Living

With warm summer weather comes one or two sartorial dilemmas. When it’s 40 degrees outside, standing on the streetcar during the morning commute in a sensible shirt is a challenge not only to one’s tolerance but to the strength of one’s deodorant.

According to a recent article in the Globe and Mail, workplace absenteeism is a growing issue in Canada. A reported average of 913,000 full-time employees call in sick every week, and days taken overall have gone up, from 8 days lost per worker in 2000 to 9.3 days in 2011.

You’re lying in bed — too hot to sleep, too hot for blankets, so hot even the top sheet on your bed feels like a flannel blanket against your boiling skin. Ah, the sorrows of a summer heat wave and its far-too familiar nocturnal ritual of discomfort and bouts of irrational rage.

Classically trained Kiki Dubé has played violin in packed concert halls. But her greatest rewards come from helping others

A recent study (via The Vancouver Sun) on the long term potential of ‘friends with benefits’ may come as good news to those who hold out secret hope that there’s more to the connection than just simple attraction.