Seal meat is on the menu at Parliament

Let's hear it for Stephen Harper! He's finally made an obvious statement of support for the seal hunt: seal meat is now on the menu at the Parliamentary restaurant.

I'm pleased that the government is supporting this important part of Canadian history. This is a a step in the right direction for support of the seal hunt. I have to wonder, however, if this is a PR move based on the controversy that PETA has brought about.

Harper hasn't typically had a good relationship with First Nations peoples and also hasn't really had their support. It could be argued that this sudden acceptance of the seal hunt is a bid for votes, or maybe he really wants to support this way of life. I'm hoping for the latter.

Identity theft with a twist

It sounds like something out of a nightmare: "Girl finds dead mother hawking cure-all on Facebook." Helen Breimer died 9 months ago of cancer and her Facebook account was hacked to promote a "miracle cure-all" colon cleanser. The account has since been shut down but this is just one example of many of how commonplace identity theft is becoming.

The main point that I got out of this article was that this was just one case of many. Nothing particularly different or important happened in this case but it makes for a good story.

On the contrary dear readers, something important did happen. Shelby Breimer found her deceased mother's profile active and touting the importance of this "miracle" drug. The company, Teloxys Technologies Ltd, has yet to apologize and did not remove the content on its own and Facebook hasn't returned any of Shelby's calls.

The biggest question, for me anyway, would be how to seek justice. A person's privacy has been violated here and no one seems to be willing to do anything about it. How well does this reflect on Facebook and why do none of the news stories seem to have picked up on this?

Sustainable cooking - an oxymoron?

The Brighter Planet has just launched a contest à la Julie-Julia Project to "Master the Art of Sustainable Cooking." I'm both intrigued and skeptical.

It's a great contest idea both for raising awareness of carbon footprint reduction/conservation and for challenging people to think more about what they eat. I'm pleased to see that they've launched the contest right at the beginning of the fall season when food is still plentiful from farmer's markets and relatively easy to get locally. The types of foods that are readily available are also low-effort foods (you don't have to do too much to prepare them).

What I'm really wondering is if people would be willing to stick with the challenge during the winter months when local food isn't as easy to get and when people are craving higher fat foods that require more preparation and more ingredients.

All right, I'll bite. For the month of October, I'm going to try to follow all of the tips listed in the contest, paying particular attention to getting foods from local sources.

Wish me luck.

Howling to the wolves

I was recently fortunate enough to participate in one of Algonquin Park's most famous activities: the wolf howl. According to the report, the wolf howl that I attended was the only one this year to get a response from the guides' calls by wolves.

Apart from anything else, I was very impressed with the level of organization from the staff. Although there was a relatively small group for the howl (around 600 people) the staff were more than ready to leap into action and help everyone out.

The naturalists were knowledgeable about wolf ecology and were able to explain it in a way that everyone was able to understand. All in all, it was a great event to raise awareness of wolves and to help combat people's prejudice against these amazing predators.

Ingenuity for sale

Being the uber biology nerd that I am, Gmail often suggests sites that I should check out and most of these are biology-related. This little gem, on the other hand, is completely chemistry.

Made with Molecules, Raven Hanna's brain child, uses recycled materials and local sources for her jewellery and clothing designs. The part that I love the most is the integration of molecular images and art. Who would've thought that ethanol could look so elegant or that oxytocin could look so cuddly?

I have to admire Hanna who decided to do something that she loves and make it into a viable and thriving business. It makes me want to take a page from her book, but I don't really think that anyone would pay me excessively for drawing ducks.

Oh well, there's always PR as a fallback.

Where have the writers gone?

An article in The Toronto Star caught my eye recently, it was written by a member of the Associated Press regarding a new study that found that a jockey's riding style can cut a horse's race time by 5-7%. Although the topic is very interesting to me, what really caught my eye was the fact that the scientific paper in question was briefly summarized but the most important part was left out: how does a jockey *actually* do it? (The answer, by the way, is by balancing their weight and springing with the horse, a jockey is able to propel the horse forward, much like a child on a swing.)

After some sleuthing on my part, I finally came up with a similar article from the New York Times, written by a staff member, which actually details the findings of the paper and even delves a little into the practical implications of the findings. I guess it boils down to this: why did The Star decide that it was okay to print an incomplete article quickly instead of taking the time that the New York Times invested and having a complete, well-rounded article?

The argument could be made that money is the main problem, but all that I seem to be hearing in the news is about the job cuts that are being made to American papers. So why was this acceptable? The geographic area for the Toronto Star includes two large race tracks: Woodbine and Mohawk, so it's not as though racing wouldn't be of interest.

So I find myself questioning again, why is this acceptable?

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

Early birds may get the worm, but people who sleep in have more mental stamina than early risers. According to Dr Peigneux's findings, people who get up later are able to keep their energy levels steady and are able to focus for longer periods of time. People who fell into the "early risers" category got up between 5am and 6am and people who were considered to be "late risers" got up around noon.


The really interesting issue that this article brought up for me is the social stigma that people who sleep in are lazy and don't want to work. Is this really the case or do these people just have different circadian rythms? I know I'm definitely not an early bird - I tend to wake up fully around 10am, so should I try to keep resetting my 'clock' to the average work day timing or should I just give up and go with what my body tells me to do?


Kinda makes stop and think about how more effective you could be at doing your job or just about anything if you were to follow your circadian rhythm instead of following the societal norm.


I wonder does this mean I can convince my boss to shift my work hours?

Updates from the newly graduated

I'm taking a page from Stacey's book here and finally posting after a long hiatus. I finished my internship for school, graduated, and am working on contract as the Media Relations Officer/Fundraiser for Long Point Waterfowl. I've got a couple of posts that were on the back-burner, so I should be back to posting regularly within the next few days.



Nicole & I at convocation

Thanks for reading!

Ever been obliviated?

Toronto researchers at Sick Kids Hospital recently announced that they are now able to erase painful memories from the minds of mice. Harry Potter, Orwell, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes to mind.


The possibilities for this technology are endless and so are the ethical dilemmas. I'm not really sure where to start, but neither are the researchers.

Mostly, the technology has been proposed to help detach people from the strong emotional reactions that accompany traumatic memories and are usually associated with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). In theory, PTSD will be reduced, but I think that the potential for this technology to be abused is very strong.

Hopefully this will have strong restrictions to the use of it and will only be used as a last resort.

United Way for the third world?

On Thursday, March 12th I went to the launch dinner of Belleville's own Streams of Hope, which bills itself as the United Way for the third world.

I was very impressed with the overall message behind the organization: 100% of funds go to help organizations that already exist within the countries in need. Streams of Hope is able to do this by being entirely volunteer based.

That's right. They have no paid staff.

From a donor's perspective, this is pretty sweet for me! I know where the money is going and I'm fortunate enough to know the people who are involved in going over to visit and help the third party organizations in person to make sure that the funds go to what's needed the most. Overall, I think it's an awesome idea for a non-profit. Finally, someone's getting it right.

Charity starts at home

Have you ever wanted to make a difference but didn't know how? Danny Brown of Press Release PR can help with that. Danny is spearheading the 12 for 12k challenge:

- 12 months
- 12 charities
- 1200 people
- $10 per person
- $12,000 per person

Sound like something you'd be interested in helping out with? Visit the site here for more info! This month's charity is Share Our Strength, which is campaigning to end child hunger.

Technology gone too far?

I stumbled on ViaGen's site recently and was curious as to what the services the company offers. ViaGen is a cloning company that offers equine, bovine, porcine, and pet cloning services.

I'm not really sure as to how I feel about the company. Everything is presented in a rose-tinted kind of way "Ever wish you could have offspring from a champion gelding? Cloning offers the possibility to fulfill that desire by producing an intact male that is genetically identical to a champion gelding."

The site goes on to caution that "Not every animal is suitable for cloning" but reassures the reader that cloning is "a valuable tool." No mention of ethics is made; they could be cleverly included in a FAQ section.

Never mind ethics, has the laws behind cloning caught up with the technology yet? If enough people clone a champion racehorse and race them in the same race, how would officials decide on the winner? Is ViaGen a sign of greed gone out of control or a new step forward in keeping racing bloodlines pure?

Pictured above: Clayton, clone of Scamper, barrel racing champion

Who says procrastinating isn't useful?

This past weekend, instead of "lazing about" (read: cramming in as much school work as humanly possible into 48 hours) I decided that I should go get educated on social media, so I went to PodCamp Toronto 2009.

I can't really describe everything that went down at PodCamp, suffice to say I learned a lot about the technical aspects of making a video from Geo Perdis, how to use social media for non-profits from John Sheridan, and what's new and upcoming in Canadian social media from Sean Moffitt.

I ended up taking a lot of notes, learning a lot about how to integrate social media with my (starting soon!) job as a communications officer, and even networking a little bit. Not to mention I had an awesome chicken souvlaki pita for lunch at Mutual Street Deli.

I'm looking forward to see what next year brings. Hopefully I'll be good enough that I might have some input to give instead of mainly taking.


Image courtesy of LexnGer; Roast beef sandwich from Mutual Street Deli.

Chillin' with the birds

Climate change is pushing American birds further north, into Canada. Way to go Toronto Star on picking up on this!

According to the Audubon Society's most recent report, warmer weather in the US has led to the range expansion of 58% of species observed in the Christmas Bird Count. These birds are moving further north into the colder weather.

This may sound crazy at first, but it really makes a lot of sense. The birds aren't equipped to deal with warmer temperatures so they move further north (into Canada) to where the temperatures are closer to the seasonal range that they are used to.

The biggest problem now is how to reverse this trend. The most obvious solution would be to reverse the temperature changes, unfortunately this is a complicated issue that isn't fully understood yet. The best solution for now is a band aid one at best: conserve the suitable habitats that currently exist and hope that the species can hold on for long enough until the temperature changes are at least halted.

Happy (belated) birthday Darwin!

Did you know that Darwin's 200th birthday was on February 12th, 2009? A smorgasbord of events were organized in honour of one of the most important scientists in history, not to mention the slew of articles that were released.

One article in particular caught my attention, or rather the related material that was listed after the article. The link provided led me to a site called "Dissent from Darwin" and was a petition from a number of "scientists from prominent organizations" who are "skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life."

This petition was started by the Discovery Institute, which puts itself forward as a "forward-thinking" organization wanting to make "a positive vision of the future practical." All of this sounds great on the surface, until you read further into how the organization functions. Now the truth comes out.

Discovery Institute was founded on the beliefs of "God-given reason" and "the permanency of human nature." Does this really sound like the beliefs of a science-oriented, logic-based organization? I would have to disagree.

What's puzzling is that the proposed alternative to Darwin's theory is intelligent design. That's right, intelligent design. Again, I have to question what the real reasoning behind this organization is. Could this be a new form of creationists' arguments against evolution? Who knows. All I know is I'm not sold on intelligent design. I think I'll keep curling up by the fire with a glass of wine and read On the Origin of Species.

Queen's playing the name game

It's a little known fact that Queen's University was nearly bought out by the University of Toronto in 1878 after losing nearly all of its money after their bank made some bad investments. An also little known fact is that Robert Sutherland, the first black man to graduate from a university in North America and a Queen's graduate, donated his entire estate to the university in 1878 and saved it from bankruptcy.

In March 1998, after decades of students lobbying, Queen's finally named a room after Sutherland. Students were pleased for the time being, until more recently, they began again lobbying for a building to be named after Sutherland. The value of his estate in 1878 was enough to constitute the university's entire budget for that year. Students are frustrated that the university refuses to name a building after the man who saved the university so long ago.

Alternatives to naming a building have been suggested including making a statue of Sutherland, which is impossible because no images of him exist. After pressure was applied by the media, Queen's has decided to consider the proposal to name a building after Sutherland but require "more research" before they can come to a decision.

I'd love to know exactly what kind of research naming a building after someone requires. It seems like a no-brainer to me, but I guess that's why I'm still a student and not in management.

Oh deer! Population changes from trophy hunting

The National Post recently ran an article about trophy hunting and how it has changed the population dynamics of herds. The article talks about the human tendency to target larger animals as trophies, leaving the smaller, weaker animals to survive. The problem arising from this is that the smaller animals are surviving long enough to breed, so ensuing generations are physically smaller in size.

The issue is that humans are changing these populations at a rate which exceeds that of natural selection. This means that hunters are working their way through the largest members of the population until its necessary for them to hunt the medium-sized members of the population and so on.


The proposed solution to this problem is to hunt less or start hunting the smaller animals in addition to the large ones. Good luck convincing trophy hunters that this is the only solution to this looming problem. It's going to take an integrated marketing strategy on the part of the Ministry of Natural Resources before people start getting the message.

Coke sells its soul for a polar bear, part 2

Apologies that it's taken me so long to update this and comment on Coke's holiday blitz. The main reason that it took me so long is that Coke has taken down the part of its site that dealt with the holiday campaign for polar bears and has instead replaced it with multiple direct links to the WWF site. But that's a good thing, right? Not in my case.

Early in November, I noticed the fine print that Coke had included on their site stating that they would donate up to a maximum of $100,000 provided that 1.4 million PINs were entered on their site by December 31st.

It took me a while, but I finally managed to find a site with information about the monetary donations made by Coke this season. Apparently they succeeded in getting the 1.4 millions PINs because Coke proudly proclaims that it has donated $100,000 from its loyalty program in 2008 for polar bear conservation efforts.

I'm a little suspicious of this. Neither Coke nor WWF has issued a news release or any related materials on their respective sites. No news agencies have picked up on this story; even the bloggers are silent. These large corporations have remained suspiciously silent towards a potentially huge PR campaign that could bolster their images in a positive light.

More updates to come once I've found out more.

From Shylock to the workplace, a pound of flesh can cost a lot

According to a recent study done by Professor Cawley of Cornell University, for every 7.2 pounds that a woman gains she will earn 1% less than a female colleague whose weight remained the same. Weight is often closely tied to first impressions and the overall image of a person. Being in PR, image management is a really important part of the industry, so this article got me thinking: does a company have the right to ask their employees to manage their weight?


The immediate answer would be no, but I think it should depend on what company it is that we're talking about. If a company makes money almost solely from the physical appearance of its employees, say a modelling agency, then it's reasonable to expect that the company would have a weight clause in the contract that a model signs. Is it reasonable to think that a company where the revenue is based other streams should be concerned with their employees weight? I'm not so sure.


Is it infringing on an employees' rights when a company promotes the skinny and holds the not-so-skinny down? It's not really a clear-cut issue and I'm not really sure as to how I feel - all I know is that I'm outraged that weight gain can play a part in my future wages. Being so early in the new year, I'm still on the eating healthy and working out more track from my New Year's resolutions, so I'm still thinking along the lines of losing weight, but it has nothing to do with a job. And that's the way it should be.