Cool Stuff - Icy Novelties For Really Cool Parties

Ice is funny old stuff. Who'd have thought that a bit of frozen water could make such a difference to a party?

But it's not just for plopping into drinks. Crushed ice can be used in buckets to cool bottles of champagne, or in cones with a splash of something sweet as a lower-calorie alternative to ice cream on a hot day. Ice can be molded, it can be sculpted - it can even be made into buildings, like the famous Ice Hotel in Sweden which melts back into the nearby river every spring.

Making a party venue entirely from ice is not an option for the majority of us. But we can still have a bit of fun on a smaller scale by creating unusually shaped pieces of ice for drinks, and ice sculptures as table decorations. Here are a few of our favorite novelty ice products to help you throw the coolest party in town.

Gin and Titonic Ice Mould

Create frozen miniature ocean liners with icebergs and watch them collide in your glass. Each Gin and Titonic Ice Mold will turn out four ships at a time, and an iceberg to go with each.

Fossiliced Dinosaurs

Fill the Fossiliced T-Rex or Stegosaurus mold with water, freeze, and then turn out your collection of frozen dinosaur bones into your drink. You don't have to be a palaeontologist to enjoy Fossiliced Dinosaurs - but we bet Ross from Friends would love them...

Frozen Smiles

These novelty frozen dentures are sure to raise a smile or two when your guests find them floating in their drinks! Each Frozen Smiles mould makes four sets of frozen teeth.

Quack Quack Ice Tray

Create cool party drinks with little icy ducks swimming in them. The Quack Quack Ice Tray makes eight cute little ice ducks at a time.

Fishbone Ice Tray

Add something fishy to your drink with the Fishbone Ice Tray, which makes blocks of ice shaped like fish skeletons. The Fishbone Ice Tray is made of high quality silicon and creates four fishbone-shaped blocks.

Heart Ice Tray Twin Pack

Two heart-shaped ice moulds, which each make ten little icy hearts at a time. Heart Ice Trays are perfect for Valentines drinks - try adding cranberry juice instead of water for really unusual - and romantic - Valentines treats.

BoneChillers Ice Tray

Shiver someone's timbers with these novelty skull and crossbones shaped novelty ice trays. The BoneChillers Ice Tray is perfect for cooling down a pirate party, and it's great for Halloween parties too.

Cool Shooters

Don't just give your party guests ice to put in their drinks... give them shot glasses made entirely from ice!

The Cool Shooters ice mold creates four very cool shot glasses, which you could make with plain water or with juice for a splash of color.

Cool Jazz Drinks Stirrers

Now here's a really cool alternative to plastic drinks stirrers... make them from ice instead, in the shape of little guitars!

Each pack of Cool Jazz Drinks Stirrers contains guitar-shaped ice molds and plastic guitar necks. Fill the molds with water or juice, add the guitar necks, freeze and then turn out your cool-as-anything guitar shaped drinks stirrers and get stirring.

Cool Jewels

Add a touch of sparkle to your party drinks with Cool Jewels. Unlike diamonds, these jewel-shaped ice blocks won't last forever - but they'll keep your drink a lot cooler than a diamond would!

Ice Invaders

Relive your misspent youth with ice cubes in the shape of space invaders. These little frozen aliens are an excellent novelty for 1980s parties, and the durable silicon mold can be used again and again.

Ice Swan Mould

Trick your party guests into believing that you've discovered that you have a hidden talent for ice sculpture, by making ice swans as table decorations. The Ice Swan Mold makes a swan that's 29cm x 23cm x 8cm, making a beautiful centerpiece for your party table.

Wii Fit - Can it Replace the Gym?

If the invention of TV remote controls and video games ushered in the couch potato lifestyle, could a similar device rescue us?

Nintendo's Wii Fit, which debuted in late 2006, has grown in popularity, but is it a brilliant rescue device for the overfed, a novelty that will soon fade in popularity, or a clever motivator that appeals to the addictive and/or competitive personality?

Betting on the fact that Americans love their TVs (the average American spends 19-25 hours per week in front of the screen!), Nintendo fashioned Wii Fit with a little competitive edge to keep your interest with the addictive qualities of a video game.

Depending on the activity you choose (Wii has tennis, baseball, boxing, bowling & golf, and the upgrade Wii Fit features weight lifting, aerobics, yoga, jogging, hula hoop, ski jumping, rhythm boxing and step aerobics), you might be holding a wand-like device about the size of a remote control or wearing wrist bands while standing on a surfboard-like balance board in front of your TV. You simulate the movements and force of whatever activity you are playing and the game console translates it onto an animated picture on your TV screen.

So, does it work?

Research shows the majority of people report they get a great work out from the Wii, but measuring their output doesn't back up their perception.* While they may be working harder than if they were playing a regular video game, their calorie-burning numbers were nowhere near the range they'd achieve actually playing the real game.

For instance, Wii Boxing burns 216 calories in 30 minutes, about 51 calories more than walking. Real sparring would burn over 300 calories so the Wii numbers are about 2/3 of what you'd burn actually doing the sport.*

Yoga and strength training have a virtual 3D personal trainer so you can view what you're attempting from every angle in real time, but the aerobics and balance games are less structured. When you reach benchmarks, new difficulty levels become available.

Another game, Ubisoft's My Weight Loss Coach, is a computerized accounting of food intake and activity output.

Advantages:

1.Many people report the Wii encouraged them to try activities they ordinarily would not attempt.
2.The games are simple to use and done in the privacy of your living room.
3.It may be a stepping stone to more effective gym workouts.
4.Many users report using it more when it's prominently displayed in the living room and hard to ignore.

Disadvantages:

1.You might get stuck in a low-intensity rut and not even know it.
2.The games provide no "real life" monitoring or attention from trained personnel, so don't try it if you have health problems or tend to visit the chiropractor often.
3.Once the novelty wears off, it becomes just another expensive piece of equipment gathering dust, so make sure the gaming aspect appeals to you before you buy it.
4.It's easy to lie to a game or computer. Studies show approximately 95% of people lie when inputting information into an online calculator like eDiets or Weight Watchers!

Summary:

1.If you use a Wii Fit, know that, while it's better than doing nothing, you still need to control the intensity and constantly get better and stronger at it.
2.While the Wii Fit can supplement a more intensive workout routine, it does not burn nearly as many calories. However, some users reported using Wii Fit energized them and encouraged them to follow up with a visit to the gym.
3.It's easy to have fun when playing a game. If games suit your personality, go for it!
4.If you tend to start and stop exercise, the Wii probably won't be any different. A better approach may be to figure out the sabotaging behavior's root cause and develop a different attitude about yourself, exercise and eating healthfully.

* Study of the Nintendo Wii, sponsored by the American Council on Exercise and conducted by John Pecori at The University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

Should I Stick With the Canada Lotto 649 Or Switch to Lotto Max?

The newest lottery game from Canada certainly provides a unique twist not seen before in the lottery world. But is Lotto Max just a novelty or is it time to change the game you play?

Let's Talk About Your Chances Of Winning First

Lotto 649 is obviously a 6 balls from 49 game. That gives pretty standard chances of 1 in nearly 14 million per ticket. The Lotto Max game however is a 7 balls from 49 draw. Which means you have to match 7 balls now to win the jackpot. This is countered slightly because you can't actually buy just 1 ticket. You have to buy 3 picks which costs $5. Your chances would be just 1 in 86 million, but for 3 picks that comes down to 1 in 28.6 million.

So Lotto Max is harder to win. Twice as hard in fact. But that's not the end of the story.

More Jackpot Winners Promised

The idea behind this game was to create more big prize winners. And the unique feature of this game that aims to do that is called MaxMillions. The jackpot will start at $10 million. But if nobody wins that week, then the jackpot rolls over to next week. Just like most lottery games. But, if the jackpot rolls over again and again and gets bigger than $50 million, then the new feature comes into action.

Somebody can still win $50 million. But every $1 million more than that becomes another jackpot prize. If the jackpot is $60 million there will be 10 extra $1 million prizes, and more balls drawn to pick out each of the 10 extra jackpot winners. So you get a better chance of winning when the jackpot is over $50 million.

In Conclusion

Your chances of winning are better with Lotto 649. But keep an eye on the Lotto Max jackpot. Because when it gets large enough and MaxMillions comes into play, you may find your overall chances of winning become better if you switch games for those draws.

Soccer - Really The World Game

Soccer: What terrific memories, thoughts and excitement that word generates. At this moment the world is in the throes of the World Championship of Football - yes, I call it football, because I believe it to be the only true "foot" ball game. Just imagine if you will the number of people who are tuning in to watch their country - if they have qualified, compete on the stage of the biggest sporting tournament the world has to offer. The great thing is that all nations hold some interest in this spectacle. It is something tangible from South America to Australia. From Asia through Europe to the United States.

Imagine if you will the passion of supporters of these nations, when they score a goal to either give them the advantage in a particular match, or even more thrilling the winning goal in the World Cup final itself!

OK, now we're in the mood of things, take into consideration that there are people on this planet who have little or no interest in this event or the build up to it. The folk to whom I refer, are those that pursue the pleasure of the other "football" codes on offer in this diverse world of ours.

Let me explain: We have a few other codes of football played worldwide. The United States have their own particular brand and in other countries Rugby League and Rugby Union are followed with a degree of passion, the latter reaching euphoric status in countries like New Zealand. There is another form of football played in Australia called Australian Rules football affectionately known as "footy", although I tend to dismiss this game as somewhat of a novelty sport, because it has never really been played worldwide and can't be compared favourably to the other codes as a spectacle, mainly because of lack of foresight from administrators. That doesn't mean to say that it doesn't have a strong following.

Let me say this first of all. Whichever of the ball games is your cup of tea, fine. I can live with that. It's just the title of your sport that I find somewhat odd. I have heard criticism of football - the real football I mean - making jibes about the ballet-type heading prowess of some of the players and the acting talents of some of its professional participants and, to a degree I cede to that.

But, facts are facts, irrefutable and concrete. This sport is the only football code that encourages the use and skill with the feet for its players. The word, my friends, is "football".

In all the other codes mentioned above, ninety per cent of the time the ball is held in the players' hands. OK so they kick it occasionally - very occasionally in the US version. Incidentally, there could be an argument for not calling that particular code "football" at all when you take into consideration they only call someone on to the playing arena as a specialist to actually kick the ball to either start a game or add "bonus" scoring points to a team's total.

Enough is enough. I could go on forever. Don't think we could ever get to a court of law with this one, because everyone will have their own opinion about their own favourite, but I reckon I've given a good argument for Soccer being the true and only Football.