What started as a crappy football game turned out to be the best Super Bowl ever!
Photo from tsn.ca
I wonder what kind of champagne Don Shula's drinking now?
Extra note: the game was broadcast in Canada on CTV. In Manitoba west through to Alberta, the Grey Cup episode of Corner Gas aired right after the Super Bowl coverage ended. Whoever runs programming for that network is a genius.
Australia thinks so.
Photo from Flickr/Creative Commons
All because of our cold winters, dangerous driving conditions during winter, the general worldwide threat of terrorism, and the possibility of spontaneous forest fires.
Meanwhile, our foreign affairs ministry names intense sunshine, pickpocketers and public protests as the only things wrong with Australia. For some reason they disregard the large crocodiles, poisonous snakes, and Mel Gibson.
Look at the new guy! - Photo from the Leader-PostIt appears the upcoming regular season of the National Lacrosse League may be cancelled if a labour dispute is not settled before midnight EDT tonight.
I seriously did not know anything about it until today
I guess some people (you know who you are), didn't know nor care about the NHL's labour troubles back a few years ago, and some of those people were probably lacrosse fans. Guess what, us hockey fans are returning those sentiments
Yesterday morning, one of the biggest power outages in 20 years hit southern Saskatchewan, including the cities of Regina, Moose Jaw and Swift Current.
Yet, my apartment in Swift Current didn't lose power at all.
I guess that makes up for the 18-hour outage back in the summer, doesn't it. My place really cannot lose power again after that.
Heard - Discussing the devestating wildfires in Greece, one of my co-workers told me that "It's hard to put out a Greece fire" If it's any consolation, I agree it's too soon
Read - Looking up the Wikipedia entry for Havre, MT, I discovered many travellers get to Havre, then Turner, but can never make it to Climax.
Seen - Leno's dollar-store shopping spree
Seen and Heard - will.i.am - I Got it From My Mama
Read - This headline from Yahoo! Canada on Friday
The irony is about as delicious as a less hazardous chocolate cookie
Honourable Mention: Heard - You remember that old SNL sketch with Mike Myers, who plays a proprietor of a store called "All Things Scottish"? Well imagine a 9-year-old kid towing bagpipes spouting the famous line from that sketch on a TV news report.
It happened, on Global Calgary Friday night
According to southwesttvnews.com, Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation and the University of Regina did a study of noise levels and the amount of traffic on highway 4, which runs north and south from Swift Current, because someone complained. The guy said the amount of noise and traffic is affecting backyard activities on his property adjacent to the highway.
Now, if I was living there (I don't), maybe I would have a problem with it too. But I don't think I would call the government on it myself. I would ask the city first to do that for me. However, the city has many priorities for that highway (drive there, you will know) before erecting a soundwall to reduce the noise.
I live under a major street downtown next to the railway, and I don't like being awaken at 3:00am by some lunatic going 100 down the street, or the commotion made by the trains, but there's little I think I can do about it.
Wait, maybe that's what the cable I was driving back and forth on the highway was for. I think should tell the department it's faulty.
A lot of American money. Photo from Flickr/Creative Commons
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty addresses the people of Minneapolis. Captured from CBS Minneapolis/St.PaulA 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.
cbc.ca posted the results of a survey done by BMO Bank of Montreal Mosaik MasterCard about tipping etiquette. It seems that Canadians leave less than the recommended 15% to workers of food service, taxi service, and beauty salons.
-Pizza and food delivery people (40 per cent of Canadians tip under 15 per cent).
-Taxi and limo drivers (40 per cent of Canadians tip under 15 per cent).
-People who offer manicures, pedicures, facials and waxing (only 13 per cent of Canadians tip higher than 15 per cent).
-Hair stylists (12 per cent of Canadians leave nothing; 30 per cent of Canadians tip less than 15 per cent).
-Hair salon owners (54 per cent of Canadians will not tip).
A WWII aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Wisconsin. Despite being near an airport, the desperate pilot decided to use the highway.
Chaos ensues.
Video from abc Boston's official YouTube Channel
No one got hurt, and only the right wing of the plane was damaged. Not sure if that State Trooper is still out of breath after running down that car.
Just to clear something up, first of all, I don't get any TV channels from Detroit on my digital service (that was explained yesterday, I was watching TV on the analogue connection at work). All of my US stations come from either Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, or Seattle. In the off-chance I am actually watching the local news on either of those stations, there are some good stories. Just a few days ago on abc Boston, they reported on this story (posted on their official YouTube channel)
Maybe the homeowner called in a favour to the firemen to install a skylight in his attic. I don't know, I wasn't there.
I got three pieces of mail yesterday, all of them from SaskTel. My service bill, the Max Update newsletter, and the SaskTel Mobility Air Times
Good news, SaskTel is improving digital cellular service in 39 communities, among them, the town of Shanavon.
I wonder where that is.
A Motorola Black RAZR. It was either that or pink at SaskTel.Some sad news today. Gus Wickstrom, the farmer from Tompkins who can accurately predict the weather for half a year by gnawing on a pig's spleen, has passed away last night from pneumonia. His public funeral is at the Tompkins Hall tomorrow afternoon.
CTV Regina reports on it
I have said before that it takes raw talent and, I daresay, guts to do something like this, and the Planet has lost a brilliant and creative man.
I can only say now, he is up there with his juicy pig spleens forecasting the weather in Heaven, where it's fair and sunny every single day.
Edited at 7:49am on June 7, 2007: A report on the memorial service and reaction from the community of Tompkins can be found at southwesttvnews.com on the June 6 newscast
