The Rhythms of
our Soul
The Boundary Area, with this beautiful and peaceful valley
is inspiration to many artists and musicians. The OpenMinder was
introduced to Dave Brummet a long time drummer and now drum manufacturer.
Dave had a lot more to tell us than we could fit in these pages,
but we hope to have put together the essence of our conversation
together.
OM: Was there anything that drew you into music?
Dave: I can’t remember anything in particular, but I do remember
wanting to play music from a very young age, I think I tried an
old ice cream pail full of gravel as a snare drum, with some sticks
I found in my dads trunk, he used to be a trombone player, and
I guess he played a little bit on the drums, well I found these
sticks and kind of banged around with those on my makeshift drum.
I wanted to join the school band when I was young, and I think
there were 10 drummers signed up, or something like that, so I
went on to play the baratone horn. I skipped the drums until after
graduation, when I bought a drum set. Basically I’ve always had
it in me I guess. I can’t really pick out a certain time that
maybe made me want to be a drummer other than seeing one in a
parade once.
OM: Did your father play professionally?
Dave: Not professionally, but he also played the guitar and would
write his own songs and play them, just for fun, around the campfire
and stuff like that. I can remember that at a very young age.
OM: When you mentioned your first set of drums, I assume you were
talking about the kind you might see with a traditional rock band.
Dave: Yes, first off, it was rock and roll music, jamming in a
garage with a guitar player and no formal lessons for the first
3 or four years, until with a friend of mine, I learned how to
read and write music and built up from there. I was lucky enough
to get into bands, with in the first two year I was playing in
a band.
OM: How did the transition happen from the drum kit to hand drums?
Dave: I saw a band once called Toto, and they had a really good
hand drummer, Lenny Castro, and he played congas, tumblales, and
bongos, along side the drummer, and that just blew my mind on
the possibilities of two drummers on stage. After that I bought
a set of congas myself and it kind of went from there to the African
thing. I met my African friend, David Thiaw. He taught me the
simplicity of how African rhythms are the root of most of the
things in Rock and Roll, Jazz, and Blues and other things. Even
the Clave, which is the basic pulse of Latin Music, is an African
rhythm. Even Reggae is a blend of different African beats and
made into their own music after they arrived in Jamaica. Its roots
right back to western Africa, the Mandinka people, around the
Ivory Coast, they were the heavy drummers of Africa. It was favorable
to having very tight well tuned drums. If it was a desert climate
where it would be blazing hot during the day, then cool off at
night, making the skins relax, so they would have to warm their
drums by the fire to tighten them up so they could play them.
The area makes a difference as to what kind of drumming takes
place, South Africa is more coastal and wet like Vancouver, so
it would not be favourable to have a drum that you would want
to be quite tight.
OM: What one could say then is that the environment played a big
part in the way drums develop in an area?
Dave: Yes, that is right. Because the West Africans had more drums
and more options they became masters of drum music. They have
a whole orchestra of rhythms and types of drums for each different
purpose.
OM: Have you ever been to Africa to study drums?
Dave: No I’ve studied a lot, and learned a lot from David Thiaw,
his drumming was just fantastic. He was a master story teller
as well, and he would sit and tell me many things about Africa.
I’ve read everything I could find about Africa because I believe
that is where the roots of drumming are. In Africa there is a
person called a “Griot”. He would go around from village
to village and tell stories with his drum, and sing and dance,
and ask for hand outs afterwards like a travelling mistral. He
could be well paid because he would be a very loved source of
entertainment.
OM: From rock and roll drum kits, to hand drums and other percussion,
to making drums. That seems to be quite the progression, how do
you like it?
Dave: It’s great, it’s taught me a lot! How to take better care
of my instruments for one, if there was a problem with mine I
can obviously fix them. It kind of mostly happened because I couldn’t
find a “Talking Drum”, or “Djembé”.
I’m making them out of plastics and fiberglass now. Well you could
find them but they were very expensive, you might pay $1,000 for
a good Djembé. Now-a-days that price is down to about $300
or $400. In the last 10 years it’s come full circle and everybody
seems to be making hand drums. It’s a big industry. I find it’s
great for me because I get to help a lot of people out with these
kinds of drums with their intricate lacing, there is a lot to
the skinning of them. On the Djembé there is really a lot
of tension, there has got to be up to 3,000 pounds pressure on
those skins. So you can’t do it loosely, it has to be tight to
sound like a Djembé.
OM: These Djembés have an interesting shape as well.
Dave: They call it a goblet shape, like a big wine glass.
OM: The Talking Drum looks different, like a hour glass.
Dave: That’ s right, there is a skin on each end of the hour glass
and the strings connecting them, and that shape allows you to
squeeze the strings and get a different tone, bending the note.
They are also called a variable pitch drum.
OM: I like the name Talking Drum, it sounds better.
Dave: Yes, I agree, a little more connected to its roots. With
the drum languages they had the variable pitches of the drum to
add complexities. They used them to relay messages from village
to village, some times over many miles.
OM: Interesting drum!
Dave: I actually built that Talking Drum with a microphone in
it. When I played in a rock band it was barely heard over the
other drum kit player, so I put the microphone in it so I could
hear it myself as well.
OM: With making drums out of fiberglass and plastics instead of
the traditional wood, do you find a difference in the sound?
Dave: I feel that the sound is a lot brighter, especially with
the Djembé you get a higher pitch, it really cuts through.
For the Talking Drum it has more sustain, that note will hold
on for a long 3 seconds instead of a short one second.
OM: Of all the drums it seems the Djembé is your favorite.
Dave: It is. It’s just so versatile. You can get anything from
a rumbling bass note to a very high note to a blistering slap!
It can sound like a drum set, it can have these different sounds
at the same time. It can sound like there are three players playing
at the same time. There are just not to many limits to what you
can play on a Djembé. I bring many styles from other drums
like the congas and even the drum kit. It’s actually hard to not
play like a drum kit. The cymbal hand is the busy one and when
I play the hand drum it’s hard not to favour that hand. I was
taught the African way which is to use both hands evenly. That
way you don’t wear out one hand after 3 hours of drumming. One
hand could get pretty tired if you favoured it.
OM: I could imagine if you were playing for a couple of hours
with both hands you would get tired.
Dave: I played for a dance class once and we went for 2 hours
on one rhythm, it was a heart beat and after a while you don’t
know whether you are slowing down or speeding up.
In a drum circle the combination of 3 or 4 different people playing
different things makes this giant manageable rhythm. It’s quite
impressive, if you haven’t been to a drum circle it would be hard
to imagine the power of the rhythms.
OM: Of all the instruments, drums seem to be involved in mysticism
more than any other.
Dave: Drums were associated with the devil during early Christianity.
They were instruments the of ritual in the Mother Earth type cultures
they assimilated, and so drums all but disappeared. It was saved
in West Africa, in one area where they didn’t get wiped out. Drums
came back again and were brought to the New World with the slaves,
and they influenced the birth of Latin, Reggae, Calypso, American
Jazz and the birth of the drumset. The drumset does what would
traditionally have been played by a group of people.
OM: Is there more difficult drums to play?
Dave: It has to be the East Indian Tabla, a finger drum. When
they are learning to play these drums they have to learn to sing
the rhythms first, then they learn to play them on the drums.
You can play many notes on the two drums depending on how you
might even change the tension of the skin with the heal of the
hand while hitting the drum with the fingers. Instead of a 4 note
phrase like there is in most popular western music, they could
have a 23 note phrase. So that’s one bar of their music. 23 notes,
that he would have to learn before going on to the next one, all
this on top of the different timing of the sitar player. Very
intricate music. They are the masters of polyrhythms.
OM: Is there anything you would like to say before we finish?
Dave: Just that to remember that anyone can drum. If you are interested,
try to join a drum circle or a workshop. There are different styles
and levels of workshops, so be sure and pick one that is your
level. Talk to people in music stores and any place that sells
hand drums. They will usually point you in the right direction.
You don’t always have to own a drum to go to a workshop, but be
sure to phone ahead to confirm they will have one for you.
In Fact you don’t even need a drum at all. There was a scene in
a movie, I can’t recall the name of it now, but a guy was playing
these amazing rolls and polyrhythms on this 5-gallon pail. In
fact, I even had a couple of them bolted together for floor toms
when I was young. I saw this group called Stomp on TV, which uses
anything from their own bodies to sticks and boxes to make rhythms.
One of my favorite bands is Vinx, which is entirely percussion
and vocals. Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead, went
on this lifetime quest to learn about world drums and he has some
great music too. His latest CD is called “Superlingua”,
which merges musicians from around the world. I totally recommend
his two books “Planet Drum” and “Drumming at the
Edge of Magic” to anyone who is interested in drums from
around the world. “Rusted Root” is a great group that
incorporates reggae and world beats in a funky style. “Drum
Prayer” is a good group, too. But if you want to hear true
Senegalese drum music try “Dou Dou Rose.”
from the editor
Safe Community part two?
a matter of opinion…
Last issue I wrote an opinion piece on the style of writing of
the Informer, (a Grand Forks opinion paper). An editorial that
many of the people and businesses that have felt the pain of the
tabloid style writing of his, congratulated me on. “Thanks
for taking the heat” one person said. There was even an ad
that the “Concerned Citizens and Positive Energy Coalition”
placed in the Gazette for supporting the positive attitude of
the Boundary. I can understand your view point, for this publication
has felt the economic pinch due to negative tabloid reporting
as well. Trouble is that of all the,now, 18 issues that I have
produced, this last one was the least deserving of community minded
praise. This kind of negative reporting does no good. No matter
what the justification, it doesn’t help. It only serves to polarize
the community. This subject has been around for longer than the
3 1/2 years I’ve lived here. Why even some coward, without telling
me, takes copies of the OpenMinder, attaches a letter to them
and passes it out to his advertisers without showing their face.
I don’t know exactly what the letter said, but it was pressure
to not advertise with the Informer.
In the editorial in question I never told anyone to do anything
and only wrote “my opinion”, as the Informer does.
About 3 months before starting the OpenMinder I wrote a letter
to the Informer with much the same content, only surrounding different
events. About 1 month before starting, I was delivering an advertisement
to the Informer, that I designed for a customer of mine, that
was advertising with them. During that visit we calmly discussed
this same opinion, and in the end only telling him that I would
go about it differently. When it comes down to it we all are living
here together.
The first thing that I consider when I shop is “Is is local?”.
Second thing I consider is “Do they have what I want?”.
Third thing is “How do they treat me as a customer?”
If they do business with me it can tip the scales in their favour,
I’ll admit. They call that networking. Lastly, where they advertise
affects things only if its in something I read.
When I first moved here I found out about how the Doukhobor peoples
suffered persecution for refusing to pick up weapons against anyone.
It was the living out of a philosophy of pacifism that most cultures
and religions only talk about.
In journalism, words can be picked up as weapons. It has been
that same basic idealism that has been the foundation of this,
and another publication of mine, that of putting down the weapons.
Negative opinion articles attacking people in the community, no
matter what reason, has no good coming from it. When I talked
to Tom personally about my opinion, there was no negative effect
that could be seen. When the same thing gets into print, it’s
a different story. The only people who profit from weapons, is
the dealers in them. Everyone else is a casualty. Tom came up
to me the next week and smilingly congratulates me on taking a
strong stance.
This is what my strong stance is: The weapons are put down and
it’s back to good news as usual.
Election Results:
Due to a tie vote count between the candidates the election of
the sixth position for council cannot be declared. In accordance
with Section 136 (3) of the Municipal Act, I have declared that
the election will be referred to a judicial recount. and in accordance
with Section 138 (4) I will be making this application immediately.
The following is a recapture of the Preliminary Results of the
ballot count for the City of Grand Forks following the 1999 Municipal
Elections held on Saturday, November 20th, 1999
Mayor: Chiveldave – 100, Clermont – 123, Kanigan – 129,
Lum – 718 – Elected – Taylor – 372, Van Boeyen – 78
Councillor: Ashe – 408, Burt – 526, Chadwick – 657, Chahley –
430- Chursinoff – 888, Dubeault – 135, Ehler – 441, Grieve – 507,
Hecht – 222, Holmes – 293, Krog – 732, MacDonald – 132, O’Doherty
– 507, Raven – 522, Westgate – 301
How The Media
Would Handle the End of the World
+ National Enquirer: O.J. and Nicole, Together
Again.
+ Inc. Magazine: 10 Ways You Can Profit From the Apocalypse.
+ Rolling Stone: The Grateful Dead Reunion Tour.
+ Sports Illustrated: Game Over.
+ Playboy: Girls of the Apocalypse.
+ Ladies’ Home Journal: Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day
with Our New “Armageddon” Diet!
+ TV Guide: “Death and Damnation”: Nielsen Ratings
Soar!
+ Discover Magazine: How will the extinction of all life
as we know it affect the way we view the cosmos?
+ Microsoft Systems Journal: Netscape Loses Market Share.
+ Microsoft’s Web Site: If you don’t experience the rapture,
DOWNLOAD software patch RAPT777.EXE.
+ America Online: System temporarily down. Try calling
back in 15 minutes.
Mistranslations
+ In a Yugoslavian Hotel – “The flattening
of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid”.
+ In a Japanese Hotel – “You are invited to take advantage
of the chambermaid”.
+ On the Menu of a Polish Hotel – “Salad a firm’s
own make; limpid red beet soup” with cheesy dumplings in
the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten
up in the country people’s fashion”.
+ In a Bangkok dry cleaner’s – “Drop your trousers
here for best results.
+ In an East African newspaper – “A new swimming pool
is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the
bulk of their workers”.
+ In a Zurich hotel “Because of the impropriety of
entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is
suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose”.
+ Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand “Would
you like to ride on your own ass?”
+ Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan “Stop: Drive Sideways.”
+ In a Swiss mountain Inn “Special today—no ice
cream.”
+ In the Lobby of a Moscow Hotel Across from a Russian Orthodox
Monastary – “You are welcome to visit the cemetery where
famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are
buried daily except Thursday”.
+ In a Belgrade Hotel Elevator “To move the cabin,
push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more
persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving
is then going alphabetically by national order”.
Annual Greenwood
and Area Residential Chrismas Light display Contest
Let’ s All Get ‘Lit for 2000!!!
1st Prize $25 2nd Prize $20 3rd Prize $15
Contest Runs December 1st
to December 12th, 1999
Winners to be announced
on Channel 10 & published
in the following OpenMinder
issue on the 16th of December
Last year’s winners were:
First prize
Mr. & Mrs. Paul Schembri
Second Prize
Mr. & Mrs. Herb Winchester
Third Prize
Mr. & Mrs. Cam Dutz
| Snow Falling on Cedars Visit Greenwood and see where parts of the movie were filmed. Release Date: December 22nd, 1999 (limited release); January 7th, 2000 (wide release) World Premiere: September 12th, 1999 at the Toronto International Film Festival. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for disturbing images, sensuality and brief strong language) Distributor: Universal Pictures Cast: Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Max Von Sydow, James Cromwell, Rick Yune, Sam Shepard, James Rebhorn, Ako, Anthony Harrison, Richard Jenkins, Saemi Nakamura Director: Scott Hicks (Shine) Screenwriter: Ron Bass (What Dreams May Come, Black Widow, Rain Man, My Best Friend’s Wedding), Scott Hicks (cowriter of Shine) Based upon: The best-selling novel by David Guterson. Premise: In the 1950’s, a reporter (Hawke) covering a murder trial in a small islanding community in the American Northwest discovers that the wife (Koudoh) of the accused (Yune) is his childhood sweetheart. James Cromwell plays the judge presiding over this case that invokes flashbacks of the concentration camps that Japanese-Americans were forced into during World War II. Review… …the movie has the ingredients for a moving drama, as it is the first post-Shine Hollywood production for Scott Hicks who showed that he has quite an eye for conveying emotion and unease through imagery. So far, the small bits of images (see the site below or the print ads) all evoke a misty Northwestern (Twin Peaks comes to mind) frame of mind, all with a sad tone that certainly seems to fit this story. |
| Dangerous Toy Story: The Safe Toys Kids |
Carl Dortch – email: lkitto@direct.ca
Even though we may not want to think about it, the time for shopping
for Christmas gifts is quickly decending upon us. Adults must
remember that not all toys are safe for all children. Children
are sometimes more aware than adults of the dangers of some toys.
It can be a scary thing to speak up to adults about something
you think is important. They can disagree with you or ignore you.
It’s not an easy thing to do.
Five sixth-graders in Virginia led their class in speaking up
about dangerous toys that can injure or even kill kids who play
with them. The students just wanted to be sure little kids didn’t
get hurt. They ended up getting a new state law and talking to
the leaders of their country about making a national law. To do
this, they had to speak out, and keep asking adults to make changes.
It started when Carissa Frasca, Kyle Massey, Zachary Bradley,
Leslie Gregory and Emily Letts studied toy safety in class. They
read a report that said 40 children in the U.S. had been killed
in a year and a half by dangerous toys. Another 165,000 had been
injured.
The kids tested toys themselves. They found a doll that broke
into dangerous pieces after just playing with it a short time.
They learned that balloons can easily choke small children, but
since balloons are not legally called “toys”, they don’t
have to be labeled as unsafe. They recorded the results of their
tests.
They wrote skits about toy safety. They performed them for preschool
children and their teachers. They interviewed the manager of a
toy store. They toured a day care center and told the adults at
the center that they had found several unsafe toys, but they were
ignored. They wrote a booklet for parents and day care centers
that told them to avoid toys smaller than children’s fists and
toys with sharp edges or with strings and cords that can strangle
children. They told adults to read the age labels on toys.
When they learned about a good toy safety law in Washington State,
they decided to get the same law passed in Virginia! Some of their
parents did not think they could do such a thing. One even called
their crusade “their little project”. But, their teacher,
Carolyn Stamm, believed in them and encouraged them to keep going.
The law they wanted for Virginia said that hospital emergency
rooms had to report any injuries or deaths caused by toys. Records
had to be kept of which toys were hurting children. The state
government could put out public warnings about dangerous toys.
To get this law in Virginia, they had to learn how to speak to
leaders and present facts. They got their local lawmaker to agree
to sponsor their bill. Then they began even harder work.
They wrote letters to each of the committee members who would
vote on the bill. They went to the State capitol and talked to
the lawmakers. All the kids spoke before groups of adults, presenting
their findings and answering questions. They wrote letters to
the editors of newspapers, so people would know about their cause.
They went to their City Hall and got the mayor to declare a Toy
Safety Day and to supprt their bill’s passage at the state level.
The kids got support from a hospital group. They made a presentation
to the Child Day Care Council and were told that they did a better
job than most of the adults who spoke.
People learned about the toy safety law because the kids were
in newspapers and on TV. Some of their teachers were unhappy that
they missed some school to go to meeting and make their reports.
Some kids were jealous about the attention they got.
But they kept working, and they succeeded! All of them were watching
when the lawmakers voted on their bill and passed it. They went
to the governor’s office when he signed the new law. Kyle Massey,
who was 12, spoke as an expert before a U.S. Congressional committee
looking into toy safety.
Kyle says, “Looking back, when we started our parents were
like, ‘Just don’t get your hopes up.’ Now they’re like, “Wow!
I can’t believe you did this”.
Warning!
Editors note: I received this warning from
a reliable source!
This was forwarded to me and I confirmed with Telus that it is
in fact true. I received a telephone call last evening from an
individual identifying himself as an AT&T Service Technician
who was conducting a test on telephone lines. He stated that to
complete the test I should touch nine (9), zero (0), the pound
sign (#) ….and then hang up.
I was suspicious and refused. Upon contacting the telephone company,
I was informed that by pushing 9, 0, #. You give the requesting
individual full access to your telephone line, which enables them
to place long distance calls billed to your home phone number.
I was further informed that this scam has been originating from
many local jails/prisons. I have also verified this information
with UCB telecom, Pacific Bell, MCI, Bell Atlantic and GTE. Please
be aware. DO NOT press 90# for ANYONE.
The GTE Security Department requested that I share this information
with EVERYONE I KNOW, PLEASE pass this on to everyone YOU know.
If you have mailing lists and or newsletters from organizations
you are connected with, encourage you to pass on this information
to them, too.
Please let your friends know.
Trash Talk
Ever wonder how your grandmother was able to make such fantastic
soups? I would like to share with you how we learned to convert
kitchen waste into a nutrient rich broth just like our grandmothers
had. The process is very simple, really. Save any clean, disease
free fruit debris, (except banana peels and citrus rinds), and
vegetable debris, (including onionskins), as well as any herb
branches and reserved cooking water. Clean eggshells are an excellent
source of calcium when added to your stock. We add a splash of
vinegar to our brew, which will leach more calcium out of the
eggshells.
Keep a recycled margarine-type container to store all the vegetable
debris for a few days until there is enough to warrant running
a pot on the stove. When there is enough to brew simply dump the
containers’ contents into an appropriately sized pot and add enough
water to cover. Bring to a boil, cover & turn off the heat.
By the time the pot has cooled, most of the nutrients and flavors
will have been cooked into the liquid. We use a large bowl, preferably
one with a pouring spout, to place our sieve over and strain the
broth. I usually allow it to drip as much as possible, before
I send the mush to the compost, worm bin, or dig into the garden.
Pour the cooled broth into a clean, recycled juice or milk jug
for storage. If you plan on freezing these jugs, be sure to leave
a few inches to allow for expansion.
We have so many uses for stock in our house besides just soups
and stews. We use it in place of oil in our stir-fry dishes, to
cook beans and grains in, and we even use it in some of our breads.
I think you might be surprised at the difference in flavor homemade
stock brings to your meals. By doing this one step, we not only
reduced the volume of our waste and eliminated the need to buy
packaged broth products; we also reused recycled containers and
improved our nutrition.
Ideas & comments can be sent to email: drumit@bc.sympatico.ca
Dear Editor
The Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 is looking for Water Carriers
in the Boundary region.
To celebrate the Millennium and the opening of the Trans Canada
Trail, a water relay is being staged on the Trans Canada Trail.
More than 5000 water carriers across Canada will be walking, cycling,
horseback riding, snowmobiling, and cross country skiing across
the country to bring water from the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic
oceans to arrive in Ottawa on September 9, 2000. That day, the
water will be ceremoniously poured into the Trans Canada Trail
fountain, and the Trans Canada Trail will be declared officially
open.
The Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000 will be coming through Beaverdell
on April 25, Rhone, Rock Creek and Midway on April 26, and Greenwood,
Grand Forks and Christina Lake on April 27, 2000. Each of those
communities is hard at work planning special celebrations!
The Trans Canada Trail Foundation is inviting all Canadians to
apply to be a water carrier. Water carrier applications are available
at all Canada Post outlets. Deadline to send in the application
is December 3, 1999.
Come on Boundary residents. Get your application in now and be
part of this historic journey and Canada,s largest millennium
project “The Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000”!
Marilyn Strong
Community Animator
ParticipACTION and
The Trans Canada Trail Relay 2000
Castlegar, BC 250-365-2662
http://www.BC2000.gov.bc.ca
On the Lighter
Side
+ He who laughs last thinks slowest.
+ Did you hear the news? A suicidal twin killed her sister by
mistake.
Money isn’t Everything!
+ Money can buy a house, but not a home.
+ Money can buy a bed, but not sleep.
+ Money can buy a clock, but not time.
+ Money can buy a book, but not knowledge.
+ Money can buy food, but not an appetite.
+ Money can buy position, but not respect.
+ Money can buy blood, but not life.
+ Money can buy medicine, but not health.
+ Money can buy sex, but not love.
+ Money can buy insurance, but not safety.
+ You see, money is not everything. Therefore, if you have too
much, please, send it to me, immediately.
a little fun
Canada VS USA
American: “You Canada folk eat the whole bread??”
Canadian (in a bad mood): “Of course.”
American: (after blowing a huge bubble) “We don’t. In the
States, we only eat what’s inside. The crusts we collect in a
container, recycle it, transform them into croissants and sell
them to Canada.” The American has a smirk on his face.
The Canadian listens in silence.
The American persists: “D’ya eat jelly with the bread??”
Canadian: “Of Course.”
American: (cracking his gum between his teeth and chuckling).
“We don’t. In the States we eat fresh fruit for breakfast,
then we put all the peels, seeds, and left overs in containers,
recycle them, transform them into jam and sell the jam to Canada.”
The Canadian then asks: “Do you have sex in America?”
American: “Why of course we do”, the American says with
a big smirk.
Canadian: And what do you do with the condoms once you’ve used
them?”
American: “We throw them away, of course.”
Canadian: “We don’t. In Canada, we put them in a container,
recycle them, melt them down into chewing gum and sell them to
the USA.
Trivia
* The only known English word that you cannot rhyme is orange.
* The tongue of a blue whale weighs more than most elephants.
* The world’s termites outweigh the world’s humans 10 to 1.
* Pound for pound (kilo for kilo), hamburgers cost more than new
cars.
* When you sneeze, the air shoots out of your nose at about 100
miles per hour.
* There is enough energy in one bolt of lightning to power a home
for two weeks.