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Election woes



I think there’s a provincial election coming up in Ontario. For the first time since 6th grade I’m out the loop on when exactly it is or the platforms of the major parties involved. I could spend a few minutes googling for some details, or I could put up this short rant to vent any frustrations I would normally get out over a drink with anyone who will listen.

Sorry Tim Hudak, I know close to nothing about you, but the 2-3 sound bytes I’ve picked up over the last few years make me want to vomit thinking that this is the best a conservative movement in the place that has always been my home can drum up. Thanks for wasting the small portion of my life that went to hearing you speak on repealing the HST or the hyperbole of targeting foreign workers.

And Dalton McGuinty, thanks for doing a whole lot of nothing over the last 8 years that I can think of, aside from marring the landscape of south western Ontario with useless wind energy projects over your tenure (please let the word subsidy die, it’s never a good idea).

How bout someone grow a pair and start talking (in Ontario and beyond) about agricultural reform (think subsidies and the industrialized grain fed disaster), invent a real environmental program (land and park conservation), strike down religious privilege in our tax and school systems, do something to start bringing down the growth of health care costs, get rid of EVERY subsidy and lower income tax, lobby for the elimination of supply-side drug enforcement, and kill the ridiculous Cuban embargo (ok this last one is pretty specific to US feds, but hey come on this makes no sense).

It’s not that real candidates never come around (i.e. Republican Gary Johnson for 2012 US election). I think the problem really might be the majority of people subscribe to such a poor journalistic standard and lack any sort of personal leadership in their lives, that when a spark of originality shows itself in any political sphere, there just isn’t sufficient kindling around these parts.

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Wheat Belly



Awesome stuff in Macleans (magazine edited by my favourite Canadian political writer, Andrew Coyne):
On the evils of wheat.

I haven’t checked out the book yet did also listen to an interview with Dr. William Davis on Robb Wolf’s (excellent) podcast.

I tried out a “paleo” diet 6-7 years ago and it’s been something that makes a lot of sense to me. Tweaks recently to lean more towards what is captured pretty well in The Perfect Health Diet, focusing mostly on limiting PUFAs, fructose, and wheat.

UPDATE
Some good critiques of this book have come out that underscore the importance of properly articulating why wheat is bad, but don’t so much dispute the premise:
Slam-dunked and Wheat Belly
One Size Does Not Fit All

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Desktop background



Recently stumbled back upon this wallpaper I had tweaked from somewhere that makes sense to me..:

Desktop wallpaper

Desktop wallpaper

Now if only it was easier to set unique backgrounds on multiple displays in Windows 7 (without a utility to do so for computers you don’t have system admin privileges on)..

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Loving this coffee grinder



My new coffee grinder :> much more high tech than the coffee maker. Time savings like mad. Loving it.

Breville BCG450XL Barista Control Conical Burr Coffee Grinder.

Scooped it at Electronics for Less (Canada) for under 100 bucks (sale I think).

(and I know this grinder sucks relative to the real goods out there.. maybe someone can buy me a Rancilio Rocky grinder…)

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More than a few paleo veggies



I’m not a fan of vegetarianism but even with paleo(-ish) diets people often react that there wouldn’t be enough variety. I found this following list I formatted from wikipedia a while back sitting in a note file. Not totally inclusive but tried to include most common vegetables to make this a practical list (also excludes herbs and spices):

Cruciferous Vegetables

(bulb and stem) kohlrabi

(green/leafy) arugula (rocket) brussels sprout cabbage Chinese cabbage (bok choy) collard greens kale mustard (greens and seeds) rapini turnip (greens) watercress

(root and tuber) daikon radish turnip (root) rutabaga

(fruiting/flowering) broccoli cauliflower

Non-Cruciferous, non-root vegetables

(bulb and stem) asparagus celeriac garlic leek onion anise fennel

(fruiting/flowering) artichoke celery cucumber eggplant* peppers* pumpkin squashes tomato* zucchini

(green/leafy) beet greens chard dandelion greens endive lettuces radicchio spinach

(sea vegetables) dulse kombu laver wakame

Root and tuber vegetables

carrot beetroot ginger parsnip sweet potato water chestnut yam

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* = nightshade

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