Author: Iain Macdonald

Car-puccino

Many people drink coffee to wake themselves up in the morning or stay focussed throughout their day. But a team of scientists from BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory have taken the term “running on coffee” to another extreme: they have built a car that runs on coffee rather than gasoline.

A weekend in Munich

I should know better than to order anything off a German menu when the only German phrase I know is “beer, please.” Clearly this wasn’t the case after I found myself at the Haufbrauhaus in Munich, staring down at a plate of something that looked more or less like pig ankle (although I imagine it could have been an elbow or knee).

For Anglo-Montrealers, Super Sandwich is the place for lunch

Though downtown Montreal is filled with dépanneurs, the small establishment in the basement of the Cartier Building on Peel and Sherbrooke Streets is the only one that has several hundred loaves of bread delivered fresh every morning. That dépanneur, known as Super Sandwich because of the red-and-blue neon sign advertising “Super Sandwiches” mounted in the window, needs the loaves in order to make the hundreds of sandwiches it sells each afternoon.

Tofu vegetable stir-fry at the drop of a hat

Stir-frying random ingredients is a simple way to cook an impressive meal without culinary skill or expertise. I lack all three, but I can still make a passable tofu stir-fry without setting something on fire. The following recipe takes 10-30 minutes to prepare, depending on how many vegetables you use, and about 10 minutes to actually cook.

John le Carré: the spy who loved fiction

The 2010 International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) in Montreal kicks off on March 18, featuring 230 films from 23 countries. Shortlisted from this group are a competitive selection of 43 films from 14 countries (including eight entries from Quebec). Buzzed films from the competitive group include Je M’Appelle Denis Gagnon, a documentary about the Quebec fashion designer who made quite an impression at Montreal Fashion Week; The Real World of Peter Gabriel, on the Genesis lead singer; and perhaps most intriguing, King of Spies: John le Carré, a documentary about the life’s work of a spy-turned-fiction writer.

The White Stripes trade stage lights for Northern lights

Jack White is a busy guy. Playing in three successful bands (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather), taking on small roles in feature films, and running a production company in Tennessee doesn’t seem to be enough. White claims he likes to make things difficult for himself, so within a single year he signed on for two documentary films; It Might Get Loud was released at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, and Emmett Malloy’s The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights – filmed during the band’s tour across Canada in 2007 – premiered there last year.

Newburgh wins SSMU presidency

Hillel Montreal President and former EUS and SSMU Speaker of Council Zach Newburgh was elected SSMU president on Thursday evening, narrowly edging out his competitors with 28.6 per cent of the vote. Newburgh’s margin of victory was only 1.5 per cent of the vote over AUS Senator Sarah Woolf.

The Tribune goes to school on SSMU elections and referenda

STEFAN LINK How will your past experience influence your approach to the presidential portfolio? I have always been looking at the basic student services that affect the majority of people. So in the Physics Society, I knew that the math department had a really functional help desk that lots of students use and I didn’t understand why physics didn’t have a similar service, so I just wanted to start something similar for the physics people, and I did.

Tribune to become independent newspaper

After 29 years under the Students’ Society, the McGill Tribune will become an independent newspaper next year. A referendum question that asked students if they would support a $3 non-opt-outable fee for an independent Tribune passed with 49.9 per cent voting yes, 29.

The Tribune’s 2010 winter referendum endorsements

Eight referenda and a plebiscite question appear on the Students’ Society winter electoral ballot. After careful deliberation, the Tribune editorial board has endorsed a position on each of the questions. Our candidate endorsements appear on pages 10 & 11.

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