Sauerkraut explosion quarantines B.C. school
Apparently sauerkraut is a food not to be taken lightly. After a can of the
German cabbage dish exploded in a B.C. school last Friday, 24 students and four staff members had to be quarantined for fear of the spread of botulism. Botulism, from the Latin word for sausage, is a rare illness caused by a certain toxin occasionally found in canned food that can lead to paralysis of the face and limbs, and potentially death. Obviously that’s a cause for concern. So when the old, fermenting can of sauerkraut exploded onto students at Kelly Road Secondary School science class, the fire department and a hazmat team were called in, the school was evacuated and a quarantine temporarily enforced. It was quickly determined there was no risk and students got to go home early, meaning many Canadian kids are probably hunting through their pantries for expired canned goods as we speak.
Alberta runs pro-oilsand ads in Times Square
The Big Apple just got a little bit slicker. Unhappy with the bad rap the oilsands are getting throughout North America, the government of Alberta have started to run a series of positive ads in Times Square. The two 10-second ad clips will run three times an hour, and at a total of $17,000 for the 45-day campaign; it’s clear the provincial government is willing to fork over a pretty penny to potentially garner support for their projects. One of the ads reportedly reads “A good neighbour lends you a cup of sugar. A great neighbour provides you with 1.4 million barrels of oil per day. And does it responsibly. Alberta, Canada.” The ads will continue to run until Oct. 15.
“Turn left here. At the next light, hide your children.’
As part of an Alberta government-sponsored research project, sex offenders, domestic dispute offenders and other high risk criminals will be monitored by GPS-EM technology after being released from prison. Announced Friday, the province’s policing and corrections agencies will be testing the electronic monitoring system at a cost of $1 million in funding from the Safe Communities initiative. The three-year project, working in partnership between the province and the University of Calgary, hopes to assure that the global system technology is functional and effectively tracks these individuals in real time.
Clean hands, dirty livers
Regina has a sanitation problem, but not in the way that you might think. Hand sanitizers have apparently become all the rage for alcoholics in the area, with police reporting that many large-size containers full of alcohol-based soaps have seemingly been stolen from the downtown area. Police made the link after picking up many people intoxicated in public in possession of the product. This type of sanitizer is available in many public places, from shopping centres to city hall, with extra large 800-millilitre containers also present in hospitals and health centres. The problem has motivated some in the province to call for some type of labelling system which would allow officials to identify where the containers were taken from.
