The Burning/ Composting of the Leaves
on Nov 7, 2009 in values We're enjoying a sunny, mild day in southern Ontario after several hard frosts. Perfect for cleaning up the extravagances of the yard from this past year.My burning pile out in the country has now been turned into a composting pile; I am trying to b...

Education: Sprint or Marathon?
on Nov 6, 2009 in education 'Marathon: a musing in metaphor' is a short video which explores the perspective of education in film, books, Oprah... There is the suggestion that education involves quick fixes, heroic achievements, easy formulas...But what if education is more a...

Wall Calendar Blues
on Nov 5, 2009 in media Are wall calendars becoming as obsolete as the wrist watch? With the prevalence of the cell phone, home computers, and digital calendar clocks, the traditional wall accessory has become somewhat of an artifact. Google Calendar and iPhone Calendar m...

Tame your Bag Monster
on Nov 4, 2009 in environment One shopper, one year, 500 bags. It's not hard to imagine this scenario. In the U.S. alone this translates to over 100 billion plastic bags which find their way to landfill sites.Then there are plastic water bottles, many of which do not get recycl...

Can't Judge a Book...
on Nov 3, 2009 in current events Come on; admit it. An effective cover illustration often entices us to buy the book.One of the master illustrators, Don Punchatz, passed away at 73 recently who created hyperrealist art, mixing the fantastic and absurd.He produced images for the work...

A Welcome Oasis?
on Nov 2, 2009 in current events Does the novelty of the world's biggest cruise ship conjure up Romantic thoughts? The 20 storey Oasis of the Seas left a Danish harbour two days ago bound to reach Port Everglades, Florida on November 20, its home port.Everything about the ship is...

Precious Papers
on Nov 1, 2009 in current events A recent auction at Sotheby's sold an 18th century Royal Navy captain's log for $60,000, eight times the asking price. The journals, which had been gathering dust on collectors' shelves for several centuries, featured unpublished records and illustr...

The Torches We Carry
on Oct 31, 2009 in values The Olympics 2010 Torch Relay began in Victoria, British Columbia on October 30. The torch will travel 45,000 kilometers across Canada over the next 106 days before its dramatic entrance into the B.C. Place Stadium on February 12. More than 12,000...

Bloggers: Extend Your Reach
on Oct 30, 2009 in media One way to grow your site may be to write for a news or community website. Examiner.com provides an 'inside source for everything local." The U. S. site has attracted 16 million unique views and in August Nielsen Online named it the fastest-growing...

TV Harms Child Development
on Oct 29, 2009 in media Some parents may scoff at the decision made by the Canadian Paediatric Society to promote a ban of TV viewing for children under two.One pediatrician said, "In the first years, think of how many things you have to learn. You have to learn to sit, yo...