Three Canadian provinces, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, are each entirely south of the 49th parallel, but the vast majority of Canadian territory lies north of it.
Parts of the province of Ontario also fall well beneath the 49th parallel. While it is well-known that Windsor, Ontario actually lies to the south of Detroit, Michigan, it is also true that Windsor (at 42° 17’ N) is further south than Boston, Massachusetts (42° 21’ N) or my hometown, La Crosse, WI (at 43° 48’ N).
-“BB”-
While the vast majority of Canadian territory lies north of the 49th parallel, about 70% of the population of Canada lives beneath the 49th parallel. The two largest cities, Toronto (43.65) and Montreal (45.50) are further south than Seattle (47.60) or Grand Forks (47.92).
Alexander Griggs is known as the “Father of Grand Forks”, North Dakota due to his efforts toward transforming the trading post into a town. Griggs steamboat became frozen in the Red River in 1870, forcing him and his crew to camp in Grand Forks for the winter. In 1875, Griggs created the community that is now downtown Grand Forks. Grand Forks was officially incorporated into a city on February 22, 1881.
The Red River of the North underwent a major flood in April and May of 1997, which affected communities along the river in Minnesota, North Dakota, and southern Manitoba. The cities of Grand Forks, ND and East Grand Forks, MN were the most severely affected, with most residents of both cities having to evacuate, in many cases for over a week, until the flood waters receded. During the height of the flood, a fire started in downtown Grand Forks, which destroyed 11 buildings, including the headquarters of the Grand Forks Herald Newspaper.
“Duff’s Ditch” was a pejorative term for the Red River Floodway, built at the instigation of Premier Duff Roblin of Manitoba after the 1950 Red River flood. The floodway by-passes the water of the Red around Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba.
The Ditch has proved its worth, notably in teh 1997 flood, but that flood pushed the Floodway to capacity. The floodway was expanded, with work completed by 2010.
The 1997 Red River flood, and the fire in Grand Forks, were chronicled in the very aptly named book Come Hell and High Water. The book was co-authored by Mike Jacobs, the editor of the Grand Folks Herald.
The Red River of the North flows for 550 miles from southeastern North Dakota on the Minnesota state line to Lake Winnipeg in southern Manitoba. Three main factors contribute to its being highly prone to spring flooding: its northward flow, the nearly flat surrounding geography, and ice formation on the river. As winter ends, warm temperatures creep northward from the south in the same direction as the river’s flow. Snow melt from the south causes the river to swell, and the northward current frequently encounters ice to the north. Water overflows the banks and spreads widely over the flat terrain. The river has flooded repeatedly through the centuries.
It is a common misconception that most rivers flow in a southerly direction. The Red River of the North is but one example of a northern-flowing river. In fact, the longest river in the world, the Nile, flows northward. Russia is home to three major north-flowing rivers: the Ob, Lena, and Yenisey Rivers. Other rivers in the US that flow northerly include the St. John’s, the Willamette, and the Bighorn.
The Mackenzie River, which flows from Great Slave Lake to the Arctic Ocean, has the second largest drainage area of North American rivers, after the Mississippi.
Alexander Mackenzie was the first European to travel the length of the river. He called it “River of Disappointment”, because he hoped it would flow to the Pacific. It was eventually named after him.
Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of stereotypical Canadian characters, developed and portrayed by comedians Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas for the sketch comedy TV series SCTV in 1980. Moranis and Thomas created the characters, and their “Great White North” segment of the show (which parodies life in Canada), in response to a directive from CBC officials to include “identifiably Canadian content” in the show.
The characters became popular, spawning a comedy album, a feature film (Strange Brew), and numerous appearances in commercials. In 2020, a bronze statue of the characters was erected in Edmonton, Alberta, near the Rogers Place Arena.
Cream had a hit song called “Strange Brew” on the Disraeli Gears album. This is based on a blues song Cream used to play called "Lawdy Mama. Felix Pappalardi, who produced the album, wrote new lyrics to the song with his wife, Gail Collins, and Eric Clapton worked out the arrangement and also sang lead. Pappalardi, Collins and Clapton are the credited writers on the song.
As for Pappalardi, he went on to form Mountain, a band he also produced, whose biggest hit was “Mississippi Queen”. In 1983, he was shot and killed by Collins in a domestic dispute; Collins was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
Cream, the ‘60s supergroup, only lasted for a few years as the trio of Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton couldn’t work together any longer. This was mainly due to Baker’s dangerous and erratic behavior, which included pulling a knife on Bruce, beating up Bruce and turning up to a concert in the US an hour late with a trail of police cars in the distance hunting for him.
A documentary about Baker’s life is titled Beware of Mr. Baker, after a sign posted outside Baker’s compound in South Africa. During the making of the film, Baker broke the film-maker’s nose.
According to the website whereseric.com, Eric Clapton has played with nine different bands. Here is the list, in order:
The Roosters
Casey Jones and The Engineers
The Yardbirds
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
Cream
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends
Blind Faith
Derek & The Dominos
Legends
Bailey’s Irish Cream is a combination of cream, chocolate and Irish whiskey. It was created in 1971 for what was then Gilbey’s and is now owned by the British liquor conglomerate, Diageo.
Some varieties of whiskey, such as Irish whiskey, spell the word with an “e”; other varieties, such as Scotch whisky and Canadian whisky, do not. In the U.S., while the “whiskey” spelling is more common, some brands, such as Maker’s Mark and Old Forester, spell it “whisky.”
One of Isaac Asimov’s short stories is entitled "Spell my name with an “S”. It’s about a struggling US physicist of Polish descent, named Zebatinsky, who doesn’t like his job with the US government. On a lark, he consults a numerologist, who advises that he change his name to Sebatinsky. Good things happen, and he gets a new job.
The numerologist is actually an alien, who wants to prevent WWIII, solely on a bet with another alien. By changing his name in such an odd way, Zebatinsky unkrowingly triggers a security investigation, which reveals that a physicist of the same name in the USSR is engaged in an area of research which could advance the military position of the USSR. The US, alerted to the risk, immediately starts working in the same area, reducing the chance of conflict. Zebatinsky is offered a new job with a university, arranged by the security service, to reduce the risk that the Soviets will find out how the US security system discovered the weapons innovation.
The Polish flag features a horizontal white stripe over a red stripe, while both the Indonesian and Monaco flags have a red stripe over a white stripe.
Red Stripe Lager is a beer brewed in Jamaica since 1928. Its recipe includes cassava starch.
Cool Runnings was a 1993 comedy film, loosely based on the Jamaican bobsled team’s experiences prior to, and during, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was the first time that the tropical nation of Jamaica had fielded an Olympic bobsled team, and they became popular underdogs.
The film featured John Candy as the team’s coach; it was the final one of Candy’s movies to be released before his sudden death in 1994.