Spanish Government Defends Human Rights

On July 24 a Spanish farmer died in custody of Spanish police. The courts are looking into the incident and in the mean time eight Civil Guards have been suspended. Civil Guards is a para-military police unit, and as a result of this recent incident, they are being heavily criticized.

Politicians are speaking out on the matter, and they are not taking the side of the Civil Guards. Spain is continuing it’s commitment to human rights. More recently politicians have become more vocal on the matter, particularly Jose Alonso.

“I would like to reaffirm the government’s commitment to develop a policy of public security that is based on scrupulous respect for citizens’ rights,” Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told parliament’s domestic affairs committee.

Eat More Chocolate!

More and more studies have been proving that chocolate is good for you! The key factor is the flavinoids found in the cocoa used to make chocolate. Flavinoid rich foods can help to lower the chance of developing heart disease and many forms of cancer! The darker the chocolate the more cocoa and thus the better it is for you.

One study showed that those with high blood pressure who ate 3.5-ounces of dark chocolate daily for 15 days were rewarded with lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and improved sugar metabolism. It has also shown to increase serotonin production in the brain which is essentially a chemical that controls happiness. So this means that chocolate can make you feel happy, lower your risk of many diseases and also just tastes amazing! What are the odds of that?

Pedagogical Idol

TVO has an interesting new twist on the “Idol” format reality show: they’re trying to find the best teacher in the post-secondary education system. Contestants/professors from various Ontario universities will compete by lecturing on their specialty. They will then be judged on their passion, knowledge and ability to teach in an engaging and effective way.

Could a little good actually come from reality TV?

Heroes in Toronto

Just got an email about a site dedicated to people in Toronto doing good things. The Toronto Heroes blog covers everything from a man calling 911 to another person saving people from a fire.

The blog was “created to honour those who make the city a better place to live.” It also hopes to inspire others to do heroic things.

By far my favourtie post is the one on the guy trying to get Toronto to loosen up.

Thanks, Dave!

Shuttle Lands Safely

NASA has recorded another successful shuttle landing. CNN is reporting that the Discovery Space Shuttle has landed. The last time a shuttle re-entered Earth’s atmosphere it was vaporized as a result of an accident.

After reviewing what went wrong with the Columbia shuttle NASA introduced new safety standards. Clearly they have worked. This successful landing means that we have not seen the end (and perhaps a resurgence) of human space travel. NASA has announced that the next shuttle launch will be in September.