The Watercooler is a monthly feature here a lawandstyle.ca. It is our goal to keep you up to date on news, entertainment and random events that you may have missed while you were working. Sit back, relax and let the pop culture wash over you.
Sandwiched in between the mega-holidays of Halloween and Christmas, the month of November usually passes by kinda quietly. But not this year. November 2007 proved to be a busy month. From political scandal to worldwide disappointment to the medical merit of Chia Pets, the month of November saw its fair share of random news. Read on to discover what you may have missed during the month that was: November.
Ch-ch-ch-blood thinner! – Canadian researchers have discovered that a variant of the Chia Pet’s plant seed decreases blood pressure, reduces inflammation and thins blood in diabetics. Who knew that the Chia Pet had such healing powers? Thank you, Joseph Enterprises, for not only creating the Chia Pet, but also The Clapper! Both ingenious products with commercial jingles that have truly annoyed … erm … shaped a generation.
Rule of Law? What’s That? – Musharraf on the rampage: instills emergency rule, suspends the constitution, fires the top supreme court judge, and detains hundreds of opposition party workers, lawyers, and human rights activists. All in a day’s work for the decorated military general. Shame.
United…Together…We’ll Never Be Defeated (unless it’s first thing in the morning) – Night owls unite! New research suggests that differences in circadian rhythms are genetic, dismissing common notions that night owls are lazy and unruly folk who can’t make it to the office at a “respectable hour”. 
A Kiss is a Fisted Punch – A kiss is not a kiss according to U.S. abstract painter, Cy Twombly, whose white canvas was kissed by Rindy Sam of Cambodia. Sam states that she was overcome with love for the painting and thought the artist would understand her kiss. Not so – Twombly considered the lipsticked-kiss to be as “aggressive as a punch”. Sam was ordered by a French court to pay the artist and gallery in damages.
The Logic of the Side-Part – PM Harper put the kibosh on a unified Commonwealth protocol on climate change that would see the developed countries taking the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and subsequently disappoints most of the world. His logic: different national circumstances, greenhouse gas output as a result of economic output vital to the functioning of an economy, all for one – one for all: every country should be bound in reduction, developed and developing alike. So I suppose his line of thinking does make sense and that major polluters, China and India, should not be exempt from taking on responsibility in trying to save the very planet humankind inhabits. But here’s the thing: when is change supposed to happen? You can’t wait for everyone to jump on board or you’re going to be waiting a helluva long time. And isn’t the goal trying to save the environment? Every bit counts, Side Part. You’re Prime Minister – do something.
Bill Nye: Just the Science Guy or Big-time Lothario? – Bill Nye, former TV host of self-titled children’s series, has accused his former fiancée of attempting to poison him and has slapped Blair Tindall with a restraining order. The plot thickens with Tindall’s response in seeking to lift the order, stating that she was just trying to poison his flower garden to prevent him from giving flowers to another woman. Dumping poison on his flowers? Yah ok – totally nuts…but get this: Tindall also accuses Nye of emotional cruelty, citing a note written by Nye, which said that Tindall “wasn’t beautiful enough, athletic enough, or a good enough dancer.” And the pièce de résistance of the note: “Now she has fallen for me (as they always do).” Oh Bill! – please tell me that science can explain the ego?
WTF?!? – Doctors, nurses and staff at the Princess Margaret, Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals, who have been seen properly washing their hands are rewarded with $2 Tim Hortons gift certificates. This would seem like a nice gesture to reward those who understand the necessity of cleanliness at a hospital, but WTF?! It’s hand washing for fricken-frek’s sake – you work at a place where sick people go and have no other choice but to trust the hands they’re in, so shouldn’t you just wash them well irrespective of some ridiculous donut incentive? Yeesh.
Eugh…Gross – Forget Pestilence! Jellyfish by the tonne are going to annihilate the earth. Jellyfish going 35 meters deep and covering 10 square miles of ocean engulfed Northern Ireland’s only fish farm, suffocating 100,000 salmon.
The Financial Woes of the Chin – What do you get when you mix former PM Brian Mulroney, ex-pat German businessman Karlheinz Shreiber, a $300,000 payment, and the revival of Airbus? Answer: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz … No, no, I’m joking (sort of). This is all the buzz on Parliament Hill: a big fundraising scandal prompting a public inquiry, requests for a stay from extradition…the list of political intrigue goes on and on…alright, how ‘bout them Roughriders?
Have-Not Versus Have-Not – The Saskatchewan Roughriders triumphed over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in bringing the Grey Cup back to the Prairies …wait…Winnipeg is prairie-land too. OK, let’s start again: the Roughriders succeed in bringing the Grey Cup to a lower income province that has a significantly higher rate of youth gangs, domestic violence, drug use, and car theft…wait, wait…this is Winnipeg/Manitoba too. Ah whatever – Go Jets Go! (PS: I am a proud Winnipegger/Frequent Visitor of Saskatchewan – both provinces are near and dear to me. I tease them with unrelenting affection. Both provinces are very beautiful in the summer.)
Look Up…Waaaay Up – The family of actor and Friendly Giant creator, Bob Homme, has removed the puppets, Jerome and Rusty (the Giraffe and Rooster respectively) of the popular late ’70s/early ’80s children’s series from the CBC Broadcast Centre’s museum in Toronto after their involvement (sans permission) in a short aired during the Gemini Awards that featured other puppets engaging in compromising acts and swilling alcohol.
AAK! is a lawyer in Ottawa. She likes to read about random stuff and will do her damnedest to take all the vacation time promised to her in her contract.