Who Invented White Out

Canuck creations

Well Canada, there’s no denying it. At 144 years of age, you’re starting to get old.

Your maple leaf is showing some wrinkles. Your back bacon’s a little crispy. And have you noticed how many times you’re getting up in the night to empty the maple syrup?

Hard to believe that nearly a half century has passed since Expo 67 and Bobby Gimby wrote the immortal words “Ca-na-da. One little, two little, three Canadians” for your Centennial party.

If the 100th birthday was a time for wild government-subsidized celebration, maybe your 144th should be an opportunity to reflect, take stock and better understand your place in the world.

Truth is, you’ve contributed some great things over last 144 years, even if sometimes you didn’t get the credit you deserved.

Take the line in the middle of the highway, for example. In 1930, a government worker from Ontario got the idea that a white line down the centre of the road would discourage cars from bumping into each other. What a delightfully Canadian and egalitarian way to solve a problem – divide the thing up fairly.

Canadians don’t tend to make the big splash like Americans. When we come up with stuff, it’s usually of a more practical nature -- like the Robertson screwdriver (doesn’t slip like a flathead screwdriver), the zipper (imagine a world without them) or the paint roller (get that wall done in a quarter the time so there’s more time for drinking beer).

Maybe we didn’t invent the automobile. But Canadian Thomas Ahearn came up with the car heater in 1890 to keep passengers warm. Up to our necks in snow, Canadians invented the snowblower, snowmobile and the rotary snowplow.

Americans walked on the Moon. But we invented the Canadarm, the world’s most amazing space station assembly tool and mother-of-all back scratchers.

Hollywood has the stars and the big budget movies. But it was actually a Canadian who who came up with the world’s first documentary film, Nanook of the North. It was filmed in 1922 and people have been ignoring documentary films ever since.

There are those who mock Canadian cuisine. But did you know that poutine was invented in this country and so was the instant mashed potato? And what about the beaver tail, the butter tart, the Nanaimo bar and the Timbit? Those things are all Canadian. And for special occasions, we have, well, you know...pemmican.

Michael Nesmith – Magnetic South « slow, slow music

, Technically Nesmith’s third solo release, feels very much like his first proper statement as an emancipated solo artist. After leaving the Monkees in the late-60s, the countrified flavor of his original compositions for that super-group came into full bloom. Here he treads similar territory to that which late-period Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers were covering, albeit with a particularly pleasing and uniquely off-beat sense of humor and charm.

The album, which stands as one of the better of a consistently strong 1970s output, is quite brief. Yet in 11 tracks in just over 30 minutes, Nesmith packs a variety of traditional folk and blues styles with the high-concept feeling of a late-60s concept record creating one exciting and complicated stew. Backed by his own First National Band, the playing, particularly Red Rhodes pedal steel, is top notch – the sound of a real country band, not just a pop star pretending to be rootsy for street cred. Stand out tracks include the opener “Calico Girlfriend” and the ballad “Joanne”.

Frankly, this guys is amazing.

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