Maths cracks beer froth mystery Mathematicians have come up with a formula that predicts how the head on a pint of beer will change after pouring. Their advance could shed light on why the foam on a pint of lager quickly disappears, but the froth on a pint of Guinness sticks around. The math lookscontinue reading
Hot off the presses, or something
What could be more obscure, or easily forgotten, than the Friday press release at 5:10 p.m.? Well, that would be the one on Saturday evening. And what is being announced? Oh, nothing important: Plans for a provincial red-alert disaster information system were announced by the Ontario Commissioner of Emergency Management today. The “Alert Ontario” systemcontinue reading
Served up on a platter
I’ve always loathed Heather Mallick, once of the Globe and Mail Focus section, now plying her wares with Rabble.ca and the CBC online. When she was still with the Globe I would begin each weekend composing a never-written letter to the editor in my head over breakfast, often bookended with a blood-boiling stop by Crosscontinue reading
urbantoronto.ca
The urbantoronto.ca discussion board’s organizers have abandoned EZBoard, the dreadful system they were using earlier, and have relaunched in a much more user-friendly format while as far as I can tell keeping their archives. This has always been a potentially very useful resource, but hobbled by EZBoard – I’m surprised that as many people putcontinue reading
Aussie wine fun
There are still lots of bottles of d’Arenberg “The Hermit Crab” Viognier Marsanne in Toronto Vintages stores. We uncorked a bottle to celebrate my last in-class exam on Wednesday, to go with a yummy though artery-clogging pasta with prosciutto cream sauce. According to the LCBO Robert Parker somewhere says “notes of honeysuckle, apple blossom, andcontinue reading
Sunset
I’m no fan of the Sun chain and all its works, but I’m sort of fascinated by the Toronto Sun Family blog, which specializes in bring-out-your-dead-style daily casualty lists of editorial employees fired, resigned or laid off that day as the chain collapses. The latest casualty is John Downing, who as an editor closed thecontinue reading
Flickering lights, freezing blasts
Today’s announcement on phasing out incandescent light bulbs by 2012 is supposed to be good news. But once again, today’s announcement overlooks one of the biggest and fastest-growing causes of peak demand during our not-all-that-hot, not-all-that-long summers: air conditioning. More homes in Ontario have air conditioning than anywhere else in the country — although thecontinue reading
Ew
"Mobile calling" ad Originally uploaded by morecoffeeplease. So here’s a picture of a Rogers Video calling ad which is now in the subway. There’s a picture of a smiling girl on the phone, which is being held in a man’s left hand; in the background is a slightly rumpled bed with nighttime lighting. First therecontinue reading
Looking for books not to read?
This may be helpful. (Hat tip to aldaily and Chronicle article, also worth looking at.)
Actually…
Offensive former Green Party candidate spews venom as he’s kicked to the curb: [Potvin] added Sunday that if the Greens think getting rid of a candidate will squelch a controversy, then they don’t know what national politics is like. Hmmm. Let’s think of some recent occasions where political parties have dismissed candidates, shall we? Reachingcontinue reading