Dick Stacey's Country Jamboree is now available on DVD/CD after years of slowly fading into obscurity. "I was wrong in thinking the Jamboree was a thing of the past," said Dick Stacey, a man whose three gas stations and motel took over sponsoring this uniquely Maine talent showcase on a whim in 1973—and ended up lasting just over a decade.
posted on Sep 3, 2008 - View this thread

Canadian author Lesley Choyce and his family share their extended encounter with a surfeit of skunks in a short documentary, avaible on YouTube in three parts.
posted on May 21, 2008 - View this thread

The Dreaded Half Worcester warning: music is just one of the possible vexing configurations players encounter in candlepin bowling, a regional variation on traditional bowling that's unique to northern New England and maritime Canada. Developed in Worcester, MA, around 1880 (warning: more music), the game is played in gorgeous antique alleys dotted around New England and Nova Scotia, and features a 4 1/2" wooden or rubber ball, three rolls per frame or "box," and 15 and 3/4" narrow, cylinder-shaped pins that are the devil to knock down -- even though you can use the dead wood to knock other pins down, a score over 200 is extremely rare. Find some lanes and play or just take the quiz - like so many regional quirks, this one's undergoing a bit of a revival.
posted on Jul 19, 2007 - View this thread

Wolfville, Nova Scotia to become Canada's first fairtrade town, with an added emphasis on buying locally. Garstang, England, became the world's first fairtrade town in 2000, and Wales is aiming at being the first fairtrade country. Too big of a scale for you? You might want to start by encouraging your local schools or religious communities to make the jump.
posted on Apr 17, 2007 - View this thread

Delusional Calgaria (De-luge-unul Cal-gu-ree-uh): An affliction that affects 4 out of 5 Nova Scotians living away from home in Calgary. And a second opinion...
posted on Mar 26, 2007 - View this thread

Sunday Shopping in Nova Scotia. You might not think there's anywhere left in Western Civilization where this is still an issue. But in the little Canadian province of Nova Scotia, it's causing a storm, with big stores working around the law to stay open, and the government legislating in haste to try to keep them closed. But not all of them - and that's leading to accusations of unfairness and even cronyism too.
posted on Jun 24, 2006 - View this thread

Start or stop Atlantica. [via CBC]
posted on Jun 11, 2006 - View this thread

The Public Archives of Nova Scotia has some cool online exhibits. The original list of dead bodies recovered from the Titanic sinking caught my eye, they also have original log book pages from privateers, lighthouses, slavery and abolition, boats, boats, and more boats. [via]
posted on Apr 20, 2006 - View this thread

No Sunday shopping in Nova Scotia (apparently some were for and against).
posted on Oct 17, 2004 - View this thread

Halifax under curfew. The Globe and Mail and the CBC are reporting that the Province of Nova Scotia has placed Halifax, Canada, under a curfew tonight. The city has taken this unprecedented peacetime action to allow the snow plows to deal with the 100cm (~50 inches) of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours. Anyone caught on the streets between 11pm and 7am faces a CDN$1000 fine.
posted on Feb 20, 2004 - View this thread

Oak Island is one of the greatest treasure hunting mysteries of the last 400 years. The Money Pit as it is called, has stirred up a bevy of questions including how this simple pit has alluded treasure hunters and scientists to this day. Some believe that it might be the location of the Holy Grail, stashed by the Templar Knights. Other's believe that it might be the resting place of Sir Francis Bacon's original plays acreditted to William Shakespear. The most common belief is that The pirate Captain Kidd hid his huge stash of gold deep within the pit which accounts for all of the unusual traps. Regardless of the wild speculation there has been evidence to suggest that there is deffinately something in the pit. But not all agree....
posted on Jan 15, 2004 - View this thread

Big Plans. Little Brains. Mike Clattenburg's Trailer Park Boys could soon be more than just a Canadian phenomenon. The mockumentary began as a film, was adapted into a TV series and has been airing for three seasons on Showcase in Canada (not to be confused with this). Ricky, Julian and Bubbles even joined Our Lady Peace during its Fear of the Trailer Park Tour last summer (soon to be documented on CD and DVD) and could be seen alongside Don Cherry in The Tragically Hip's video for "The Darkest One" (a look behind the scenes - qt version). Bubbles even appeared in that informer guy's video for "Legal" and has been writing music reviews in character. (TPB was mentioned briefly here and here.)
posted on May 26, 2003 - View this thread

The Mystery Pit of Oak Island. In 1795, two boys found a treasure map on Oak Island, on the coast of Nova Scotia; two hundred years, tens of millions of dollars and six lives later, the island is nearly obliterated with holes and excavations, and no one is any richer... The story of Oak Island makes a fine allegory for pursuing phantom riches at the expense of all else, in addition to just making a damn fine story.
posted on Jan 9, 2003 - View this thread