Have you ever said something really funny that you just want the whole world to know? Well, there’s a better way than Facebook to post and read hilarious bluffs in human language (or brain).

At “Things People Said” there are, well, real things people said. Including everything from Spoonerisms to News Reports and Kid’s Quotes. There is something for everyone here, and I assure you, this website will supply you with hours of laughter and funny quotes.

Unfortunately, they are not currently accepting new posts, but just keep those funny things written down and soon you’ll be able to share them with everyone.

The human is not perfect. And that’s what makes them so funny!!! Enjoy 😀

Earlier this month we blogged about Make It, which was an awesome opportunity to purchase  “ethically made, one-of-a-kind handmade items” from local designers and artists. On Saturday November 28th, you’ll have a similar opportunity to make ethical purchases – this time from international vendors – at the University of Calgary’s Fairly Traded Market Day.

Put on by the university’s business faculty, the event is running for it’s sixth year and will feature over 20 fair trade, international, local, and green vendors as well as great local entertainment and food from Calgary’s EthniCity Catering. It is a free event, so it’s light on our student wallets, and it’s located less than 10 blocks away from the Sunnyside C-Train station at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Hall.

For more information check out the web-page and the poster. See you there!

“Imagine. You’re playing in the fields, bathing in the sunlight, breathing in the sweet grass, pine and 2,4-D. Wait, what’s that? Oh, just another cancer-causing pesticide. You didn’t know about it. You didn’t have a choice. But now you do and you can make a difference.”

Caught your attention didn’t it?  These are the words of the Youth Earth Ambassadors (YEA), a group of young people encouraging everyone to become “environmentally proactive.”  They started a Facebook group called, The Killing Fields, in order to bring attention to the fact that a lot of pesticides people use every day in Calgary to make their grass green can cause cancer.

The Killing Fields group is trying to lobby as much support (specifically YOUTH support) as possible for the “Toxin Toll (TT)” bylaw, which is currently up for passing, with the vote being held this Monday November 16^th.

If this bylaw is passed, use of cosmetic pesticides and chemicals will be reduced.  This issue has raised a lot of debate in Calgary, so much so that the vote for the bylaw is currently tied (after many many many discussions), and only one more vote from one more alderman could pass the bylaw.

Lots of organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society, the Lung Association, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada, and the Coalition for a Healthy Calgary have thrown their weight behind this cause.

Currently, The Killing Fields Facebook group has 813 members, and the petition YEA has circulating has over 300 signatures at the moment – the youth in this city have the potential to put this bylaw through by showing their support and helping make the case for this cause. 

If you would like to help pass the Toxin Toll bylaw, join The Killing Fields group now, and breathe a little easier.

For more info, check here or here, and feel free to share your thoughts on this bylaw in the comment section below!

TWLOHA stands for To Write Love on Her Arms.  TWLOHA is a non-profit movement to raise awareness and encourage hope and recovery for people suffering from depression, self-harm, addiction and thoughts of suicide.  Over 121 million people around the world suffer from depression; over half of them never get the help they need.  Thirty percent of depressed teens develop substance abuse problems, self-harm problems, or commit suicide.  Twenty to fifty percent of teens struggling with depression have a family history of depression.  TWLOHA raises awareness and encourages hope and recovery for these people.  Friday November 13 is To Write Love on Her Arms Day. People all over the world write “love” on their arms today to help raise awareness for this cause.  Write love on your arm today to help this great cause and to show your support for people who are recovering.

Following up with my last post, I thought it would be cool to share more of the TV show (Gillette: Drafted) Andrew is on with you.  Below is his most recent episode.  He interviewed Kardinal Offishall and Carl Robinson of the Toronto FC!  Take a look below to see his newest episode!

Click here to take a look at Andrew’s skills.

Don’t forget to become a fan of Andrew on Facebook if you haven’t already 🙂 Click here!

Canada, like other countries, has random weird laws that are funny yet strange! For example, it is illegal to pay for a fifty-cent item with only pennies.

In Nova Scotia, a person is not allowed to water their grass when it’s raining!

In Ottawa you are not allowed to eat ice cream on Bank St on a Sunday! 

In Oshawa, it’s illegal to climb trees!

In the old days of Alberta, if a person was released from jail, he was required to be given a gun and a horse so he could ride out of town!

For other weird laws that existed and still do exist in the world, check out this website!

November is known as Aviation, Child Safety and Protection, Good Nutrition, International Drums, Latin America, National Adoption, National Epilepsy, Model Railroad, and Peanut Butter Lover’s Month.  Also, the second week of November is National Children’s Book Week!

Take a look at the calendar for some interesting dates that you may think are cool and might want to celebrate:

Nov. 1 – All Saint’s Day, National Author’s Day, National Family Literacy Day

Nov. 2 – The  Cookie Monster’s Birthday, National Deviled Egg Day

Nov. 3 – Sandwich Day

Nov. 4 – National Candy Day

Nov. 5 – National Donut Day

Nov. 6 – Basketball Day

Nov. 7 – Hug-a-Bear Day, Magazine Day

Nov. 8 – X-Ray Day

Nov. 9 – Parade Day

Nov. 11 – Remembrance Day

Nov. 13 – Mom’s and Dad’s Day

Nov. 14 – National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day

Nov. 15 – Pack Your Mom Lunch Day

Nov. 16 – Button Day

Nov. 17 – Homemade Bread Day, National Young Reader’s Day, Take A Hike Day

Nov. 18 – Mickey Mouse’s Birthday

Nov. 20 – Mexican Revolution Day

Nov. 21 – World Hello Day

Nov. 22 – Stop the Violence Day

Nov. 23 – National Cashew Day

Nov. 25 – Woody Woodpecker’s Birthday

Nov. 26 – National Cake Day, Thanksgiving Day (US)

Nov. 27 – Pins and Needles Day

Nov. 30 – Stay at Home Because You’re Well Day

In light of all the recent changes in regards to education, I thought I’d also mention this change as well.

Alberta Education is changing its math curriculum next September (in 2010). Instead of students having to choose between two math courses, pure and applied, students now have three choices when transitioning into high school.

In grade 10, students will be enrolled in one of the three math courses. One of the courses is geared for students planning for post-secondary (which further splits into students requiring calculus or not requiring it for their post-secondary studies). The other is for students joining the workforce straight out of high school or for students pursuing apprenticeship programs, and the last one is a basic math program.

Mathematics 10C is geared for students wishing to take the “-1” or “-2” route; “-1” is for students who require calculus in their post-secondary studies while “-2” is for students who do not. The “-3” route is for students going straight into the workforce or pursuing an apprenticeship program; and the “-4” route is the same basic math program that will not have changed under the revised curriculum (the 31 course also doesn’t change).

Each course now covers less topics than they currently do and aims to go into more depth into the areas that the student will require depending on the route they pick.

You can read the news article from CBC News here, or check out the information files from Alberta Education here.

What do you think of these changes to the curriculum? Too complicated or specific? Or does it make it easier for students?

If you can regularly be seen in your school’s drama department then chances are you’ve most likely seen a poster that says, “That $10 Ticket Thing”.  Now I don’t know about you, but when an event is being advertised as $10 I like to look a little closer at the poster, and if you do, you will find it is for Alberta Theatre Projects.  That $10 allows any student with a valid Student ID card the opportunity to attend live theatre performances.  However, this deal does not work every day, so here are the shows and days that you can see live theatre for only $10!!! (I still can’t wrap my head around this $10 thing)

December  10, 2009: Toad of Toad Hall

February 4, 2010: Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre

February 18, 2010: Tyland

February 23, 2010: The Highest Step in the World

March 3, 2010: How Do I Love Thee?

March 23, 2010: Billy Twinkle, Requiem for a Golden Boy

May 4, 2010: Communion

Make sure to mark these dates on your calendar and there is even a way you can book your student tickets in advance! You can email Anna Lake at alake@ATPlive.com or by calling (403)294-7433 ext. 1098.

For anyone interested in a more hands on experience ATP also offers backstage tours, job shadowing, internships, junior apprenticeships and there is even a Student Writers group.  For more information on any of these amazing opportunities click here!

It’s Remembrance Day once again, and I’d like to draw some attention to a certain music video.

Terry Kelly’s A Pittance of Time was released a few years ago, but I still like to look back on it around this time of year. It carries a strong message about Remembrance Day in today’s times—do we all show enough respect on this day? Or throughout this week? Or in our everyday lives?

[youtube KYlrrAWCTRg]

Yesterday, Sir Winston Churchill High School had their Remembrance Day assembly. The guest speaker was Cpl. Vince Fowler, whose speech really struck home: our freedom today comes from the sacrifice of many, many lives. Do we all take this freedom for granted? I think so (I know I do). Show your respect for the many privileges you enjoy today and take some time to reflect upon that.

In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time.

It is once again the time of the year to remember. Today is Remembrance day, so get out those poppies of yours and pay your respect to those who have sacrificed their life for our welfare.

For those who don’t know about Remembrance Day, it is also called Poppy Day, Armistice Day or Veterans Day and is celebrated on the 11th of November to recall the end of World War I in 1918 and all soldiers who have passed away in the awful course of war. There are also offical national ceremonies held in Ottawa to remember the heroes of war.

No, it’s not that kind of new math.  But, this math is definitely a lot different from what you see in your classes – it would probably fit better in the English department.  Craig Damrauer sees the world a bit differently than most. To him, circumstances are an equation and states of being can be calculated.  Confused yet?  Check it out!

If you want to take it a step further, head over to Indexed and check out the graphical rather than linear representations and such that Jessica Hagy posts.  Some of them take a bit of time to wrap your head around, but the moment of clarity is generally worth it.  Enjoy!

Reading someone’s mind can be quite an intuitive task for people.  We are trained for all our lives to read the face of people around us to get to know how they feel.

Back in September, at a TEDtalk conference, scientist Rebecca Saxe talked about the possibility of manipulating someone’s choices by sending electrical pulse to a special region of the brain – Right Temporo-Parietal Junction. In attempt doing this, we can explain why people have differences in beliefs and choices.

Right temporoparietal junction is the right hemisphere part of the temporoparietal junction — an area at the border between the temporal lobe and the parietal lobe

As you may already know, almost all regions of our brain develop over time; in addition, areas of brain that perform primitive tasks like breathing, control body temperature, heart rate, touch sense, etc, develop in most people’s early age quickly while areas of brain that perform complex problem solving skills, emotions and judgement develop much more slowly over greater period of time. Right temporoparietal junction  is the part of brain that does work that can be considered higher thinking, thus, it takes time for it to fully develop and function.

Furthermore, Rebecca talked about the effect of age on the emotional thinking such as false beliefs of the consequences of one’s action, with the perspective of using the development Right temporoparietal junction.

Please watch the TEDtalk to get to know how the development of Right temporoparietal junction affects our decisions:

According to Rebecca, it’s possible to send and manipulate someone’s mind, thus influencing that person’s decision making skills.

In my opinion, one’s mind is too precious, sensitive and private to be manipulated, to be able to understand how parts of the brain work is cool, manipulating it is crossing the line a little.

How do you feel about this? Mind manipulation, go or no go?