[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/04/Curvy-Cars.mp3[/podcast] In the 1940s and 1950s, cars had curves. From the 1960s through the 1980s, they tended to have sharp angles. But since then, they’ve tended more toward the curvy again…although I’m seeing signs of angularity one more. Have you ever wondered why? A German researcher at the University of Bamberg with the unlikely-yet-oddly-appropriate name …
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/04/Wooden-Bones.mp3[/podcast] It’s easy to not think very much about your bones. After all, they’re securely hidden away inside your body; not visible, except as hard lumps beneath your skin. Funny thing, though: once you break one, it’s hard to think about anything else. When first I wrote about bones, back in a 1993 instalment of …
The Spring 2010 issue of Fine Lifestyles Regina, the local magazine I edit, is now online. There are always things you can improve, especially in a magazine that’s more than 200 pages, but I think it’s our best one yet. On the cover of this one: Paul and Carol Hill. Paul Hill’s company, which is …
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/04/The-Mpemba-Effect.mp3[/podcast] For all that we know about the physical world, there are a few phenomena that, though seemingly simple, continue to baffle us. And one of the most baffling is the Mpemba Effect. You may not know it by that name—I didn’t until I read an article on New Scientist’s website last week—but you’ve probably …
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/03/Morally-Malignant-Magnets.mp3[/podcast] One of the things that distinguishes humans from animals is moral judgment, our ability to judge other people’s actions in terms of our own sense of right and wrong. Our moral judgment feels so integral to who we are, so much a part of our personality, that it’s a bit disturbing to discover, as …
Here is (more or less, since I didn’t read it word for word) the speech I gave today at the Past Presidents’ Luncheon that closed off the 100th Annual General Meeting of the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association: *** First, I’d like to thank you very much for asking me to be your guest speaker at …
It’s been a busy week, writing-wise. My latest adult nonfiction book, with the admittedly not-very-sexy title of Land Surveying in Saskatchewan: Laying the Groundwork for Property Rights and Development, has now been released by the Saskatchewan Land Surveyor’s Association. The release coincides with the SLSA’s annual general meeting (at which I’ll be making a speech …
Just a couple of years ago, I wrote a column about the advent of tearless onions that included some background on why onions make us cry in the first place. Ordinarily I wouldn’t revisit a topic quite so soon, but you know how it is with science: things change fast, and just this week there …
Everyone is bored sometimes. You find yourself at loose ends, with nothing to read, nobody to talk to, and maybe not even anything interesting to look at…driving alone from Regina to Saskatoon, for example. Yet science has carried out relatively little research on boredom. About four years ago, Richard Ralley, a lecturer in psychology at …
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 …
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 …
[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 …
