A spoonful of sugar may, as Mary Poppins sang, help the medicine go down. But too many spoonfuls will probably increase your need to take medicine in the first place. Too much sugar—or rather, the unproductive calories it delivers to the body—can lead to weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease, among other health problems. How much is too much? An American Heart Association study found that Americans consume an average of 22 teaspoons a day (during 2001-2004). AHA guidelines... [read more]

If you spend most of the winter outside Canada, you may want to explore the opportunity to rent out your Canadian home while you’re away.  Renting out your Canadian residence can have a number of benefits, including helping to cover the costs of your winters away. The extra income can be used to supplement or even offset the cost of your winter home or rental. Another benefit is that your home will be lived in and therefore you won’t have to find someone to inspect it daily... [read more]

You depend on your car, and you take good care of it. But you don’t have to throw lavish amounts of money at it. Take heed of this money-saving advice: · Stick with normal tires. Don’t let dealers talk you into super-grip performance tires unless you drive a sports car and really need them. Most high-performance tires are more expensive and don’t last as long as regular tires. · Don’t change the oil more than you need to. Check your... [read more]

We know it well as the standard symbol for e-mail, but where did it come? History says that the @ symbol was created by medieval monks. During the Middle Ages, each copy of a book was painstakingly transcribed by hand. The task went to monks, who developed ways to reduce the number of pen strokes for common words. The result was to loop the “t” in the word at around the “a.”   [read more]

The summer months are the prime golfing season. The origins of this popular (and frequently frustrating) game are unclear, though some historians trace it back to an ancient Roman game called paganica, in which players used a bent stick to hit a leather ball. A stained glass window dating back to 1340 in Gloucester Cathedral in England shows someone swinging something that looks like a golf club. And a Ming dynasty scroll, also from the 14th century, depicts a member of the Chinese imperial... [read more]