1. BC Wine Boycott
The Alberta Government has banned BC wines in retaliation of B.C.’s call last week for a further review of the oil-spill risk from the pipeline expansion which would delay the project that Premier Notley feels is vital to our economy. This step by Alberta’s government takes the inter-provincial spat over the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline to the next level. The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) will immediately halt the import of all wines from our western neighbour. Notley noted, “The wine industry is very important to B.C., not nearly as important as the energy industry is to Alberta and Canada, but important nonetheless.” There has been mixed reviews from Albertans about the boycott, some agree like restaurant owner Karen Collins in Fort McLeod who stopped serving the wine at her restaurant. While others think it’s hurting the BC wine industry and it shouldn’t be used as a pawn in the provincial trade war.
2. Kylie Jenner’s Baby
Kylie’s birth of her daughter was announced on Sunday. The little girl’s name is Stormi Webster, with her last name coming from dad Travis Scott’s legal moniker, Jacques Webster. The baby doesn’t have a middle name. Kylie announced the name of their baby on Instagram earlier this week, posting the first photo of her baby. The photo became the most liked photo on Insta ever hitting over 15 million likes. Even though she kept her pregnancy out of the limelight and didn’t comment on the rumours during it, she posted an apology on Instagram four days ago explaining to her fans why she didn’t bring the internet along for her journey – “I knew my baby would feel every stress and every emotion so I chose to do it this way for my little life and our happiness.”
3. 2018 Winter Olympics
The much anticipated 2018 Winter Olympics are here and you won’t want to miss the opening ceremony to kick things off, except that it will be airing live at 4am… The ceremonies will feature the lighting of the Olympic flame, the introductions of the countries participating through the flag parade, and a showcase of the culture and history of host nation South Korea. The Games already started, they began Thursday morning in Korea (Wednesday night for lots of time zones) with mixed doubles curling and ski jumping. All the events live will be too early for us, but we’ll definitely be catching the reruns later in the days. Even though there are no NHL players to watch on Team Canada, there are plenty of other amazing Canadian athletes to keep an eye on.
4. Jim Carrey vs Facebook
Jim Carrey says we should all delete our Facebook accounts in an effort to combat fake news. On Tuesday he announced that he will be dumping his Facebook stock and deleting his page because the company profited from the Russian interference in the US election by giving people a platform to spread fake news. Jim Carrey thinks Facebook isn’t doing enough to stop it. He is encouraging other investors and users to do the same, starting the hashtag #unfriendfacebook. In a CNBC statement, he said “What we need now are activist investors to send a message that responsible oversight is needed. What the world needs now is capitalism with a conscience.” Mark Zuckerberg has yet to comment, but the CEO has said stemming the flow of misinformation is among the company’s foremost goals.
5. McDonald’s Fries
Don’t freak out but Japanese scientists have found a chemical that’s used to cook McDonald’s fries that could help regrow hair. Researchers at Yokohama National University found that when they used the chemical dimethylpolysiloxane they could mass produce hair follicles (think 5000 follicles) that could grow hair when transplanted into mice. Let’s back up here to why we’re eating this, it’s a chemical found in silicone, which is added to oil as an anti-frothing agent. The chemical is also used a key ingredient in Silly Putty and Rain-X. It worked on mice to grow hair so the scientists are hoping that the method can be applied to humans. “We hope that this technique will improve human hair regenerative therapy to treat hair loss such as androgenic alopecia,” said professor Junji Fukuda of Yokohama. Before you head to the drive-thru, no, you can’t eat french fries for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you’re balding, the chemical doesn’t produce hair on its own.
