Posts in Life, the Universe, and Everything


Supernatural fan art

Thoughts on Finishing Season 12 of Supernatural on Netflix

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!   HOW CAN YOU KILL THAT MANY KEY CHARACTERS IN A SINGLE EPISODE ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS THERE HAD BETTER BE SOME SERIOUS RESURRECTIONS COMING IN THE PREMIER OF SEASON 13 OR THERE WILL BE RAAAAAAAAGE!!! ... Read More  

Gene Therapy by L.E. Carmichael - Front Cover

Introduction to Gene Therapy: It Sounds Simple, But It’s Sure Not Easy

Muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), cancer... they all have one thing in common. They are genetic diseases, ultimately caused by missing or malfunctioning genes in the patient's DNA. Until recently, we could treat the symptoms of many ... Read More  

Lindsey wearing a pumpkin hat

New Province, New Adventures

So I live in Ontario now. It’s not a whole lot different yet, probably because I spend 90% of my time in the house and when I leave, it’s for Home Depot or groceries. Because new houses need curtain ... Read More  

reflections of tree branches

Finding a New Normal

*looks around* *blows cyber dust off the blog* *tries to remember how to write a post* It’s been a year. In some ways a wonderful year, in some ways a really rough one. Most of all, a very full ... Read More  

pile of papers on the floor

Six Ways to Purge Your Stuff… BEFORE You Move It

The stuff, how it does accumulate. Thanks to cupboards and closets and storage spaces, we don’t even realize how much… until we have to move it. The last time Tech Support and I moved, we had five days between ... Read More  

sunset

Science Predicts Hurricanes, but People Endure Them

My grandparents lived in Texas for a long time, so I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years. Even though I’m thousands of miles away, Hurricane Harvey feels personal to me. I can’t even image how it ... Read More  

Chicago movie poster

Scenes From My Kitchen: A Musical

Me: *stumbles downstairs in the morning to find kitchen a hive of activity* Tech Support: Morning! I did the thing and the stuff and that other thing, and all that jazz. Me: *channeling Catherine Zeta Jones* Come with me, ... Read More  

book pages forming a heart

You May Now Stalk Me on Goodreads

What’s the first thing you do when you visit someone’s house for the first time? Admire their kitchen backsplash? Poke through the medicine cabinet? Not me. I go straight for the bookshelves. I LOVE snooping through other people’s bookshelves. ... Read More  

The Scientific Method in the Real World by L.E. Carmichael - Front Cover

Science is the Celebration of Constructive Ignorance

I have a theory* that there are three kinds of ignorance. The first kind is what I’d call neutral ignorance. The gentle, perfectly understandable kind that arises due to a simple lack of knowledge: Ignorance: lack of knowledge, education, ... Read More  

kitchen utensils

Allergy-Friendly Rhubarb Crumble

We are the caretakers of a very unusual bequest – the Tech Support family rhubarb plant. The original was planted over a hundred years ago, and cuttings have followed his family all over the United States and Canada. Our ... Read More  

fireworks

Happy Independence Day!

It has just occurred to me that, now that I’m required to carry two passports and file taxes in two countries, I should also be entitled to twice as many holidays. Since I have thus far managed to work ... Read More  

fireworks

Happy Canada Day!

Sunshine and naps for all! Read More  

skull reflected in cornea

Big Pharma is Not Suppressing the Cure for Cancer

Lately my Facebook feed has filled up with memes and videos about miracle cures for cancer that THEY don’t want you to know about. I’ve avoided commenting on them, because I don’t want to offend my friends, but every ... Read More  

hand-crank ice cream maker

Solstice But Not Summer

It’s summer solstice today, but apparently not summer, at least not in Nova Scotia. The most hours of daylight of the year doesn’t actually help if the sun’s not shining. It’s been cool and rainy for weeks and let’s ... Read More  

wonder woman movie poster

Wonder Woman: I Laughed, I Cried, I Felt All the Feels

Tech Support took me to see Wonder Woman yesterday.* It restored my faith in superhero movies. This is a superhero movie that’s actually about something – something much more than good versus evil. This is a movie about right and ... Read More  

Innovations in Health by L.E. Carmichael - Front Cover

How Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Saved Lives

One of the coolest things about fiction (especially science fiction) is how it inspires scientific discovery in real life. Cell phones – inspired by Star Trek communicators – are a classic example. Edmond Locard is another. Locard was a ... Read More  

What is Up With Daredevil Season 2?

Before life happened, I wrote about Netflix’s Daredevil and some of the reasons his character makes me slightly uncomfortable. I’ve been watching Season 2 though, mostly because I just found out about The Defenders, and I harbour a deep and abiding ... Read More  

reflections of tree branches

When You Wake Up One Morning and Realize Two Months Have Gone By

Apparently it is May. And not just a little bit May, but the kind of May that is most of the way to June. Sigh. You know those times when work goes nuts and you have two family emergencies ... Read More