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, …
Tag: science
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 …
Anger
I’ve always had a temper. I know of several holes in several walls that I could autograph, I once smashed my hand through the plastic covering of a light switch in a high school classroom, and we won’t even mention the window in another classroom just down the hall. Believe me, anger is something I’m …
Laughter
At a dinner party I recently attended, the hosts commented on having seen the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral during their vacation cruise. Several of us immediately began waxing eloquent about the film’s delightful humor. Whereupon our hosts concluded their assessment, which we had interrupted in our enthusiasm: they’d been bored stiff. A sense of humor …
Apollo 11’s 25th anniversary
On July 20 we marked the 25th anniversary of an historic event: my 10th birthday. As it happens, on the same day we marked the 25th anniversary of the landing of men on the moon–the best birthday present any 10-year-old ever had. President John F. Kennedy told Congress on May 25, 1961, that the United …
Lakes
Wherever you go in Canada, you’ll hear the question, “Are you going to the lake this weekend?” That’s more than you can say for some other phrases, like, say, “Confederation” and “cultural identity.” Lakes are, of course, depressions with water in them. Those depressions can be formed in a number of ways, from tectonic and …
Photography
I’ve been interested in photography ever since I bought my first camera as a kid–an all-plastic (including the lens) special that cost all of $1. Over the next couple of years, with that camera and its sequel, a $10 Instamatic, I shot lots of pictures of friends, scenery, and my cat (LOTS of pictures of …
Keeping cool
I went to university in Arkansas, a state which boasts two of the distinguishing characteristics of the South: heat and humidity. As a member of the Harding University Marching Band, I got to spend an hour and a half every day of every week out in the sunshine practicing halftime shows in late summer, and …
My latest live walk and vlog
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