Happy Birthday Canada! – 20 Things About Canada You May Not Know.

Today is the day…. July 1st is Canada’s date of birth, the day we all officially observe the birth of this nation, my home and native land.

Here are some quick facts about Canada that you may or may not know:

1. Canada is 141 years young this year.
2. The four original provinces were: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.
3. These four provinces wanted Canada to be from sea to shining sea, Atlantic to Pacific and came together to make it so.
4. We now have ten provinces and three territories.
5. You can fit the moon, end to end (rolling) 10 times from end to end.
6. Canada has approximately 33 million people living in approximately 4 million square miles of land.
7. We belong to the Monarch of Britain and HM Queen Elizabeth II is our mom (LOL just kidding but she is our ruler if you will).
8. Our first Prime Minister was Sir John A MacDonald.
9. July 1st is called Dominion Day.
10. At the time of confederation, other names were considered. They included: New Britain, Brittania, Borealia, Cabotia, Laurentia, Superior, Acadia, Transatlantia and Victorialand to name a few.
11. Canada is the largest producer of Ice Wine in the world with the industry centered in the Okanagan Valley of B.C and the Niagara Region of Ontario.
12. Young Street is the longest street in the world, “Running from the shores of Lake Ontario, through central and northern Ontario to the Ontario-Minnesota border at Rainy River, Highway 11 was over 1,896 kilometres long.”
13. Five pin bowling was invented and first played at the Toronto Bowling Club at Yonge and Temperance.
14. Basketball is a Canadian invention, along with lacrosse, canola, the walkie talkie, the electric wheelchair, the electric streetcar, standard time, the Blackberry, the gas mask, the goalie mask, rugby, IMAX, Canadarm, pablum, the jollie jumper, the light bulb and the garbage bag.
15. Let’s not forget other inventions like Insulin, the Wonder Bra, the zipper, the Bloody Caesar, the paint roller and the snow blower to name a few more.
16. Andrew Bonar Law is the only Canadian to have been a leader of another country, when in 1922 he became Prime Minister of Britain.
17. Toronto has the third largest live theatre centre in the English speaking world after London, UK and New York, NY.
18. Jim Carey, Pamela Anderson, Lorne Greene, Raymond Burr, Neve Campbell, Kim Catrell, Atom Egoyan, Michael J. Fox, Ryan Gosling, Corey Haim, Jill Hennessy, Howie Mandel, Sandra Oh, Keanu Reeves, William Shatner, Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Meg Tilly, Jennifer Tilly, Shania Twain and Fay Wray are all Canadians.
19. Our national anthem is “O Canada”, but if the Queen is in town we may try to impress her by singing the “Royal Anthem” of God Save The Queen.
20. The name Canada most likely comes from a St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata, meaning “village” or “settlement”.

So there you go….. Some little known things that you now know about Canada. And no, we don’t all live in igloos, nor do we say eh? all the time.

So what can I say but Happy Birthday Canada…. eh? LOL

Till Next Time…..Tags: Canada Day, Canada Eh?, Canada’s birthday, Canadian, Happy Birthday

And don’t forget to
© 2006-2008 All rights reserved.

Tokyo – Fast, Fresh & Yummy Oh!!

What: Tokyo
Type: Asian mix
Located: Leslie Street and East Wilmot Street, north East corner
Address: 10 East Wilmot Street Unit #7
Richmond Hill Ontario
(905) 709-7778, fax (905) 709-2791
Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Accepting:

Tokyo is another of my fresh and fast restaurants located in the Richmond Hill area of York Region.

Quick, fast, fresh, hot, tasty and inexpensive is the draw at this mainly lunchtime resto. Fresh Asian food is on the menu and there is nothing that is not delish here.

On this visit I ordered my fave: Chicken with Mushrooms on Crispy Noodle $4.99. This dish is awesome. Fresh white chicken meat, loads of white button mushrooms and crispy hot noodles. Today I asked the chef (yes he took my order) to make it on the “hot side”.

A friend ordered B.B.Q. Pork in Black Bean & Garlic Sauce on Crispy Noodles $6.39, and this too was very, very tasty. I am not usually a big fan of black bean sauce, but I enjoyed this one.

And a plate of Deep Fried Tofu (L) $4.00. Trust me, this plate was sooo full of tofu and so good I forgot to take a picture of it when it arrived. I like Tofu cubed, as it was soft inside with a hint of cinnamon and sugar. Not enough to make it a desert, just enough to make it delish.

The menu is not extensive, but includes apps, soups, Chinese food, Vegetarian Delights, Fried Noodles & Rice dishes, Teriyaki, Dinner Specials. You can eat in as well as take out if you prefer. You can fax your order in and then pick it up within 20 minutes. Everything on the menu is $7 or less and the family meals range from $14.50 for two to $42.00 for six.

On previous visits, I have had their Hot and Sour Soup $2.00 and it is truly excellent, with enough spiciness to warm the soul on a really cold day. I am not fond of their Egg Rolls $1.00 or Spring Rolls also $1.00 as they are typical (probably frozen) and deep fried. The Teriyaki (5.39 to 6.99) on Teriyaki noodles dishes are also good and all you need to do is pick your toppings. Just note that all “noodles” cost $1.00 more than having these dishes just on rice, but it is well worth it.
Portion sizes can be too big for lunch, but you would have enough to take home for a late night snack.

For fast, fresh and inexpensive, I highly recommend you try this one. You won’t be disappointed.

Till Next Time….. Tags: fresh, fast, cheap, cheery, food, York Region, review, Tokyo

And don’t forget to
© 2006-2008 All rights reserved.

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Translate My Blog – A Little Canadian History

I am Canadian …. Sixth generation Canadian, with major roots in the Windsor-Buxton-Chatham communities of south western Ontario… and noooo, I am not from Nova Scotia as some of you who have met me, automatically think … Ontario is my home province.

Canada is a multi-cultural, multi-lingual country of settlers and while most cannot say they are more than two or three generations Canadian, most believe Canada to be their “home and native land”.

Canada was built on the backs of immigrants from all over the world, whom without them Canada would not be the Nation it is today.

 

Many years ago, in response to a more assertive French-speaking Quebec, the federal government officially became bilingual with the Official Languages Act of 1969. This was totally the highlight of the career of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, who at that time was the prime minister of Canada and a Francaphone himself. Without him, I believe Canada’s Official Language would only be English.

 

The Official Languages Act of Canada is

…. a law adopted by the Parliament of Canada in 1969 and substantially amended in 1988. The law gives English and French equal status in the government of Canada. This makes them “official” languages, having preferred status in law over all other languages. Although the Official Languages Act is not the only piece of federal language law, it is the keystone legislation of Official Bilingualism in Canada.

The definition used in the regulations is complex, but basically an area of the country is served in both languages if at least 5,000 persons in that area, or 5% of the local population (whichever is smaller), belongs to that province’s English or French linguistic minority population. [4]

For example, Section 20 of the Charter guarantees the right of the Canadian public to communicate in English and French with any central government office or with regional offices where there is “a significant demand for communication with and services from that office.” Significant demand is not defined in the Charter of Rights. One of the purposes of the Official Languages Act of 1988 was to remedy this omission.

But did you know that French is also an official language in 31 countries around the world, forming what is called in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations.
Did you also know that it is one of six official languages of all United Nations agencies including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish?

But here is the thing…. when a French speaking individual wants or needs services outside the province of Quebec, the law states he/she can/should be able to get it…. yet when an English speaking Canadian tries to get service within the province of Quebec, well it is nearly impossible to even get acknowledgment, let alone service (speaking from experience of course).

My point really, is that this is an English blog, by an English speaking/writing Canadian, and although Je parle le très petit français, I make no bones about being able to read, write, let alone speak Canada’s 2nd (not 1st, but 2nd. Should really be 3rd as the Métis were here before the French) official language with any great finesse.. I only get by…. sad but true.

However…..

I have found several good translators that will translate a phrase, paragraph or a whole blog page into practically any language you desire.

Yahoo! Babel Fish is very good. All they ask is that for accuracy you use the best possible grammar you can for the highest translation quality. You can also enter the URL of a site and get it all translated into your mother tongue.

Google Groups has a French to English translator that you can download to your desktop. I have not tried this one, but would be handy if you could put it on a PDA and use it while travelling abroad.

Google Translate is an online version worth using.

Reverso Translation also works well and is online. It also has an online dictionary and conjugator.

Free Translation.com has an online translator that is also good. My phrase above “I speak very little French” came out slightly different as: Je parle le très petit français which translates back to “I speak the very small French” but I guess it means the same. (see French is not that easy!!)

So if you are visiting from Quebec, France, Spain or anywhere really, and English is not your first language, may I suggest that for your reading pleasure, you use one of the above translating tools. After all, I want you to enjoy yourself while here and come back again for more.

Au revoir et venir encore…..

Till Next Time….. Tags: English, French, translation, Canada, history

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© 2006-2008 All rights reserved.

Also please note: Links at the bottom of posts flagged as ‘Possibly related posts’ are automatically generated by WordPress: no endorsement of these links is implied.

Clicks For Tits – Do You Love Your Breasts?

That right folks… you can click for tits… Your Mom’s tits, your sistas tits, your BGF’s tits, your girlfriends tits, your wifes tits and your Grandmas tits… even your man boobies if you want…just go click to help save those tits you love so much.

What? Have you gone mad?

No more than any other day, but honestly, no I have not. What am I talking about…

During the month of June, TheBreastCancerSite.com is looking for 8 million clicks. If they succeed, then their premiere sponsor, Bare Necessities will donate 10K USD to the cause of providing mammograms to those who cannot afford them. Mammograms that is, not tits (hopefully they already have ‘em)

Anywhooooo…. just do your two second part, click on the picture above, and click for mammograms. Easy Peasy two seconds out of your day that you can do for all 30 days this June.

Take a look around the site, make your click worth more and purchase some of their merch… after all can never have too much pink in your wardrobe right?

Cheers… and get clicking…

Till Next Time….. Tags: breast cancer, cancer, tits, boobs, cancer awareness, cancer survivor, The Brest Cancer Site, clicks

And don’t forget to
© 2006-2008 All rights reserved.

Also please note: Links at the bottom of posts flagged as ‘Possibly related posts’ are automatically generated by WordPress: no endorsement of these links is implied.