Got out of jury duty!

I got summoned to jury duty, but I got out of it :)

I wrote them a letter saying that I was a student and couldn't afford to take time off, etc. The amazing thing was that less than 24 hours after I put the letter in the mail, they called me to confirm that they got my letter and that I was off the hook! I was amazed! Not that I got out of jury duty, but that the mail got to them so fast! I always figured that the postal system was super slow and took at least a few days, even if it's in the same city, since I imagine that it has to go into some huge sorting facility, etc., etc. I was only sending it a few blocks away, but I still didn't expect it to get to them that fast, especially not by the next morning.

Anyways, it's a relief. It really doesn't make sense for students to have to do jury duty because it can really screw with you if you miss classes, especially if the hearing lasts a long time, you could even miss a whole semester and have to retake the entire year. For me, while I don't have any classes or anything, if I'm gone, there's no one that will do my research for me, so it'd have to be totally put on hold and research is highly time sensitive in that it's easy to get scooped. Students are in school to learn, no point taking that away from them.

The little pamphlet that comes with the summons to jury says that "If this is a particularly difficult time for you to attend, because of your employment, business, schooling, or personal circumstances, you can, by a request in writing, ask to have your jury duty postponed to a later date." I know several people that have gotten out of jury duty. Seems like only the unemployed, severely bored, or people not smart enough to get out of jury duty actually do jury duty, which makes me question the quality of the jurors. I hope I never have to rely on a jury...

A part of our heritage

Canadians are proud of our country. We are proud of our accomplishments and contributions to the world. We will take great pride in any small feat. Perhaps it's a bit of an inferiority complex as well. We are not however, blindly patriotic, and will freely denounce our own country, but we still take pride in our country. We laugh at our pathetic military, but we never forget that in our only war with the US (the war of 1812), we kicked their ass and burnt down the White House!

In an another example, I laugh hysterically at the joke below and often make fun of Winnipeg, but will proudly tell you that famous Winnipeggers include Terry Fox, Cindy Klassen, The Guess Who, Neil Young, Chantal Kreviazuk, Fred Penner, Anna Paquin, and Winnie-the-Pooh.

I heard this on the radio the other day (comparing American and Canadian versions of things):

American version: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Canadian version: What happens in Winnipeg... let me say it again. What happens in Winnipeg?

I found these Canadian Heritage videos online (click on the categories on the left). They are short videos that were (are?) played during commercial breaks depicting an important moment in Canada's history. They used to be on all the time and got drilled into our minds as kids. They're fun to watch (having not seen them for years, but still remember them) and they do give me a sense of pride, so I guess the videos did accomplish what they were supposed to do.

These are the videos I remember the most:

• Superman
  • "No one's going to read a comic strip about a strong man in tights"


• Laura Secord
  • Warning the Canadian and British forces of the American attack


• Nellie McClung
  • "Nice women don't want the vote"


• Underground Railroad
  • "Paul ain't gonna make it!"


• Orphans
  • "We have to keep our Irish name!"


• Les Voltigeurs de Québec
  • O Canada!


• Sir Sandford Fleming
  • My ECE department is named after him, the inventor of time zones


• John McCrae
  • In Flanders fields the poppies blow
    Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
    Scarce heard amid the guns below.
    We are the Dead.
    Short days ago
    We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
    Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
    In Flanders fields.
    Take up our quarrel with the foe
    To you from failing hands we throw
    The torch, be yours to hold it high
    If ye break faith with us who die.
    
    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
    In Flanders fields.


• Basketball
  • "It sure slows things down having to climb up here every time"


• Winnie
  • Why Winnie, sir?
    For my hometown, Winnipeg

Log Driver's Waltz

For he goes birling down a-down the white water
That's where the log driver learns to step lightly
It's birling down, a-down white water
A log driver's waltz pleases girls completely.

Everyone that grew up in Canada in the 80's will remember that video above. For some reason, it was on TV all the time. They aired it in seemingly every commercial break. The tune is pretty catchy and the cartoon is pretty funny. Whatever message they were trying to send got ingrained into my subconsciousness after watching it like a billion times. I'm not the only one either. Everyone I show this to remembers the video to the point of remembering most of the words.

It was one of the "Canada Vignettes" produced by the National Film Board of Canada to portray a cultural depiction of Canada. Personally, I think it was funded by the log driver's association to convince girls to marry log drivers and for boys to become log drivers b/c they are the only people that can please a girl completely. Another memorable vignette was one showing faces morphing into other faces, showing the cultural and ethnic diversity of Canada. All the vignettes used to be online, but they have since been taken down. I figure the videos should be free b/c Canada should want people to watch them.