The Canadian Parliament has been debating a Bill relating to same-sex marriage. Bill C-38 says: “Marriage, for civil purposes, is the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others.” This would replace or alter the legal definition of marriage, which had been established by judicial precedent in 1866 as “the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.” People of the same sex will be considered to have the legal capacity to make a marriage contract, and if married, to divorce and divide their property in accordance with provincial marital property laws, and to claim other legal benefits and rights accruing to the married state.
Letters to a Young Catholic
I noticed “Letters to a Young Catholic” by George Weigel in the library, read it, liked it, and posted a review at Blogcritics back in December. I decided to rewrite the review and put it up on my own site too.
Canned Drinks
After Steve’s comments on my last entry (Portion Advice) about Weightwatcher points, I looked at the labels on a few 355 ml (12 oz) beverage cans. The Safeway house brand root beer and regular cola have 162 and 161 calories per can, respectively. Diet Coke has 2 calories per can. Schweppe’s diet ginger ale, 0 calories. Schweppes Tonic Water – 130 calories. Canada Dry Tonic – not marked. Presidents Choice Brew (0.5 percent beer) is 65 calories per can. I have some regular beer in the house, but beer labels don’t have nutritional data. I dug up some information.
Portions Advice
Yesterday I wrote about portion sizes, complaining that good nutritional information tends to be published alongside luxuriously unhealthy recipes and other consumption-oriented material. On Wednesday the Free Press basically turns its Life and Entertaiment section into a Food section, with articles about cooking, recipes and a wine column. Today, I found an article out of the Canadian Press covering the start of Nutrition Month – March is Nutrition month for the Dieticians of Canada. This year they are emphasizing portion size.
Fakir on Tour
Last week the Free Press was running ads for Deepak Chopra’s visit to Winnipeg among the movie ads in the entertainment section. The show is called “An Evening with Deepak Chopra”, it’s at the Concert Hall on April 21, and ticket prices are from $45.00 to $150.00. Chopra is a best-selling author, an inspirational speaker, and he is associated with a luxury retreat spa. This article by Guardian columnist and author Francis Wheen estimated his income at $20 million a year, including $8 million from the retreat center.
White Chicks?
I watched the Academy Awards show on TV on Sunday. I loved the actresses in their gowns. Eye candy. The Naughty Vicar was demanding to be heard. I loved Chris Rock, especially that skit where he interviewed people (I recognized some so I assume some of them were actors) about their favourite movies and got answers like Chronicles of Riddick and White Chicks. Hilarious. Hollywood likes to think of itself as a community of independent artists instead of a commercial community because it give awards to high class commercial movies instead of low class commercial movies.
Pro – The Movie
I saw the Winnipeg premiere of “Pro, A Feature Documentary” last night at the Imax theater in Portage Place. Woodcock Cycle, had promoted it at their store, on their web site, and through the Manitoba Cycling Association. The theater was nearly full, and I think most of the audience were fairly dedicated cyclists.
Portions
This won’t be a stunning insight for many people. I knew it in an abstract way, but I haven’t made a serious effort to live with it. If I, as an adult, am gaining weight in spite of regular exercise, I am eating too much. I eat too much because I eat what I buy or cook, and I am buying and serving large portions.
Late Winter Wax
I skied the Bluestem Trail at Bird’s Hill last Sunday and I drove to Portage and skied some of the Bittersweet trails at Rossendale yesterday. I had problems both days, and it has been a struggle. I am not as fit as I was in the fall, and it gets worse each week. The cycling dropped off in October, and I have not maintained the same level of activity. As Mike says, a weekly game of shinny without proper conditioning and stretching hurts and inspires a week of inactivity. It doesn’t cut it.
Addiction 105
Addictions therapists and theorists, like addicts, have their stories. It has become fashionable to identify drug use as a (reasonable?) psychological response to the unhappiness and ugliness of life, and addiction as a long term response to emotional pain.