I like this perfume video ad with French actor and singer Marc Lavoine. It’s part of a campaign for Cerruti 1881 Pour Homme.
(Source: Thanks Now Smell This)
Page 41 of 123
What Perfume Makers Won’t Tell You? on GreenBiz.com is a quick look at the chemicals that aren’t listed in perfumes, some of which are allergens or disrupt hormones.
The article references a recent report, Not So Sexy: Hidden Chemicals in Perfume and Cologne.
In bolded text throughout the report are words like “secret chemicals,” “multiple sensitizers,” “multiple hormone disruptors,” and “widespread use of chemicals that have not been assessed for safety.”
Culprits named include:
limonene
linalool
eugenol
I’m going to read this report in full and decide whether there’s an actual concern here, but my initial instinct as a perfumer is that these elements are contained in pretty innocuous items. Limonene is an organic compound in citrus that gives things an orange smell. Linalool is a naturally-occurring alcohol found in flowers and spice plants. Eugenol is a chemical compound in extractions from clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, basil and bay leaf.
I’m not discounting this report all together, and I’m certainly interested in the synthetic elements that they study as well as the natural elements. But I also think the phrasing and presentation of the report preys on people’s emotions without fully educating consumers about these substances, how they are found and used in perfume, and the testing and regulation the industry is already following.
I’ll update this post once I’ve dug into the report further.
Hello you. Welcome to my external brain. Some people call it a blog.
Speaking of blogs, I was at a blogging conference this weekend.
Northern Voice, I’ve been to every one and it is my favourite conference. The diversity is striking compared to other conferences, and I think that’s part of its charm. Northern Voice is a personal blogging conference, which means people talk about biodiversity in nature, the legal aspects of the internet and what doing social good means. Flip charts and powerpoint are kept to a minimum.
Below are my random thoughts that I’d like to recall at a later date. You can stop here if you wish.
Academic podcasting
Appears to be mostly the re-purposing of lectures and that’s not a great form of learning. If I ever teach a course, I will remember this.
SoundCloud looks like a very cool tool for sharing audio/podcast clips. There’s a dropbox that you can put on a MySpace page or other site that let’s people drop audio tracks for you and grab yours. Plus there’s a nice embeddable widget telling visitors listen to your stuff. Might be a good tool for a regular Boxcar Marketing podcast or for course lectures.
Watch the 3-min. video on Soundcloud.
Online Publishing and the Law
Dan Burnett is a leading defamation and media lawyer in Canada. He teaches media law at the UBC graduate school of journalism, was lead counsel in a ground breaking Supreme Court of Canada case which revised the law of fair comment to better recognize free speech, and represents web publishers on a wide range of defamation and related issues.
Dan talked about how traditional journalists have insurance and legal teams, but bloggers are exposed.
He also had some key points on Defamation and Libel.
Defamation is any negative statement about someone.
Repeating a libel is a libel.
Avoid making a negative statement framed as truth if you do not have the evidence to back up that statement.
You can identify that someone is making this claim (insert) and that I disagree because (insert).
Quoting someone else does not protect you. Again repeating a libel is a libel. You can, however, quote a statement in privilege (statements made in official proceedings because those are documented, recordable quotes).
Be aware of court cases because they’re landmines for publication bans. Just avoid it. If you’re so compelled, make sure to consult Courts.gov.bc.ca, which has a court ban search.
Citizen journalism and reporting on this that are a matter of public interest are, of course, highly valuable activities. There’s “responsible communication”, which I took to understand to be that if an allegation is of public interest, whether it’s true or not, then you can make that statement in public interest. Although the intricacies of how this works escapes me.
There is also neutral reportage, where you report a statement, say it’s unverified, and you’ve give the person it’s against a chance to respond.
The implications of blogging, even privately, are high. Everyone who participates in a publication is a publisher.
Published is defined as 1 other person sees it.
You can avoid defamation:
1. If it’s opinion, and it’s clear that it’s an opinion.
2. If you avoid negative statements of fact that you can’t prove. Don’t say, for example, Gordon Campbell is an alcoholic, unless you have substantial proof.
3. “In my opinion” helps.
But you can’t say, “In my opinion Gordon Campbell is an alcoholic.”
4. Truth defense.
I missed what this is but I assume that if the statement is true and you can undoubtedly prove it to be true, go for it.
5. Privilege (protects fair accounts of official proceedings and their docs)
6. New defense of “responsible communication:” If something is in the public interest, you can report it responsibly. This means you must give that person a chance to respond before you go public with the story.
7. Don’t take lessons from American examples. Free speech is very different here.
8. Beware of libel tourism.
Sophisticated plaintiffs will seek the best jurisdiction where the laws are in their favour. Celebrities, for example, go to England to sue. There they are a public figure and the laws are different. They can win a lawsuit in England that they would not be able to in the US.
You can be sued anywhere in the world where your publication is available. But practically, if you don’t have assets in that jurisdiction, then it’s difficult for them to collect.
Other things I learned:
The person suing doesn’t have to prove damages.
Are you liable for hyperlinks?
If the link acts as a footnote, there’s no liability unless the accompanying words endorse the libel found on the linked site.
You can’t say, “For the dirty truth on X, click here.”
Public domain is when the author has been dead 50 years. Public domain is not because it’s on YouTube.
Fair dealing only applies to news or criticism or private study. You are required to credit the source. Non-excessive use is met. The rules are slightly different for satire, parody, and commentary, but the legal restrictions in Canada are quite limiting.
Parody and satire is not fair dealing in BC.
David Ng: The structure of a great presentation
David Ng always gives a great presentation. I think this is because he knows how to tell a story. Perhaps he’s internalized Tod Maffin’s presentation on what “IT” is.
He starts with a scientific question.
Then tells a story that establishes a universal truth, in this case that the “actual size” is not as seen on the package.
Next makes the connection between that scientific question and the narrative.
In this case he’s talking about what’s actually happening in the interwebs vs what’s talked about a lot, as if it’s happening.
Great intro. Great setting the stage.
Now on to what we want to talk about. Biodiversity and science and how crowdsourcing and the internet can be used to create opportunities for wider learning.
Next up: audience participation, keep the brain paying attention to David.
David shows us a photo of a bird
Who knows what it is?
Eight of us know that it’s a European starling. An invasive species here in BC that is everywhere.
Now, who knows what this is?
Many more hands are raised with the photo of a Pokemon character.
Oh dear.
The purely fictional has greater recognition than an invasive species that’s in our face every day. Yes, here is another universal truth.
So how can we combine widespread understanding and knowledge of things spread through the internet with scientific discovery and understanding?
David introduces The Phylomon Project. Very cool.
We leave with a clear set of tasks for participating and understanding scientific study.
1. See something
2. Think of a reason why
3. Figure out a way to check your reason
and?
4. Now, everyone gets to dump on you
5. Repeat until consensus is formed
I don’t know Darcy, but she has a dynamite cookie recipe.
300 degrees.
Cream 1 cup of butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar.
Stir in 1 egg.
Add 2 tbsp of molasses, 1 tsp of vanilla.
Then dry ingredients: 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder.
Mix well.
Add 1 cup granola, 1.5 cups of rolled oats, 1/4 cup wheat germ and a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Yumminess. They might look too moist, but they’re not.
Roll into 1-inch balls. Do not press down.
Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.
They might not looked cooked when they’re done, but don’t overbake. You want yummy, gooey cookies because they harden nicely after you take them out of the oven.
Share will a buddy.
Back in December I previewed The Dread Crew, and I’m thrilled to say that it’s every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped. The Dread Crew are a bunch of wily backwoods pirates who go around mucking up the place and being general nuisances and bullies. They take what they want and do what they want and are rather miserable about it all.
The Dread Crew are what Max and the Wild Things would have become if Max stuck around as their king.
Thankfully, good ol’ junk collector Joe knows just how to turn a brawling bunch of junk-hunting pirates into eccentric, and adored, members of the community.
The Dread Crew is a funny book that’s good for little people who like to be read to and big people who like a good laugh. For example, the most feared pirate punishment is office work.
If your kids are still enough to enjoy chapter books, then they should be game for this one. There’s nothing about it that reminds me of Charlotte’s Web, but I feel like it’s that kind of book, one to remember and to read and re-read.
I adore the Dread Crew: Hector the Wrecker Gristle, Slime Bucket Sam, Cranky Frankie, Fetchin Gretchen, and the whole pirate gang.
The Dread Crew: Pirates for the Backwoods by Kate Inglis
Published in Canada by Nimbus Publishing
Click the cover to browse inside (opens new window).
I came to know Chuck Klosterman through his fiction work, Downtown Owl,. Because I loved his novel so much I started seeking out his other works, which seemed to be nonfiction essays. Eating the Dinosaur is one of those collections and it’s brilliant. Not a day goes by that I don’t quote something from this book.
Eating the Dinosaur is the Chicken Soup for the Smarty-pants Soul.
I used to be annoyed when James constantly quoted or mentioned essays in this book. He read the book first, But I adopted these habits after finishing the book. Dammit, Klosterman is smart, or at least his ideas are compelling, which makes him seem smart, and by default makes me feel smart. Hence the smarty-pants comment above.
Chuck Klosterman has good journalist written all over him. He’s covered music, film, and sports, and remembers the details. He dissects pop culture the way miners pan for gold. After clearing away the dirt and shifting away the common things, Klosterman holds up the nuggets. And those nuggets are the totality of perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that make up our understanding of the world, and by world I mean world of culture consumption.
He talks about why music fan’s hate their favorite bands. Why superstars aren’t paid enough. Why singers are compelled to try out different personalities. Why interviewees want to tell the truth. What the truth is. Why Germans don’t laugh at nervous North American laughter. Why North Americans laugh. Why Ralph Nader is a literalist and how that makes him unlikeable. How the Unabomber could be wrong in his actions but right in his thoughts. Why TV is bad and the Branch Dividian not so bad. And why politicians are terribly sorry, and alcoholic.
This is my favourite nonfiction book of 2010. (The Waterproof Bible is my favourite novel, in case you’re asking.)
Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
Published in Canada by Simon and Schuster in hardcover, paperback and ebook.
Sarah Waters is a lovely writer. She has written four bestselling novels: Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith and The Night Watch. Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith were by far my favourites, and those rankings stand.
The Little Stranger is a dark, and maddeningly compelling, read. Set in post-World-War-I rural Warwickshire, the dumpy, semi-successful bachelor Dr. Faraday has the hots for plain-Jane, fallen-from-riches Caroline Ayres. It’s an Austen-esque affair with a Mary Shelley monster story as a plot driver.
The Austen Element: Dr. Faraday becomes interested in Caroline Ayres, or perhaps the status she represents (even though she’s poorer than a church mouse). Caroline is interested in Dr. Faraday as an exit route from her dire circumstances and family burdens. I won’t spoil the romance tale by telling you what happens here.
The Shelley Element: Hundreds Hall has been home to the Ayres family for centuries. It’s a grand mansion that’s crumbling without dignity. An eyesore, a money sinkhole and an emotional burden (how can you give up the family home even as it drags you down), the home has personality and character in ways that become hauntingly evident throughout the novel.
As sinister things occur to each family member, it is Dr. Faraday, our trusty narrator, who is left to rationalize the happenings. But is he so endearing? Is he an infallible narrator?
Again, I won’t spoil it by telling you my thoughts here. Instead I’ll say that although the narrative was eerie and formed a great literary suspense story, I found Dr. Faraday exasperating. Not enough to stop reading, but enough to feel like he was an unwanted guest at an afternoon tea party from which I couldn’t extract myself.
If you like Sarah Waters, definitely give this one a read. If you haven’t heard of her before, start with Tipping the Velvet or Fingersmith, then make your way to this novel.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart in hardcover, paperback and ebook
Not only does Greystone publish beautifully written books, they design them beautifully. This petite package is absolutely lovely. The Amazon thumbnail below does not do it justice.
One word review: Eloquent
Crozier is a fine, fine writer. Her memoir’s style is like a novel, or a Canadian long poem for those of you who know what that is. The vivid narrative, wistful poetry and snippets of daily life take us to Crozier’s childhood and adolescence in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. The poverty of the prairies is mixed with the stoicism of prairie folk, hard-working toilers of the land who love to stand in the wheat, feel the wind in their hair, and can’t imagine a better place. (And, of course, there are the town drunks, the self-righteous, the nosy neighbours, and all variety of friends.)
Small Beneath the Sky was a slow read for me, each sentence so tightly crafted that I needed to savour it like a popsicle on a hot summer day.
Yes it’s true. This young Taiwanese boy swallowed Whitney.
Hear Lin Yu Chun sing with the pipes of Whitney Houston. http://lin-yu-chun.blogspot.com
IV 09 – Monique Trottier from Brett Macfarlane on Vimeo.
Interesting Vancouver 2009 was held the evening of Friday October 23th at The Vancouver Rowing Club in Coal Harbor.
Interesting Vancouver a multi-disciplinary conference. It seeks to impart new knowledge, things you’ve never known, or thought about. I talked about perfume and how to smell. The intimacy of this talk doesn’t really come across in the video presentation but it will give you an idea. Also the first part of the presentation was lost due to technical difficulties.
Interesting Vancouver always has a degree of spontaneity, unexpected moments, lessons and humour. I highly recommend Jer Thorpe’s presentation for all the above.
IV 09 – Jer Thorp from Brett Macfarlane on Vimeo.