Well, it’s almost Christmas, and Theatre Calgary will be performing its annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol staring Stephen Hair as Scrooge.  In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is a wealthy businessperson, who discovers the true meaning of Christmas.  A Christmas Carol will be playing at Theatre Calgary from now until December 27.  A Christmas Carol is a heart warming Christmas classic that is sure to get you into the holiday spirit.  And while you’re there, why not check out some of Theatre Calgary’s other great productions, like 7 Stories or Jake and the Kid.

Hey there sports fans (or Andrew fans, rather 🙂 )…

We’ve been following our buddy Andrew’s progress on the Score’s show, Gillette Drafted  (you can check out our coverage here and here, on this search for the next sportscaster), on which he is a top 5 finalist, and tonight is the LIVE finale!!

Andrew flew out to Toronto last week to tape the live final challenge (which he did great on!) and tonight we find out who wins (hopefully it’s him!).  The video of Andrew’s segment on the live challenge is up now and definitely worth a watch.

Want to wish him luck?  Great!  “Fan” him on Facebook! 

We highly encourage you to watch the finale tonight and help us cheer on Andrew: the Score is channel 30 in Calgary, and the show starts at 9pm MT.

For all of you that celebrate Christmas, soon you’ll start to hear your favorite Christmas songs on the radio, and seeing your favorite Christmas movies on T.V.  You might try to find the perfect gift, or spend a great amount of time making a wish list.  Something to remember in the midst of this month is the true meaning of Christmas.  We know this is a time to give to others, especially the less fortunate.  There are people out there that won’t be receiving any presents this year.  In my school, each class creates hampers to be given to a family in need every year.  I challenge you to approach the season with a giving heart and to help the less fortunate this month no matter how small or large the act. The Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank is always a place where you can help.  Whether you are donating an emergency hamper or just  $1, everything helps.  Something that may seem small to you, may turn out to be a big contribution.  For example, $1 donated to the Calgary Inter-Faith allows them to distribute $4 worth of food to those in need.  Check the various events under the participate section by clicking here to see what you can do help the Food Bank.

One of today’s big things is being able to stream video of anything you want, such as sports, movies, television, music, the outdoors etc., live over the internet.  This opens up a whole new way of communication and entertainment possibilities as people can set up 24/7 channels that stream movies to anyone on the internet for free.

Justin.tv is one of the biggest of these sites that hosts people’s live streams.  With constant updates and maintenance work, Justin.tv is able to be one of the most functional of these sites on the internet, allowing you to enjoy a variety of different channels.  If you ever want to listen to some music, watch a movie, or catch up on the latest in sports, this is a great place to go, as there is always something playing.

This past weekend, Calgary’s Santa Shuffle went on, regardless of the blizzard from the night before!

About 400 Calgarians participated in the event, despite the strong winds that day.  Not only was the weather just windy=, but it was also cold, icy, and generally miserable (can you sense my dislike of the cold?!).  Props to those of you who went anyways!

Check out these articles on CTV and 660News about the event in Calgary or visit the one on Salvation Army’s website about the event in general.

So, there’s a bit of a discrepancy between the amount that Calgary raised for the Salvation Army, but whether it’s $40k or $50k, it’s still pretty phenomenal.

Yay Calgarians!! 😀

I love seeing the evolution of things and learning about history (yup, I’m kind of a geek that way!), so imagine my delight today when I came across This Day in Tech, one of the blogs on Wired.com, which follows different events that have happened in the world of what else…tech!

Some of the posts are about things I was already aware of, and it’s cool to look back on those significant technological moments and remember the response to that story at the time (ohhh, Napster!).  Others are things I had no idea about, but that have affected the way we do things today.

So all you geek-chic, techno-loving readers out there, click through and enjoy!

I’ve been covering the novels of John Green for a few weeks now, and this week I’ll be talking about his novel, An Abundance of Katherines.

This novel follows a “teen prodigy” named Colin Singleton; he is an 18 year old with a rather strange taste in women.  He does not care about looks or personality, all he cares about is whether the girl’s name is spelled K-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e.  But he is not very lucky; he has been dumped by 19 different Katherines.  The story starts just after he’s been dumped for the 19^th time.  It was graduation day, and he comes home feeling like a piece of him is missing.

His overweight Lebanese friend, Hassan, convinces him to go on a road trip and relax, and so they do.

Colin has been wanting to make the jump from prodigy to genius for quite some time, but in order to do so, he must have a “eureka” moment.  He believes that prodigies learn quickly, but geniuses make discoveries.  He didn’t know that his road trip would lead to the rural town of Gut Shot, and he would never have thought that the road trip would lead to the “eureka” moment he’s been longing for.      

This is quite an interesting story, and I would recomend this to anyone above the age of 13 and looking for a fun story with some deep meaning to it.

Uncyclopedia is an encyclopedia full of misinformation and utter lies.  You might say it puts the “psych!” in “encyclopedia”.  It’s sort of like Congress or Parliament, but unlike Congress or Parliament, we do have a sense of humor.

I ran into this encyclopedia kinda by mistake.  Fortunately enough, the subject I was reading off from Uncyclopedia is an area of interest for me, so, I knew enough to realize that this site is actually about everything that is the opposite of a good encyclopedia. One thing I have to admit more than anything is that, this encyclopedia is the most funny one I have ever read.

WARNING: Do not visit content of Uncyclopedia unless you have first understood the content Wikipedia provides on the topic, otherwise, you will be utterly confused about everything you read!

Let us take The Five Universal forces as an example, (btw, there’re only four classified forces: gravity, electromagnetic, weak and strong – as I have warned, read WIKIPEDIA before Uncyclopedia!):

Gravity exclusively affects apples, particularly when revolutionary scientists rest under apple trees.  In such a case, the apples are accelerated downward at near lethal force towards the head of the scientist.  Upon impact, the apple imparts a brilliant idea into the revolutionarie’s head.

As you may already realize, Uncyclopedia is not completely bogus.  It’s quite original in fact, and the information it contains maybe partly false if you’re a pessimist, or partly true if you’re an optimist.

The bottom line is: Uncyclopedia is a encyclopedia with the purpose of entertainment: do not use it for your assignments nor homework.  However, despite its vastly misinformed content, it would be a humorous read for the weekends and the holidays.

The funniest article I have read so far is Physics, especially the section where they talk about the dangers of physics.  Share with us your pick for funniest article on uncyclopedia, or a similar site that will give people a laugh.

Industrial development has brought us many benefits such as cheaper products and new products, and has created a market that is filled with various types of products.  To prevent consumers from being hurt by products with harmful substances, food products are inspected by the Food and Drug Administration in the US, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in Canada.  It seems that governments are more concerned with the safety of substances that we input to our body such as food and drugs; however, most governments fail to address safety concerns with those products that we consume through our skin.  Yes, I am talking about soaps and shampoo, cosmetics, and sunscreen – products most people use one or the other of everyday.

Since governments are not keen about enforcing law and policies to regulate the use of harmful chemicals in everyday toiletry products, it is important for us to know what are in these products and choose to buy products free from SLS and other harmful chemicals.

The followings are some harmful chemicals that you may be exposed to: (Please click on the chemical name listed to learn more about those chemicals, and how they are harmful)

Soaps, Shampoo and soaps:

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
Propylene Glycol (Antifreeze)
1, 4 Dioxane
Dioxin

Cosmetics:

Bentonite
Propylene glycol
Diethanolamine (DEA)
Polyethylene glycol (PEG)
Benzylphanone
Sodium benzoate
Glycerin
Collagen
Talc

Sunscreens:

PABA / Oxybenzone / benzophenone

What to Do?

There is a line of SLS-Free toiletry products that has joined the market.  Look for SLS-Free products when buying toiletry products.  You can learn how to look for SLS-free products here.

Now you know why and how to watch out for harmful chemicals in your everyday toiletry products.  Do you think government should enforce policies and legislations that address the issue of harmful chemicals in toiletry products, or do you think people are capable of living with, and ultimately need to deal with those chemicals and develop a tolerance or defense against them.  Leave a comment!

…You know the ones with tails and fur?  I’m talking about monkeys of course!  If you’ve lived in Calgary long enough, chances are you’ve heard about Calgary Zoolights.  If you have not gone yet, let me convince you (which is not going to be that hard).  Over 1.5 million lights cover the Zoo in a spectacular display of holiday spirit and animals from all over the world.

This year there are 9 brand new, unique animated animal figures, and Santa is back – via SantaVision – by popular demand. You can live chat with Santa Clause and right afterwards you can send a Video Postcard!  The postcards let you send a message or song to loved ones wishing them “Happy Holidays!”  There are hot chocolate stands and fire pits set up all over the Zoo to keep you warm in the snow that just dusted Calgary.

Now, if you’re going with the family, don’t forget to stop by the Winter-FUN-derland kids play area and play in the Reindeer Stables, or sing along to the Festival of Choirs (7pm until 8:30pm)!  However, may I suggest closing your eyes as your parents walk through the Tunnel of Love, trust me on that one, or use that time to walk down Candy Cane Lane!

Now for all the important information:

Zoolights is on now until January 3rd, 2010. (CLOSED on Christmas Day and excluding Zoo Years Eve)

The night begins at 6:00pm until 9:00pm, but gates close at 8:30pm

Adults are $8 and Children are $5

You can get your tickets at the gate or purchase them online.  And get this!  Parking is INCLUDED after 4:30pm!!!

Check out the website for more information and for other special holiday events happening like, Brunch with Santa.  Don’t forget a toque and a warm pair of mittens!  “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

We recently posted about the U of C’s Fairly Traded Market Day and a few of us were able to attend last weekend. We were able to find awesome holiday gifts for friends and family, and for surprisingly reasonable prices, too.

Just because the Market is over doesn’t mean you can’t still buy fair-trade goods for the holidays.  10 Thousand Villages is open for business and has two locations in Calgary.  Joel is a fan of their Holiday Blend coffee, and Sheena and I picked up some really cute bags of tea.  They also have awesome bags, scarves, and incense sets available, among other things.

My favourite Kensington store, Mañana, was also at the market, and is another awesome fair-trade store for the holiday season.  Their jewelery and incense selection is unmatched.

But if you do want to make it out to another fair-trade market, the Social Justice Club at Centennial High School will be hosting its third-annual Celebrate with a Conscience event, open to the public for the first time this year. On December 10^th from 3-7pm you are welcome to browse fair-trade goods from around the world at this student-run event.

So try an ethical gift this season, or even just treat yourself to a bar of fair trade chocolate or a cup of fair-trade tea/coffee. It can’t hurt, and there are really no downsides to knowing you’re supporting the livelihood of independent craftspeople and farmers worldwide.