Sunday Linkage - Olympics Edition

In honour of the Winter Olympics which are happening right now in Vancouver, Canada today's links are all Olympic related.

Randy Starkman's Olympic Blog (from Vancouver Star)

Get In the Games Olympic Blog (from NBC)

History of the Olympic Games (Wikipedia)

That's it for now!

Attention Members of Girl Guides Past & Present!

Girl Guides is celebrating 100 years of Guiding in 2010 and there is a facebook fan page that you are invited to join! Are you a fan of 100 Years of Girl Guides?

Come be a fan and invite your Guiding friends and family members to join too!

Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women and NAP

Tonight I attended a performance of the Newcomer Art Project (NAP), a program funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and a part of Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women.

The mission of the WWWWIW is:

Assisting immigrant and first generation Canadian women and their families to become full and participating members of Canadian Society.

The NAP program:

Established in Fall 2009, The Newcomer Art Project came from a will to channel displaced energies of young newcomer women and direct them towards something creative and productive -- towards something participants could be proud of. The idea behind the program is to instill values of commitment, hard work, team spirit and fun while encouraging active participation in their communities in a meaningful way.

The show (at the Capitol Theatre here in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) was absolutely amazing. The girls really portrayed what coming to Canada from another country is like for them:

• The scary plane ride
• Leaving family and friends behind
• Going to a new school where they are often made fun of because they look, speak, act or dress different.
• Trying to find a job when you don't speak English well or have much experience
• Home life
• and more

The girls danced, sang, acted and showed who they really were. The music was beautiful, at least one song was an original composition by a NAP actor.

What's amazing is that the NAP program has only been around for 6 months but all the girls and the adult support team are close, they're friends. At the end, some of the girls thanked their support team with flowers and gratitude, explaining how they are surrogate moms for the time they are at the NAP program. It brought tears to my eyes.

I have no photos because we were not allowed to take any but it was beautiful. If I see they are putting on another one in the future I want to go.

You can find out more about Windsor Women Working With Immigrant Women but since NAP is so new, there doesn't seem to be a website or email directly for them. If you live in Windsor, ON and are a young women who immigrated here, contact WWWWIW at info@wwwwiw.org and ask about the NAP program

Fun Facts About My Blog

I was taking some tests at One Plus You

The Blog Verbosity Test tells me that my blog posts have an average of 732 words. That's 73% longer than others who've taken the test. But I do a lot of reviews and I don't think short reviews do the product justice.

The Cuss-o-Meter says that 0.8% of my site has cuss words. This is very low (100% less than others) but I don't remember cussing at all so I'm a little confused.

What's My Blog Rated? says that my blog is rated G for General Audiences.

World Thinking Day 2010

I'm a little late in posting this but today is World Thinking Day. The founders of Scouts and Girl Guides, Lord Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell had a joint birthday today.

On this day we remember our Guiding and Scouting friends around the world and participate in fun events to celebrate.

You can find out more at World Thinking Day. Or you can get the short version at Wikipedia.

Each year has a theme. The theme for 2010 is "together we can end extreme poverty and hunger"

In honour of that theme, please at least find the time to visit The Hunger Site and donate for free.

Relish! Review and Giveaway

"Meal planning just got a million percent easier. And cheaper."

Relish! is a new meal-planning service for busy parents. This mom-run website helps you plan meals, prepare grocery lists every week.

You pick from a bunch of recipes and then a grocery list is automatically created. Print the lists and go to the store for five days worth of home cooked meals. All meals take no longer than 30 minutes to prepare.

You can choose from freezer meals, vegetarian menus, super-quick and slow cooker recipes. There are also special kid-approve recipes that don't include hot dogs or chicken nuggets.

Subscriptions are $7 a month and you end up with five complete dinners for a family of four running you less than $95.


Other features include an iphone app and special meals for parties or holidays. The recipes are set at 4 people but can be scaled for 2, 4, 6 or 8. You can see what the menu planning looks like or the grocery list.

ADDED Feb. 22: I forgot to mention that I tried it for a month and it seems really easy to use. I'm just not a person to follow recipes each meal I make. Even when I try something new I alter the recipe, sometimes a lot. It's not for me but someone who loves planning meals and wants to try new recipes would love this.

If you sign up and get a subscription on your own, please consider putting my name as a referrer: Kathleen Garber


GIVEAWAY (please read carefully) - GIVEAWAY CLOSED

Relish! has offered a free 1-year subscription ($58.80) to one lucky reader. If you like to try new recipes and plan your meals or would like to, you might want to take advantage of this offer.

To enter please enter your information into the google form. Your information will only be saved until a winner is picked. Email addresses and names will not be kept or used otherwise. You MUST complete the form once for EACH entry. So if you do all five entries, you have submitted the form five times.

MANDATORY ENTRY: Answer the questions:

1. Do you plan your meals or would you like to start? Why or why not?

BONUS ENTRIES (optional)

2. Become a follower of this blog using google friend connect (see sidebar) and tell me in the form. +1
3. Follow me on twitter. @callista83 and tell me your twitter ID in the form +1
4. Tweet the following and leave PERMALINK (direct link) in the form +1

Relish! Giveaway @callista83 Year's Subscription - Meal Planning and Automatic Grocery Lists http://bit.ly/bjBGYU

5.Visit the Relish! FAQ and tell me one thing you learned about the program +1 (in the google form, NOT the comments)

That's a possible total of 5 entries. Giveaway open Worldwide until March 1, 2010

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

Optimal Print Business Card Photo Contest

Do you like to take photographs? Optimal Print is holding a contest for the best business card photo. It's open worldwide but UK entrants have a chance of getting their hometown featured on the website as well as photos taken by that person.

Prizes include a new digital camera, cash and free business cards.

Contest open Monday, January 18, 2010 through to Thursday, March 18, 2010

Check out the details at Optimal Print Businesscard Photo Contest.

Sunday Linkage - Valentine's Edition

See I told you I'd make a little graphic. I've done linkage posts on Mondays and Saturdays before but I like Sundays best.

First of all is a news item I just have to share, so we can tell London, Ontario what a HORRIBLE idea this is.
Sperminator Game to Teach Kids about Sex and STDs

Second we have something about Valentine's Day that may put a damper on the mood...for now.
Valentine's Day in Other Places

Know any journalists? I must admit I don't get some of these, me not being a true journalist.
Happy V-Day: Valentines for Journalists

Why is an Orange Called an Orange?

Photo Credit: Fr Antunes on Flickr

Reading Why is an Orange Called an Orange? by Cobi Ladner inspired me to look into this question. I thought I'd share my findings here.

The book asks why an Orange is called an Orange if a Banana is not called a Yellow and Blueberries aren't called Blues.

What I didn't realize is that the fruit wasn't named after the colour. The colour got it's name from the fruit.

Here's what I found:

The word orange comes from Sanskrit nārangah (orange tree). Other European languages adapted the word - Persian nārang, Armenian nārinj, Arabic nāranj, (Spanish naranja and Portuguese laranja), Late Latin arangia, Italian arancia or arancio, and Old French orenge, in chronological order. The first appearance of the word Orange in English is from the 14th century.
 
Before this was introduced to the English-speaking world, the colour was referred to (in Old English) as geoluhread, which translates into Modern English as yellow-red.

The first recorded use of orange as a colour name in English was in 1512,[2] in the court of King Henry VIII.

The name of the colour is derived from the fruit, first appearing in this sense in 1542.

Extra for word-lovers:
The forms of the word starting with n- are older (like naranja), and this initial n- may have been mistaken as part of the indefinite article, in languages with articles ending with an -n sound (e.g., in French une norenge may have been taken as une orenge), a process called juncture loss.

Sources:

Wikipedia - Orange (fruit)
Wikipedia - Orange (colour)

Sunday Linkage

I'd like to go back to sharing links I've found with my readers. Every Sunday I'll share what I've found. They don't have to be blogs. They could be on a variety of topics. I'll make a catchy graphic for next time.

Exploring Science with Children @ PBS Parents
Lots of helpful ideas on how to teach children science based on everyday living and what's around you. Science in the kitchen, on the playground, in the neighbourhood, at the market and more!

LOST TV Fans
Another LOST wiki, not as filled in as Lostpedia but in my opinion, of a better format. If you know about LOST, help fill it in!


Simply Linked
A new widget like Mr.Linky, with a cleaner design. I think I'll be using this one from now on.

Super Why is showing February 2010 in Movie Theatres (US ONLY)

Two SUPER WHY episodes, Comic Book: Attack of the Eraser and The Big Game, will be in movie theaters on weekends in February as part of the Kidtoons program.

Soar to new places in February with SUPER WHY, as Super Why, Princess Presto, Wonder Red, and Alpha Pig go on reading adventures like you’ve never seen before. Wham! Pow! Join the superheroes inside a comic book, where they’ll use their literacy powers to stop the diabolical eraser from erasing the words in Reader Valley in Comic Book: Attack of the Eraser. Then get ready to cheer for Super Why and his friends as they learn the importance of practicing in The Big Game. Visit http://www.kidtoonfilms.com for more information and to find SUPER WHY in a movie theater near you! Super Duper!

The Kidtoons program is dedicated to helping parents connect with their kids by bringing family friendly animated movies to the big screen every weekend at participating theatres across the country. Participating Kidtoons theatres showcase a fun, affordable family friendly matinee movie and provide a family experience filled with entertaining, kid-friendly characters, as well as cartoon shorts, music videos and sing-alongs before each movie. We even have fun giveaways for the kids, such as stickers, temporary tattoos, activity books or toys after every film.