“In a move that shocked preservationists and theater and music fans, the Beverly Hills home where composer George Gershwin spent his final years was recently demolished.”

Lions, tigers and elephants in Saskatchewan? In part, I think this is a wonderful idea. But when the authors note there might be a problem with “public acceptance,” I think they’re wildly understating the case. Still, cheetahs hunting pronghorns in southwestern Saskatchewan…cool.

Flowers at the Conservatory Originally uploaded by Edward Willett. Some of the flowers in the Mendel Art Gallery Conservatory in Saskatoon. This looks lovely now, at the height of summer; it’s even more refreshing and inviting when, just the other side of the conservatory’s glass, it’s -35 and there’s a howling wind causing it to …

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The Canadian Light Source Originally uploaded by Edward Willett. Apropros of my most recent science column, here is an overview of the Canadian Light Source I took Monday during my visit to the facility in Saskatoon.

When we get to Mars, we’ll need better space suits than the ones used by Apollo astronauts. Slim new designs are now being tested.

Given that the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon produces light a million times brighter than the sun, you might well expect to be able to see it at night even from Regina. Or, upon visiting it in winter, you might think you would thousands of sun-starved Saskatchewanians lying all around it on beach-towels in the …

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Scientists believe they have detected the signature of collisions between the Earth and strangelets, clumps of matter made up of quarks–including “strange quarks,” normally only seen in particle accelerators. (Via Instapundit.)

…is online here, and it’s very funny. Wish I could have been there! (Thanks to Derryl Murphy for pointing this out.)

…to get one of these: a cell phone that looks just like a Star Trek communicator. (Via A Writer’s Life.)

Running to the Light Originally uploaded by Edward Willett. My daughter Alice, balloons, sunlight streaming across Wascana Park just after a rainshower…how could you not take a photo?

Architecture Originally uploaded by Edward Willett. …like the Conservatory of Performing Arts and Music just across the street from us here in Regina. Tonight the sun emerged briefly just around sunset to light it up most dramatically.