[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 …
Category: Columns
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Why I’m not Stephenie Meyer
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/01/Why-Im-Not-Stephanie-Meyer.mp3[/podcast] I’m a full-time writer, but not, alas, a fabulously wealthy and/or successful one. James Cameron isn’t bugging me about film rights; Oprah isn’t plugging me on TV; fans aren’t lugging great stacks of my books around, chasing me for autographs. It’s easy, when you’re one of the little guys in any creative field, be …
My preview of Globe Theatre’s upcoming production of Marion Bridge…
…is in today’s Regina Leader Post. It begins: The 18th-century French poet Jacques Delille famously noted that while we can choose our friends, “Fate chooses our relatives.” More than one family has fractured because siblings discover they have nothing in common with each other … which is exactly what has happened to the family in …
Blame your brain for overeating
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/12/Why-We-Overeat.mp3[/podcast] Put on a few extra pounds over Christmas? Wonder why you feel compelled to eat half a box of chocolates half an hour after finishing your second plate of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy? Feel a little guilty? Well, new research offers clues to one of the most baffling aspects of the eternal …
‘Twas the Nocturnal Time of the Preceding Day to the Day We Call Christmas
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/12/Twas-the-Nocturnal-Time.mp3[/podcast] With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore ’Twas the nocturnal time of the preceding day To the day we call Christmas (which is, by the way, Just a modern twist on the eons-old fight To use feast and fire to end winter’s night). And all through our dwelling (a.k.a. the house), Not a creature was …
The mathematics of pizza slicing
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/12/Pizza-Slicing.mp3[/podcast] It’s almost Christmas, and Christmas means food: turkey, dressing, candy canes, oranges, cranberries, chocolate, and, of course, pizza. (OK, maybe pizza is not the most traditional of foods, but it’s still a popular holiday choice, so humor me.) Pizzas normally come pre-sliced. The question is, and I’m sure you’ve asked yourself this a lot, …
O Tannenbaum
Time to re-roast an old chestnut, a column I wrote several years that has become fresh in my mind due to the successful completion last night of Operation Dress-the-Tree (to be followed in a few weeks, of course, by Operation Curse-the-Tree as the needle-shedding skeleton is hauled out to the alley). Is there scientific interest …
My preview of this weekend’s South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra Christmas brunch…
…is in today’s Leader Post. It begins: What could be better than a wonderful Christmas brunch onstage at the Conexus Arts Centre? How about a wonderful Christmas brunch followed by a performance by the South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra? That’s exactly the hard-to-imagine-a-better-than event scheduled for this Sunday. A silent auction and food kick off the …
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