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Yes, there were reported cases of marijuana-laced candies found in children’s Halloween treats.

In one of the cases, the parents didn’t recognize that ‘THC’ on the label indicated the package of candies contained the psychoactive ingredient of pot that made people feel high. Their kid became sick upon ingestion of the content. Fortunately the child was fine after receiving hospital treatment.

In another case, a little girl asked her mother what the ’60-minute activation period’ on the package label meant. It was then that the mother realized her kid received a treat which was laced with pot. 

These stories are spoilers to what’s supposed to be a fun activity for kids.  Parents also say they are discouraged from letting their little ones go trick-or-treating.

I love Halloween. It’s an occasion that’s always been fun and delightful. 

From Super Mario to Superman to all four kings from a deck of cards, people would let their imagination run wild when they dressed up.

A former coworker of mine, a blondie with blue eyes, would always take the time to dye her long straight hair black, and along with those dark-coloured contact lenses, she made one good-looking witch. 

There was also this King-Kong that chased after The Boss, patted him on the head and then quickly fled the scene. The look on The Boss’ face was classic.

If you have kids trick-or-treating this year, do remember to examine their treats. In recent years there have been cases of marijuana-tainted candies mixed in with children’s treats, so parents need to be vigilant in ensuring those gummy bears and chocolate are pot-free.

Experts say there’s no such thing as being ‘fully vaccinated’ for COVID anymore. This term used to apply to someone who’s received two shots of the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccine). 

But the effectiveness of these vaccines wanes off after a few months, so health authorities continue to offer booster shots as protection against COVID. Currently, people in western countries who have had their second booster (four jabs in total) are considered ‘up-to-date’ with their vaccination.

About one-tenth of Canadians (ie, 300,000) continue to have COVID symptoms 3 months after their infection. These long-haulers have symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, and/or a distorted sense of smell.

Well, for a Canadian village in BC, two candidates’ names were put in a box, and the name that was drawn by a judge was given the top job. 

It’s a small village with an electorate of about 600, so the above-mentioned method to break a tie was okay; the two candidates from Canal Flats both had 158 votes, and they opted for a tie-breaker rather then an expensive re-election.

Sometimes we need a little luck on our side, so maybe it’d do some good to carry a clover leaf with us when we contend for a position!

Sky-rocketing inflation is affecting us all. 

Our grocery bills are ~20% more.  Average rent for a one-bedroom in Vancouver hits $2,590 per month in September. And gasoline now sells at $2 per Litre, despite a $0.50 drop in price from its peak around two months go. 

That’s why innovative ads, such as a ‘boathouse’ for rent for $200 per month, become such attention-grabbers: At one-tenth the rent in comparison to a regular, single-bedroom dwelling, this option may be viable for potential home-seekers.

Supermarket giant Loblaw’s price freeze for its ‘No Name’ brand is also good news for those of us looking to save some dough on groceries and household items. Some people feel that Loblaw should have applied the price-freeze on all their goods, including the retailer’s healthier brands that offer hormone-free/antibiotics-free meats.

At this point, both you and I can do with a glass of wine which, by the way, is permitted to be enjoyed in our Vancouver parks, as a mandate proposed by the city’s freshly-elected mayor Ken Sim.

Canadians have noticed that a tipping option has been added by retailers, such as fast-food chains and liquor stores, that previously required no tipping at all. 

So what’s next? Now retailers are allowed to pass on to their customers a 1.5% surcharge for credit card usage. This surcharge used to be an expense for retailers only, because there were rules in place which prohibited retailers from slapping on this surcharge to patrons’ bills.

But now that retailers have a choice, there’s going to be much confusion:  When we make a purchase from now on, we will need to be vigilant and pay attention to which retailers are passing on this surcharge to us, especially if the purchase is a pricey one. 

Double-digit, year-on-year increases in food prices have drove many of us to change our diet. The average cost of fresh fruits, for example, have gone up in price by a whooping 13.2% from a year ago.

So here’s a little groceries tip: Add bananas and tofu to your shopping list.

The price of bananas have remained relatively stable because of the fruit’s steady increase in production ie, between 2000 and 2017, its production has increased steadily from 62 million tonnes to 114 million tonnes.

Tofu, a protein-rich, plant-based food, is also relatively stable in price in Canada, mainly because the product is made locally. 

Do you have anti-inflation tips to share? Look forward to hearing from you!

It is estimated that the majority of Canadians have already recovered from a COVID infection. In addition, Canadian and US health authorities have approved the COVID bivalent vaccine that provides better protection against the highly contagious Omicron variants. Therefore, it is understandable that North Americans are less worried about COVID than ever before – people now treat COVID in same manner as the seasonal flu.

On the other hand, China’s zero-COVID policy means that the majority of the country’s residents have NOT had COVID. This means the pandemic is far from over in that part of the world, and it remains difficult to predict how many more massive lockdowns will be required. Chinese residents have complained that they were short on essential items such as food and hygiene products. The silver lining to the country’s challenging situation is that Beijing has approved an inhale-able COVID vaccine. 

According to the latest findings by the University of BC, If we don’t do more to mitigate global warming and overfishing, global fish stocks will further decline by 36%. 

The leading author of the study says the goal to limit warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius (as per the Paris Agreement) is not enough to prevent the decline in fish stocks.

Historic droughts and floods in recent years have also wreaked havoc on farmers’ crops. We now have to tweak the genes of canola seeds to make them both drought- and flood-resistant; the original canola crops, typically native to North America, are relatively new and have not evolved to withstand extreme conditions.

But genetic modification on crops is only a temporary solution at best. Yes, it’s the same old same old – we need more drastic measures to mitigate the climate.

Too far off? No! 

According to a study reported by BBC, memory boosting by electric stimulation is achievable. Of course, at the moment brain stimulation via electric current could only be performed in research labs. 

Participants in the study were subject to some slightly itchy, electric stimulation at targeted areas of the brain for 20 minutes daily, for four days in a roll. 

At the end of the experiment, the participants’ performance in word-memory games improved, especially for those who had struggled the most with the memory games at the start of the study. 

Apparently, stimulating the front of the brain, or the prefrontal cortex, improves working memory, which is required for problem-solving. And stimulating the back of the brain or the parietal cortex? That correlates with improvements in long-term memory.

Such improvements in selective memory are reported to last for at least one month.