Candace's Blog

SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR A CHANGE: Mercy Ships featured on 60 Minutes

In this day and age when the media is just full of stories spreading fear and hatred, I really enjoyed this piece from 60 Minutes.  The Mercy Ship travels the ports on the coast of Africa that used to be stops for slave traders.  "The intersection of Courage and Compassion" is a great description of the people -- doctors, nurses, and those who run the ships -- as well as many of the poor and impoverished patients, many of whom will voluntarily sacrifice their own place in line to those with greater needs. 

Click HERE to see this beautiful story.  Many of them perform the same life altering surgeries as those done by the doctors and nurses of The Smile Train.  Not unlike the stories told in the movies "The Elephant Man" and "Mask," some of these are people are women and children who are ostrocised from society.  Many even die from otherwise benign tumors. 

In our own world of modern medicine, such tumors are caught and removed early, before they are allowed to grow to the point that you cannot even recognize their faces as human beings.  As the piece begins, much of the healing begins when the dotors and nurses greet these horribly disfigured children, women and men with love and respect. 

The "unique business model" features doctors and nurses who actually pay their own way with donations, many from churches and private individuals.

You might get out your hankies. 

We Need a SuperPac for "Death with Dignity"

Several months before the election in MA, a poll suggested 80% approval of the proposed "Death with Dignity" proposition. Even Governor Patrick was heard on a radio talk show that, while he opposed the medical marijuana legalization, he thought the "death with dignity" act was "probably a good idea."

Then, a TV media blitz occurred.  Not a SINGLE AD in favor of "death with dignity."  But there was a deluge of ads with scary music, and a scolding, God-like voice warning the viewers of the dangers of dying at home, without a doctor around, drinking a glass of water (on your own volition) with an overdose of Seconal (sleeping medicine, which DOES require a doctor's prescription.)

I felt like I was listening to someone warn me -- SCOLD me -- that the "SUN MIGHT COME UP TOMORROW IF YOU DON'T VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 2."  And I'd say to myself, "and WHAT is so bad about this? WHY would it be so bad to die at home, painlessly, when I feel my time has come? BEFORE bankrupting my family and/or leaving them with the burden of carry for an Alzheimer's parent?  Having to give my home to the State instead of leaving it to my children?  What is so wrong with that????"

On voting day, the numbers were so close, the result -- defeat of the proposition -- wasn't able to be announced until the next day.

Who do you think paid for all those TV ads against the proposition?  Who has that kind of money?  Well...I could guess -- anyone who benefits by keeping the terminally ill and Alzheimer's patients alive:  i.e. those who bankrupt families forcing family homes to be liquidated to pay for nursing homes for Alzheimer's patients, pharmaceuticals, health care facilities, and, sadly, even doctors?

Of course, there is nobody with money to support ads in favor of the proposition.  'Cept maybe the companies that make Seconal.  But then, such pharmaceutical companies make a lot more money out of the recurring revenue from the painkillers and myriad of other drugs designed to stave off Alzheimers, treat cancer, and the anti-depressants overwhelmingly prescribed to those sitting around waiting around -- either lonely or bedridden -- to die of old age.

In MA, the first state to mandate Universal Health Care (a.k.a. "RomneyCare"), the taxpayers and the next generation will shoulder the burden of paying for health care of the growing number of retired, aging Baby Boomers.  For those of us with real estate assets but no income to pay for the rising cost of living, and increasing pressure resulting from losing our driver's licenses, not to mention the cost of owning a car, we might actually appreciate having the "right to choose" our time to go.

Myself...?  I can imagine a TV ad that features a "Secanol Send Off Party." 

I think the opportunity to surround myself with friends and family, and celebrate all I have accomplished in life, and laugh about my lovable eccentricities (not that I have any) -- while I am still alive to laugh and cry with them -- and to hug everyone and say goodbye. 

At the end of this party, everyone could lift their glasses and say a toast to me as I drink a painless, happy glass of Seconal-filled water and watch me drift off to sleep.  This would allow me to plan ahead, and continue to be a responsible citizen and parent.  Plenty of witnesses could be present -- maybe even a family doctor -- to assure officials that it was my choice, and I was not depressed and lonely from the isolation that plagues so many suicides. (Click here to see the 60 Minutes Interview with Dr. Kevorkian, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for standing up for a pain-free "death with Dignity." And talking about how hospitals currently "help" people die AFTER they have milked the cash cow dry.)

Death is part of life, people.  Wake up and rejoice in the opportunity to avoid suffering a terminal illness, or -- worse yet -- avoid saddling your family and society with a brain-dead Alzheimer's victim.

Well, until the next opportunity, I'll be working on some ideas for YouTube Ads [CLICK HERE for a sweet one from Switzerland], perhpas with a Martha Stewart-type showing the joy and fun of a stylish Secanol Send-off Party; of the opportunity to control my death as well as my life; the opportunity to avoid family squabbling and make sure my estate is handled as I want it to be!  And maybe it ISN'T so bad when the sun comes up in the morning?

Feel free to contact me if you'd like to join my "Death with Dignity" SuperPac.  Lord knows, it's certainly a better cause than the $600 Billion+ spent on the recent hate-filled election -- obsessed with issues like the soaring cost of health care, abortion and birth control -- all of which left me feeling a lot more afraid of the insanity of life than the sanity of death with dignity!

JPL and Panavision Partner with Alacron and FastVision for New Semiconductor Inspection Camera

The most mind-altering movie I've ever seen is "The Hubble 3-D."  To my knowledge it is only available for viewing (thus far) at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.  Produced by Warner Brothers and NASA, the IMAX movie does indeed "change our view of the universe," as the movie trailer says.  The JPL, (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) logo is highly visible on the replacement "guts" to the Hubble Telescope, as the movie viewers join the astronauts in outer space to witness this amazing accomplishment. The results, shown in this movie, are unprecedented views, data and knowledge of the vastness and mystery that surpasses time and space.

From what I understand about JPL, I would not be surprised if their logo is on just about everything the U.S. has launched into space. 

So I was excited to discover that JPL, along with Panavision Imaging had partnered with entrepreneur and small business owner, Dr. Joseph Sgro to produce some game-changing, Machine Vision technology. The initial target will be semiconductor inspection, although it will be valuable for many other applications.  Dr. Sgro is the CEO of Alacron, Inc. and FastVision, LLC.  Sgro's background, unique among machine vision manufacturers, is in advanced mathematics and neurology.

Sgro has been a pioneer in the Machine Vision industry for 25 years. In 1985, he launched a leading Frame Grabber manufacturer, Alacron, Inc. In 2002, he started FastVision, LLC, a revolutionary developer and manufacturer of smart, high speed, digital cameras.

Panavision Imaging is a division of another "movie making" giant entity, Panavision -- whose advanced camera technology is affiliated with many Hollywood productions.

Panavision's Imaging division specializes in sensor technology.  Image sensors are the things that allow cameras to translate images into information that can then trigger responses.  Sensors (along with image gathering cameras) are at the heart of machine vision, now an option on most cars to prevent fender benders.  Image sensors fall into two categories: CMOS and CCD. Until now, the CCD sensors were considered to be newer, faster and better -- and therefore most expensive. (Click HERE to see a comparison of CCD vs. other CMOS sensors.) However, Panavision's Imaging division's Dynamax family of CMOS sensors have demonstrated advantages over both CCD and other CMOS technologies. Their sensor allows ultra-low noise levels (what I might call minimal static in each frame) while operating at high frame rates with wide dynamic range.

The result of the partnership between JPL, Panavision, Alacron and FastVision has been an exceptionally fast camera -- the FC 300 -- and a back side imager.  The back side imager utilizes JPL's patented delta doping process.  To the uninitiated, delta doping sounds a bit like something that gets athletes in trouble. Instead, this technology plays a vital role in the semiconductor industry.  From the "Semiconductor Glossary," delta doping is defined as: "formation of the doped layers which are atomic-layer thick, formed in the course of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) of multilayer structures such as superlattices."  (If this sounds overly technical to my readers, semiconductor manufacturing is a highly specialized field with its own jargon.)

Enabling semiconductor manufacturers to better inspect their delicate product with microscopic parts has long been a primary goal of the machine vision industry. (Click HERE to read a relevant 2009 article in VSD Magazine.)

The techno-speak is a bit over my head.  But the semiconductor industry, which began around 1960, has grown to over $350 billion in 2010.  And I DO understand the business opportunities in a competitive, $350 billion, worldwide business! Net-net: the FC 300 is an extremely valuable improvement on existing technology for manufacturers in this industry.  It will allow for better, faster and less expensive inspection of semiconductors, enabling much better detection of abnormalities in their atom-thin layers. 

The FC 300 offers options that include back thinned versions with high QE (or "quantum efficiency") in the visible and NIR (or near infrared) range. It can be ruggedized, too.  This is useful, for example, for military use. Historically, frame grabbers were the predominant way to interface cameras to PC's.  When integrated with a high powered frame grabber/coprocessor board, the resulting system capabilities can be expanded by adding processors and memory to the board according to the application's demands.

All this means that the FC 300, along with the patented back side imager, offers an improvement to existing technology in the fields of medicine, military and manufacturing, especially in the demanding production of quality semiconductors. In the field of medicine, the DUV capabilities might be used in early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's. It may prove useful in outer space exploration. Maybe someday, we'll see Alacron or FastVision's logos in an IMAX movie at the Air & Space Museum? Whether or not their logos make it into outer space or a feature-length movie, it is exciting to know that small businesses can still accomplish great things, earning the respect of and cooperation with such entities as JPL and Panavision.

THE OBAMACARE DEBATE for BLONDES: A 3 minute summary

This was a pretty good, animated explanation [CLICK HERE.]  It points out the similarity of Obamacare to mandatory auto insurance ('cept that poor people still have to pay auto insurance.)

Which is why I purchased my 50 cc scooter -- to avoid paying all the money, from auto insurance to an operator's permit -- only to have the Massachusetts law change two years later.  Now I am required to pay for: liability insurance, operator's permit, town fees for a "vehicle," annual registration fees, and inspection fees.  Had I known when I purchased my scooter, I would have purchased one that can go fast enough to travel on the highways. 

So I understand why people are agitated at the thought of more mandatory fees.  However, I think could accept mandatory health care coverage better than I accept having to pay fees so that I can drive a 50cc one seater scooter around my hometown of Arlington, MA.  But someone's gotta pay for our highways, right? 

WHO DECIDED TO BAIL OUT WALL STREET? Political movie to air March 15th.

I noticed this post on Facebook: CLICK HERE.  During this pre-election period it is good to revisit the history of the controversial bail out Wall Street and related large investment agencies, who made the decision and why.  Also, it is good to revisit who initiated the two decade-long wars, as well as the current administration's role in these wars.  This movie will air on March 15th and will also touch on other key issues. 

Love him or hate him, Obama's election followed that of George Bush, II, an election that was decided by one controversial state election.  That of Florida, governed by Bush's brother.  Food for thought?

Wikipedia Stops an Ignorant Congress from Using the Atom Bomb as Weed Killer

Kudos to Wikipedia for stopping an ignorant U.S. Congress from passing a short sighted law about which most knew nothing of the contents or the impact.  Not unlike the flap with Napster and the music industry, someone -- perhaps in Hollywood -- could make a bundle if they tackled the problem as Steve Jobs did: if you can't beat it, join it and make money off of it.  We are clamoring for more jobs (no pun intended), and a clever person could easily create a way to protect Intellectual Property without shutting down sites like Wikipedia and YouTube and/or forcing the sites to close due to overwhelming responsibilities of censorship. More to come. 

TASKRABBIT: Matchmaking Hardworking Entrepreneurs with Needy Homeowners

I just had a significant, seasonal job done by a TaskRabbit. 

TaskRabbit is a new on-line Web service that allows renters and home owners to post small jobs and accept bids from member workers of TaskRabbit (whose pictures are posted, along with rankings from those for whom they have done jobs.) The service is a great way to help hard workers quickly find jobs (and income), and to help home owners, pet owners, and working parents, who might also be financially strapped, find pre-screened, affordable, trust-worthy help to do odd jobs -- from assembling furniture to winterizing a pool, and everything in between.

The bid for my task came in $12 less than the $200 I estimated (more than $100 less than commercial prices), and the job was properly done in record time. An additional surprise for me was that Diane' Sawyer's TV crew showed up to interview my hard-working TaskRabbit and to film him executing my task.   I had noticed Diane was featuring stories on how people are finding work, generating income, and making ends meet in the challenging economy. I will be watching to see if my task -- and my TaskRabbit -- make prime time.

PostScrip - IT DID MAKE PRIME TIME:  CLICK HERE to see Diane's story on TaskRabbit. Very nice piece.  Kudos to TaskRabbit's Director of Marketing, Jamie Viggiano, and her PR team.

 

YOU CAN SHOW YOUR LOVE 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR

This Vietnam Vet's story is worth watching.  After being shot several times, he suffered a stroke that left only animals to understand him.  He eventually started his own zoo on his property in Maine.  His advice to the kids who visit the zoo is fabulous. His love of life is contageous.  Thanks to streaming video, we can all learn from his story.

YouTUBE WEDDING: Shed the Stress and Share the Joy

Another new use of YouTube -- spontaneous weddings.  What a great story! An innovative and imaginative use of YouTube AND of glorious shopping malls.  Click HERE and enjoy a Wedding that has now gone viral. Considering the costs and stress of weddings, I invite others to follow this glorious example that illustrates so well the lyrics from Paul Stookey's The Wedding Song: "For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name, There is Love."  

OBAMA's TRADE: Unemployment benefits in exchange for the Rich staying Rich -- makes sense to me

I keep hearing all these talk show hosts AND Democratic members of congress totalling dissing Obama for "selling out" to the Republicans, when he "caved in" to Republicans by allowing Bush's tax benefits for the wealthy to continue in exchange for extending unemployment benefits.  Am I confused....haven't the Republicans made it VERY CLEAR that they will not cooperate with anything Obama's proposes?  That their stated goal is for a one term president, and they have demonstrated that they do not care a whit if the country remains dead in the water, as long as Obama is not allowed to pass a single law. 

Except when it comes to tax cuts for the wealthy.  I gather that is kind of the sacred cow for all Republicans.  And, finally, Obama discovered the silver bullet.  Allow Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy to continue, and they will allow Obama -- maybe -- to extend benefits for the unemployed.  And, yes -- from the perspective of the short term benefit  of our national debt -- it seems absolutely absurd.  How can we possibly take on more spending (in terms of unemployment benefits) unless the gov't increases revenue?

BUT...if you stop to think about the alternative...without unemployment, those who are unemployed (now hovering close to 10%, higher in many states) without benefits, will definitely lose their homes, possibly become homeless, won't be able to feed their families....and the already bad housing industry will tumble even further.  So, to me, it makes perfect sense for Obama to make the deal with the Republicans, if only to keep the unemployed (increasingly "infecting" middle class white men, as per the new movie "Company Men") housed and fed. 

If he was willing to sacrifice the fate of the unemployed for "Democratic ideals"....well, where's THAT at?  Who's THAT going to hurt?  Not the wealthy.  Not the Republicans.  And it's not going to score any points for the Democrats, either....because it's going to hurt people who have lost their jobs, who will vote against anyone who threatens their welfare, and the welfare of their families).

NOW HERE's A NOVEL IDEA!!!....all these wealthy billionaires who are promising to give 1/2 their fortunes to charity...how about using that money to "sponsor" some unemployed people?  Sort of like sponsoring a poor child overseas.  The Federal Government could allow such donors to select a substantial group of the unemployed, and pay their benefits.  (Better yet would be to offer them a JOB!!!)  Hey, it's the HOLIDAY SEASON....time to watch "It's a Wonderful life."  But maybe it's time for us to start LIVING IT!

Ultimate Extreme Biking through Scotland: Shared video -- Sports, Dance or Art?

This is pretty amazing....watch this "extreme sports" bicyclist Danny MacAskill make his way around Scotland, done to a nice musical score.  Beautifully done.

YouTube video ROCKS (and rolls): re-cycling art

Click HERE to see an amazingly well-done medley of dance clips put to new music, celebrating decades of dances in the movies.  From Gene to Jacko to the Jets, check out the moves, courtesy of the world's largest art and media gallery YouTube.  Recycling art via video edits, and exhibiting to the world via YouTube and similar sites is a modern phenomenon.  I've already featured Phillip Scott Johnson's now famous "women-in-art" blended with Yo Yo Ma's cello, (and, for film buffs, Johnson did one of the Hollywood Starlets to the same score), but I have since found many other video-morphing works of art on YouTube, including THIS ONE.  Music not nearly as well integrated as the Dance Medley and Johnson's art morphing piece, but the editing is superb. 

MACHINE VISION and SENSOR TECHOLOGY: possibly helping God to identify, measure, sort and send souls to Heaven or Hell? (But early versions potentially helping with problems here on earth)

It will be interesting to see which causes more damage to the earth -- nuclear accidents such as Chernoble, fossil fuel accidents like the BP oil spill, the clash of organized religions, or outrageous and unchecked litigation.

For a little levity on this subject, I suggest you revisit the Only "A" exam at the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering's Final Exam question for May of 1997 in Dr. Schambaugh's Thermodynamics class.  The question to be answered by Schambaugh's students: "IS HELL EXOTHERMIC OR ENDOTHERMIC."  (I will return to this later in this posting).

When it comes to global warming, how shall we prioritize the dangers of Nuclear Power, Electric Power, the over use of Fossil fuel cars, and hot-headed decision makers and the even hotter headed "average citizens" who seem so easily riled by non-analytical news reporting, and nonsensical religious and political leaders  (not to mention the potential warming effect of "all hell breaking loose" as per the aforementioned Thermodynamic exam essay.)

"What the heck does this have to do with Machine Vision and Sensor Technology?" you might be asking.  Eventually, I intend to use this rambling, obtuse blog to reveal my hidden agenda -- to promote my successful PR efforts for my former clients, frame-grabbing manufacturer, Alacron and smart camera manufacturer, FastVision and their CEO Dr. Joseph Sgro.  (It just took a while to hit the media).  And the method to my madness is that the products from companies such as Alacron and FastVision might allow us to identify and measure, as per Dr. Sgro's description, "abnormalities," to evaluate and -- using analytical software -- take appropriate action.  Nascent examples of this technology exist already: drones (a.k.a. "unmanned aerial vehicles"), cars that prevent accidents and wake you up when they sense you may be falling asleep at the wheel, and "hurt locker" types of robotics.  Yes, sometimes they make flawed decisions, but they are potentially much better than the alternatives (Al Queda frequently kill many more civilians in suicide and other actions with no attempts at identifying appropriate targets.)

Back to saving the world....how shall we prioritize our "dangers to society" within the context of Corporate Greed, Government regulations that intervene when they shouldn't and don't when they should, invasion of privacy vs. national security, a society that breeds a sense of entitlement resulting in ridiculous litigation and unjustifiable cash settlements, and extremely dogmatic religions who don't look for cash settlements, but rather settle matters with stoning and suicide bombings?

Perhaps the future of our planet has a much bigger threat from the growing population with a mentality that is part of the problem -- blame -- instead of thinking big picture, analytically, and seeking a solution. Seems like those pointing the fingers at those they see as "sinners" (according to their religious and/or political belief system) might stop and think about Tim Graham's "A" exam answer.  Mr. Graham, the author of the above mentioned exam response, says:

"As for souls entering hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially."....and Grahm's essay continues:

1. If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.
2. If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over."

So, perhaps Global warming is actually a result of all hell breaking loose, a result of too many souls going to hell?  If so, what percentage of Global warming does it represent?

How could we measure this?  The results could significantly impact how we prioritize our decisions regarding utilities and other socio-economic issues.

Two of my past clients were in the Machine Vision industry, specifically Alacron, who manufactures Frame Grabbers, and FastVision,  who manufacturer very high speed "Smart" Cameras (the link will take you to a TV spotlight on these past clients of mine.)

The recent oil spill is a disaster that imaging, machine vision, and sensor technology identified, understood, monitored and moderated.  Click HERE to read the article in the on-line version of VSD Magazine (Vision Systems Design.) 

BTW - I have long been an advocate of Nuclear Power, ever since in 1997, when I was working for the Electronic Publishing pioneer company, Interleaf, a Canadian Power Plant employee reminded me of the huge advances in sensor-to-computer technology, along with networking, that have taken place since Three Mile Island (where no one was hurt) and Chernobyl, significantly more deadly.

As everyone knows, technology can dramatically alter what works, what doesn't, and what is allowed to break.  Three Mile Island had two, non-networked 8086 computer on site.  Chernobyl had two non-networked 286s on site. Today's sensor technology either didn't exist at all, wasn't interfaced with analytical artificial intelligence (i.e. computers), or was in the nascent phase primarily being tested by NASA, but by no means available or affordable by the private sector or even by Nuclear Power Plants.  Had it been, I bet big money that neither Chernobyl or Three Mile Island (which was really just a very close call, with no casualties) would have taken place.

Sensor technology, combined with machine vision, is what is behind the new SMART CAMERAS, a primary focus of FastVsision.  CEO Sgro, founder of FastVision, and his affiliated frame grabber company, ALACRON, is betting the future of much technology on the marriage of sensor technology and machine vision to produce more intelligent cameras to benefit his three primary markets, "The 3 M's": Medical, Manufacturing and Military.

In conclusion, the marriage of sensor technology to Machine Vision might help us track the impact of the afterlife on such important things as Global Warming. 

Maybe the "right" God doesn't send everyone who isn't a "true" believer to what would quickly become a grossly over-populated Hell, possibly contributing to Global Warming, if the first of Tim Graham's conclusions is correct.  Maybe this God uses a spiritual form of Machine Vision and Sensor Technology to sort the wheat from the chaff of human souls. 

However, while we are still among the living, with the use of Machine Vision and Sensor Technology, we might finally learn how to better prioritize the things that really matter vs. the things that do not.  For instance -- inspired by a news item today -- what is more important to the citizens of Los Angeles --  encouraging citizens to (safely) use more bicycles and scooters while commuting around that city; or prohibiting same sex couples from marrying?  Machine Vision and Sensor Technology might help measure and analyze the results on everything from pollution to road rage and stress in the city of Los Angeles -- and we could compare the results.

Imprisoning people who smoke marijuana or allowing entrepreneurs to harvest the "weed" adding jobs and tax revenue to our ailing economy...AND, in doing so, taking at least THAT business away from the ruthless Drug War Lords south of our border?   Machine Vision and Sensor Technology might help us measure the impact of smoking marijuana on rage and criminal activities that hurt other people.  I haven't heard of violence being associated w/ pot heads.  But perhaps this should be measured.

Speaking of protecting our borders, since Machine Vision -- the frame grabbers manufactured by my past client, Alacron -- whose CEO Joe Sgro says, in his TV interview, that  tracks "abnormalities" which, along with sensor technology -- can better identify individual "units" that are "abnormal," "faulty," potentially dangerous and/or just don't belong in the group in which they are currently residing. 

The implication is that Machine Vision and Sensor Technology could be used to help prevent "bad" people from entering the United States.  This could expedite the entrance of "good people" into our country; thereby reducing stress, saving money and time, and --much like the faulty bottles shown in the video footage of Filtec/IDC's bottle inspection machine, terrorists and other "bad guys" could be automatically discarded into a place where they could not do their desired acts of terrorism.

However, it may be many, many "next generations" and distant future versions of sensor technology before people such "dangerous abnormalities" as Bernie Madoff and Enron's CEO Ken Lay are identified and removed from positions of power, where they can inflict so much damage on innocent civilians. 

Maybe by then, Alacron and/or FastVision will have developed a "spiritual" frame grabber which, along with spiritual sensor technology and a Smart Camera, maybe that is able to "look into souls" (apologies to Woody Allen) and identify and sort abnormalities -- much like that which the "True God" uses to decide who really should go to Heaven or Hell -- and maybe help voters and citizens of this world select ethical people, and prevent unethical people from achieving positions of power. 

But, of course, the flaw in this thinking is the postulate that "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely."

KUDOs to COURAGEOUS CANINE VET who DARES TO BARK...SOFTLY

Relevant to my recent posting about the ban on bark-softening procedures, Dr. Sharon Vanderlip, who was the only person courageous enough to speak up NOT anonymously in the original article I read in the New York Times, has a piece in the newsletter I mentioned in my previous listing: the National Animal Interest Alliance.  She is extremely concerned that the California Senate may soon become yet another state that does not allow Bark Softening.  Click HERE to read her exceptional letter to the California politicians who are considering laws that they have no business considering.  Some of her more salient points are that kittens and puppies are extremely sensitive to anesthesia: 

An excerpt from her excellent letter....

I am a veterinarian licensed to practice in California and I vehemently oppose AB1634 as amended May 31, 2007. California veterinarians overwhelmingly oppose AB1634.....

For 28 years I have worked in reproductive medicine. I have worked extensively with responsible dog breeders and I have also worked in a very large California animal shelter. I have performed thousands of spays and neuters during my professional career, including early spays/neuters. I am convinced that AB1634 is a disastrous bill that will not solve a single problem, but will definitely create many more. This letter explains some reasons how and why AB1634 WILL SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE NUMBERS OF ANIMALS IMPOUNDED, ABANDONED, AND EUTHANIZED EVERY YEAR.

Veterinary medical decisions, including when/if to spay/neuter an animal, should be made by veterinarians and the pets’ owners, not by politicians.  I am a proponent of spay/neuter, but on a medical case by case basis, when the time is right for each individual animal patient.

For complex physiological reasons, young puppies and kittens cannot clear some drugs and medications from their bodies, or tolerate anesthesia and surgery, as well as adolescent or adult animals can. Puppies and kittens can develop hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and have difficulty maintaining a normal body temperature during and after anesthesia. The three main causes of death in puppies and kittens are hypothermia, hypoglycemia, and dehydration—all of which can occur as a result of anesthesia and surgery and can progress to shock and death.  In short, puppies and kittens are high risk patients. Words create images in our minds and direct our thoughts—and our decisions. “Neuter” and “spay” sound harmless and suggest these are simple procedures without consequences. These words don’t raise mental images of incisions, organs, blood—or risks. “Spay”, derived from the French word espeier, means “to cut with a sword”. Castration, from Latin, castratio, means “to cut”. Now, with these original words in our heads, our mental images change from something benign to something startling. For balance, we should call these procedures by their correct names that describe what they really are: gonadectomy, ovariohysterectomy, castration.  By doing so, we remain cognizant of the difficulties and risks associated with an invasive intra-abdominal surgical procedure (including those required for abdominally retained testicles), the removal of body parts, and their long-term effects. Gentle words like “spay” and “neuter” have lulled many non-veterinarians into a casual, worry-free attitude toward these surgical procedures.

Politicians and animal activists supporting AB1634 also take these surgical procedures and their profound medical consequences casually— so casually as to mandate the procedures for young pet companions with a broad brush stroke in a “one size fits all” approach. This is an excellent example of why politicians and animal activists must not be allowed to dictate how veterinarians practice their profession. It's dangerous and it's wrong." ....

# # #

TO MY READERS...I invite you to read the rest of her letter.  And to start thinking BIG PICTURE, not knee-jerk reacting to the occasional news stories...and the sad reality that, for both people and animals, there is suffering and death is an inevitable part of life.

OF NOTE [NOT at all part of Dr. Vanderlips letter, but perhaps relevant]: The lawsuit and horribly publicity about PETCO, based on "neutering bunnies without anesthesia"....a doctor friend of mine informed me that bunnies are highly intolerant of most general anesthesia, and their lives are far more endangered by general anesthesia than by the equivalent of a baby bunny bris.  This "scandal" was all over the news, shut down a lot of the PetCo stores that offered bunnies, and caused a lot of negative publicity, calls for picketing and shutting down of PETCO. 

While it should not surprise any of us, we tend to over-react to the media, which picks up stories that are "fed" to them, and frequently those doing the feeding have their own agendas and/or are maybe 'extremists.'  I mean, in Afghanistan, where women are regarded as "property"....and a woman mis-behaves, she might have her nose cut off....without anesthesia. 

When seen in the context of some of the world's problems, having our politicians wasting tax-payer money getting involved in decisions about how we are to treat our pets...it is not appropriate. 

Dylan Verge introduces me to a feline parody of President Obama and his Secretary of (S)cat(e)

OK....Nine year old Dylan Verge introduced me to this awesome presidential election video...the treadmill of politics.  Somehow I missed it.

SPECTACULAR HORSE and RIDER

Ahhh....how grateful I am to YouTube to enable me to become inspired by some incredible horses and riders that I otherwise would not see.  If you liked Blu Hors Matinee, you will love this magnificent dancing man and stallion team...Totilas and Edward Gal.  Better than "Dancing with the Stars."  You will see a horse who truly loves showing off to a crowd.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YouTUBE!

Hard to believe, YouTube is 5 years old this month.  It truly changed the world of communications.  My latest "User Generated Video Competition" is among the employees at Constant Contact, the grand daddy of e-newsletters and e-marketing.  Here is one of my favorites: Constant Contact Saves Trees.

TUFTS pioneers YouTube College Essay Applications

Front and center -- page that is -- of Sunday (Feb. 21) Boston Globe: "A Fresh Pitch on 'U' Tube --

Tufts, in a first, invited applicants to submit one-minute videos. A creative flood followed." 

The NYT also covered this momentus event.  I excerpt below, from the Times article:

"Lee Coffin, the dean of undergraduate admissions, said the idea came to him last spring as he watched a YouTube video someone had sent him. “I thought, ‘If this kid applied to Tufts, I’d admit him in a minute, without anything else,’ ” Mr. Coffin said....

For Tufts, the videos have been a delightful way to get to know the applicants.

“At heart, this is all about a conversation between a kid and an admissions officer,” Mr. Coffin  said. “You see their floppy hair and their messy bedrooms, and you get a sense of who they are. We have a lot of information about applicants, but the videos let them share their voice.”

“We’ve got some who are really good with the technology,” Mr. Coffin said. “There’s a real technical savvy out there in this generation, and this lets them show off their splicing, their stop action, their animation. Some of the engineering applicants show us what they’ve made. One kid is talking, and then all of a sudden, he’s in the water, to show off his underwater camera.”

While elephants are a common theme in the videos — Jumbo the elephant is Tufts’s mascot — only Michael Klinker went so far as to build a small remote-control blue-elephant helicopter that flies merrily around his backyard.

Some of the videos have developed a YouTube following. The popular favorite is probably Amelia Downs, with more than 6,000 views for her video combining “two of my favorite things: being a nerd and dancing,” in which she performs a bar graph, a scatter plot, a pie chart, and a sine and cosine graph."

The Times article featured the following videos:

 Rhaina Cohen’s video, working off the saying “You never truly know someone until you have walked a mile in her shoes,” and featuring the blue sandals from her bat mitzvah, the white sneakers she bought cheaply in Britain, and the black heels in which she “stood next to Hillary Clinton.”...

While elephants are a common theme in the videos — Jumbo the elephant is Tufts’s mascot — only Michael Klinker went so far as to build a small remote-control blue-elephant helicopter that flies merrily around his backyard.

Some of the videos have developed a YouTube following. The popular favorite is probably Amelia Downs, with more than 6,000 views for her video combining “two of my favorite things: being a nerd and dancing,” in which she performs a bar graph, a scatter plot, a pie chart, and a sine and cosine graph.

While the application allowed students to put their video on any easily accessible Web site, he said almost everybody used YouTube.

Having seen the popularity of the videos — and heard from current Tufts students who want their favorite applicants admitted — Mr. Coffin now plans to put the best ones into a “Tufts Idol” contest once admissions season is over."

HERE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITES:

A day in my life (rap) [THE BEST! My favorite. A real work of art.]

Stick figure going through life, ending at Tufts

What’s on my iPod – lip sync

I could be a spoiled ASPEN ski brat, but helped after Katrina, and in 3rd world countries - You decide

Glass half full: it's all in your outlook on life

Young Man Searching for the Right School (approved for all audiences)

The sound of paper (had me laughing out loud)

An incredible medley of the many talents of Young Man: Musician, Athlete, Skateboarder

and this very creative video of another multi talented young woman (WOW)

I'm guessing most Tuft's applicants are gifted and skilled writers.  But a 1 minute video about yourself (presumably featuring your talents and strengths)...that's really tough to do in such a way that it a) is easy and fun to watch; b) doesn't come off as bragging c) doesn't require tremendous video editing skills and/or expensive equipment d) stands out in the crowd; and e) captures the essence of "you."  This is an art form that requires self awareness, understanding your audience, and multimedia communication skills, beyond writing.  Similar to the art of of the short, short story, the one minute video college essay demands the art of the best of advertising; the art of movie making; innovation and creativity -- in other words, the best of YouTube art, marketing and communications.

POST SCRIPT -- TUFT'S should recruit this GRAD STUDENT?  OR PERHAPS AN HONORARY DOCTORATE? 

YouTube VALENTINES

Wow...this is a cool Valentine's Day story.  Another new, unexpected use of YouTube....a new way to fall in love, love, love.

In fact, I received THIS YouTube jewel as a Valentine's Day gift, from my sister in Holland.  And that started me searching for a few great Valentine's Day Beatles songs to post for all my Facebook Friends, AND I found several that I put together in a Valentine's email to a few special loved ones.  AND, then I discovered that a few people have actually done medleys of their favorite Beatles love songs.  Here's just one.

Which is your favorite Beatles' love song? I mean...maybe there's been love all around, but maybe we never heard it singing....we just needed those boys to remind us to keep looking for it. 

MORE YouTUBE ADS THAT MIGHT QUALIFY AS CINEMA ART? (most banned from TV)

As I predicted many years ago, (and, as I'm sure Google realized when they purchased it)  YouTUBE has become mainstream for alternative advertising with many advantages.

Budweiser is know for its great ads.  A few Bud Light ads are just brilliant....such as THIS ONE, about how to have your cake and drink it, too.

And THIS ONE....when it comes to zoo animals, turn about's fair, and very funny, play!

And from a Euro Beer maker, THIS ONE....so true, a good illustration of how one might become an alcoholic!  Maybe that's too harsh...let's just say, life looks better with Tuborg.

And THIS ONE from Bridgestone Tires, probably banned from TV, but definitely one that viewers will send to each other for entertainment.  I haven't seen such character development in a dog since Lady and the Tramp (in this case, the honeymoon is over...Lady IS the tramp and breaks her man's heart.)

 While I was doing this research, I stumbled on this brilliant and hysterical canine version of Jim Carey in Liar, Liar...or, for another generation, Dr. Strangelove and his residual Nazi arm with a mind of its own.

It's not an ad...but I just had to post it. 

VIRTUAL VIDEO ART GALLERY

Here's a very funny short video -- spoof on Pixar -- from an amazing collection of video shorts on the site
COLLEGE HUMOR ORIGINALS.  I also loved the Google Maps guys.

I could get lost in this site. How cool is this?  It has a channel on YouTube, and a Facebook fan club, too.  Of course! 

I better put down the computer and go rake leaves or something.

CAN THIS MARRIAGE BE SAVED?

This little gem on YouTube could be sponsored by Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, Judge Judy, or anyone from a Couples Counseling Service to a manufacturer of PMS medicine.  Or, if in Vegas, perhaps a Cat House. I'm not sure it qualifies as true User Generated Advertising (UGA), but it's close.

STARBUCKS: another UGA community is born on YouTube

"MY STARBUCKS STORY: Have Fun -- Be Creative -- Express yourself....How does working at Starbucks fits into my life."

That's how I originally envisioned the whole UGA movement on YouTube.