Someone recently sent me an email with this link. Since I am a curious person I clicked on the link. Then I spent the next two minutes watching various groups of people pop popcorn with their cell phones. It freaked me a bit. But then I got suspicious because there is one video and it seems to show people from different parts of the world all trying the same experiment and getting the same results. How did someone really find people from different parts of the world to participate in his or her video? Seems like a lot of effort (and therefore, it seems to me like unlikely effort). So I am hoping that some of you will watch it and tell me what you think.
/www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/portable/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-microon_news
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Why aren't Israeli kids allergic to peanuts?
When I was a kid I don't remember anyone being allergic to peanut butter. Peanut butter and jam was a staple of my diet. But today, you just try to eat a PBJ sandwich in public in Canada or the U.S. Seriously, just try it (I will be on the sidelines filming what happens next when they drag you off to peanut jail.)
I don't want to dismiss peanut allergies; some of my children's friends have them. For those families, these allergies are very real.
Scientists agree that the number of children with peanut allergies has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. In the last five years alone the numbers have doubled. No one seems to know what that is. Maybe, some of them suggest, pregnant mothers are eating more peanuts and peanut butter than they did in the past. Ah ha! It's the mother's fault. Well, isn't that convenient?
I did some reading and I found out that all food and environmental allergies are on the rise in children. The theory is that since we live in a more hygienic world and we catch less childhood illnesses, our immune systems have time to catch more minutiae in our diets and the environment. Since our bodies no longer have to fight off nasty parasites everyday (because we are so darn clean and our bodies can no longer fight off disease), they have started to fight proteins which in their innate logic are bad.
Okay, so if that is true, why aren’t more Israeli kids allergic to peanut butter? I send my kids to school with peanut butter sandwiches at least once a week and no one has ever noticed.
Apparently the answer may have something to do with early peanut consumption being more common in Israel (the exact opposite of what my pediatrician recommended in Canada years ago). Bomba is the favorite food of toddlers in Israel. It is a puffed peanut butter flavored snack – looks just like a cheesie but it isn't.
Bomba is an institution in Israel; 69% of all Israeli babies are eating it by the age of nine-months. Frankly I don't like it – I think it is an oral abomination, but what do I know? Statistics indicate that I am squarely in the minority on this matter.
In case you are thinking that perhaps you should bring your peanut-allergic child to Israel and that would solve the problem. It won't. Allergies are geographically sensitive so your peanut-allergic child will probably end up allergic to sesame seeds here and you will just have a new set of worries.
I don't want to dismiss peanut allergies; some of my children's friends have them. For those families, these allergies are very real.
Scientists agree that the number of children with peanut allergies has grown exponentially over the past 15 years. In the last five years alone the numbers have doubled. No one seems to know what that is. Maybe, some of them suggest, pregnant mothers are eating more peanuts and peanut butter than they did in the past. Ah ha! It's the mother's fault. Well, isn't that convenient?
I did some reading and I found out that all food and environmental allergies are on the rise in children. The theory is that since we live in a more hygienic world and we catch less childhood illnesses, our immune systems have time to catch more minutiae in our diets and the environment. Since our bodies no longer have to fight off nasty parasites everyday (because we are so darn clean and our bodies can no longer fight off disease), they have started to fight proteins which in their innate logic are bad.
Okay, so if that is true, why aren’t more Israeli kids allergic to peanut butter? I send my kids to school with peanut butter sandwiches at least once a week and no one has ever noticed.
Apparently the answer may have something to do with early peanut consumption being more common in Israel (the exact opposite of what my pediatrician recommended in Canada years ago). Bomba is the favorite food of toddlers in Israel. It is a puffed peanut butter flavored snack – looks just like a cheesie but it isn't.
Bomba is an institution in Israel; 69% of all Israeli babies are eating it by the age of nine-months. Frankly I don't like it – I think it is an oral abomination, but what do I know? Statistics indicate that I am squarely in the minority on this matter.
In case you are thinking that perhaps you should bring your peanut-allergic child to Israel and that would solve the problem. It won't. Allergies are geographically sensitive so your peanut-allergic child will probably end up allergic to sesame seeds here and you will just have a new set of worries.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Is the loss of one's dog comparable to the loss of a special person?
My feisty friend Emily died two days ago. I was surprised at how sad I was when I read the news from my close friend and old business partner in Toronto. Emily was her dog.
The first time I met Emily it would never have crossed my mind to consider her a friend. She was a very "enthusiastic" doberman who wanted you to know that you were on her turf and you better not forget it. The fact that I worked in "her" house did not simplify things. Well, not at first. I soon found out that she could be placated with tea biscuits and I was willing to oblige her food fetish as long as she let me live.
Over time my scent became familiar to her and she barked less. I didn't say that she stopped barking... that would have been totally out of character for her. But, as I mentioned above, she allowed me to live and she even let me pet her now and then.
I saw her last Spring after a six year absence. I was shocked by how much she had aged. I am no pet lover, but I was upset to see that she was so old and laid back. She just mozied around my friend's house and was all too happy to be petted for an hour. I never once feared for the safety of my hands.
I knew that the inevitable end was near. It was obvious although no one mentioned it. And for my friend's sake, I was dreading it.
Now it the inevitable has happened and there is a lot of sadness. My friend never had children. They weren't her thing. But her dog was her child and her friend. I think she treated Emily better than I treat my kids sometimes. Her loss is palatable.
Having recently experienced the loss of my father, I am struck by how sad my friend sounded in her email. My first thought was that you can't compare losing a parent to losing a dog. But now I am not so sure. Lassie swam across the English Channel or some large body of water like that to get back to her beloved family. With all due respect to my father, I don't think either he or I would have done that. We would have waited for the next available boat. obviously we weren't that committed!!! (OH, I am only joking.)
In twelfth grade one of my high school friends cat died. I had known that cat for years and I thought it was the nastiest cat that ever lived. Neighbourhood dogs partied for days after that cat died. There was a sense in the Hood that the Days of Terror were over. However, my friend was dispondent. I mean truly devastated for weeks and weeks. We, her friends, could not cajole her out of it with any of the usual cajoling fare.
In other words, who am I to judge someone else's relationships?
So, to Emily, I wish you a safe journey to the World To Come For Dogs. I hope that there are many places to run free and mark your place. I thank you again for not tearing me limb from limb even though you had many opportunities.
The first time I met Emily it would never have crossed my mind to consider her a friend. She was a very "enthusiastic" doberman who wanted you to know that you were on her turf and you better not forget it. The fact that I worked in "her" house did not simplify things. Well, not at first. I soon found out that she could be placated with tea biscuits and I was willing to oblige her food fetish as long as she let me live.
Over time my scent became familiar to her and she barked less. I didn't say that she stopped barking... that would have been totally out of character for her. But, as I mentioned above, she allowed me to live and she even let me pet her now and then.
I saw her last Spring after a six year absence. I was shocked by how much she had aged. I am no pet lover, but I was upset to see that she was so old and laid back. She just mozied around my friend's house and was all too happy to be petted for an hour. I never once feared for the safety of my hands.
I knew that the inevitable end was near. It was obvious although no one mentioned it. And for my friend's sake, I was dreading it.
Now it the inevitable has happened and there is a lot of sadness. My friend never had children. They weren't her thing. But her dog was her child and her friend. I think she treated Emily better than I treat my kids sometimes. Her loss is palatable.
Having recently experienced the loss of my father, I am struck by how sad my friend sounded in her email. My first thought was that you can't compare losing a parent to losing a dog. But now I am not so sure. Lassie swam across the English Channel or some large body of water like that to get back to her beloved family. With all due respect to my father, I don't think either he or I would have done that. We would have waited for the next available boat. obviously we weren't that committed!!! (OH, I am only joking.)
In twelfth grade one of my high school friends cat died. I had known that cat for years and I thought it was the nastiest cat that ever lived. Neighbourhood dogs partied for days after that cat died. There was a sense in the Hood that the Days of Terror were over. However, my friend was dispondent. I mean truly devastated for weeks and weeks. We, her friends, could not cajole her out of it with any of the usual cajoling fare.
In other words, who am I to judge someone else's relationships?
So, to Emily, I wish you a safe journey to the World To Come For Dogs. I hope that there are many places to run free and mark your place. I thank you again for not tearing me limb from limb even though you had many opportunities.
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