It has been interesting to watch the world rally around Ukraine over the past week since Russia's invasion. Sanctions have been put in place, aid has been committed and support has been promised. I don't know that I've ever seen this type of worldwide solidarity before. It has been both political and corporate. Of course…

Recently, I was reminded of a conference I attended several years ago entitled Effective Marriage Counselling. What did I learn? I learned, or at least I was reminded yet again, that marriages are worth saving. We live in a society where marriage is seen as a temporary state where more and more people are becoming…

That was a little embarrassing. One poll revealed that most Canadians could not identify Samuel de Champlain as the founding father of the first permanent European settlement in what was to become Canada. Most people chose Jacques Cartier, which is understandable, as we credit him with the European discovery of Canada in 1534 and established…

"Why on my 6th and 7th birthday I coldn’t have a party, and you were?" That question was asked by 7-year-old Isobel in a letter she wrote to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Her letter was sparked by the revelations of sixteen social gatherings held at the PM’s Downing Street residence while the country was…

Boy, it’s hard to take a stand when you really don’t want to pay the cost of taking a stand.Earlier in the year, I heard about a potential boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The call to boycott the games began with the US and the UK, Canada, Australia, Lithuania and Kosovo have joined…

Beware of falling iguanas! While not a warning that we would hear in Nova Scotia, it has been a reality in Florida lately.  It seems that with the recent unseasonable cold snap in Florida, the cold-blooded reptiles are freezing and falling out of the trees that they sleep in at night.  Some weather reports in the…

What a way to be woken up.  Just before midnight on October 3rd of this past year, Ruth Hamilton was woken from her sleep by the barking of her dog Toby.  Just moments later, a meteorite crashed through her ceiling into the pillow next to her. Scientists at Western University’s physics and astronomy department in London say…

In 1923, Frederick Banting, Charles Best and James Collip sold the patent for their newly discovered miracle drug, insulin, to the University of Toronto for 1.00. Dr. Best summed up their motives when he said, “Insulin belongs to the world, not to me.” I’m not sure how he’d feel about the price of insulin now.…

135 years, wow! And now she has passed, but she certainly had a good run of it.  135 years, 5 months and 21 days after she was born in Xinjiang in Western China, Almihan Seyiti died. She was believed to be the oldest woman in the world. We all have something in common with this…

So this is Christmas? Here we are celebrating yet another COVID Christmas. A year ago most of us were confident that this year would be different. The politicians and the scientists promised that if we all did our part, and if we all allowed ourselves to be vaccinated, that COVID would be a distant memory.…