When the philanthropist and businessman Paul Johnson died in 2015, he left behind a mighty physical legacy, especially in the St. John’s area. Now, one of his favourite projects is in doubt, as Newfoundland and… Read More
“Science is a co-operative enterprise, spanning the generations. It’s the passing of a torch from teacher, to student, to teacher. A community of minds reaching back to antiquity and forward to the stars.”— Neil deGrasse… Read More
I like a Gershwin tune, how about you? My favourite version of A Foggy Day — a 1937 film tune from George and Ira that was introduced by Fred Astaire — was made about two… Read More
Last year, as I was nursing some ideas about having a digital sandbox of my own, I got in touch with Matthew Hollett. I had not yet met Matthew, but we had some mutual contacts,… Read More
“You shouldn’t blindly accept a leader’s advice. You’ve got to question leaders on occasion.”— Richard Branson The above, which comes from the Virgin founder’s 2011 book, Business Stripped Bare, speaks to something I think many… Read More
The snow is coming down in St. John’s this afternoon, and hopefully it’s the fluffy stuff that was predicted, albeit in some volume. A good time to read and take things in. Here are a… Read More
Up until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I spent a lot of time on the road. Apart from working as a digital producer with CBC News in St. John’s, I was lucky enough to… Read More
“No one is promised tomorrow. We cherish real flowers more than fake ones because we know they are fleeting.”—Julie Fratantoni Today’s quote comes from “your friendly neighborhood neuroscientist” and the author of a Substack I… Read More
In 1993, Len Simms took the Progressive Conservatives into a provincial election in Newfoundland and Labrador, against Clyde Wells and the governing Liberals. It was an uphill battle, and Simms knew it. By the end… Read More
This is me on my living room couch. In my latest Substack post, I write about a brief moment of panic earlier this month, when I looked at the clock and a wave of stress… Read More
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”— Jeannette Rankin Jeannette Rankin was a political force a century ago. In 1916, she became the first woman to win federal office… Read More
Red Nose Day yesterday posted to YouTube this sketch from 2001, of a satire of music competition reality shows. Lenny Henry and Simon Pegg are among those auditioning for the likes of Rowan Atkinson, who… Read More
Michael Penn may be best known as the brother of Sean Penn, perhaps as the husband and sometime collaborate of Aimee Mann, but I think of him primarily for his debut single. No Myth is… Read More
“The guilty think all talk is of themselves.”— “Geoffrey Chaucer” The quote of the day is a well-known proverb from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, although of course that’s not how he wrote it … modern… Read More
[Most of this was published earlier today as my newsletter on Substack.] Congratulations on making it to the weekend. We’re being advised via Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro to conserve electricity and that rolling outages are… Read More