Passing the smell test
Scientists are sniffing around smell, traditionally the neglected sibling among the five senses. And they are smelling some interesting results. One study examined some 3,000 people and found that if they were unable to identify smells like fish and peppermint, they were much more likely to die within five years, compared with those who were […]
A day in the life
There are times when my day has a theme song. More often than not it has been It’s Good News Week. Some of you know the song, the rest of you can Google it. Most of us have music in our heads. Youngest COM calls it ear worms. When the story of Cpl Nathan Cirillo’s […]
Play ball!
The 2014 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals opened on Tuesday night in Kansas City. The teams will play three games in Kansas City, fly out to the West Coast to play one game, potentially two, then fly back to KC for the final games. Both of these teams […]
Spiders and the tarantula
This is the time in winemaking when all-or-nothing wagers are placed on the best moment to harvest grapes and transform the fruit into wine. Will the good weather last long enough to assure sugar and acid levels as well as the appearance and general health of the winemaker’s grapes? Think of the weather over the […]
Timing is everything
This is the time in winemaking when all-or-nothing wagers are placed on the best moment to harvest grapes and transform the fruit into wine. Will the good weather last long enough to assure sugar and acid levels as well as the appearance and general health of the winemaker’s grapes? Think of the weather over the […]
Just hanging out
It can’t just be me who has noticed it. I sense—call it the Drake Effect—that there are more people than ever before poking around downtown Wellington, looking to be entertained. “Looking to be entertained” means there is a certain onus on our visitor to seek out his or her entertainment. But it also implies that […]
Lava floor
So, tell me, what have I missed? Is it a cultural thing? Is it a new trend? Is it even a thing? I just don’t get it. LOML and I took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to the Sunshine Coast this week. The trip usually takes about 40 minutes, which means we can sit in […]
Exciting Stuff for Young Bulls
Last Wednesday night, Matt Luff walked into a local restaurant and dropped a puck on the table in front of his mother. Not just any puck, mind you, but a most significant puck. It was his first goal as a Belleville Bull in the Ontario Hockey League. Details of the event are always marked on […]
Nouveau for November
The annual release of new wine from Beaujolais, aptly named Beaujolais Nouveau, will soon be upon us. This fresh young wine is celebrated as a harbinger of the vintage, while the balance of the year’s crop gently ages in cellars, awaiting release to the market. At one time, the frenzy caused by its release was […]
They call the wind…?
I read an article a few months back, bemoaning the sparse lexicon of names to describe wind. We’ve all heard of the warming chinook that blows in southern and central Alberta. And I suppose you could say, thanks to Gordon Lightfoot, the Witch of November over Lake Superior has also made the national list. After […]