I first “met” him back in the BBS days back in the 1980s – Juxtaposition and the like. It was social networking 0.1 alpha.
Just watched CTV News Montreal and saw the leading story that he had passed away yesterday – Remembrance Day – after a two year battle against bone cancer / bone cancer more specifically Monosomy 5 …
Shock is putting it mildly. I had commented on some of his online stories and articles published for PC World magazine, but had no idea that he had been going through this huge challenge.
He was born in 1969, barely a year earlier than me.
So now … I (sort of) know someone who has passed away to cancer.
My condolences to all his wife, family and friends…
As I am often told (and remind myself) … things could be worse.
Tags: Emru Townsend, Health
Conflicting news anyone?
The director of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences at London’s Kingston University, Declan Naughton, , together with his colleagues Andrea Petróczi, Paul Barker, Theresa Hague and Paul Andrews, did an aggregated study of existing research papers to analyze the levels of metal contamination in wines. Most of the wines affected are the so-called common table wines. They tested red and white wines from 15 countries, and the wines with the highest Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) for metal concentration were from Hungary and Slovakia with a THQ as high as 300. A safe THQ of one is considered safe.

ICP-MS results for intact beverages in the concentration ranges of high (up to 1250 ppb); medium (up to 9 ppb); low (up to 1.5 ppb). a = above working range.
Hague et al. Chemistry Central Journal 2008 2:13 doi:10.1186/1752-153X-2-13
They also analysed apple juices as part of their research.
(more…)
Tags: Food, Health, research, Science, Target Hazard Quotient, wine
So I sit here (and occasionally walk) while recovering from the varicose vein surgery (a.k.a phlebectomy) and hoping the swelling stays in control with the Ace bandage.
My mom and I shared a very tasty steelhead trout… or steelhead salmon (truite saumonée en français) along with Rosti from Ikea, some stirfried broccoli… and then around 20h40, the phone rang and it was my dearest eldest son Tristan calling.
He sounded in good spirits and very relaxed, recounting his ped day at school where they painted a custom t-shirt (which hadn’t dried yet) and said he was ready and looking forward to the hockey tryouts tomorrow; he is in MAGH-3 and the novice evaluation is to determine which specific level within novice he’ll be playing in. It’s probably more stress for some parents than for the players themselves, but I’ve learned to be zen about these competitive sports (again, more competitive for parents than the actual mini-athletes) and keep in mind that it’s about the love of the game and not just the end result. He certainly loves the sports, whether it’s swimming, soccer, or playing defense or goalie in hockey.
So he asked about my surgery, and mentioned that it was probably “worse” than his tonsil surgery…. I told him that his tonsil surgery was indeed pretty painful and that mine was different; with a spinal anesthetic vs. general anesthesia for his procedure… he asked if I still had my bandages on and I of course said yup (it will probably be important for them to see my bandaged state)…
We both agreed that we wouldn’t be running around or playing soccer tomorrow together
… then he had a quick chat with Oma (in English and French mixed) before it was time for his bedtime… and as I promised him, I would be going to bed shortly after… so now I check out (with the help of some 30mg codeine :)) and a body pillow and … lui rejoindre dans les bras de morphée durant cette nuit.
Wooooohooooo….. 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning I go under the trusty scalpel (actually, phlebectomy hooks, I think)… and no food or drink after midnight tonight (I.E. let’s eat drink and be merry tonight!)
In the morning I get to wash with the Chlorhexidine Gluconate (4%) antiseptic soap…. at least on the leg destined for surgery, although I suppose I could use it all over (except eyes and ears as it can cause blindness)….

Tags: Health, surgery, varicose veins