaceutical industry as the most lucrative of the world at the same level of oil industry. At so high of a business level it is not surprising that the conflicts of interests regulate choices in regards to health and ethics.

Various investigations and revelations have brought to light all the negative sides of the pharmaceutical sector. These include causation of new diseases to sell drugs, spread of epidemics in order to produce and distribute vaccines, reports on false research or falsification of data, censorship on inconvenient facts, and corruption and bribes to politicians, doctors and officials at international level.

This is all an interlacing of relations and a power game of enormous range where human life is worthless and only the money counts. Treat is better than cure for the “world’s health masters”.

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During the initial international military operation in Libya, the coalition forces engaged in operation Odyssey Dawn between March 19-31. However, the operation was essentially a code word for actions of war disguised as humanitarian aid. The allied forces collaborated against Muammar Gaddafi on their mission of ‘liberation’ to save the people of Libya from their ‘bloodthirsty’ oppressor, forgetting that for several years they had a civil relationship and strong political and financial bonds with the very same man.

At the beginning, NATO’s participation and exactly who was going to be heading the mission, was a mystery. However, within a few days, France’s PM Nicola Sarkozy, took the lead in this operation. “Sarkozy likes nothing better than a crisis, a fight and a gamble,” said Financial Times columnist Peggy Hollinger. “With his approval ratings at an all-time low, this Libyan intervention could be just what he needs to revive his faltering popularity at home.” However, without the firepower of the United States in the form of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles and aircraft carrier based aircraft, nothing would have been achieved. For the U.S., Odyssey Dawn was a coming out party for America’s newest military formation, African Command (Africom). It is no accident that at the very moment that African oil reserves are becoming a major source for the United States, Washington should create a military formation for the continent. It is very important to keep in mind that the control of energy resources is always central to U.S. strategy, and with world reserves declining, the scramble to hold the petroleum high ground is always part of the agenda.

The big argument for the operation leadership was between France and England, while the Americans made their involvement obvious via missiles but reiterated that they did not intend to deploy any soldier into Libya. Washington, Paris, and London concluded that Muammar Gaddafi is not a target himself, even though his palace in Tripoli had been under attack. A missile also landed just 50 meters away of the famous tent that he used to welcome the foreign leaders in.

The types and numbers of forces against Gaddafi were massive. France, Britain, United States, Canada, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Qatar and United Arab Emirates comprised an undefeatable opponent against Gaddafi’s forces.

I’m wondering, what kind of humanitarian mission consists of fighting as well as spying aircrafts, aircraft carriers, submarines, battle cruisers, tankers, and a rain of missiles?

On the other hand, regarding Libyan forces, colonel Gaddafi is considered to have a personal army consisting of thousands of members, much more than a   simple army. However, we cannot be sure how many of them have defected so far. They have tanks, aircrafts, armed and armored vehicles for transportation, submarines, armed ships, and picket boats at their disposal. Although, many of them are either destroyed or useless.

Is this another war for oil? We all know the scenario and the answer is probably affirmative. Curiosity, somehow wouldn’t let me rest, and after a little research a dilemma suddenly appeared – Was the Libyan war being pursued for  obtaining black gold or for water?

One conspiracy theory, called New World Order (NWO), seems to suggest a link. Between the lines, since the beginning of the past century, oil magnates created a cartel to take control of all oil reserves around the planet, as well as  take some of them out of production. Nevertheless, some years ago the NWO conspirators reached the conclusion that very soon oil would be replaced as the Earth’s most valuable resource by another, less suspected one. Instead,  that valuable resources will be pure, sweet drinking water. Of course, water is an abundant resource with enough on this planet to satisfy the needs of many times the current levels of population. But, exactly as they did with oil, another abundant resource, they plan to make drinking water artificially scarce by having control over its main sources.

So, why Libya?  In late 1983, Qaddafi created the Great Man-Made River Authority. The job of the authority was to take water from the aquifers in the south, and bring it in the most efficient and economic way to the Libyan coastal belt. In 1996, the Great Man-Made River Project, reached one of its final stages, and a huge amount of sweet, unpolluted water began reaching the homes and gardens of the citizens of Libya’s capital Tripoli. The rest I leave to you.

I do not assume that all these are necessarily truth, but I believe it is important to have as much information as possible so we can make up our minds more accurately.

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Honorable Paul Hellyer, a former deputy prime minister of Canada and the longest serving current member of the Queen’s Privy Council, which is made up of “prominent Canadians appointed to advise the queen on issues of importance to the country,” has been an outspoken believer of UFOs.

Speaking to AOL News, he says he is sure other life form exists. “Oh, I’m absolutely convinced of it. These things were not invented here. And I think people have to get accustomed to this new reality,” Hellyer said.  “We lived too long in a sense of isolation, thinking that Earth was the center of the cosmos, that we were the only species and, therefore, probably the most advanced. And when we come to the realization that we’re not any of those things, then I think we should be aware of it, learn to live with it and certainly try to take advantage of anything that we can learn from visitors from anywhere.”

Hellyer was one of the speakers at the annual International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Arizona held last month.  He reported that he spotted a UFO last year with his wife north of Toronto.  They watched the object for about 20 minutes and were not able to determine what it was.  Hellyer never discussed his beliefs about alien life form when he was a high ranking government official.  “I got periodic reports on sightings and I looked at them very casually, and it was decided that about 80 percent of them were natural phenomena of one sort or another, and the other 20 percent roughly were unexplained, and therefore unidentified.”

Hellyer also accuses the United States of being actively involved in the cover-up behind UFOs and he states the U.S. have benefitted from technology obtained from aliens.  “That is my belief. I do not have proof of that, but I believe that they have developed energy sources, and publicly I’m saying that if they do not exist in commercial form, that extraterrestrials would certainly give us that information if we would ask them for it and stop shooting at them.”

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