I used to be a fan. I want to like George but George Stroumboulopoulos and the CBC's The Hour have been on a downward spiral for some time. The show does absolutely nothing with controversial guests but lob them soft ball questions and allow them to rant and rave as well as lending them credibilty. From Deepak Chopra to Adam DreamHealer and now finally Jenny McCarthy.

A new video game released on the Nintendo DS game system called "Professor Layton and the Curious Village" is both entertaining and promotes Critical thinking and logic. The game's plot revolves around Professor Layton and his young apprentice who are hired by a rich widow to solve a mystery left in the will of her late husband.

The Game focuses on solving a series of word, logic and math puzzles while you wander around a small fictional village called St-Mystere. The various puzzles will test your attention to detail, analytical thinking and spatial reasoning. What I found particularly interesting about this game is that after you solve puzzles Professor Layton will commend you, critiques your technique and offer up advice on easier ways to solve the puzzle.

I don't want to turn this into a game review but thought that this effort to make an entertaining and informative game should be recognized. I know that there have been games that have been challenging and thought provoking but none have been as in your face about critical thinking as this game. For example, the lead characters catch phrase is "Critical thinking is the key to success!" I agree.

When you think about it, the hockey venue does seem apt.  Evolution and creationism squaring off and dropping gloves.  Creationism getting called for slashing, tripping [up] and committing other misconducts.

Last Sunday, the CBC Radio show, Definitely Not the Opera, featured an interview with George Fosty, who wrote Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes.  The book describes the development and impact of the League during its life from 1895-1925.

In the interview, George pointed out that the League is unknown to most Canadians and missing from the official history of hockey, as are the contributions of the Mi’kmaq, French Canadian and Irish hockey traditions of the 1800s, perhaps deliberately so.

I was sad to read in this article sent to me yesterday (and hear on the latest episode of the SGU podcast) that Health Canada is lowering its restrictions on health claims made about 'natural' products and supplements.

According to the article:

Companies that sell natural health products will soon have unprecedented freedom to promote the ability of vitamins, herbal supplements and non-prescription drugs to prevent serious diseases and medical conditions, including cancer, heart disease and arthritis.

The changes to the federal rules, which take effect June 1, represent a significant boost for the natural health industry, which is eager to increase its credibility and capitalize on a booming market for vitamins and botanical supplements by directly marketing their health claims to consumers.