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Sunday Newsletter 2001-35Su. September 2, 2001. [John] Usually I get my draft version of this newsletter to Craig, so that he can work his editing and formatting miracles, by the Sunday prior to publication. Occasionally it has been the Monday before. Last fall I was actually three weeks ahead of the game, but not any more. I am sitting here writing this introduction to the September 2 issue on its eve, the night of September 1. Now, I know Craig has dabbled in thaumaturgy on occasion, but I still don't expect even he will be able to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat and transmit this issue on time. I guess that's my way of challenging him. Anyway, all the blame is mine this week — after all, FactsCanada.ca is only two people strong and I guess I am allowed to mess up now and again. Actually, I'm not messing up — I am experiencing "technical difficulties" in, what some may refer to as, "real life". I know, I know, I have shared some of my excuses with you before, so I'm not going to drag all of you down by complaining about lack of time and such. I assume all our lives are fairly hectic and, as good, law-abiding citizens, I trust that you will not tar and feather me the next time our paths cross. For those that really want to know a little about how my week has been, you can get a sense of it here. (Have your speakers on, but turned down a bit if it's late at night or you're at work.) Seriously though, I did experience a loss this past week — the loss of an innocent, frail, little friend named Oskar, who had already earned the nickname "Little Peanut". How did this happen and who was Oskar? For those interested, you can find out more at the site linked to below. My thanks to Sandra, my sister-in-law and long-time FactsCanada.ca reader, for digging up the link. This issue is dedicated to Oskar. Canine Parvovirus Infection _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ TABLE OF CONTENTS // \ Question of the week \ Biography — "Mary" Helen Creighton \ Humour for the week \ Place names — Innisfail, Alberta \ Recipe — Lake Louise Lady's Kiss Kookies \ Statistics \ Also born this week \ It happened this week in history \ Answer to this week's question \ Preview \ Links and resources \ Legal and subscription information _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ QUESTION OF THE WEEK // As usual you can find the answer to the following question at the end of the newsletter. Some sources mistakenly claim that the motto of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is "Uphold the right". This is almost correct, but has been mutated over the years. What is the real and original motto for this police force? _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ BIOGRAPHY // "Mary" Helen Creighton Helen Creighton: Canada's First Lady of Folklore. That's the title this Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, native, who was born on September 5, 1899, came to be known by during her unique career. Known as a song collector, a song writer, a folklorist and author, Creighton was a pioneer in the collection of music and songs from the Maritimes. Creighton received a music diploma from Montreal's McGill University in 1915 and graduated the next year from the Halifax Ladies College in Nova Scotia. She spent some time as a social worker and journalist and was even host of a children's radio show in the twenties. In 1928, while researching another project, Creighton began to interview local peoples and learning their stories, especially those behind the heritage of their music. Acknowledging the contribution of Eastern Canada and its rich tradition to the make up of Canada, she realised that its medley of people from varying ethnic, linguistic and cultural origins could provide her with an almost limitless amount of information. Therefore, travelling at first on foot with only a wheelbarrow housing her belongings and her melodeon, she listened to and transcribed the music she heard. To earn money while engaged in this love, she often stopped for a while and taught. In time her collection grew to over 500 English, Gaelic, French, German and Micmac tunes. She also received much academic recognition, including winning three Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships. Initially she collected only for herself, but then collected on behalf of the Library of Congress in 1943, 1944 and 1948. In 1947 she also joined the National Museum of Canada, where she remained for more than 20 years. Her accumulation of music grew to reach more than 4000 titles in all. She was honoured by being appointed a Member of the Order of Canada on January 14, 1976. She held various honorary doctorates and was a winner of the Canadian Music Council Medal. There is an annual Helen Creighton Folklore Festival in Dartmouth each year, and the Helen Creighton Foundation manages the day-to-day business of keeping her memory alive. Her collection of music is stored at the public archives in Nova Scotia. Helen Creighton died on December 12, 1989, at the age of 90. Folk Song Collection of Dr. Helen Creighton Rockefeller Foundation Archives _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ HUMOUR FOR THE WEEK // I though it would be interesting to explain (in technical terms) the 40 most common computer terms used by Canadians. 1. Log on — Make the wood stove hotter. 2. Log off — Don't add no more wood. 3. Monitor — Keep an eye on that wood stove. 4. Download — Getting the firewood off the truck. 5. Floppy disk — What you get from trying to carry too much firewood. 6. RAM — The thing that splits the firewood. 7. Hard drive — Getting home in the winter. 8. Prompt — Throw another log on the fire. 9. Window — What to shut when it's cold outside. 10. Screen — What to shut during cottage country's fly season. 11. Byte — What flies do in cottage country. 12. Bit — What the flies did to you while you were in cottage country. 13. Megabyte — What big flies do in cottage country. 14. Chip — Munchies when monitoring. 15. Microchip — What's left after you eat the chips. 16. Modem — What you did to the hay fields. 17. Dot Matrix — Old Dan Matrix's wife, Dottie. 18. Laptop — Where the kitty sleeps. 19. Software — The dumb plastic knives and forks they give you at fast-food establishments. 20. Hardware — Real stainless steel cutlery. 21. Mouse — What eats the grain in the barn. 22. Mainframe — What holds up the barn. 23. Enter — Fancy city talk for, "Come on in and sit a spell." 24. Web — The things spiders make. 25. Web site — The barn or attic. 26. Cursor — Someone who swears a lot. 27. Search engine — What you do when the car dies. 28. Screen saver — A repair kit for the torn window screen. 29. Home page — A map you keep in your back pocket just in case you get lost when picking berries. 30. Upgrade — Driving up your town's steepest hill in January. 31. Server — The waiter/waitress who brings the you dinner at the pub. 32. MS-DOS — Some new disease they discovered. 33. Sound card — One of them technological birthday cards that play music when you open them. 34. User — Buddy down your street who keeps coming over borrowing stuff. 35. Browser — What they call you when your eyebrows grow together. 36. Network — When you have to repair your fishing net. 37. Internet — Where the fish get caught. 38. Netscape — When a fish gets away. 39. On-line — When you gets the laundry on the wash line. 40. Off-line — When the clothes pins let go and the laundry falls on the ground. Thanks to Gary for sending this along. Don't forget, if you have a good, clean, Canadian joke send it along to jokes@factscanada.ca. Thanks. _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ PLACE NAMES // Innisfail, Alberta While the city of Red Deer, Alberta, is always considered the halfway point along Highway Two connecting Calgary and Edmonton, the Town of Innisfail's history flows back a little longer than its larger cousin to the north. The population of Innisfail is around 6500, and it is located some 121 kilometres north of Calgary and 26 kilometres south of Red Deer. The settlement was once known as Poplar Grove, but the name was changed in 1892 when a post office was awarded the site. The settlement was originally a major stopover point on the Calgary-Edmonton Trail during the early 1880s, and was also a major centre of mixed farming. It was incorporated as a town in 1903. After World War Two, oil was found in the area and today local businesses cater to the servicing of this industry. The name "Innisfail" was suggested by Estella Wildman-Scarlett after the poetic name for Ireland, or "isle of destiny". Innisfail is not to be confused with the Ontario town of 25 000 called Innisfil. FactsCanada.ca map if Innisfail, Alberta Town of Innisfail, Alberta _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ RECIPE // Lake Louise Lady's Kiss Kookies Ingredients: 2/3 cup softened butter. 1 egg yolk. 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. 1 cup of ground almonds. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour. 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate. Method: Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and select baking sheets. Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, almond extract, ground almonds, and flour until a consistent cookie dough is formed. Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least two hours or until firm. Break off small pieces of the cookie dough and roll into evenly shaped balls. Provide plenty of space between the dough on the baking sheets. (This is because these cookies spread while baking.) Form between three and four dozen balls of dough to produce 18 to 24 completed cookies — a pair will make one cookie, so make sure you have an even number. (Of course, if you have an odd number, you'll just have to eat the extra one as it is, which isn't a hardship.) Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes or until golden. Let the cookies cool completely on paper or wire racks. When cool, melt the chocolate in a small bowl placed in a saucepan half filled with heated water. Spoon a small portion of the warm chocolate on the bottom of one cookie, and press the bottom of another cookie into the other side of the chocolate, forming a sandwich. Let the chocolate cool to set before serving. Sorry for the imperial measures — I am under a lot of pressure to complete this week's issue. Still, these sound yummy. _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ STATISTICS // Beer, beer, beer. Everyone's favourite? Maybe not. According to the Brewers Association of Canada, following were the amounts of beer (in hectolitres) sold in each province and territory in 2000. A hectolitre amounts to 12.2 cases of 24 bottles or 292.8 bottles. When you divide the total by the provincial or territorial population, you can arrive at the number of bottles of beer consumed by each resident (on average) during the year. This total is for domestic beer only, and also includes only bottles and cans. Draught beer and that consumed through other means in various outlets is not included.
Rank Province/Territory Hectolitres
1. Yukon 289.31
2. Newfoundland 204.76
3. Quebec 195.43
4. New Brunswick 177.71
5. Prince Edward Island 168.93
6. Saskatchewan 160.55
7. Nova Scotia 160.51
8. Manitoba 157.90
9. Alberta 153.31
10. Ontario 148.83
11. British Columbia 137.68
12. Northwest Territories
and Nunavut 127.46
For those real number crunchers out there, you can e-mail me and I'll provide more information if you wish._______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ ALSO BORN THIS WEEK // Joseph Fafard, sculptor, born in Ste-Marthe-Rocanville, Saskatchewan, September 2, 1942. Lennox Lewis, boxer. Olympic gold-medal winner and Member of the Order of Canada, born in London, England, September 2, 1965. Gilbert Finn OOC, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick (1987-1994), born in Inkerman Ferry, New Brunswick, September 3, 1920. Louis-Francois Richer Lafleche, Roman Catholic bishop, born in Ste-Anne-de-la-Perade (now La Perade), Quebec, Lower Canada, September 4, 1818. Armand J.R. Vaillancourt, sculptor, born in Black Lake, Quebec, September 4, 1932. Tobias Crawford Norris, premier of Manitoba (1915-1922), born in Brampton, Canada West, September 5, 1861. Frank Shuster, comedian, part of the Wayne and Shuster comedy team, born in Toronto, Ontario, September 5, 1915. William Andrew Cecil Bennett, premier of British Columbia (1952-1972), born in Hastings, New Brunswick, September 6, 1900. Sir George Etienne Cartier, lawyer, railway promoter and prime minister of the Province of Canada (1857-1862), born in St-Antoine, Lower Canada, September 6, 1814. Juliette Kang, violinist, born in Edmonton, Alberta, September 6, 1975. Gilles Tremblay, composer and pianist, born in Arvida (now Jonquiere), Quebec, September 6, 1932. Allan Emrys Blakeney, lawyer and premier of Saskatchewan (1971-1982), born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, September 7, 1925. Clarence Campbell, sports administrator, hockey executive, born in Fleming, Saskatchewan, September 7, 1905. Peter Mettler, filmmaker and cinematographer, born in Toronto, Ontario, September 7, 1958. Harold Joseph Connolly, newspaperman and premier of Nova Scotia (1954), born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, September 8, 1901. Barbara Frum (née Rosberg), radio and television journalist, born in Niagara Falls, New York, September 8, 1937, died of leukemia in Toronto, Ontario, March 26, 1992 at the age of 54. Srul Irving Glick, composer, symphony conductor and producer, born in Toronto, Ontario, September 8, 1934. _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ IT HAPPENED THIS WEEK IN HISTORY // September 2, 1578 — The first verified church service on land which was to become Canada was held by Chaplain Robert Wolfall in Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit, Nunavut). September 2, 1972 — The first game in the Soviet Union / Canada hockey challenge was played in Montreal, Quebec. The Soviets shocked Canada with a 7 to 3 victory. September 3, 1939 — The Wartime Prices and Trade Board was established by the Canadian government immediately before the onset of World War Two. September 3, 1996 — Grande Centre, Alberta, amalgamated with the town of Cold Lake and the residential community of Medley to form to town of Cold Lake, Alberta. Grande Centre was originally known as Pineault Crossing. September 6, 1897 — The Crow's Nest Pass Agreement was signed between the Canadian government and the Canadian Pacific Railway. September 6, 1952 — Radio Canada went on the air (television, that is) for the first time. September 8, 1954 — Marathon swimmer Marilyn Bell, 16-years-old at the time, waded into the chilly waters of Lake Ontario and swam the 51.5 kilometres (32 miles) from Youngstown, New York, to Toronto, Ontario. _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ ANSWER TO THIS WEEK'S QUESTION // Above I asked, "Some sources mistakenly claim that the motto of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is 'Uphold the right'. This is almost correct, but has been mutated over the years. What is the real and original motto for this police force?" Answer: "Maintain the Right" or "Maintiens le droit". The Canadian Information Office (linked to below) takes a brief, but detailed look at the RCMP. Communication Canada on Royal Canadian Mounted Police _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ \\ PREVIEW // In this Friday's Feature, just in time for the imminent start of the hockey season, I take a look at some of the history behind hockey. _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ [John] One of these days I may even leave enough room for Craig to continue including his article explaining some of the words in the newsletter... for example, answering the question, "What is the ancient art of thaumaturgy that Craig practices each week while sitting, with only his socks on, in front of his computer?!" _______-------=======^^^Ô^^^=======-------_______ == LINKS AND RESOURCES == FactsCanada.ca -- http://www.factscanada.ca Today's resources NinerNet Communications |
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