Straight from the (extremely) old school.

Yesterday Morning, Swift Current had a rare opportunity to see the Canadian Pacific 2816 Empress. A real live, bona-fide, steam-powered choo-choo train, all the way from the 1930s

It's actually coming back on September 21. Olde Train fans take note

Don't let this happen again, please.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty addresses the people of Minneapolis. Captured from CBS Minneapolis/St.Paul

A very tragic scene in Minneapolis, MN, yesterday. During the evening rush hour, a major interstate bride crossing the Mississippi River collapsed. Cars crossing the bridge plunged into the river below, and were also trapped by parts of the bridge. The failure killed 4 people so far, injured several more, and at least 20 people are missing.

This had me thinking all of last night if it could happen here (Swift Current and its area has many bridges and overpasses), and found out one did, many, many years ago.

Crossing the Saskatchewan Landing Bridge

More than 60 years ago, the Saskatchewan Landing river crossing (located 50km north of Swift Current) was a ferry, and even at that time when very few people had cars, that was not enough. The Provincial Government (at the time led by Tommy Douglas) decided to make a fixed link bridge to replace the ferry. One year and one million dollars later, a spectacular 8-pier, 9-arch bridge was constructed and opened to traffic. Douglas, who was at the opening, dedicated the bridge for the use "of our children's children"

It only lasted nine months.

In April, 1952, rumour the bridge was on its last days spread, because of a major ice jam upstream on the South Saskatchewan River. Nobody used the bridge, and everybody was told not to use it, but all the neighbours came down to the bridge to see if it would hold up to the massive pressure. As the jam swelled and threatened, police used dynamite to try to break it up. It was to no avail. At 2:00am on Sunday, April 6, 1952, the river literally lifted the bridge off of its piers and carried it away. It is now sitting somewhere in the bottom of Lake Diefenbaker.

Shortly after, the ferry went back into service, but the Government decided almost immediately to start construction on a better bridge. It was finished in July of 1953. It was closed not even a year later, since construction of the Gardiner Dam and the creation of Lake Diefenbaker made a larger bridge necessary. Three ferries and a temporary floating bridge were needed to support all of the traffic, until finally, the new bridge was opened on November 11, 1965. It is still up today.

Well, there was my attempt at A Page of Saskatchewan. The history of the bridge is in more detail here.

That was an example of a bridge collapse that was not in any way a tragedy. Nothing like it was last night, and I honestly believe it could have been prevented. Watching the coverage on CBS Minneapolis, I heard the bridge was constructed in 1967, and the last time it was inspected was in 2003. The engineers said at that time the bridge was not in good condition, but they believed then it was not in immediate danger of collapsing. The bridge was under construction last night, but in my opinion, they shouldn't have allowed traffic on it. Sure Minneapolis is a very large city, in fact, it's two cities, and a closure of a freeway bridge would result in a large amount of traffic on another bridge, but it's better to be safe than sorry. And if it is found in an inspection that something is wrong with a bridge, they shouldn't have waited to fix it, or inspect it again. I am sure the State's transportation authority will learn from this disaster, and I am also confident that, locally, Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation, and my City's Engineering department, are doing the best they can to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring here.

Straight from the Old School: The New DeLorean?

The LA Times said The DeLorean Motor Company (Texas) is planning on brining back those very cars in limited production.

Photo from Flickr/Creative Commons

(Insert Back to the Future groaner here)

Straight from the Old School, part one-point-five

I'm sure you remember the Internet in 1994.

But how about the Internet in 1995?



Of course you do. Or you at least were mailed those incompatible discs without permission

Straight from the old school, part two.

Last hockey season, I was the Swift Current Broncos' in-stand promotions guy for a few games. One of their many promotions is the Voth's Countrywide Call of the Night, in which a fan in attendance would win a 10-minute phone call to anywhere in Canada on one of the SaskTel Mobility phones they sell. One time, the phone they used was a Palm Trēo. Now, even though it is a phone I could never possibly afford at this time, I must say, I would someday like one of my own.

Well, just the other day, my boss gave me his old Palm Pilot


You may now address me as Mister Hollywood.

Straight from the old school...

Remember what the Internet was like in 1994?



Did you even know the Internet was available in 1994?

Me neither.

Look what they're making again...

Don't tell me you don't remember that.

You can get it in town at Pharmasave

Yes, That was Sam the Record Man

The iconic Sam the Record Man flagship store on Younge Street in Toronto. Taken by me in 2001

Very sad news for music retail. The Sam the Record Man flagship store in downtown Toronto is closing for good on June 30. Changing times, new technology, and declining CD sales are contributing to the decision.

I can't help but feel sad for this. I live nowhere near Toronto, but I have previously seen the store up close on a day of sightseeing in that city back in 2001 (It was on a walk from Front and Simcoe to the Eaton Centre). In hindsight, I feel deeply ashamed that I never went inside that store (it was in trouble then, too) at that particular time. I did go to one of their chain stores, there was one in Saskatoon at Midtown Plaza, a long time ago when they had more than three locations, but I would know that is nothing like the original store, without stepping inside it myself.

Looking up articles about the closure, I found some interesting details. The store was only 40,000ft², but carried 400,000 titles. Sam Sniderman, the gent who founded the store, gave unsigned artists space in his store to sell their music. He was also responsible for pushing CanCon regulations for broadcasters, earning him the Order of Canada, and the respect of musicians throughout the country.

If you live in Toronto, or can get there before the close of business today, Sam's holding an auction of the store's memorabilia, including posters, signs and other collectables, today at the Younge Street store. The only things not for sale are the large neon signs up on the front of the store. Those are being protected by the City of Toronto, and will stay where they are from now on.

Old news, but still relevant...

A couple of Sundays ago (during the May long weekend), CBC ran a documentary celebrating the 24th anniversary of Bob and Doug MacKenzie's Strange Brew, a movie that I own, and have watched and enjoyed multiple times (I also watched it that same evening). Now during that documentary, they showed the press surrounding the film's release, and a movie review from Bill Casselman, who at that time was on The Journal.

The excerpt, posted by CBC, can be seen below. The only thing I can say about is, Bill, Barbara Frum woulda liked it.



By the way, if you missed that documentary, you missed 60 minutes of great television. Hopefully they release it on DVD soon.