For Some Women, Giving Birth is Orgasmic

In an article in the Times Online, Midwife Katrina Caslake reports on her experience achieving orgasm during childbirth. She says that the keys to achieving pain-free, even orgasmic births is for the woman to relax and allow herself to feel sexy. She has science to back up her claims, too: The same hormones that are involved in love and sex are also involved in childbirth.

The practise of midwifery lost popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries, when male doctors were too embarrassed to allow women to feel sexy during childbirth. Since the middle of the last century, midwifery has grown in popularity.

Bibendum Challenge

Wired has a nice article on a environmentally-friendly car competition called the Bibendum Challenge. Wired also has a photo gallery of some of the competitors.

“A group of researchers from the Darmstadt University of Technology in Germany developed this car prototype that can travel 63 miles on a battery charge and has a top speed of 81 mph. I was able to take it up to 63 mph before security stopped me for driving on the test track unaccompanied.”

From Me to We

Me to We is a great idea! It’s all about getting individual people to make large changes. Some of the people who have taken me to the we level seem kinda cheesy, but hey – at least they’re doing something. From the site:

“Me to We is a worldwide movement of people finding purpose through living with compassion, strengthening community and making a commitment to our shared humanity. “

Kyoto Still Supported by Canadian Municipalities

Although the new Conservative Federal government in Canada is shying away from the Kyoto Protocol, that isn’t stopping Canada’s mayors and some provinces from taking action anyway! Two weeks ago an annual meeting was held by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, representing 1,400 municipal leaders across Canada. At that meeting a policy statement was adopted that supports Canada’s ratification of Kyoto.

“Municipal governments commit themselves…to implementing policies and operational changes that will achieve a global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050, based on 1990 levels,” the statement reads.

Municipal governments realize that they have the power to make a difference in Canada’s greenhouse gas emmisions, since they have a say in things such as transit and landfill regulations.
“In Canada, close to 55 per cent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions can be influenced by decisions made by municipal governments,” the statement says.

Combine this with the latest news of, Quebec’s Provincial Government aiming to become the first province to levy a “carbon tax” in the fight against global warming, and it’s hard not to wonder…….who really needs the Feds anyway???

UBC Vehicle Achieves 0.074 litres/100 km

A team of University of British Columbia engineers have won the Supermileage competition with a car that can drive from Vancouver to Halifax on a Gallon of Gas!

““We achieved this level of efficiency by optimizing many aspects of the vehicle design, including: aerodynamics, light-weight construction, a small displacement engine (54 cc), and conservative driving habits,” says Team Captain Kevin Li.

UBC’s student team has taken first place four out of the six years it has competed, with 2006 marking the fourth straight victory. Last year the UBC team beat out 27 teams by reaching 1,600 miles per gallon (mpg)”