Real Talk!

Here it is again, the date that stings our hearts and reminds us of the innocent people who perished and were injured in the unthinkable tragedy that unfolded in the year 2001.

Everyone knows what is meant, by those two, simple words: Nine-eleven. & there’s nothing SIMPLE about it.

Even now, as I type… I feel my throat go tight and my mind fills and empties, over and over. I falter between thoughts of those killed and those who survived and the families, living with a big, empty, quiet hole, now.

Sometimes, I think of the brave men and women who went into those buildings, knowing…. and the ones who rushed the cockpit of that plane… and those who sifted through the rubble and wreckage, hopefully searching…

And the children… the ones who saw it, the ones who lost loved ones, the ones in the buildings and airplanes, the ones unborn…

It’s almost too much for me to bear and yet, what right have I?

I care.

I write about Tsunami Alerts: even today, two powerful earthquakes have struck northeastern Indonesia and Hokkaido (Japan’s northern island). 6.6 and 7.2 magnitudes have been recorded. A warning was issued for a possible tsunami.

& Yesterday, I wrote about the inaugural run of the Alpine proton particle cannon…

it was actually a very gentle beginning to what will eventually become a super, colossal atom-smashing, proton hurtling experiment.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is said to operate like a humongous, ultra-charged billiard cue that violently thrusts bunches of protons into other protons, smashing them into particles…

Scientists with the “European Organization for Nuclear Research” (somehow called CERN), established in 1954, believe they will be able to recreate the natural phenomena of cosmic rays and study them better.

Veteran research scientist, Professor Otto Rossler (often called the father of Chaos theory) worries that dreaded micro black holes created by the LHC will have the earth for lunch.

& Dissenters worry that exploding hadrons might ram bizarre sub-atomic bits in all directions… but CERN has a whole webpage dedicated to reassuring us.

See :
http://public.web.cern.ch/Public/en/LHC/Safety-en.html

American, Walter L Wagner has created a non-profit organization (Citizens Against the Large Hadron Collider) that is using legal action to attempt to prevent the operation of LHC until more safety tests are conducted.

See: http://www.lhcdefense.com/index.php

Speaking of the legal world:

Yesterday, Canada’s first “community court” opened in Vancouver. The court has teams of social workers, drug counsellors and other professionals standing by in triage teams. The idea is to have people take responsibility for their crimes and provide immediate support for the offenders.

Perhaps this will relieve some of the backlog in the judicial system.

Also in Vancouver, yesterday, a black bear swam across a river, climbed onto a dock and then jumped into a boat to attack a fisherman. Every time I hear one of these stories, I wonder why this happened… there’s got to be something more to this.

The New York Times announced that U.S. President Bush “secretly approved orders in July” allowing commandoes to raid targets in Pakistan. Surprised?

A caregiver working for an “assisted-living facility” organized a bus excursion for some Alzheimer’s patients who wanted to see the Anthony house. (This would be the suburban home of the family of Caylee Anthony who has been missing for several weeks, under suspicious circumstances). Now, this does surprise me.

& now, about Ontario Real Estate…

Economists predict a soft landing for the Canadian Real Estate Market… they cite over pricing in some of the major cities and overheated western markets like Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Apparently, even these markets should correct within the next six months.

The CIBC World Markets senior economists said “slowdowns” in Ontario and Quebec are related to economic weakness, not overpricing of the market. The Wall Street Journal says that while the U.S. real estate market is in the doldrums, sales in Canada are expected to rive over 5% this year.

Housing starts in Ontario are up almost 20 per cent this year, say CMHC analysts but rising mortgage rates and a down-turning economy will likely reduce demand in the coming moths.

We’ve seen some pretty radical changes in the lending practices for mortgages. Buyers should see their lender before they look at making an investment in Real Estate. There is no one-size-fits-all solution any more.