Product of Newfoundland

ThursPlay! Newfoundland or Labrador?

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:54:00 -0400

More trivia for this week's ThursPlay!

This time around I'm giving you the chance to show what you know about the two breeds of dog that carry the name of the province -- the Newfoundland and the Labrador. All you have to do is assign each fact to the breed it describes.

Have fun!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Feel free to share your score, dog stories or other facts in the comments section.

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Like Republic of Doyle? How About Susan Boyle?

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:47:00 -0400

I like Republic of Doyle and I indicted so on Facebook, ever since I've been getting all kinds of suggestions about other things I might like including:

I'm sure the good folks at Republic are all over this free viewership data. Just imagine the marketing possibilities...

Casey and Finnegan guest spots
A Coronation Street crossover
A 'Jake looks for Santa's missing sled' Christmas special
An exclusive agreement with Reitmans for all the season two costumes
A new all Susan Boyle soundtrack.

All kinds of fun stuff.

Visit: Republic of Doyle

7: Peter Pans of the World

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:11:00 -0400

The Peter Pan Statue in Bowering Park, St. John's has been a favourite of visiting children since it was commissioned in 1925. The statue features a pipe-playing Peter, Tinkerbell and a collection of fairies and animals that are described by sculptor Sir George Frampton as "listening to the Pipes of Pan, one of the mice is completing his toilet before going up to listen to the music, and the squirrel is discussing political matters with two of the fairies."

The Bowering Park Peter Pan, as you may know, is a duplicate of a Frampton statue in London's Kensington Gardens commissioned by Peter Pan's author J.M. Barrie. The Bowring Park Pan is not one of two statues but one of seven in cities around the globe:.

View Frampton Peter Pan Statues in a larger map

About the statues:

1. Kensington Gardens, London. This was the original Peter Pan statue. Barrie had it installed under the cover of darkness so that it seemed to appear in the park as if by magic. (photo)

2. Bowring Park, St. John's, NL -- Commissioned in 1925. The Peter Pan is Bowring Park is dedicated to In memory of a little girl who loved the Park -- Betty Munn who drowned on the SS Florizel at Cappahayden. This year the Bowring Park Pan turns 85 and he remains as popular as ever -- which is pretty appropriate for the boy who refused to grow old.

3. Sefton Park, Liverpool- Unveiled in 1928, the statue (photo) came with a telegram from author J.M. Barrie reading
'Behave to-day, if for the only time.
Take care the Lord Mayor does not find you out.
For heaven's sake don't grow when they remove your swathing sheet."

4. Egmont Park, Brussels - Presented to the country in 1924 by sculptor Frampton after World War One. The translated inscription reads "A bond of friendship between the children of Great Britain and the children of Belgium". (photo) .

5. Camden, New Jersey - Located outside the Walt Whitman Arts Center, the statue was a gift to the children of the area and. The statue and dedicated in 1926 at a Peter Pan Pageant featuring over 3,000 schoolchildren performing scenes from Peter Pan . (photos)

6. Glenn Gould Park, Toronto - Erected in 1929 by the College Heights Association, this Pan is dedicated To the Spirit of Children at Play (photo)

7. Queen's Gardens, Perth, Western Australia - Erected in 1927, this Pan remains a popular feature of the park. (photo)

This proliferation of Pans has even led to the creation of a world-wide geocaching challenge. To play, geocaching enthusiasts must find 7 foreign friends who can work together together to solve the seven caches across three continents. Follow the link for more details.

Image: Crop of photo by bmpower, public domain

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5: Giant Squid of Newfoundland

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 07:49:00 -0400

If you're a giant squid aficionado there are some great reasons to come to Newfoundland. If you're afraid of Architeuthis dux there are some very good reasons not to venture into our waters. In this edition of 5, I present a smattering of local giant squid lore.

Calamari, anyone?

1. Newfoundland is one of the best places to go if you hope to find a giant squid. Approximately one-fifth of all the giant squid ever found, have been found in Newfoundland. For years, dead giant squid have washed up on our beaches, been caught in nets and landed by fisherman. As evidenced in the video below, they have made for some unique study opportunities. (More)

2. Despite owning 20% of the finds, coming across a giant squid carcass is still a rare event. It's even less common to find a living specimen but that's exactly what happened on November 2, 1878 in Thimble Tickle Bay (now Glover's Harbour). Three fisherman happened across a giant squid on a beach near the community. The creature had become trapped by the low tide and when the men happened upon it, reportedly it was still flailing its enormous tentacles. The men, not wanting to lose their amazing find, fastened a rope to the beast and anchored it to a tree. When they returned the squid was dead. They hauled it up on shore and measured it. The squid was a full 55ft in length and had 40cm suckers on its tentacles. In the end, the townsfolk chopped the squid to pieces and fed it to their animals. The animal was regarded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest squid found. (More)

3. Commemorating the Thimble Tickle Bay squid, there is a life-sized giant squid sculpture at Glover's Harbour, NL (pictured above). The sculpture, which was made by Don Foulds, is comprised of concrete with metal reinforcement and is approximately 55ft long. There is a giant squid interpretive centre at the site as well with lots of information about giant squid in general and the Thimble Tickle Bay squid in particular.

4. Somewhat more terrifying than the Thimble Tickle Bay encounter, in the late 19th century, three man travelling Conception Bay survived a giant squid attack. Daniel Squires, Theophilus Piccot and Tom Piccot rowed their dory to investigate a floating object which was, it turns out, a giant squid. Their arrival startled the squid, which proceeded to attack. Using it's enormous tentacle, the squid towed the dory toward it's fearsome beak. Fortunately for the men, Tom Piccot had an axe. He managed to lop off one of the squid's tentacles forcing it to retreat. The men made it back to shore with the arm which reportedly measured nearly 6 metres. (More)

5.You can have a giant squid encounter for yourself, albeit somewhat tamer, at The Rooms in St. John's, NL. The natural history museum has a preserved specimen. The squid was originally landed at Hare Bay on the northeast coast of the island. It was then turned over to Memorial University, who eventually handed it to the provincial museum where it remained until The Rooms opened.

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ThursPlay! Protected Places

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:37:00 -0400

Newfoundland & Labrador is home to a lot of history, interesting spaces and unique landscape and we've preserved a handful of them historic sites and parks. For this week's ThursPlay! I invite you to show off your knowledge of our protected places by taking a trivia challenge. Make your selections and, please, let us know how you did. You an post your score in the comments.

As always, have fun -- and get out to see as many of these places as possible!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

For bonus points, can you id the historic site that preserves the lighthouse in the graphic above?

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Geo Centre! Now in 3D!

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:55:00 -0400

Next week the Johnson Geo Centre in St. John's will be debuting it's brand new Earth and Space Theatre which will feature both 3D and HD movies 7 days a week on an 18ft screen. Throughout most of the summer content will be geared to 3D nature films but three times a week they're planning to be slightly less educational. They've scheduled showings of U2 3D -- a 2008 3-D concert film featuring Irish rock band U2 in Latin America during 2006's Vertigo Tour.

For more information check out the Johnson Geo Centre on the web.

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Research with a Cinema Spin

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:53:00 -0400

Every year Memorial University releases a report on its research. Sometimes the reports are interesting and other times they are a little dull but the 2010 report is actually kind of fun.

The new report, released this week, is called The Shining: Research Stars 2010. The whole thing is done with a movie theme with each research project being discussed presented with it's own movie poster -- the article discussing Archeology Department research becomes What Lies Beneath and a 16 million dollar investment in the Ocean Sciences Centre is presented as Ocean's 16.

It's a fun document to explore and, making it even cooler, the paper copy is supposedly designed so that the posters are easily removed for sharing.

It's totally worth checking out.

Image: Memorial University

More: Memorial University's 2010 Research Report

Postcard from Elliston

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:50:00 -0400

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago in 'World Roost Cellar Capital' Elliston, NL. It's a pretty place near the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula that's worth a visit -- if not for it's root cellars then for the array of seabirds along the coastline.

There are 135 documented root cellars in the village and it's impossible not to notice them -- they are everywhere.¹ It's hard to imagine that not so long ago they were needed -- that people were self-sufficient enough to have root crops for over-wintering.

I went with the hopes of seeing some beautiful scenery, seabirds and perhaps a whale or two. I managed two out of three. The scenery was spectacular, there were terns and puffins abounding but, sadly, no whales. I was probably a little too early in the season.

From the Trans-Canada Highway it will take you the better part of two-hours to make the journey but Elliston is definitely an easy and accessible side trip if you are spending time on the Bonavista Peninsula but a word to the wise: drive slow. The road from the Discovery Trail Highway to the community is nothing but ...umm... a tired scattering pavement pieces, each desperately trying holding hands with its neighbour. It's a very rough drive.

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1. And very interesting if you have a deep and abiding interest in the dank.

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Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:11:00 -0400

French missile? Hobby rocket? The truth is out there.