Sublimation

It is that time of year when we can observe one of nature’s neatest physical changes: when matter changes from a solid to a gas without first becoming a liquid. It is that magical disappearance of snow directly into the atmosphere that the Conservation Authority hopes for so we can all avoid springtime flooding. I suppose when the NBMCA reported that the water content of the snow pack was 200% of normal, that they meant was the air content is lower than usual, because snow is only frozen, or solid, water crystals. And unlike hockey where you can give more than 100%, water, ice or snow is still 100% good old H20.

Last week there was the subliminal change of ownership of a Tim’s empty coffee cup when the former owner, Tim Horton’s, sold it to a customer, who then gave up ownership when he threw it in the public trash without rolling up the rim. Finders keepers seems to apply here. If only the unlucky customer had taken his garbage home, he might have owned a new mini SUV.

This is unlike on a golf course, where once you have declared a ball lost in the water, the bush, a groundhog hole or places never trod by humankind, the ball becomes the property of the golf course. Or in Bob’s case, the adjacent property owner would become the owner a perfectly good TopFlite. Golf-ball hawking, is in fact theft, but few course managers will prosecute for the sake of good public relations. The sublimation in this case is usually caused by a slice or duck-hook.

Last year we saw an almost sublime change of a Conservative into a Liberal and then this year the reverse as a Liberal became a Conservative. There is only a hint of sublimation here, but if we ever had an NDP turn into a Conservative without first becoming a Liberal, that would be a true incidence of political sublimation. One has to wonder if politicians could be classified as ‘solid’, ‘watery’ or ‘gaseous’. Maybe they are all just flexible, or in a state of flux as they move from election to election.

Changes of state can be caused by means other than the heat from the sun. Chemical reactions can be induced by pressure or mixing elements. For instance, you can change the colour of the farmed salmon by adding chemicals to their food. Red beef can be kept attractive by subjecting it to carbon dioxide or a little acetic acid. A little formaldehyde on the chicken will keep it white. Fiddle around with biology and you can harvest strawberries that will withstand shipping them around the world.

You can change a janitor into a custodian with a few keystrokes, or in the case of our striking college teachers, turn them into professors without so much as a Master’s or a doctoral degree. The real magic here is that this change will result in higher wages without the struggle of working through the ranks. Managers have known for years that a change in title is often as good as a raise, but the worker bees soon saw through this not-so-sublime change and demanded the shekels to accompany the title.

Sometimes slower change is better. If the NBMCA cannot have sublimation in a year of 200% snow pack, they prefer a slow melt of the solid water crystals into a liquid that will soak into the ground. Perhaps that is the rate of change that is best for most of us. Take a little more time, smell the roses, enjoy that cup of coffee. And do not forget to roll up the rim before you throw the cup away.