The first picture was taken looking East on Stony Plain Road and 124 Street at 10:00 p.m.

The second picture was taken from Cloverdale Hill looking West at the Muttart Conservatory at about 10:15 p.m.

Sunrise to sunset was over 17 hours yesterday, in our neck of the woods. Add dawn and dusk to that and you end up with a whole lot of daylight.

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

These days people refer to it as the May long weekend. It is now primarily celebrated as the start of the camping season or the weekend to start planting the garden.

The Sovereign’s birthday has been celebrated in Canada since the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901).

May 24, Queen Victoria’s birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845.

After Confederation, the Queen’s birthday was celebrated every year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in which case a proclamation was issued providing for the celebration on May 25.

After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada establishing a legal holiday on May 24 in each year (or May 25 if May 24 fell on a Sunday) under the name Victoria Day.

The birthday of King Edward VII, who was born on November 9, was by yearly proclamation during his reign (1901-1910) celebrated on Victoria Day.

It was not an innovation to celebrate the birthday of the reigning sovereign on the anniversary of the birth of a predecessor. In Great Britain, the birthdays of George IV (1820-1830) and William IV (1830-1837) were celebrated on June 4, birthday of George III (1760-1820).

The birthday of King George V, who reigned from 1910 to 1935, was celebrated on the actual date, June 3 or, when that was a Sunday, by proclamation on June 4.

The one birthday of King Edward VIII, who reigned in 1936, was also celebrated on the actual date, June 23.

King George VI’s birthday, which fell on December 14, was officially celebrated in the United Kingdom on a Thursday early in June. Up to 1947 Canada proclaimed the same day but in 1948 and further years settled on the Monday of the week in which the United Kingdom celebration took place. George VI reigned from 1936 to 1952.

The first birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, in 1952, was also celebrated in June.

Meanwhile, Canada continued to observe Victoria Day. An amendment to the Statutes of Canada in 1952 established the celebration of Victoria Day on the Monday preceding May 25.

From 1953 to 1956, the Queen’s birthday was celebrated in Canada on Victoria Day, by proclamation of the Governor General, with Her Majesty’s approval. In 1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed as the Queen’s birthday in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the Queen’s birthday is celebrated in June.

The Royal Union Flag, commonly known as the “Union Jack” where physical arrangements allow, is flown along with the National Flag at federal buildings, airports, military bases and other federal buildings and establishments within Canada, from sunrise to sunset, to mark this day.

Physical arrangements means the existence of at least two flag poles; the Canadian flag always takes precedence and is never replaced by the Union Jack. Where only one pole exists, no special steps should be taken to erect an additional pole to fly the Union Jack for this special day.

Victoria Day.

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

One of the things he touched on was the rise of citizen journalism via social technology. He talked a bit about the service of which he is co-CEO, NowPublic.

NowPublic is a participatory news network which mobilizes an army of reporters to cover the events that define our world. In twelve short months, the company has become one of the fastest growing news organizations with thousands of reporters in over 140 countries. During Hurricane Katrina, NowPublic had more reporters in the affected area than most news organizations have on their entire staff.

From what I can see, it’s a little bit of Blogger, MySpace, Flickr, del.icio.us mashed together. Thousands of members around the world contribute their grassroots accounts of local news. This provides a faster, broader and more accurate account than what is traditionally available in the MSM.

There are RSS feeds, the ability to tip writers using PayPal, a FireFox plugin and a whole host of other features. Go and dig around the site; look at the items being submitted. Then, if you feel you can contribute, create an account and become part of changing the way news is reported.

The News is NowPublic.com | NowPublic.com: The News is Now Public

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

For those of you who think Canada is one great Arctic wasteland where everyone lives in igloos, it’s beginning to feel that way for us.

It is time for Spring!!!

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

1. The Greatest Canadian Invention: from the CBC television special.
2. Free Canadian Personal Income Tax Software: It’s that time of year and people are looking for free software to help with their income tax returns.
3. Free Global Television Shows Online: Catch Global programming on-line.
4. Mind Map Online with bubble.us: Create mind maps on-line.
5. Download Free Classical Music: Podcasts of live concerts from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

Link from Estevan native Jeff Sandquist

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

A would-be thief is dead after breaking into a Hydro-Quebec tower to steal valuable copper wire.

The man in his 40s was electrocuted when he cut the electrical wires atop the tower in the north end of Montreal.

Macleans.ca – Would-be Quebec thief electrocuted during hydro tower copper heist

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

Tonight the CBC will be airing a two-hour special on the greatest Canadian invention. The list has been put to the public, the voting concluded and the results tabulated. Tune in tonight to find out what has been voted the Greatest Canadian Invention.

From the alkaline battery to the zipper, the following 50 inventions are in the running:

1. Alkaline Long-lasting Battery, 1959 [Lewis Urry]

Corrosion Doctors: “Lew Urry” www.corrosiondoctors.org/PrimBatt/urry.htm

2. Ardox Spiral Nail, 1954 [Allan Dove]

Allan Dove really hit the nail right on the head with this invention. He created a spiraled nail that― once nailed in ―held firmly in wood.

3. Automatic Lubricating Cup, 1872 [Elijah McCoy]

Elijah McCoy was born in 1844 in Colchester, Ontario― the son of former slaves who had fled along the Underground Railroad. His invention inspired the term “The Real McCoy.” It was a device that fed oil to machine bearings and revolutionized the mechanical industry.

4. Basketball, 1892 [James Naismith]

5. Birch bark Canoe [First Peoples]

The only canoe in the world made out of birch bark. This vessel was invented in Canada― and its ingenious design has stayed afloat for centuries.

Canada’s SchoolNet: “Aboriginal Innovations in Arts, Science and Technology Handbook” www.schoolnet.ca/aboriginal/handbook/technology_canoe.htm

6. Blackberry, 1999 [Mike Lazaridis]

7. Bloody Caesar, 1969 [Walter Chell]

8. CANADARM, 1975 [Spar Aerospace/NRC]

The robotic CANADARM lifts Canada’s technical wizardry to new heights…and hasn’t malfunctioned once in 50 missions with NASA’s Space Shuttle.

9. Caulking Gun, 1894 [Theodore Witte]

10. Cobalt-60 “Bomb” Cancer Treatment, 1951 [Harold Johns]

Canada’s Digital Collections: “Harold Elford Johns: Creating a Bomb of a Different Kind” collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume4/186-187.html

and

11. CPR-Mannequin: “ACTAR 911”, 1989 [Dianne Croteau, Richard

12. Crash-Position Indicator-CPI, 1957 [Harry Stevinson]

13. Electric Oven, 1882 [Thomas Ahearn]

Thomas Ahearn invited a skeptical group of electrical engineers for an elaborate dinner. After they had eaten, he informed them, to their surprise and horror, that it had been cooked by electricity― shocking news at the time.

CBC.ca: “Thomas Ahearn” www.cbc.ca/ottawa/features/ottawa150/1880.html#

14. Electric Wheelchair, 1952 [George Klein]

15. Electron Microscope, 1939 [James Hillier, Arthur Prebus]

Canada’s Digital Collections: “The Electron Microscope” collections.ic.gc.ca/heirloom_series/volume4/258-261.htm

16. Electronic Music Synthesizer, 1945 [Hugh Le Caine]

A scientist and musician with a wry sense of humour, he named his first instrument the “Electronic Sackbut”. It evolved into the synthesizer― without which disco music may never have been born.

17. Explosives Vapour Detector, 1985 [Lorne Elias]

18. Five Pin Bowling, 1908 [Thomas E. Ryan]

Smaller bowling balls, half the pins, and… presto! ―Tommy Ryan invents a Canadian twist to an old game.

19. Fog Horn, 1853 [Robert Foulis]

20. Goalie Mask, 1959 [Jacques Plante]

Library and Archives Canada: “1959 – Jacques Plante and the First Hockey Mask” www.collectionscanada.ca/hockey/kids/024003-3006-e.html

21. Green Garbage Bag, 1950 [Harry Wasylyk, Larry Hansen]

This one has it in the bag. Millions are in use every day. Raccoons everywhere can testify to their convenience.

About.com: “Garbage Bag – Harry Wasylyk” inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blGarbageBag.htm

Library and Archives Canada: “Garbage Bag” www.collectionscanada.ca/cool/002027-2005-e.html

22. G- Suit, 1941 [Wilbur Rounding Franks]

23. Instant Mashed Potatoes, 1962 [Edward Asselbergs]

24. Instant Replay, 1955 [CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada]

25. Insulin, Treatment for Diabetes 1921 [Frederik Banting, Charles Best]

It came to Banting in a dream one night― the Nobel-prize winning idea of how to treat diabetes with insulin. With the help of Charles Best, he finally isolated the compound that has changed the lives of millions of diabetics ever since.

26. JAVA Programming Language, 1994 [James Arthur Gosling] No, it’s not a mellow cup of coffee, but a multi-purpose, cross-platform, object-oriented programming language. It’s versatile enough to be used in a wide variety of applications… including the World Wide Web.

27. Key Frame Animation, 1970s [Nestor Burtnyk, Marcelli Wein]

28. Lacrosse [First Peoples]

It used to be played with a hair-stuffed deerskin ball known as baggataway―meant to settle feuds among warriors. Now it’s one of our fastest-growing sports and the official Canadian game of summer.

29. Light bulb, 1874 [Henry Woodward, Mathew Evans]

30. Marine Screw Propeller, 1833 [John Patch]

John Patch installed a screw propulsion system on a schooner in the Bay of Fundy in 1834, moving a large ship forward without wind power― and astonishing local onlookers. Tragically, Patch was denied a US patent when he went to Washington, and he later died as an inmate of the Yarmouth poorhouse.

31. Marquis Wheat, 1908 [Sir Charles Saunders]

The wheat that won the west. In 1908, Dr. Charles Saunders developed a coldweather resistant grain that turned Canada into one of the great breadbaskets of the world.

Canadian Grain Commission: “Marquis Wheat: King Wheat is 100 Years Old” www.grainscanada.gc.ca/newsroom/news_tips/2003/marquis-e.htm

32. Pablum, 1930 [Alan Brown, Theodore Drake, Frederick Tisdall]

33. Pacemaker, 1950 [John Hopps, Wilfred Bigelow, John Callahan]

34. Paint roller, 1940 [Norman Breakey]

35. Plexiglas, 1931 [William Chalmers]

You can stomp on it, protect your eyes with it, and see right through it. A grad student in chemistry at McGill perfected a technique for making transparent polymerized methyl methacrylate― more commonly known by the name “Plexiglas”.

McGill News: “Unknown Inventor” www.mcgill.ca/news/2001/spring/letters/two/

36. Poutine, 1957 [Fernand Lachance]

In his small restaurant in Quebec, Fernand Lachance answered a trucker’s hurried request for fries and cheese curds by putting them all in a paper bag and saying it would make “a bloody mess.” That “mess”― poutine― has gone on to become a culinary classic unlike any other.

37. Radio Voice Transmission, 1900 [Reginald Fessenden]

Many feel that Reginald Fessenden― not Marconi ―should be considered the true “Father of Radio”. Fessenden transmitted history’s first wireless voice message in 1900. Then in the year 1906, on Christmas Eve, he made the first radio voice broadcast― singing a carol to ships in the Atlantic and as far away as the Caribbean.

38. Retractable Beer Carton Handle, 1957 [Steve Pasjack]

39. Robertson Screw, 1908 [Peter Robertson]

40. Self-propelled Combine Harvester, 1937 [Thomas Carroll]

In The Great Depression, Thomas Carroll rolled all stages of wheat harvesting― binding, stooking, threshing and cleaning― into one operation. During WWII, his invention was doing the work of hundreds to make up for a shortage of farm labour.

41. Separable Baggage Check, 1882 [John Mitchell Lyons]

While waiting in airports, tired travelers might sit and ponder who invented the separable baggage check tag. Well… they might be startled awake to know it was an inventor from Canada’s Maritimes. And the inventive idea still travels well.

42. Ski-Doo, 1922 [Armand Bombardier]

43. Snowblower, 1925 [Arthur Sicard]

44. Standard time, 1878 [Sandford Fleming]

45. Telephone, 1876 [Alexander Graham Bell]

Canada’s most famous inventor started to experiment with sound when he was just a teenager. After years of tinkering he figured out how to send sound-waves through wire, and the first―now famous―spoken words: “Mr. Watson, come here, I need you,” were transmitted on March 10, 1876.

46. UV Degradable Plastics, 1971 [James Guillet]

University of Toronto: “James Guillet, Chemist and Teacher: 1927-2005” www.news.utoronto.ca/inthenews/archive/2005_10_01.html (under Alumni News)

47. Walkie-Talkie, 1942 [Donald L. Hings]

In 1942, Donald Hings invented the walkie-talkie for the Canadian military. Over 60 years later it’s an essential tool for soldiers everywhere.

HyperStealth Biotechnology Corporation: “Donald Lewes Hings” www.hyperstealth.com/DonHings/Don-Hings-Walkie-Talkie-Development.PDF

48. WEEVAC 6, 1980s [Wendy Murphy]

It’s got six sturdy warm pockets to carry newborn babies to safety. The WEEVAC 6 is a first in stretchers ― it can fit half a dozen tiny patients at once.

Inventive Women: Inventive Women Biographies: “Wendy Murphy” www.inventivewomen.com/library/library_wendy_murphy_on.shtml

49. Wonderbra, 1964 [Louise Poirier]

50. Zipper, 1913 [Gideon Sundback]

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

I prefer to spend Boxing Day as a quiet cap to Christmas Day. Yesterday was a wonderful celebration with family and friends. Today we’ll finish cleaning yesterday’s remnants. We’ll linger over meals, take a longer look at the gifts we received, read, listen to music, walk the dog, greet neighbours and meet friends for coffee.

There are disparate theories as to the origins of the term [Boxing Day]. The more common stories include:

• It was the day when people would give a present or Christmas ‘box’ to those who have worked for them throughout the year. This is still done in Britain for postmen and paper-boys – though now the ‘box’ is usually given before Christmas, not after.
• In feudal times, Christmas was a reason for a gathering of extended families. All the serfs would gather their families in the manor of their lord, which made it easier for the lord of the estate to hand out annual stipends to the serfs. After all the Christmas parties on 26 December, the lord of the estate would give practical goods such as cloth, grains, and tools to the serfs who lived on his land. Each family would get a box full of such goods the day after Christmas. Under this explanation, there was nothing voluntary about this transaction; the lord of the manor was obliged to supply these goods. Because of the boxes being given out, the day was called Boxing Day.
• In England many years ago, it was common practice for the servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for their day’s work on the day after Christmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. This can be compared with the modern day concept of Christmas bonuses. The servants carried boxes for the coins, hence the name Boxing Day.
• In churches, it was traditional to open the church’s donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the “box” in “Boxing Day” comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.
• Boxing Day was the day when the wren, the king of birds,^[3] was captured and put in a box and introduced to each household in the village when he would be asked for a successful year and a good harvest. See Frazer’s Golden Bough.
• Evidence can also be found in Wassail songs such as:

Where are you going ? said Milder to Malder,

Oh where are you going ? said Fessel to Foe,

I’m going to hunt the cutty wren said Milder to Malder,

I’m going to hunt the cutty wren said John the Rednose.

And what will you do wi’ it ? said Milder to Malder,

And what will you do wi’ it ? said Fessel to Foe,

I’ll put it in a box said Milder to Malder,

I’ll put it in a box said John the Rednose.

etc.

• Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas Day by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. Since being kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and not being able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to “box” up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families. Hence the “boxing” of food became “Boxing Day”.

Boxing Day – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Update: I said tens of thousands of Canadians will be shopping today. According to CBC news, the an expected six million Canadians will be shopping on Boxing Day.

[tags]Boxing Day, holidays, Christmas, Canada, England[/tags]

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family all the best during this wonderful Christmas season.

It’s been an exciting year that has been full of change and prosperity. Recent reports show that the Canadian economy is ranked by many as one of the best in the world and the generosity of the Canadian public continues to amaze me. Through the support of people like you, The Salvation Army is able to give hope today and everyday to thousands across the country who might otherwise remain invisible. Thank you for opening your eyes and your hearts this Christmas.

During the 2005 Christmas season, The Salvation Army raised $20 million through its National Christmas Campaign. While the totals for 2006 have yet to be finalized, we are encouraged by the tremendous response in communities across the country. This year during the Christmas season, thousands of vulnerable families and children shared in the joy of Christmas because caring Canadians support The Salvation Army:

• 86,000 adults and 95,000 children receive practical assistance
• 330,000 toys are distributed to children across Canada
• 59,000 food vouchers and hampers given to marginalized families

Please remember that our programs continue throughout the year and that the need always exists. Thank you for what you have done, and if you still wish to give, you can do so by following the link below.

Your continued support is always appreciated, and the spirit of love and hope that accompanies each gift is never taken for granted.

May God Bless you,

Commissioner M. Christine MacMillan
Territorial Commander
Leader of The Salvation Army Canada & Bermuda Territory

Recommended: The Zen Habits Handbook for Life!