Social Studies

The rockets' damn glare, tips for rich artists and tsk, tsk, tsk

A daily miscellany of information by Michael Kesterton

James Tanner

Lives Lived

James Gordon Tanner

Husband, father, grandfather, brother, scientist, scallywag. Born June 11, 1931, in St. Thomas, Ont. Died March 29 in Victoria of pneumonia and dementia, aged 77.

Facts & Arguments Essay

Signing off on Married Me

Getting out of the name change turned out to be harder than getting out of the marriage

I don't want to catch a wayward bus

I've been to a few too many memorial services lately. It makes you realize life's big surprise: It's short

My genes are Dutch, but I am not

Visiting my parents' birthplaces was unsettling. I felt like a stranger in a land I'd always thought of as home

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Facts & Arguments Podcasts

Putting the whee in wheelchair

I replaced my clunky old model with an aerodynamic one. But after a few minutes, I felt green around the gills

I'm drowning in busyness

Commitments compete for space on my calendar. I see them and feel the air being pushed out of my lungs

Facebook frenemies

In school they taunted me, spread rumours and challenged me to fights. Why would I want to catch up now?

I was a surrogate turtle

The huge creature laid its eggs on our driveway – then plodded away. I vowed the little snappers would survive

So much for my kid commandments

No soothers, no processed food, no driving a minivan. I had parenting all figured out – before I had twins