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Where It’s Art: Please Do Not Taste The Artwork (5/10)

emily
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Don’t touch that dial! There’s more bread art coming up. Well actually, since this bread art is two-dimensional, perhaps you will have to change the dial to do some shading…

Photobucket         

The Bread Art Project was created when the Grain Foods Foundation and Ted Allen, host on the Food Network, partnered up with Feeding America to help fight hunger.  Consumers can create bread art by uploading a photo to the site and converting it to toast, or, they can use a blank piece of bread as a canvas for their bread art.  Either way, the Grain Foods Foundation pledged to donate $1 (which can provide 7 meals for 4 bags of food) for every design uploaded, to a maximum of $50 000, towards Feeding America.  To find out more, create your own art, and view other submissions, go to the Bread Art Project’s website.  And if you upload your photo, you might be toast!

SUGAR: A poison or just something sweet?

zeeyaan
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42-15661510I don’t know many people who hate sweets, but it seems that we sometimes have sugar cravings and don’t know why.  One view is that sweets are associated with fun, happiness, or celebration.  If you win a basketball game, you could celebrate with ice-cream.  Some people have sugar cravings because it is a routine or habit.  Maybe you go to the movies and always get Twizzlers or just always eat dessert after dinner.  It’s important to also know that too much sugar can be really detrimental to your body and mental state. Take a look at some of its negative effects below:

* Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness.
* Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
* Sugar can cause kidney damage and increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
* Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
* Sugar can promote tooth decay.
* Sugar can speed the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair.
* Sugar can increase total cholesterol and contribute to weight gain and obesity.
* Sugar can contribute to diabetes and osteoporosis.
* Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.
* Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease and hypertension
* Sugar causes food allergies and contribute to eczema in children.
* Sugar can overstress the pancreas, causing damage.
* Sugar can cause liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver
* Sugar can  increase the amount of fat in the liver.
* Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.
* Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.
* Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
* Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.
* Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind’s ability to think clearly.
* Sugar can increase blood platelet adhesiveness which increases risk of blood clots and strokes.

All of these negative factors don’t mean you should completely stop consuming sugar.  There is not a definite answer to the daily amount of sugar you should consume a day, but 40 grams is the recommended amount.  Forty grams of sugar refers mainly to added sugar, which is anything that is put into foods rather than that in which sugar is naturally occurring, such as in fruit.  For example, ALL sugar in soda would be considered “added,” since the beverage itself is constructed rather than harvested.

The City is Your Playground

kaitlin
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british-performance-basketball-logo-31Looking for some stuff to do this week, but want some options other than going to the mall or the movies (plus something that will cost a little less)?   It’s a good thing that the city you live in has you covered.

There are drop-in programs happening all over Calgary almost every night of the week, which means you don’t have to sign up, you can just show up!  We’re going to fill you in on these wicked activities (which have the added bonus of being 100% FREE) as often as we can so that you know what your options are when you and your friends are trying to figure out what do each week!

In the North:

Did our profile on Michael Jordan have you itching to hit the court?  Stop by Sonics Basketball Drop-In at HD Cartwright School (5500 Dalhart Rd. NW).  You can shoot hoops on Wednesdays from 7-9pm, with other youth ages 12-17 from now until April 21,2010.

Girls!  Ready to meet some new friends or just want find a new place to hang out with your BFFs?  Drop in at Super Girls, a program that runs at the Huntington Hills Superstore (7020 4th St. NW), for girls’ night every Wednesday (6-8pm) from now until April 21, 2010, for girls 12 – 17 years old.  You’ll get quality time with your friends, and can learn about important topics like nutrition and fitness.

In the South:

Are your Tuesday nights wide open?  Perfect!  Stop by the Riverbend Youth Drop-In for a ton of wicked activities for youth ages 12 -17 from 4:30-6pm at the Riverbend Community Association – you’re sure to have a good time and meet new people!  The Drop-In program runs every Tuesday from now until May 11, 2010.

Start enjoying all that your city has to offer!

Where It’s Art: Please Do Not Taste The Artwork (4/10)

emily
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The last time I had a nightmare, it wasn’t about bread.  I wouldn’t think that it was so strange if meat appeared murderous, but gruesome grains?  Be warned: the following bread may give you nightmares.

  

And now that you have sufficient reason to think twice about heading to the kitchen alone for a midnight snack – relax.  Your bread could be as lovely as the loaves below (though now it might be too pretty to eat…).

  

British Invasion! A Hard Day’s Night & Beatles for Sale (1964)

steve
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So this is America. They must be out of their minds. – Ringo Starr

Welcome to Part 4 of my series on the history of The Beatles.

In the year 1964, the British Invasion hit and artists from Great Britain became popular in the United States.  The movement was first started by The Beatles (of course!).  This is also one of the most significant developments in The Beatles’ success.

Upon arriving John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on February 7th, 1964, the Beatles were greeted by a crowd of over three thousand.  Two days later, they gave their first live performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.  Over 40% of the United States population watched the show that night. The invasion had began.

On February 11th, four days after their arrival, The Beatles gave their first concert in United States at the Washington Coliseum, followed by another one the next day in Carnegie Hall in NYC.  Extremely well received, The Beatles established their reputation in the United States.

Over the course of the year, The Beatles toured internationally, returning to the United States in August.  Once again, this month long tour attracted tens of thousands of fans to their performances from San Francisco to New York.

Amongst their hectic schedule that year, The Beatles also released their third and fourth studio albums, A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale.  These two albums contained new inventive music from the “ringing guitar” sound of Harrison’s Rickenbacker, to deeper lyrics by Lennon and McCartney.  Both albums are great successes with songs staying in the top charts for weeks such as Can’t Buy Me Love.  The Beatles were establishing their reputation world wide and were slowly maturing as a band with its own melody and lyrics, and new originality.

Here’s A Hard Day’s Night by the Beatles!

[youtube cQwwqajZXD8]

The original or the remix? What do you think?

zeeyaan
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I love music and listen to the radio frequently. Sometimes, don’t you feel that the songs we hear all the time become a bit repetitive? Sometimes we buy a song and listen to it so much until we need something new. I love hearing a remix of my favorite song on the radio. It’s like having a song you like transformed to be something knew for your ears. Listen to the original and the remix of a these two songs. The first is Breathe In by Frou Frou and the second is Poker Face by Lady Gaga.

Breath In (The Original) [Left] – Breath In (The Remix) [Right]

  

Poker Face (The Orginal) [Left] – Poker Face (The Remix) [Right]

  

Do you like a remix of a song better? Do you just find them an insult to the original? What are you’re thoughts?

Free music? Yes, please!

TheGentlemanScholar
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If you want a neat place to get some great new music and don’t want to spend a lot of money, check out NoiseTrade.com.  We introduced you to NoiseTrade a little while back, and we love it so much, we want to give you some more info on this wicked site.

It’s free.  Every single song in their library is free, and the only catch is that you’ve never heard of any of the artists before.

These artists are what people call “indie” musicians, which means they’re not signed to a record label, and they can do what they want with their music – including giving it away for free.  After sampling the album with the built-in widget and deciding you like it, you can help the artist out in two ways.

You can either pay what you want to the artist, with no amount too big or too small, or you can tell your friends.  To do this, you put in the emails of five of your friends that you think might like the music, and NoiseTrade will send them an email telling them about the artist with a link to the site.  They don’t have to do anything, not even read the email, for you to get your music.  Once the emails have been sent off, you get a download link, and you’ve got your music!

I’ve downloaded a few albums from NoiseTrade, and the only downside is importing the songs into my iTunes library.  Depending on what music you get, you may or may not have to rename all the songs so that they don’t look like this: 05_song_name.mp3. 

Enjoy!

You better go grab your belts….

SaM
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…and “Get your pants off the ground!”

Alabama’s General Larry Platt auditioned for season 9 of American Idol this past week.  His performance was more than extraordinary for a number of reasons.

Reason 1: General Larry performed an original song that he wrote, entitled “Pants on the Ground.”

Reason 2: He performed a break dance routine to his song.

And…

Reason 3: General Larry Platt is 62 years old.

Unfortunately, he is a bit over the age limit for Idol, but nonetheless, his performance wowed the judges–and the world.

Check out the video of the Alabama General below, and remember, “Get your pants off the ground!” 😉

[youtube tMwhl4IrPNc]

Laughter is the Best Medicine

shazia
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With Midterms and finals going on, we are sure to be stressed.  The best cure for that is laughter. Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones in the brain, such as cortisol and dopamine.  It also increases the number of anti-body producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T-cells.  It also gives you a great internal workout. Laughter also is a great way to distract yourself from stress.  So here are some things to take your mind off the stress of finals and midterms.

Comics really are a great way to de-stress.

I Believe

jessica
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I woke up Monday morning to the phone ringing, my mother wanted to know if I wanted to go find the Olympic Torch with her and build up some Olympic spirit.  I’m pretty sure my exact words were, “I’m not doing anything else today, I guess I’ll join you on your adventure.” 
We called up 311 and they provided us with all the information we needed to know.  We all got dressed up in our Olympic gear, headed out to Macleod trail and waited with hundreds of other people, all proudly wearing red and sipping their Tim Hortons.  Soon enough there is was, the Olympic flame being brought up a road we all travel on daily, and it seriously seemed magically. (I know it sounds cheesy but I’ve never felt like I was part of a strong Canadian community until those few seconds.)
Now, like some sort of spirit addict, I called up some friends and had to tell them all about it and dragged them down to Olympic Plaza to watch Robin Ainsworth carry the torch for the final leg, which she also did 22 years ago at the 1988 Calgary Olympics.  More than 20 000 other people crammed themselves into Olympic Plaza pumping themselves up by dancing to I’ve Got A Feelin’ by the Black Eyed Peas and getting ready to welcome the Olympic flame, while the flame from the Calgary Tower burned high above us.  The celebration consisted of a massive dance party, performances by Terri Clark and speeches by government politicians, including Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier.  Check out some of these photos I was able to snap.
Pridecrowd
torch
The Olympic Torch on Macleod Trail
olympic plaza
The Celebration at Olympic Plaza

MayorFlame

Canada’s Sweetest Lifestyle Guide…

eva
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So while in search of something to blog about, I stumbled across a neat website.  I was actually in the process of googling Paper Root and Twisted Goods (both of which are stores that I absolutely adore…located in Eau Claire and Southcentre, respectively, and both are also in Market), hoping that they had websites.  They don’t really have websites, and so I ended up getting directed to sweetspot.ca.sweetspot.ca

This Canadian site was founded by Joanna Track in June 2004, and for over five years, this site has been keeping tabs on all things fun, fashionable and just plain fabulous in various cities and across the country.  What are these various cities? Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and…that’s right, Calgary!

Sweetspot.ca is Canada’s first online trend-spotting lifestyle guide of its kind.

Since their start, they’ve expanded to include a number of distinct brands and newsletters, including: SweetLife, SweetMama, SweetHome, and MySweetBaby. SweetLifeUnder SweetLife, I’ve found the City Living section fun to check out, especially the What’s Happening and Top 5 articles.  I love knowing what there is to do in Calgary, so those articles are definitely worth checking out.

If you sign up for their newsletter (which gets sent out daily to my understanding), you can get updated about the latest in fashion, food, beauty, shops, services, restaurants, entertainment and much more!

Don’t forget to check them out on Twitter and Facebook as well!

Sports Legends Edition 3: Basketball

kaiz
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ffg

Michael Jordan. 

The NBA website lists him as “the greatest basketball player of all time.”  Throughout his career, Jordan earned nicknames for his great defense, prolific scoring, and amazing dunks.

Jordan didn’t always get things his way in basketball.  He was cut from the team in Grade 10 and 11 because of his height, but he worked to improve himself and became his team’s star player.  He entered the NBA in 1984 with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan won many awards, led his team to various championships, and emerged as the leader on every team he played on.  He earned many MVP awards and truly is the best basketball player of all time.

Cafe Goodness: Higher Ground

Sarah K
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Kensington is by far my favourite place to hang out in Calgary. With stores like Hot Wax and Mañana, I could spend days there without a second thought. But above all, what keeps me coming back are the coffee shops.

The Higher Ground is one of my personal favourites. It boasts a 100% organic and fair-trade coffee menu, and a long-standing track record of community involvement. In September they hosted “Blank Canvas”, collaborating with ACAD artists to provide an exhibition space for over 50 students, hosted an all-ages show featuring Bob Quaschnick of the Dudes as part of Sled Island 2009, and have a monthly artist spotlight. The “All the Best Music” series brings Calgarians free performances from local up & coming artists on the last Thursday of every month. Playing next is Noel Johnson on the 28th. I know I’ll be attending for a welcome reprise from diploma-writing.

Most recently this cozy cafe has introduced Vegan Thursdays.
They’ve teamed up with Anahata Foods, a local independent business, to provide a full 3-course meal every Thursday between 5 and 7pm. If you’ve got some free time tonight, check it out. But call ahead – these meals are receiving such great reviews that they now require a reservation to attend.

The Higher Ground fuses concert venue, art space, restaurant, coffee shop, and even bar, meanwhile maintaining an all-ages friendly reputation. For more information head over to their Facebook page which is updated constantly with upcoming events and seasonal drink specials.

For Educational Purposes

Joel Hykawy
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Looking for something a bit more mentally stimulating on the internet? Well, math, medicine and history are the topics today.

Better Explained is a website devoted to helping people understand mathematical concepts, especially when it comes to calculus. Its creator, Kalid Azad, had this ambition to help people better grasp these various concepts in math, as he faced some difficult trials during his own university studies.

There are frequent updates on the site adding in new material to help you with math. Also, he added his own ebook which covers many topics essential to understanding calculus. This is a great site if you need assistance or are intrigued by math.

Science-Based Medicine is a fantastic website focused on the role of  medicine in science, along with its relation to pseudoscience.  The excellent writing team is composed of:

physicians who, alarmed at the manner in which unscientific and pseudoscientific health care ideas have increasingly infiltrated academic medicine and medicine at large, have decided to do their part to examine these claims in the light of science and skepticism.

The site is frequently updated with various topics on the disputes between the two fields, and the contributors provide an in-depth analysis on these issues to try and reveal the facts and expose the lies.

Finally, if you are interested in World War II, here is an amazingly extensive Flash presentation of the Eastern Front during this time.  There was  a lot of extensive research put into this to make sure all the information is accurate, to acquire stunning photos and footage of the environments, and impressively provide real accounts from people who were there.

Enjoy the education!

You Found Me, Over my Head

alice
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What do you get when you mix three Grammy nominations,  platinum and gold albums, and a group of  insanely talented musicians?

Why The Fray of course!

Exciting news to all Fray fans!  The band will be coming to Calgary on February 20th and respectively perform at the Jack Singer Concert Hall.  Tickets will be on sale Friday, January 22th, at 10 AM.

The band originated from Denver, Colorado in 2002, and has quickly become a hit musical sensation.  Unlike most bands with a guitar lead, The Fray’s pop-rock style infused with piano sets them apart.

Currently the band is made up of Issac Slade (the lead vocal and piano), Joe King (guitar and backup vocal), Dave Welsh (lead guitar) and Ben Wysocki (drums).

You may have heard some of their songs played on the radio, or on hit TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy(a personal favorite of mine), One Tree Hill  or Lost.  The band released its first album, ‘How To Save a Life,’ in 2005, which became platinum in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and multi-platinum in the United States.  The single ‘Over My Head (Cable Car)’  hit the #2 spot on the Billboard Adult Top 100 while ‘How To Save A Life’ became the 6th longest charting single of all time on the Billboard Hot 100.

[youtube TiR_qUXnOlQ]

Their second album, ‘The Fray,‘ released in 2009, is certified gold in Canada, United States and Australia. ‘You Found Me’ reached #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 chart .  The melody created by the  instruments, combined with Issac Slade’s slightly raspy voice creates a nice balance that draws you in.

If you have not yet heard their songs, you should definitely go check them out! =)

[youtube jFg_8u87zT0]
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