Identity crisis
I am a member of an invisible minority. That is, I’m not part of an identifiable group. When I look through the census documents that identify visible minorities, I don’t see myself. This may seem like a non-issue, but to me, it’s an ongoing identity crisis. I come from parents with very different backgrounds. They’re […]
Baseball in Fort Myers
Thomas Alva Edison always said that he came to Fort Myers, Florida, because of the weather. When scouting for an appropriate place to set down roots, he spotted land on the Caloosahatchee River. It suited him perfectly, particularly because of the bamboo plants on the site. He was in the process of trying to find […]
We care
The election is over, but before moving on, a word of congratulation. The exact numbers won’t be in for a while yet, but eligible voter turnout in this week’s federal election jumped significantly. Although new registrants have not yet been counted, about 68 per cent of registered voters arrived to mark a ballot. Regardless of […]
Colossal cellar
Various wine societies will routinely plan their great evenings around the tasting of a significant vintage wine, although it means they must draw down their own cellars in order to share the contents among many. While visiting a winery in Crimea at the beginning of this month, Russian President Putin and former Italian Prime Minister […]
Buster come home
Do you ever find that sometimes stuff happens out of sync with how you pictured it? Recent months have kept me on the move, away from home—yet being home and settled is exactly what I’m after. I’m missing the timeof- year moments: for instance, picking apples or gathering the Concord grapes in the corner of […]
The big dough in bubbles
The world beer industry is going through another shakeup. A deal has been done whereby Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona; “A-B” for short) will acquire SABMiller PLC (Miller, Peroni, Grolsch; “SAB” for short) for more than $100 billion. The combined company will control about a third of the world’s beer production— and half […]
All clear
By the time this edition hits the streets, the election will be over and done. Some folks will be smiling. Some folks will be scratching their heads. The others will go back to the drawing board and tell themselves, “the world just isn’t ready for a real change, maybe next time.” And, so it goes […]
The season begins
The Chicago Blackhawks opened the 2015-2016 regular season last Wednesday night in Chicago. Due to the fact that they were celebrating their third Stanley Cup win in six years that evening, they did it with style. The United Center, also known as the Madhouse on Madison Avenue, was filled to the brim. It was a […]
Excesses of excess
In the early days of the new Republic of the United States, citizens began drinking corn whiskey at an unprecedented rate—drawing down the fury of several Founding Fathers. Even though Europeans were used to the excesses of alcohol consumption at home, they marvelled at the free flow of alcohol in America. By 1820, the average […]
A small step to cupid
The big banks are expected to show weak results due to the slowdown in the Canadian economy. So here’s a growth opportunity for them that arrives at a particularly good time. First, some background. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board has, according to Bloomberg News, just published a study showing that credit ratings have a strong […]