Magic sheep

These past few days it has been quite cold in Edmonton. One of my friends told me that she wore a special kind of long johns called "Icebreaker". They are made from merino wool, and she assured me that they were really warm. Yesterday I bought myself a pair and took them for a test run today. The result? Much warmer.

Bless those New Zealand sheep.

Christmas Tree

I won't be getting a Christmas tree this year. I don't see the point as I live alone and if I put the decorations up I'll only have to take them down, not that I actually have any Christmas decorations (asides from an advent calendar, which I bought for the chocolate and not the decorative value). However, those of you out there who are concerned about the environment may be trying to decide which tree, real or fake, is best. A real tree is rather environmentally friendly, whereas fake trees are the opposite, being made from petroleum, and then transported.

Food fight

Today while checking the BBC I discovered that Cadbury, the British-based confectioner, has been the subject of a hostile take-over bid by Kraft. I don't know too much about the world of business, but I consider myself an expert on Cadbury's products. Now the American giant, Hershey, is supposed to be interested in making a bid. One can only hope Hershey don't change any of Cadbury's recipes because Hershey's chocolate in the US is disgusting.

C-c-c-cold

This morning I woke up to and checked the weather. I was informed that with the windchill the temperature was -41C. I have never known temperatures so cold. Back in Toronto the coldest it ever got, even with the windchill, was maybe -30C. In fact it was so cold in Alberta that there was an extreme weather warning from Environment Canada.. Basically, I now know to check Environment Canada before leaving the warm indoors, and that, according to Environment Canada, exposed skin can suffer frostbite within five minutes. Still I ventured outside to find out what -41C felt like.

Bloody freezing.

Believe in Hugs

A study of Canadians has revealed that hugs may be the secret to good mental health. Participants in a survey who said that they got hugs "all the time" were twice as likely to say that they had excellent mental health. Apparently religious belief had no effect on the survey participants' mental health. That said religion can still help as a coping mechanism.

But hugs work best.

Splenda-id?

Ever wonder how scientists invented artificial sweeteners? Well in the case of Splenda it was a curious accident. Scientists were trying to create an insecticide and an assistant thought he had been asked to "taste" the compound, in fact he had been asked to "test" it. Either way he ate some of it and sucralose A.K.A. Splenda was discovered.

Am I the only one worried that an assistant willingly consumed a product that was being designed to kill insects? Did he not think it would be a bad idea to eat it himself?

Bright Idea?

Back in Europe, the European Union is gradually forcing people to switch to eco-bulbs by banning the traditional incandescent bulbs. However, these eco-bulbs are not all they are cracked up to be. The eco-bulbs work at their brightest at 25C, hotter or colder than that at the bulbs aren't as bright. Given that few people keep their homes at 25C, the bulbs won't be as bright.