A recent study conducted by Dr. Robert Lustig, and expert on childhood obesity at the University of California showed that sugar is “poison beyond its calories”. In his research he explained that sugar, the fructose, when metabolized in the liver in excess, the liver will have to turn the sugar into liver fat which is the cause of many illnesses later on in life. Although this new research is surrounded by much skepticism, it is not a mystery to the unhealthy side effects of eating sugar. The average Canadian consumes 26 teaspoons of sugar a day, in a year that is about 40 kilograms. It is found in many popular grocery items like cereals and ketchup. Despite all this, there is actually no recommended amounts of the daily intake or sugar, it is recommended that men consume no more than  9 teaspoons and day and a max of 6 teaspoons for women. This recommended intake of sugar is actually quite hard to stay within considering the amount of sugar in the food we eat everyday, in a can of coke for example already has more than 10 teaspoons of sugar. Dr Lustig has also posted a 90 minutes lecture on youtube on which he described sugar as being “toxic”. This video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/how-toxic-is-sugar-1.1894262

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/sugarinthekitchen/

For those of you that skip classes once in a while, this website NoteWagon.com, originally thought of and created by Saif Altimimi  and his group of managers in the University of Waterloo. It enables students in that area to upload good quality notes for free and people to pay money in exchange for virtual tokens to acquire the notes they missed. The website also streams helpful youtube videos and articles that can aid students in studying on a particular subject.  NoteWagon has been featured on many sites such as the globe and mail and the toronto star. This idea has also been pitched on Dragons Den where all five dragons came together offering their expertise along with $250,000 for 32.5% equity. Although the deal did not survive, Mr Altimimi went on to acquire 1-million dollars of funding.This innovative idea has gotten the attention of many people and its popularity has been rapidly expanding. Much like Facebook, the creators of NoteWagon has successfully created a “Social Learning Network”.

Sources:

http://www.techvibes.com/blog/the-dens-dragons-didnt-invest-in-notewagon-after-all-but-really-do-they-invest-in-anything-2011-11-01

https://www.notewagon.com/

http://business.financialpost.com/2011/10/31/the-web-hit-that-got-away/

Located in New York City, the most expensive parking spot went on say back in Ma. 2012, it is about 12 ft wide, 23 ft long and 15 ft high. This parking spot will have its deed and sales contract and the owner will even be responsible for the maintenance fees. A person with this kind of money to spend on just a parking spot should just move somewhere else and buy a mansion. Along with the space, is the building’s prime rental, an 8000 sq ft penthouse and a 3000 sq ft terrace is tied along with this spot. How can anyone not feel but a little envious of the person able to afford this place?

Sources

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/national-international/Five-of-the-Worlds-Most-Expensive-Parking-Spots-218898281.html

http://www.christianpost.com/news/1-million-parking-space-to-be-manhattans-most-expensive-75328/

Following the class on where power as a motivator was discussed it got me thinking about motivation. What can we do to get motivation? Motivation, or procrastination,  is something we as students all struggle with, some better than others. What can we do to stop procrastinating? What can we do to find the motivation to complete our tasks? Because as many of us have found out, cramming 3 weeks worth of material for several subjects in the course of 2-4 days right before the midterm is not exactly the best way to go about getting the mark you want. After some looking around on the internet to see how to stay motivated, I came an article of motivational studies (link at the bottom). It wasn’t a normal website where it gave you the typical tips such as setting a time limit, work with others, etc… These studies had interesting results such as positive images can actually help focus and the fact that the harder a project is, the prouder we feel of it.

If you’re interested to read more here is the link!

https://www.pinterest.com/enigmaticmonday/study-motivation/

On the surface of the issue, most would immediately give a very certain NO. Though many find irony in the fact that these protesters use oil themselves, the oil carried by this proposed pipeline will be sent to the BC coast where it’ll be sent to China, not a drop of which will be directed to Canadians. Many cannot get over the environmental hazard caused by the pipeline but also by the oil tankers on the Coast of BC threatening environments on land and sea. Despite Enbridge’s best efforts to appease the public by promising the highest safety precautions, their track records suggest a spill will be more likely than not to happen. The substance being transported is called Bitumen, which in water actually sinks, so if any spillage occurs, the effects will be devastating and clean up extremely challenging as seen in the spill in Kalamazoo River.

On the other end, if this pipeline isn’t built, the oil will still have to be transported in some way. The alternative will be by train or road which is more hazardous and inefficient compared to a pipeline. Although many would like the oil to not be transported at all, but Canada’s economy depends largely on its natural resource exports, among which is the oil from Alberta. It is an imperfect world and the oil has to be moved somehow.

What do you think should happen? Or is there a better third alternative that avoids both environmental and economic disaster?

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/enbridge-s-kalamazoo-cleanup-dredges-up-3-year-old-oil-spill-1.1327268

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/news/display.aspx?id=20491

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/enbridge-profit-rises-as-crude-pipeline-volumes-increase/article15292321/

Over the second half of November, the anticipated releases of the long awaited PS4 and Xbox One will arrive. PS4, having a little head start on its archenemy will be released on November 15th and Xbox One on November 22nd. Their prices will be $399 and $499 respectively, though the Xbox is $100 more expensive, it comes with the all new Xbox Kinect, though the Playstation camera which can be bought separately is only $60, giving Sony a distinct advantage.

Taking a look at the specs of both consoles:

PS4: CPU: 8 Core Single Chip x86 AMD Jaguar, GPU: AMD Radeon Graphic Core Next Engine, RAM: 8GB GDDR5

Xbox One CPU: 8 Core Microsoft Custom CPU, GPU: 853 MHz AMD Radeon, RAM: 8GB DDR3

Just by looking at these specs, the PS4 is a little more powerful in terms of gaming, however Microsoft has aimed Xbox One as more of an all in one home entertainment system. Which means you don’t need anything in your living room except for the Xbox One and a TV. Sony has oriented PS4 to focus more on gaming, Each console will have several announced exclusive games, most likely with more on the road ahead. Though the Playstation 4 is a little better in terms of specifications, which one is better overall is hard to say, it’ll be different from person to person and it’ll depend what each individual is looking for.

Sources:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2013/11/14/xbox_one_vs_ps4_console_war_comparison.html

http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/ps4-vs-xbox-720-which-is-better-1127315