Welcome to Number 16, the fun website that focuses on words, language and literature. It also contains quizzes and opinion pieces. Number 16 is named after my favourite number. I am Joanne Madden and I'm from Toronto, Canada. To find out what I have written on any topic, use the search box directly below. For TV trivia, please check my other website, TV Banter (www.tvbanter.net).
Torontonians are not known for giving themselves a pat on the back. We have a reputation for being highly critical of ourselves and quick to find fault with our city. We can hardly believe it when we do something well. Therefore, it was somewhat of a shock to us that the 2015 Toronto Pan American Games turned out to be such a success. We were fine hosts, if I do say so myself.
Last Sunday afternoon, on the last day of the games, I strolled around City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square, enjoying the beautiful summer weather and all that sunshine. I saw the "TORONTO" sign and listened to some steel band music (By the way, I think the "TORONTO" sign should remain. It is lively and colourful. It has the potential be a great landmark for the city). Oh yes, and just so you won't think I'm only focused on Toronto, I must say that Hamilton and other locations in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe deserve congratulations for their efforts.
Here are some photos from Sunday afternoon. I hope you enjoy them.
Pope Francis' extraordinary encyclical letter on the environment, entitled Laudato Si' (Praise Be to You), was published on June 18, 2015. The pope's critique on climate change and consumerism has caused a stir, receiving both approval and condemnation. Here are some excerpts from Laudato Si', which is subtitled On care for our common home. We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels - especially coal, but also oil and, to a lessee degree, gas - needs to be progressively replaced without delay. (paragraph 136)
Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence. nor convey their message to us. We have no such right. (paragraph 33)
A technology severed from ethics will not easily be able to limit its own power. (paragraph 136)
Men and women of our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today's self-centred culture of instant gratification. (paragraph 162)
Not surprisingly, the most vigorous opposition to the papal encyclical has come from conservative Republicans in the United States.
Jeb Bush
I hope I’m not going to get castigated for saying this by my priest back home, but I don’t get economic policy from my bishops or my cardinal or my pope. I think religion ought to be about making us better as people and less about things that end up getting in the political realm.” - Jeb Bush
Rick Sartorum
. . . the church has gotten it wrong a few times on science, and I think that we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists and focusing on what we do – what we’re really good at, which is – which is theology and morality.” - Rick Samtorum
IS CLIMATE CHANGE A MORAL ISSUE?
Exponents of religions are most appreciated when they're deemed to be irrelevant. As long as they stick to rituals and officiate at life-cycle events they can count on popular support. But when they criticize the injustices of their day by articulating their religious convictions they're likely to be accused of meddling in politics. - Dow Marmur, rabbi emeritus at Holly Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada Toronto Star, July 20, 2015
Is climate change a moral issue? Well, first of all, let us define "moral." According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, moral is an adjective and it means "concerning or relating to what is right or wrong in human behaviour." By that definition, climate change is one of the most important moral issues of our time. Human behaviour with regard to the environment is absolutely a matter of ethics.
It is simply not right and not just to destroy the planet's ecosystem. The suffering and the destruction wrought by pollution and greenhouse gases is truly unconscionable. It is immoral to leave such a legacy to future generations.
Global warming and climate change are very real. The evidence is overwhelming. Almost every day, the news is filled with stories of floods, forest fires, heat waves and erratic weather conditions. Species are disappearing and the Arctic ice is melting at an alarming right. In January, the state of California faced a drought of such unprecedented severity that Governor Jerry Brown declared a State of Emergency. State officials were instructed to to make all necessary preparations for water shortages. In May of this year, an intense heat wave hit India, resulting in 2,330 deaths as of June 2, 2015 (according to report by CNN).
Humans, by their use of fossil fuels, have greatly contributed to climate change. The proliferation of climate change refugees is a sad commentary on the early 21st century. Unfortunately, the oil industry and right-wing thinkers can't or won't see the truth. U.S. Tea Party Republicans continue to deny climate change. Conservatives here in Canada, especially our own prime minister, Stephen Harper, consider the environment a bothersome topic. It is an impediment that they would prefer to sweep under a rug. That is why Harper has muzzled scientists and scorned "radical environmentalists."
In the United States, Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum, both Republican presidential candidates and both Catholics, were highly critical of Pope Francis' encyclical. In essence, they told the pontiff to mind his own business, although, of course, they used more diplomatic language. In his first official day on the presidential campaign, Bush declared at a town hall event in New Hampshire that Pope Francis should not involve himself in global affairs.
The energy industry also wasted no time in expressing its disapproval of the pope's encyclical. On June 17, 2015, prior to the release of Laudato Si', Tom Altmeyer, a lobbyist for Arch Coal, one of America’s largest coal mining companies, sent an email to the U.S. Congress. The email chastised the spiritual leader of the world's Roman Catholics for failing to promote fossil fuels as a solution to "global energy poverty."
In a June 7, 2015 interview on Fox News Sunday, Rick Santorum discussed climate change with journalist Chris Wallace, Wallace questioned him about the extent of the pope's moral authority with regard to climate change. The former Pennsylvania senator replied, ""that's important but I think there are more pressing problems confronting the earth than climate change."
When Santorum dismissed climate change as a problem not worthy of the pope's most urgent consideration, Wallace challenged him fiercely. "If the pope can't talk about climate change." he asked, "why can you?" In response to Santorum's decree that science should be left to the scientists, Wallace pointed out that neither was Santorum a scientist.
Actually, Pope Francis has more claim to a scientific background than Rick Santorum. According to a June 3, 2015 article in the National Catholic Reporter, Francis (then known as Jorge Bergoglio), studied chemistry and worked as a chemist before entering the seminary, although he does not hold Master's degree in chemistry as some press sources have stated. The article, by Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese, author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church, states that Bergoglio graduated with "título in chemistry from the Escuela Técnica Industrial No. 12*, which is a state-run technical secondary school in Argentina (in the Argentine system titulo is the same term used for a secondary diploma or a university degree).
The Catholic Church, of course, does not have a spotless record in matters of science. For example, take the the case of 17th century astronomer/physicist Galileo Galilei. The Italian was persecuted for subscribing to the Copernican theory of the solar system (that the planets orbit the sun. not the earth). It was not until October 31 1992, after a 13-year investigation, that the church, under Pope John Paul II, formally pardoned Galileo of any wrongdoing and finally acknowledged its grievous error with regard to its treatment of him . This time, however, Pope Francis is on the right side of history. The Republican Flat Earth Society and other climate change deniers are woefully mistaken. There is more than enough scientific evidence to prove them wrong. It's just that the evidence is not convenient for them. It does not fit their right wing political agenda.
When the pope speaks about climate change and its effects on the most vulnerable people in the poorest countries, he has every right to do so. Indeed, it would be a dereliction of his duty as a spiritual leader if he failed to condemn environmental degradation or lend his support to the impoverished masses. Francis made it clear in his encyclical, that he was not only speaking to his Catholic faithful, but that he was addressing all of humanity, believers and non-believers alike.
END NOTE
On September 24, 2015, Pope Francis is scheduled to become the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to address a joint session of the United States Congress. According to BBC News, about one third of the members of Congress are Catholic, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican John Boehner, and minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat. Given that the Republicans have control of both the House and the Senate, the pope's speech should be extremely interesting.
The 86th Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be held today. The 2015 festivities, hosted by the Cincinnati Reds and the City of Cincinnati, will soon be underway at the Great American Ball Park. It seem most appropriate, therefore, to take a trip back in time to the very first All-Star Game. So let's do it!
Baseball fans, it is July 6, 1933 and we are headed to Comiskey Park in Chicago Illinois to watch the "Game of the Century," as it is being billed. Before we arrive, though, here is some background information that you should really know.
* If you think times are tough now, remember that we are in the depths of The Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt has just become President of the United States with promises of better days ahead and a New Deal for the Forgotten Man. Remember that in the early 1930s, baseball served as a welcome distraction in the midst of terrible hardship and economic turmoil.
* You'll notice that "The Century of Progress Exposition" is being held in Chicago during this summer of 1933. Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly had wanted to arrange a sporting event to coincide with the World's Fair, so he shared his idea with Col. Robert McCormick, the publisher of the Chicago Tribune. McCormick immediately called upon Arch Ward, the Tribune's sports editor, for his input on the matter. Ward suggested a matchup between the best players in baseball - the American League versus the National League. The sports editor became the driving force in establishing this inaugural All-Star game. He diplomatically persuaded the AL and NL owners and Major League Baseball itself to accept his idea.
Arch Ward
By the 1930's, baseball had already established itself as America's favorite pastime and the national exposition provided the perfect stage to introduce baseball's best to the rest of the country. Many did not believe that a contest of this magnitude could possibly live up to the fan's expectations, especially for those who lived in the far western states and had never been to a major league baseball game. - Baseball Almanac website
In the end, Arch’s one “Dream Game” idea was approved by Major League Baseball largely thanks to the economy. As a by product of the Great Depression, with the player salaries cut back, the proposed game was more attractive to the owners and Commissioner (Kennesaw Mountain) Landis. All parties agreed the game would be played shortly after Independence Day, as western teams would be travelling east on their schedule, and vice-versa. A rainout date was scheduled for the following day.
- Eric Aron
TTF Baseball, June 30, 2013
We've arrived at the ball park. Here is your ticket to the big game! Let's buy some popcorn and then we'll take our place in the stands. We'll join the capacity crowd of 47,495 (according to the Chicago Tribune) to watch the American League Stars take on the National League. Weather conditions are ideal in the Windy City this afternoon, so let's enjoy the game!
Now that you've settled in your seat, take a look at your program. You will notice that Connie Mack is the manager of the American League All-Stars and John McGraw is the manager of the National League All-Stars. McGraw has come out of retirement to manage the NL team (This was the only All-Star managerial appearance for those two Hall of Fame managers).
Mack (left) and McGraw at 1993 All-Star Game
The pitching matchup is a battle of southpaws. Left-handed pitcher "Wild Bill" Hallahan of the St. Louis Cardinals, takes the mound for the National League. Lefty Gomez of the New York Yankees is the starting pitcher for the American League.
Look at the rosters for both teams. What a line-up of sluggers! The American League side.includes famed Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig, future Hall of Famer Jimmie Fox of the Boston Red Sox, outfielder Al Simmons of the Chicago White Sox and the legendary George Herman "Babe" Ruth of the New York Yankees.
Let's face it though, we are more excited about seeing The Babe than any other player on the field. Even the National League pitcher agrees that the Sultan of Swat is the star attraction.
We wanted to see the Babe. Sure, he was old and had a big waistline, but that didn't make any difference. We were on the same field as Babe Ruth." - Wild Bill Hallahan
The American League takes an early lead, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning, It's 1-0 for the AL, but there is more to come.
It's the bottom of the third inning. Babe Ruth is at the plate. He may be 38 years old and considered past his prime, but The Bambino does not disappoint. He blasts the ball into the right-field stands, recording the first home run in All-Star history. The Babe's two-run homer puts the American League ahead by a score of 3-0.
In the top of the sixth inning, with two outs, second baseman Frankie Frisch of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a two-run homer deep to right field. Suddenly, the National League is on the board and the American League's lead is cut to 3-2. Frisch's homer, however, is too little, too late. The AL adds another run in the bottom of the seventh inning and the game ends in an AL victory by a a score of 4-2.
END NOTES:
* Although the 1933 All-Star Game was originally intended to be a one-time deal, an adjunct to the "The Century of Progress Exposition," it was so successful that it became a permanent annual fixture for Major League Baseball. The second All-Star Game was held on July 10, 1934 at the Polo Grounds in New York City, home of the New York Giants. * No, Babe Ruth was not selected as the "Most Valuable Player" of the 1933 All-Star Game. In fact, there was no M.V.P. Award until 1962,
* My hometown of Toronto, Canada, hosted the All-Star Game back in 1991. I will soon be time for Toronto to host the game again.
In the first Place, as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure . . .
- Benjamin Franklin, 1735
Conservatives would do well to heed the words of Benjamin Franklin, even though they were not written in a purely political context. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that Franklin's famous dictum was actually fire-fighting advice to the good citizens of Philadelphia.
In the 18th century, fires were a very serious concern to the people of the City of Brotherly Love. On February 4, 1735, an anonymous letter from an "old citizen" (Franklin) appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette. It was entitled "Protection of Towns from Fire" and it began with the well-known warning about the importance of prevention, Today we would call it "being proactive."
It may be unfathomable from a 20th century perspective, but the great American statesman really had to be persuasive in his letter concerning fire protection. However, as Daniel Kiel pt it in his research paper, An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: Reframing the Debate About Law School Affirmative Action.(Denver University Law Review, Vol. 88, p. 791, 2010), "That it was difficult to convince colonial Philadelphians that a group committed to firefighting was a good idea is hard to imagine, but Franklin had to advocate for the creation of just such a group for some time. In one submission to a local newspaper, Frankline argued that prevention of a catastrophic city-wide fire was certainly preferable to rebuilding a burned city from scratch."
Benjamin Franklin was not merely a man of words. He was unequivocally a man of action and he worked tirelessly to bring about that "ounce of prevention." In 1736, he helped to organize Philadelphia's Union Fire Company, the first of its kind n the city. In 1752, he helped to found the Philadelphia Contribution for Insurance Against Loss by Fire so that those with an insurance policy would not have to face financial ruin if their homes were damaged or burned to the ground.
Can you imagine such a man as Franklin wanting to repeal the Affordable Heath Care Act (commonly known as "Obamacare")? Speaking of the much-maligned "Obamacare," here are some facts, according to a tracking survey released on July 10, 2015 by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
* The sharp decrease in the number of Americans without health coverage continues. It has reached a seven-year low. In the second quarter of 2015, 11.4 percent of adults lacked some kind of health insurance, a half-percentage point drop from the prior quarter,
* The uninsured rate has plummeted almost six percentage points since the Affordable Health Care Act took effect in late 2013.
That is all good news, my friends, despite what the GOP says. It's much better to prevent an illness from happening than to treat its symptoms.
For example, it seems that conservatives would rather build prisons than alleviate some of the major causes of crime. Isn't it more logical to spend taxpayers money on programs that eliminate poverty and illiteracy than on jails that breed more crime. I am certainly not advocating that dangerous criminals should not be incarcerated for the protection of the public. I'm just saying that more money should be invested in preventing crime before it happens. More money should be invested in health care and health insurance before illnesses occur.
After enjoying the benefits of Obamacare, how many Americans would want to give it up now and become uninsured again? Not very many, I'd venture to say. Why would anyone want to risk financial devastation if they or a family member should develop a serious health condition?
How many colonial Philadelphians would have given up fire protection and fire insurance once they had experienced its advantages. Not many, I'd venture to say. I'd also venture to say that the Republicans are on the wrong side of history. Why do they insist on spending more money and fighting the disease rather than in preventing its outbreak in the first place?
Remember Joey Travolta? He's John's brother and he had his moment in the sun back in the late 1970s. However, if you think he's just s younger sibling who took advantage of his brother's fame for awhile, that's not exactly the case. First of all, Joey is more than three year's older than John, the baby of the family. Secondly, although Joey's singing career was rather brief, he has continued working as an actor, producer, director and screenwriter with a considerable measure of success.
"Nobody can confuse Johnny and me. We're as different as night and day," Joey told People magazine in 1979 ("Showbiz is Congenital, and Joey Travolta's Enjoying his First Swig," by Lois Armstrong). Of the benefits of having a famous brother, he was quite forthright. "People will take a look at you - that's the advantage," he declared. "But a record won't sell just because your name is Travolta . . . I have to make it on my own."
Joseph "Joey" Travolta was born in Englewood, New Jersey on October 14, 1950, one of the six children of Salvatore (Sam) Travolta (1913-1995), a second generation Italian American, and Helen Cecilia Burke (1912-1978), an American of Irish descent. Sam was a semi-professional football player turned tire salesman. He and a partnerr were owners of a shop called Travolta Tire Exchange in Hillsdale, New Jersey, near Englewood. Helen was an actress and singer. She appeared with The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, before becoming a high school English and drama teacher.
Sam and Helen Travolta wedding photo
Helen Burke Travolta
Travolta Tire Exhange
The Travolta family is a show
business family. Joey's older sister, Ellen (born October 6, 1940), is a
veteran actress and longtime theatre performer. She is best known for her
television appearances as Scott Baio's mother on Joanie Loves
Chachi and Charles in Charge. John, of course,
achieved superstardom with Welcome Back, Kotter, Saturday
Night Fever and Grease. The other siblings, Margaret
Travolta, Sam Travolta and Ann Travolta, are also actors. Margaret is known for
her appearances in such filmsas Catch Me If You Can (2002), High
Fidelity (2000) and Enchanted (2007). Ann
appeared in three of John's movies: Saturday Night Fever (1977), Urban
Cowboy (1980) and Swordfish (2001). Sam also
performed in Swordfish as well as Wild Hogs (2007)
and Old Dogs (2009).
In a 2006 interview on the "Wrong Planet" website, Joey expressed these thoughts on being a member of an entertainment clan.
It was great, it was great growing up in a show biz family, you know you just, it was what my family did, so I was in it and around it, I didn’t choose to go back down that path until later because I promised my father I would get a degree and I ended up with a special Ed degree which I did use my acting, my whole philosophy of teaching if kids would listen to me for five hours, if you can make your lesson plan entertaining and perform it then you have something, you will keep their attention and they can be educated at the same so I didn’t really teach, I performed.
Joey Travolta is a graduate of Paterson State College, now William Paterson University of New Jersey, where he earned a degree in special education. His first career was teaching special-needs students in his native New Jersey. He began his professional singing career in 1978 with the release of the album "Joey Travolta" for Casablanca Records. He recorded two other albums, "I Can't Forget You" (1979) and "Hold On" (1984) and enjoyed a few hit singles including "I Don't Wanna Go" and "If This is Love."
During the heyday of Joey Travolta's singing career, he appeared on popular variety shows such as American Bandstand and Donny and Marie. In 1978, he was interviewed by American Bandstand host Dick Clark. On Donmy and Marie Osmond's show, he sang "I Don't Wanna Go."
Dick Clark interviewing Joey on American Bandstand
Below is a rare video of Joey singing "I Don't Wanna Go" on The Mike Douglas Show, circa 1979. Comedian Jerry Lewis was Mike's co-host that particular week and appears briefly on the recording.
Joey made his feature film debut in Sunnyside, a 1979 movie in which he played Nick Martin, a gang leader who dreams of a better life. Nick wants to escape from his rough, violence-ridden neighbourhood, along with his girlfriend, Donna Rosario, played Stacey Pickren.
It was impossible for Joey to avoid comparisons to his famous younger brother, as evidenced by the following excerpt from a June 2, 1979 New York Times review of Sunnyside by Janet Maslin. Joey Travolta, an older brother of John, has the family smile, the family walk, the family haircut and the family derrière. He may also have some portion of the family acting talent, but a movie like "Sunnyside" - designed almost entirely to capitalize on Mr. Travolta's resemblance to his brother -makes it hard to hazard a guess. He's a lot more appealing than his surroundings. But these are so dismal that almost anything would look bright by comparison.
Joey portrayed a character named Ace in the 1991 Sylvestor Stallone crime comedy Oscar. He also played Giolito in the 1994 crime/comedy/action film Beverly Hill Cop III, staring Eddie Murphy.
Joey in Beverly Hills Cop III
As the 1990s progressed, Joey Travolta began to focus primarily on writing, directing and producing. With the release of Hard Vice (also known as VegasVice) in 1994, Joey made his directorial debut. He also co-wrote the film, a crime thriller starring Shannon Tweed and Sam J. Jones.
Joey's credits as a director include a full length motion picture called Enemies of Laughter and a television movie entitled Partners. Enemies of Laughter, released in 2000, is a a critically acclaimed comedy/romance starring David Paymer, Judge Reinhold, Rosalind Chao and Peter Falk. It tells the story of a playwright (Paymer) whose romantic interest (Chao) urges him to stage a play he would rather forget. Partners is a crime comedy featuring Casper Van Dien, David Paymer and Vanessa Angel. It aired in 2000.
Joey's television acting credits include a 1982 guest starring role Simon & Simon. He appeared in an episode of the series entitled "The Hottest Ticket in Town" (Season 1, Episode 7, Air Date: January 12, 1982). From 1999 to 2000, Travolta was featured regularly on Movie Stars, a sitcom on the WB network starring Harry Hamilin and Jennifer Grant.
In addition to his film and television activities, Travolta has performed in theatre productions of West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, and Guys and Dolls.
However, Joey's true passion has been his work with the developmentally disabled. He has been a tireless advocate for people with autism and has devoted a great deal of his life to that cause. His own nephew, the late Jett Travolta, was autistic. On January 2, 2009, Jett, the son of John Travolta and actress Kelly Preston, died of a seizure during a family vacation in the Bahamas.
Joey travels with his production crew and sets up summer camps which allow autistic children and teens to create films He produced a feature-length documentary called Normal People Scare Me, about how those with autism view the world. The film shares first-person acounts from children, teens and adults who live with various levels of autism. Created by talented autistic filmmaker Taylor Cross at the age of 17, Normal People Scare Me was released on April 1, 2006.
In 2006, Joey Travolta founded a company, Inclusion Films, which serves as a film workshop for adults with such developmental disabilities cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome and autism. With facilities in Burbank California, Bakersfield, California, Livermore, California and Sacramento, California, Inclusion Films trains special-needs students in the fundamentals of filmmaking and helps them find employment in the industry or in some other field. Stidemts are taught a wide range of skills including script writing, building sets and using film and editing equipment.
In a December 28, 2011 article on Inclusion Films in the Los Angeles Times by Richard Verrier, Joey stated, "The filmmaking process is a great teaching tool about life, A lot of our students aren't going to be filmmakers and may never work in the film business, but they are going to be able to go into the workplace and have a sense of what it's like to be on the job. This builds their self-confidence."
Joey Travolta
END NOTES
* Helen Travolta died in a Los Angeles hospital on December 3, 1978, reportedly of cancer. She was 66 years old at the time of her passing. Her husband, Sam, died in May of 1995.
On May 3, 1980, Joey Travolta married actress Wendy Shawn, the daughter of the late comedian Dick Shawn (1923-1987). The wedding reception took place at the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Joey and Wendy have one child, a daughter named Rachel. Rachel Travolta is currently employed as a marketing manager at HotelTonight in San Francisco.
As timepieces go, the Jura clock in Quebec City is a masterwork – a ticking monument of titanium, sapphire and legendary Swiss expertise. - Ingrid Peritz The Globe and Mail (April 15, 2015)
Quebec City is very beautiful in the month of June. I've just returned from a visit there. During my stay, I had the pleasure of viewing the magnificent clock in the heart of the Old City, next to City Hall. The $2.4 million timepiece is the creation of Richard Mille, a French businessman and founder of a luxury brand of Swiss watches. It is a gift from the Swiss Republic and the Canton of Jura to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City, It serves as a reminder of the friendship between the two places.
The original plan was to place the clock inside the municipal library, but the city decided to move it outside instead. The change to an outdoor location meant that the clock had to be protected from the elements and from extreme temperatures. Thus, it was placed in a $500,000 temperature-controlled glass enclosure.
In September of 2014, the clock was displayed for the first time before a gathering of Swiss and Quebec City notables, Its proud creator, Richard Mille, called it "Quebec City's Big Ben." The giant two-sided clock is billed as "A work of art and a masterpiece of precision." In an increasingly digital world, it is entirely mechanical.
The truth is that although the Swiss clock has great artistic merit, it has not exactly been a "masterpiece of precision" thus far. In fact, it has been the butt of some jokes because of its inaccuracy. Not long after its installation, one side of the two-faced clock was out of sync with the other. A replacement hand had to be sent from Switzerland. In April, it was discovered that both sides of the clock were running six minutes fast. A technical director at Richard Mille has stated that proper adjustments will be finalized.
The clock includes a perpetual calendar, An electromagnetic system helps ensure the calendar's operation by accounting for leap years.
Note that the building behind the glass enclosure is City Hall. The perpetual clock shows that these photos were taken on June 6, 2015.
Here are some facts about the Richard Mille clock from Quebec City's website.
Height:
3,5 metres (11.4828 feet) Weight:
1,913 kg (almost 2 tons) Development time:
6,571 hours Assembly time :
3,952 hours Number of parts:
5,451 Temperature of the glass cage:
Approximately 22 degrees Celsius (71,6 degrees Fahrenheit) Inspections of the mechanism:
Twice yearly
Some other sights in Quebec City
Plaque du monument des Frères Éducateurs
A Quebec City monument that caught my eye is the Monument aux Frères éducateurs. It is located near City Hall gardens and pays tribute to the Teaching Brothers.
The Celtic Cross
Below is a photo of the Celtic cross that is located in Artillery Park on McMahon Street in Quebec City. It is the property of Irish Heritage Quebec which uses its image as its logo. Th cross is a gift from Ireland to the people of Quebec in recognition of their generosity and hospitality during the Great Migration caused by the potato famine of the 19th century. It was donated by Irish philanthropist James Callery and stands at the site of the first Irish parish in Canada.
Although our political views are diametrically opposed, Ted Cruz and I have one thing in common. We were both born in Canada, albeit in different parts of the country. That's one reason why I have been following his political career with the keenest of interest. Another is that I am curious to see the extent to which the American people would support a Tea Party favourite who holds extreme right-wing views.
Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta on December 22, 1970, where his parents were involved in the Alberta oil business (They owned a seismic data company for oil drillers). Ted's father, Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, was born in Cuba in 1939 and was originally a supporter of Fidel Castro's bid to overthrow the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Rafael later became a steadfast opponent of Castro and was forced to flee Cuba. He ended up in Austin, Texas where he graduated with a degree in mathematics at the University of Texas.
Cruz's mother, Eleanor Elizabeth Darragh Wilson, is a native of Wilmington, Delaware and is of Italian and Irish descent. She earned a degree in mathematics from Rice University in Austin Texas and worked as a commuter programmer at Shell Oil.
The Cruz family remained in Canada until 1974 when the price of oil slumped. Ted's parents sold their company and returned to Houston with their young son. After attending the Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas, Ted graduated from Second Baptist High School in Houston. He then studied at Princeton University where he graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from the prestigious Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
After his graduation from Princeton, Cruz entered Harvard Law School where he graduated in 1995 with a Juris Doctor degree. He then worked as a law clerk for J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and later for William Rehnquist, then-Chief Justice of the United States. After completing his clerkship in 1997, the young lawyer went into private practice with the firm of Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal.
In 2001, Cruz married California-born Heidi Suzanne Nelson. Born August 7, 1972, Heidi is the daughter of Seventh-day Adventists. As a child, she lived in Kenya and Nigeria with her missionary parents. Her educational background is quite impressive. She graduated from Harvard Business School with an M.B.A. and has a a Masters of European Business from Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, Belgium. She met Ted Cruz in Austin, Texas in 2000 when they were both policy aides on George W. Bush's presidential campaign. The couple has two young daughters: Caroline (born 2008) and Catherine (born 2011).
When George W. Bush assumed the office of the presidency in 2001, Ted Cruz became the associate deputy attorney in the United States Justice Department.and director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. He decided to return to Texas, however, and served as the state's Solicitor General from January 9, 2003 until May 12, 2008. Cruz was appointed to the office by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and was responsible for dealing with the state's appellate cases, including those headed for the Supreme Court. According to an article by Tim Murphy in the November/December 2012 issue of Mother Jones, "Most of the cases Cruz argued before the Supreme Court shared a common theme - Texas' constitutional right to do as it pleases, free from Washington's meddling."
After leaving his position as Solicitor General of Texas, Cruz returned to private law practice in Houston. In 2005, Heidi Cruz joined New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. In 2012, she was promoted to managing director, the company's second-highest rank. She works as regional head of Goldman Sachs Houston office in the private wealth- management unit. Her clients are families and individuals who have an average net worth of $40 million.
On November 6, 2012, Ted Cruz was elected to the United States Senate, representing Texas. On March 23, 2015, he announced that he would be seeking the Republican nomination for president of the United States. About twenty minutes into his speech, he made the first solid promise of his campaign. He said , "(I) imagine in 2017, a new president signing legislation repealing every word of Obamacare."
The very next day, candidate Cruz revealed that he'd be signing up for Obamacare himself. Heidi,Cruz had taken a leave of absence from her job at Goldman Sachs to help her husband with his presidential campaign. That meant that Ted would no longer be covered by his spouse's Goldman Sachs health insurance plan. “We’ll be getting new health insurance and we’ll presumably do it through my job with the Senate, and so we’ll be on the federal exchange with millions of others on the federal exchange,” Cruz said. When questioned as to whether he would accept the government contribution available to lawmakers and congressional staffers through the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare), he replied that he intended to "follow the text of the law."
Ted and Heidi Cruz
All I can say is it would be a disaster (except for the wealthiest one per cent of Americans) if Ted Cruz should ever win the 2016 presidential election.
Here's why:
* Senator Cruz has been on a mission to destroy Obamacare. In the autumn of 2013, Cruz made headlines when he spoke for 21 hours on the Senate floor to advocate for the defunding of the Affordable Health Care Act. Cruz's actions led the Republican Party's 16-day shutdown of the United States government. That shutdown, it should be remembered, cost the American economy an estimated $24 billion (according to the financial services company Standard & Poor's). Business leaders, including Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman Sach's chief executive (and Heidi Cruz's boss), travelled to Washington to caution lawmakers that they were jeopardizing the economic recovery if they did not raise the federal debt ceiling.
* Tea Party Ted has opposed and obstructed such beneficial measures as raising the minimum wage and immigration reform. In April of 2014, he was one of the GOP senators who voted against legislation that would have made it easier for U.S, women to secure equal pay for work of equal value. There were 53 Senate votes in favour of the legislation, just seven short of the 60 required for the legislation to pass.
* Cruz advocates giving substantial tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, at the expense of ordinary working Americans. If you wish to increase the growing gap between the haves and have-nots, Ted Cruz is your man.
* Senator Cruz is a climate change denier. If you are the least concerned about the environment and the devastating effects of green house gases, Ted Cruz is definitely not your man. On March 18, 2005, Senator Cruz made the following comment to late-night television host Seth Meyers.
I just came back from New Hampshire where there's snow and ice everywhere. And my view is actually simple. Debates on this should follow science and should follow data. And many of the alarmists on global warming, they've got a problem because the science doesn't back them up. And in particular, satellite data demonstrate for the last 17 years there's been zero warming, none whatsoever. It's why, you remember how it used to be called global warming, and then magically the theory changed to climate.change.
Where do I start? I could write pages and pages debunking Ted Cruz's climate change theories. How can a man with an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School make such a ridiculous statement? How can he be credible when he uses the example of some snowy weather in New Hampshire to dismiss climate change? Cruz has earned business and law degrees, but his scientific knowledge leaves something to be desired. Kevin Trenberth, a prominent climate scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, disagreed with everything it Cruz's statement except that debates about climate change should follow science and data. Trenberth referred to the rest of the senator's remarks as "a load of claptrap . . . absolute bunk."
Other climate scientists were also highly critical of Cruz's analysis. Ben Santer, a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, said that "Lawmakers have a responsibility to understand the science, and not to embrace ignorance with open arms, as Senator Cruz is doing here,” Contrary to what Cruz says, the satellite record does show evidence of a warming trend, It is very unfortunate that this staunch climate change denier oversees NASA. In January of this year, due to the Republican majority in the Senate, Cruz was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness.
* Ted Cruz is a poster boy for the powerful National Rife Association and he has a Wild West mentality where guns are concerned. He has consistently opposed gun restrictions and was honoured by the NRA in a 2008 resolution thanking him for leading the States in a Washington, D.C. gun case before the U.S, Supreme Court. The NRA praised Cruz, declaring that his "efforts made this victory for the American people possible."
On April 16, 2015, Cruz sent an email to his supporters. The email read:
The Second Amendment to the Constitution isn't for just protecting hunting rights, and it's not only to safeguard to target practice. It's a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check as political tyranny - for the protection of liberty.
Will someone please inform Senator Cruz that this is not the 18th century when there were threats against the young American republic. Will someone please tell him that gun control does not mean preventing law-abiding people of sound mental health from hunting and target shooting if they so desire? So what if hunters and target shooters have to face more checks and restrictions! Background checks are well worth the inconvenience if they save lives by keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals and psychopaths,
END NOTES
* Republicans have made quite an issue out of President Barack Obama's place of birth. They won't let the matter rest, even though his birth certificate clearly shows that he was born in Hawaii in 1961. It's their not-so-subtle way of insinuating that Obama is a foreigner and not a real American, despite the fact that he was born on American soil. Obama's father was born in Kenya and his mother was born in the stare of Kansas. Ted Cruz was born outside the United States to a Cuban father and an American-born mother; but what does it matter where they were born? Both men are American citizens and have lived most of their life in the United States? What rankles me is the double standard and the hypocrisy. Republicans and Obama haters have no problem with Cruz being born in a foreign country. However, they have hounded Barack Obama relentlessly about his place of birth.
In Canadian politics, place of birth is not an issue at all. A Canadian prime minister can be born anywhere on the planet.
* Of his ethnic and religious background, a December 20, 2012 editorial in the Dallas Morning News
states that Ted Cruz has joked that "I'm Cuban, Irish and Italian, and yet somehow I ended up Southern Baptist."
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ted Cruz is an unabashed Tea Party conservative. Would he make a good president of the United States? Absolutely not - unless your fondest wish is for America to be under the complete control of Wall Street, Big Oil and the National Rife Association. I just hope American voters remember who caused the recession of 2008 and the devastation it left behind.
Now that the celebration of Mother's Day is over for another year, let us quietly reflect on motherhood and the concept of Mother's Day. In Canada,, the United States, Australia, Brazil and many other countries, mother's are honoured on the second Sunday of May. The American Mother's Day holiday was first celebrated in 1908 when Anna Jarvis held a service at a church in West Virginia in memory of her beloved mother, Ann. Jarvis delivered 500 carnations, her mother's favourite flower, to that celebration. In 1910, Mother's Day was designated as an official holiday in the state of West Virginia. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day an official national holiday in the United.States.
As the years passed, Anna Jarvis, became increasingly disenchanted with the commercialization of Mother's Day. Much to her dismay, candy and greeting card companies, florists and restaurants began cashing in on the holiday. In 1923, she accused the Associated Retail Confectioners of "gouging the public." A New York Times story reported that told them that they were "using a beautiful idea as a means of profiteering." She was quoted as saying, "As the founder of Mother's Day, I demand that it cease. . . Mother's Day was not intended to be a source of commercial profit."
The idealistic Jarvis never intended Mother's Day to be a "Hallmark holiday." That was not what she had envisioned when she campaigned so vigourously for a day to pay homage to mothers. She wanted Mother's Day to be a dignified tribute to the mothers of the world, untainted by what she considered to be the crassness of commercialism. Her intention was that mothers would be honoured simply with white carnations and notes of appreciation. She died on November 24, 1948, bitterly opposed to her own creation. Ironically, she never had a child of her own.
Anna Jarvis
Unlike motherhood itself, the subject of Mother's Day can be a controversial. Some, like Anne Jarvis, deplore the commercialism associated with it. Others question whether there is a need for Mother's Day at all. They argue that we should pay tribute to mothers every single day of the year, not just on the second Sunday in May.
Some Quotations and Reflections about Mothers
My mother had a good deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.
- Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens 1835-1910 ), American writer and humourist
From Autobiography [1924]
The mother's yearning, that completest type of the life in another life which is the essence of real human love, feels the presence of the cherished child even in the debased, degraded man..
- George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans Cross 1819-1880), English novelist
From Adam Beale [1859]
All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
- Attributed to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) 16th President of the United States
According to George Alfred Townsend, author of The Real Life of Abraham Lincoln (1867), Lincoln made his comment about his "angel mother" to his law partner, William Herndonr. When he spoke those words, Lincoln could have been referring to his biological mother or his stepmother, perhaps even both.
Lincoln's natural mother, Nancy Hank Lincoln, died in 1818 when the future American president was only nine years old. In his May 9, 2014 article, "The Two Mothers Who Molded Lincoln," on the History Channel website, Christopher Klein makes the following statement: "Nancy Hanks Lincoln, who gave birth to the Great Emancipator on February 12, 1809, had instilled the virtues of honesty and compassion in her son and sowed the seeds of his intellectual curiosity."
On December 2, 1819, Araham Lincoln's father, Thomas, married Sarah "Sally" Bush Johnston, a widow with children with children of her own. Lincoln had a good relationship with his stepmother. In his book Abraham Lincoln (1952), Benjamin P. Thomas writes “The boy Abraham adored her. Recollection of his own mother dimmed. And in later years he called this woman, who filled her place so well, ‘my angel mother.’”
I will give the final word to the master of wit, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde. Over to you, Mr. Wilde.
All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.
- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish author, playwright and poet
From The Importance of Being Earnest [1895]
The earth does not argue, Is not pathetic, has no arrangements, Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, Makes no discrimination, has no conceivable failures, Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out. - Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet From "A Song of the Rolling Earth" [1881]
Today, April 22nd, marks the 45th annual celebration of Earth Day. Shown in the above photo is the Earth Day Flag. It was designed by the late John McConnell. McConnell, an American humanitarian and peace activist, died on October 20, 2012. At a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco in 1969, he proposed a day to honour the Earth and the notion of peace. It was to be celebrated on Mach 21st, the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
Below is a photo of him in front of his home in Denver, Colorado with his flag.
A second Earth Day was later established by the late United States Senator Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), a Wisonsin Democrat. It was first held on April 22, 1970. Below is a photo of Nelson addressing a crowd on the first Earth Day.
REFLECTIONS AND QUOTES ON EARTH DAY 2015
Theodore Roosevelt, the great conservationist
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty or its romance.
- Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 26th President of the United States
Theodore Roosevelt was an ardent conservationist. According to the U.S. National Museum of Forest Service History, he helped establish five national parks, 18 national monuments. and 150 National Forests. His gift to America was a tremendous legacy of 230 million acres of wildlife habitat conserved (84,000 acres for each day of his presidency).
In his "Confession of Faith Speech at the Progressive National Convention in Chicago, Illinois (August 6, 1912), Roosevelt declared, "There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country." How many candidates for the 2016 Republican nomination for president would speak those words, or anything similar today? Would Ted Cruz? How about Mario Rubio? Are you kidding! Republicans are more interested in denying the scientific evidence of climate change or playing down its importance. There are far too many echoes of Sarah Palin's infamous "Drill, baby, drill!"
Here is what Roosevelt told the children of the United States in his "Arbor Day Message" on April 15, 1907:
We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed; and because of that want you will reproach us, not for what we have used, but for what we have wasted...So any nation which in its youth lives only for the day, reaps without sowing, and consumes without husbanding, must expect the penalty of the prodigal whose labor could with difficulty find him the bare means of life.
Have right-wing evangelicals forgotten the biblical concept of human stewardship over the earth's resources. Here is a quote they'd do well to read often.
The Earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it
- Psalm 24:1
It's not just American Tea Party types who deserve criticism. As a Canadian, I am thoroughly ashamed of our current government's egregious record on the environment. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has considerably reduced environmental regulations and muzzled the voices of environmental scientists. Recently, a former Harper government appointee, Mark Jaccard, used a keynote speech in Washington, D.C. to criticize Canada's Conservative government's inaction on climate change. Jaccard, an environmental economist and a professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, called Canada a "rogue state" on the environment. He implored the United States to block Keystone XL, the controversial Alberta-U.S, oil pipeline.
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
In her groundbreaking 1962 book, Silent Spring, American author Rachel Carson (1907-1964) wrote these compelling words about the beauty and rhythm of earth and nature.
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.
Rachel Carson
Carson, a marine biologist, was alarmed about the use of synthetic pesticides. In Silent Spring, she issued a timely warning about the consequences of neglecting our environment:
We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road - he one less traveled by - offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.
The last word on this Earth Day comes from the American poet and novelist, Wendell Berry. Berry born in 1934, is also a Kentucky farmer and an environmental activist.
The earth is what we all have in common.
- Wendell Berry
From The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture [1977]
