HAL’S HEADLINES: Six months of legal pot

Most people you talk to agree, not much changed when cannabis became legal six months ago this week. The sky certainly didn’t fall. But marijuana stock prices sure did. Bryan Borzykowski is a business writer for Money Sense Magazine who’s based in Winnipeg and he tells me shares in pot companies are down about 20% compared to October 17th of last year. And Bryan says prices could still fall more. Long-term though, cannabis may be a good bet. If other countries follow Canada’s lead and legalize marijuana, they’ll be looking to us and our pot companies for help. Delta 9, a cannabis company based here in Winnipeg, has seen their stock go up in value 15% this year but since legalization it’s down 22%.

LOCAL CHURCH FIRES

I’ve had several interesting interviews on my radio show since the Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire in Paris early this week. There was St. Boniface Museum tour guide Aiden Preveneaux who told me about the fire that gutted the St. B Basilica in 1968. Then there was Louise May, a founding member of the St. Norbert Arts Council, who was 18 when the Trappist Monastery caught fire in the early 1980’s. It was started by kids. Louise watched it burn and that inspired her work in the community. And then finally, I interviewed Carol Latter – chair of the Westminster Concert Organ Series. The organ in that church, about half the size of the one saved at Notre Dame, was also almost lost to fire a few years ago when there was a threatening blaze in a nearby apartment building. If not for the hard work of Winnipeg firefighters, the church and the organ inside would have been lost.

WESTERN DRONE SHOW

I can’t wait to emcee the Western Drone Show. It’s less than two weeks away now – Friday, May 3rd at Winnipeg’s Victoria Inn. And big news…”The Drone Girl” will be there! Sally French is a former journalist who now travels the world to talk about drones. She also writes about and reviews them at thedronegirl.com. By the way, I’ll be giving away passes to the Western Drone Show on my radio show next week. Or you can reserve your spot now at westerndrone.show. If you’re into drones like me, you have to check out this event!

BE THE BIGGER GOOSE

Be careful out there, Canada geese are in a real mood right now. They’re nesting, getting ready to have babies. So if you get too close, they’ll come after you. Barret Miller at Fort Whyte Alive says you can shoo one away by pretending to be a much bigger goose. Stand tall and face the charging goose, make eye contact with it and stick one of your arms out and point the index finger on that hand at the bird. Barret says if you do this, most geese will back off and go away.

AND FINALLY…

A new study has found men’s beards are downright gross. They’re even dirtier than the fur on most dogs. In fact, almost half of the men’s beards that were swabbed tested positive for microbes that actually posed a threat to human health. Now go shave for heaven’s sake!