By Mario deSantis, November 17, 1999

When last April the building of the country's biggest scientific instrument in at least a generation was announced, I equated this instrument to a Colosseum(1). The $173.5 million Synchrotron will be as big as a football field when completed in 2003 and it will be fully operational in the year 2008. Saskatoon's mayor Henry Dayday described the Synchrotron as "...the greatest things that's hit the city..."; Premier Romanow expressed his poetic feelings by saying that the Synchrotron will be a "...visionary light..."; Dwight Percy, a free lance journalist, hailed it as an "...an incredible opportunity for my 12-year old!...(2)"; and Peter MacKinnon, President of the University of Saskatchewan, has stated that a vision of the university will be built on the use of the Synchrotron(3).

Today, I am changing my mind about my labelling of the Synchrotron as a Colosseum and I am getting more convinced than ever that this scientific instrument will be a Mausoleum. In fact, in her recent visit at the University of Saskatchewan, Kathy Gogh, a professor of chemistry at the University of Manitoba, has stated that the Synchrotron will provide helpful information for deep regions inside the brain including the Hippocampus area(4). However, Gogh added that the main drawback to this type of Alzheimer's research is that it can only be performed on the deceased. Further, Gogh stated that the building of this Synchrotron in Saskatoon will be a good idea since she doesn't have to travel anymore for her researches to Madison, Wisconsin, or Berkley, California. Displaying her Museum Mentality(5) she said "...It's really a one hour plane ride or an eight hour car ride to get the data..." from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

At the recent NDP's annual convention, Premier Romanow had some fun at the expense of the Saskatchewan Party by saying that "...They're mostly empty-headed with a single candle inside...(6)" Premier Romanow and his Tin Pot dictators are not empty-headed for sure, and eventually they will show their compassion and love for people by providing their brains for the needed study of dementia at their Mausoleum: the U of S Synchrotron.

Endnotes

1. Premier Romanow's Shining Light to the World: The Canadian Light Source Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis, April 2, 1999

2. Few Words on the Synchrotron, Politics and Education in Saskatchewan, by Mario deSantis, April 4, 1999

3. University of Saskatchewan: A Vision Built on Privileged Education and on the Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis, October 25, 1999

4. Synchrotron touted as tool in Alzheimer's research, by Darren Steinke, The Star Phoenix, November 15, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

5. A Museum Mentality Is Cheating Our Economy: Healthcare, SHIN and the Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, November 8, 1999

6. Opposition butt of premier's joke, The Star Phoenix, FORUM, November 15, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan