As I unthaw under my flannel blanket in one of the green armchairs in Northwest, I nibble away at my prebiotic bread and wonder, “What the heck is prebiotic bread?” I search the internet and find the handy prebiotic.ca website which says, “Prebiotics are a healthy non-digestible food ingredient… [they] are heat resistant,” and they “stimulate the growth of healthy bacteria” in the large intestine.

So basically, I’m eating a dirty flame retardant rock. Why produce a food that is indigestible, equipped to accompany Smokey the Bear on his firefighting ventures, and able to multiply the presence of things I could ingest by licking the flowerbed outside RNT? That, my friend, does not make sense.

Feast spreads love through free food

[Photo: Austin Jean ] On February 6, almost 30 students gathered in the Atrium to bring awareness to the global epidemic of AIDS and HIV. The event, deemed an African Love Feast, was put on by the fledgling club Acting on AIDS. Set in a casual atmosphere, students discussed stories of AIDS victims while enjoying a “maize meal,” commonly eaten in refugee camps. This was followed by a time of prayer and discussion on the topic. “There seemed to be some really in-depth discussion,” said participant Ashley Crozier. “[It] gives a face to what is happening.”

Trinity Western University men’s volleyball alumni player Josh Howatson of Victoria, B.C. has been named a finalist for the 2007 Sport BC’s University Athlete of the Year Award. University of British Columbia swimmer Brian Johns of Vancouver and Simon Fraser University softball player Melanie Matthews of Burnaby were the other two nominees. The winner will be announced at the 42nd annual Sport BC awards dinner on March 5, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver.

Moving on from more angst-based song structure, Boston’s own Karate took a new step in 2003 with their album, Some Boots. I consider this album a classic, and have found that it is becoming unknown. Here’s some background.

Karate underhandedly crawled out of Boston in 1993. The band consisted of three members. Geoff Farina was the singer/songwriter/guitarist. Farina’s passion was initially poetry, and most fans are attracted to his novel capability to write so simply, but to reveal so much.

I’ve never been to Africa, but if I had – and happened to wield an uncanny ability to compose pop melodies and a major record debut – this is the musical creation I’d longingly return with. Think of Vampire Weekend as Paul Simon’s hipster sons, conceived during the Graceland era. Peppy drumbeats, hopping bass, 70s synth, crisp guitars, and unabashed vocals form their uncomplicated, cheery sound. But while their tone and lyrical quality harkens to an African journey, at its core this is an indie pop album.

Tar Sands, or more formally, bituminous sands (bitumen), can be found in 70 countries, but Canada’s – more specifically Alberta’s – deposits are the largest. Initially discovered in 1719, the tar sand deposits in Alberta have only just begun to undergo explosive development. Although past attempts had been made, the composition of the bitumen made it difficult, and thus unprofitable to extract. Tar sands consist of sand or clay, water and extremely heavy crude oil. The sands have been described as being comparable to a tablespoon of molasses, that has been mixed with a cup of sand and then left in the sun to dry.

I stand at a crossroads, two means to an end, the end being dry hands. I can either go right and, in a matter of six seconds, dole out a lengthy piece of paper from the towel dispenser and rub my hands dry. Or for the price of 34 seconds, I can go left and watch the droplets that cover my hands shrink and evaporate under the invisible warm air of the electric hand dryer. Both are means to arrive at the desired end, dry hands, differing only in their approximate lengths of time from execution to completion, by 28 seconds.

This novel, set in an intriguing version of 1985 London, England, welcomes the reader into an alternate world where fine works of literature are the most important commodity. In this world, criminal masterminds steal characters from these works, making it necessary to have an entire profession devoted to the authenticity and safe-keeping of good literature. One detective, Thursday Next, has a habit of getting herself into scraps of the literary kind. When a famous original manuscript is stolen, Thursday sets off on a wild chase to find her old nemesis: a nearly immortal, scrupulous, genius professor from her youth. With the theft of the original manuscript, this diabolical criminal is able to alter the course of every subsequent copy of that book, resulting in literary havoc. Real trouble brews when the original manuscript of Jane Eyre disappears, and Jane is ripped from the pages of the book (and Mr. Rochester’s arms) and brought into the 20th century. The chaotic race to reinsert Jane Eyre into her own story before she disappears from it forever involves time travel, a brightly coloured Porsche and silver bullets, resulting in a funny and exciting conclusion.