Feedback on Relax Magazine???

Hi Folks;

As I posted that OTHER post, I realized that I should have posted this one!

One of the reasons we started this blog was to accept feedback and start discussions about the printed version of Relax Magazine.

Please don't post any comments of a personal nature, (email those to info@relaxmagazine.ca but ... if you have any feedback about the printed magazine, please consider THIS post your forum to add comments, suggestions, or article ideas.

Thanks for reading the magazine. If you haven't received it, you can view two articles every month by visiting the main page of our web site at: www.relaxmagazine.ca.

Thanks again for helping shape future issues.

-Kory

Cheryl is VERY Busy

Hi - shhhh - don't wake Cheryl. I'm Kory, Webmaster of Relax Magazine.

This post may APPEAR to come from Cheryl - owner and editor of Relax Magazine, but it's actually from me, Kory Hopkins - owner of www.DecentExposure.com.

Cheryl doesn't actually know I'm doing this. So ... don't tell her.

To be honest - I don't know where Cheryl gets the time to run a magazine. Every month, I read her column and discover she's taken on another hundred-hour-a-month job.

In September, she spent 200-hours working on her hardwood floors.
In August she learned to drive a racecar.
May June and July, she played (and coached? managed? hindered?) the Relaxinators softball team right into the basement of their league, (although proudly - they DID win three games by default.)
In April, by all accounts, she spent the month picking up dog poop in the back yard.

Frankly Cher - you make us look bad. Slow down woman! Just once I wanna read a column where you did nothing for a day - spend a day in bed watching Oprah and eating bon bons.

Well, there - we NOW have a post in September.

-Kory

Try finding you own Luck

Fields are filling now with greenery, perhaps you might take on a four-leaf clover hunt.
The mystical ‘weed’ has long been revered in the Irish culture in particular, but four, five or more leaves are even more common that you may think.

A four leaf clover refers to an aberration of a three leaf clover plant, the Trifolium repens or "white clover." The white clover is a deep green flowering vine with white blossoms. It is the original shamrock plant of Ireland and the unofficial state symbol. The shamrock already has powerful associations, and its occasional production of an extra leaf makes the rare four leaf clover especially lucky.

The three leaves of the white clover have become associated with the Christian Trinity, or God the Father, His Son, and The Holy Spirit. The extra leaf of the four leaf clover is said by some to stand for God's grace. A less dogmatic interpretation is that one leaf stands for faith, another for hope, the third for love and the last for luck.

One breeder claims only about 1 in 10,000 plants will naturally mutate to produce a four leaf clover. They believe environmental stresses cause the mutation, and that a plant which mutates regularly is even rarer.

Many myths are associated with four leaf clovers. Finding one not only brings good luck, but in the Middle Ages, it was also thought to allow the bearer to see fairies and plant sprites. So it was that children often searched fields for a four leaf clover in order to see into the magical realm of the spirit world.

If you find a four leaf clover you can consider yourself very lucky indeed. When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, legend has it that Eve was holding a four leaf clover. Curiously, the lore of the white clover plant is also associated with repelling snakes, though it didn't seem to work in the Garden of Eden!

Making a simple flower press and drying the clover that you find might make a fine gift for a friend who needs a little pick-me-up.

Whatever the reason, the next time you see a patch of clover on your lawn or in the park take a look and maybe you will find the luck of the Irish.

It might be a good deal but...

Now is the time for garage sales. There is nothing better than finding a bargain, but when is a bargain a problem in disguise.
Health Canada released this warning about the responsibilities of selling older, unapproved products, even if you sold it from your own driveway.
Everyone holding a garage sale is legally responsible for ensuring that products sold, whether new or used, are safe and meet current safety standards. It is important to only sell items that are in good condition. Damaged articles should be discarded.

Before selling a product at a garage sale, check with the manufacturer to see if it has been recalled and if the problem has been corrected. If it has been recalled and the problem has not been corrected, do not sell the product. Destroy it and throw it away.

The Hazardous Products Act is administered by Health Canada. It has safety requirements for certain consumer products, many of which are intended for use by children. Under the law you cannot import, sell, give away or distribute products that do not meet the requirements of the Hazardous Products Act.

The following is a partial list of products that must meet safety requirements under the Hazardous Products Act:

BABY GATES – Baby gates that have large diamond-shaped or large "V" openings at the top are not allowed to be sold in Canada. A child's head can get caught in these openings and the child could strangle. To meet the regulations, baby gates must come with information that identifies the manufacturer, model number, and the date of manufacture.

BABY WALKERS BANNED – Baby walkers have been illegal to sell since April 2004. Anyone with a baby walker is advised to destroy it..

CAR SEATS must meet the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. Before selling a used car seat, check with Transport Canada at 1-800-333-0371.

CHILDREN'S JEWELLERY – Lead is a soft, heavy, bluish-grey metal which is often used to make inexpensive jewellery. Lead is very toxic.. Jewellery containing lead which has a protective or decorative coating is not safe, since children can easily chew off the coating. If you are not sure if a children's jewellery product contains lead, it is wiser not to offer it for sale.

CHILDREN'S SLEEPWEAR – Loose-fitting sleepwear (including nightgowns, bathrobes, and loose pyjamas) burn more easily if made of cotton or cotton blends. To meet the flammability requirements, loose-fitting children's sleepwear should be made of polyester, nylon or polyester/ nylon blends. Cotton or cotton-blends may only be used for tight-fitting styles such as sleepers or polo pyjamas.

CRIBS – To meet the regulations, cribs must come with information that identifies the manufacturer, model number, date of manufacture and assembly instructions. Cribs made before September 1986 do not meet current safety standards and are not allowed to be sold under the law. It is also important that the mattress used in the crib fits snugly, with a gap of no more than 3 cm between the mattress and the crib. The spacing between the bars should be no more than 6 cm. Corner posts should be no more than 3 mm high. The mattress support must be firmly fixed to the end panels. Cribs that have a floating mattress support system with S or Z-shaped hooks are not safe. Cribs with visible signs of damage, missing parts, or missing warning information should be destroyed.

HOCKEY HELMETS AND FACE PROTECTORS sold in Canada must meet safety standards set by the Canadian Standards Association International (CSA). If the CSA sticker is not present throw the product away. .

LAWN DARTS BANNED – It is illegal to sell lawn darts with elongated tips in Canada.

PLAYPENS – Do not sell playpens that have protruding bolts, worn or faulty mechanisms, or torn vinyl or mesh. Playpen mesh must be small mosquito-type netting. When selling a folding playpen, ensure that all locking mechanisms work and set-up instructions are included..

STROLLERS – Carriages and strollers made before 1985 may not meet current safety standards and must not be sold. Strollers must come with a lap belt, or safety harness that is solidly attached to the seat or frame. Ensure the brakes, as well as locking mechanisms on folding models, are in working order.

BICYCLE AND ROLLERBLADING HELMETS are designed to protect the head against a single impact. It is not recommended to resell these products.

DRAWSTRINGS ON CHILDREN'S CLOTHING especially on snowsuits, jackets and sweatshirts, can become caught on playground equipment, fences or other objects. Drawstrings on children's clothing should be removed prior to sale.

WINDOW BLINDS – The cords and bead chains from blinds and curtains present two main strangulation hazards to children: pull-cords, inner cords, and bead chains forming a loop in which a child can get caught; and long cords being wrapped around a child's neck. Products with looped pull-cords, and those without inner cord stop devices and important safety labelling, should not be sold. Inner cord stops are small, plastic rings knotted to the top of the pull-cords, to stop the inner cords from being pulled through the slats. It is very important to keep blind and curtain pull-cords out of the reach of children, regardless of whether blinds are new or old.

INFANT BATH SEATS AND BATH RINGS – It is not recommended to resell these products because the suction cups or other means to attach them to a tub can be ineffective. Additionally, many people mistakenly believe that these products are safety devices and caregivers may think that the product will keep an unsupervised baby safe in the tub.
At this time of year, Health Canada reminds Canadians that along with the warmer weather comes garage sale season. This is not only a great time for bargains, but also a time to exercise caution both as a buyer and as a seller. Caution is required to protect the safety of consumers who may use second-hand products. In Canada, the safety laws that apply to the sale of new products also apply to the sale of used items. Under these laws, it is illegal to import, sell, or even give away products that do not meet the requirements of the Hazardous Products Act (HPA).

Vendors are responsible for ensuring that all items sold or distributed at garage sales, flea markets, and second-hand stores fulfill the applicable requirements of the Hazardous Products Act and the Radiation Emitting Devices Act (REDA). The REDA covers such items as microwave ovens, UV facial lamps and personal tanning equipment. Resold items must also meet current standards.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Consumer Product Safety,
Health Canada

Don't hold back the tears

From the ThirdAge website
Did you know that tears contain toxins? Sounds like crying may remove byproducts of stress from the body. What does this mean for mind-body health?
Humans are the only animals who shed tears of emotion. Why do we cry? Are there any physical or health benefits from crying?
Years of tears
"Until the Industrial Revolution, crying in public was pretty normal, even for men," says Tom Lutz, Ph.D., an associate professor of English at the University of Iowa and author of Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears. "Heroic epics from Greek times through the Middle Ages are soggy with weeping of all sorts," Dr. Lutz says. "Through most of history, tearlessness has not been the standard of manliness."
For instance, when Roland, the most famous warrior of medieval France died, 20,000 other knights wept so profusely they fainted and fell from their horses. Long before that, the Greek warrior Odysseus cries in almost every chapter of Homer's Iliad while St. Francis of Assisi was said to have been blinded by weeping. Later, in the 16th century, sobbing openly at a play, opera or symphony was considered appropriately sensitive for men and women alike.
Tearless generations
The industrial age needed diligent, not emotional, workers. Crying was then delegated to privacy, behind closed doors. Children learned that weeping itself was the problem and not the result of a problem. People everywhere became more uncomfortable with public tears.
The purpose of crying
Throughout history and in every culture, people cry. "Weeping often occurs at precisely those times when we are least able to fully verbalize complex, overwhelming emotions and least able to fully articulate our feelings," Lutz writes.
Crying can also be an escape; it allows us to turn away from the cause of our anguish, and inward toward our own bodily sensations. Scientists feel that weeping is probably necessary because no human behavior has ever continuously evolved unless it somehow contributed to survival.
"Science has proven that stress is terrible for the health of your brain, heart and other organs," says William Frey II, Ph.D., biochemist and tear expert of the Ramsey Medical Center in Minnesota. "It isn't proven yet, but weeping has most likely served humans throughout our evolutionary history by reducing stress."

Studying the waterworks
In one oft-quoted study, Frey studied five different groups of people. The people kept records of all emotional and irritant crying episodes for a period of 30 days. Information such as date, time, duration, reason for crying, thoughts, emotions and physical components, such as "lump in throat," watery eyes vs. flowing tears, etc.
Frey found that 94 percent of the females had an emotional crying episode in the 30-day recording period, as compared with only 55 percent of the males. Eighty-five percent of women and 73 percent of men reported feeling better and more relieved after a good cry. Dr. Frey's lab also chemically examined tears produced by onions and compared them with emotional tears. While chemical tears (caused by onions) were 98 percent water, emotional tears contained more toxins.
Why do people produce tears?
Tears are secreted through a duct, a process much like urination or exhalation. Frey believes that like these other processes, tearing may be involved in removing waste products or toxic substances from the body. .
"Crying is natural, healthy and curative," according to Barry M. Bernfeld, Ph.D., director of the Primal Institute in Los Angeles. "[But] crying which should be the most natural, accepted way of coping with pain, stress, and sorrow is hardly mentioned in psychiatric literature. Now we seem finally to recognize that crying is good for people."

Nerd bagel box

We saw this idea on the Lifehacker website under their MacGyver tips and thought it was pretty good. It involves using a CD spindle case as a plastic container to carry a sandwich made from a bage. Just be sure to wash out the case before you use it. A 10-CD spindle fits one bagel , a 50 CD-spindle can carry up to three!
Because the lid locks there is no fear of the bagel(s) falling out and they can't be crushed.

Picnic safely

The weather is getting warm and thoughts turn to leaving the house for the afternoon, why not have a picnic.
Picnics can take on many forms, such as the community picnic, friends and neighbors, tailgate parties, or ball games. There is also one sure thing at every picnic-lots of good food. The important point is to have safe and healthy food, not food that can cause food borne illness. Always prepare and store food properly. These tips are from the What's Cooking America website.

* As always, wash hands and work areas before preparing food.

* Plan your menu with an eye to safe food handling. Cook foods in plenty of time to thoroughly chill them in shallow containers in the refrigerator.

* Have enough coolers with ice or frozen gel packs in which to store the perishable foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs and salads. You want to keep the food at 40 degrees F. Pack foods right from the refrigerator into the coolers.

* Don't put the cooler in the car trunk; Carry it inside an air-conditioned car. At picnics, keep the cooler in the shade and keep the lid closed. Replenish the ice if it melts.

* Use a separate cooler for drinks so the one containing the food won't constantly be opened and closed.

* Find out if there's a source of safe drinking water at your destination. If not, bring water for preparation and cleaning; or pack clean, wet, disposable cloths or moist towelettes and paper towels for cleaning hands and surfaces. Cross-contamination during preparation, grilling, and serving food is a prime cause of food borne illness.

* Pack raw meats, poultry, or seafood on the bottom of the cooler. This will reduce the risk of them dripping on other foods. Pack coolers until they are full. A full cooler will stay cold longer than one that is partially full.

* If you plan on getting takeout foods such as fried chicken, Eat them within an hour of pick up.

* Do not partially grill extra meat or poultry to use later. Once you begin, cook until completely done to assure bacteria are destroyed. Grill raw poultry until the juices run clear and there is no pink. Hamburger should not be pink in the center.

* When taking food off the grill, Don't put the cooked items on the same platter which held the raw meat unless you have washed the platter in between uses.

* Two Hour Rule. Don't leave perishable food un-refrigerated for more than two hours. Put perishable foods back in the cooler or refrigerator as soon as you finish eating. Don't leave them out while you go for a swim or a hike, and don't leave them out all afternoon to nibble on.

* Chances are, picnic leftovers have been sitting out for more than an hour or two. Discard these leftovers. Cold food that were kept in a cooler that still has ice may be safe. If the ice has melted, the food should be discarded.

Finally scrub out the coolers afterward with a mild dilution of bleach to get rid of any bacteria left over from spills or drippings from the food, meat in particular.

Don't poison the family safely store leftovers

Common sense some times forgets the kitchen when you are in a rush or if you are hungry. Leftovers is a champion comfort food mainly because it normally tastes better the second day. The problem is what happened to the food after the first day.

The following information is from A Rutgers Cooperative Extension Fact Sheet
Leftover" foods are cooked foods that you or your family do not eat within 2 hours after they are cooked. Leftovers include foods that you may eat before or after they have been stored in the refrigerator or freezer. The chance of food poisoning increases the longer you store a food after it is cooked. Improper handling or storing cooked food is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the home.

The careful cook can reduce this threat by following the guidelines below for storing, reheating, and disposing of leftover foods.

Storing Leftovers

All cooked foods should be reheated to 165° F, refrigerated, or frozen within 2 hours after cooking. In hot weather, that time limit is only 1 hour. Remember that the "safe" period starts after the food is cooked. It includes the time that the food sits before being served and the time it sits on the table while the meal is being eaten. This period lasts until the food is actually in the refrigerator or freezer.

Remember to wash your hands with soap and water before handling any cooked food, especially food you store to eat later. Use clean utensils to handle the food, and store it in clean containers. Do not put food back into the same container it was in before it was cooked, unless you have carefully cleaned the container with soap and water. Do not place food on a counter or cutting board before refrigerating or freezing, unless you have carefully cleaned the surface beforehand.

You should place foods to be refrigerated or frozen in small, shallow containers, 3 inches tall or less, and cover them completely. Don't stack these containers right next to other containers, but leave some air space around them. By using shallow containers and by leaving air space around the containers you can promote rapid, even cooling of the food. When you refrigerate or freeze cooked food in a large, deep container, the food in the center of the container remains warm for a longer time. Dangerous bacteria may grow in this warm spot without making the food look or smell bad. If you eat this food later, you may get food poisoning.

Never taste leftovers that are of questionable age or safety.

As a general rule, never keep leftovers for more than 4 days.

Remember to remove the stuffing from cooked poultry and refrigerate or freeze it separately. You should do this because the stuffing in the center of the bird can stay warm long enough for food poisoning bacteria to grow. By removing the stuffing and placing it in its own container, you allow it to cool more rapidly.

If you date leftovers before refrigerating them, this can help you ensure they don't remain in your refrigerator too long.

Mobile Snacking?

Think interpersonal communication is going to Hell in a handbasket?
This press release from Palm Canada identifies what appears to be a new term for the technology challenged set. However it is a realistic portrait of the new world order.

“Always On” Canadian Professionals Build Bite-sized Entertainment into Busy Schedules

TORONTO, May 16, 2007 – While you’d be hard-pressed to find many young adults without a cell phone in hand these days, is it all work and no play when it comes to mid-aged Canadians and mobile technology? Hardly. According to a new Palm Canada/Leger Marketing study, tech-savvy “30-to-50-somethings” are active consumers of wireless entertainment, grabbing quick nibbles of fun time during those “whenever” minutes throughout a hectic work day -- what’s referred to as “mobile snacking.”

Three in five (60 per cent) respondents surveyed consider themselves “always on” between family and work commitments. The same amount say that communication technology is key to balancing personal and professional commitments. More than half of Canadian professionals polled credit technologies such as cell phones and PDAs for keeping them connected at work, and one in five (20 per cent) say they rely on an “all-in-one” device such as a smartphone to balance their social and professional lives.

And while 71 per cent of those surveyed say that technology helps them get and stay ahead in their careers, it isn’t all about email. Almost half (45 per cent) also use PDAs, cell phones and laptops to unwind in their leisure time. In fact, 44 per cent of people surveyed use their mobile device to listen to MP3s, one in five (19 per cent) are checking out videos, and 10 per cent even admit to checking updates on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

“As on-the-go Canadians consume content in bite-size, easy-to-digest portions, mobile snacking is becoming more mainstream,” says Michael Moskowitz, vice president, Americas International, Palm, Inc. “From news alerts to watching videos to sending emails, downloading information is becoming as common as downing a granola bar.”

Trends such as mobile snacking appear to be the result of working extended hours and adopting mobile lifestyles. Working beyond the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday is not uncommon for Canadians; over a quarter (27 per cent) surveyed admitted to working 10 hours a day or more.


Additional Fast Facts


Mobile snacking habits – that’s entertainment

- 73 per cent admit emailing on a mobile device is a form of entertainment
- 44 per cent report using mobile technology for text messaging and listening to MP3s
- 33 per cent report using mobile technology for listening to the radio
- 19 per cent report using mobile technology to watch videos

Career commitment – working for more than the weekend

- 76 per cent check email outside their work day
- 60 per cent admit to being “always on”
- 28 per cent take Saturdays off but tend to work on Sundays
- 58 per cent check email/voicemail before going to bed at night
- 37 per cent confess to doing work while attending a social or family engagement
- 27 per cent have responded to email during dinner

Mobile devices – it’s personal

- 89 per cent agreed the easier the technology, the more likely they are to use it
- 52 per cent feel they can afford innovative, high-end communications technologies
- 24 per cent say that they are defined by the tech devices they use

Honey, the perfect food?

From the website Healthbot, a serious case is made for using honey a little more liberally in the household.

Honey has been consumed by humans for 2,500 years and it’s still got the right stuff. Check it out:

1. Honey is mostly known as a sweetener. It contains about 69% glucose and fructose.
2. Honey is a universal source of energy that provides 64 calories per tablespoon. (One tablespoon of sugar will give you about 50 calories.) The sugars in honey are easily converted into glucose by even the most sensitive stomachs.
3. Honey contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. The vitamin and mineral content of honey depends on the type of flowers pollen was gathered from during the making process.
4. Good for your skin: milk and honey are often served together. Both of these help smooth and sooth skin.
5. Honey has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. It has traditionally been used as a natural treatment for wounds, burns and ulcers. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the medicinal properties of honey for wound care.
6. Honey is an excellent ergogenic aid and can boost the performance of athletes. Honey helps maintain blood sugar levels, muscle recuperation and glycogen restoration after a workout. During the ancient Olympics, athletes ate honey and dried figs, to enhance their performance.
7. Antioxidants: Honey contains nutraceuticals, which are effective in removing free radicals from our body. As a result, our body immunity is improved.
8. Honey can help control cholesterol levels and type II diabetes. In a series of experiments involving healthy subjects and those with either high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, honey has proved itself the healthiest sweetener.
9. Phytonutrients found both in honey and propolis (or ‘bee glue’, which is found in raw honey) have been shown to possess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties. These substances include caffeic acid methyl caffeate, phenylethyl caffeate, and phenylethyl dimethylcaffeate. Researcher has shown these substances to prevent colon cancer in animals by shutting down activity of the enzymes, phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C and lipoxygenase.

Case for a helmet

From the Capital Time in Madison, Wisconson

Bike helmet crushed, but head fine

Mary Yeater Rathbun — 5/12/2007 9:27 am

A white paneled delivery truck ran over a UW-Madison graduate student's head on Division Street Friday afternoon and, except for a concussion, he wasn't hurt.

Ryan Lipscomb, 26, said he was riding his bicycle pretty fast down the East Isthmus Bike Path where it parallels Eastwood Drive on Madison's east side just before 3 p.m. Eastwood had a green light, so the crosswalk for the bike path showed a white walk sign, Lipscomb said.

He saw the large truck, the kind that usually makes deliveries to offices, coming down Eastwood, preparing to make a right turn onto Division Street. Lipscomb said he could tell the truck wasn't going to stop. So Lipscomb slammed on his brakes, flipping his bike and throwing himself into the street. He landed right at the intersection of Eastwood and Division.

The truck ran over his head.

"I didn't see it coming, but I sure felt it roll over my head. It feels really strange to have a truck run over your head."

His helmet, a Giro, was crushed, but Lipscomb's head was fine.

Madison Police Department Sgt. Chris Boyd said the officer at the scene urged Lipscomb to keep the helmet. He did. It is all flattened and mangled and broken, unlike his head.

Even though the truck did not stop, Boyd initially refused to call the incident a hit-and-run. She said the police were not sure that the truck driver knew that someone had been hit. But Sgt. Bernie Gonzalez said later in the evening that the accident report calls it a hit-and-run.

Lipscomb agrees with Gonzalez.

"The truck driver definitely would have known. You know when you run over a curb and my head was definitely higher than a curb." Moreover, Lipscomb said, he was already in the street as the truck was turning. "He had to have seen me."

He was taken to University Hospital, but was released by about 6 p.m. "I'm OK except for a concussion," he said Friday night about 10 p.m.

Movie stuff

Yeah it's getting warmer outside, and maybe the idea of hitting the couch with cream soda and carmel corn isn't as appealing as it was a couple of months ago, but there are rainy days ahead. Judging by last summer ain't that the truth.
All the same Wilson Doran keeps hitting the play button to bring different ideas for discs to rent. However Willy (he really hates that) is always open to suggestions, a genre he hasn't thought of or even a star that really should brought further into the public eye. Whatever. Don't be afraid to let him know what you think by sending off an email to wdoran@relaxmagazine.ca or if that doesn't work, info@relaxmagazine.ca.
Let him know what you are thinking.

And more birds

As you may have noticed birds are coming back in great number to the area. Ontario Nature recently sent out a press release about upcoming arrivals and although most of the gang has returned, however not everyone is back including the House Wren, due May 3, the Yellow Warbler May 7 and the Ruby-throated Hummingbird ETA May 18.
If you have friends or cottages further north of the Simcoe County area tack another week or two on to these dates.
Ontario Nature offers a lot of other ideas about birding, but if you are really interested check out the Brereton Field Naturalists' Club of Barrie.
You can check out their website at www.members.tripod.com/brereton_naturalists, or just head down to Little Lake Park at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 3. Dress for the weather.

Chicken ears

In the first issue of Relax Chef Michael Cortese broached the subject of chicken ears. Apparently this caused a bit of a ruckus among the non-fowl aware set so checking out the Mad Science website we found confirmation as follows.

Chickens do have ears, but they are more like ear holes.  They do not 
possess an outer ear, or pinna, as most mammals possess, but they do have 
ear lobes.  The color of the lobe does somewhat indicate the color of 
their eggs.  It is believed that the same gene that determines the color 
of the ear lobe also determines egg color.

An all white chicken has white ear lobes therefore, white hens will lay 
white eggs.  A non-specific breed of broiler hen can be one of many colors 
or multi-colored.  Their ear lobes also can be colored from near white to 
near black.  These birds will lay eggs that are nearly white to a deep, 
soft brown.  The shade of brown of the egg will be indicated by the degree 
of color of the ear lobe.  In other words, a chicken with blackish lobes 
will not lay a black egg, but it may be a deep brown.

Let the debate continue

Somebody actually read the manual

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST - Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND - Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car wil unlock.

Save someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).
Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!

THIRD - Hidden Battery

Power

Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH - How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the Following digits on your phone:

* # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset.

Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either.

Manual, what manual?

The season has changed and again, Spring cleaning is on tap. Here is a tip from an American house organizer, we really hadn't thought of.
Have you gone through cupboards, drawers and hutches and found piles of old product manuals.
Here is a couple of question you might want to ask to free up some space and fill up the recycling box.

• Do you still own the product?
• Do you need the manual in English, French, Spanish, German, and Chinese? Many manuals are printed in multiple languages. I tear out all but the English version, saving LOTS of space.
• Do you need the manual on paper? Many manuals can be found on-line, so you don't need to keep the paper version.

It's been a long time

It has been a month between postings. Sorry about that. I would like to say it was because of the weather, getting the flu, changing seasons, work, getting the taxes ready, but that wouldn't be fair.
But it really was because of the weather, getting the flu, changing seasons, work, getting the taxes ready. That said, we will try to do better. Again sorry.

Valuables in the Attic?

The British Artiques Roadshow Tour of the Dominion for 2007 begins this Spring with a repeat Roadshow at the KOZLOV CENTRE in Barrie on the 16^th-17^th April 2007

In keeping with the spirit of will be more than one hundred shows for the experts they offer up highlights of what they have found on their nation-wide tours.

• The single most valuable find.

Paintings: $1.2 million dollar Courbet a $750,000.00 Manet

32 Group of Seven works, 2 Renoirs and a Dufy.

• The biggest Boo Boo

A Picasso plate – dropped by the owner!

• The next biggest Boo Boo!

The lady with an $18,000 Moorcroft vase who had given all the others away to Mums friends as mementoes after mothers death! She gave away about 20 in all!

• The next biggest catastrophe!

The lady who cleaned both her Dutch oil paintings by Jacob Maris with VIM as she was too house proud to bring them in Dirty!

Bye bye to 28 grand. Each!.

• The Most difficult items to prove legitimate:

The Zulu spear that it is claimed killed Napoleon III.

The owner wondered if DNA could help but added, that the spear had been kept in a garden shed and used by Granddad for fifty years for digging up weeds in the lawn!

• Silliest item.

There was a rock from a beach in BC that the owner was certain was the worlds earliest primitive tool!

• The most incredible - by the skin of your teeth stories:

Grandfather escaped the Nazi occupation of Paris taking with him only what he could carry. He’d always told his Granddaughter that an old print was her inheritance and ‘she must look at it very, very closely one day.’ She’d always dismissed it as the old mans tale.

Not so, we spotted a bulge in the back of the frame and hidden behind the print was Renoir drawing! Her $70,000.00 inheritance!

Another inheritance story. Two prints by Sir Arthur Elsley mistakenly thought to be paintings were brought in by a road worker. Explaining that Elsley only did very large pictures and these 2 were 1980’s lithos, he told us of a much bigger one under the bed! He fetched it in the back of his pick up in the rain!

Bingo: $150,000.00!

Brush away the clouds

Since we are in the cleaning mode. And by the way don't forget the green cleaning stuff mentioned earlier, here is a tip about cleaning up those clear water tumblers that have turned opaque.
Soaking glassware in vinegar works for awhile, but maybe you noticed the stains come back even worse. We found the same thing with the mugs we use for tea.
Try brushing the goop away with toothpaste. And actually the cheap stuff works better.
Get an old toothbrush and scrub away at the stains and the clouds and stains clear. Remember to use paste not gels.
And to prove the miracle of toothpaste, fix up your scratched CDs by polishing them with a small amount of paste and a soft, damp cloth.
It won't prevent cavities, but it might bring back that old Flock of Seagulls CD.

The pain of Spring cleaning

The snow is disappearing and you can hear the birds again.
That usually means plans are afoot, at least you are starting to plan anyway, about the annual
Spring Clean.
Remember this means you have to use your muscles, don't take yourself out of the game before you start, just keep these three things in mind.

• Gently stretch each muscle group for at least 60 seconds before and after you finish your cleaning.
  
• Hydrate! Lots of water or an electrolyte containing sports drink.
• Ice the worked muscle group immediately after especially heavy lifting, maybe with a glass of wine or something. Remember you want to keep this fun or nobody will want to help you
  

The pain of Spring cleaning

The snow is disappearing and you can hear the birds again.
That usually means plans are afoot, at least you are starting to plan anyway, about the annual
Spring Clean.
Remember this means you have to use your muscles, don't take yourself out of the game before you start, just keep these three things in mind.

• Gently stretch each muscle group for at least 60 seconds before and after you finish your cleaning.
  
• Hydrate! Lots of water or an electrolyte containing sports drink.
• Ice the worked muscle group immediately after especially heavy lifting, maybe with a glass of wine or something. Remember you want to keep this fun or nobody will want to help you
  

This is a bit depressing

Maybe we are getting just a little bit cynical, but on Google's top inquiries survey for Canada they list the most popular searches in Canada on their browser they list fifteen subjects for the month of January.
There is the standard Britney Speers bit (she shaved her head you know and got into a bit of an overexposure jag) and Nexopia, a Canadian version of MySpace and the usual dating sites, but Canadian Tire? You got to be kidding me.
The world at our finger tips, isn't technology grand?
February isn't posted yet, but let us all hope for more a more enlightened March.
The list is as follows

nexopia games air canada 411 britney spears	future shop lavalife nhl paris hilton mls love iphone limewire canadian tire plenty of fish

I like cinnamon but...

There is a tiny (kind 0f) misunderstanding, shall we say, in the Grandma's Scones recipe on page 10 of the current issue of Relax.
Under the optional extras it is indicated one cup of cinnamon might be tasty.
Okay I like cinnamon, but Jeez! We got a little too enthusiastic about the measure there.
Use a little discretion when tossing in the extras, I like broccoli as well but not in this recipe.
By the way, we tried the scones, without the cinnamon, and they were delicious!

The Secret secret

One of our readers posted a comment about The Secret, the latest empowering video released to great acclaim touted by everyone from Larry King of CNN fame to Oprah. The concern is that The Secret isn't really that much of a secret, just a repackaging of an earlier empowerment series from the past.
Although we haven't seen the video (yet) a little research suggests that this isn't so much a repackaging job so much as it is a grand slam of motivational authors such as James Arthur Ray and Jack Canfield or Chicken Soup fame to former NASA psychologist Denis Waitley presented in a pretty stirring video format.
The Law of Attraction, pre-visualizing, faith whatever you want to call it has been around for a long time, and sometimes this industry has to reinvent itself to stay current and this looks very much like what this is.
Maybe some of our readers would like to comment on this.

We are on the street!

Got a phone call from one of our advertiser's regulars who tells us that on the first day the premiere edition hit the streets they already had new customers who had seen the ad and came into restaurant to see what all the fuss was about.
We thought people would read our magazine and check out our supporters, just not that quickly!
Hope everyone finds Relax as valuable.

Clean Green Cheap

The author of The Simple Dollar, a great site for common sense budgeting and finance advice (with no selling!) has come up with a series of recipes of cheap and ecologically safe cleaners.

As spring approaches and the weather slowly begins to turn warmer in the northern hemisphere, many people get an itch to clean up their homes after the long winter slumber. I know we have that itch; we’ve spent two weekends recently cleaning like crazy.

The problem is that if you visit a department store and look for cleaning supplies, you’re often inundated with a huge array of options, many of which are ridiculously expensive. Instead of buying $30 worth of cleaning supplies, spend substantially less instead. Here’s your shopping list:

Baking soda (get a big box)
Washing soda (look in the laundry section, near the laundry detergents)
White vinegar (distilled is better)
Liquid dishwashing soap (get your preferred kind - we usually get a big container of Dawn or a generic equivalent)
Tea tree oil (we find this in various places; try asking in a pharmacy)
2 glass jars (only if you want to make a batch and store it)
6 spray bottles (again, only if you want to store it, though it’s good to have a couple for applying window spray and such)
Some rags and sponges

That’s all you’ll need to make any kind of cleaner you can imagine to clean your house. The only thing that’s even remotely expensive is the tea tree oil, and a jar of it will be enough for a very long time. The best part? These things are all nontoxic, so if my kid were to dip his hand in something, it wouldn’t harm him. Here are some recipes for specific cleaning situations:

Soft Scrub: Put a bit of baking soda in a bowl (try 1/8 of a cup for starters), then just enough liquid detergent so that it’s like frosting when you mix it. Then, cover a sponge with it and use it to wash the surface. This is really good for washing bathtubs and any tile you might have. It also works as an oven cleaner, though I would recommend wetting it down a bit with water first, rubbing a layer of the mixture all over the inside of the oven, then letting it sit overnight before you scrub it all off.

Windows: Take one of those spray bottles and in it mix half a teaspoon of the liquid soap, three tablespoons of vinegar, and two cups of water. Shake it up, then spray it on your windows and wipe it off.

Table polish: Mix half a teaspoon of the tea tree oil and a quarter of a cup of vinegar together - this will make any furniture you may want to polish actually gleam!

Air Freshener: You won’t need Glade any more if you regularly spray odor producing spots (like the kitchen sink, the cutting board, and the trash) with a mist of vinegar just before bed.

Tile cleaner: Mix two teaspoons of tea tree oil and two cups of water in a spray bottle, shake it up, and spray it on anything that has mold or mildew on it. Don’t rinse it, just leave it. It will smell strongly at first, but the smell will dissipate, as will the mold and mildew.

Spray Cleaner: Take a spray bottle and in it put half of a teaspoon of washing soda, a squirt of the liquid detergent, and two cups of hot water. This will work great as a general cleaner (the walls, doorknobs, and so forth). I used to use Windex as a general spray cleaner, but this works far better.

With these tools at your disposal, you don’t need to drop any Hamiltons on cleaning supplies; just get the basic ingredients themselves. I especially recommend going this route if you have a toddler who will want to “help” out with the cleaning, as these are all non-toxic - but they all clean quite well.

The Simple Dollar

Drink more Eat (and pay) less

Five Minute Finances is a series of tips on how you can save significant money or reorganize your financial life in just five minutes. These tips appear Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on The Simple Dollar.

This is one of my favorite money saving tips, mostly because it’s so surprising to most people. Drink water? What does that have to do with saving money?

Give this exercise a try for one week. Before you prepare or order or buy any food, drink eight ounces of water (twelve or sixteen ounces if you’re a bigger fellow). It only takes a moment or two and you can do it almost unconsciously, but you’ll find yourself eating a smaller portion. This means a smaller bill at the restaurant, smaller meal preparations at home.

Not only do you directly save money on food bills (I estimate saving several dollars a week for myself alone by doing this), you may also indirectly save money on medical bills. The Cornell University Medical Center found that the majority of Americans are deficient enough in water intake to actually be considered dehydrated. To quote, “Asked to describe their beverage consumption habits, participants report drinking an overall average of only 4.6 8-ounce servings of water per day-most health and nutrition experts recommend at least 8 servings per day.”

In other words, drinking a little water before each meal is a real money saver in more ways than one. Today, when you start thinking about a meal, have a glass of water before you even get started. The end result? You’ll eat less, feel better, and save some money, too.

Five Minute Finances

Save money, think about how you drive

Driving on empty
Pride yourself on getting every last drop of gas out of your gas tank before filling up? Cut it out.
Sediment from gasoline settles at the bottom of every gas tank. When you let your gas level run low, you force your car to use the dirtiest gas in its tank for fuel.
The lower your car's gas level sinks, the more the dirt gets stirred up from the bottom of the tank. There's a good chance your car's fuel filter won't be able to catch all of it, especially if you drive with a barely filled gas tank on a regular basis

Revving the engine
This is never a good idea.
Revving is especially bad for your engine if you do it right after you start the car when the engine is cold and all the oil is still down in the oil pan.
Repeated revving will damage your engine and could cost thousands of dollars to buy a new one.
Quick starts and stops
You might like how it feels to floor your accelerator at a traffic light, but all you're doing is wasting gas and putting more strain on your car.
All those abrupt stops aren't great for your car either, and you'll burn through your brakes in no time.

Coasting into gear
Ever roll out of a parking space and pop your car into drive while your car is still coasting backwards? You're being mighty rough on your car.
You're putting stress on the entire drive train. And your car doesn't like it one bit. The first clue is the clunk you'll hear as you force your car to change directions too rapidly.
Do this enough and you may need to replace your car's universal joints, or U-joints. It's also rough on your transmission, and a new transmission could cost you thousands of dollars. Remember to stop before putting your car in drive or reverse.

\Neglecting the tires
Car tires are critical for braking and steering, and they put up with all kinds of owner neglect.
Driving with underinflated tires is a common mistake. When your tires are underinflated, your car won't handle or respond the way it's designed to. When you drive on underinflated tires, you decrease your gas mileage by up to 15 percent and reduce the life of your tires by 15 percent or more.

Riding the brake
People who drive with two feet, the right foot pressing the accelerator and the left foot pressing the brake, often rest the left foot on the brake as they drive. This is a big mistake. Lots of folks end up driving with the brakes on because the "resting" foot is actually depressing the brake pedal. The result? it will make the brake pads wear prematurely, and it will decrease gas mileage because of the drag you're putting on the engine.

Driving too fast for road and weather conditions
You can't control the weather or the condition of a road, but you can control how you drive. When in doubt, slow down. If you're driving in a storm of rain, sleet, wind or snow, slow down.
Monday's storm gave ample evidence of what happens when you drive too fast for the conditions.

Bankrate.com'

Don't get scammed

Fraud and scams have been riding the headlines in newspapers for months. As we continue to become more connected the issue will continue to grow.
Although identity theft is the biggest perceived concern, greed from both the victim and the con artist's perception has been around longer than there have been pockets to pick.
The RCMP has a guide explaining what to look for in their guide available as a PDF document.
Information included includes intenet, telephone and mail scams.

One prime bit of information in protecting your identity is as follows what not to carry on you
eg:Your Social Insurance Number, birth certificate, passport and driver’s licence are the prime information targeted by criminals. Never carry the first three documents in your wallet, purse or car unless you require them for a specific purpose the same day.

The guide offers tips on

* Faked E-Commerce Sites
* Phishing
* Pharming
* SMiShing
* Vishing
* Prize Pitch
* Auction Fraud
* Malicious Software
* Wireless communications
* Public Access Computers
* Dating Services
* Advance Fee Loans
* Job Offer Scams
* False Charities
* 419/West African Letters
* Telemarketing Fraud
* 900 Scams
and specifically for seniors, warning signs that you are about to be scammed.

* You get a call or postcard from someone telling you you've won a prize and asking for payment to buy something, for processing or administrative fees, for customs, for taxes.

* The person says you have to take the offer immediately or you'll miss the opportunity.

* The caller claims that you can make huge profits in an investment with no risk.

* The caller claims that you can make huge profits through a franchise or other business opportunity with little or no effort.

* The caller is asking for a donation but won't tell you exactly how the money will be used and how you can verify the charity and what it does.

* The caller insists that you send your payment by a private courier or wire money. .

* The company asks for cash. Con artists may because they often have trouble getting merchant approval from the credit card companies, and they also want to be hard to trace.

* The caller asks for your social insurance number. No one asks for that unless you are applying for credit and they need to check your credit report.

* The caller asks for your credit card number, bank account number, or other financial information when you aren't buying anything or paying with those accounts.

* The company offers to get you a loan, or credit, or a credit card, or to "repair" your bad credit if you pay an up-front fee.

* The company offers to get back money that you have lost to another fraudulent scheme if you pay an up-front fee.

To download the guide access:
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams/canadian_practical_guide_e.htm

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Ever try to watch a movie on CITYTV?
I am not a big television watcher anymore, but every now and again on a quiet night a drop 'n flop in front of the box seems appropriate.
Last night was a case in point.
Supper was over dishes were done and someone in the house mentioned I,Robot was on
This Will Smith futuristic action flick seemed like a perfect timewaster and CITY had the movie in their listings.
I can't really tell you what the movie was like, but I can through repetition, recite every feature the station wants me to watch. Normally I would turn the channel, but curiosity made me stay with it
For every 16 minutes of movie, there were 14 minutes of advertising! Talk about flow!
And it wasn't even good advertising, the bulk of the presentation was station ads, you know non-paying station ads.
They're ticking me off, and they aren't even making money at it.
Every seven or eight minutes Ugly Betty was plugged, their cute as a button morning television personalities promoting their cute as a button personalities, and worse their weather guy taking to the streets, he promises to tell us what it is like outside. Granted the ad starts with a fellow eating cat food by mistake, but even that wears a little thin after the seventh or eighth viewing.
Honestly, I don't mind advertising, it is what makes the media world go round, but I hate being bullied particularly by the condecsending clowns the station has turned their on-air staff into.

Technology lifestyle an addiction?

The seemingly exponential growth of portable technology has sparked fears that people are becoming addicted or swamped by gadgets and their uses according to a report by the BBC.
One major consequence of this phenomenon is that the line between work and private life is much more blurred, now that e-mail and phones provide a 24-hour link between employers and staff.
Experts believe that even the decision-making process of the average person can be adversely affected.
However, others think that the bombardment of various communications can enhance the brain's ability to process information.
Nada Kakabadse, a Professor at the Northampton Business School, said: "Your judgement is impaired. Equally your decision making processes are impaired.
"It's like losing your spatial judgement, so instead of walking through the door you walk into it. You're more prone to have a car accident if you drive."
Prof Kakabadse added: "It's addiction to portable technology, which you take with you practically to bed, the cinema, to the theatre, to a dinner party. The symptoms are, like with any other addiction, that people spend more time using their technology than spending it in socialising or in family time."
The growing importance of the issue was highlighted at a gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, for the LIFT 07 technology conference.
One of the conclusions reached by experts was that "tech overload" is the price people have to pay for always-on communication, where the line between work and play has become blurred.
In fact, there is even some evidence that being bombarded with information from all directions is actually beneficial.
Professor Fred Mast, of the University of Lausanne, said: "I think that we can become overloaded. It depends on the situation, but I think we are underestimating the brain's capacity to adapt to new challenges.
"Studies have been done showing that people can actually enhance their cognitive abilities, which helps them to process more information at the same time. And their performance even transfers to other tasks."
Experts have also noted how different types of technology have developed their own etiquette.
For instance, an e-mail can wait two days to be answered but a text message demands an almost immediate reply.
Stefana Broadbent from Swisscom said: "E-mail is considered the most formal. At the other end of the spectrum SMS is the most personal of all.
"That's where we find all those little exchanges, little endearments, what we call grooming, which is sending: 'I think about you. How did it go? How did you sleep?'
He added: "That is actually given by the number of characters. With such few characters, you have to have a lot of mutual understanding and mutual knowledge."
Story from BBC NEWS:

Pow Wow this Saturday

Ceremony, education and entertainment will be major features of a Pow Wow at the Barrie Campus of Georgian College on March 10.
The Pow Wow is being organized by Fire in the Centre, a Native, student board of directors, which operates within Georgian’s Native Community and Social Development program. The students are holding this gathering to honour and celebrate their culture. This Pow Wow is traditional and highlights culture and encourages participation and inclusiveness.
The event is the grand finale of the College’s celebrations of Diversity Week. In advance of the event, students will be selling a “Diversity Bracelet” for $2, available at locations throughout the College, featuring the four colours of the Aboriginal medicine wheel. Tickets will also be sold before and during the Pow Wow for $3 or two for $5.
The drug and alcohol-free Pow Wow will be held in the gymnasium from noon to 5 p.m., with a “Grand Entry” at noon. Native dancers and drummers from across Ontario will perform traditional songs and dances. Visitors won’t want to miss the very talented Host Drum – Red Spirit Drum Group and many other dancers and drummers from across the province.
Native arts and crafts will also be available for sale and Aboriginal Studies students will sell traditional Aboriginal foods such as Indian tacos, scone dogs and traditional soup. This event is open to everyone to attend, regardless of heritage. The Grand Entry is an especially spectacular event and is great education for children and adults alike.
Admission will be $3 per person, including a 20-page souvenir guide, and a voluntary donation to the Food Bank would be appreciated. Profits will be directed toward Aboriginal students’ graduation. Students hope to make this an annual celebration of Native culture at Georgian College.

via Georgian College

International Womens Day

International Women’s Day Barrie joins Global Celebration Thursday March 8.
Members of Athena’s Sexual Assault Counselling & Advocacy Centre, the Women & Children’s Shelter (Barrie) and the Barrie Amnesty International Action Circle are collaborating to present a program including reflection on the significance of International Women’s Day and celebration of our multi-cultural community.
The celebration includes Mirna Concha as the keynote speaker, representation from Grandmothers to Grandmothers, the Raging Grannies, and a dance exhibition performed by the group “Latin Dance With Us”. The event takes place between 6:30 and 8:30 (doors open at 6:15) p.m. on Thursday, March 8, in the Barrie City Hall Rotunda, 70 Collier Street.

Pass the water

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

* In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
* 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
* 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
* 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
* >60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
* >60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
* >60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, gotten rid of all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.


*FYI: The Coke itself is not the enemy, here. It’s the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid. Things which are found in almost all soda.
via Healthbot

The Cat in the Hat is 50

The Cat in the Hat is 50 years old
When it was published in 1957, the Cat was an instant success.
It has everything a classic needs — a great plot, great characters, wonderful illustrations and a unique voice, says Anita Silvey, author of 100 Best Books for Children.
"Some books we read and we forget them right away," she says. "But there are those other books, that they just stay with us. And The Cat in the Hat is that kind of book."
And that means if you grew up reading The Cat in the Hat, there's a pretty good chance your children will read it, too.
According to Philip Nel, author of The Annotated Cat, a book editor had seen a 1954 Life magazine article by the writer John Hersey.
In that article, Hersey took on a problem that was bothering Americans at the time: Why Johnny can't read. Hersey concluded that the "Dick and Jane" readers that most schools used were just too boring. Hersey suggested that Dr. Seuss write a new reading primer for the nation's schoolchildren.
Nel says that Spaulding liked that idea and issued a challenge to Dr. Seuss.
"He said, 'Write me a story that first-graders can't put down.' And so Seuss did and he wrote The Cat in the Hat to replace Dick and Jane. And it was a huge hit. It was a huge commercial success from the moment of its publication. It really is the book that made Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss," Nel says.
Dr. Seuss had been a fairly successful children's book author up until then, though he was not yet a household name. He thought it would be easy to write the book Spaulding wanted, and expected to dash it off in no time. It took him a year and a half. Seuss underestimated how hard it would be to write a book using just over 200 words, Nel says.
"Seuss was used to inventing words when he needed them, so to stick to a word list was a huge challenge for him," Nel says. "And, in fact, his favorite story about the creation of The Cat in the Hat is that it was born out of his frustration with the word list. He said he would come up with an idea, but then he would have no way to express that idea. So he said...: 'I read the list three times and almost went out of my head. I said I'll read it once more and if I can find two words that rhyme, that will be my book. I found cat and hat and I said the title will be The Cat in the Hat.'"
In the end, Nel says, Seuss used exactly 236 words to write The Cat in the Hat, words that young readers can understand.
By May 1958, Random House had sold over 200,000 copies of The Cat in the Hat. By November, it had sold 300,000. By the end of 1960 The Cat in the Hat was about to reach a million copies sold, its $1.95 price bringing "its retail gross to nearly two million dollars
The baby boom was a major factor in Seuss's success. In 1952, women in the United States gave birth to 3.9 million children. Those children turned five in 1957, the year The Cat in the Hat came out. As an article in a 1964 issue of Business Week reported, the "60 million children now under 14" represented a huge market for children's books: "The yearly total of titles has doubled since 1954, to nearly 3,000 last year. Total juvenile sales have doubled since 1957, from $56 million to an estimated $138 million in 1963."
In other words, the baby boom created a boom in children's books.

from The Annotated Cat by Philip Nel, copyright © 2007 by Philip Nel. From NPR

Dust free

The miracle dryer sheet has risen to the top of the how-to pile.
Instead of tossing the used sheets, dampen them and get dusting. Not only does it clear the dust but in leaves a layer to repel static particularly on television or CRT computer monitors.
Lay a couple on the bottom of diaper pails, or your compost bucket to reduce the odour.
Think of anything else?

You are what you drink?

Wine drinkers tend to buy healthier food than beer drinkers, according to a Danish study published on the website of a weekly medical review.
People who bought wine at the store were also more likely to buy more olives, fruits and vegetables, fish, lean meats and dairy products than beer consumers did, said the study.
Beer buyers were more likely to buy frozen dinners, cold cuts, pork, mutton, crisps, sugary products, butter, margarine and soft drinks.
The study, published in the Danish review Ugeskrift for Laeger, was conducted by four researchers from the National Institute of Public Health over the course of six months.
Alcohol researchers Erik Skovenborg and Morten Groenbaek and two other doctors collected 3.5 million grocery receipts from 98 stores during the period September 30, 2002, to February 2003.
The customers at the grocery stores represented a large sample of the Danish population, they said.
"Our results confirm international studies which show that wine drinkers are more inclined to eat fruits, vegetables and fish and rarely use saturated fats, compared to those who like other kinds of alcoholic beverages," they concluded.

Eclipse tonight

If the sky clears this evening don’t forget to check out the lunar eclipse, the first one visible in this region for nearly three years,
It actually starts at 3 p.m. in the afternoon and by the time the moon is out by six p.m. the show will have be in full bloom.
According to Canadian astronomer and auther Terence Dickinson noted that a lunar eclipse is not just a pretty show in the sky. During ancient times, a lunar eclipse led to a major scientific discovery.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle concluded the Earth is a sphere after watching its curved shadow pass over the moon. Unfortunately, his remarkable observation was largely ignored and forgotten for centuries.

Spring forward...Sooner

Daylight Saving Time in Canada - changes for 2007

Starting in March 2007, the standard North American period for Daylight Saving Time is to be from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.
Provinces and territories will replace their previous practice (from 1987 to 2006, DST was from the first Sunday of April to the last Sunday in October).
Daylight time was first enacted in Germany in 1915, quickly followed by Britain and much of Europe and Canada.
Because the sun shone for a time while most people were asleep, it was reasoned that light could be better used during the day. The solution was to push the clocks ahead one hour in springtime, forcing people to wake an hour earlier. They would therefore expend less energy trying to light their homes, for instance, if time were adjusted to suit their daily patterns.
When the days started getting shorter in the fall and people awoke to increasing darkness, the clocks were turned back an hour to get more light in the morning.
Although first instituted in 1915, the idea of daylight time had been batted around for more than a century. Benjamin Franklin suggested the idea more than once in the 1770s while he was a minister to France. But it wasn't until more than a century later that the idea of daylight time was taken seriously.
William Willett, an English writer revived the idea in 1907, and eight years later Germany was the first nation to adopt daylight time. The reason: energy conservation. Britain quickly followed suit and instituted British Summer Time in 1916.
Several areas, including parts of Europe, Canada and the U.S., followed suit during the First World War. In most cases daylight time ended with the armistice.
During the Second World War, a different form of daylight time was reinstated by Britain and clocks were set two hours ahead of GMT during the summer. It was known as Double Summer Time. The time shift didn't end with the summer, as clocks were rolled back to be one hour ahead of GMT through the winter.
The Uniform Time Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1966, established a system of uniform (within each time zone) daylight time throughout most of the U.S. and its possessions, exempting only those states in which the legislatures voted to keep the entire state on standard time.
In Canada it's up to each province to decide whether to use daylight time, and not all do. As of 2006, with a few exceptions, most jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S. have been moving their clocks ahead by one hour on the first Sunday of April, and then back an hour on the last Sunday of October.
Nunavut, with the exception of Southampton Island, which does not observe daylight time, will continue to change its clocks in April and October unless the territory changes its laws.
Most of Saskatchewan has not observed daylight time since 1966 and stays on Central Standard Time all year round. Some border towns follow the time schemes of their neighbours in Manitoba or Alberta.
Daylight time is observed in most of the United States, with the exceptions of part of Arizona and part of Indiana. Much of Africa does not observe it, nor does China, Japan, the Indian subcontinent or Indonesia.
Some parts of Australia have adopted daylight time. Of course, it's done a little differently than in the Northern Hemisphere where seasons are opposite.
This new schedule was introduced to try to help save energy, since people aren't expected to need their lights on as early in the evening. But there is still some debate about how effective the change will be at reducing energy consumption.
(files from CBC)

Knuckle calendar

Everyone has time for a little frivolity, sometimes it's silly sometimes it is rooted in practicality, sort of.

Okay, so we have left a short month going into a long month and then going into a short/long month. How can you tell which month have what number of days.

The web site TipNut offers this clever way to remember which months have 31 days and which have 30:

Count the months on your knuckles and the grooves between your knuckles. Leave out your thumb knuckle. Every month that lands on a knuckle is 31 days, every month that lands on a groove between knuckles is 30 days (or 28 for February).

It sounds a bit weird, but it works

Hey we're about to publish

It has been a bit of a stretch but the Premiere edition of Relax Magazine is about 10 days away from hitting the mail boxes and we are over the moon. Between incredibly wild snow storms while we were trying to get to the printers, to a certain puppy chewing through all of the charger cords when nobody was looking, we are no longer talking about vapour-ware. Hope you enjoy it

Welcome to Relax Magazine's Blog

We're still in the set-up stages, but THIS blog will be a beehive of activity in the coming weeks and months as Relax Magazine begins publishing in South Simcoe County!

Watch for more topics and fun coming soon...