A love match? That’s so last century

New research into inter-ethnic unions suggests we’re reverting to a less romantic idea of marriage

Mar 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Nicholas Keung
Immigration/Diversity Reporter

I grew up in a traditional Chinese household, where I was taught my future life partner must have an equal, if not better, upbringing than mine. That mentality is embedded in the ancient saying, “A bamboo door should match a bamboo door; a wood door should match a wood door.” Essentially, what it means is you have to marry someone in the same social class if you want the relationship to last.

The Chinese are not alone in this worldview. Many Indians are still bound by caste and the arranged unions that flow from it. And acute class-consciousness is a persistent feature of British identity.

Census tracks down where GTA’s smartest live

It’s all academic in the census tract with highest percentage of well-educated people

Mar 14, 2008 04:30 AM
Leslie Ferenc
Staff Reporter

What scientific theory did James Hutton pioneer in his 1795 book Theory of the Earth?

Time’s up. Don’t know?

Western researcher specializes in probiotics, the next big thing

Wed, March 12, 2008
By MARY-JANE EGAN, SUN MEDIA

For 25 years, a London microbiologist has been trying to convince a dubious world that some bacteria are good for you.

“This is why we’re alive, because we have bugs in the gut that keep us alive,” says Gregor Reid, a professor of microbiology at the University of Western Ontario.

Where are the good things grown in Ontario?

Wed, March 12, 2008
By HANK DANISZEWSKI, SUN MEDIA

The slogan is Good things Grow in Ontario.

But finding those good Ontario-grown products in your supermarket is getting tougher.

The rising value of the Canadian dollar means food manufacturers find it easier to go global when they buy and process products.

Viewpoint - ‘Smasher’ Harper joins the Philistines of history

By Oliver Whitehead

The Harper government’s latest move to deny support to film and television programming that it deems offensive is an assault on the values of civilization.

As such, of course, it is nothing new; the Harper Conservatives have merely taken their modest place in a long but dismal line of authority figures whose fear and suspicion of the power of creativity has stifled the expression of original ideas for centuries.

Author decries food industry

Eat food, not too much, mainly plants, says Michael Pollan
Feb 29, 2008 04:30 AM
Kim Honey
food editor

Michael Pollan wants a cappuccino made with cow’s milk. But Live Organic Food Bar on Dupont St. near Spadina is vegan, so real milk, even organic, is out.

“What’s their thing about milk?” the best-selling author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma wonders aloud. When reminded it’s a vegan restaurant, he grins. “Oh right. They’re vegan. Silly me.”

Who Says Women Aren’t Funny?

The idea that women aren’t funny—and which male said that?—seems pretty laughable these days. TV has unleashed a new generation of comediennes, who act, perform stand-up, write, and direct—dishing out the jokes with a side of sexy. Annie Leibovitz photographs a dozen of the wittiest dames in showbiz, from 30 Rock’s Tina Fey to Sarah Silverman, to S.N.L.’s current stars, while the author learns why the setup has changed.

by Alessandra Stanley April 2008

Is the pursuit of higher education taking a toll?

Wed, March 5, 2008

By RANDY RICHMOND, SUN MEDIA AND NEWS SERVICES

Students attend an engineering class yesterday at the University of Western Ontario. (Morris Lamont, Sun Media)

Your kids may not be smarter than you, but chances are they have more education, or will.

In London, as in the rest of Ontario, more people aged 25 to 34 have university degrees than those over 55.

Coal mining ravages Appalachia mountains

They’re ripping the tops off mountains in West Virginia coal country to feed our insatiable appetite for power. It’s cheaper that way. And the trees and the animals and the flooding? It may not be pretty, but we’ve got all those dishwashers to run

Feb 23, 2008 04:30 AM
Catherine Porter
Environment Reporter

CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA–When you flick on the lights this evening, think of Kayford Mountain. Or what was Kayford Mountain, but now is a sprawling, muddy, trembling construction site 100 metres below Larry Gibson’s home.

Three years ago, Gibson hunted wild boar here, picked gooseberries and peaches, and sat under the shade of white oaks and hickories so thick he couldn’t see the sky.

“Now, you can see the sky below your feet,” Gibson says.

In the land of the Iron Chef

MARK SCHATZKER
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
February 9, 2008 at 12:00 AM EST

The Globe and Mail

TOKYO —

Not a single grain of wheat flour goes into the noodles at the Tokyo soba shrine — I mean restaurant — called Kikouchitei. The noodles are hand-cut from freshly rolled dough containing buckwheat and only buckwheat.

If that doesn’t strike you as unusual, then there’s something you should know about buckwheat dough: It is the world’s most temperamental substance. Without the glutinous binding properties of wheat, the dough becomes so prone to shredding that learning how to make it takes a staggering three years of training — after which one attains the status of “soba master.”