Guest Column

Black Hole at Center of Milky Way’s Turbulent Past

Astronomical time is one of those things hard to get your head around. Some of us (ok, me) have enough trouble working out what day it is they are currently residing in. So when someone asks me to assume millions of years is nothing more than an astronomical blip, I get worried.

Immigration breaks backs of taxpaying U.S. citizens

Are you having a hard time paying your bills, making your mortgage payments or putting your kids through college? You need to know how much of your hard-earned income the government is skimming off and diverting into handouts to immigrants and illegal immigrants.

Democracy A to Z (America to Zimbabwe)

For all the shortcomings of American democracy there are two things of which we can be certain.

Reclaiming the English language from the CBC

The concept of language as a kind of lens or filter, or even straitjacket, cannot be over-stated. Wittgenstein said that the limits of language are the limits of one’s world.

Canada’s “Soldiers’ Soldier ” Resigns

Lt. General Rick Hillier is resigning. During Canada's deployment in Afghanistan, General Hillier has been the public face of the Canadian armed forces. At the close of 2007, I named General Hillier as one of my Heroes of the Year. (The co-Hero of the Year was General Petraeus.) Then I wrote (in part):

Decision Making Cracked by Brain Scanners

How much of the decision making process do we actually have a say in? That’s the question being raised thanks to new research coming out of the Max Planck Institute. Using brain scanners, researchers were able to predict people’s decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.

Starbucks Gone Retro

The Starbucks brand is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. The green logo is easily one of the most beloved, and similarly hated, logos in the world. Starbucks Coffee; you either love it or you hate it!

Grand Canyon Older than Originally Thought

One of the most remarkable landscapes in the world, the Grand Canyon in the U.S. state of Arizona has long been the focus of tourists the world over. The prevailing theory for the creation of the Grand Canyon is that the Colorado River carved its way through some six million years ago.

Intercepted al-Qaida Letter Reveals Tactics, Strategy

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2008 – Use silenced guns to kill coalition forces at Iraqi security checkpoints, smuggle weapons in gradual shipments to reduce the risk of detection, and poison Iraq’s water supply with nitric acid to spread disease and death.

Hillier Stands For Justice In Tibet

(Queen’s Park) – On the front lawn of the Legislature Randy Hillier MPP joined approximately 200 members of The Canadian Tibetan Association of Ontario to stand in protest of the McGuinty Government’s ambivalence and hypocrisy toward the ongoing situation in Tibet.

The Evolutionary Story of the Placenta

Whenever you hear of the placenta, it’s usually because some hippie mum decided to serve it as pâté at a party she hosted to honor the birth of her baby. More often than not, people hear the word placenta and immediately tune out. To those of you still reading, this is not about eating placentas.

Mars Moons Doomed

One of the greatest sites on the internet today is NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. Each day a new astronomical picture is featured, boggling the mind with the stunning beauty and scope of the universe. The photo for the 14th of April was of one of Mars’ moons, Phobos.

Code Pink ‘Bundles’ for Barack

The co-founder of the radical anti-war group Code Pink has “bundled” more than $50,000 for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and pro-troops groups are demanding that he return the money.

Canada Delivers Visa Waivers for Poles

Ottawa, Canada (PMN)—Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced on March 1, 2008, that citizens of Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Hungary no longer require a temporary resident visa to visit Canada.

Exclusive: Mugabe prepares for war

By a Special Correspondent in Bulawayo, The Independent Robert Mugabe is preparing to defy international pressure and launch a systematic crackdown in Zimbabwe aimed at reversing his defeat in the presidential election two weeks ago, according to dissident policemen who have been briefed on his plans.

UN troops from Nigeria must be removed

Greenacres, Florida, one year after Haitian Priorities Project recommended that Preval’s Government replace UN troops in Haiti, with police officers capable of speaking in Creole and French, nothing has been done to meet this demand.

Curveballs

I was thrown a curveball last week. More like a knuckle ball. Prior to that I went to England to see my oldest friend, Reuben. A year earlier when I’d been to see him, retired at 77 and living in his beautiful house and garden, he greeted me with, “Michael, I have good news and bad news -- bad news is they found cancer, the good news is that they think they caught it early enough to cure."

Britain Warns Terror Threat is Worsening

LONDON, England (Assyrian International News Agency ) -- British anti-terror officials are monitoring some 2,000 people and are following hundreds of networks in an effort to keep the country safe, Britain's Home Secretary warned in an article to be published Sunday.

What Came Before the Big Bang Might Have Been Eerily Similar

The Big Bang has long been the realm of religious contention. However of late, there has been a rising group of Christian’s (amongst others) who have allowed for the possibility that God used the Big Bang as his creation tool.

Archaeology to Help Broker Middle East Peace

Archaeology is often seen as the dusty realm of old men in libraries, occasionally venturing outside with their wide brimmed hats and brushes. However archaeology is much more than that, always has been, and is now proving to be a massive help in the Middle East peace project.