As a kid, I always loved field trips. You not only got to leave school and take a bus ride, you also got to visit exotic places like dairy farms, museums and newspapers. One field trip that seemed to be repeated at regular intervals during my school years was to the local water treatment facility. …
Category: Blog
Canning
This week I’d like to write about canning. No, no, no, this isn’t a column about corporal punishment in Singapore. “Canning,” not “caning,” as in, “Open up another can of beans, Ma, company’s coming up the walk.” Canning is a form of food preservation, something humans have been interested in ever since some early hominid …
Hallowe’en: vampires, werewolves, and fear
It’s All Hallow’s Eve, or Halloween, the night when the spirits of the dead are free to walk the Earth, a night of frightening sounds, horrible sights, terrible deeds…not to mention a night when forty-seven iterations of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers will appear at your door begging for candy. Of all our holidays, Halloween is surely the …
Werewolves and vampires
A few months ago, people crowded theatres to see Jack Nicholson as a werewolf. In a few days, they’ll flock to see Tom Cruise as a vampire. It might seem odd, in this supposedly scientific age, that such ancient cannibalistic terrors as werewolves and vampires should still hold such fascination for us…but actually there are …
Books
There are few things I esteem more highly than books, and I’m not just saying that because I was honorary patron of Saskatchewan Library Week (October 15 to 22–and if you missed it, don’t worry; your local library will welcome you any week). Books have been my friends, companions and teachers since I learned to …
Diamonds (1994)
Once in a while, a columnist has to tackle a particularly hard topic. This week, I tackle the hardest topic of all: diamonds. Diamonds have been much on my mind recently for a variety of reasons, not least because of watching a spate of romantic movies. It is perhaps a sad commentary on the way …
Lights
Human beings like light. We don’t see well at night, and our vaunted intelligence goes hand in hand with a vivid imagination that loves to populate shadows with Things That Go Bump in the Night. As a result, we’ve always looked for ways to light up our lives: campfires, torches, candles, oil lamps, gas lamps…and, …
Guitars
One of the problems with being a musician whose instrument of choice is the piano is that it’s very difficult to take your instrument with you to parties. I mean, it’s almost impossible to find a piano carrying-case, and have you ever tried to load one into the hatchback of a Plymouth Laser? (I suppose …
Science fiction prophecies
I wrote last week about attending the World Science Fiction Convention in Winnipeg. You didn’t seriously think I was going to limit myself to just one column, did you? All those science topics I talked about last week were included in the convention because science fiction concerns itself with “the shape of things to come,” …
ConAdian: The 1994 World Science Fiction Convention
On Friday evening I attended a fascinating lecture by Dr. Jack Cohen, one of the world’s leading reproductive biologists. On Sunday, I attended an equally fascinating lecture by Dr. William Sarjeant, a geologist at the University of Saskatchewan. I wasn’t at a scientific conference or a university lecture series: I was at ConAdian–the 52nd World …
Electrical shocks
I distinctly recall, as a kid in junior high, being required in shop class to stand in a circle holding hands with my classmates, two of whom were attached to opposite sides of a small hand-cranked electrical generator. Somebody (probably the teacher) cranked the generator, and the rest of us were expected to “ooh” and …
Food additives
It’s a national pastime. You buy a snack; then, while enjoying it, you read the label. “Contains Yellow #6, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.” (All of which I found listed on a bottle of iced tea I bought recently.) It doesn’t usually stop you from eating or drinking (not me, anyway) but it does make …
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