This is all Toronto, already battered by falling tourism, needs.  A stoning of a tarot reader.

The Toronto Sun revealed that  Stephanie Conover, an actor, singer, dancer, and current Miss Canada Plus 2007, was asked  if she would be interested in judging the 2008 Miss Toronto Tourism contest . She accepted, and sent along a brief bio detailing some of her interests, including knitting, reading, yoga, reiki, and tarot card reading. A letter came back from pageant organizers revoking her invitation because the latter two practices constitute "the occult" and "witchcraft." Reiki is a Japanese art that seeks to heal the body with energy, while Tarot cards are an ancient way of seeking spiritual guidance or entertaining friends when the cable goes out. She is a practising Wiccan.

The  letter noted that reiki and Tarot are not only unacceptable to "Jews, Muslims, or Christians," but to God Himself who said in Leviticus 20.6

 "I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself by following them...A man or a woman who is a medium...shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones."

Whew! The Miss Toronto Tourism pageant has no any apparent affiliation with the Toronto Convention & Visitors Association or other quasi-official tourism organization.

Organic cod farm shut down after losing £40m
Severin Carrell in Shetland
guardian.co.uk, Friday April 11 2008

Cod being farmed in Vidlin Voe in the Shetland Islands by Johnson Seafarms Ltd, the company behind the ill-fated 'No Catch' brand. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

A revolutionary scheme to grow organic cod in Scottish fish farms, touted as the ethical answer to a global crisis in fish stocks, has been shut down after it lost £40m in three years.

The world's first attempt to farm organic cod, "No Catch" fish was sold as a breakthrough in sustainable fisheries. Its costly marketing campaign boasted it would "save the planet" and claimed celebrities such as Demi Moore had savoured its ethically-conscious produce.

"Not too high a price to pay for a clear conscience," its adverts said.
But the administrators Grant Thornton, brought in earlier this year to rescue the Shetland-based business from total collapse, admitted that organic cod farming had been a financial disaster and had no realistic chance of succeeding.

It has sold the firm's fish- farming business to two Norwegian-owned companies, who will instead begin producing organic salmon in Shetland's coastal waters. Its last supplies of cod – totalling about 3,400 tonnes - would now be sold off at knock-down prices, less than a tenth of its original cost in the shops.

Nothing's perfect, certainly not organic food, but this story in the April l0 Guardian is one more example of organic issues...

· Danger to skin and lungs from mould spores in bins
· Families in Germany told to wear facemasks

Kate Connolly in Berlin
The Guardian, Thursday April 10 2008

German scientists are warning householders of the health dangers posed by storing organic waste, saying exposure to it, particularly to the moulds that develop as the material decays, can cause skin problems and even breathing difficulties.

Harald Morr, a leading pneumologist, who is also chairman of the German Lung Foundation, said studies showed that airborne mould spores from organic waste could lead to allergic reactions, asthma attacks, hayfever-like symptoms and itchy skin lesions.

"Even just opening the lid of a bin containing organic waste can cause mould spores to be stirred up which, if breathed in, can damage the lungs," said Morr. "The more spores breathed in, the worse the repercussions on one's health can be."