An Italian judge has found designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana guilty of tax evasion, and on Wednesday sentenced both men to serve one year and eight months in prison.

Reuters reports that the designers weren't in the room when judge Antonella Brambilla handed down the decision, and they're expected to appeal their sentences - which will only add more time to a legal saga the men have been engaged in for years.

The initial charges in the case stem from the 2004 sale of their brand to a Luxembourg-based holding company called Gado, which the Italian Tax Authority claims was orchestrated to help the company avoid paying taxes on more than $1 billion worth of assets in Italy. The designers and their executives have always vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Whether the designers or the five other members of their staff found guilty in the case will actually serve jail time remains to be seen.

Daily Bread is excited to announce a new partnership with FreshCo which will result in thousands of dollars in donations to help us fight hunger in Toronto.

In the first step of this initiative, Daily Bread needs volunteers to help us construct 60,000 snack bags. These bags will be sold at the CHIN Picnic (Saturday June 29 to July 1) with net proceeds from the sales going to Daily Bread.

If you’ve never had a chance to volunteer with Daily Bread, now is the time! We have a number of evening shifts as well as a Saturday shift this weekend to kick things off. We have a lot of bags to pack and we can’t do it without you.  Bring your family, friends, colleagues and teammates out for a fun evening of helping out Daily Bread. Minimum age to volunteer in the warehouse is 8, and all minors 14 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Saturday, June 22

10a.m. to 12:30p.m. OR  1:30p.m.  to 4p.m.

Monday, June 24: 6p.m. to 9p.m.
Tuesday, June 25:  6p.m. to 9p.m.
Wednesday, June 26: 6p.m. to 9p.m.
Thursday, June 27: 6p.m. to 9p.m.

You must register in advance. Please sign up through our online registration page by clicking here and clicking the ‘Request a Spot’ button at the bottom of the page. Don’t have time? Help us out by spreading the message to your friends, families, neighbours, anyone who might have some spare time to help out.

Can we enter the ‘judgment-free’ zone please? We are all (or many of us anyways) moms here. And if you are not a mom, you certainly have felt the discerning eye of someone judging you. Well, I feel it when it comes to how I choose to feed my children sometimes at home and often when we are out in public.

At first I feel a touch defensive because I am the only and biggest advocate in their little lives. They are not old enough to expect to make good choices on their own, however, I do teach them healthy verses not-quite-as-healthy-choices when we are shopping, dining and eating at home. They are like any other child without sugar impulse control. So when a huge sugar laden cupcake is set in front of them, they are most likely going to give into temptation if provided the opportunity.

Sometimes they are left to their own devices as they devour a treat like that.  Other times, I limit their little hands’ reach. It is in those publicly limiting situations where the eyes (and sometimes comments) of judgment are laid upon me leaving others believing they possess a general feel for my parenting style that, "could lead to eating issues down the road, you know." (hummmm)

In addition to feeling a bit defensive in my desires to teach them nutritional right from wrong, I also feel a little confused. Why would prioritizing my girls’ health be a bad thing? Why does it so often invoke an eye roll or a tell-tale grin that denotes me somehow denying my girls their God given right to poor nutrition, food dyes, chemicals and preservatives?

Okay, okay, maybe I am letting sarcasm or sauciness get the best of me or maybe, since I am fairly non-confrontational, I am using this blog post to confront. But, either way, I am stepping forward to set the record straight:

My girls get treats. Sure, at home we seize the opportunity to put whole grains, whole foods and healthy alternatives into our baked goods.

But they are not asked to deny what is offered at school (although I long for a day that schools step up and fuel our children properly), we eat ice cream (it is one of our FAVORITE occasional sweets), they partake in birthday parties and all of the plethora of other sweet-centered celebrations. But they do NOT have full access to chips, cupcakes, candy and other overly-processed, fake colored, additive-filled foods in our home each day. There are occasional ‘treats’ and sometimes, for their health’s sake and their ability to learn moderation, they are asked to limit their takings.

I have heard the comment many times, ‘Oh, let a kid be a kid’ but I think that pouring junk into their bodies has very little to do with the simplicity of childhood. The crazed look from too many cookies seems far less desirable than watching a child chase carefree or color creatively out of the lines.

I do not want my girls to worry about food to the extent that they develop a hypersensitivity to what they can and cannot eat. But I do want them to learn the value of making choices. Just like I want them to choose kind words, to share, to do their chores, to practice gratitude and giving, I want them to care for their little growing bodies. They know what it means and why I say, ‘no, you do not get your treat if you have not eaten your healthy dinner.’ They understand, ‘let’s see how many colors we can get into our bodies today’ when we are talking about fruits and vegetables.

And they do NOT have a clue about dieting; thin or fat in relation to placing a value on a person nor have they ever heard me talk about myself losing weight or eating for reasons to create a certain size body. What they eat is about their health, the way they feel and how they can help themselves have energy to learn and play.

I never judge or justify the choices of other moms or families. But, part of my occupational responsibility and personal value system is practicing what I preach.  And so many of us, including myself, have grown up with the media, punishing us with messages about food that have now created this divide and we have chosen sides. But, really this is about our nation’s and our next generation’s HEALTH and quality of life. It’s not about creating a complex, instilling thin initiatives or driving our kids to diet. Perhaps it is us with the complex and dieting distraction. So, let’s not impose our issues on them.

Let’s simply teach them the value of their health and how to respect their most precious commodity. Without your body, in this world, you have nothing else. 

Don’t we all just want what is best for our children?  So, like I said, I don’t want my daughters to worry about food, any more than I want them to worry about personal hygiene, safe practices or to do their homework. Plus, do these pictures look like I am punishing them into healthful practices?

Green Smoothie!

Yummy Crunchy Kale

Making Juice

Advocating for My Clean Eating Kids,
Katie

- See more at my blog.

Speakers’ Spotlight is over the moon to introduce our newest speaker, celebrated astronaut
Colonel Chris Hadfield:

Colonel (Retired) Chris Hadfield
Astronaut | Former Commander of the International Space Station

“Good morning, Earth.” That is how Colonel Chris Hadfield—writing on Twitter—woke up the world everyday while living aboard the International Space Station for over five months. Since blasting off from Kazakhstan in December 2012, Hadfield has become a worldwide sensation, harnessing the power of social media to make outer space accessible to millions and infusing a sense of wonder into the collective consciousness not felt since man first walked on the moon. Called “the most famous astronaut since Neil Armstrong…who has done more than anyone to raise the profile of the space station,” by the BBC, Hadfield—now safely back on Earth—continues to bring the glory of science and space travel to everyone he encounters. Read more…

The Sky Is Not The Limit

In his passionate and illuminating talks, Colonel Chris Hadfield imparts the lessons he’s learned throughout his remarkable career in the fields of leadership, teamwork, collaboration, science and technology, and motivates audiences to achieve dreams higher than the clouds.

Colonel Hadfield is now available through Speakers’ Spotlight for keynote speeches as well as endorsements, personal appearances, and more.

To request additional information on Colonel Chris Hadfield, click here.

Yesterday, co-chairs of the House Pro-Choice Caucus Rep. Dianna DeGette of Colorado and Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York held a press conference in opposition to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The bill, which passed the House yesterday, would ban most abortions after 20 weeks.

At the press conference, DeGette, a noted firearm expert, was asked the following: “Many Democrats, when they were arguing for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting said even if this saves one life it will be worth doing. Why not support this bill then, if it undoubtedly will save lives of babies that have been carried throughout 5 months of pregnancy?”

DeGette’s answer was an exposure of “if it saves just one life” double standards delivered in a way that made Miss Utah’s response look eloquent in comparison:

DeGette said, “Well, this is, this is. … We already have laws in many states of this country. This bill is blatantly unconstitutional.”

“And, and if you look at the perceived—if you look at the stated reason of doing this legislation the Kermit Gosnell case, that gentleman was convicted of murder and sentenced to life,” DeGette said. “Any other questions?”

When CNSNews.com tried to follow up, DeGette said, “No, excuse me. Any other questions?”

For pols like DeGette, “we already have laws against that” is not considered a reasonable argument when it comes to opposing more gun control measures in the wake of Sandy Hook, but it’s become the go-to argument against measures to prevent late term abortion in the wake of Kermit Gosnell.

Click the pic to roll tape on the duplicity-tron at CNS News:

(h/t Kristina)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

All across the Internet, bloggers want to showcase their expertise. To help you, of course. So you can get closer to their level. There's even expert posts on how to become an expert.

It turns out it's not so hard, these days. Anyone can position themselves as an expert. It's easy -- just take some classes or get a certification. Read some books on the topic. Put it into practice.

Bite me, Internet experts. I am sick of you.

There's been an interesting shift among blogs. It's not a particularly new trend, but I've recently gotten fed up with it. Here's the thing: it used to be that blogs were successful because they were written by experts -- those who truly held an exceptional degree of wisdom on a particular subject.

But blogs are easy to set up. More and more people started their own. We can't possibly all hold that exceptional level of expertise. And yet so many blogs still follow the expert positioning model that others were successful with.

It's an easy trap to fall into and a tempting one. I've been there. But really, it's a pretty presumptuous thing, to assume that any individual has something to say that is worth your time every week -- perhaps even multiple times a week.

I'm fed up with it, even from myself. It's one of the reasons only one of my three weekly posts is a true article like this, while the others direct you to other content I found useful or inspiring.

Like many other bloggers, I know quite a bit about my subject area. I have my own perspective to share. But that's not the same as being a true expert. And the title of expert is getting all muddied and tattered as more and more of us try to climb up on it.

So don't be an expert. Just. Don't.

Instead, be a student. 

What's the difference? To me, it's all about attitude. 

For students, the priority is learning. Not knowing. A student's foundation is the belief that there is always more out there to learn. When a new idea is put in front of a student, the first reaction is to understand it, not to judge it as correct or incorrect.

It's not about you. A student doesn't use his or her online space as a podium. It's more of a gathering place where those interested in exploring a topic can meet. Ask questions, don't dole out answers.

The spotlight doesn't need to be on you. A blog doesn't have to be all about you to help you build a platform. Interview successful people in your niche. Share other resources on the topic and your reflections on them. Invite your readers to share their reflections in the comments. What makes a platform isn't a number. It's a dynamic community.

I think there's still room for and value to having lots of voices in the blogosphere -- after all I could hardly continue THIS blog if I didn't. But why do we all need to be experts? What's with this need to make these grand claims that we cannot all possibly really live up to?

And keeping a student mentality doesn't mean you can't offer advice or other valuable information. It has to do with the attitude you present it with. It can be tempting to take an absolute stand and leave no room for exceptions … in fact, ask some blog experts, and they'll tell you that's a great way to get a spike in traffic. But it's short lived. What lasts? Connection.

So be a student. It's a more generous, more genuine approach to blogging for most of us … and also, I think, likely to be more rewarding. It's a mentality I try to hold onto in all facets of my life, and one I try to integrate into this blog.

Where and how do you keep learning?

Emily Wenstrom | Read more at Creative Juicer | Follow me on Twitter

The capsule hit the ground with the force of a car crash, tipping over onto its side. “I was hanging from the ceiling,” Hadfield says. “Roman was in the middle, and Tom was lying on the floor.” Marshburn looked out the window, and saw “dirt and grass where space had been just moments before.” The search-and-rescue team pried open the hatch and Hadfield and his crew were greeted by the scent of springtime, mixed with the burnt smell of their charred spaceship.

Dr. Raffi Kuyumjian, Hadfield’s flight surgeon, was one of three Canadian Space Agency (CSA) people in Kazakhstan. (Hadfield’s wife, Helene, was watching from mission control in Houston.) After the astronauts had been lifted from the spacecraft and were seated, draped in blankets, Kuyumjian said, “The first thing I did was dial Helene on my cell and give it to Chris.” He and Helene assured each other they were fine, then Hadfield asked: “How’d the Leafs do?” She broke the news that his team had lost in overtime. With that, Canada’s first space commander was truly brought back to Earth.

Since blasting off to the ISS on Dec. 19, Hadfield has become the most celebrated astronaut alive, one destined for a spot alongside his hero, Neil Armstrong, whose 1969 moon landing inspired his own career. But while half a billion people watched Armstrong climb out of the lunar lander and set foot on the moon, this is a more cynical time—one less impressed by technological achievement. People have lived and worked aboard the ISS continuously since 2000, and visiting low-Earth orbit isn’t as exotic as walking on the moon, let alone Mars or beyond. It’s a wonder that a Canadian astronaut like Hadfield could catch anyone’s attention, let alone captivate millions around the world. Yet, however improbably, that’s what he did.

An astronaut for the Internet age, Hadfield has harnessed social media to open up space in an entirely new way. His YouTube videos, showing how to make a sandwich in space, or how to brush your teeth, have been viewed by millions. His Twitter followers have ballooned from around 20,000 at the time of the launch to almost a million. The songs he recorded from space, and the photos he snapped of Earth, have inspired people. Hadfield said he’d make this “Canada’s mission,” and he’s fulfilled that promise; but really, it’s a mission that was shared and followed by people around the world.

With his crash-landing in a Kazakhstan field, he was home, and if his return to Earth cost him certain powers—the ability to do playful flips in microgravity, to strum his Larrivée parlour guitar as he floated in mid-air, to move a refrigerator with his fingertips—his power to communicate with millions instantly, around the globe, remains. Hadfield returns to a planet changed by his mission, maybe more than he realizes. For a multitude of reasons—his unabashed enthusiasm, his willingness to be silly, or the feeling we were all up there with him—he made Canadians proud.

Moments after landing, the 53-year-old Hadfield bore little resemblance to the larger-than-life spaceship commander he’d become. He took slow, tentative steps, leaning on Kuyumjian’s arm. Under the dazzling sunlight, he looked pale and wan. Gravity was exerting its pull on him once again, compressing his spine, causing his back and neck to ache, the soles of his underused feet to hurt, even his lips and mouth to feel unfamiliar. “I’d learned how to talk with a weightless tongue,” he explains. Once able to fly around the ISS, Hadfield had to learn to walk and talk again.

The astronauts were brought by helicopter to a nearby site for a welcome ceremony; then Romanenko boarded a Russia-bound plane, and Marshburn and Hadfield got on a NASA jet for Houston. It would take another 20 hours, with two stopovers, to get home. “On the helicopter, he just slept,” Kuyumjian says. “He’d been awake at least 16 hours, if not more, by the time they landed.” Arriving at almost midnight local time, he found “there were already scientists waiting to run tests on him.” Hadfield left the ISS on Monday evening and didn’t get to bed until nearly 2:30 on Wednesday morning. After a few short hours of sleep, he was back for more testing.

At NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where the astronaut corps is based, Hadfield’s days since his return have been given over to scientists prodding him to learn how the human body adapts to space. One of the first he saw was Richard Hughson of the University of Waterloo, who studies how the cardiovascular system changes in microgravity. “Chris wanted to do the Canadian experiments, so we, fortunately, were high-priority,” Hughson said, adding that he’s trying to find out why as many as one-third of astronauts feel dizzy and faint when they return to Earth.

There have been plenty of debriefings for Hadfield, too, and painstaking hours of physical rehabilitation to regain the strength, flexibility and balance lost after months in space. Having so many people clamouring for his time was a change after months aboard the ISS, with only a few other astronauts for physical company. “It’s kind of odd to have 50 people around me, making noise,” Hadfield told Maclean’s not long after returning to Houston. “A lot of people want to talk to me right now.”

That wasn’t the only adjustment. Hadfield shuffled his feet when he walked and was prone to bump into corners when turning in a hallway. His manual dexterity was off. Helene had to drive him around the Johnson campus. (Because of dizziness and other symptoms, astronauts are advised not to drive for the first few weeks they’re home.) “The physical stuff is pretty overwhelming right now,” he said. Microgravity affects virtually every system in the body, causing muscle atrophy and bone loss; on the ISS, astronauts exercise two hours each day to ward off its effects. If they didn’t, six months in space would be comparable to 50 years of aging.

Jeremy Hansen, who, along with David Saint-Jacques, was selected as a Canadian astronaut in 2009, admits that Hadfield’s condition caught him off-guard. “It’s tougher than I realized, coming back to gravity,” said Hansen, 37, who hasn’t yet been to space. “This was the first time I saw the whole process.” After a few weeks, Kuyumjian expects Hadfield will appear nearly back to normal, and Hadfield himself says he’s seeing daily improvements in his condition, but recovering the bone density he’s lost could take about a year. Researchers have studied whether drugs could help prevent bone loss; astronauts take vitamin D in space, but not calcium, says former Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, now a vice-president at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. In space, “calcium is leaching out of the bones,” and reaches high levels in the bloodstream, Thirsk explained. This puts astronauts at greater risk of kidney stones, a serious danger when they’re so far from medical help.

When Thirsk returned from his six-month stint on the ISS in 2009, the first Canadian to complete a long-duration mission, he spoke frankly about the physical problems he endured, including a far-sightedness that persists today. (Only some astronauts experience vision problems, for reasons that aren’t yet understood; Hadfield and other space travellers are having their eyes examined to help find out why.) Astronauts haven’t always been forthcoming when it comes to discussing their health. “They may be concerned to report things that might be considered weaknesses,” says Laurence Harris of York University, who researches the sensory effects of space travel. “They may play down issues like feeling sick or dizzy, because when they come down, they can’t wait to go up again.”

Like Thirsk, Hadfield has spoken publicly about his physical condition. “I have dizziness,” he said in his first post-mission press conference, just three days after leaving the ISS. “I haven’t held my head up for five months, so my neck is sore and my back is sore.” Under his clothing, he explained, he was wearing a G-suit to push blood into his upper body, since his cardiovascular system hadn’t yet readjusted to counteract gravity’s downward pull. As reporters asked whether he’d consider a move into politics, or a role as the CSA’s new president, Hadfield waved them off. “I’m just trying to learn how to walk again,” he said. “It’s like asking an infant if they’re ready for their Ph.D.”

Hadfield’s openness is unusual. Astronauts are typically reserved, selected for a capacity for solitude and self-reliance—important qualities for anyone who’ll be living in near-isolation for months on end, far from friends and family. If tragedy strikes, they can’t come rushing home. (While Hadfield and his crew were on orbit, Marshburn’s mother died.) The Canadian commander is a natural communicator. His video demonstrating that it’s impossible to cry in zero gravity—the simulated tears pool over his eyes in a giant glassy blob instead of falling—has more than 2.4 million views. If he hadn’t become a military pilot and then an astronaut, it’s possible to imagine him as an affable first-grade teacher.

Lindsay Rous, 29, is a Grade 9 science teacher at Bert Church High School in Airdrie, Alta. As part of a project organized by Let’s Talk Science (a Canadian non-profit science-outreach group) and the CSA, her class got a bubble detector, a clear plastic tube filled with polymer gel that detects neutron radiation. Each time a neutron hits a droplet in the gel, it vapourizes and turns into a bubble. More bubbles means more radiation. Hadfield was using these same detectors, made by Bubble Technology Industries in Chalk River, Ont., to measure neutron radiation on the ISS, just as 7,700 Canadian high school students did their own neutron exposure testing and compared their results to his. “We looked at it every day,” Rous says. “Chris had hundreds of times more radiation than we did, which the students were pleased about,” she adds.

In March, Let’s Talk Science hosted a live downlink with Hadfield from Rous’s school; close to 1,000 students were there. “They were excited for weeks ahead of time,” Rous said, and peppered Hadfield with questions, asking about the food he ate in space and what it was like to use the Canadarm. “They all follow him on Twitter,” she said. “One of them got re-tweeted by him, and it was the coolest thing ever.” Asked why Hadfield generates such excitement, Rous said, “because they’re not reading it in textbooks. They’re participating. They all feel like they know him.”

The first live tweet from space came in 2010; since then, the ISS Internet connection has only improved. Social media broke down the walls between Hadfield and his fans and bridged the distance between the ISS and Earth. It allowed Hadfield to chat with the likes of William Shatner, who tweeted on Jan. 3, “Are you tweeting from space?” Hadfield’s reply: “Yes, standard orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.” While Hadfield has emphasized Canadian science, music and culture throughout his mission, social media ensured him a global following. In February, he posted a photo of Dublin with the message “Tá Éire fíorálainn,” or “Ireland is beautiful,” earning new Irish fans. (Daughter Kristin, one of the Hadfields’ three adult children, is a Ph.D. psychology student living in Dublin.)

While other astronauts, like Hansen and Marshburn, use Twitter, none is as prolific as Hadfield. From the ISS, he posted between eight and 15 tweets per day, according to his son Evan, who was kept busy full-time managing his dad’s many social media accounts—Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, SoundCloud and others—from his home near Frankfurt, Germany. On Twitter, Hadfield might describe what he’d eaten for breakfast, or post one of his stunning photos of a city or landscape on Earth, often with a poetic description. (Budapest, May 8: “The surrounding hills newly alive with the green of spring.”) People tweeted at Hadfield, too, asking questions, offering encouragement or gratitude: “Thank you for inspiring my daughters’ interest in space,” said one Melbourne woman on May 19. “Three new potential female astronauts.” “You are a true Canadian hero, and you have made space cool again,” from another. “I’m a seventh-grade teacher and you have been a frequent visitor to my classroom.” And: “He made us proud to be Canadian.”

With Evan’s help, Hadfield organized an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit in February, holing himself up with a laptop to answer questions from the ISS. All this social media outreach wasn’t an official duty, and even made his CSA bosses a bit nervous at first, although CSA’s own Twitter feed was soon enthusiastically retweeting Hadfield and his followers. They’d initially worried his days were packed full enough. There’s rarely free time, with duties ranging from maintenance and upkeep of the ship, to the two hours of daily exercise, to scheduled public appearances (such as the downlink at Rous’s school), to the roughly 130 science experiments taking place on board. These range from studying how the human heart adapts in space, to how colloids (particles suspended in a medium) behave, to hunting for dark matter, the invisible stuff that knits together the universe.

In the week of Jan. 28, for example, the crew managed to complete 71 hours of science, setting a new record for the station. Hadfield fired off a photo or a tweet whenever he had a moment. Even after he officially assumed command, on March 13, his pace didn’t slow. Describing his urgency to make the absolute most of his mission, Hadfield quotes a poem from Rudyard Kipling: “It’s months of filling the unforgiving minute.”

Gwen Walter, Helene’s mother, who lives in Victoria, runs Expedition35.com, which sells mission memorabilia such as water bottles, T-shirts and baseball caps with the expedition logo. “I’ve been producing souvenirs since Chris’s first mission in 1995,” Walter says. (She also runs Kalamari Enterprises, which sells promotional products, from travel mugs to tote bags.) Fielding orders, Walter sometimes lets it drop that Hadfield is her son-in-law. “I’m not bragging,” she says, “I just know [the clients] would like that.”

“Good Lord Gwen, you must be seriously proud!” emailed Richard Daly, an Irish schoolteacher. “I’m actually a bit star-struck here, emailing Chris Hadfield’s mother-in-law.” Daly teaches a class of 11-year-olds, and every day, “we did mathematics with Chris. He’d be on the large interactive screen going on about his daily work on board and we’d have the live ISS TV feed on in the background.” Hadfield inspired these students “like I’ve never seen a scientist or anyone else do before. I’m happy that his mother-in-law, or maybe even Chris, some day, will know that 30 Irish children will leave my class to go on with their lives, knowing that there are no boundaries to achievement.”

On May 9, just a few days before Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko were scheduled to leave the ISS, a troubling leak of ammonia coolant was spotted outside the station. Late the next day, NASA and its partners approved plans for an emergency spacewalk. Marshburn and another American, Chris Cassidy, were assigned to do the repair. (Six astronauts were on the ISS at the time.)

Hadfield was the first Canadian ever to leave a spacecraft and float in space, back in 2001. Before the launch, he’d said he would welcome the opportunity to do a spacewalk, although none was scheduled for him. In this spacewalk, he served as choreographer, helping suit up the astronauts and coordinating the process from inside the ship. “The logic [to not using Hadfield] was that Chris was flying the capsule home on Monday,” says Tim Braithwaite, the CSA’s liaison manager in Houston. (A Russian traditionally commands the Soyuz, in this case, Romanenko; Hadfield was co-pilot.) In the 5½ hours Marshburn and Cassidy spent outside the ship, they appear to have fixed the leak. Hadfield says he’s not disappointed he didn’t get to do the spacewalk. “I have no regrets, none,” he says. “Naysayers could have said, ‘You were doing so many things, there’s no way you could have responded [to an emergency].’ ” And yet, with one day’s notice, they did.

One of Hadfield’s last dispatches from space was a cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, the 1969 song about fame and alienation. (It now has more than 14 million views.) Floating with his guitar and gazing down at Earth, Hadfield seems reflective, but the altered lyrics suggest he’s ready to return home: Instead of melancholic Major Tom, who felt there was nothing he could do, Hadfield sings there’s “nothing left to do.”

“I set myself main objectives years ago,” Hadfield told Maclean’s: to bring home a healthy crew; to leave the ISS in better shape; and to do a lot of science in space. As for his massive public outreach campaign, Hadfield—who’d flown twice before this mission—already had a notion of how much could be shared from low-Earth orbit. The technology that let him do it (and the high-tech camera he used to capture Earth from the sky) had reached the point where it was possible. With the support of others, such as his tech-savvy son, Evan, Hadfield arrived on the ISS with a plan to “make this a shared experience.” He’s fond of saying that space is “way too good to keep to yourself.”

Over the coming days and weeks, as Hadfield emerges from the NASA bubble he’s been in, the scope of his new-found fame could well catch him off-guard. Right now, deep in his debriefings and physical therapy sessions, “I’m almost completely insulated from it,” he says. Hadfield is scheduled to be parade marshal at the Calgary Stampede in July and in Ottawa for Canada Day. He’s getting reacquainted with life on Earth. “We were eating breakfast yesterday, and Chris was like, ‘Man, look at the trees out the window,’ ” Hansen says. “He was just taken aback.”

When Hadfield was nine years old and saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon, there was no Canadian space program. “It wasn’t just hard, but impossible, to be an astronaut,” he says. That’s what he set out to become, and spent the rest of his life working toward that goal. Having achieved it, Hadfield squeezed every last drop out of his command, taking millions along for the ride. He used his photos and tweets to show that space, like Earth, is familiar yet strange, and staggeringly beautiful. Five months later, the planet feels a bit more connected than it did before. “I’d say thank you to Chris Hadfield,” says Rous, the high school teacher in Alberta, “because he changed us.”

COUNTDOWN

Hadfield by the numbers

He had 20,000 Twitter followers when he blasted off. He came back with a million.

1 The number of Canadian-built guitars aboard the International Space Station (it’s a Larrivée acoustic)

2 The days it took Hadfield’s crew to reach the International Space Station after launching on Dec. 19 in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft

2 The number of inches some astronauts stretch while in space

2.5 The hours devoted to exercise each day on the station, to ward off effects of microgravity (includes time spent cleaning up)

5 The number of “firsts” Hadfield has set for the Canadian space program. He was the first Canadian mission specialist on a NASA shuttle mission to the Russian space station, Mir; the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm in orbit; the first Canadian ever to leave a spacecraft and float freely in space; and, as of this year, the first Canadian commander.

8-15 The number of tweets Chris Hadfield sent from space in a day

46 The number of people and organizations he follows on Twitter, including Bryan Adams, Maclean’s reporter Kate Lunau, and the ultimate spaceman, William Shatner who asked, “Are you tweeting from space?” on Jan. 3 and got a quick reply: “Yes, standard orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface”

70+ The number of different types of aircraft Hadfield has flown

92 The minutes it takes the ISS to circle Earth once, travelling eight kilometres a second

71 The hours of science performed on the ISS in one week (that of Jan. 28), breaking a previous station record

130+ The number of science experiments Hadfield and his crewmates conducted while on the ISS

144 The number of days Hadfield lived on the ISS, which translates to 2,336 orbits around the planet, a distance of almost 100 million kilometres

5,330 The number of applicants to be a Canadian astronaut in 1992, the year Hadfield and three others were selected

11,000 The number of followers Chris Hadfield has gained each day of the mission across all his social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, SoundCloud, Tumblr, his personal YouTube account and his now-defunct Pinterest page

990,375 His number of Twitter followers, as of May 21

14,704,331 The number of times his cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity has been watched on the astronaut’s YouTube channel, as of May 24

By Kate Lunau/Maclean’s/May 28, 2013

The words "You can" have changed my life in a profound way. For more than three years, the saints dressed up like Early Intervention therapists have taught me a powerful and effective way to direct my children. Simply put, instead of telling the children what to do or say, the therapists have modeled adding the preface "You can..."

Teaching a child who doesn't remember to say hello when a teacher comes in the room would mean saying to him "You can say "hello!"

Redirecting a child who is melting down over a snack: You can say "please have banana?"

A child who is stuck in high chair straps and screaming: You can say "help Mama!"

A child who is sneaking into someone's purse: You can say "may I look in your bag?"

A child chucking food across the dining room: You can say "All done!"

A child who is playing inappropriately. "You can turn off the water and choose a toy in here."

A child who is trantruming because he can't have what he wants: "You can take a deep breath and talk about what you can have instead."

Credit: quinnanya.

Kids with special needs, and even neuro-typical ones don't know what to say or do much of the time. So they act badly, speak rudely, and panic that they will not be heard or have their needs met. Our team of therapists have consistently, perhaps unknowingly, as a unit, hammered home the concept of telling these clueless tiny people all around me what they can do, since half the time, they literally don't know and make inappropriate choices.

One of my six children, adopted from Ethiopia, is new to English, new to family life, new to our culture, new to making decisions and thinking about anything at all, really, does not know what to do a lot of the time.

While an excellent follower, if the other children are absent, given the opportunity to make a choice on how to act or what to say, this child flounders, freezes. Looks around at the walls, floor, ceiling, lips pressed, in paralysis, desperate for some clue, some hint about what response may be warranted in this situation (or may not think any kind of response or action is warranted at all).

Every day, all the time, I have to get in the trenches. I put on my Speech and Behavioral and Occupational Therapist hats. I pretend this child is like her far younger toddler brothers who have been in Early Intervention programs for a few years now.

I remind her: You can say "thanks for the apple, Mom."

You can take your plate to the sink.

You can read for a few minutes.

You can answer my question after you finish chewing.

You can use a fork.

You can sit up.

You can play with it this way.

You can tell the truth.

You can say sorry.

You can look at my eyes.

You can ask "can I have a hug?"

It's time to get in the car, so you can drop the puzzle and put on shoes.

You can tell your friend "Thank you for coming!"

These and a hundred others pepper my interactions with this child and all the rest of my crew every day.

Can you hear the difference between commanding, "Say sorry to your brother!" And putting it on the child, "You can say sorry." It is subtle and it makes an almost immeasurably positive impact. All of a sudden, the child has options. She can make a choice, a good one, possibly. It turns into a potentially empowering interaction and teaching moment instead of resulting in adult domination and less power for a child who is stuck in a somewhat helpless state.

Of course, the EI angels taught me another trick, to help the little people recognize not only when "they can" but when they do. Today my newbie mentioned earlier struggled for a long stint making a good choice. There were tears, but in the end, the child came through and did the right thing. I hinted, You can say "I did it! I am awesome!"

Smiles and wiped snot and hugs and a quiet mumble, "I did it! I'm awesome!" Teaching a big kid who needs the kind of support toddlers need while gaining social and family skills is an awesomely exhausting parenting task. It takes every ounce of strength to remember that this child, though housed in an enormous big kid body, needs what the babies need: a mother who reminds her of the same stupid things over and over and over and over because two- and three-year-olds need repetition. And if a child doesn't get that mind-numbing repetition, that practice in the toddler years, well, then that said child can be going on eight or twenty eight, but he or she will still need someone to dig deep, find courage and say a whole lot of...

...You can.

Writing about adoption, trauma, trans-racial parenting and my hippe healthy eating at www.scoopingitup.blogspot.com

The Canadian Space Agency recognized the opportunity early on. Soon after the announcement, the agency and Col. Hadfield began dreaming up ways they could engage the Canadian public on the six-month post.

Their mission: how to make space sexy for a generation of Canadians grown jaded by Hollywood trickery.

“We don’t have that many fly opportunities,” said Anna Kapiniari, the strategic communications manager with the CSA. “NASA is in space all the time, and we get to fly a Canadian astronaut only every couple of years. So, we really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of having a human being in space. To tell a story. … [We] had a lot of brainstorming sessions, and we came up with a lot of crazy ideas. And in the end, we just kept the best ones. And that’s what you saw during this mission.”

This week, Col. Hadfield returned to Earth, crashing into a Kazakhztani field inside Soyuz capsule, as an international media star.

Before blasting off on Dec. 19, 2012, the astronaut was far from a household name. But after a media blitz while orbiting the Earth — including a steady stream of snapshots of Earth’s stark landscapes, an interstellar ceremonial puck drop at the Toronto Maple Leafs home opener, and a viral video of the astronaut covering David Bowie’s Space Oddity — Col. Hadfield has nearly one million followers on Twitter, more than 336,000 Facebook followers and has become a global media darling.

“The experience of leaving Earth is still very new for humanity,” said Col. Hadfield on Thursday, during his first press conference since his return. “And the ability to explain it and to share it is growing leaps and bounds, through the technology that’s available.”

His meteoric rise appears effortless, but his star turn was the result of months of planning, co-ordination between the Canadian Space Agency, Col. Hadfield and his son, Evan, and the natural talents of the personable astronaut.

“We knew who we were working with. … He’s got a great imagination, and he’s funny,” said Ms. Kapiniari.

Perhaps the strongest weapon in his arsenal was Col. Hadfield’s savvy use of social media. His photos and observations of the world  — from a storm brewing over Ireland to the snaking Nile River Delta — captivated the masses.

It was Col. Hadfield’s sons who first pushed him to use social media more than three years ago. In 2010, after his mission was announced, they set up his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

“Since he first was assigned the flight, it was important to us to find a way to relay his experience back to people in a manner that they could easily follow and enjoy,” said Evan Hadfield, who is based in Darmstadt, Germany, and has been acting as his father’s social media manager during the mission.

“Twitter was merely a natural extension of that, as it allowed both direct access to people searching for more information, while simultaneously not taking up too much bandwidth for the Station’s Internet to handle.”

YouTube videos featuring Col. Hadfield explaining everything from what happens when you cry in space (tears form a watery blob) to how astronauts throw up in space (there are special bags) were so popular the CSA hired an editor to help produce them, said Ms. Kapiniari.

In all, they produced 146 videos in English and French, garnering about 25 million total views.

“When he first got to the space station, he opened a can of nuts, and he found it really funny the way that they floated around and so he filmed that. … Some of those videos were the results of just plain Canadians wondering, asking their questions,” she said.

He also generated more buzz by hosting an “Ask Me Anything” question and answer session on Reddit, as suggested by son Evan, and a surreal Twitter conversation with fictional space commander William Shatner, a.k.a. Captain Kirk, in March.

As well, prior to launch, the CSA sought out partnerships to further enhance their visibility.

Col. Hadfield teamed up with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies to write an original song, to be partially recorded during his time in space.

Col. Hadfield performed the song, called ISS (Is Somebody Singing), with a Canadian-made guitar already on board, via downlink with hundreds of students at the Ontario Science Centre, and millions of students around the world.

Another partner, Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment, seemed like a natural choice, given hockey’s status as the quintessential Canadian sport and Col. Hadfield’s love of the team. The NHL lockout that began in September 2012 appeared to dash any chances of a collaboration.

When it ended in January, Col. Hadfield professed his support by Tweeting a picture of himself holding a Maple Leafs logo. The team came calling, said Ms. Kapiniari. Col. Hadfield dropped the ceremonial puck for the team’s home opener, seemingly from the ISS into the hands of Felix Potvin and onto the ice.

Of course, the feat required a bit of movie magic. Because live connections to the ISS are so difficult logistically to plan, the puck drop was filmed about a week before the game, said Ms. Kapiniari.

Events such as live chats with two dozen schools, and the in-orbit unveiling of the $5 polymer bill with the Bank of Canada were arranged many months before launch, she said.

When Col. Hadfield packed his bags for the ISS, he brought a prototype of the bill along with him for the occasion.

“When we found out that he was going to be off planet, we just felt like it would be a wonderful opportunity,” said Julie Girard, currency spokeswoman for the Bank of Canada. “It kind of just happened, it was just a perfect constellation of events.”

Perhaps the most popular product of the astronaut’s time on board the ISS was his cover of Space Oddity. The clip on YouTube, the first music video filmed in space, has more than 12.3 million views, and counting.

The idea to record a song came up pre-flight, said Evan Hadfield, but eventually evolved into a video as well. Space Oddity was originally Evan Hadfield’s suggestion, and in January they reached out to Canadian singer and musician Emm Gryner.

The astronaut and Ontario performer had been friends for years, after Ms. Gryner wrote a song called “Christopher” about Col. Hadfield’s freefloat during a previous mission, she said.

“I actually thought maybe he should try to cover something more obscure,” Ms. Gryner said. “David Bowie has a lot of other space songs.”

But Col. Hadfield told her he felt the Bowie classic has mass appeal. He recorded his vocals and sent it to Ms. Gryner.

“That showed me what direction he wanted go in, which was very close to the original. And then I came up with the piano part,” she said.

The tracks were sent to producer Joe Corcoran. The audio was then sent back to Col. Hadfield to record the final vocals.

The track was finished in March, but they needed to get the OK from Bowie himself, said Ms. Gryner. She sent him an email with the subject line “30 days left in space.” The music legend soon after gave his blessing, and even Tweeted a link of the final video.

“What surprised me is how captured people have been by all this considering how we’re inundated with Hollywood movies about space… There’s a lot to compete with out there,” said Ms. Gryner. “But I think it’s Chris just being genuine about it, he’s not trying to be Mr. Cool. That’s the real attraction about his personality.”

This “distinct voice” came across in his communications, which was “textbook social media,” said Veronica Holmes, the president of Performance Marketing & Digital Consulting for marketing agency Zenith Optimedia.

“It’s coherent, it’s using each platform for what its strengths are,” she said. “It’s telling a genuine story filed with passion. He told things from his perspective, literally, with the pictures. He was open to responding to people. And he did it in real time. … It was a story that was also consistent. He almost created an anticipation for what was next.”

Col. Hadfield’s musical prowess was also an asset, said Ken Wong, a professor of marketing at Queen’s University.

“Not every astronaut could pull off what he pulled off. It’s a combination of a whole set of characteristics and frankly skills that he has,” said Mr. Wong. “He’s fluently bilingual, which was important to relate to the national audience. He has tremendous scientific credentials, so that nobody could ever accuse him of simply hamming it up. And it doesn’t hurt that he has some musical talent.”

By Armina Ligaya/The National Post/May 17, 2013