Archives
The Willetts on Wine: Wine – it’s what’s for dinner
Continuing the run-up to the release of the spring issue of Fine Lifestyles Regina, here's "The Willetts on Wine," the wine column penned by my wife, Margaret Anne, and myself, from winter issue of FLR, in which it premiered. Eventually there'll be a dedicated Willetts on Wine website to replace the old Blogger blog we haven't updated in forever. But for now...enjoy! *** It seems like cooking dinner these days is a high-wire balancing act. You’re expected to perfectly balance protein, veggies and carbohydrates while also serving up fresh (preferably local) ingredients, delectable tastes, and tantalizing textures. Throw in the expectation of a perfect wine match, and ...Mike and Karla Sillinger have been everywhere…but Regina is home
The Spring 2010 issue of Fine Lifestyles Regina, for which I'm the editor, is just around the corner. In honour of that, here's my cover story from the Winter issue, which featured former NHL player Mike Sillinger. *** Mike Sillinger holds the National Hockey League record for playing with the most teams—12 in all. He was traded nine times, another record. All of which means that in 17 years as a professional hockey player, he moved around—a lot. In fact, the list of teams he played for after being drafted from the Regina Pats by the Detroit Red Wings back in 1990 sounds like that old Geoff Mack song, ...It’s on the tip of my tongue…
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/03/Tip-of-the-Tongue.mp3[/podcast] How often has this happened to you? “So I was talking to...to...oh, you know, that guy, the one in the head office, big hair, bad teeth, only listens to Perry Como records...geez, why can’t I remember his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue!” It’s a common phenomenon, and it’s not just people's names. Sometimes you can’t think of the name of a place, or a food, or a car, or...just about anything. You can feel that the information is in your head, but you can’t shape it into a word. It may be a well-known phenomenon, but it isn’t well-understood. However, new research may have shed a little light on the mechanism involved. One leading explanation for tip-of-the-tongue torment is that when ...Terra Insegura is an Aurora Award finalist!
Just heard this morning that Terra Insegura, my sequel to last year's Aurora Award-winning science fiction novel Marseguro, is a finalist for this year's Aurora Award for best science fiction or fantasy novel in English. Sounds like they had a record number of nominations, too, so that makes it even sweeter. The other finalists are Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer, Steel Whispers by Hayden Trenholm, Druids by Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston, and The Amulet of Amon-Ra by Leslie Carmichael. I know every one of these authors. It should be a great evening at KeyCon in Winnipeg in May when the winners are announced. Voting will ...Fred Morrison’s wonderful invention, the Frisbee
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/02/Frisbee.mp3[/podcast] Fred Morrison died on Tuesday at the age of 90, one of those people you may never have heard of, but really should have. Morrison invented the Frisbee. Since millions of these and other flying discs have been sold since the 1950s, it’s perhaps a bit humbling to discover, though, that even though throwing a Frisbee well is a skill that can be acquired, nobody has pinned down all the details of the science involved. Morrison, born in Richfield, Utah, said the inspiration for the Frisbee went back to a Thanksgiving Day picnic in 1937 when he and his girlfriend (and future wife), Lu Nay, began throwing the lid of a popcorn tin back and forth. They soon found that a tin cake pan ...A reminder about Aurora Award nominations
The deadline for nominating works for a Prix Aurora Award is fast approaching. Today is the day when mail-in ballots must be postmarked by, and the deadline for online nominations is February 15. The Aurora Awards, for the best Canadian works of science fiction and fantasy, are nominated and voted on by fans. Any Canadian citizen or permanent resident can nominate up to three works or individuals in a range of categories in both English and French. The five works with the most nominations go on the final ballot and are voted on by members of CanVention, the annual national SF convention. It costs nothing to ...Spray-on liquid glass
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/02/Spray-on-Liquid-Glass.mp3[/podcast] “Spray-on liquid glass” sounds like a product you’d see advertised at two o’clock in the morning in an infomercial. It sounds even more like a 2 a.m. infomercial product when you see headlines about it that claim it is “about to revolutionize everything.” Maybe it’d sound more impressive if I used its more formal name, which is “SiO2 ultra-thin layering,” but that’s hard to type, so I’m going to stick with “spray-on liquid glass.” Besides, that’s exactly what it is: an extremely thin layer of glass that can be sprayed onto...well, just about anything. Though it was invented in Turkey, the patent for spray-on liquid glass is held by the German company Nanopool. It consists of almost pure silicon dioxide, a.k.a. silica, extracted ...Fuel from germs
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/01/Fuel-from-Germs.mp3[/podcast] For years, we’ve been turning crops such as corn, wheat and sugar beets into fuel, using yeast to convert sugar into alcohol. But there’s an obvious problem with this. That stuff we’re turning into fuel is also food for humans and feed for animals. (And as an aside, how come we always call it “animal feed” as opposed to “animal food”? And why don’t we ever refer to “human feed”? Hmm?) A lot of the plant is wasted when you grow crops for fuel or food. The leaves and stems, with their tough cell walls made of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are more of a nuisance than anything else. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a use for what is now plowed ...My review of Globe Theatre’s production of Marion Bridge…
...has already shown up online, even though it won't appear in print until tomorrow. This is the first time I've seen something I've written pop up that far ahead of the ink-on-paper version, though maybe I just haven't noticed until now. The review begins: I confess that I went into the opening night performance of Marion Bridge at Globe Theatre feeling skeptical. The premise, after all, sounds like the set-up to a joke: "A nun, an actress and a soap-opera addict walk into a kitchen ..." Not only that, the fact the three are sisters home together — in Cape Breton, no less — for the first time in years because their mother is dying made me fear I faced a turgid ...Social contagions
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/01/Social-Contagions.mp3[/podcast] Parents (I don’t think I’m giving away any parental secrets here) worry about peer pressure--not least because parents remember how much their behavior was influenced by peers when they were young. The fact is, we’re all influenced by the people around us...and we often think of that influence as a bad thing. As the Bible puts it, “Evil companions corrupt good morals.” And other kinds of companions can have other effects. For instance, an analysis of 12,067 people that appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2007 revealed that you are more likely to be obese if your best friend is obese. (Overstuffed siblings or spouses also makes a difference, but the greatest negative effect comes from fat friends.) To a certain ...
Edward Willett is a Subscribe to my weekly science column
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
