Incredible

Kind of makes those other shows look rather lame in comparision, dones't it?

Sand artist, Kseniya Simonova, who moved audiences to tears as she won Ukraine’s Got Talent, has become an online sensation with more than two million hits.

Miss Simonova, 24, drew a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II.

One video clip of her work on the television talent show has been viewed by two million users alone.

H/T to Lex

On A Wing And A Prayer ... 100 Years Later

Been a little quiet around here lately, no?

I thought I best at least make an effort to do something about that. And since technically I have posted on the The Flight Deck since I've posted here, I thought might just cheat a little bit. Copy. Paste. Edit.

We won't tell anyone, okay?

February 23, 2009, was the 100th year anniversary of the first flight of the Silver Dart, the first powered aircraft flight in Canada.

As I wrote about earlier, in October, 1907, Alexander Graham Bell invited three men (one British subject, one Canadian and one American) to his estate in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, to begin working on a dream that would take flight 18 months later. Joined by an official observer from the United States, US Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, the five men formed the Aerial Experiment Association .

Five aircraft were created, including the June Bug (which introduced a tricycle landing gear system to the world -I assume of the type that Lex has been going on about lately) but the piece de resistance was the Silver Dart which was their first controlled-power aircraft. And which flew for the first time on February 23, 1909.

The replica of that first flight was set to on Sunday, February 22m 2009, in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. A day earlier than planned as apparently they are concerned about weather conditions (we were execting another storm day around here for the Monday) and a repeat performance of what occurred fifty years ago when the pilot who lifted off from frozen Bras d’Or Lake in a similar replica belly-flopped back down to the ice soon after.

A couple of days before the 23rd in 1959, they flew it on the ice and it was all right," Mr. Jermyn told The Chronicle Herald Saturday.

"But on the 23rd, it was a very windy day and the pilot took it out and nobody thought he would fly it, but he did. He turned it into the wind and off he went, and he just got hit by a gust of wind. He got it up and over, but it stalled and it fluttered down and smashed the wing tip."

Organizers expected about 20,000 visitors to watch the re-creation of the flight in a replica attempted to be a true as possible to the original Silver Dart. The aircraft is about nine metres long and three metres high with a 15-metre wingspan and weighs about 545 kilograms. As in the original, motorbike parts play a key role in the plane’s motor and fasteners.

The plan was, if the weather cooperated, they would also try to carry out the official flight again on Monday, along with a flypast by the Hawk One, a refurbished RCAF F-86 Sabre 5 and performances by the Snowbirds and SkyHawks.

Retired Canadian astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason was in the pilot’s seat and Roberta Bondar was expected to be on hand, along with descendants of the original inventors and the modern-day crew.

Turns out that there were perfect conditions for five, count them, five flights on Sunday. Well, perfect, if you don't count the nose wheel collapse on the first try.

Unfortunately, not so much on Monday, which was the actual anniversary. What can I say, welcome to winter in Nova Scotia.

On a wing and prayer. One hundred years later.


Former astronaut Bjarni Tryggvason goes aloft Sunday in a replica
of the Silver Dart after taking off from the ice of the Bras d’Or Lake
in Baddeck. Today is the 100th anniversary of J.A.D. McCurdy’s
historic flight in the Silver Dart, which was the first powered flight
in Canada. McCurdy and Alexander Graham Bell helped design
the original plane. (VAUGHAN MERCHANT / CP)

Inauguration Day Daze in The US of A

I wasn't going to bother writing about this; after all, isn't everybody else? Only 544,620 hits on a Google blog search using the terms "Obama" and "inauguration.

It's not like my opinion is particularly needed, particularly when I spent most of the day painstakingly painfully trying to write a post on the other blog. Talk about getting sidetracked, from taking my daily spin through the blogosphere to a crash-research course in obesity, disability and adoption. But I digress.

I am not among the (apparent) many who are overcome with joy and jubilation at Obama's inauguration, who feel that He will be The One to save us all. Nor am I among those crying in their beer, so to speak, who fear that the 44th President could spell the doom (scroll down through the comments of that last link to see what I mean) of the United States. And, by extension, I suppose the rest of us poor slobs, too.

But he is the first black President of the United States. And that is rather cool. Historic even.

But here's my concern ... with all the hype, all the build-up, all the joy that the pent-up angst of the Bush years will now be over ... what are the chances that any person, any man, can live up to that?

Obama may well be a great President. Or even just a good or adequate one. But I fear that many may be riding for a crash - Obama is inheriting a bad economic situation (to put it mildly) and it's not like he's particularly top-heavy with governing experience.

Then again, he has made some relatively conservative picks for his Cabinet, which some see as good while others, no doubt, will wail and gnash their teeth. Just goes to show, you really can't please all the people all the time.

I hope he does well. I hope Canada and the US build a strong relationship with Obama as President. But that's 'hope', not to be confused with "Hope". And I sincerely *hope* that those drunk on the heady wine of Obama will be able to face reality. Tomorrow. Next month. And next year.

That being said, Congratulations. And Good Luck to you, sir.
Something tells me, you may just need it.

Update: Reality dawns. And sometimes it bites.

H/T to SnakeEater via Lex

A Day For Giving Thanks

My favourite time of the year, it is.

Usually still warm, but no longer stifling hot. The beautiful fall colours, which somehow seem to slow me down and pull me in. There's something about the season makes me feel thoughtful and meditative. And we do, indeed, have much to be thankful for.

But over the past few years, the question has nagged at me more and more. Why it is Thanksgiving here and Columbus Day there?

For reasons of history and politics, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving nearly two months earlier than our American friends, but that wasn't always the case, and Columbus Day also has its observational ambiguities.

From 1879 to 1898, the Canadian Thanksgiving was observed on Nov. 6, and in other years as late as Dec. 6. Occasionally, it even coincided with American Thanksgiving, celebrated on the last Thursday of November since the 1870s.

In 1899 Canadian Thanksgiving was fixed on a Thursday in October, then in 1907. it was moved to a Monday in October, the exact date being appointed annually by proclamation. From 1921 to 1930, Canadian Thanksgiving was observed on November 11, Armistice Day, commemorating the end of World War I. In 1931, it was moved again to the second Monday of October, and finally, on Jan. 31, 1957 an act of Parliament permanently fixed Canadian Thanksgiving to second Monday in October: "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ...

"Columbus Day Nominally celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. Reportedly, there were observances commemorating Columbus' arrival as early as 1792, and Italian citizens of New York City had organized a celebration on October 12, 1866, but it was first called Columbus Day In 1869 San Francisco Italians celebrated on October 12. The holiday attained national status when President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed it to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage in 1892, made a commemorative proclamation.

I found it interesting that the first Thanksgiving Day in Canada after Confederation was observed on April 5, 1872 to celebrate the recovery of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) from a serious illness.

What? Nothing about being thankful for the harvest?

Turns out that historically the theme of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday had changed from year to year to reflect an important event to be thankful for. In the early years it was for an abundant harvest and occasionally for a special anniversary. After the first world war it was for Armistice Day. And now, of course, it's a day of general thanksgiving.

Interestingly, our American friends have not always been more consistent when it comes to the theme of Thanksgiving either. Although it's true that what is traditionally considered "the first Thanksgiving" was a shared autumn harvest feast between the Pilgrims and the natives, it was not repeated the following year. The colonists went on to observe a religious holiday descended from Puritan days of fasting, prayers and giving thanks to God.

Over a hundred years later all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration to commemorate their patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it took a determined magazine editor to initiate a fourty-year one-woman letter writing campaign for a national Thanksgiving holiday to unify a country which she saw headed to Civil War. She was finally successful in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving in 1863.

Even then, the date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. But public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. In 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November. Then in the 1920's, the fledgling Detroit Lions devised the concept of Thanksgiving Day game. And the rest, as they say, is history.


But don't worry, even though we have our differences, it's still turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and veggies. With pumpkin pie for dessert, of course. Or more accurately, in our house this year, pumpkin crunch. Yummy!

Democracy And All That

The Year: 1758

The Place: Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Event: The Birth of Democracy in Canada

Pretty cool, no?
Well, I thought so, but apparently they didn't quite get it.

Charlie Wilson's War

"A stiff drink. A little mascara. A lot of nerve. Who said they couldn't bring down the Soviet empire."

I rented Charlie Wilson's War yesterday. Had wanted to see it in the theatre but alas, it was not meant to be.

Tell me, please, how I managed to get through the whole movie without realizing that I was watching Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Duh! Still don't know how I managed that. I guess I still think of Tom Hanks ala his Big days. He will be, for me, forever young. Or at least he was, until yesterday. And Julia, I have no idea how I missed her. True enough her hair was always up but I found her voice very different, she had an accent I have never associated with her. I might have recognized the teeth though!

All that aside, I really liked the movie. I had never heard the story before. Sure, I knew the Afghans beat the Russians when they tried to invade. Which is one fact people love to throw around when they argue that our current efforts in Afghanistan are all for naught. "Read your history", they say. "They beat the Russians, why do we think we can conquer them?" Or some variation on that theme ... But, like many apparently, I had never heard the story of the US involvement.

Besides the story and the delivery of the movie itself, I thought the ending was quite profound. When $2 billion later and the Russians have gone packing, Charlie is unsuccessful in getting $1 million to rebuild schools. "The Soviets are gone, are we still even in Afghanistan?" seems to be the feeling of the day. And as Charlie's argument that over half of the Afghan population is under the age of 14, that we always 'come in and do things our way' and then we leave, with no thought as to what we are leaving behind fell on deaf ears, I couldn't help but draw the parallel to today.

The story behind how the Afghans repelled the Soviets is not proof that what we are trying to do in today in Afghanistan is a waste of time. It's the very reason why we have to do what we are doing today in Afghanistan. It's the very reason why pulling out now would be the worst possible example of history repeating itself.

That old saying that those who don't know history are bound to repeat it, seems very apt here. Just not in the way many are using it.

When the world wasn't watching, they changed it forever.

Who says Monopoly Money Is Good For Nothing

I came across this rather cool story the other day.

About how during World War II, that classic board game Monopoly came equipped with real-life "get out of jail free" cards for Allied POWs.

During World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes.

The original notion was simple enough: Find a way to sneak useful items into prison camps in an unassuming form. But the idea to use Monopoly came from a series of happy coincidences, all of which started with maps.

Paper not being the most suitable source for maps in these circumstances (due to its propensity to fall apart when it gets wet and the noise it makes when being folded and unfolded), the British decided to make escape maps out of silk. And place them in 'special edition' Monopoly games which were distributed in Red Cross aid packages to the prisoners.

But the maps weren't the only things that made this edition special.

Along with the standard thimble, car, and Scotty dog, the POW version included additional "playing" pieces, such as a metal file, a magnetic compass, and of course, a regional silk escape map, complete with marked safe-houses along the way -- all neatly concealed in the game's box.

Even better, some of the Monopoly money was real. Actual German, Italian, and French currency was placed underneath the play money for escapees to use for bribes.

By the end of the war, it's estimated that more than 35,000 Allied POWs had escaped from German prison camps. And more than a few of them would have owed their freedom to the classic board game.

So why haven't we heard about this before?

Apparently strict secrecy about the plan was maintained not only during the war (so that the British could continue using the game to help POWs and because the manufacturer feared a targeted reprisal by German bombers) but also afterwards, when all remaining sets were destroyed and everyone involved in the plan, including the escaped prisoners, were told to keep quiet. It was hoped that, in the event of another large-scale war, the seemingly innocent board game could return to action.

Now that the cat is out of the bag box, I, for one, will never look at a Monopoly game quite the same way again. Kind of makes you wonder what games are being played now that we're unaware of, doesn't it?

May We Never Forget

Yesterday was a date of anniversaries.
Unfortunately, not the good kind.

The Halifax Explosion.

And 14 women shot and killed at Montreal's École Polytechnique. Just because. They were woman.

May we never forget.

The Memory Lives On

It was 90 years ago today.

90 years ago today that a massive explosion ripped through the north end of Halifax, killing more than 1,500 people.

The explosion — the largest man-made blast before the advent of the atomic bomb — was triggered after the Imo, a Belgian relief vessel, collided in the harbour with the Mont Blanc, a French freighter laden with munitions, including 200,000 kilograms of TNT.

At 9:04 a.m., about 20 minutes after the impact caused a fire aboard the Mont Blanc, the morning’s calm was shattered by a violent,deafening blast.

Hundreds of people, including bystanders who had gathered to watch the vessels burn, were killed instantly. Another 9,000 were injured or blinded by shattered window glass or scalding hunks of jagged metal that fell from the sky.

The explosion levelled everything within two kilometres of harbour’s edge and hurled the Mont Blanc’s anchor more than three kilometres inland.

Some 1,600 homes were destroyed, and in the days after the blast, hundreds of badly maimed people would succumb to their injuries.

The final death toll reached 1,951.

You can't live in Nova Scotia without reliving the horror, year after year, in the form of first hand and third person stories in local newspapers.

Although this is the first year that I've read about the heroism of the Canadian and British soldiers on that fateful day, both before and after the devastating explosion. The HMCS Niobe was an obsolete RCN cruiser, permanently moored in the dockyard. After fire broke out on the Mont Blanc, Niobe's captain sent his steam pinnace with six volunteers to help the Mont Blanc. At the same time, the captain of the RN cruiser HMS Highflyer sent his whaler to see if anything could be done.

When Triggs got to Mont Blanc, now engulfed in 30-metre-high flames, he boarded the tug Stella Maris and conferred with her captain.

Leaving the crews of the tug and Niobe's pinnace to get a line to the burning ship, Triggs returned to the whaler.

As the whaler was pulling toward Imo, about 275 metres away, Mont Blanc exploded. The force of the explosion blew Niobe's pinnace and its crew to pieces, while the only person to survive on the whaler was Able Seaman William Becker.

He was later found on the Dartmouth shore.

The explosion also set the minesweeper Musquash on fire. When the crew of a nearby tug were unwilling to board the disabled vessel to take it in tow, two British sailors volunteered to go aboard and secured a line so that the tug could tow Musquash into the middle of the harbour. They then pulled the badly scorched ammunition away from the flames and threw it overboard before it could explode.

When the W.H. Lee arrived , the two British soldiers broke down doors to allow Lee's fire hoses to put out the fire. Their actions subdued the fire and prevented further damage and loss of life, as the ammunition could have exploded at any time. These six individuals received the Albert Medal - in memory of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband - which was awarded to those who, "in saving or endeavouring to save the lives of others from shipwreck or other peril of the sea, endangered their own lives."

Meanwhile, two navy divers had been about to work underwater off the Dockyard pier and when the Mont Blanc blew up, one diver was already in the water, with the other descending a ladder. Although the explosion killed five of the six sailors manning the pumps, both divers and the Master Chief-at-Arms survived. Realizing that he had to get air to the divers immediately and that although the pump was undamaged, the pump-house roof had collapsed onto it, the surviving sailor squeezed between the fallen roof and the pump and managed to move bits of wreckage off the pump wheels and, with one hand holding up the collapsed roof, start the pump with the other.

It usually took six men working in relays to work the pump, but somehow this sailor managed single-handedly to start a trickle of air going to the divers. At the same time, the Master Chief rushed to the ladder to get the divers up and their face masks open. For their quick actions, the sailor received the Meritorious Service Medal (Naval) and the Master Chief was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

But now the fear of the few remaining survivors is that one of the worst disasters in Canadian history will soon be forgotten. The survivors are quite old and it is believed that there are only about 10 left in the Halifax area. A decade ago, upwards of 50 came out to memorial events.

One positive legacy of the explosion continues to live on, however.

Not surprisingly, hospitals were unable to cope with so many wounded. There was also a desperate need for housing, and the misery was compounded by the blizzard that struck the city the following day, dumping 16 inches of snow over the ruins and their sooty, oily covering.

With astounding speed, relief efforts were set in motion. Money poured in from as far away as China and New Zealand. The Canadian government gave $18 million, the British government almost $5 million, but most Haligonians remember the generosity of the state of Massachusetts, which donated $750,000 in money and goods and gave unstintingly in volunteer assistance through the Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee. To this day, Halifax sends an annual Christmas tree to the city of Boston in gratitude.

Yep, to this day Halifax sends an annual Christmas tree to the city of Boston in gratitude. This year's latest in the 36-year-old tradition is a 14-metre white spruce from Granville Centre, Annapolis County.