Antique appraisals: What you need to know

Tags

American Society of Appraisers, antique appraisals, antique valuations, antiques, Antiques Roadshow, appraisers, online appraisal, valuations

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The value of antiques such as old furniture, crockery, paintings and jewelry can vary enormously. There are well documented cases of people buying an old plate for a few dollars or pounds at a garage sale and later discovering it’s a rare 200 year old item worth many thousands. If you have an old cherished piece of furniture or other item in the family, or a more recently acquitted item you think could be valuable, it’s a good idea to get an appraisal done. This applies even if you’re not planning to sell it. You might simply want to insure it, as valuable antiques are not usually included in normal household insurance policies. Other reasons to get antiques appraised are for estate tax purposes, damage claims, donation and marriage dissolution.

Perhaps the most important thing to do when you want to appraise an antique is to get a valuation from more than one appraiser. At least three appraisals should be sought. That way, you are less likely to become the victim of a rip-off merchant who is simply trying to get themselves a bargain at your expense. Next day, this person could be selling the item to an antique dealer for several times the amount you were paid. But keep in mind that quotes for an antique have been known to vary by as much as sevenfold.

Do your research into appraisers. Ring them up, visit their premises, and check their website. Anyone can call themselves an antiques appraiser as there are no licensing laws governing this occupation.You could make sure the appraisers are accredited under the American Society of Appraisers (www.appraisers.org). You can then be reasonably assured the appraiser knows what he or she is talking about, and also won’t be underhanded. They have a section on their website called “Find an Appraisal Expert”. You can use it to search outside the US too. Their appraisers specialise in six disciplines. Those relevant to antiques mainly include personal property, and gems and jewelry. The ASA has specialists in areas such as antique furniture, glass and firearms, as well as in musical instruments, books, clocks and so on. Accredited appraisers need two years of appraisal experience. An accredited senior appraiser needs five years experience.

You can do other web searches to find appraisers. I just typed in the words “antique” “appraisers” and “Brisbane” (my home town) into my search bar and found a number of relevant sites. Your bank or solicitor can perhaps recommend qualified antique appraisers. The Yellow Pages is also a good place to find appraisers. Once you have found some suitable appraisers, carefully put your antique items into your car and take them to each appraiser. Get a valuation in writing if you can. Appraisers should be able to give you more details about an item than just price, such as age, style, history, perhaps who made it, and how to care for it. Be aware there are different prices such as fair market value and insurance value, the latter usually being higher. If you sell to a dealer who then sells to a final buyer, you will get far less than if you sell independently or by auction. A dealer needs to meet his costs, and the mark-up is often high. It’s a good idea not to sell to an appraiser for this same reason.

If you live in an area visited by a television show that appraises antiques, this would be an excellent option. These shows use the best and most experienced appraisers. In the United Kingdom, the Antiques Roadshow has been touring the country since 1979. Local residents bring in their antiques of all descriptions for appraisal. Approximate valuations are given on air. An American version of the show, under the same name, has been operating since 1997. Similar programs are or have been seen in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden.

While it is best to have an appraiser see and handle the item, there are many online services offering antique appraisals these days. Getting an appraisal done can be expensive, with many appraisers charging large sums by the hour. Online appraisals are cheaper, usually costing from about $10 to $30 per item. Sometimes a collection can be valued online. This obviously costs more but is still cheaper than in-person appraisals. To obtain an online appraisal, you will need to fill in details of the item online and include photos. Make sure the photos are good quality and include all angles.

The main disadvantage of online appraisals is that the appraiser doesn’t actually see the items live and may miss important aspects of the piece just from photos. While you can talk to a live appraiser and ask questions, you don’t always know what you’re going to get online. You might get little more than a valuation, without additional details about the history of the piece. An advantage with online services of course is that you can use them any time of day or night and don’t have to wait until Monday morning and spend half an hour driving to an appraiser’s premises. Most online services offer quick turnaround. Try and check the credentials of any online appraiser. There might be something on their website, and you could check if they are a member of the American Society of Appraisers.

Whether you use appraisers who are online or in person is up to each individual and their circumstances. Some antiques experts advise against online appraisals, saying an item can’t be valued properly from photos. Others say online appraisals can be a useful tool. Whether you go one way or the other, or use both methods, the important thing is to get your antiques valued so that you at least have an idea how much to insure them for against loss, damage, theft or fire.

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Thomas Pamphlett and the founding of Brisbane

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Aborigines, Australia, Bribie Island, Brisbane, Brisbane River, convict colony, Illawarra, John Finnegan, John Oxley, John Thompson, Moreton Bay, Moreton Bay convict settlement, Moreton Bay penal colony, Pamphlett, Queensland, Redcliffe, Richard Parsons, Sydney, Thomas Pamphlett

On this day in 1823, explorer John Oxley found castaways Thomas Pamphlett and John Finnegan at the southern end of Bribie Island, half way up the east coast of Australia. Had this encounter not taken place, the whole history of this part of the continent may have panned out differently. Brisbane may never have existed and state boundaries may have been put somewhere else.

Ex-convict Pamphlett and convict Finnegan, along with ex-convicts Richard Parsons and John Thompson, had set out from Sydney on 21 March 1823 in a 30 foot open boat to fetch cedar wood at the Illawarra district, 50 miles south. They were nearly at their destination when strong wind blew them out to sea. After more than three weeks of being tossed about by the waves and running out of drinking water, they were able to beach themselves, but not before Thompson had succumbed to the elements.

With their boat having broken up in the waves and thinking they were south of Sydney, the castaways walked north along the beach. They spent the next seven months island hopping and trying to get around rivers in their quest to get back to civilisation. Various Aboriginal groups looked after them and fed them during their journey.

In the late afternoon of 29 November, Pamphlett was on the beach with his Aboriginal friends as they cooked the day’s catch when he spotted a cutter offshore. On it were Oxley and his crew exploring the east coast for a place for a convict colony, but they had not yet found a suitable spot.

They told an astonished Pamphlett that Sydney was over 500 miles south, not somewhere to the north. Finnegan was rescued next day and showed Oxley the Brisbane River, a watercourse that was hidden from the bay by islands and had been missed by several previous explorers. Oxley was impressed and recommended it to the governor as a site for a new settlement.

A year later, in September 1824, Oxley found Parsons at Bribie Island before helping set up the Moreton Bay penal colony at Redcliffe. The outpost moved to the Brisbane River in May 1825. Back in Sydney, Pamphlett committed another crime and was sentenced to seven years at the new settlement, which may never have been established had he not met Oxley. The convict colony became Brisbane, a city of two million people and capital of the state of Queensland, Australia.

Pamphlett’s life, from growing up in the slums of Manchester, UK to his death at Penrith outside Sydney, is followed in detail in my non-fiction book, Through the Eyes of Thomas Pamphlett: Convict and Castaway, available at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H52SEEK) and elsewhere.

Heart disease

Tags

angina, cardiomyopathies, coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart disease, heart disease prevention, heart disease tests, heart disease treatments, heart failure, heart muscle diseases, hypertensive heart disease, inflammatory heart disease, pulmonary edema, pulmonary heart disease, symptoms

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Someone in the United States dies of heart disease every 34 seconds. It is the country’s number one cause of death and is usually preventable.

Types of heart disease and their symptoms

The most common type of heart disease is coronary artery disease. This is where a build up of cell debris, including fatty acids and calcium, and connective tissue leads to swollen artery walls. These plaques finally rupture, restricting blood flow to the heart.

The build up can occur for decades without being noticed, with the first symptom often being a heart attack. Other symptoms can include heart failure, angina (chest pain), and pulmonary edema, or accumulation of fluid in the lungs causing breathing difficulties, blood being coughed up, pink frothy sputum, and excessive sweating.

Cardiomyopathies, or heart muscle diseases, are common too. Intrinsic cardiomyopathies are caused by heart muscle weakness itself. Most cardiomyopathies are due to extrinsic factors and are usually caused by ischemia or restricted blood supply.

An extrinsic cardiomyopathy can be congenital, or it can develop over time. For example, alcoholic cardiomyopathy is caused by long term alcohol abuse. Symptoms include fatigue, faintness, abnormal heart beat or pulse, breathing difficulties, reduced alertness, loss of appetite, coughing up mucus, chest pain, swelling, and more or less urination.

Hypertensive heart disease is where damage is caused by high blood pressure. Symptoms are similar to alcoholic cardiomyopathy but can also include nausea, difficulty sleeping, weight gain, and bloating.

Pulmonary heart disease is where a lung disorder causes slow blood flow to the lungs, resulting in the right side of the heart pumping harder and becoming enlarged. Symptoms can include breathing difficulties, chest pain, dizziness and fainting, tachycardia, fatigue, and weight loss.

Inflammatory heart disease is where the heart muscle or surrounding tissue is inflamed. Valvular heart disease affects the heart valves. Rheumatic heart disease is where rheumatic fever damages the heart, particular the valves. Symptoms are similar to other types of heart disease.

Tests to determine heart disease

Initial tests might include an exercise stress test, blood test and chest x-ray. The next test might be an electrocardiogram or ECG. For this, electrodes are placed on various spots around the body to pick up natural electrical changes with each heart beat. The tracing records whether the heart rate and rhythm is normal or affected by damaged oxygen-deprived heart muscles. A further test might measure how much blood is being pumped out of the heart’s left ventricle.

Depending on the results and the patient’s history and symptoms, the next step might be an echocardiograph or a multiple gated acquisition (MUGA) scan, or both. The echo is an ultrasound test that takes pictures of the heart to assess its structure and motion. A MUGA scan involves radioactive substances injected into the bloodstream, allowing computer generated images to show how the heart muscle and chambers are functioning.

New treatments for heart disease

New ways to treat heart disease are constantly appearing. Radio frequency ablation involves cutting pathways inside the heart with radio waves to correct irregular heartbeat. Transradial cardiac catheterization is where a tube and thin wire are threaded through an artery in the wrist to find and unblock clogged arteries in the heart. Miniature microwave antennas have been developed for use in keyhole heart surgery.

Another one is stent placement, involving putting a stent, or flexible wire mesh tube, over a catheter with a deflated balloon and guiding it through an artery to a blockage. The balloon is inflated and removed, with the stent left there permanently to restart and maintain blood flow.

Preventing heart disease

Regular exercise can protect against heart disease. Half an hour of moderate physical activity can include walking, housekeeping and gardening. Eating a diet low in salt, fat and cholesterol will help too. The best foods are vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low fat dairy products, legumes, fish and lean meat. Exercise and eating well will help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Avoid tobacco as nicotine makes the heart work harder. Minimising stress is thought to be good for the heart. Regular tests for blood pressure and cholesterol will also help guard against heart disease.

Solving the nursing shortage

Tags

flexible shifts, government funding, hospitals, nurse educators, nurses, nursing, nursing courses, nursing salaries, nursing schools, nursing shortage, nursing wages, online nursing courses, refresher courses, work environment, working conditions, workloads

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

A worldwide shortage of nurses in recent years is the result of population ageing, low enrollment in nursing courses, the relative attractiveness of other occupations, and an increase in patient acuity and violence. There are a number of ways the nursing shortage might be addressed.

Thousands of applicants to nursing courses are turned away every year, compounding the shortage of nurses. More places are needed but traditional on-campus education at a university nursing school is expensive. The answer might lie in encouraging additional online courses where students can study nursing theory, while the practical component of the course is taken locally. The overall cost of producing qualified nurses will be lower. Many nursing schools already offer online courses.

More nurse educators are needed for both traditional and online nursing courses. This is one of the factors causing a nursing shortage. Additional public and private funding is needed to increase nurse educator numbers. Scholarship offers would be a good incentive to attract suitable applicants.

Most hospitals are already using various education strategies to help address nursing shortages. These include seeking private sector participants to partner with nursing schools, subsidizing nursing salaries, reimbursing part of the education costs of nurses, and allowing them time to attend courses.

Increased government funding is needed if various loan and scholarship programs are going to have an effect on reducing the nursing shortage. Additional nurses need to be recruited from overseas. This is a popular way of boosting the number of nurses in many countries. However, the US has restrictions on the number allowed to enter the country.

A safer and healthier work environment is needed to attract more nurses. Heavy workloads, an increase in patient violence, and greater patient acuity leads to additional stress for nurses. These pressures could be eased with higher nursing staff numbers. Adequate support is needed, such as safer needle systems, lifting devices, and computerized medication dispensing. More security and support in emergency rooms is required.

Nursing needs to be made more attractive if turnover rates are to be reduced and a greater number of nurses are going to be recruited into the profession. Offering shorter and more flexible shifts might encourage more people to remain in nursing. Refresher courses could be offered to nurses who have been out of the profession for some time to try and bring them back. Encouraging school students to consider nursing and improving the image of the profession may help ease the crisis.

Wages for nurses have slipped relative to those in many professions and need to be increased to entice people to join nursing. Studies show that hospitals offering higher salaries for nurses attract greater numbers, leading to better staffing levels, less stress among staff and improved patient care. Similarly, an increase in salaries of nurse educators will attract more people into these roles.

Better staffing ratios are required that set maximum patient numbers per nurse. Staffing plans could be developed between nurses and management. Compulsory overtime should be eliminated, ensuring nurses get adequate rest to allow them to provide high quality patient care. Access to ongoing education needs to be more readily available and flexible. A career path for nurses should be defined and opportunities created for promotion and advancement. Paperwork needs to be simplified and red tape reduced.

A lot of things could be done to reduce the nursing shortage, even if eliminating the problem altogether might seem unlikely in the short to medium term. In the end, nursing must be made more attractive, courses need to be expanded, and more funding is required.

Common responsibilities of nurses

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blood drives, blood pressure, collaboration, diagnosis, grief counseling, health education, health maintenance, health promotion, health screening, health seminars, home visits, immunization, intravenous therapy, medication, nurses, nursing, patient care, record keeping, recovery, responsibilities, surgery, treatment

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

The responsibilities of nurses are many and varied. In basic terms, they are responsible for the treatment and recovery of sick and injured patients, as well as health maintenance and education, and treating people in life threatening situations. They do this across all their specialties and different work settings. Many decisions made by nurses are made independently of doctors.

Nurses assess and treat patients, carry out procedures under the instruction of doctors, and collaborate with various health professionals. They often coordinate the work of others involved in patient care and liaise with the patient’s family. Another important responsibility is to protect the patient, ensuring a healthy and safe environment free of infection. Educating the patient and their family on health issues gives the patient the best possible chances of a recovery and ongoing good health. They may also give grief counseling to family members of patients who are critically ill.

Their responsibilities might include many tasks sometimes performed by a doctor. While a doctor will usually conduct the surgery, a nurse usually arranges intravenous therapy. They will set up an intravenous drip and provide the fluids and drugs needed. Nurses will give the patient an injection if required. Changing the patient’s dressing and monitoring the progress of the wound lies with nurses. Medication for pain will be given by a nurse. Another responsibility is to monitor the patient for any signs of complications.

The nurse coordinates the overall care of the patient, working closely with other members of the patient’s health care team, including doctors, other nurses, therapists, and so on. Making sure appointments are kept with doctors and technicians, that medications are given, and that housekeepers keep the patient’s room clean and tidy are part of this coordinating role. Lifestyle and diet of the patient, both during and after institutional care, is an important responsibility.

Nurses are responsible for protecting the patient. Someone who is sick is more prone to infection or injury, and nurses make sure the patient’s environment is safe and healthy. This includes making sure the patient and his or her room is clean, water is boiled, needles are sterile and safe, and nurses and other health professionals wash their hands before and after tending to the patient. Nurses are responsible for the patient’s physical safety so they won’t fall out of bed or slip on a wet floor.

Monitoring a patient’s vital signs is a responsibility of nurses. Temperature, blood pressure, and pulse might be taken several times a day. Other tasks may include weighing a patient, monitoring their bowel movements, and measuring their blood pressure in various positions. Nurses also make sure patients can breathe properly, are hydrated, and get sufficient rest. Their comfort is also a priority as is the elimination of wastes from their body, and preventing pressure sores and stiff joints.

Record keeping is an important responsibility of nurses. Accurate records of all aspects of care are taken, and might include medical history, symptoms, what the patient has eaten and had to drink, medication, pulse, temperature, blood pressure, bowel movements, and visits by specialists.

In health facilities in some communities where doctors are few, nurses will diagnose and treat basic illnesses, prescribe medications, and conduct minor surgery. They might conduct immunization clinics, health screening, blood drives, and seminars on health issues. Health promotion is an increasingly important role where nurses educate and assist patients and the public to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet.

Not all the responsibilities of nursing are conducted within health care institutions and facilities. When patients go home, they often still need professional health care. Nurses will visit them in their homes and provide similar care to that in hospital. Indeed, nurses increasingly look after people in their own homes. They will assess the home environment, and care for and give advice to the patient and their family.

All about forensic nursing

Tags

bite mark analysis, child abuse, death investigation, deviant behavior, domestic violence, drug abuse, elder abuse, emotional trauma, Forensic nursing, forensic photography, interpretation of trauma, jurisprudence, nursing, physical trauma, psychopathology evaluation, sexual assault, suspicious deaths, Virginia Lynch

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Forensic nursing is a relatively new area of nursing that brings together aspects of health and justice. It applies the nursing process to the legal system and investigates cases of trauma and death associated with abuse, accidents and criminal activity. The forensic nurse works alongside other specialists in the field of forensic science, including doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, criminalists, radiologists and lawyers.

The advent of forensic nursing came in 1986 when medico-legal death investigator Virginia Lynch proposed a course of study in the field. The University of Texas soon developed a master’s degree for already qualified nurses. Forensic nursing role development was formalized in 1990, identifying and clarifying the roles of emergency nurses who worked with trauma victims. Subsequent models used this framework as their basis.

The work of a forensic nurse might include treating victims of crime, performing investigative work at a crime scene, and working as a detective to help police find and convict criminals. An important role is assisting with the physical and psychological recovery of patients and protecting their rights. Forensic nurses present evidence against suspects in the court system.

In its short history, many specialties have developed in forensic nursing. All of these roles are investigative in nature and require specific knowledge of aspects of the law and expert witness skills. Forensic nurse examiners, for example, analyze the physical and emotional trauma of patients, look at suspicious deaths, and conduct psychopathology evaluations in forensic and violence cases. This includes in the areas of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and injuries caused by weapons or brutality.

The work of a forensic nurse examiner is complex and varied. It may include the areas of child abuse, sexual abuse, deviant behavior, drug abuse, elder abuse, interpretation of trauma (such as a gunshot wound), bite mark analysis, death investigation, forensic photography, jurisprudence, and general and emergency nursing responsibilities. Cases might include abuse of different descriptions, other crime victims, automobile accident trauma, occupational injuries, drug abuse, attempted suicides, and deaths.

There are various other specialties in forensic nursing. Forensic psychiatric nurses manage offenders with social, behavioral and psychological problems. They assess the patient, give rehabilitative care, and supervise the patient within the community. Correctional nurse specialists provide health care to those in prison and other correctional institutions. They look after the sick, administer medication and conduct physical examinations. Forensic gerontology specialists investigate cases of abuse, neglect and exploitation of the elderly.

Sexual assault nurse examiners provide compassionate care to victims of sexual assault. They assess the victim’s injuries, collect forensic evidence from the scene, and provide ongoing care to the victim. Also, they represent the victim in court. Legal nurse consultants help attorneys on civil cases such as personal injury and medical malpractice. Nurse coroners work on crime scene investigations where they analyze the scene, examine the body to determine time of death, and look for clues to explain the possible cause.

Several issues are currently becoming increasingly important in forensic nursing. Worldwide human rights is a high priority topic. Forensic nursing is looking to address aspects of religious practices and cultural traditions that impinge on the wellbeing of vulnerable groups within the community, such as women and children who might be the victim of honor killings, genital mutilation, rape, and child prostitution. Another emerging area in forensic nursing is HIV and AIDS and the link to sexual assault.

Forensic nursing can be a rewarding career. To enroll in a course in this field, you must be a registered nurse. Many nursing schools offer a two year course leading to a Master of Science in Nursing with a forensic nursing specialization. To be a sexual assault nurse examiner, you also need two years’ experience as a registered nurse. According to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fzMOSWpRe4, a forensic nurse earns $30,000 to $130,000 a year, depending on education, experience and location.

A Weaver’s Web novel excerpt: Henry Wakefield’s business is in trouble

Tags

a weaver's web, cotton mills, England, Henry Wakefield, historical fiction, historical novel, Manchester

Henry’s business had had a number of setbacks, including broken machinery …

Next morning at six the workers arrived and went upstairs. He watched as Perrywinkle placed some fibre in the mule. It was working and spinning began. Henry breathed a sigh of relief, the force of which must have been felt by all in the room. He was about to go downstairs when he saw one of the women unsteady on her feet. She started giggling, and that was as bad as talking on the job as it distracted the other workers. She lost her balance and nearly fell into one of the machines. The master was busy at the far end of the floor and didn’t see what happened, so Henry rushed over to her.

‘What’s the problem, woman?’ he said.

She looked up, silent at first, then burst out laughing. She was drunk. Should he lay her down in a corner to sleep it off? Or send her home? Or dismiss her? He didn’t think highly of drunken women. Once, soon after the family moved to Manchester, Sarah had a bit too much gin. He had bolted the door so nobody could come in and see her, and warned her he never wanted to see her like that again and made her go to bed. He told the children she had a headache.

This woman had come to him with plenty of spinning experience, but had a liking for drink. Out of his respect for the working class and the goodness of his heart, he would give her a chance to redeem herself. He helped her downstairs and led her to the store.

‘Here, lie on these cotton bags till you feel better.’

She didn’t say anything, just laughed and lay down.

Later he woke her and went to pull her up, but she tried to drag him down on top of her, calling ‘Charlie, Charlie.’

‘I’m not Charles. Come on, get up, now. You’ve got work to do. And you’ve already lost three hours’ pay.’

‘Charlie boy,’ she said, running her hands over his body.

‘If you don’t cooperate this instant, I’ll discharge you.’

‘Oh yes, I’ll cooperate.’ She laughed again.

Henry lost his footing and slipped over onto the cotton bags and lay beside her. Suddenly, there was a man’s voice nearby.

‘Ah, Mr Wakefield, Sir, sorry to disturb you.’ It was Perrywinkle. ‘I was after more cotton. I’ll come back.’

Henry struggled to get up. ‘Wait a minute,’ he called. ‘It’s not what you think. This wretched woman is still drunk and must think she’s home with her husband or someone.’ Every time Henry tried to push her away, she became more forceful. ‘Get her off me.’

‘Yes, Sir.’

Perrywinkle reached down and rolled her off. She was quite heavy. Henry got up and straightened his jacket and dusted down his trousers. A bottle of gin, having evidently fallen out of her clothing, remained on one of the cotton bales.

‘Any wonder she’s no better than before,’ the master said. ‘She just kept drinking.’

‘You’re dismissed,’ Henry shouted at the woman, but she didn’t seem to care. He picked up the gin bottle and she lunged at it. He gave it to her and bundled her out into the street. Now he would have to find another spinner.

In the days that followed, he wondered if he would ever complete his first order. He was supposed to have yarn ready for the merchant before long, but he’d had nothing but trouble. The mule broke down again. He found a new spinner, but two apprentices got sick. He had to take out another loan to meet the first week’s wages. On top of that, the lender came to collect an instalment on the original loan. The best Henry could do was give him Sarah’s and the children’s pay as part payment. This meant he had no money for the house rent and not much for food.

Somehow he got most of the order ready on time and the merchant came to collect it. But the man wasn’t one of the big merchants and had no money until the weavers he would sell the yarn to paid him for it. Henry was given an IOU. He now couldn’t pay the wages and he knew his workers would be irate. It was late Saturday afternoon and they were expecting their money before leaving work that night. He sat slumped at his desk, wishing he had never gone into business. At six o’clock a dozen sweaty faces appeared at his office door. There was no escaping.

– end of excerpt –

My historical novel A Weaver’s Web is available at Amazon and elsewhere.

The most popular Canadian rock bands

Tags

Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Canada, Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Crash Test Dummies, Loverboy, Nickelback, rock bands, Rush, Steppenwolf, The Four Lads, The Guess Who, The Tragically Hip

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Canada has produced many successful rock bands over a period of more than half a century. It had a number of popular bands in the 1950s. Interest in local bands waned in the following decade, probably due largely to the British invasion of blues and rock bands. A resurgence in Canadian bands in the 1970s was helped by some solid industry support. This success continued in subsequent decades, especially in the 1990s, which saw an explosion of local bands despite strong competition from the US.

One of the most popular rock bands from Canada that has been around since the early days is the singing quartet from Toronto, The Four Lads. Their first single was ‘The Mocking Bird’ in 1952, back when rock and roll was emerging out of rhythm and blues. They went on to earn a string of gold records, including ‘Istanbul (Not Constantinople)’, ‘Moments to Remember’ which is their most famous hit, ‘No, Not Much’, ‘Standin’ on the Corner’, and ‘Who Needs You?’ They are in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and still sing to nostalgia crowds. The current line-up includes original band member, bass singer Frank Busseri.

Winnipeg band The Guess Who was the first Canadian band to top the US charts, with ‘American Woman’ in 1970. They formed in 1960 and had mixed chart success under various names, scoring a hit in 1965 with ‘Shakin’ All Over’, as well as with ‘These Eyes’ in 1969 and ‘No Time’ in 1970. They had a Merseybeat type of sound, later moving to a mixture of rock, blues and jazz. The band had five number one hits in Canada and two in the US and is a worthy member of the Music Hall of Fame. They have had several reunion concerts over the years, including in front of a Canadian record crowd of 450,000 people at the 2003 Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, a benefit rock concert for severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Steppenwolf can almost lay claim to being a Canadian band and a very popular one too, with two of the five founding members born in Canada and with German born singer John Kay becoming a Canadian citizen. The hard rock band started off in Canada in 1964 as blues-rock group The Sparrows. Their hit song ‘Born to be Wild’ climbed to number two on the US charts. Other famous songs include ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ and ‘The Pusher’. The group has played a number of reunion concerts with different line-ups, including in Germany at the International Herman Hesse Festival in 2002 where Kay surprised many in the crowd with his fluent German.

One of the most famous and popular bands to come out of Canada is Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The Winnipeg band has sold 20 million albums worldwide. The ‘Bachman-Turner Overdrive II’ album achieved gold record status in eight countries. Their string of hits in the 1970s included such classic number ones as ‘Takin’ Care of Business’ and ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’. They won Juno Awards for Group of the Year in 1975 and 1976. The band continued to succeed playing guitar-heavy rock in an era that was moving to a much softer sound. There have been a number of disbandments and reunions. Great news for fans is that they are putting together a new album and will tour Canada and Europe in 2010.

No overview of popular Canadian rock bands would be complete without Rush, formed in Toronto in 1968. They have had 25 gold and 14 platinum records. Among rock bands, only the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith are ahead of them in terms of most consecutive platinum or gold albums. Known for their instrumental skills and complex compositions, the band moved from an early period of heavy metal to hard rock, then progressive rock, and the use of synthesizers. The band entered the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and is still touring and releasing albums. A tour in 2008 promoted its ‘Snakes & Arrows’ album released in 2007.

Another very popular band is Loverboy, which formed in 1980 in Calgary. They received a record five Juno Awards in 1981 and eight overall, also a record for a band. Their classic singles include ‘Turn Me Loose’, ‘Working for the Weekend’, and ‘Lovin’ Every Minute of It’. The band has made four multi-platinum albums, with their self-titled album going five times platinum. They became members of the Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Like many of Canada’s most popular rock bands, they are still producing albums and touring.

The Crash Test Dummies, a folk rock band, got together in Winnipeg in the mid 1980s. Their biggest hit was ‘Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm’ in 1993, which reached number one on the Australian charts, number two in the UK, four in the US and, ironically, only number 14 in Canada. The band did have six top-ten singles in Canada, such as ‘Superman’s Song’, ‘The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead’, and ‘He Liked to Feel It’. Their most successful album was ‘God Shuffled His Feet’, which rose to the top of the UK album charts and number nine in the US.

Alternative rockers The Tragically Hip, a band formed in Kingston, Ontario in 1983, has had a record eight number one albums on the Canadian Albums Chart. Their most successful album, ‘Road Apples’, released in 1993, has gone platinum eight times. They have six other multi-platinum albums. The band has a string on Juno Awards to their credit, including Group of the Year in 1995 and 1997. They were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and are still churning out platinum albums, the most recent being ‘We Are The Same’ in 2009.

Hard rock band Nickelback was formed in Hanna, Alberta in 1995 and is now based in Vancouver. They are one of Canada’s most successful bands, with worldwide record sales of more than 30 million. They rank eleventh among the highest selling music acts in the world in the 2000s, and second behind the Beatles in a list of foreign music acts in the US in that decade. Their worldwide hit ‘How You Remind Me’ was number one in Canada and the US at the same time in 2002, the first time a Canadian band had done this since The Guess Who in 1970. It was played 1.2 million times on US radio in the 2000s, the most of any song.

The significance of Family Day in Canada

Tags

Alberta, Canada, Don Getty, Family Day, holiday, Islander Day, Jack Layton, Louis Riel Day, Manitoba, National Heritage Day, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Several places celebrate Family Day, including South Africa, Vanuatu, Arizona, the Australian Capital Territory, and Canada. Family Day in Canada is perhaps the best known. It is held on the third Monday of February and is a statutory holiday for close to 60 per cent of Canadians. This day is set aside for people to participate in a range of activities as a family. It coincides with the Presidents Day holiday in the US.

Family Day is not a federal holiday but a provincial one, and only in certain provinces, although New Democrat Party leader Jack Layton wants it to be a national holiday. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario celebrate Family Day. Roughly similar holidays are celebrated on the same day in Manitoba as Louis Riel Day, in memory of its founder, and in Prince Edward Island as Islander Day. Newfoundland and Labrador has a school board holiday on this day, although it is not an official holiday. This day is a normal working day in the other provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, as well as the three territories. A proposal to introduce Family Day in British Columbia in 1994 failed. More recent proposals in this province have been opposed by the chamber of commerce and the government.

Alberta was the first province to have the Family Day holiday. The then premier Don Getty instigated the holiday in 1990 after his son was caught possessing and using cocaine. Getty felt that he hadn’t spent enough time with his family and thought that a special day for this purpose would encourage other families to spend more time together and for the province to appreciate the importance of family values. Saskatchewan has had Family Day since 2007 and Ontario since 2008. Manitoba has celebrated its day since 2008 and Prince Edward Island from 2009.

Family Day helps people recognize the importance of the family unit, regarded as the basic building block for the success of any society. A family is there to care for its children, give them financial security, teach morals and values, provide ongoing assistance, and a host of other reasons. It helps people face the challenges of life, especially if esteem is low, or anxiety or depression hits. Family support in these situations may help young people to avoid resorting to illegal drugs, excessive alcohol, and anti-social behavior.

If a young person has been let down by their friends or loses their job or just finds it difficult to cope, a loving and supportive family is the thing they can fall back on as the one constant in their lives. With the right support and proper communication, a family can help a young person to be happy and successful, to form good relationships, and become a better adult and more useful member of society. When families do not look after each other to the full, family disintegration is more likely, with its huge costs to society in the form of higher crime and straining the health and social security systems.

Activities are encouraged on Family Day that bring a family together and bond the members as a unit. If the weather is reasonable, outdoor skating, tobogganing, or skiing might be a good way to spend this day with family. Going to a movie and having a meal out is always popular. Museums and art galleries often have reduced prices on Family Day. Activities at home might include board games, craft, or cooking up some cold weather favorites. A visit to other family members will help develop closer relationships with them. Or families can take advantage of the long weekend and travel out of town for a few days.

Family Day coincides with Canada’s National Heritage Day in most places and families are encouraged to incorporate heritage type interests into their holiday activities. We are taught that family and home values were important to pioneers just as they are for us today. Our family heritage is a collective treasure chest of material items, stories, and values passed down to us, which we can proudly hand on to our children. A family can provide a past, present, and future, and help not only to cement the family unit but also a nation.

Some heritage things to do on Family Day could include looking at family photos with relatives, using an old family recipe, writing or calling a family member you’ve never met, constructing a family tree, discussing family origins using a map, or going for a family walk and connecting with nature or admiring the buildings both old and new.

Family Day would be an ideal time to organize a family reunion, so as to meet or catch up with relatives and see just how many people we are connected to. Family Day or similar holidays are celebrated in many parts of Canada. The immediate purpose of this day is to bring families together to pursue various activities. A more fundamental aim is to instill an awareness of the importance of family, and that activities and support should be happening all the time, not just on Family Day.

The politics of Canada

Tags

Cabinet, Canada, Canadian politics, Conservative Party, David Johnston, Governor-General, House of Commons, John McDonald, Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party, Lower Canada, municipal government, national unity, New Democratic Party, Parliament, provinces, secession, Senate, Stephen Harper, territories, Upper Canada

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone)

Canadian politics operate under a constitutional monarchy, with a federal system of parliamentary government, broadly similar to the Westminster Parliament of the United Kingdom. The head of state is Elizabeth II who has been Queen of Canada since 6 February 1952. The Queen’s representative in Canada is David Johnston who has been Governor-General since 1 October 2010.

The Executive consists of the Head of Government, or the Prime Minister, and the Cabinet. Stephen Harper became prime minister on 6 February 2006 after his Conservative Party won the federal election and formed a minority government. Cabinet comprises 30-40 ministers, currently 39, chosen by the prime minister to lead the various ministries. John A. McDonald, Canada’s first prime minister, once listed his occupation as a cabinet maker. These days, the prime minister and the governor-general are expected to be functional, preferably fluent, in English and French. Prime ministers for nearly the whole period 1968 to 2006 came from Quebec.

Legislative power rests with the Parliament. Canada has a bicameral parliamentary system consisting of the Senate or upper house and the House of Commons or lower house. The 105 members of the Senate are appointed by the Governor-General on a permanent basis until the age of 75. Neither regional equality nor population equality is fully observed in the numbers as there are various compromises and exceptions. The usual number of Senators can be exceeded and this has been done only once when prime minister Brian Mulroney petitioned the Queen for eight more seats so he could push through his Good and Services Tax legislation in 1990.

The House of Commons has 308 members representing single-member districts. A plurality voting system means the winner is the person with the most votes, or first past the post, rather than needing an absolute majority or having to worry about preference votes. Elections had to be held within five years, but in theory were held whenever the government called one. From 2007, the term is fixed at four years, although the prime minister can dissolve Parliament at any time. Seats are based roughly on same population size.

Canada has three main political parties and a large number of minor ones. The Conservative Party of Canada is on the right of the political spectrum and forms the current government, winning 166 seats at the 2011 election, a gain of 23 seats on 2008. The New Democratic Party is at centre-left and forms the Opposition with 103 seats, up 67. The Liberal Party of Canada is around center-left to centre and has 34 seats, down 43. Other parties include Bloc Quebecois which is spread across left and right and advocates the secession of Quebec, with four seats (down 43), and the Green Party of Canada with one seat.

The second level of government in Canada is the 10 provinces and three territories. Each province is sovereign and gets its powers from the Constitution Act 1867, whereas the territories get theirs from the federal government. The provinces have power over many important areas, such as health, education, welfare, and local transport. They fund these services through transfer payments from the federal government and also by raising their own taxes. Equalization payments are made to those provinces that are disadvantaged or poorer than others. All provinces and territories have a unicameral parliamentary system, no longer having an upper house.

Municipal government in Canada comes under the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories. The country has around 3,700 municipal governments. The largest ones are called cities, while smaller ones are often known by different names in various provinces, such as towns, villages, hamlets, parishes, rural municipalities, and townships. Some provinces have an upper level of municipalities, grouping several of them together, and called a county or regional municipality.

One of the major issues in Canadian politics since the forced reunification of Upper Canada and Lower Canada in 1841 has been national unity. The fundamental conflict has been between French-speaking Quebec and the rest of the country. Several movements have sought secession for Quebec over the years. A provincial referendum in 1980 rejected sovereignty with a majority of 60 percent. In 1995, the majority was reduced to just 50.6 percent.

From time to time various movements have pushed for secession for the four western provinces due to alleged ‘Western alienation’ from the Canadian political system. A poll in 2005 found that 35.7 percent of residents in these provinces thought a separate country was an idea worth exploring. Secessionists have also been active in recent years in Newfoundland, British Columbia, and Yukon. Despite secession rumblings, Canada was ranked as the third most democratic country by ‘The Economist’ in 2006.

Canada has a history of minority governments, with 13 of its 41 parliaments having a minority government, including three of the last four. None has lasted a full term. Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party won 36.3 per cent of the vote in the 2006 elections, which was the smallest proportion since Confederation. With 124 seats, it was 30 short of a majority, the most ever. After the 2008 election, it had gained ground but was still 12 seats from a majority. In 2011, his party won a majority of seats, 166 out of 308. The next election is tentatively set for 19 October 2015.

Update: The 2015 election saw a huge turnaround in the fortunes of the major parties. The Liberal Party gained 148 seats to win a total of 184 seats and government with Justin Trudeau as prime minister. The Conservative Party lost 60 seats to take it to 99 seats in the new parliament and the New Democratic Party lost 51 seats for a total of 44 seats.