Fit Ottawa

Check out this awesome photo taken during last Friday’s snowstorm by one of the members of the “OC Transpo BUS FAN CLUB” group on Yahoo (click for a larger image).

The photo shows 5 buses stranded around the intersection in Gatineau. It turns out that the low-floor articulated (long accordion-style) buses don’t work too well in snow. Like most buses they have their engines in the rear. They are also rear-wheel drive, meaning that the smaller “caboose” is actually pushing the front two-thirds of the bus. As you can imagine, this gives them somewhat of a lose footing on ice and snow! On top of that, if they turn too sharply and then get stuck, they are incapable of reversing and are left in that beautiful “jacknife” position you see in the photo. The older, high-floor, articulated buses don’t have so much trouble in snow, but their rear ends tend to fish-tail around quite a bit.

Funny thing is that these particular buses are manufactured by New Flyer Industries which is a company headquartered in Winnipeg! Now, last time I checked, Winnipeg was not immune to the odd snowflake or two… Weird, huh? You’d expect Canadian-made buses to be more snow-worthy than most.

Yesterday (Wednesday) Ottawa received more snow, wreaking havoc on the after-work rush hour traffic. People were bitter and angry while waiting almost an hour for their buses to arrive, but they were in pretty good spirits once aboard! It took me 2.5 hours to get home — including walking from Bayshore after giving up on my local bus. My usual commute time is around 1 hour.

On an unrelated note, a Kanata-bound Route 96 bus (#6325) caught fire on the Queensway this morning, causing all westbound traffic to be rerouted along Corkstown Rd between Moodie and Eagleson. The passengers were evacuated to another bus and nobody was hurt!

In North America software is a patentable entity. This means that software companies are forced to waste countless resources and legal fees in the pursuit and protection of patents. I don’t blame the companies for this — I blame the policy makers! The idea of patenting software is absurd at best and can only have been the result of a fundamental misunderstanding of software by those in charge of intellectual property laws.

I’ve often compared the idea of patenting software algorithms to the patenting of a particular plot twist in a novel (e.g. “a murder mystery in which the butler did it”). After the patent has been granted, another author would not be able to write a story in which “the butler did it!” Absurd? Exactly!

I’m in full support of copyrighting software — after all, that’s what pays my bills. Software developers are like journalists. The company tells us what to write about, we do our research, solve the required puzzles and then we publish! Like writers, our work should be protected from unlawful duplication.

Anyways, I was pleased to recently discover that the somewhat eccentric (fanatical even) head of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, also uses a “book analogy” to drive home the ridiculousness of software patents.

Quoted from a ZNet article:

Free Software Movement Issues

A novel and a modern complex programme have certain points in common: each is large and implements many ideas. Suppose patent law had been applied to novels in the 1800s; suppose states such as France had permitted the patenting of literary ideas. How would this have affected Hugo’s writing? How would the effects of literary patents compare with the effects of literary copyright?

Consider the novel Les Misérables, written by Hugo. Because he wrote it, the copyright belonged only to him. He did not have to fear that some stranger could sue him for copyright infringement and win. That was impossible, because copyright covers only the details of a work of authorship, and only restricts copying. Hugo had not copied Les Misérables, so he was not in danger.

Patents work differently. They cover ideas - each patent is a monopoly on practising some idea, which is described in the patent itself.
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It is election time in Canada. Until a few days ago, the federal government was run by the Liberal party and the seats in the House of Commons were populated as follows:

The Liberals have been in power for the past 12 years — far too long in the eyes of many. Since they hold only 44% of the seats in the House of Commons they form a minority government.

On November 29, the parties holding the other 56% of seats got together and passed a motion of non-confidence against the Liberal government. The extreme right wing and the extreme left wing joined forces to oust the Liberals from power. This, of course, is bullshit. I have no quarrel with the fact that the Liberals have been in power for too long — what causes me dismay is that these parties threw their defining differences aside to topple the status quo. Let me say that again — they temporarily compromised their values by joining forces with their enemies. Right embraced Left and Left embraced Right solely to combat Centre. This suggests that the quest for power is more important than the core values of these parties. If they can’t put their values first, how can we trust them to follow their platforms?

The Liberals are well-fed, corrupt, and somewhat stagnant. The Conservatives are backward as always — even more so after removing the “Progressive” from their name. The Bloc is a joke federally since it represents just one province. The NDP are not confidence-inspiring and focus on unions and special interests to the detriment of everything else. So who to vote for? You can start your own party of course, but why not consider the Green Party of Canada?

The Green Party is an emerging force in the Canadian political arena, having earned 4.3% of the popular vote in the most recent federal election. Almost one in twenty Canadians voted Green, yet they have no seats in the house of commons due to our outdated voting system. Proportionally, they should have 13 seats — almost as many as the NDP has now.

There is a common misconception that the Green Party is a one-issue group interested only in saving the environment. Not so! If you want a one-issue group, go talk to the Marijuana Party. The ecological component of the Green Party platform is an important one, but it is one of many. For a party that receives no funding, they have a well-rounded platform. As they grow they will obtain more funding, meaning they will be able to create a full platform to compete with the best the other parties have to offer.
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Bread plays a major role in the daily life of so many cultures, including the North American one. Even the lowly baloney sandwich relies on bread for whatever appeal it can muster. However (and contrary to the international stereotype), not all bread in North America is of the cotton-wool pre-sliced variety!

Very good bread is a wonder to behold. It has a dense, slightly moist interior and a thick chewy crust. The flavour is pleasantly yeasty with a slight hint of salt. Sufficiently moist bread should feel cool when stored at room temperature and its interior (la mie) is touched to your lips or cheek. A decent crust should take a bit of extra chewing to work through. Like an excellent croissant, good bread doesn’t need anything to accompany it, though a dab of butter can push it further into the heavenly domain.

Anyways, on to the secret ingredient! Barley malt extract. It’s no secret to European bakers of course, since most European breads use it. However, in North America this ingredient is only found in the best specialty breads. Malt extract serves two important purposes:

• it introduces enzymes that convert some of the starch (flour) to sugar to feed the yeast, and
• it helps brown the crust and give it good texture

Good table bread contains NO SUGAR! Not even honey or fruit juice. The malt extract powder takes care of feeding the yeast without making the bread sweet. Here in Ottawa, some of the best bread is sold at Loblaws, and it comes from the Ace Bakery in Toronto. Look at the ingredients of Ace Bakery bread and you’ll notice that there is no sugar, and there is barley malt extract.

While visiting Switzerland this past September we stayed with my uncle, who happens to be a culinary genius. He made the most delicious bread from whole spelt flour and (of course) malt extract powder. You can find the simple recipe in my recipe book. In my opinion spelt has a nicer and nuttier flavour than wheat, so it makes for a really tasty loaf!

So where can you buy malt extract powder? Here in Ottawa, you can find it at Rainbow Foods (Richmond Rd near Carling Ave), but you should be able to find it at health food stores in general. It’s called “Barley Malt Extract Powder” and it should be diastatic. (If it says “for bread” then it’s diastatic.)

One of the perks of taking the bus to work is that I share the experience with people from all walks of life, not just those that live in my neighbourhood or work in my office. A bus often carries a great cross-section of society — rich, poor, educated, polite, rude, talkative, quiet, etc, etc. Different personalities, different social status, and different ethnicities.

Everyone prefers to board the bus early because they want the best chance at a good seat. I’ve noticed that the order in which people board the bus often correlates to their race. It generally goes a bit like this:

1. Caucasian females
2. Caucasian males
3. Other males
4. Other females

Now, this doesn’t happen every time and of course there are exceptions even when it does happen, but it’s a general trend I’ve noticed. It was surprising to me that something so commonplace as boarding an OC Transpo bus could demonstrate racial biases in Ottawa.

If you’ve ever boarded a bus when there is no distinct queue of people, you know how this works: two or three people at a time are in position to board the bus. They use eye contact and body language to determine who should go first. Whoever “wins” steps onto the bus and someone else takes his place. Then the little game repeats over and over until all passengers have boarded. The important thing to note is that people rarely assert their position to board the bus — instead, the others yield to them by hanging back or waving them on. What does this mean? It means that the order isn’t being forced by those who board first — rather, it is being suggested by those who board last.

This phenomenon seems to indicate that non-white members of our community are feeling like second class citizens. It shows just how far we still have to go to eliminate racism. We’ve done a fairly good job of getting rid of racism-based hatred but we still have plenty of room for improvement in the area of respect.

So, just a reminder… Until you respect all races equally, you are not immune to the charge of racism.

Once we have achieved mutual respect, independent of race, then we can work on the final component of racism: racial cronyism. I see this on the bus too — people are most likely to sit next to or talk with someone of the same race. Bus operators are noticeably friendlier to people who share their ethnicity. Of course, a few drivers are pissy towards everyone regardless of ethnicity. Everyone is guilty of racial (and cultural) cronyism. People feel a natural affinity towards others who have something in common with them. If we are to truly eradicate racism, we must transcend these perceived differences and embrace our fellow inhabitants of this world.

I guess as humans (after all, the only true race is the human race) we will always discriminate and harbour biases against certain people. We judge others based on the way they talk, the clothes they wear, how attractive they are, how fat they are, how much money or education they have, what kind of work they do, and how they communicate. We grade others by comparing them to ourselves or how we would like to be. To some extent this is unavoidable, but we should remain conscious of it. We must agree that race or ethnicity is one of the least meaningful of all differences between people.

Pesticide bans are making the news again. This time, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in favour of the pesticide ban in Toronto. Earlier this year, the Ontario Court of Appeal also ruled in favour of maintaining the ban. Toronto introduced the ban in 2003.

Once again, the City of Ottawa is floundering behind other large Canadian cities in implementing bylaws that serve to protect the health of its citizens. A pesticide ban is inevitable, much like the recent smoking ban and the now-ancient mandatory seat belt law. These types of laws make good sense and are difficult to argue against without whining about their effects on business. Sorry, folks… we’re a civilized society! Human health must take precedence over business interests and lawn vanity.

If you’re interested in having a healthy lawn without pesticides, I heartily recommend Organic Lawncare for the Cheap and Lazy. It contains a link to a clever and entertaining piece entitled God’s Take on Lawns.

I’ve been doing some research recently into a question that interests me as a consumer:

How many of the brands we see in grocery stores are sub-brands of well known companies?

Here’s what I found. There are three huge international food companies that own a whole whack of the brands we see in our grocery stores.

—–
Unilever (England, Netherlands)

• Becel, Country Crock, Imperial, I Can’t Believe it’s not Butter
• Ben and Jerry’s, Good Humor, Ola, Breyers, Cornetto, Magnum, Solero, Viennetta
• Best Foods, Hellmann’s
• Bertolli
• Blue Band, Boursin
• Bovril
• Knorr, Lawry’s and Adolph’s
• Lipton
• Marmite
• Skippy peanut butter
• Slim-Fast
• Dove, Sunlight, Vaseline
• former brands: Campbell Soup (inc. Oxo)

—–
Nestlé (Switzerland)

• Nescafe, Taster’s Choice
• Aberfoyle, Perrier, S. Pellegrino
• Carnation, Libby’s, Nesquik, Nestea
• Mövenpick
• Good Start, Cerelac, Nestum
• PowerBar
• Buitoni, Maggi, Thomy
• Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine, Stouffer’s, Toll House
• Aero, Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Coffee Crisp, Kit Kat, Smarties, Cailler, Quality Street, Rolo, Bottle Caps, Fun Dip, Nerds, SweeTarts, Willie Wonka
• Dog Chow, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Purina

—–
Kraft Foods (USA), Altria Group, Philip Morris

• Nabisco, Christie
• Post cereals
• General Foods
• Jacobs, Maxwell House
• Suchard, Baker’s, Toblerone, Milka, Terry’s
• Miracle Whip
• Philadelphia
• Vegemite
• Velveeta
• Oscar Mayer
• Jell-O, Knox
• Planters
• Stove Top Stuffing
• Kool-Aid, Tang, Capri Sun
• Delissio

You probably noticed that things have changed a little. fitottawa.com has a new look and a new format. Over the past half year it has become clear to me that this site is more of a blog than anything else. So now it really IS a blog.
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On a recent visit to Switzerland I snapped a photo of my kids that instantly became my favourite. It’s a nice enough picture — it captures their enthusiasm and wonder, it is properly focussed and it has interesting colours. Composition isn’t great, but I’ve seen worse. However, what makes it special is that this water trough sits in front of my grandparents’ house. My grandfather built the wooden water wheel in his workshop. When I was pretty much the same age as my kids are here, I played in the same water trough with the same waterwheel. My grandfather died in 1986, almost nineteen years before this picture was taken, and my grandmother turned 90 during this visit in September 2005.

This was one of those lucky shots that just happen to work out. I was about 30 feet away from the kids, with my brand new 70-300 zoom lens in hand. I saw them playing, pointed the camera and pressed the button. That was it. If I had actually tried to take this picture with advance planning, it would never have worked. At my fledgling skill level photography is at least 50% pure luck, and when the subject is kids that number rises to 80%.

I ate an evil, greasy sandwich (chicken carbonara) for lunch at Quizno’s today and naturally wanted to find out how much fat I had eaten. I was surprised to find that their website only lists nutritional information for three menu items:
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