Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert has become the first person in recorded history to recover from Spasmodic Dysphonia (an inability to speak). It’s an amazing story.
Incidentally, I was horrified to discover recently that my children appear to think Dilbert is the Great Guide to Office Life. They take it as nearly true, just as they used to treat Calvin and Hobbes as the Guide to Excruciatingly Appropriate Household Behavior.
While we were distracted with searches of congressional offices and the Enron verdicts, back in reality, the flu virus may be doing that mutation thing. Or not.
The ever-informative W. David Stephenson blogs on homeland security et al. reports on More evidence human-to-human transmission is occurring. The picture is murky. But the news ain’t that good. WHO says, “…it is likely that for the first time H5N1 has spread from human to human to human — three generations of cases, possibly four. This does not mean that a pandemic strain has started but it is another warning signal.”
It seems that selecting plants for their ability to grow quickly results in their containing less nutrition.
Fruits, vegetables not as nutritious as 50 years ago. In spite of what Mother taught you about the benefits of eating broccoli, data collected by the U.S. government show that the nutritional content of America’s vegetables and fruits has declined during the past 50 years — in some cases dramatically.
Donald Davis, a biochemist at the University of Texas, said that of 13 major nutrients in fruits and vegetables tracked by the Agriculture Department from 1950 to 1999, six showed noticeable declines — protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and vitamin C. The declines ranged from 6 percent for protein, 15 percent for iron, 20 percent for vitamin C, and 38 percent for riboflavin.
I learned to like beets, but not broccoli. Now maybe I don’t have to eat it any more?
Davis said he doesn’t want his study to encourage people to stop eating vegetables on the grounds they lack nutrients.
“That’s completely wrong,” he said, contending his study shows that people need to eat more vegetables and fruits, not less. “Vegetables are extraordinarily rich in nutrients and beneficial phytochemicals. They are still there, and vegetables and fruits are our best sources for these.”
If this means I have to eat *more* broccoli, then it’s definitely a serious issue.
The BBC reports (March 31, not April 1) on findings that neutrinos have mass! If correct (the data seem to be at the edge of our ability to measure) then that is double plus ungood for the Standard Model, helpfully summarized by the BBC in this little chart:
In other science news, evidence that cell phones do cause cancer.
Father Frank Corbishley is about the farthest thing from a radical priest I can imagine. By that I don’t mean he’s reactionary, but that I have no idea what his politics are. He presents as very middle of the road. He’s nice, gentle, soft-spoken, super-decent. I don’t usually run in the company of Anglican priests, but we have children about the same ages, and I got to know him a bit via the kids’ on-campus daycare/pre-school, which is attached to the campus Anglican church in some fashion (both physically and legally or, if you prefer, corporately and corporately).
No fire-breathing radical here.
Let’s listen to what Father Frank has to say about the strike,
Every day striking workers arrive to the Episcopal Student Center on the University of Miami campus, a place now known as “Strike Sanctuary,” where I serve as chaplain. The strike is now in its 4th week and the workers remain strong, but a bit worn out from the continual harassment they are receiving from their employer, UNICCO, the contracting service against whom they are striking. One worker told me that last Saturday UNICCO called him 17 times, pressuring him to return to work. Many workers receive phone calls from their UNICCO supervisors, some threatening to fire the workers if they do not return to work.
In spite of the pressure, the workers fill the sanctuary each day as they courageously engage in this David and Goliath struggle. I am moved by how they encourage and support one another. I am also impressed with how the union leadership cares for them by providing the workers with income, food, and meaningful actions to bring this strike to a just resolution.
On behalf of the Task Force, we want to thank the clergy who have written, called, visited, led services, prayed, and joined us in marches as your support means a lot to us and the workers. We especially want to thank Bishops Frade, Ottley, and Estevez, who have given us spiritual strength throughout this journey.
Perhaps you have read that UM President Donna Shalala, although previously stating to the Coral Gables Clergy that she must remain neutral, has announced a raise and “affordable health care” to the striking workers. As a result, some people think that the strike is over or that the main issue has been resolved. I believe this was a tactical move on the part of the university to weaken community support for the workers and is an effort at union busting. The fact that Shalala made this announcement during Spring Break, when students and faculty were away, was another intentional tactical move on her part; there was no on-campus constituency to respond to her for several days. Since returning to campus, the faculty senate has unanimously passed a resolution and STAND, the student group, has run an op-ed piece in the student newspaper. Both groups are in full support of the workers continuing their struggle to unionization and our clergy task force joins them in this support.
So, there has been a victory for the workers but it is only a partial victory. The workers remain steadfast in their goal of achieving a union which will guarantee them their rights on the job, safe working conditions, protection against reprisals, and a lasting voice on the job. As you will read in my letter to the editor, published yesterday in the Miami Herald, this has been the goal of the workers all along.
In order to support the workers, the Coral Gables Task Force is inviting you to participate in a march on Tuesday, March 28 at 12 noon. Religious leaders, workers, faculty, students, and community leaders have come together to help the workers achieve their goal of unionization. The march will begin at my church, 1150 Stanford Drive in Coral Gables.
Since I am at a conference this weekend, please feel free to call Rev. C.J. Hawking of Interfaith Worker Justice at 786-280-6902 with any questions you may have. If you wish to speak to me directly, you may leave a message on my cell phone at 305-606-0923 and I can get back to you on Sunday afternoon.
Thank you for your continued prayerful support.
The Rev. Frank Corbishley, Chaplain,
Chapel of the Venerable Bede
Chair, SFICWJ Coral Gables Task Force
The Bush administration unveiled its bird flu plan for the US this weekend. And you can’t make this stuff up,
ABC News: Ready or Not, Bird Flu Is Coming to America: In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a dealy bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.
See, if everything breaks down and the government isn’t ready, there aren’t enough ventilators, it was your own fault for not listening to their warnings.
Yesterday New Orleans, tomorrow the nation.
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