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The Citizen, 2005-07-21, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2005. PAGE 5. Other Views Seemed like a good idea at the time An idea isn’t responsible for the people who believe in it. - Don Marquis Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. • - Lewis Carroll he older I get. the more I realize that most of life is really quite black and white. Except when it's off-white. Or pearl gray. Or ivory, charcoal, ecru, ebony or milky. The truth is, the older I get the more I realize that everything I thought was rock solid and intransmutable ain't necessarily so. Take water. The very essence of life, right? Can’t get enough water. That’s why you see young trendies lugging around plastic bottles of Evian and Dasani as if they were fixing to cross the Kalahari, even when they’re only going shopping at the mall. Stands to reason. Experts have been telling us for years that we need to drink seven tall glasses ot water every day. Or is it twelve? According to a recent American medical study, the correct answer is less - a lot less. In fact, according to Dr. Marvin Adner who headed up the study, we’re all drinking ‘way too much water - especially the healthy, athletic types among us. The study looked at nearly 500 marathon runners and discovered that many of them are downing so much water they are diluting their blood - with potentially fatal results. Gulping too much water can cause a condition called hyponatremia - critically low blood- sodium levels. If the levels get too low it means brain damage and eventually death. Then there’s the sun. Ever since human bungling led to holes in the ozone layer, experts have been warning us about UV McGuinty appears unsure of himself Premier Dalton McGuinty has asked almost everyone for advice except Dear Abby and the lonely-hearts columnist may be next on his list. The Liberal premier has set a record for asking others what he should do. He has called on the high and the mighty, or at least those who have been at the top in Ontario politics. McGuinty brought back former New Democrat premier Bob Rae to study the needs of universities and colleges and former Progressive Conservative premier William Davis to a panel advising Rae. McGuinty resuscitated former Liberal premier David Peterson to negotiate sharing gambling revenue with First Nations and could shrug off charges of patronage by saying he has brought in advisers from different parties. The only ex-premiers McGuinty has not called on are Tories Mike Harris and Ernie Eves, but in opposition he knocked both so hard he would have difficulty suddenly discovering they have ideas worth grasping. McGuinty revived Elinor Caplan, a health minister under Peterson, to review the way contracts for home-care are awarded and the constant changeovers that impair treatment. He has exhumed former NDP ministers Marion Boyd to study whether Islamic sharia law should be allowed to settle domestic disputes between Muslims and Dave Cooke to look into school closings in northern Ontario. McGuinty had former federal Liberal finance minister John Manley, a longtime friend with whom he shared riding boundaries in Ottawa, study the future of Ontario Power Generation, the main provider of electricity. McGuinty also has called often on ordinary citizens to jog his thoughts and loured the indexes and the importance of slathering great gobs ot sunblock all over our carcasses before we venture outdoors Well, not all experts. Some ot them are now arguing that we need MORE unscreened sunlight in our lives. Doctor Michael Holick of the Boston University School of Medicine has just published a book extolling the virtues of unprotected sunbathing. He argues that it boosts levels of Vitamin D in the skin. Orthodox dermatologists are predictably outraged, but an organization called The Vitamin D Council is backing Dr. Holick. saying it’s time to re-think our solar attitudes. Who ya gonna believe? And Mr. Hughes, if you're reading this. I want you to know that you were wrong too. Mr. Hughes was My Grade 5 teacher. He lurked over me and my classmates for one entire, horrible school year and once fetched me a crack across the knuckles with his ruler just because l dozed off for a few seconds during one of his interminable droning lectures. Naps are good things, you pontificating sadist! In tact, you’d have been better off catching a few winks instead of terrorizing your charges. According to a study published in the American Geriatrics Society Journal, people - older adults particularly - are mentally sharper province, holding meetings where he asked participants for their views, on a scale unprecedented for a premier. Unfortunately, a large number of them appeared to be Liberals, questions were restricted and reaction was largely hostile. McGuinty asked the province’s employees for tips on how to save and they produced some useful suggestions such as sharing locations for services with the federal government. McGuinty says he will allow juries’ picked from residents to recommend changes in election laws and has a committee from both sides discussing issues involving the justice system and news media. Among other attempts to obtain input from residents, he has held public forums to look into concerns about the privatized Highway 407, particularly high lolls, and asked the public how the Canadian National Exhibition and Ontario Place on Toronto’s waterfront can be joined to make a world-class attraction. He also is asking, after the horse has bolted, what the public wants to do with the Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre, which provided outdoor education for six decades before he closed it without consulting anyone. McGuinty’s main motive in his unprecedented search for others’ views is to if they nod oft for an houi »>i so in the early afternoon. Spaniards with their siestas figured this out about 500 years ago. but North Americans arc slow learners. And now it seems that computers, commonly touted as the greatest human innovation since fire, the wheel and l he dashboard coffee cup holder, may in tact be hazardous to our health. Particularly it you're a male laptop user. Turns out that laptops arc hazardous to our. er. laps Genital scorching is what we’re talking about, men Lancet, the British medical journal has reported a case in which a laptop­ tapping patient suffered burns to his penis and scrotum, caused, apparently, by the machine in his lap. Scientists did some research and found that as portable machines go. laptop computers are indeed hot potatoes, olten generating surface temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. Add to that the internal body temperature generated by squeezing your thighs together to hold the laptop steady - and that makes it mighty toasty for The Boys. Dangerously toasty? Could be. Scientists say that a temperature increase of just one degree Ceisius in the scrotum can reduce sperm production by 40 per cent. Dr. Marc Goldstein, a fertility expert at Cornell University says: “It makes perfect sense, but no one had thought about the fertility effect of a hot computer on your lap.” So to sum up: Laptops:bad. Naps: good. Water: bad. Sunshine: good. Can’t wait ‘til someone comes out with a study showing that eating grease, chugalugging rum and chain-smoking Marlboros makes you smarter and better­ looking. It's only a matter of time. give the impression his government is open and responsive, in keeping with his claim to bring more democracy to governing. He also has taken some of the focus off his early failures to keep promises, after being left with a massive deficit he argues he could not have foreseen. He additionally has given jobs to friends and weakened opposition parties by luring away some of their leading figures. But McGuinty is now also al the point where he looks unsure of himself and afraid to act unless he polls almost everyone first. One group he is not consulting enough is his large caucus of 70 MPPs who are experienced in public life. And while they do not have answers to everything, they are constantly in touch with views in their ridings. By repeatedly asking outsiders, McGuinty is belittling his elected members and reinforcing the view they are nobodies once they get a few feet from the legislature. Elected politicians also are supposed to lead, not ask everyone else what to do - if they did not lead, Canada might still have capital punishment. Dear Abby might well tell McGuirty that voters like a leader who seems firm and decisive and he is not calling on some who could help him. Final Thought Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. -Lao-Tzu Bonnie Gropp The short of it i i A little appreciation Darkness wraps us in isolation the silliness is broken only by the low hum ol the radio, the rhythmic 'thwack, thwack' of the tires on pavement. It was the end ol yet another tiring week and my hubby and I were travelling home in the waning night hours after visiting family at the cottage. His sister and her spouse are here from the west, so squeezed between our working and well-filled leisure hours have been trips to lake country. But despite the exhaustion that comes with a hectic schedule, there was a deep sense of satisfaction as we made our weary way home the other night. In silent contemplation i thought of the summer we’ve enjoyed until now. and realized that I really have. Enjoyed it that is. The sweltering heat has been a blanket of comfort to me, the days of sunshine a soothing balm. To paraphrase a favourite saying, God gave us memory so that thoughts of January can easily make a humid day pleasing. This long, hot summer also conjures up images of my childhood, mornings of bright sunshine and twilights of warmth and fun. And I know that time has probably romanticised my recollections, but they bring to mind soaring temperatures and endless sun. It was this kind of magical summer I had always hoped for my children. For several years, I felt we were coming close when we owned a trailer in Port Elgin. Self-employed then, I could plan my hours so that we might spend as much time as possible at the lake. Surrounded by playmates of their age, our oldest kids revelled in a freedom unmatched at home. They were protected by their numbers and by the close family atmosphere of the crowded park. 1 asked my daughter not too long ago, if she remembered those summers the way I did, if she knew what a magical time it had been in her life. Her response was immediate. "Absolutely. I think about it all the time, the fun we had, the friends. It was great.” I was so happy to hear it. And then 1 began thinking about what those summers had meant to me. I too, enjoyed a freedom and pleasure that for this little hedonist was just perfect. Days of socializing with grownups while our children were growing up amidst the healthy environment of fresh air, sun, sand and surf. After relaxing days on the beach, quiet walks and picture perfect sunsets there were campfires to unwind what few frazzled edges might exist. Bedtime was the untroubled sleep of the well rested and happy. What’s unfortunate is that I didn’t recognize at the time how blessed I was, how special those summers were for our family. Only in retrospect do I recognize the significance. 1 mentioned this to my husband on our drive home last week, how I wasn’t wise enough to appreciate what I had at the time. At least not as much as I should have. Well, I am wiser now. With the realization of having let far too much of life’s moments pass me by without worthy importance placed on them at the time. I make a conscious effort now to look, absorb and feel the details of what’s happening. This summer has been one ot wonderful weather (for me). It’s been a time to enjoy family. And while we’ve been missing our youngest whose out to sea for awhile, it has meant more lime with his son. All in all pretty good. And I haven’t even gone on holiday yet!