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EDITORIAL: Jean (Charest) and Kate plus 8: Quebec funds in-vitro

Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc announced last week that the Quebec government will fully fund up to three cycles of in-vitro treatment for infertile couples. This announcement, which fulfills a pre-election promise made by Jean Charest in 2008, makes Quebec the first province to adopt such a policy.

EDITORIAL: Let us do our jobs; Mr. Neilson tear down this bylaw!

Last week, 10 McGill Tribune editors were forced to take leaves of absence in order to campaign for the creation of a $3 fee to support an independent Tribune. And while we’re ecstatic that students voted “yes” to the fee, the bylaw that required half of our editorial board to resign needs to be changed.

Caravaggio vs. Michelangelo

Although art historians and casual tourists probably won’t stop peering up at the brilliance of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, the 16th-century Italian Renaissance man may find himself looking up at another art world rival as the top Italian artist in history, according to one renowned art historian.

BLACK & WHITE: Miss manners for Facebook

The embarrassing number of hours I’ve spent trolling Facebook profiles have convinced me we need a Facebook etiquette handbook. You know, the sort of pamphlet that would’ve circulated in the 19th century: an almanac of do’s and dont’s for ladies and gentlemen who wish to participate in civil society.

Sex, violence, and more violence

Joy Fielding’s The Wild Zone begins when a personal trainer, a dishonourably discharged Afghanistan war veteran, and a Princeton philosophy Ph.D. walk into a bar and make a bet over who can sleep with the pretty, quiet girl alone with her martini. Suzy Bigelow, naturally, has secrets and an agenda of her own, and she leads them all on a wild and deadly ride which, though two-dimensional, is remarkably compelling.

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.

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