 |
 |
Home Donate Archives About Us Contests Links
Resources Subscriptions News, Sports, Weather and Lotteries Webfeeds
|
 |
|
|
||||
|
Contests
We had nine lucky prize winners in our first-anniversary giveaway who won nine different prizes. Check out the contests page for all the juicy details on what you missed. Next issue
We're running a slightly different format these days. Rather than publish a longer newsletter on a set weekly schedule, we're sending shorter newsletters on an irregular basis these days. Hope you enjoy! Subscriptions
You too can receive these newsletters in your e-mail. All you need to do is enter your e-mail address in the form in the top, right-hand corner of any page on the site and click the "GO!" button. So sign up now, eh! Suggestions
If you have a suggestion for an article, factoid, joke, statistic or anything else for the newsletter, please send it to our researcher. Any comments about this Web site can be directed to the webmaster. |
Sunday Newsletter 2000-04Su. July 23, 2000. Hi again everyone. You may have noticed a subtle change with issue four of this newsletter; we now have a name for it and we've even got a domain and the beginnings of a Web site. There's nothing there yet, but you can have a look at this link. I say "we" because there are now three of us working on getting this out to you every week; a writer (me), an editor (Mike) and a technical guy who complains about everything and might finish the Web site one day (Craig). More at the end of this message about our plans, but for now here's this week's information packed newsletter. ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == BIOGRAPHY == Terry Fox This true Canadian hero would have celebrated his 42nd birthday this coming week. Terry was born Terrance Stanley Fox in Winnipeg on July 28, 1958. While studying kinesiology (the study of muscular activity and the anatomy, physiology, and mechanics of the movement of the body and its parts) it was discovered he had osteogenic sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. It eventually became necessary to amputate most of his right leg. Always a good athlete, it was while he was recovering from surgery that Terry developed the idea for a "Marathon of Hope", a run across Canada to raise money and generate publicity for cancer research. After a grueling and extensive training period, Terry began his run at St. John's on April 12, 1980, only having to end it on September 1 in Thunder Bay, after cancer was discovered in his lungs. Even this shortened accomplishment (running 5373 kilometres) inspired millions of people around the world, drawing first nationwide then global media attention and raising 1.7 million dollars! In a true outpouring of Canadian emotion for his brave effort a further 23 million dollars was donated to the fund by his compatriots all over this great land. Terry was subsequently made a Companion of the Order of Canada and now annually thousands participate in a fund raising run named after him. As a matter of fact, this September 17 will be the 20th annual Terry Fox run which will take place in over 4000 sites across Canada, and more than 55 countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe will also join in with runs. On a personal note from the author, Terry's life ended less then one year after his Marathon of Hope stopped. Terry died in New Westminster BC, on June 28, 1981. Around two months prior to his death the Vancouver Canucks had an evening celebrating Terry's life and his amazing accomplishments. At the time I was working as a security guard for the Pacific National Exhibition and was fortunate enough to have worked this game. Although I never actually met Terry, my posting was only a few hundred feet away from where he sat and enjoyed the game. It was a very emotional evening and I was very honoured to have even been there. There was a distinctive aura around Terry, which I have grown to believe stemmed from his passion for life and his love of people. Terry you are sorely missed but not forgotten. One more note that has come to my attention is that the Terry Fox Foundation is currently seeking an energetic individual, group, or organization to step forward and co-ordinate the 2000 run in the North Delta / Surrey area of British Columbia. You can contact Fred Fox locally at 464-2666 or 1-888-836-9786 for more information. ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == GEOGRAPHY AND PLACE NAMES == Mount Terry Fox: Located in Mount Terry Fox Provincial Park, south of the Yellowhead Pass (about 25 kilometres west of Jasper, Alberta) in British Columbia. This mountain (2651 metres) was named in 1981 after Terry Fox. ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == MYTH DISPELLED == Victims of the "Drunken Crash", and the repercussions: It has often been heard that when a drunk driver hits another car, the intoxicated person is better off because he or she is so relaxed the effect of the crash is minimized. Well, in reality, this isn't true. According to official sources, researchers found that the survival rates and serious injury rates for the inebriated is worse than it is for the sober. On the other hand researchers found that bracing yourself doesn't have much effect either. As I am sure most of you know, the real difference is found in the use of proper restraint (that is, seat belts, although restraint from drinking and driving works too). Just say "NO!" to that offer of being driven home by your pickled chauffeur and you'll be able to enjoy your "FactsCanada" newsletters safely from the comfort of your home or office. ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == HISTORICAL FIRST == "EXTRA, EXTRA! Canadian invents time!" This could have been the major headline on November 18, 1883. Standard Time, Daylight Saving Time, Eastern Time, etc. -- where did these come from? Well, Standard Time is something we all take for granted and is how all other times around the world are measured -- hence the name "standard". Not long ago, however, there was no standard time used. Each town and community in Canada, as well as most other countries, relied on the sun's position to tell time. Usually this was determined by the sun reaching its mid-point in the sky becoming "noon" or meridian time. Anything before meridian was ante (Latin for "before") and time after was referred to as post (Latin for "after") meridian. The abbreviations A.M. and P.M. come from this designation. This way of determining time was alright a few hundred years ago when most communities where spread out and news took days, and not hours, to travel. By the mid 1800s, however, this led to confusing time variations between towns, which were becoming closer and closer together as a result of a faster means of travel -- namely the railroad. Needless to say this led to many scheduling problems for the railways. It took a Canadian, Sir Sandford Fleming, (1827-1915 and knighted in 1897) to standardize a system for getting things "on track", so to speak. It was on February 8, 1879, that Fleming was lecturing at the Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Scientific Knowledge (which took place that year in Toronto), that his conception was first posed. He suggested that the world be divided in 24 equal time zones, with a standard time in each zone. Some critics denounced his idea as Utopian and "contrary to the will of God." Fleming, however was a powerful promoter of his idea and on November 18, 1883, all North American railway companies adopted his vision. This was followed the next year at a conference in Washington D.C., when 25 other countries followed suit and adopted his scheme. Then on January 1, 1885, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was established as the centre of his system which, over the next few years, was adopted by country after country. Today we have what is known as Standard Time, conceived, promoted and carried through by a Canadian! ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == THIS WEEK'S LIST == Largest Metropolitan Areas in Canada (1998). Statistics Canada defines a census metropolitan area (CMA) as a very large urban area that, together with neighbouring urban and rural areas, have a high degree of economic and social integration with that large urban area. The urban area itself (or urbanized core) must have a population of at least 100 000 based on the previous census. 1. Toronto, Ontario 4 594 880 2. Montreal, Quebec 3 428 304 3. Vancouver, British Columbia 1 995 927 4. Ottawa-Hull, Ontario/Quebec 1 056 748 5. Edmonton, Alberta 917 536 6. Calgary, Alberta 907 112 7. Quebec City, Quebec 687 155 8. Winnipeg, Manitoba 676 432 9. Hamilton, Ontario 658 618 10. London, Ontario 418 180 11. Kitchener, Ontario 409 520 12. St. Catharines N., Ontario 389 081 13. Halifax, Nova Scotia 347 984 14. Victoria, British Columbia 318 124 15. Windsor, Ontario 296 726 16. Oshawa, Ontario 289 182 17. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 229 302 18. Regina, Saskatchewan 199 539 19. St. John's, Newfoundland 173 586 20. Sudbury, Ontario 163 313 21. Chicoutimi, Quebec 161 982 22. Sherbrooke, Quebec 152 655 23. Trois Rivières, Quebec 142 448 24. Thunder Bay, Ontario 128 607 25. Saint John, New Brunswick 127 280 ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == HUMOUR FOR THE WEEK == On the sixth day, God turned to the Archangel Gabriel and said, "Today, I am going to create a land called Canada. It will be a land of outstanding natural beauty and splendour. It shall have tall majestic mountains full of mountain goats and eagles, beautiful lakes, bountiful with carp and trout, forests full of deer, elk and moose. There will be high cliffs overlooking sandy beach with an abundance of sea life and rivers stocked with salmon. I shall make the land rich in oil and gold so that the inhabitants may prosper. I shall call these inhabitants 'Canadians', and they shall be known as the nicest, most friendly people on Earth." "You know best," said Gabriel, "but don't you think that you are being far too generous to these Canadians?" "Not really," God replied. "Just wait and see the neighbours I am going to give them." ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == QUOTES == "That long (Canadian) frontier from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, guarded only by neighbourly respect and honourable obligations, is an example to every country and a pattern for the future of the world." --Sir Winston Churchill. "Canada is not so much a country as a clothesline nearly 4000 miles long. St. John's in Newfoundland is closer to Milan, Italy, than it is to Vancouver!" --Simon Hoggart, British columnist and journalist. ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø Once again that's it for another week. Within the next couple of weeks we'll run this mailing list from the factscanada.com server with proper mailing list software. What this means to you is that you'll be able to easily unsubscribe from or subscribe to the list, and so will everyone that currently gets these newsletters via forwarding, or who happen to find the Web site in their Internet travels. The newsletters will also be archived on the Web site every week and made available in easily searchable sections. If you have any suggestions for the Web site, let Craig know at craig@factscanada.com. Any suggestions for content or tidbits of information you can send to me at john@factscanada.com or tashakat@home.com. See you next week! ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø == LINKS AND RESOURCES == FactsCanada.ca -- http://www.factscanada.ca NinerNet Communications Today's resources |
Your Account
Free Email
Free email is no longer available. Search
Search currently unavailable. Sorry. Credits
Writer and Researcher: John MacDonald. Technical and Editor: Craig Hartnett. Web Site Hosting and Design: NinerNet Communications. 
|
||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
||||
| Home |
|
Top | ||||
|
Home Donate Archives About Us Contests Links
Resources Subscriptions News, Sports, Weather and Lotteries Webfeeds
|
||||||
|
This page (/sunday/sunday-2000-04-07-23.shtml) last updated 2005-02-21 01:11:09 UTC. Copyright © 2000-2017 FactsCanada.ca. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy Web site hosting and design by NinerNet Communications. | ||||||
