Researchers have found foreign language skills become “significantly better” after a drink.

The writer and comedian’s quick rise to success only came when he learned to parse the thorniest questions—like what it means to be gay, Asian and raised by Evangelicals.

Even when fake news looks like a joke, it can spin out of control.

But why should students have to invite C-list bigots to speak on their campuses?

Image Source: The Daily Beast

Scott Rosenberg, in Deadline Hollywood, says everybody knew.

Jim Beaver, on Facebook, and why he won’t say #MeToo.

Kristen Patrick in the CMAJ on #MeToo in Medicine.

       

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Ah, yes, the famous Empire State Building.

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In this episode, host Charlet travels to Kingston, Jamaica.

– – – A classic Pumpkin Pie recipe. There really is no dessert more classic for Thanksgiving than Pumpkin Pie.  Even after a big dinner, and a turkey filled belly, there’s always room for pumpkin pie. With a big scoop of whipped cream.  Oh my. Pumpkin pie made with homemade pumpkin puree is the absolute best kind of pumpkin pie.  I do use canned pumpkin which is delicious, but a freshly made pumpkin puree is ah-mazing in a pie.  Just make sure to use baking or sugar pumpkins for your pumpkin puree…Halloween pumpkins are not great for pies! But did you know that you can also use pretty much any kind of fresh squash puree in a pie?  It’s true.  I have made butternut squash pies with homemade butternut squash puree, and they are delicious.  They’re very similar to pumpkin pie, but I actually think they’re a little more creamy and rich…so so good. The big question though, is do you take your pumpkin pie with whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream? This recipe makes enough filling for 1 pie.  But if you wish, you can double the recipe to make 2 pies.  Enjoy! – – – […]

The post Pumpkin Pie (or Butternut Squash Pie) appeared first on A Pretty Life In The Suburbs.

Ever since Newton defined the law of gravity, humankind has been coming up with new and bizarre ways to test it, and while the group behind Saskatoon’s first-ever Operation Pumpkin Drop surely isn’t the first to think of dropping a weighty gourd from a great height, they did pull it off with an extremely satsifying twist. 

There’s a reason why Canadian snowbirds flock to Mesa, Arizona each winter: with ample hiking trails, wild horses roaming the shores of the meandering Salt River and an abundance of recreational activities, Mesa is an outdoor enthusiast’s playground. Located just 20 minutes from the resorts of Scottsdale, the Mesa region offers scenic vistas, superb shopping and plenty for foodies to discover. Here are five of our favourite Mesa must-dos. 

No strong scientific evidence that proves sex addiction treatment works

Computers invent new ways to play the world’s hardest game.

In New Hampshire 49% of all adult loon deaths are due to ingesting lead fishing tackle

Astronomers track a neutron star collision to discover how gold came to Earth.

Every human has mutant genes, some scientists say about sixty, other suggest the number is around one-hundred.

Lac-Saint-Jean, QC – Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, will join candidate Richard Hébert in Lac-Saint-Jean and candidate Brian Gold in Sturgeon River-Parkland for events on Friday, October 20, 2017.   Friday, 20 October 2017 10:45 AM – Tour – Resolute Forest Products 1100 rue Melançon O Alma, QC G8B 4B1 Notes […]

Several months ago, my publishing team let me know about an exciting idea that Indigo had proposed for my two cookbooks. They’ve been so thrilled with your response to the books (as have I!) that they’ve created a special-edition OSG boxed set, available just before the holiday season kicks off. When they asked me I […]

Chad Felix Greene writes:My behavior grew more and more reckless. I even made plans with a stranger I met online who lived in California. He was supposed to rescue me from my small town on the day I graduated from high school. He actually flew into town to attend my graduation, and I discovered he […]

     

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During the First World War, Canadian soldier George Cantlie sent letters home to his young daughter in Montreal and enclosed in each a flower plucked from the battle-scarred fields of Europe — daisies and lavender, lilies and roses. 

A century later, Cantlie’s touching notes to his “Wee Celia” have provided the inspiration for War Flowers, a new multi-sensory exhibition on now through January 2018 at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. 

Joe Bob Briggs writes:It started in the ’90s, I think, with the whole “Go Black” movement. I remember going to an audition for the role of a police captain in a TV movie, and when I got to the waiting room, the receptionist said, “Oh, I’m sorry, you didn’t hear? Somebody should have called you. […]

     

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In what is perhaps the world’s most biased and blame based health policy, Britain’s NHS just banned patients with obesity or who smoke from receiving elective surgeries in a bid presumably to inspire encourage help whip and prod people into losing weight (or quitting smoking – but I’m not going to touch on smoking in this piece, not because I agree with the policy, but rather because it’s not my area of expertise).

The policy’s two primary presumptions are ignorant and misguided.

The first has to do with the value of BMI as a clinical tool. While it’s true that the risks of medical complications and morbidities rise with weight, BMI is a measure of bigness, not health. Half of the NFL have been reported to have BMIs greater than 30, as did my friend and colleague Dr. Spencer Nadolsky pictured below in his wrestling days when he sported a BMI of 32.

The second presumption is that obesity is a disease of personal responsibility and choice. While no doubt weight can be dumbed down to eat less, move more, I still find it shocking that public health professionals and policy makers exist who believe that somehow people with obesity simply haven’t absorbed enough societal guilt, shame, and discrimination to finally lose weight.

Of course, even if you do want to embrace personal responsibility as the sole cause of obesity, medicine isn’t about blame. We patch up drunk drivers and folks who don’t wear seat belts. We treat people with asthma who don’t bother keeping up with their puffers, pneumonias exacerbated by the early discontinuation of antibiotics, and the psychotic breaks of folks who stop their antipsychotics.

Oh, you want surgical examples?

How about liver transplants in patients who once suffered with alcoholism; or how about one that doesn’t involve a so-called vice at all – heart bypasses on folks who simply didn’t bother to take their blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes medications?

We operate on them all in a timely manner, and so we should, but yet here the NHS feels comfortable discriminating against people with obesity, because they apparently still feel justified discussing obesity on the basis of blame based causation.

But putting those two erroneous presumptions aside, the notion that blame based medicine is something that the UK wants to adopt is plainly repugnant. Medicine’s not about blaming and shaming. Life is complicated. And even if a person has the time and personal health to allow a run at intentional behavior change, how high on the list of priorities do you think healthy living lies for someone whose children struggle with substance abuse, or whose debts are staggering, or whose spouse is hobbled with post-traumatic stress disorder? Or someone with any of those same issues who is also unemployed?

Clinically useless truisms aside, obesity is complicated, and moreover we have yet to discover a non-surgical, reproducible, and uniformly effective plan for the management of obesity. And while there’s no argument about the fact that in a ideal world everyone would take it upon themselves to live the healthiest lives possible, there’s two problems with that argument. Firstly, not everyone is interested in changing their lifestyle, and secondly, statistically speaking, the majority of even those who are interested and successful with lifestyle change will ultimately regress. Meanwhile the burden of suffering that the elective surgery those with obesity are being denied may add to absenteeism, presenteeism, pain, depression, and more.

If someone from the NHS’ clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Hertfordshire (who thought up this loathsome, biased, and backwards policy) is reading this, I want to remind you of the NHS Constitutions first guiding principle:

“The NHS provides a comprehensive service, available to all

It is available to all irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status.”

Either you’re going to have to reverse this idiotic policy, or amend that statement above to explicitly exclude those with obesity.

For shame.

(In rushing this post through, I utilized paragraphs from a number of previous stories I’ve written about obesity, blame, and bias)

       

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Lac-Saint-Jean, QC — Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, will join candidate Richard Hébert for events in Lac-Saint-Jean on Thursday, October 19, 2017:   Thursday, 19 October 2017 10:25  AM – Community visit with Seniors – Résidence l’Émeraude 1515 rue des Roses Roberval, QC G8H 3K5 Notes for Media: Photo opportunity only – Media should […]

Find out what they’re saying about the Liberal Government’s plan to cut small business taxes from 10.5 to 9% by 2019.

Here are some Halloween Decorating Ideas to inspire you this spooky season! I really love to decorate inside our home for Halloween.  I love the transition from a simply decorated fall home, to a spooky but fun Halloween house.  But I especially love that the kids love it.  For them, it adds to the excitement that Halloween is coming! This year I changed things up in the Halloween decor department.  I try very hard not to over complicate things, and use a lot of the same decorations from past years.  But this year I was in Michaels in August, and their shelves were FULL of amazing Halloween decorations.  I try not to get tempted, but I saw these fuzzy black and white skull pillows, and decided right then and there, that I had to have them. And then one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew I had a cart full of pumpkins, pillows, string art, candle holders…and on and on.  But I can use it all again next year.  Decorating our home for the seasons, is just what I like to do, so I gave in to a little temptation this year, and I love how […]

The post Halloween Decorating Ideas appeared first on A Pretty Life In The Suburbs.

Rick McGinnis writes:The idea of some sort of vaguely defined creative class as a benign invasion, reviving run-down areas once home to workers or industry with their peculiar and mysterious social, cultural and economic alchemy, had a lot of appeal to the sorts of people who run cities – politicians, developers and realtors, mostly.(…)The major […]

     

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Fall in Vancouver came swiftly this year. Overnight, leaves changed colour, the temperature dropped and flora and fauna that thrive in the warm summer sun beat a hasty retreat. 

A week ago, the Westin Bayshore’s gardens would have been alive with guests lounging by the pool or making their way out to run or bike the seawall, but today everyone is sheltering from the wind and rain, including the hotel’s resident bees — more on them in a moment.

Costa Rica’s construction industry has traditionally been dominated by men, but with the help of the WEConnect International program, Madelaine Artavia Sotela has blazed a trail that’s helping change the culture of the business. Part of an ongoing series of stories about innovative projects in the developing world, a partnership between the International Development Research Centre and Canadian Geographic.

So there’s that…Steve Sailer writes now:Podhoretz is no fan of Weinstein’s Democratic politics, but for an outsider to joke about Harvey’s history of suckering Oscar voters with sanctimony was just not done. (…)Second, the Weinstein scandal is a good time to bring up a potential reform I’ve been mentioning for about a half decade: We […]

     

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