Fun Summer Facts: The Frisbee

Frisbee is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company.

The Frisbie Baking Company (1871-1958) of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies that were sold to many New England colleges. Hungry college students soon discovered that the empty pie tins could be tossed and caught, providing endless hours of game and sport. Many colleges have claimed to be the home of 'he who was first to fling.' Yale College has even argued that in 1820, a Yale undergraduate named Elihu Frisbie grabbed a passing collection tray from the chapel and flung it out into the campus, thereby becoming the true inventor of the Frisbie and winning glory for Yale. That tale is unlikely to be true since the words 'Frisbie's Pies' was embossed in all the original pie tins and from the word 'Frisbie' was coined the common name for the toy.

In 1948, a Los Angeles building inspector named Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni invented a plastic version of the Frisbie that could fly further and with better accuracy than a tin pie plate. Morrison's father was also an inventor, who invented the automotive sealed-beam headlight. Another interesting tidbit was that Morrison had just returned to America after World War II, where he had been a prisoner in the infamous Stalag 13. His partnership with Warren Franscioni, who was also a war veteran, ended before their product had achieved any real success.

Morrison (after his split with Franscioni) produced a plastic Frisbie called the Pluto Platter, to cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs with the American public. The Pluto Platter has become the basic design for all Frisbies. The outer third of the Frisbie disc is called the 'Morrison Slope', listed in the patent. Rich Knerr and A.K. 'Spud' Melin were the owners of a new toy company called 'Wham-O'. Knerr and Melin also marketed the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball and the Water Wiggle. They pair first saw Morrison's Pluto Platter in late 1955. They liked what they saw and convinced Morrison to sell them the rights to his design. With a deal signed, Wham-O began production (1/13/1957) of more Pluto Platters. The next year, the original Frisbie Baking Company shut down and coincidentally Fred Morrison was awarded a patent (Design patent 183,626) for his flying disc. Morrison received over one million dollars in royalties for his invention.

Frisbee golf

The word 'Frisbee' is pronounced the same as the word 'Frisbie'. Rich Knerr (Wham-O) was in search of a catchy new name to help increase sales, after hearing about the original use of the terms 'Frisbie' and 'Frisbie-ing'. He borrowed from the two words to create the registered trademark Frisbee ®. Sales soared for the toy, due to Wham-O's clever marketing of Frisbee playing as a new sport. In 1964, the first professional model went on sale. Ed Headrick was the inventor at Wham-O who patented Wham-O's designs for the modern frisbee (U.S. patent 3,359,678). Ed Headrick's frisbee with its band of raised ridges called the Rings of Headrick had stablized flight as opposed to the wobbly flight of its predecessor the Pluto Platter.

In 1967, high school students in Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee, a recognized sport that is a cross between football, soccer and basketball. Ten years later, a form of Frisbee golf was introduced, complete with professional playing courses and associations.

Random Frisbee facts:

In 1968, the U.S. Navy spent almost $400,000 to study Frisbees in wind tunnels, following their flights with computers and cameras, and building a special Frisbee-launching machine on top of a Utah cliff to test a prototype flare launcher.

Today the fifty year old Frisbee® is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, only one of at least sixty manufacturers of flying discs. Wham-O sold over one hundred million units before the selling the toy to Mattel.

Ed Headrick, owner of the Disc Golf Association, Inc.® founded the game of Disc Golf in 1976. The sport is played by an estimated two million recreational players in the United States.

More than approximately 200 million Frisbees have been purchased in the last 50 years, more than baseballs, footballs, and basketballs combined.

In Lake Linden, Michigan you will find The International Frisbee Hall of Fame.

Wham-O went on to market the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball, the Water Wiggle, and other toys, but Frisbee remained its most profitable product.   

Flying discs made before 1964 are considered antiques by collectors. 

The world group marathon record for Frisbee play is 1,198 hours – nearly 45 days! The record for continual play with two people is 126 hours. 

By 1970, Frisbee discs had become so popular on college campuses that some schools began offering flying disc courses to students. 

The first intercollegiate game of Ultimate was played in 1972 between Princeton and Rutgers. Rutgers won by the same two–goal margin as it did when it beat Princeton on the same field in the first college football game 103 years before.

The granddaddy of all FRISBEE sports is Guts, usually played with five players to a side. The name "Guts" came from an alleged pastime of Princeton students who tossed a six–inch circular saw blade instead of the plastic FRISBEE disc now used. 

There are more than 700 Disc Golf courses in the U.S. These courses are permanent installations, usually located in a public park, where players actually "drive" and "putt" with specially styled discs. 

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is located in Sweden. There are 26 member countries. 

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Other games related to the flying disc:

Crosbee Disc dog Disc golf Dodge disc Durango boot Double disc court

Flutterguts Freestyle Fricket (a.k.a. disc cricket, cups, Suzy sticks, crispy wickets) Friskee Goaltimate

Guts Hot box Kan-jam Polish horseshoes Schtick Ultimate

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Ultimate frisbee

Ontario couples must attend information session before divorce- The Globe and Mail

From The Globe and Mail article by Mark Brownlee:

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Starting Monday, every Ontario couple hoping to end their marriage will have to attend an information session on alternatives to going to court before getting a divorce.
The new rules will help alleviate some of the pressure on Ontario's family court system and will save those hoping to get divorced time and money, said Chris Bentley, the province's attorney general.
 “Going to court and having a court battle in family proceedings can be enormously costly, take a lot of time and probably most significantly be very emotionally damaging to children and to the two individuals,” he said.
Couples will have to attend the information session before they can file a divorce case in court.

If they still insist on going to court after that, they will then be given the option to attend a mediation session organized by the attorney general's office to try settling their differences.
Couples will now be able to attend the mediation session at any family court across the province for free. They would have needed to pay it for themselves before the changes were introduced.
Despite the two-step process, some in the legal community think the initiative isn't as effective as it could be.
Judith Huddart, a family lawyer and president of the Ontario Collaborative Law Federation, said the sessions don't advise those considering divorce about their options early enough in the process.
“I know how frustrating it can be for people to be told that they have other options after they've already hired a lawyer and started forward in a litigation route,” she said.
While Ms. Huddart supports making the program mandatory at all courts, she said providing more information for couples when they are first thinking about divorce would be an even more effective way to get the cases out of provincial courtrooms.
The new program will only reach those who have begun the process of going to court, she said.
Ms. Huddart estimated just getting to a first court hearing will often cost around $5,000 in lawyer's fees.
The province has been trying to fix that pricey problem by making more information about alternatives to divorce proceedings available online, said Mr. Bentley.
He added that he doesn't expect the new program will save his office or the courts any money.
The program is directed specifically towards saving time and legal fees for couples hoping to get divorced, he said – although he hasn't been able to quantify those savings yet.
The attorney general's office will spend an extra $5.3-million a year making the program mandatory at all courts, bringing the total cost of the initiative to $8-million a year.
Those extra costs did not come from any additional funding from the provincial government, Mr. Bentley said. His office was able to redirect money from finding efficiencies in the other areas for which his office is responsible.

The Canadian Press

Zulima Wesso: Teaching children to embrace multiculturalism

We continue our series about Hispanics contributing positively to the Canadian community with Zulima Wesso, originally an architect from Colombia, who received one of the awards for Canada's Top 25 Immigrants 2011 for her efforts in raising awareness of the benefits of multiculturalism and multilingualism via an English-Spanish children publication, Kiddo Magazine, created for readers between 4 – 14 years of age.
From the article in canadianimmigrant.ca:

Zulima Wesso, one of 2011's Top 25 Canadian Immigrants.

Necessity is the mother of invention. This best describes the birth of Kiddo Magazine, founded by Zulima Wesso, an immigrant from Colombia. Through the bilingual (English and Spanish) publication, she has created a platform to interact with other mothers within the community, while informing the mainstream Canadian community about the rich Latin American culture. The magazine is even adapted as a teaching aid by parents, caregivers and teachers.
“After I became a mother of twin boys, I realized that raising children in a foreign country without your network of support was the biggest challenge I faced,” the architect by education says, noting that even overcoming her language barrier and adapting to the Canadian way of life were easier for her.
Helping new immigrants settle strengthens our own communities, she strongly believes. “The sooner they are integrated into our society, the sooner they will be part of its development. It is important that people quickly feel a sense of belonging to their new community to start producing and making it a better place for everybody.”
The St. Catherines, Ontario-based publisher also co-founded Luna Art Club, which promotes theatre, arts and crafts among children. “It is very important what we choose to leave behind for our future generations to follow. Our culture is our legacy and I am thrilled to be working on its preservation and dissemination,” Wesso says. “It gives me a sense of accomplishment and fills my heart with happiness. To me, this is success.”
Even though her architectural licence is still in the process of being accredited in Canada, she has overcome this limitation and has surpassed the expectations while working for an architectural firm.

From an article at Thinking Latino about Zulima Wesso:

“This award is a great opportunity to profile how the culture and languages we bring from our countries of origin can be a resource for Canada in strengthening the nation and its already wonderful quality of life,” said Wesso. “The purpose of initiatives such as Kiddo, is to build an ethno cultural heritage with the 100% Canadian content contributed by multicultural professionals.”


Kiddo Magazine, her creation, is a bilingual English-Spanish magazine that encourages reading through a variety of topics for the most discerning tastes. Their latest addition to the team was Captain Leaf. Leaf, Kiddo’s hero, is on a quest to save the planet using all kind of green initiatives and eco-friendly strategies.

Fun Summer Facts: Popsicles

In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a mixture of powdered soda, water, and a stirring stick in a cup on his porch. It was a cold night, and Epperson awoke the next morning to find a frozen pop. He called it the "Epsicle."

It was a hit with his friends at school, and later with his own kids. They constantly called for "Pop's 'sicle." So in 1923, Epperson changed the name and applied for a patent. In 1925, Frank Epperson sold his famous Popsicle® to the Joe Lowe Company of New York. Good Humor now owns the rights to the Popsicle.

Random Popscicle facts:

Popscile ice sticks are made of birch.

The Twin Popsicle was invented during the Great Depression, so two children could share just one ice pop for a nickel.

Two billion Popsicle ice pop are sold annually.

The very first "ice cream man" sold Popsicle ice pops from a horse drawn-carriage in Nebraska.

During World War II, the Eighth Air Force Unit chose Popsicle ice pops as a symbol of American life.

Cherry is the #1 Popsicle ice pop flavour.

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Popsicle stick crafts can be a lot of fun. It is the perfect excuse to have to eat a lot of popsicles! So, get eating and start crafting! Many suitable summertime crafts out there, or save the sticks for other season craft ideas. 

Click on the image to find out how to make the craft.

Avocado Popsicles

Recipe care of A Cup of Jo blog, adapted from the book Paletas by Fany Gerson.


1 cup water
½ cup sugar
2 small ripe avocados
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar has dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise. Remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a bowl, along with the cooled syrup and salt. Mash and stir until smooth. (You can also do this in a blender, but we just stirred by hand.) Add the lime juice and stir just until combined.

Divide the mixture among your popsicle molds, snap on the lid and freeze until solid, about 5 hours.

Salsa on St. Clair

Supporting our Latin community @Salsa on St. Clair, July 9, 2011. 

¡Viva la salsa!

¡Los chicos de Freestyle soccer hacen unas maravillas!

The boys at Freestyle soccer sure can do some amazing things!

Salsa en masse.

Housing market has peaked, says Royal LePage- The Toronto Star

An article by Hugh McKenna regarding the current housing market:

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Canada’s hot housing market appears to be at its near-term peak, with current high prices concealing early signs of moderating market, according to a new survey released Thursday by Royal LePage.
In its House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast, Royal LePage says Canada’s residential real estate market saw sizable year-over-year price increases in the second quarter.
And, it says the price increases were evident across all housing types surveyed, with the national average price of a detached bungalow has rising the most — 7.5 per cent year-over-year to $356,625.
Meanwhile, the price of a standard two-storey home rose 6.1 per cent to $390,163 and the price of a standard condominium 3.5 per cent to $238,064.
While prices continue their recent climb, Royal LePage said signs of moderation, although they vary from region to region, are beginning to become apparent and the average price of a home is expected to end the year 7.7 per cent higher than at the end of 2010.
Sales volume nationally is forecast to decrease marginally by 2.0 per cent over the same period.
The survey, described by Royal LePage as the largest, most comprehensive study of its kind in Canada, contains information on seven types of housing in over 250 neighbourhoods from coast to coast.
“In many of Canada’s regional markets, we saw house prices appreciate at a significantly faster rate than wages and salaries, and this trend cannot continue indefinitely,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive, Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
“We expect price gains to moderate considerably in the latter half of 2011, which should reduce the stress associated with purchasing a new home.”

                   Construction crews work at a housing development near 

Derry Rd. E. and Thompson Rd. in Milton, Ont. 

PAWEL DWULIT/TORONTO STAR

However, Soper noted that Vancouver and specifically certain neighbourhoods in the lower mainland of British Columbia, “remains an anomaly, as investment from outside of the country continues to support higher price levels.”
Year-over-year prices should appreciate modestly in 2011’s third quarter as most Canadian housing markets cooled during the same period in 2010. Similarly, this year’s final quarter should display a flat year-over-year price performance when compared to an unusually strong fourth quarter of 2010.
“While the global economy struggles to find its footing, here in Canada we are seeing indicators of a return to long-term norms,” noted Soper.
“There is an expectation of continuing improvement in employment levels across the country and accompanying strength in wages and salaries, which should provide support for the housing market. Looking ahead to 2012, signs are pointing to stability for Canadian home owners and new buyers. We believe we are past the period of peak house price appreciation.”
In the Atlantic provinces, Royal LePage says markets that had recently enjoyed unusually high price appreciation such as Halifax and St. John’s are still seeing gains, although smaller than those in recent quarters. At the end of 2011, average house prices in Halifax are forecast to be 3.3 per cent higher than 2010.
In Montreal, detached bungalows and two-storey houses posted strong year-over-year gains above seven per cent in the second quarter, while standard condominiums rose modestly by 1.9 per cent. At the end of 2011, average house prices in Montreal are forecast to be seven per cent higher than 2010.
Toronto’s seller’s market witnessed strong year-over-year price appreciation in the quarter, with price gains ranging from 4.7 per cent to 6.1 per cent as the average price of a detached bungalow hit $511,100 and a standard two-storey homes $617,774.
The average year-over-year house price in Toronto is expected to see an overall increase of 6.4 per cent in 2011, while unit sales are expected to decrease 1.8 per cent largely due to lack of inventory.
Regina saw the largest year-over-year gain in the quarter, with the price of a standard two-storey home jumping 15.6 per cent and detached bungalows posting an 11 per cent gain as the city’s limited inventory was unable to keep up with the demand created by the booming local job market. At the end of 2011, average house prices in Regina are forecast to be 12.4 per cent higher than 2010.
Calgary witnessed moderate year-over-year price declines as it continued to adjust from the boom experienced in the middle of the previous decade, but is expected to finish the year with an average price gain of 3.8 per cent.
Vancouver experienced some of Canada’s largest year-over-year price increases with detached bungalows rising 14.1 per cent and standard two-storey homes rising 12.0 per cent. Average prices for standard condominiums stabilized rising 2.5 per cent.
At the end of 2011, average house prices in Vancouver are forecast to be 15.4 per cent higher than 2010.
Elsewhere, Ottawa is expected to see average prices finish 2011 up five per cent compared with 2010 and Winnipeg up six per cent, while prices in Edmonton are expected to be down 1.2 per cent.

Cheaper real estate fees are coming- The Toronto Star

Tony Wong's article in The Toronto Star:

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The Canadian real-estate market is expected to get much more competitive with a new discount agency partnership that would offer cheaper real-estate fees to consumers and present the most serious threat yet to traditional bricks-and-mortar realtors.
The deal between Moncton, N.B.-based PropertyGuys.com and Toronto-based Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. is expected to be announced Thursday, the Star has learned.
The agreement will result in a powerhouse for discount real estate. PropertyGuys bills itself as the largest and fastest-growing private-sale franchise network in Canada, where sellers can list and sell their own properties without an agent. Realtysellers, which has had a history of litigious tangling with organized real estate, is considered the bad boy of real estate due to its aggressive low commissions and flat fees.
The combination will create a company that promises to be an industry game-changer.
“We now have the size, sophistication and financial muscle to fundamentally change the way Canadians can buy and sell a home,” said Lawrence Dale, president and CEO of Realtysellers.
Realtysellers formed last year after the Competition Bureau signed an agreement with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) to open doors to real-estate companies offering flat-fee services.
Home prices in the Toronto market have virtually doubled in the last decade but traditional commissions have stuck at the 5 per cent mark.
Although all commissions are negotiable, a traditional listing agent might charge 2.5 per cent commission, while the buyer’s agent may also receive 2.5 per cent.
Dale’s company charges 0.5 per cent to list a home. (If the buyer is represented by a traditional agent, then another 2.5 per cent may have to be paid for a total of 3 per cent in commissions).
If his company represents the buyer, then a rebate is given up to 70 per cent of the commission if the buyer has done the legwork of finding their own property.
PropertyGuys was a service for homeowners who didn’t want to pay a commission and wanted to sell their own homes.
Elizabeth Lipcsei, 80, listed her $1,299,000 North York home with PropertyGuys because she thought agent commissions were “outrageous.”
If she sold the house at full price, total commissions could be as much as $65,000. With PropertyGuys, Lipcsei says she expects to pay about $1,300 to sell her property.
She will likely still have to pay commission to the buyer’s agent.
But because her 5,000-square-foot ravine-lot home is not currently listed on the Multiple Listing Service, she has received few calls.
In the three weeks she has been on the website, the majority of calls have been from traditional agents fishing for her listing.
“There is a need for alternatives that are affordable for consumers,” said Lipcsei.
PropertyGuys lists homes privately online, and is part of the burgeoning sale-by-owner segment of the market. The company says it makes more than 10,000 transactions annually.
With Dale’s undisclosed financial investment in PropertyGuys, Realtysellers now has access to a database of customers to expand its reach, while PropertyGuys will be able to offer traditional brokerage services.
“This new union will give our current and future customers access to brokerage services that were previously off limits,” said Ken LeBlanc, president and CEO of PropertyGuys.
The two companies are expected to operate under their own brands but will pool their services and resources. PropertyGuys’ clients, for example, can use Realtysellers to list their homes on MLS, where the vast majority of deals are made.
Whether the new innovators make inroads into the Canadian market remains to be seen. Longtime franchises such as ReMax and Royal LePage spend millions every year marketing their well-established brands.
In the United States, a 2008 Justice Department agreement with the National Association of Realtors stopped the association from using rules to treat traditional bricks-and-mortar brokers differently than online brokers, ushering in an explosion of Internet-based companies.
However, traditional realtors still dominate.
“It will take time for the more innovative companies to make inroads,” said John Andrew, director of the executive seminars on corporate and investment real estate at Queen’s University.
“But this is the first really significant merger in the market, getting two of the largest players together to get a critical mass to take on the traditional brokerages.
“I think we may see more convergence in the industry with the smaller players getting together in order to create the volume needed to survive.”
The move toward cheaper commissions in many ways started with Dale, who has had a well-publicized acrimonious relationship with organized real estate.
His company claimed it was the first in Canada to offer a basket of different-priced services, including a “flat-fee” program that would allow consumers to list on the MLS for a few hundred dollars. Realtysellers closed in 2006 and Dale sued CREA and the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), saying they enacted new rules to put discounters out of business.
That got the attention of the Competition Bureau, which started to investigate the industry. Dale restarted Realtysellers last year with Toronto businessman Mark Litwin and longtime realtor Allan Spivak after the bureau reached an agreement with CREA.
“Because of the Competition Bureau, companies such as PropertyGuys and Realtysellers have been able to come together,” said Dale. “I would certainly not have re-entered the market without the bureau cleaning up the landscape.”
While an agreement has been made with CREA, the bureau last month decided to take the Toronto board to court in a move to further open up the MLS to consumers.
The bureau is arguing that TREB is restricting how its agents can provide MLS to customers, thereby “denying member agents the ability to provide innovative brokerage services over the Internet.” The bureau wants consumers to have the ability to look at historical data such as sold prices and comparables from their own computers. By doing their own work, fees might be lowered.
Dale says the new combined company will provide services and data not available previously on other websites.
“We intend to introduce to customers access to data that we can lawfully provide,” said Dale.
The two companies will have competition not just from traditional realtors but from other for-sale-by-owner sites that have bulked up in anticipation of competition.
For example, Ontario-based Bytheowner.com, now known as ComFree, joined forces last September with four other commission-free real-estate companies.
“You will see an ongoing convergence. But it makes sense to be among the first and the biggest because you crowd out the space for potential competitors coming in,” said Andrews.

Liliana Angarita: From Colombia to Toronto to help others- The Toronto Star

Another look at Hispanic immigrants contributing positively to the Canadian community.

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Elvira Cordileone's article in the Toronto Star:

  On a frigid December day, Liliana Angarita, her husband, Mario Guilombo, and their 5-year-old daughter, Lilian, fled to Toronto from Colombia, with nothing but the summer clothes on their backs.
A gunshot had changed their lives.
In the fall of 2001, as the family walked along a street in Bogota, a bullet cut through the air and pierced their little girl’s leg.
The child’s shooting was no accident. It was a final warning to Guilombo, a lawyer working in the anti-corruption office of Colombia’s navy, to stop his investigations.
The people with secrets to protect had already made five attempts on his life — and he shows the scars to prove it. When they told him his mother would be next, Guilombo started planning their escape.
While Lilian recovered in the hospital, he got in touch with a man who had contacts in the United Nations and the International Red Cross.
Within 24 hours, a UN member nation agreed to accept them as refugees but, for the sake of security, their destination was kept secret from them until their departure a month later.
Mother and daughter fled Bogota as soon as Lilian was released from hospital, moving from city to city while Guilombo waited for their papers to be approved. They told no one of their plans, not even close relatives.
Angarita, 42, says they only learned they were headed to Canada on their way to the airport.
“December 18, 2001. Very, very cold. No appropriate for clothing,” Angarita recalls, her English hesitant.
Reliving that difficult time makes her weep, and she apologizes for the tears.
She says a Canadian immigration official met them at Pearson airport and handed them coats, jackets and boots. The woman then put the family in a taxi and sent them to a shelter in downtown Toronto, where they remained for a month.
“It was a situation of desperation, crying, and no family here,” Angarita says, shaking her head.
That sense of dislocation and loss during those dark, early days so marked her, Angarita has made it her life’s work to do everything she can for others in similar circumstances.
In the process, she has built a meaningful and rewarding new life. Angarita has been recognized for her contributions to her adopted country as one of this year’s Top 25 Canadian Immigrants.
Since they came to Canada, Angarita and Guilombo have co-founded several organizations, including Casa Latino American, now called Casa de las Americas, to help victims of violence and human rights abuses.

In 2007, they helped establish the Canadian Human Rights International Organization (CHRIO), a non-profit agency for immigrants and refugees, where they continue to work full time as volunteers.
Olga Umana, a CHRIO volunteer, nominated Angarita for the immigrant award. She worked as a lawyer in El Salvador before immigrating to Canada two years ago.
“Everything (at CHRIO) is by her hand,” Umana says. “She’s in charge, especially for community help. She’s very nice, very friendly. I don’t know how to say — very able.”
The agency operates out of two trailers at the back of the Northminster Baptist Church parking lot, on Finch Ave. near Jane St. The church lets them use the space rent free in exchange for maintaining the grounds.
“CHRIO is pretty much the last stop for people who don’t know what else to do,” says Jonathan Whiteside, a Northminster pastor and CHRIO president.
Whiteside says many of the 3,000 people they helped last year were refugee claimants who’d lost their bids to stay in Canada and were “terrified” by the prospect of going back.
“We aren’t focussed on resettlement. Nevertheless and inevitably, a lot of the work is that. So we have clothing, furniture, computers, things that come our way even though we’re not looking for them.”
Guilombo directs the legal and human rights work while Angarita manages social and community services, which includes fielding desperate calls at all hours from people needing help.
Angarita also co-ordinates the work of CHRIO’s more than 100 volunteers: Lawyers, social workers, psychologists, human-resource specialists, artists offering classes, technical people for computer help and those who keep the trailers clean and maintain the church grounds.
“I’m president but they do all the hard work,” says Whiteside, who ministers to the church’s Spanish-speaking congregants.
CHRIO provides services free of charge, says executive director Carlos Rodriguez-Tascon, a financial planner. Its annual budget is less than $4,000 per year, all of it donated.
Whiteside says most of that money comes out of the Angarita’s and Guilombo’s own pockets.
The family survives on social assistance, Guilombo says. If CHRIO’s application for charitable status gets approval, he hopes there may be room for salaries in the future.
“The money isn’t important,” Angarita says. “It’s the life (that matters).”
Until now, she has managed to keep a low profile. She confesses all the attention the immigrant award has brought makes her “a little scared.”
She’s used to attending award ceremonies. Her husband has received a fistful of them, including his own Top 25 Immigrant award in 2009.
In her spare time, Angarita studies social work and early childhood education through online courses.
Perhaps soon, the little girl who took a bullet because of her father’s work will also get her share of accolades. Lilian Guilombo, 14, who plans to study law, serves as CHRIO’s junior director of human rights. She oversees a team of 10 kids who monitor cases of rights abuses against children and advocate on their behalf.

Happy Canada Day!/ Feliz Día de Canadá!

Canada became a country on July 1, 1867.

The border between Canada and the United States is officially known as the International Boundary. At 5,525 miles, including 1,538 miles between Canada and Alaska, it is the world's longest border between two nations.

At 3,855,103 square miles, Canada is the second largest country in the world, behind Russia.

The Mounted Police were formed in 1873, with nine officers.

The capital city, Ottawa, was originally named Bytown after Colonel John By, who headquartered there while building the Rideau Canal to connect the Ottawa River with Lake Ontario.

Canada has the longest coastline of any country in the world at 151,600 miles.

Canadians have made many important inventions, including Kerosene, the electron microscope, the electronic organ, insulin, the IMAX film system, the snowmobile, and the electric cooking range.

Many famous authors have come from Canada, including Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables), Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale), and Alice Munro (Lives of Girls and Women).

A black bear cub from Canada named Winnipeg (or “Winnie,” for short) was one of the most popular attractions at the London Zoo after it was donated to the zoo in 1915. Winnie became a favorite of Christopher Robin Milne and inspired the stories written by his father, A.A. Milne, about Winnie-the-Pooh.

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Fun Summer Facts: Watermelon

Most closely related to cucumbers, pumpkins and squash. It's made of 92% water and is a fantastic source of Vitamin C. 

Although the interior is typically pink, it is possible to find other coloured flesh: orange, red, and yellow.  There are more than 1200 varieties of the fruit, ranging from 2 pounds to 200 pounds.


In the Vienamese culture, watermelon seeds are consumed during the Vietnamese New Year's holiday, Tết, as a snack.


Fans of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL started a tradition of hollowing out a watermelon and wearing it as a makeshift football helmet (the color of the Roughriders is green). During the 2009 Grey Cup in Calgary (between theMontreal Alouettes and the Roughriders), thousands of watermelons had to be imported to Calgary supermarkets to prevent a shortage being caused by Rider fans.


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Ever tried watermelon logs with fruit filled rectangles? Or how about Kung Pao Watermleon Shrimp? Check out the  National Watermelon Promotion Board for a large selection   of recipes involving watermelon.






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CHOOSING THE RIGHT WATERMELON:

1. LOOK – Your watermelon should be firm, symmetrical and free of major bruises or scars. Some minor scratches are okay, however. After all, the purpose of that thick rind is to protect the delicious contents inside. Ripe watermelons should also be dark green in color.

2. LIFT – The ripest watermelons have the most water. And since watermelons are 92 percent water, your watermelon should be relatively heavy for its size.

3. TURN – Turn your watermelon over and check out its bottom, which should have a creamy yellow spot (also called “the ground spot”). This is where the watermelon sat on the ground while it soaked up the sun at the farm. If this spot is white or greenish, your watermelon may have been picked too soon and might not be as ripe as it should be.

Source

SQUARE WATERMELONS

Farmers in Japan started to grow square watermelons due to lack of space in their refrigerators. The square shape allows them to stack and store the fruit more easily. Farmers insert the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

The square boxes are the exact dimensions of Japanese refrigerators, allowing full-grown watermelons to fit conveniently and precisely onto refrigerator shelves.

WATERMELON CARVINGS

Talented people around the world are doing amazing things with watermelons. It is unreal to think that these carvings are made from watermelons. The details and precision are amazing.

Take a look below at some samples of watermelon art.

   

Summer has arrived

Source: National Geographic

The summer solstice is a result of the Earth's north-south axis being tilted 23.4 degrees relative to the sun. The tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet.

Yesterday, June 21st, the North Pole was tipped more toward the sun than on any other day of 2011. The opposite holds true for the Southern Hemisphere, where  the winter solstice, is the shortest day of the year.

As a result, at high noon on the first day of summer, the sun appears at its highest point in the sky—its most directly overhead position—in the Northern Hemisphere.

That doesn't mean the sun will be exactly overhead at noon for everyone, said Cornel University astronomer James Bell.

It depends on the viewer's latitude—the sun will shine down directly overhead at noon only along the Tropic of Cancer, an imaginary line that circles the Earth at about the latitude of Cuba.

"It's still at a low angle if you're up in Alaska," Bell explained.

The above multiple-exposure photo shows the figure 8 path of the sun over the course of the entire year, this is known as an analemma. Photographs are made by taking a picture of the sun from the same place at the same time of day once or twice a week, generating 30 to 50 frames.This one in ancient Delphi, was made in Greece in 2001.

No matter where you are in the Northern Hemisphere, the path of the sun across the sky—which rises in the lead-up to the first day of summer, then begins descending over the rest of the summer—seems not to change for the few days before and after the summer solstice. (See pictures of the sun's path across the sky—an entire year in a single frame.)

In reality, the sun's position is still changing, but at a slower rate.

Summer Solstice Wobbles Around the Calendar

While the June solstice generally occurs on the same day every year, the date can change from year to year. For example, in 2008, the summer solstice occurred on June 20.

This date shifting is a result of the discrepancy between a human calendar year—which is usually counted as 365 days—and an astronomical year, which is about 365.24 days.

Our leap year system—which adds an extra day to the calendar every four years—ensures our calendars are accurate, but it also causes the solstice date to flop around a bit.

Solstice Is Longest Day of the Year—Not Hottest

On the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives more sunlight than on any other day of the year, but that doesn't mean the first day of summer is also the hottest day of summer.

Earth's oceans and atmosphere act like heat sinks, absorbing and reradiating the sun's rays over time. So even though the planet is absorbing lots of sunlight on the summer solstice, it takes several weeks to release it. As a result, the hottest days of summer usually occur in July or August.

"If you think about turning up an oven—it takes it a long time to heat up," explained Robert Howell, an astronomer at the University of Wyoming. "And after you turn it off, it takes a while for it to cool down. It's the same with the Earth."

First Day of Summer Sparked Ancient Celebrations

The summer solstice is recognized and often celebrated in many cultures around the world, in both the past and present.

The ancient Egyptians, for example, built the Great Pyramids so that the sun, when viewed from the Sphinx, sets precisely between two of the Pyramids on the summer solstice.

The Inca of South America celebrated the summer solstice with a ceremony called Inti Raymi, which included food offerings and sacrifices of animals and maybe even people. (See a picture of an Inca summer solstice festival.)

Recently, archaeologists discovered the remains of an astronomical observatory in a long-buried Maya city in Guatemala in which the buildings were designed to align with the sun during the solstices. During such times, the city's populace gathered at the observatory to watch as their king appeared to command the heavens.

Summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge.

And perhaps most famously, Stonehenge in the United Kingdom has been associated with the winter and summer solstices for about 5,000 years.

Observers in the center of the standing stones can still watch the summer solstice sun rise over the Heel Stone, which stands just outside Stonehenge's stone circles. (Read about pagans' campaign to enter Stonehenge on the summer solstice and other sacred days.)

This year modern-day Druids will gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice for the first time as members of an officially recognized religion in the U.K., following a controversial vote by the national Charity Commission for England and Wales last fall.

Happy Father's Day/Feliz Día del Padre

Boxer to Receive Citizenship- The Brampton Guardian

It's always inspiring to see youth putting their energy into positive activities. We especially enjoy hearing about Latin youth striving for excellence, particularly in the situation where they immigrate and all the while deal with all the changes of their new life, learning a new language and they choose to be involved and come out on top.

Congratulations on all your successes Luis!

From an article in The Brampton Guardian by FRANK JUZENAS:

Just one day after he receives his Canadian citizenship on Monday Luis Valdiva will be heading to Germany to represent Canada in an international boxing tournament.
The 17-year old from Brampton feared last week that his citizenship would not arrive in time to represent this country at the Brandenburg Cup in Frankfurt, Germany, beginning next week.
However after an article in The Guardian on Friday the family received a phone call from the Department of Immigration that their request for citizenship was being fast-tracked.
They are to be sworn in as Canadians on Monday. Bal Gosal, the MP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton and the newly minted Minister of State for Sport in the federal government said he saw the article in The Guardian explaining Valdiva’s plight. He said he spoke with other Brampton MPs Kyle Seeback of Brampton West and Parm Gill from Brampton Springdale and the Department of Immigration and there was no reason why the citizenship should not be granted.
“I read the article and I felt for the boy,” said Gosal. “The federal government is the largest supporter of amateur sport in this country, contributing $200 million and we want our athletes to excel at the international level.”
A native of Chile, Valdiva has lived in Canada since the age of 7. The family began the process of obtaining Canadian citizenship about two years ago. While they had completed all the requirements they were still waiting to receive the final documents allowing them to be sworn in. Valdiva, who boxes out of Brampton’s Champion Gym has had a sparkling amateur career with a record of 32-4.
That included winning the gold medal in the 64 to 69 kilograms division earlier this year at the Canada Winter Games in Halifax. As the top rated boxer in Canada in his division, Boxing Canada selected him to compete at the Bradenburg Cup running June 21 to 26. He is also scheduled to go the Commonwealth Youth Cup on the Isle of Man in September. If he had not received his citizenship someone else would have been sent.
Valdiva, who was travelling with his family on the weekend could not be reached for comment, but his coach John Melich, who had been making numerous calls on Valdiva’s behalf to government officials and media is happy that the citizenship issue appears to be resolved. He said it is crucial that Valdiva get international experience because there are few fighters in the  province willing to go into the ring with him.
“It was getting frustrating. I’ve taken him to so many tournaments and people have cancelled, somebody suddenly gets a broken leg or something,” he said.
Valdiva, who is a student at Turner Fenton, said his goal is to compete for Canada at the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.
Melich feels with his skills he can be successful at the international level but he needs to gain the experience against the top competition.

Guerrero Law's Toronto office now open!

We are pleased to announce that our Toronto office is now officially open. Our team continues to expand in order to better serve our clientele.

Guerrero Law staff in the Toronto office specialise in Personal Injury cases, however, we continue to serve all of our clients' needs and are able to accommodate matters regarding Family and Real Estate as well, therefore do not hesitate to contact our office, as we are here to help you.

We welcome staff members who are able to work with the Tamil speaking community in order to better serve you.

Before opening for business, we were honoured to have a puja performed in order to bless the new location and its staff members.

Offerings of prayer.

Getting comfortable in his new digs.

 

Guerrero Law Toronto Office Address:

31 Progress Avenue, Suite 202

Toronto, ON M1P 2S6

Guerrero Law Toronto Office Phone Number: 

(416) 297-0205

Your will, has it been updated recently?

Many of you already have wills written, but when was the last time you reviewed it? Perhaps you've had a child meanwhile, or another family member has had a child that you would like to leave something to. Perhaps you've purchased a home or other assets since the time you prepared the will the first time. 

If this is the case, then now is the time to visit your lawyer and have your will updated.