Everybody’s Talking

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Senior runner: He may be 100 years old, but that hasn’t stopped Fauja Singh of Ilford, East London, England, from running marathons. The British senior ran the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and finished in 3,850th place. It took him eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds – but five other competitors crossed the finish line after he did. Singh took up running in 2000, after his wife and son passed away. He says curry, tea and “being happy” are the keys to his success. He trains by running 10 miles every day and, not surprisingly, has broken several track records for 100-year-old male runners. 

Gravity as paintbrush: A young Canadian artist from Toronto, Ontario, doesn’t use any tool – except gravity – to apply paint to her canvas and create amazing scenes. Amy Shackleton’s unique approach to art has garnered her acco lades and impressive shows, not to mention a healthy price tag for her paintings. The artist says she uses a squeeze bottle to apply paint, then rotates the canvas to manipulate it and control the flow of paint. She’ll place the canvas on the floor when she wants the paint to pool. It can take at least 30 hours to create a picture, allowing time for the paint to dry. 



Lucky sailor: It pays to have your cell phone with you when you’re out sailing in the Mediterranean. Florence Arthaud, who won the Route du Rhum single-handed transatlantic sail ing race awhile ago, fell off her boat, but was rescued because she managed to keep her phone, which was in a plastic bag, above water, allowing her to make a call for help. The GPS on her phone and the headlamp she was wearing helped locate the French sailor near the island of Corsica. Arthaud wasn’t embarrassed to admit the reason she fell off the boat. She lost her balance while taking care of a few chores. 

Old game: There is a common belief that the game of football originated in the 19th century, but, in fact, there is growing evidence that a form of the game is at least 500 years old. The oldest football in the world was found behind panelling in Stirling Castle in Scotland and dates back to 1540. There are accounts that Queen Mary watched a game of football in 1568, and nearly 100 years earlier, King James IV recorded that he paid two shillings for a bag of “fut ballis.” Richard McBrearty, curator of the Scottish Football Museum, explains that these accounts reveal that, rather than being invented, the game of football actually evolved.

Quoteable Quotes

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“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree.”

- Ezra Pound

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

- Marcel Proust 

“Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.”

 - Orison Swett Marden

What’s Happening

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March 18

Lacombe Performing Arts Centre is pleased to announce that another session of Music for People with Dementia is back this spring! Nine-week session runs Tuesdays from 10:30am to 11:30am April 2 through May 29. Free registration. Email admin@lacombePAC.com or call 403.588.4386. We look forward to uplifting moods and building an inclusive community.

Free Online Zumba Fitness Fiesta with Ana Oghma March 22 at 7 p.m. Located in Rocky Mountain House, class can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. Open to all! For more information, call 403.322.8669 or email Zumbawithanaoghma@gmail.com. 

Frozen Homemade Perogies for Sale Thursday, March 21 at St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church Hall (3932-46 Street, Red Deer) from 5 to 8 p.m. Cheddar & Potato, Cottage Cheese & Potato. 5 dozen or 60 perogies, $40; 21⁄2 dozen or 30 perogies, $20. Open to the public – everybody is welcome. For more information, please call 403.782.5828.



Trivia

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1. What does it mean to ‘hit the maples’? 

2. What is the last name of Miss Piggy (of The Muppets)?

3. Bloodstone is the birthstone of which month?

4. In what year was Harvard University founded? 

5. In Greek mythology, how many Muses are there?

Your Weekly Horoscope

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Lucky numbers this week: This week's odds favour Virgo winners with the luckiest number being 11.

Did You Know...

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Art forms: There are distinctive art movements that have left their mark on society. For example, surrealist art explores subconscious thoughts and fantasy and has a dream-like quality. Baroque art, on the other hand, is ornate and dramatic. 

Lean over: Construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy began in 1174, but work stopped when the tower started to lean due to the shifting of soil. Two centuries later, a new builder took on the job of completing it. 

Building parts: Architects use certain terms to depict certain features. Examples include façade, which is the front or most public side of a building, and piano nobile, which is the main floor of a building. 



Dancing terms: When a ballet dancer leaps in such a way that it almost appears as though the dancer is floating, it’s called a ballon. When a ballet dancer leaps from one leg to the other, it’s called a jeté. 

On bended knee: Cypress trees, which often grow in swamps, have knees. Cypress knees are woody bumps that are part of the root. They poke up through soil and water near a tree and are thought to help with stabilization.

On the Lighter Side

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Flabbergasted: Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained. 

Grandmother: "I brought you a conch shell from the beach. Hold it up to your ear and you can hear the ocean."

Listening very intently, the granddaughter replied, "I think the tide must be out, I can't hear anything!" 

Abdicate: To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. Two boll weevils grew up in southern California.

One went to Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other one stayed behind in the cotton fields and never amounted to much. He was the lesser of the two weevils. 

What goes all around a pasture but never moves? A fence.

Sign on a vegetarian restaurant: All We Are Saying Is Give Peas A Chance

For available franchise opportunities – visit www.centralalbertacoffeenews.com © published with permission of Central Alberta Coffee News

Please note this issue was published sometime over the past 25 years. Jokes, Trivia, Stories and Quotes may be time specific or reference maybe made to events which are no longer relevant.

Trivia answers:

1. To bowl 2. Lee 3. March 4. 1636 5. Nine