Should wooden ties just fade away?

New wooden railway ties await installation.

These tracks, running through a little town just east of London, disappear in the early morning fog. The staggered piles of lumber beside the track are replacement railway ties. Some of the old ties have rotted almost completely away and a good number of the railway spikes are lifting.

Note the spike lift, lower left, and rotted tie, right.

I wondered if this track was safe. I did some research on the Internet. I learned that the spike pictured is suffering from "spike lift." Whenever there is a derailment, spike lift is one of the things that investigators look for. With the rotted ties and the spike lift, this track appears to be suffering. New ties are needed.

I have a retaining wall behind my home that was made from railway ties. The wall is rotting and in need of replacement. From my personal experience with railway ties, I figure these big chunks of creosote-saturated lumber do not last all that long. My years of working for a newspaper tell me that trains occasionally jump the track. Derailments are far from unknown. This is 2011, not 1911, isn't there a better way of anchoring track?

Well it turns out there well might be. For more than 30 years, Europe and Japan have been using concrete slab track instead of traditional ties and ballast. This type of track works well for high-speed passenger trains, but the challenge has been to design and construct a track system providing the required ride quality for high-speed passenger trains with the strength to withstand 39-ton axle loads at freight train speeds.

The Portland Cement Association is leading research into the problem and slab track installations are being tested in the United States.

Deer in the Woodland Cemetery

A large number of white-tailed deer now call London Ontario's Woodland Cemetery home. The usually timid animals are easily sighted from the busy four lane street bordering the south side of the cemetery grounds. Reportedly, at least two bucks have been seen as well as a good number of does.

The littlest couch potato

The littlest couch potato

Fiona is not quite 19-months but she's learning to like her DVDs. After a day of hide 'n' go seek, wolf at the door and doing battle with various puzzles, there's nothin' beats relaxing with some friends and a good movie. Fiona likes The Search for Santa Paws and Despicable Me. Paws, thanks to all the dogs, is well in the lead.

ICD spells No Blogging for a Month

I've had an ICD — an implantable cardioverter defibrillator — inserted into my chest. A long lead goes from the unit through a vein to my heart. If I should have another V-tach event, as I did last summer in California, the ICD will shock my heart and stop the event.

This means that I cannot lift my left arm higher than my shoulder for a month. Also, I should refrain from lifting anything more than ten pounds during the healing period. As for driving, it's out, too.

Feeling a little uneasy about carrying my camera bag, and feeling a little restricted in the use of my cameras, and unable to get about by car, I am suspending my shooting until early April. At that time I'm going to get back to the daily grind of shooting as my babysitting will no longer be an all day affair.

If you're interested in knowing more about an ICD or about the Canadian health care system, please click on this link to Rockin' On: the Blog.

Supporters want Baby Joseph sent home

Showing support for the family, dozens turned out Saturday to rally beside Moe Maraachli to protest LHSC's refusal to perform a tracheotomy on Maraachli's young son before releasing him into his family's care.

Baby Joseph is dying. On this both the Canadian hospital and Baby Joseph's parents agree. The dispute arises as to where the infant will die. Will it be in the hospital or at home?

Saturday dozens of supporters protested the hospital's refusal to perform a tracheotomy on the little boy before sending him home to face certain death.

Moe Maraachli is Baby Joseph's dad.

The 13-month-old son of Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader of Windsor Ontario, known to the world as Baby Joseph, was admitted to Victoria Hospital in London Ontario last October. 

The family was on the way home from Toronto, not quite halfway to Windsor, when their infant son developed life-threatening breathing difficulties. They rushed the boy to emergency in Ingersoll and from there he was taken to the London Health Sciences Centre's pediatric critical care unit. 

It is now March and the little boy is still being cared for in the Southwestern Ontario hospital. The doctors have determined he is dying of the same progressive neurodegenerative disease that claimed his sister, Zina, eight years ago. 

The doctors would like to remove the breathing tube keeping the little boy alive. His parents want the doctors to perform a tracheotomy and let them take their son home to die, as was done with Joseph's sister. She lived six months with a tracheotomy before succumbing to the fatal genetic disease.

For more on this story see the Digital Journal post.

Protesters supporting the parents of Baby Joseph lined Commissioners Road and Wellington Road at the busy intersection near the large hospital complex.

Connett speaks in London, Ontario

Dr. Paul Connett is co-author of book The Case Against Fluoride.

Fluoride is hardening more than teeth in London Ontario. In this Southwestern Ontario city it is also hardening positions. The battle to remove fluoride from the city's drinking water appears to be gaining strength.

A talk at the downtown Central library by Dr. Paul Connett Wednesday night filled the 370-seat Wolf Performance Hall to capacity, forcing organizers to close the doors and turn many Londoners away. Connett is co-author of book The Case Against Fluoride.

Connett is the head of a New York state-based anti-fluoridation group called the Fluoride Action Network. These American activists have found Canadians quite receptive to their arguments against the continued fluoridation of tap water. Just recently politicians in two major Canadian cities, Calgary in Alberta and Waterloo in Ontario, have voted to remove the chemical additive from municipal water.

Many people are clearly concerned and for good reason. When Connett's talk was announced, a columnist at the local Sun Media paper told those who disagreed with him, "C’mon folks. Give your head a shake." He openly mocked a city councillor for suggesting, ""If you do any research on the Internet, you'll find scientists believe there are health risks."

Those doing Internet research didn't have to look farther than Canoe health expert and Sun Media columnist Dr. Gifford-Jones.

The good doctor wrote that the fluoridation of water is useless and fluoride toothpaste is a dangerous biological poison.

He went on to say several studies involving as many as 480,000 children found fluoride provided no protection against tooth decay.

Those lucky enough to gain admittance to the auditorium learned that Dr. Connett is quite in agreement with Sun Media's good doctor and popular columnist. Connett pointed out that one tooth paste box warns consumers to keep the tooth paste out of the reach of children under six years of age. If they accidentally swallow more than a pea-sized amount, they should get medical help and a Poison Control Center should be immediately contacted.

Connett argued fluoridation is unethical. "No government has the right to force medication on its people to fight a non-contagious, non-life-threatening disease."

Note: This is not a news report nor is it an endorsement of Dr. Connett's position. This post is simply letting folk know what went down in London, Ontario, last night at the Central library.

Heart failure awareness week

Photo illustration from LHSC event showing Dr. M. Arnold.

This was "Heart failure awareness week" and London Health Sciences Centre held a public education event in one of the hospital auditoriums Wednesday.

Dr. Malcolm Arnold, one of the heart failure specialists at the event, says:

"Although we are seeing rates of other heart diseases decreasing, heart failure cases are rising in the population. Heart failure is now the most common diagnosis in hospitals for patients over the age of 65."

"Through careful lifestyle management and treatments it is entirely possible for someone with the condition to continue living a healthy and active lifestyle. There are many advances in treatment and good health management that can improve symptoms, prolong health and keep people out of the hospital."

Clearly heart failure is not automatically debilitating but there is a pressing need for heart failure awareness. Learning about the signs and symptoms of heart failure is the first step in protecting oneself.

This event was especially important to me. My mother died of congestive heart failure, a good friend is on diuretics to control his water retention caused by heart failure and I may have a heart condition known as ARVD which can lead to a progressive loss of healthy heart muscle. Tests to confirm my heart disease are ongoing.

Events like this one are an important part of a well-rounded, total approach to health care.