Great story in The New York Times today about dinosaur feathers preserved in amber that show traces of pigment. Eleven 70-million-year-old specimens examined by scientists at the University of Alberta…
"The Cat Came Back" was a favourite around here with the kids were young, particularly in the Fred Penner version. But this one takes the cake--or the bowl of cat…
If you want to try to lose an unpopular announcement, you make it at the end of the week. That's what the Quebec government did last Friday when $800 million…
Well, no, there's readily apparent that links this happy dog with fishing, but therein lies a tale (or tail, if you like.) We got Trout Fishing in Canada shortly after…
Just a reminder than on Monday I'll be talking about Neil Bissoondath's The Unyielding Clamour of the Night at Reading: Un Acte d'amour (or Lire : An Act of Love,…
One of the things that came back from storage/cleaning after the fire was my wedding dress. Much to small now, of course, and neither my daughter nor daughter-in-law have any…
First there were the various beefcake calendars put out by firemen to raise funds for burn units and the like. Then came "sex muffins of science," another calendar (which I…
I was going to write about rising rates of poverty and inequality in Canada and the US today, but I came across this good news story. It's a gray day,…
This is book review week, when I lead discussions in four Montreal area libraries. In two of them, the book is Shlipi Somaya Gowda's Secret Daughter, a novel about adoption…
Debussy's piano prelude is inspired by the idea of a cathedral that was submerged in some magical/mythic/horrible way. Beauty is not a stranger to disaster. I've long thought the shots…
Le Jeune street is only a block long, running between boulevards St-Joseph and Laurier in Montreal's Plateau district. It doesn't fit into the usual pattern, being too narrow and not…
The wonders of the internet allowed Sid Ingerman's many friends to follow him to victory in his age group at the International Triathalon sprint championships in Beijing Saturday.Sid, 82, took…
Jeanne's been around for the last few days, and I've rediscovered some of the great bits from Seasame Street. This one actually dates from some time after Elin and Lukas…
What is more energy effective, renovating a nuclear reactor or insulating houses?A new study by the Quebec group Ecohabitation says that refurbishing Hydro Québec's one reactor to prepare it for…
The Long List for the Scotia Bank Giller prize has been announced, and I'm pleased to see several friends featured. Genni Gunn, with whom I worked several years on the…
We've traded at Zoubris since it opened. The stationery store on Park Avenue was where I sent faxes to my mother in her last days before her death in 1999,…
As usual Paul Krugman's column in The New York Times is right on the money and particularly appropriate this Labour Day. As usual what he has to say has implications…
Never hurts to remember what led to this holiday of the end of summer. A classic version by Pete Seeger.
As I make my rounds again in Outremont, I'm pleased to see that gardeners have done fun things again this year. To the left is the 2011 version of the…
And further to tropical wars, here's the wonderful Pete Seeger singing the Cuban song Guantanamera. Originally it was about a woman from Guantánamo, but Cuban patriot José Martí used it…
