Trevor the Dog

I am embarrassed to say this story, published in the National Post, is true.

Yukon dog still put down after $45,000 court case spared him from euthanization

Mar 29, 2012 – 10:11 AM ET | Last Updated: Mar 29, 2012 10:13 AM ET

Trevor, a dangerous dog that was at the centre of a $45,000 court case to spare him from euthanization, has been euthanized anyway due to a terminal illness. Trevor, a Rottweiler-German Shepherd cross, was discovered by bylaw officials in a Whitehorse, Yukon in 2009. Found badly-neglected and with a chain grown into his neck, the dog was seized and turned over to a local non-profit animal shelter, who then adopted out the dog.

Within weeks, however, the new owner turned Trevor over to city authorities to be destroyed, saying he had bitten three people. Seized by the dog’s plight, local activists then staged a massive media and legal campaign for Trevor’s release, which they ultimately secured in November, 2010. As local commentators noted at the time, however, during the fight to free Trevor at least a dozen other dogs were euthanized by the city due to space concerns.

Last weekend, Trevor was euthanized due to a terminal illness, announced Shelley Cuthbert, president of Humane Society Yukon, in a Wednesday press conference. The details of the illness were not released “out of courtesy and respect for his caregivers,” Ms. Cuthbert told the Yukon News.

To top the cake, the activists who started this legal proceeding, wouldn't take the dog themselves!

A Special Reading

Lawrence Hill, author of Book of Negroes as well as many other books, had a reading in the MacBride Museum last night and half of our Book Club members were able to attend. The room was packed to the rafters - standing room only, so we weren't the only ones interested in hearing this very talented author. He read from his new, and as yet unpublished, manuscript. The story is about a type of people that piques Lawrence's interest - refugees ...aliens ... in other words, people who have no country to call their own; people who have no passports so cannot travel, no social insurance numbers so cannot legally work, etc. Now this sounds like a sombre subject, but the two excerpts he read was anything but sombre and I for one cannot wait to read his new book.

In about a year's time, he wants to work on another historical fiction about the building of the Alcan Highway, short for Alaska/Canada Highway (the Alaska Highway) during World War II. His interest here is the mixture of people involved in the building of the highway (esp the blacks and the Indians) and the mixture of the countries causing a highway to be built in the first place - Americans, Canadian, Japanese ... He has begun his research on this subject during his five week stay in the north (writing in the Berton House in Dawson City and touring around to communities in the Yukon with his readings).

He had a lengthy question period after his readings and his responses were very thorough, encompassing all aspects of the questions and spiced with personal reflections and humour.

It was a tremendously enjoyable evening in which we, the public, garnered a good insight into the author.

And yes, Miranda Hill of Project Bookmark Canada, is Lawrence's wife.

Project Bookmark

Learned about the non-profit association Project Bookmark last night. A bookmark - a plaque which is about poster sized - is placed at the exact spot where a literary scene takes place. The bookmark identifies the book and author and contains the passage from the book that cites this location. The first bookmark was placed at the Bloor Street Viaduct along with the matching passage from Michael Ondaatje's Skin of a Lion (seen above with the author & Mayor David Miller).

Started in 2009 I believe they have 10 bookmarks now placed, the majority, if not all, in Ontario at this time, but they are not limited to Ontario. This project was started by Miranda Hill, wife of author Lawrence Hill.

To read more about this Project or to find out where you can visit these Bookmarks, Click Here.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

I always think that if I have heard or seen something, everyone must have heard/seen it. Apparently not. I mentioned this memorial logo to a huge Apple fan who has not seen this.

As well, she hadn't heard this creative man's last words:
"Oh Wow, Oh Wow, Oh Wow".

May he RIP.

Ode to Joy

This video is almost 19 minutes long. If you are stressed or just in the mood for some spectacular music, click this video onto full screen (bottom right hand corner little square), sit back, and be prepared to be amazed ... a choir of 10,000 and a passionate conductor.



P.S. Thanks Joe for showing this on your blog. As you can see I truly enjoyed it!

On the Subject of Food ...

Above is a photo of our one and only Government run liquor store - yes Ontario, we sell liquor and wine and beer all in the same store. We also have many off-sales locations around town, but of course there is a small added cost at those locations. Why am I going on and on about the purchase of alcohol in our Capital City? CBC News North just reported the following:

Yukon is bucking a national trend when it comes to beer sales, according to Statistics Canada.

A Statistics Canada report shows beer sales are flat or declining in most jurisdictions, while wine and spirits are on the rise.

But in Yukon, beer sales increased by 4.4 percent — the largest increase in Canada.

Yukon's per capita alcohol sales came in at $1,298.40. Sales of wine increased by 8.5 percent.

Meanwhile, per capita tallies for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are bunched together. They came second with sales of $943.50.

The national average is $712.40.

However, figures on beer, wine and spirits show Nunavut and the N.W.T. mirror national trends away from buying beer.

The figures are drawn from sales by legally authorized agencies. They do not include brew-your-own, homemade or illegal sales.

The data covered the sale of alcoholic beverages in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011.

Cheers!!!

FYI

I love this section of Popular Science. I learn so much, such as:

Why Does Some Food Taste Bad to Some People and Good to Others?

People who have a lot of papillae—the bumps on our tongue, most of which house our taste buds—often find flavors overwhelming. They’re “supertasters,” and as such they add cream to their coffee and order food mild instead of spicy. Subtasters, on the other hand, have low papillae density and prefer their chicken wings “atomic.”

Individual taste, however, isn’t simply about papillae; it also has to do with our buds’ ability to detect different molecules. Although our brains can recognize the same five tastes—bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami (savory)—the suite of chemicals that can trigger those signals varies from one person to the next. Alexander Bachmanov, a geneticist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, says that humans carry a range of 20 to 40 genes dedicated to bitter taste receptors.

Different sensitivities to bitter tastes probably arose from evolutionary pressures in different parts of the world. Most toxic plants taste bitter, and nomadic groups that came into contact with a variety of plants would have, over time, developed a variety of receptors. People from malaria-infested parts of the world tend to carry a gene that makes them less sensitive to some bitter compounds, specifically those that contain cyanide. Researchers speculate that cyanide, ingested at low levels, fights malarial parasites while leaving the host unscathed. Juyun Lim, a sensory scientist in Oregon State University’s Department of Food Science, says that we have a natural aversion to bitterness and certain odors: “Most people don’t like beer the first time they try it.”

ARE YOU A SUPERTASTER?

To find out, put blue food coloring on your tongue. Blue dye doesn’t stick to taste papillae, so if your tongue doesn’t get very blue, you’re probably a supertaster. The bluer it gets, the greater the chance you are a subtaster. More hot sauce!

P.S.: Don't dot your tongue with blue dye unless you have another person beside you to compare blueness - "very blue" is hard to decipher if you cannot compare - my tongue is now blue!

Canadian National Soccer Teams

After five consecutive draws, the Canada-Brazil deadlock was broken today in Canada's favour in a Women's International Friendly match in Foxboro, MA, USA. The Canadian team won 2:1 over Brazil in the 24 March 2012 match, with superstars Christine Sinclair (two for Canada) and Marta (one via penalty for Brazil) providing the offence. Canada and Brazil had drawn even in each of the previous five women's international matches dating back to 10 July 2008.

Canada's Women's National Team has already qualified for the 2012 Olympics.
Good going Girls!

The Men's National Team has not yet qualified for the Olympics, but is working hard at it.
Canada won 2:0 over host USA in the second match of the 2012 CONCACAF Men' Olympic Qualifying tournament on Saturday 24 March, an emphatic win that puts Canada within a point of securing a semi-final berth in the competition. With two matches in the books, Canada is two positive results away from achieveing its mission of qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics.
Go Canada!

How do you feel today?? As happy as Kramer?



Well, some people like his dancing!

New Trees

If your driving along and see a giant tree, it is not some super fertilizer used to grow this giant. It is a cell phone tree.
In order for us to communicate over cell phones, it is necessary to have a new type of telephone pole called a cell phone tower placed at proper intervals along the highways and byways. The density of these towers is directly proportional to the human population density. This mathematical principle, called "cell tower proliferation", is a new subject for urban ecologists. Unlike unsightly telephone poles spanned by wires, cell phone towers are solitary structures. Cell phone towers transmit radio waves and must be placed above ground. Wireless cell phones send and received messages using radio frequency energy. Directional antennas on the towers divide a geographical area into regions of service called "cells". Different cell phone carriers use separate antennas on the same tower. Rather than have obtrusive towers cluttering the cities and countryside, they are now being disguised in many clever ways. Some of these forms include trees (as pictured above), gas station signs, boulders and even church steeples.

Barbie Up-date

Thanks to MJT for updating Barbie's status:

"They are back together - Feb 14/11 -One of America’s most epic romances is back on: Mattel is announcing today that, after shocking the world with their break-up in 2004 and rekindling their love on the set of last year’s blockbuster Toy Story 3, Barbie and Ken have decided to give love another chance after seven years apart. The pair’s plastic love is red-hot once again, just in time for the most romantic of holidays, Valentine’s Day. Yesterday, Barbie hinted that something might be in the works on her Facebook page with the status update: “Who knows…maybe I’ll have a Valentine this year.” Early this morning, Barbie changed her status on Facebook to “In a Relationship.”

... ... she even has a Facebook page ... ... boy was I out of the loop.

Excuse me, my arm is ringing!

Finnish smart phone maker Nokia has filed a patent application for a new magnetic tattoo which would vibrate when someone’s calling your phone.

In application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last September but made public this week, Nokia said it wants to patent “a material attachable to skin, the material capable of detecting a magnetic field and transferring a perceivable stimulus to the skin.”

Already the proposed technology has generated heated reaction on Twitter, including plenty of disgust and alarm, but also curiosity, ribald suggestions for placement, as well as a few volunteers willing to try it out.

“You could be swimming in the ocean, get a buzz, and realize you’ve got to get back to check your phone if you were waiting for an important call,” said Vertegaal, who also suggested it could be modified to help alert blind people when they’re approaching objects, or to help surgeons.

Meanwhile, the man behind last year’s foldable “paper phone” says it’s likely a decade before Nokia would ever actually bring its vibrating magnet technology to market.

Doing some research and came across this disturbing news that I apparently missed in 2004:

The Breakup
In 2004, after 43 years of dating, Barbie and Ken split. Coming on the heels of big celebrity break-ups like Ben Affleck and J-Lo, the news made headlines around the world.

Even imaginary relationships cannot stay together. "Happily ever after" is apparently a thing of the past.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1883083,00.html#ixzz1pm1Pvsya

Dessert Plate

This is the dessert plates I need!!!

March 19, 2012

Went for my minimum 1/2 hour walk this morning (did you watch the 23-1/2 hours video??). The sun was shining brightly through my windows, hot enough to melt a candle. Perfect time for a walk. I threw on a medium warm winter coat (considered my light spring coat but thought better of it), runners and looked at my gloves sitting in the basket as I left. I should have looked at the thermometer. My fingers were freezing. Had to pull them up into the sleeve of my coat. And there was just enough wind to bite into my cheeks making me walk backwards for part of the journey. And that lovely sun does melt some of the snow during the day. Unfortunately that water freezes at night making walking a bit dicey in spots. But alas, I survived to tell the tale.

For all of you southerners, and by that I mean Manitoba and Ontario people who are wearing shorts and gardening, it was -12C when I went out for my walk at 10:30 AM (about -18C with the windchill). The photos are of my front/back yards. As you can see, it will be a while before I start to garden.

Aurora Borealis 2012

For your pleasure:

Blame it on the Door

I first read this in Zoomer magazine. If you want to feel better about yourself, read on.

The common and annoying experience of arriving somewhere only to realize you've forgotten what you went there to do. We all know why such forgetting happens: we didn’t pay enough attention, or too much time passed, or it just wasn’t important enough. But a “completely different” idea comes from a team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame. The first part of their paper’s title sums it up: “Walking through doorways causes forgetting.”

Psychologists have discovered the so-called ‘senior moments’ that can leave us utterly bemused and retracing our steps may actually be caused by the way the brain processes information as the body leaves one room and enters another.

It appears the mind regards a doorway as something experts call an ‘event boundary’, signalling the end of one memory episode and the beginning of another.

Psychologists found the brain tends to file away events and memories from one room as soon as it exits into another, storing information in successive chapters or episodes.

If you want to read more on this subject Click Here.

23-1/2 Hours

Watched this this morning on CTV News. I love these talking / drawing kind of messages.




And, heard these facts on the radio this morning:

• The aorta, one of the largest arteries in the body, is the diameter of a garden hose.
• In contrast, ten capillaries are equal to the thickness of a single human hair.
• The human body contains about 6 quarts of blood which circulate through the body three times every minute.
• Each day, the blood travels about a total of 12,000 miles (19,300 km) per day (4 times across the US from coast to coast).
• In a lifetime the human heart will pump about 1 million barrels of blood - enough to fill over 3 super-tankers!
• AMAZING!
  

---

Now, cannot write anymore. I am going out for a walk.

AWG Ends

The Arctic Winter Games have come to an end. Above is the ending medal count. Congrats to all the athletes, volunteers and organizers. It was a very successful time for all.

Las Vegas

I was lucky to get a photograph of two of my favourite people taken while they were in Las Vegas in February. Love the photo!

Year of the Dragon

Made aprons for Lisa & Kate. They just received them in the mail. It is the Year of the Dragon, and this material was very Asian with dragons on it. Who else could I use it for?? (Looks like Kate will have to grow into hers!).

Food & Drink Course

Luckily I received a reminder phone call yesterday, as after a week of volunteering I was looking forward to watching a bit of Saturday morning soccer with a large hot cup of coffee. The reminder -- my Coffee & Croissant Cooking Course was to begin Saturday morning, 8:30 AM.
So, up early, no TV, and off I drove to the course.

It was very interesting. The coffee part was similar to an entry Barista course. I learnt of the beans and roasting (you know Whitehorse has TWO roasters, which is pretty good for a town of our size), ground the beans, tamped them down and made the espresso. We tasted many different bean grinds, and roasts. Then on to the steamed milk. It was all very enlightening.

I also made the croissants pictured above. Brought them home for their last rising then baking them in my own oven. Plain croissants, almond croissants and Pain au Chocolat. Mmmmmmm!!

Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs’ minor midget AAA team

And while we are all busy sports-wise up north, my nephew is busy with hockey down south. Here is a excerpt from the newspaper regarding his coming weekend:

The challenge this weekend is going to be ignoring what’s outside the glass. Namely the 200-or-so scouts who’ll be watching every shift they take and making observations that could affect the rest of their hockey lives.

... David Eccles. A year ago, the imposing defenceman wasn’t even on the scouts’ radar. Heck, two years ago he was fighting just to make the AAA team after spending his earlier seasons in AA and even AE levels in Ancaster.

Now, after growing seven inches in the past year, the Ancaster Secondary student’s seen as the team’s other sure-fire prospect. Big and mobile with a touch of nasty, the head of OHL Central Scouting described him as the kind of player teams love.

“Those are the kind of players you win championships with,” Darrell Woodley says.

Eccles doesn’t pretend there’s no pressure on him this weekend. There is. Still, he says it really doesn’t bother him. In fact, he insists that seeing all those dozens of men with their team jackets and clipboards excites him because it makes him think about where he’s been and how crazy it is that he’s one of the guys they’re now watching.

He fights hard to appear stoic, but simply asking him about the possibility that he could be drafted causes him to lose the battle and break into a wide smile.

“I try to hide it sometimes but it’s hard to,” he says. “I never thought I’d really be here.”

To read the whole story CLICK HERE.

I'll have my fingers crossed for you David.

Bronze Medal

Finished volunteering this afternoon. My last stint with once again selling tickets for the Hockey Games. While I was there, the Junior Females were playing in their Bronze Medal game; Yukon v NWT. Although I was working and missed most of the game (Yukon won 7-1) I did get in to grab a quick photo of the Bronze Medal team - the team Emily Nugent is part of. Congratulations Girls ... well done!
Final day of competitions is tomorrow. A few of the games have their gold/silver/bronze medal games, then the closing ceremonies. It was a week to remember.

Snowshoeing

One of the not so traditional sports in the Games is the snowshoe races. I thought my friend Debbie was going to volunteer at these races so left early this morning to go down to the river to take a photo of her volunteering. I apparently was mistaken but did see a few good races while I was there.

I love the north. The warm up station is a big metal container with a roaring wood fire inside.
It worked perfectly.
Also, had to stop on Main Street before going to the races this morning. The temperature was -2 degrees celcius and watched a Yukoner walking along with a short sleeved shirt on - no coat. Thought yep, this is warm weather here.

Love Shopping

Doesn't matter where I am or what I am doing, I can always find ways to spend money. Brooke & I went down to the Craft Fair at my venue, the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. What better place to look for leather and fur goods and wonderful bead work. This is becoming a lost art as the young first nations people do not want to take the time to learn this craft.

I bought a new pair of moccasins and helped Brooke but a new Beaver Fur Hat.

Oh what fun!

Bryn Hoffman

And finally, a big Congratulations to Bryn Hoffman (my old Director's daughter) for winning GOLD ULUs in Short Program, Free Program and Combined in the Junior Female category. Well done Bryn!

Dene Games

Here is the wee video on Stick Gambling. When you walk into the room, you can cut the energy in the air with a knife. I don't know how they do that but I have never felt it like that anywhere else.

Enjoying the Games

Went with SR tonight to the Canada Games Centre to watch some soccer. Watched Yukon v Sapmi Girls and Yukon v Greenland boys. The Sapmi girls won and the Greenland boys tied with Yukon. Fun to watch the kids play soccer again. Above are some of the Nunavut players watching the game from the floor above. Their yellow and red coats mimic their flag and even have a large inukshuk on the back. Below the Yukon boys huddle before their game.

Day 3 of Competitions

Above: Stick Gambling. The girls in red kneeling on the floor and the drummers are part of this game. The rules are sort of like this: One team hides tokens in their hand and the other team tries to guess which hand the tokens are in. In the mean time the drummers drum and singers sing to try to confuse the opponents. A right guess and the player is eliminated. A wrong guess and a stick is given to the team. The team with the most sticks wins.

If I can figure it out, tomorrow I will put on a wee video of the stick gambling.

I worked in the Volunteer Lounge today at the brand new Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre on the banks of the Yukon River. This centre will not be officially opened until June 25th, but the doors opened for the first time to accommodate the Dene (pronounced Den-Nay) Games and Native Craft Fair. When I arrived in the early afternoon, Stick Gambling, also known as Hand Games, was in full bloom. I was also told that Dun means People. Kwanlin means river running through a canyon. So generally speaking Kwanlin Dun means River People, one of the reasons they build their cultural centre on the river.

Just for Laughs

It doesn't take much to amuse a baby:

Let It Snow

Found a better site for photos of the Games:
Click Here

And Kudos to Jian Ghomeshi of Q, CBC Radio, for his monologue of March 6. He highlighted the Arctic Winter Games taking place in one of his favourite places, Whitehorse, Yukon - and how fitting it is to hold Winter games in a place that actually HAS winter. Thanks Jian, you did a very nice job. If you do not know who Jian Ghomeshi is, tune in to CBC Radio at 10:00 AM, Monday through Friday (or 10 PM for a rerun to the days program). I think it is one of the best radio programs going.

And talking about snow, above is what I had to shovel this morning - at least 6 inches with more coming today. What usually takes me 15 minutes to shovel - took 45 minutes this morning. Good for the outdoor sports I guess. Personally, I could do without it now.

Kony

This video is about 1/2 hour long. In it you will learn about an evil man named Kony and how he is affecting children in Africa and what can be done about it. Please take the time to watch it.

AWG's Fun Facts

Here are some "Fun Facts" from the Spectator Guide of the Arctic Winter Games. Now you can wow your peers around the water cooler.

Alaska: Alaska has more than 70 potentially active volcanoes. Alaska is home to over 1/2 of the world's glaciers and 17 of the 20 highest peaks in the U.S.A. are in Alaska.
Alberta North: Alberta enjoys the highest average days of sunshine in Canada, at 312 days/year. More than 50% of Alberta is forested. Alberta has Rocky Mountains to the west, prairies to the south and its forests are in the north.
Greenland: Greenland is the largest island in the world. July is the only month when Greenland's average temperature is above freezing. In Ilulissat, the sun does not set for a full 2 months, between May 25th and July 25th.
Northwest Territories: The first diamond mine in Canada is located in the NWT and started production in 1998. Great Slave Lake is the deepest lake in Canada and is the 10th largest in the world.
Nunavik-Quebec: Nunavik comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec. Some of the oldest rocks on the earth are part of the Canadian Shield, which covers most of Quebec.
Nunavut: 50% of the world's polar bears live in Nunavut. Nunavut comprises 1/5 of Canada's total landmass.
Sapmi: Reindeer herding has long-remained a strong part of the Sami culture. The Sami language belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family, as do Finnish, Estonian, Livonian and Hungarian.
Yamal: The low temperature in winter reaches -59 degrees Celsius. In July, the temperature can be up to +30 degrees Celsius.
Yukon: Mount Logan is Canada's highest mountain at 5,959 metres and is located in the Yukon. Kluane National Park forms the world's largest protected area, is home to the world's largest non-polar ice field, Canada's tallest mountain and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

AWG Photos

Want to see some photos of the games, click here

Web Site

Just found this new site called Never Liked it Anyway. It is sort of similar to eBay but the people who are selling items on this site are selling items from their relationship gone bad. Not only do you see the item for sale but learn the story behind it. And all this at a reduced price. Check it out at:
www.neverlikeditanyway.com !

AWG Continued

Working today in the Box Office at the Takhini Arena. Hockey is as popular as ever and at times the ticket sales were buzzin'. Of course other times it was quiet. One more day at the arena, then off to the Kwanlin Dunn Cultural Centre - the brand new building on the water front to work the volunteer lounge and watch some Dene Games.


P.S. Just heard that the Girls Indoor Soccer Team from Sapmi (northern Norway, Sweden, Finland & Russia) are HOT (just in case there are any male soccer fans close by).

Arctic Winter Games give out gold, silver and bronze medals - just as in other competitions, but these medals are in the shape of an ulu. To check out the medal standings as of my time - day One, Click Here. Top 3 are, Alaska with 26 medals, the Yukon with 18 medals, and NWT with 12.

AWG 2012 Song

Here it is, the official song/video of the 2012 Arctic Winter Games.

The Leg

Thinking of Angelina's LEG, I came across these photos. Looks like everyone is getting into "the leg" these days. Thanks Angelina!

Thinking of Lily

Lily went home on Friday. I do miss seeing her sitting on the pile of snow outside my dining room window. She loved to be perched on-high, in complete control of the back yard.

AWG

The opening ceremonies for the Games are today. Tomorrow starts the competitions.

One unique thing the games are doing this year is a Song Relay. Instead of a baton travelling to each participating region, a song, composed by a Whitehorse local group called the Root Sellers (the Ashley boys, Gaylen and Daniel) will make its way across the circumpolar north with each region recording themselves performing the song as well as recording sounds and images that depict who they are as a people and the way they live.
The end song will be shown during the opening ceremonies and when available I will post on my blog.

Below is the explanation of this song: