caption “To Dust” stars Géza Röhrig as Shmuel, a grieving Orthodox Jew. Matthew Broderick plays his unlikely sidekick: a community college science teacher. source To Dust/Good Deed Entertainment “To Dust,” a new film starring Géza Röhrig and Matthew Broderick, follows a grieving Orthodox Jewish husband as he tries to determine how long it takes a corpse to decay. The answer to that question depends on many variables, including how deeply a body is buried, the temperature of the earth, the soil makeup, and the insects present. According to microbiologist Maria Dominguez-Bello, life doesn’t completely end when we die: Much of our matter becomes part of the environment, whether we’re buried or cremated. From Silicon Valley biohackers to those seeking transfusions of young blood, there are a lot of people out there who want to live forever. But microbiologist Maria … [Read more...] about Why you never really die: A microbiologist explains all the ways the body lives on, and why we don’t decay until we’re dead
After you die where do you go
Advice for the year of the Earth Pig: focus on yourself and get rid of superficial relationships
When she was a teenager, Princess Lim Fernandez would refer to the discipline of feng shui as a “circus.” “My mom was such a fanatic so she would go everywhere—Quiapo, Cavite, Binondo—whenever somebody tipped her off of a good feng shui expert,” she says. “Our house ended up looking like a circus: there’s mirrors here, there’s something hanging whatever. I didn’t see any improvement, and I thought there wasn’t any reason to do this.” But her mom just continued to go about her way. Things only started making sense to Princess when her family, due to security reasons, had to relocate from General Santos to Manila, and had to start life all over again. It was during this time that her mother became friends with the late Paul Lau, the feng shui master who was Jullie Yap Daza’s go-to in the long defunct talk show Tell The People. Lau was one of the first feng shui specialists to think beyond traditionalist Chinese … [Read more...] about Advice for the year of the Earth Pig: focus on yourself and get rid of superficial relationships
She was determined to stop the senseless dying in her city. What she did next was illegal — but it saved lives
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By Jen St. Denis StarMetro Vancouver Thu., Oct. 4, 2018 VANCOUVER—Two years ago, something terrible was happening in Vancouver: a killer was on the loose and hundreds of people were dying. The killer stalked construction workers who had been injured years ago on the job. It killed teenage girls. And soldiers who had fought in Afghanistan. It struck on the street, when people were alone in their houses, in coffee shop bathrooms and public libraries. Sarah Blyth was determined to slow the carnage. “There were just so many overdose deaths and there were so many overdoses every day and it became so overwhelming that we basically just … said can we do this? Can we open up the back gate and put a tent and put a couple people there?” Blyth said. The killer was fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has tainted nearly all illicit drugs in British Columbia and is now reaching a deadly hand across Canada. With two other long-time activists … [Read more...] about She was determined to stop the senseless dying in her city. What she did next was illegal — but it saved lives
Planning can help you make sure your retirement savings will last
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By Ellen Roseman Personal Finance Columnist Mon., June 11, 2018 I’m waiting for my 2017 tax return to be processed. That’s because I’m expecting a large refund, which I plan to save and use for future tax payments. Taxes are a huge issue for me since I took a retirement package in late 2015 and started writing a freelance column for the Toronto Star. In 2016, I had multiple streams of income from self-employment, pensions and investments. Much of it was not taxed at source, leading to a five-figure tax bill in April 2017. I had to pay quarterly tax instalments, based on my 2016 income. But since my income was lower in 2017, I’ll get a nice refund (soon, I hope). Becoming a self-employed contractor was a major shift after spending 45 years as a full-time employee with taxes deducted at source. Article Continued Below There were so many decisions to make. When do you apply for Canada Pension Plan retirement benefits? Under new … [Read more...] about Planning can help you make sure your retirement savings will last
Defendant tells trial he had to shoot mobster Rocco Zito or he ‘was going to die’
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By Peter Edwards Staff Reporter Fri., May 18, 2018 Domenic Scopelliti told a court Friday he shot mobster Rocco Zito to death to save his own life. “Why did you pull the trigger,” defence lawyer Brian Ross asked Scopelliti, 54, in the University Ave. court. “He had a gun pointed straight at me,” Scopelliti said. “I was going to die.” Scopelliti is charged with first-degree murder in Zito’s death. He acknowledged he shot Zito, 87, three times in the chest shortly after 5 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2016 in the bungalow where they both lived, at 160 Playfair Ave. in North York, near Caledonia Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. Article Continued Below The circumstances of the shooting remain in dispute. Moments before he pulled the trigger of his semi-automatic pistol, Scopelliti said Zito threatened his life, saying, “I’m going to die but you’ll die first.” At the time, Scopelliti was married to Zito’s … [Read more...] about Defendant tells trial he had to shoot mobster Rocco Zito or he ‘was going to die’