With New Year’s Eve coming up quite soon, I’m being asked once again for some last-minute, drinks-related hosting advice. Start with the usual beer, wine and pop (be sure to offer a diversity of options within each category, too – soft drinks both diet and regular; lagers and dark ales; red and white). Then consider fancying things up with the following options — none of which involve splashing out on pricey champagne. For the sparkling wine: REMEMBER the ALTERNATIVES to CHAMPAGNE Champagne — by which of course I mean the dry sparkling wine produced by the traditional method in the north…

I’ve been a Buddhist for most of my adult life but I almost never talk about it publicly, and only very rarely around my friends and family. I worry it will make me sound like a sanctimonious granola. I’m running that risk today because apparently people are throwing around the term “karma” to describe what’s been going on in Fort Mac — and brothers and sisters, karma ain’t what you think it is. I’ve especially been thinking about this National Post column by Jen Gerson which (correctly) takes aim at those who call what’s going on in Fort McMurray “karma.” Alas, she’s also using the…