Choosing the magazine that influenced me as a 13 year old was relatively straight forward. At that age, I only read one magazine with any regularity after discovering stacks of back issues of Popular Science in my primary school library, when I was in Grade 8. I was captivated. There’s little doubt in my mind that being such an avid reader of Popular Science actually played a role in my decision to study engineering at university.  But long before I headed off to McMaster in the fall of 1978, there were a few Popular Science inspired adventures that I chronicled in the essay. Without going into too much detail, PopSci often featured garage inventors who built something that flew, or went fast, or baffled the experts in some way. PopSci somehow made it seem possible for dreamers to bring their inventions to life. I wanted some of that.

So while in Grade 8, my twin brother Tim, my friend Geoff Elmer, and I built three hang gliders. We called them the Falcon series. (We had to have a name for them, didn’t we?) You can read about my hang glider phase in the essay when it comes out, but I thought you  might like this photo of the (attempted) launch of Falcon 3 down the park hill at the end of our street. Yes, that is I, at 13, trying to take flight in June 1973. In hindsight, there was never any hope of me soaring anywhere that day, but still, I’ll never forget it.

Our second Popular Science-fueled foray was the design and construction of a full-sized hovercraft. You’ll know if you’ve read The Best Laid Plans, that a hovercraft figures in the story. That’s because of my abiding interest in them. We were 15 when we built the hovercraft below. This grainy photo was taken in 1975 when I was still months away from earning my driver’s licence.

I think Popular Science magazine may even have played a role in turning me into a writer. Just as its pages made it seem possible for us to build a hang glider or hovercraft way back then, perhaps it also made it seem possible that I might one day actually write a novel, let alone two.  PopSci seemed to engender a sense that all things were possible. Even a novel. That might be a stretch. But I still have my subscription to Popular Science and still look forward to it each month.

Here’s the cover of PopSci from March 1970 that sparked a lifelong fascination with air cushion vehicles and led directly to Angus McLintock’s Baddeck 1 in TBLP.

1. I have an identical twin brother, Tim, who is eight minutes older than I. In the hustle and bustle of Toronto, where Tim also lives and works, we’re both daily approached by people who have confused one of us for the other. (You get used to it after so many years.) We’re still very close and play and coach hockey together.
2. Despite my 20 years of public affairs/public relations consulting, I actually hold a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Though I’ve never practiced engineering, I use the methodological approach to problem-solving every day in my work with colleagues and clients.
3. When I was 15, a friend and I designed and built a full-sized hovercraft. This experience helped push me towards engineering in university.
4. I’m an avid hockey fan (Go Leafs Go!) and still play and coach.
5. In my university days, I played guitar in a rock ‘n roll band. The only point worth noting is that our lead singer, Andy Maize went on to co-found the still popular Canadian band “The Skydiggers.” I still play guitar and write songs and occasionally perform with my twin brother (piano) and now my older son Calder (bass).
   
6. After graduating from McMaster University, where I was bitten by the political bug, I joined the full-time staff of the 1984 Jean Chretien Leadership Campaign (we lost) and then spent the next four years working on Parliament Hill (federal politics for any non-Canadian readers) and Queen’s Park (Ontario politics) as a political staffer for Liberal cabinet ministers.
7. I’ve been an avid (at times obsessive) chess player for nearly 20 years and still play online as often as time permits.
8. I published my first novel, The Best Laid Plans this past September combining various experiences and passions including politics, engineering, hovercrafts, and chess. I podcasted the entire novel chapter by chapter in 2007 and it’s available on this blog or through iTunes. You can read more about the novel on this blog.

There you have it. Eight things some of you may not have known about me.

I think my high school hovercraft experience propelled me into engineering at university. While I have no regrets, in the more than 20 years since I somehow persuaded McMaster University to grant me an engineering degree, I’ve never practiced engineering professionally, opting for politics and then communications consulting. The road not taken etc., etc.

Anyway, I like to think that Baddeck 1 is a rather innovative hovercraft design. It came to me and I sketched it out while in first year engineering, when I no doubt should have been taking notes in an Applied Math lecture. Not to get too technical about it, but moving to a single engine design and venting the thrust through the side thrust ports (see below), yields real dividends in weight, height, safety, noise, and control (in my humble opinion). Perhaps one day I’ll take a stab at building it, although I do push back the frontiers of ineptitude whenever tools of any kind are involved.

On paper, Baddeck 1 should work. All of the description and technical details provided in the novel, including those that were left on the cutting room floor through the editing process, are genuine and accurate (at least as far as my technical understanding extends). By the way, I cooked up the graphic above just by dabbling with PowerPoint. Just thought some of you might be interested… then again…