Did We Name Living Things the Best Way?

     With all due respects to Carl Linaeus and all life scientists past and present, I would suggest that we should or should have used the names aboriginals had for living things. Now I'm not suggesting that we abandon Linaeus's system. Linaeus's system works extremely well and is accepted and used world wide.


     When Europeans first went out to discover the world , settle it and tame the original peoples, they also took it upon themselves to not only name living things but to "discover them." Well, I have news for you ! Most living things were known by the original peoples in any part of the world. More than that, most living things had been named. And further than that, the original people had a very great knowledge about the living things. So because living things had names , why did Europeans take it upon themselves to rename things? This is where I suggest that we should or should have used the names for living things that were first given to them.


     Not only were the living things known and named but also the geographical locations were well named. Maps were in their heads. The other day I was writing about an  Inuit settlement I had lived in. When I was there it was called Wakeham Bay. Today it is called Kangiqsujuaq which means very large bay. That's exactly what it is ...a very large bay. The bay is 25 miles long and 8 miles wide at it's widest. So the original name makes much more sense. Mr Wakeham came along and since he didn't find anybody there decided to leave his name on it. Original place names were very descriptive and helped with finding the location. Having traveled with Inuit in both the eastern and the western Arctic I soon found out that they didn't bother with our maps, and had names for places and didn't have any difficulty to get anywhere they wanted.


     If we look at birds for example, we find all kinds of people who pinned their name to a species that had already been named...Spraque, Baird, Franklin, Bonepart, Thayer, Forster, Lewis, Wilson...and many more. These birds were well known and named before any of these people saw them. The Palliser Expedition occurred in western Canada in the 1860's. Much scientific work was done. It's amazing what these people did and what was found. They knew the plant families and classification, but since it was a new species to them they took it upon themselves to name it.


    Where I live the Cree language is still in use and quite healthy. Names for places and things are still very well known in their culture.


    If we use peyote as an example, we've kept the original name with a little bit of change. Peyote is classified under the Linaeus system with Latin names but the original name is used for the common name. Original peoples knew that peyote was good for many things. It has been proved scientifically that they were correct.


     So since many of the original names were very descriptive,  I think that we should have made an effort to find out what they were and use them.

Finally Success in Internet Search

      This week I finally found success in a search that I have been pursuing for a few years.


      I had written in a previous post that I had taught in an isolated Inuit community from 1967 -1969. There were less than 200 people in the community. It was a two year period that had a tremendous impact on my life.


      At the time the settlement was called Wakeham Bay. Today it is called Kangiqsujuaq which means large bay. It is 1500 miles north of Montreal. We flew 1200 miles to an administration center and then another three hundred miles on a bush plane which banged along a 100 mile an hour. We landed on the sea and the idea was to hit the top of the swell and bounce to the top of the next swell until speed was reduced enough to settle into the water.  That was one of many things that contributed to the impact.


     For a few years after I left in 1969 there was some limited contact and then everything dried up. So for the last few years I have been searching the Internet. It was easy to Google and get a map and pictures, but I wanted to find out about the people. I  thought that they probably weren't on the Internet so I didn't really dig. What happened to my students?


     This week I finally made a hit and that led to many other leads. It was extremely gratifying to find that some of my former students had assumed significant leadership positions. One former student is the mayor. Some had excelled in business and others in the arts. I was very surprised to find out that they had been responsible for making a series of TV programs for the Inuit. It was also sad to learn that some of the older people had died. I had come to highly regard the adults at that time so to find the they had passed away was sad.


      In 1967 when I arrived the school had been open for five years. These people had only recently moved off the land into a settlement. They were still excellent and successful hunters. I was given some of the wild game and will remember the taste as well as their kindness and generosity. I had seal, arctic char, caribou, ptarmigan and mussels. I didn't like the mussels as they were very coarse but who could resist when some little kid with a runny nose showed up at the door with a pail of mussels. They always knew they would get fifty cents.


      The adults spoke only a few words of English. I used an interpreter. These people were talented
 sculptures with soapstone. Each day after school they would bring carvings which I bought for the Government. I always watch for carvings from that area.


     One fellow who I will never forget was the oblate missionary. He was Belgian and had a very French accent.  Pere Dion had to be extremely independent as the church support he received was limited. His parish was 10 to 20. He had been in the area for 12 years and knew all people well. It was fascinating to find that Pere Dion is still there and continuing the mission at age 89. About the only thing different is that he has a brilliant red sporty KIA. When I was there there were no roads and no vehicles.


     So this week was exciting as it took me back to some very fond memories. Even though I left Kangiqsujuaq 43 years ago the memories and influence are always with me. I still have some more searching to do.

Tech Guy Go To.

    With all due apologies to the teens across the street, I have an excellent go to tech guy. When ever I'm really stuck I can check with my son on how to do something. Now in some of my previous posts I have described my limitations in the tech world. Thanks to my son the header on my blog was changed recently.


     My son's introduction to tech stuff started a long time ago. In the early eighties Apple decided to give schools computers. What we received were Apple II e's. Now these computers were very primitive. They were on a disk operating system so you had to have a disk with a little program and that's about it. You could write something , print it and store it on a disk.


      My son was about thirteen when we got the computers at school. There were many games and the games were easily copied so all the little beaners wanted in the computer room after school to play games. We had a sign in system for the kids to use a computer after school. It was great fun trying to get these kids to leave after an hour.

     A friend of my was teaching a small community computer class in the evenings. He could not make one session so asked if I would sub for him. He had his lesson very well planned out for me. I took my son along to help me. So on one side the computers did what I asked and the other side nothing happened . I gave the instructions again. My son watched and tried it himself. Finally my son discovered that the one side had put the disks in upside down. From that time on he became my respected adviser.


     My son has stayed with high tech throughout his working life. He was in the Communications Branch of Canadian Armed Forces (Reserve) and became familiar with electronics. He taught four different computer courses at a small college in the 90s & continued teaching to adults in various school districts throughout the Vancouver area for many years following. He has worked for high-tech companies that produced air traffic control systems, DC power supplies and wireless telemetry equipment. Now he is an Accounts Manager for a company that produces Ethernet security systems for control networks.

     So I have somebody with great knowledge and experience to help me with computer challenges.   By the way , he still loves computer games which are a million times better than in the eighties.

Do It Yourselfer Blues

      I am a chronic do it your selfer. I'm somewhat independent. I don't have any skills or talent in mechanics, carpentry, plumbing or electrical but I dabble in all of them when it comes to my house or vehicles. I've written before about my lack of natural ability when it comes to being a handyman.


     So here's the situation. It's about minus 5 here in the daytime. I don't have a garage and my ancient cars are parked outside. From time to time those old beaters will not run. So  I can solve  most of the problems . It just takes hard work and a little know how.


     Last week I accidentally left a car door improperly closed so that the interior light stayed on. So two days later when I discovered the door improperly closed... I had a dead battery. So downstairs and dig out my trusty battery charger. Find cords. Set up the charger. So for a lot of this it's bare hands kind of work. 6 1/2 hours later the battery is charged and the car starts. Problem solved.


    This week I needed the other car to haul some junk and I find it has a dead battery. This is a more serious problem. I set up my trusty battery  charger and soon find out my battery's toast!


    Now the next part is to find a replacement battery. This is where my live in professional shopper takes over. So 6 hours of phoning later she has found the best battery deal and off we go. She's also wangled a free battery test just to be sure the battery is completely finished. Next I have to get the battery out of the vehicle. There is one bolt that holds the battery in place. It's in a very confined space and it's extremely rusty. So making only a 1/8 turn at a time, many bad words, cut knuckles and cold hands I finally remove the battery 45 minutes later. 


     Off we go to purchase a battery. We race home to install the battery before dark. Ten minutes later the battery is installed and the old beater is running. 


    Now I know any farmer reading this will say, "What's he complaining about? I'm outside in the cold every day." For me, as I said in my last post, I didn't have to wear gloves until I was sixty. At 72 it's a different story. My hands don't get cold but the skin cracks to the point of cuts that bleed.


     So when I think this over it's the hard difficult work I do. I don't run with my money and ask the first guy I see to fix the problem. I'll save my money for the highly technical problems that I can't handle.


     I'm disappointed that in all the cold I was not going to take any pictures of this procedure. So I apologize. I hope you'll understand!

It's Rather Surprising What People Lose!

      When I was a teacher the school lost and found bin was rather large. We emptied it twice a year. We had a plentiful supply of mitts, gloves , socks, boots, T shirts, coats, hats, gym strip, watches and the list could go on. We would have the items displayed and beat the bushes for kids to check the items to see if some of it belonged to them. Charities received what was not picked up.


     Shopping malls have piles of stuff in the lost and found. Since it's a large place the pile of lost and found is larger with greater variety. Airports, hospitals, movie theaters all have many lost items.


     Now I have lost a few things myself. As a little kid I had a string that ran through my coat a with my mittens sewed to the end.  I didn't wear gloves until I was sixty. Partly because I didn't need them and partly because I lost them. I have hunted for hours in the house to find something which is usually in some unusual place. 


     When I left the skating dressing room the other day there was one sock left on the bench. I thought it belonged to one of the skaters and thought back to who was sitting in that place. I could tell immediately this was no ordinary sock. It was a therepeutic sock. I put the sock in my helmet and took it home. Five days later I received a desperate call from Red (not me). Red Had come back to the arena looking for his sock and checked the whole arena. He had gone to the hot tub in the pool and had looked  all through the pool. He had been razzing the guy sitting beside him and thought the guy may have taken the sock as a prank. Red phoned the prankster. Red also phoned some of the other skaters. At the Friday skate he asked again. Someone was able to say, Red (me) picked up your sock. So I received the relieved call 5 days after our skate. 


     So the sock was returned to a grateful Red. I was told the pair of socks went for $100.00 a pair!


     So now I have an idea for skaters. Put a string on your socks that goes around your neck and attach your socks to it so that you won't forget your socks. 

As you can see the string is double so it's adjustable.

      Think I'd make any money on this idea?

Sometimes You Need a Chuckle

      I'm a fairly avid reader. I spend the greatest amount of my time on blogs. Next to that is reading.


      I read a fairly wide variety of books, but sometimes I can't find the right book at the time. That's when I can rely on some old favorites and I go back to them. I have lists of books I've read a way down on the right side of my blog. 


      Recently I was looking for a couple of books in the library but they are signed out and have been for some time. I've been waiting for "Oliver's Twist" which is an autobiography by Craig Oliver. Another one I've been looking for is "To Kill a Mocking Bird."  I finished high school before this novel was used for study.


      So because I was in a hurry I picked up a P.G. Wodehouse book. Wodehouse is well known for his English humor. He wrote the "Jeeves" stories which were a television series at one time. Wodehouse wrote 14 books using Jeeves. So I pick up a Wodehouse book and have some light reading where I don't have to concentrate too much and I get a great chuckle out of Bertie Wooster who is such an airhead and unflappable Jeeves who is Bertie's butler and always gets Bertie out of trouble.


     Another writer I read when I can't find anything is Louis L'Amour. L'Amour is easy to follow and there is lots of "Rockem Sockem " action. L"Amour's heroes always draw faster than the bad guys. I'm surprised art how many people read Louis L'Amour.


     I have readers I know and I always ask them what they're reading so that I can find something new . One of my 90 year old friends is a voracious reader. So I always say, Bernice , "What are you reading?" She smiles and says, "You wouldn't like what I read." So then I tease her about reading romance. Some bloggers are really good at telling what they are reading. Some bloggers have a list of books that they have read.


    Sometimes I blunder into a series. I've read all of Jean Auel's Ayla stories. I like historical novels so I have read Quite a few Edward Rutherfurd. I like Leon Uris. I have also read a few James Michener's.

Memory Keepers

       On January 1, 2012 my sister, Doreen  would have been 69 years old. Instead Doreen died in February of 1953 at age eleven years.


       Doreen was a very healthy active child. She became ill and it was thought that she had a cold. She did not get over the cold but was up one day and down the next. She didn't seem to be able to beat what ever bug she had. The family Doctor decided to admit her to the hospital. Her condition became worse and she was sent to a city hospital. She continued to go up and down. My Mom stayed in the city and my Dad spent as much time as he could with her at the hospital. Antibiotics didn't seem to be doing any good. At the end of two weeks Doreen suddenly passed away. 


     This death was devastating to my parents, her brothers and the community. The loss of their daughter was something that stayed with both my parents until their passing. 


     My Dad died in 2008. With that the keeping of the memory of Doreen passes to her brothers. Most of the people my parents age are gone. Very few people now would have met Doreen. My youngest brother was born after Doreen's death so he never met her. 


     In the 1950's it was considered that kids didn't mourn and that deaths would soon be forgotten. No one talked to us about Doreen's death. People talked to Mom and Dad and expressed their sympathy and support. My brothers and I just continued on with our lives. My brothers and I did not talk to each other of Doreen's death until we were in our fifties. We know now that this is not the way to handle losses with kids. 


     However, we survived the loss of our sister. Now we are some of the few left who will keep her memory . People will visit the cemetery and be able to place her in the family. Soon there will be no one living who will have actually known her.