Patsy makes us proud

From Kochi to Ontario, a 28-day voyage to the US in 1960! From a naive college student, to the honoured Order of Canada in 2007 -- an award for exemplary achievement and service. Such has been the meteoric rise of Patsy George, 66, a retired public servant and social worker who lives in British Columbia.

Parental pressure had made Patsy take a pre-med couse, only to drop it. "My professor asked me what I wanted to do after college. I told him I was interested in political activism, but not as an elected official." He suggested community development and that's what set her off on her long, eventful career in public assistance and social welfare. Closest to her heart is legislation for protection of rights for children. "I feel strongly for the orphans in Africa. It's not their fault that they were born to parents with Aids," says Patsy, who is also the president of the United Nations Association, Canada, Vancouver branch. She has one wish for India, equality for women, and a message for the youth, 'Think of yourself as a global citizen in a world that is so fragile.' » Continue reading

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Junkie's haven

Seems like Holland believes in the addict's dictum: don't drink and drive; smoke weed and fly! After legalising euthanasia and prostitution, the country has now cleared the sale of marijuana in medical stores.

Prescribed as an appetite enhancer and painkiller for people with AIDS, multiple sclerosis and Tourette's syndrome, the drug is distributed by Maripharm, which advertises its products as "standardised, vacuum-packed and bearing patient infromation and does advice." While marijuana prices vary from $50 to $400 an ounce on the streets, Maripharm sells it at $225 an ounce.

What else? Buyers and sellers are lobbying for medical insurers to underwrite marijuana bills! » Continue reading

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Lenovo-Designed Olympic Torch for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing

When everything is going hight-tech, why not the Olympic torch?

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympiad Games of XXIX (BOCOG) in the presence of the International Olympic Committee, unveiled the Lenovo-Designed Olympic Torch for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Lenovo's design, the "Cloud of Promise," was chosen over 300 competitor themes and will be carried by torchbearers around the world in the Olympic Torch Relay preceding the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Lenovo is also the TOP (worldwide) Sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Since its inception in 1936, the Olympic torch has come to represent the history and culture of its host country and city. Lenovo's unique approach for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch incorporates a sleek and modern design with historical Chinese symbolism. The primary theme of the torch’s artwork is clouds, which are intimately associated with Chinese culture, and are often represented in works of Chinese architecture, drawing and painting, furniture and story-telling.

Design of the Torch

The torch, fashioned from a polished aluminum-magnesium alloy, measures 720 millimeters x 50 mm x 40 mm (28.35 inches x 1.97 in x 1.56 in) and is exceptionally lightweight at about 1,000 grams (2.21 pounds).
Additional features of the torch design include:

• Primary coloring of deep red and bright silver, a fusion of traditional Chinese art and contemporary design, blending symbols of Chinese culture, philosophy and art;
• A handle designed not only for comfort, but to emulate the unique sensation of one hand holding another thanks to a coating of rubber-based paint; and
• An embossed pattern of clouds, which represent the ever-developing Chinese culture.

Lenovo's award-winning design team spent more than 10 months on the design of the torch. Altogether, more than 30 Lenovo design specialists were involved in the torch project including the core team of 10. The team was truly multinational, including designers from Germany, Singapore, US, Japan, New Zealand, Italy and China. The experience and specialties of the designers were equally diverse, and included majors in graphic design, chemistry, engineering, materials, anthropology, art and history. For months the teams engaged in intensive brainstorming, including game playing and creativity exercises, to help them look at the torch design from many different perspectives.

And if you enjoy watching videos, here is one for you from Lenovo. » Continue reading

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Chasing storms and hurricanes with Jeff Gammons

Are you a storm chaser, a nature enthusiast, an adventurer seeking some thrill watching mother nature on a destruction spree? Do you enjoy watching hurricanes wiping entire towns away? Join South Florida based 32 years young Jeff Gammons on his perilous expeditions chasing severe storms and hurricanes through his blog StormVideographer.com which features the latest on Weather chase expeditions.

Founder of Weathervine.com, Jeff has been chasing severe storms and hurricanes since the mid 1990's and has to his credit intercepting hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, Rita, Dennis'05, Jeanne, Frances, Charley, Lili, Gabrielle, Gordon, Irene, Floyd, Dennis'99, Georges, and Erin.

Jeff relies on Hi Tech gear which includes laptops, PDAs, Cell Phones, GPS, GPS overlay with radar (Wxworx), wireless broadband cell data cards, WiFi, Satellite up and down link systems, pro video and audio cameras, ham radio, and digital camera.

Getting fresh data is very important and when you can get current surface obs, radar and Visible satellite imagery every few minutes, your chances of a successful chase greatly increase.

Catch Jeff chasing the Great Plains in mid-spring and during the summer and early fall months intercepting hurricanes. And when he is not chasing storms, he travels across Florida to teach severe-weather safety to schoolkids.

Jeff is currently running a promotional campaign for his blog in which he is distributing FREE Hurricane DVDs to the first 30 people who review his blog on their blogs or websites, provided you meet some basic criteria, which is why you are reading this post here. Not only that all reviewers will get a link back to their reviews. » Continue reading

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