Join the Army of Women

Dr. Susan Love/Avon Partnership

The Love/Avon Army of Women is driven by two key partnerships that will accelerate the research necessary to discover ways to prevent breast cancer: a partnership between the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation and the Avon Foundation for Women, and a partnership between scientists and women.

If you or someone you know has ever been touched by breast cancer, join this army of women and spread the word!

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Tikal Templo V

Tikal, Guatemala

Number Lovers

Now here is a woman after my own heart. 

Number Gossip

You just have to love the purity of a site that gives you nothing but trivia about numbers.

Hint:  Try zero.

You're Welcome, Brian Williams

And thank you, Ying, for sending it to me.

Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News

After tonight’s broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we’re going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials — for companies like Tim Horton’s — which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games — you’ve made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn’t hear one car horn in 15 days — which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbour, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States…when you know we’re listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Women Over 50

I think Andy Rooney says it best.

As I grow in age, I value women over 50 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 50 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, ‘What are you thinking?’ She doesn’t care what you think.

If a woman over 50 doesn’t want to watch the game, she doesn’t sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it’s usually more interesting.

Women over 50 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won’t hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it’s like to be unappreciated.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 50.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 50 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest.. They’ll tell you right off if you are a jerk, if you are acting like one. You don’t ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over 50 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 50, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize.

For all those men who say, ‘Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?Here’s an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage.Why? Because women realize it’s not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!

Andy Rooney is a really smart guy!

We Are More

We Are More

by Shane Koyczan

When defining Canada

you might list some statistics

you might mention our tallest building

or biggest lake

you might shake a tree in the fall

and call a red leaf Canada

you might rattle off some celebrities

might mention Buffy Sainte-Marie

might even mention the fact that we’ve got a few

Barenaked Ladies

or that we made these crazy things

like zippers

electric cars

and washing machines

when defining Canada

it seems the world’s anthem has been

“been there done that”

and maybe that’s where we used to be at

it’s true

we’ve done and we’ve been

we’ve seen

all the great themes get swallowed up by the machine

and turned into theme parks

but when defining Canada

don’t forget to mention that we have set sparks

we are not just fishing stories

about the one that got away

we do more than sit around and say “eh?”

and yes

we are the home of the Rocket and the Great One

who inspired little number nines

and little number ninety-nines

but we’re more than just hockey and fishing lines

off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes

and some say what defines us

is something as simple as please and thank you

and as for you’re welcome

well we say that too

but we are more

than genteel or civilized

we are an idea in the process

of being realized

we are young

we are cultures strung together

then woven into a tapestry

and the design

is what makes us more

than the sum total of our history

we are an experiment going right for a change

with influences that range from a to zed

and yes we say zed instead of zee

we are the colours of Chinatown and the coffee of Little Italy

we dream so big that there are those

who would call our ambition an industry

because we are more than sticky maple syrup and clean snow

we do more than grow wheat and brew beer

we are vineyards of good year after good year

we reforest what we clear

because we believe in generations beyond our own

knowing now that so many of us

have grown past what used to be

we can stand here today

filled with all the hope people have

when they say things like “someday”

someday we’ll be great

someday we’ll be this

or that

someday we’ll be at a point

when someday was yesterday

and all of our aspirations will pay the way

for those who on that day

look towards tomorrow

and still they say someday

we will reach the goals we set

and we will get interest on our inspiration

because we are more than a nation of whale watchers and lumberjacks

more than backpacks and hiking trails

we are hammers and nails building bridges

towards those who are willing to walk across

we are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss

we are not the see-through gloss or glamour

of those who clamour for the failings of others

we are fathers brothers sisters and mothers

uncles and nephews aunts and nieces

we are cousins

we are found missing puzzle pieces

we are families with room at the table for newcomers

we are more than summers and winters

more than on and off seasons

we are the reasons people have for wanting to stay

because we are more than what we say or do

we live to get past what we go through

and learn who we are

we are students

students who study the studiousness of studying

so we know what as well as why

we don’t have all the answers

but we try

and the effort is what makes us more

we don’t all know what it is in life we’re looking for

so keep exploring

go far and wide

or go inside but go deep

go deep

as if James Cameron was filming a sequel to The Abyss

and suddenly there was this location scout

trying to figure some way out

to get inside you

because you’ve been through hell and high water

and you went deep

keep exploring

because we are more

than a laundry list of things to do and places to see

we are more than hills to ski

or countryside ponds to skate

we are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can’t wait

we are first-rate greasy-spoon diners and healthy-living cafes

a country that is all the ways you choose to live

a land that can give you variety

because we are choices

we are millions upon millions of voices shouting

“keep exploring… we are more”

we are the surprise the world has in store for you

it’s true

Canada is the “what” in “what’s new?”

so don’t say “been there done that”

unless you’ve sat on the sidewalk

while chalk artists draw still lifes

on the concrete of a kid in the street

beatboxing to Neil Young for fun

don’t say you’ve been there done that

unless you’ve been here doing it

let this country be your first-aid kit

for all the times you get sick of the same old same old

let us be the story told to your friends

and when that story ends

leave chapters for the next time you’ll come back

next time pack for all the things

you didn’t pack for the first time

but don’t let your luggage define your travels

each life unravels differently

and experiences are what make up

the colours of our tapestry

we are the true north

strong and free

and what’s more

is that we didn’t just say it

we made it be.

-Shane Koyczan

Take a Stand

Here is your chance to take a stand. Write to the PMO, your MP, the opposition leaders and let them know how you feel about this. You can do it online at www.bringbackparliament.ca.

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to express my concern about your decision to shut down Parliament.

Some days I don’t feel like working. If I decided simply not to show up, I’d lose my job. There’s too much work to be done to allow for that kind of irresponsibility.

The same is true for our country. There are too many pressing issues to shut down Parliament for weeks: joblessness, climate change, the war.

MPs have important work to do on these and other issues. It’s not right that they should be prevented from doing that work because you don’t want to face the House of Commons.

I urge you to bring back Parliament on schedule.

Yours sincerely,

Say NO to Proroguing Parliament

Come out on January 23 and be heard.

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament

Constitutional Fairytales

Debunking the parliamentary myths Mr. Harper would have us believe … a refreshingly clear and concise article about Canadian parliament.

http://historywire.ca/en/article/19578

Vacation Reading – Scotland

One of the best things about vacation and traveling is that you have time to read. I love that moment when you click the seat belt shut, pull out your book and settle in for a 6 hour affair with a book you have been saving for just this moment.

And our recent trip to Scotland was no different. I have just passed my birthday and thanks to some wonderfully thoughtful friends I had a couple of good books to keep me company on my journey.

The first book I picked up was No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod. And how completely appropriate that I should read this on the flight to Scotland. I won’t recount the plot here as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who might yet read this book. As a Canadian of Scottish heritage, this book touched something very deep in my past and put me in the perfect frame of mind to embrace Scotland as we toured the Highlands and walked Culloden Moor. Thank you Mr. MacLeod for a wonderful and touching story beautifully executed.

The second book to grace this vacation was Suite Francaise. How I could have missed this book during the five years since it was first published is a mystery. That I have found it and read it now is a blessing. Reading the book while knowing the fate of the author made it one of the most intimate literary experiences I’ve ever known. In a gross over-simplification, I categorize fiction as either action or character development. Suite Française has both and Irene Némirovsky is a master. It is our loss that she did not survive to publish many, many more works.

The last of my vacation reading was a little lighter … Suite Francaise by Peter Mayle and Mr. Mayle had me chuckling pretty much the entire flight home. This book was so delightful that I think I’ve convinced Roël that we need to visit Provence very soon – and not the tourist hotspots, but the smaller villages and out of the way restaurants that I feel I have already visited.

As far as vacation reading goes, this past vacation has been a major success. All three books that I took with me were excellent reads … each in it’s own way. Very different books, very different (and talented) authors and all of them well worth the time to read and enjoy.