Crunch time
It is indeed crunch time for the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles Men’s Basketball team. The Eagles began the season as a favourite to repeat as the defending conference tourney champion. With just a handful of games remaining before the playoffs begin, the Eagles will face some stiff opposition from teams that are a little desperate. […]
Peace, love and cards
On this snowy Sunday before Valentine’s Day, I am reminded of the Valentine’s Days of my childhood. Back to the time when, several days before Valentine’s Day, my mom plopped a couple of books of paper cards and envelopes on the kitchen table, sat all of us down with scissors and a bottle of Elmer’s […]
Still in the press box
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the dreadful tragedy suffered by the Columbus Cottonmouths hockey team. Their bus left the road on the way to Peoria, Illinois. Many of the players and staff members suffered serious injuries in the accident, including a former Duke, Rusty Hafner. Andy Bathgate, a former Belleville Bull, was […]
Of great interest
As the Roman Empire gained prominence and expanded, it exported the viticulture skills and vines it had received from the Greeks and Etruscans. The major wine producers of Europe exist today because ancient Rome spread these skills. Cato, Pliny, Columella, and Palladius give their readers a well-defined picture of how wine was a daily part […]
Roll over Gutenberg
Reading books helps keep you smart, right? Well, not according to a new study. In fact, you may be better off surfing the net. The Associated Press reported recently on a four-year study conducted by the Mayo Clinic on some 2,000 over-70 adults. The authors were trying to determine whether some common mental and social […]
Feeling stronger every day
My “gym sistas” and I are on a quest. All of us have come a long way, working-out, getting fit and building muscle. Age-wise, we’re all about the same vintage and face the same issues that have been assigned to people who are “our age”. Until very recently, like many of you, we bought into […]
2017 All-Star Game
For the first time in several years, I really enjoyed the NHL All-Star festivities. I have read several reports on the All-Star contests, both pro and con. One of the indications that I took from the event was that the players were having a fine time. Of course, there were one million reasons why the […]
A perfect companion
Fermented beverages were preferred by early civilizations because they were safer for consumption than the water of the time, they were more nutritious, and (when consumed in quantity) they could have a psychotropic effect. The discovery of alcohol offered a “safe” alternative to disease-plagued water, which extended the lifespan of our ancestors, and gave rise […]
Learned behaviour
Common wisdom dictates that when a child throws a temper tantrum, the best course of action is to ignore the behaviour; to avoid any response that could be perceived as a reward for behaving badly. The same advice is often used for dogs, whose psychologies aren’t too different from our own, in some ways. Any […]
One hundred and fifty
So, this is the year Canada celebrates its one hundred and fiftieth birthday. In good conscience, I don’t think I will feel right celebrating Canada Day the way I have in the past. In the last decade or so, I’ve felt that Canada Day was a bit like thumbing our collective noses at the First […]