British Columbia Bizarre


Book Description

Britsh Columbia Bizarre is a fascinating and eclectic mix of tales, snippets, historical facts, fancies and misconceptions teased from the history of British Columbia. No one should read this book to obtain a balanced view of the province's history. It ignores the important people and trends that contributed to BC's story, and instead favours the often strange, sometimes wonderful, and frequently insignificant events and people that make this province a storyteller's dream. Amuse yourself with tales of the brothels, bowdy houses and bagnios that existed in every town, the wild camels of Vancouver Island, communists (well, sort of), duels to the death and goose-races. And if that isn't enough, fill your boots with a potpourri of editorial feuds, gamblers and professional hangmen, lepers and lynching, and, let's not forget, angry moose. Sure to delight and surprise, Britsh Columbia Bizarre is a wild safari through provincial history that ill confuse your assumptions and tickle your taste for the unusual.




Weird British Columbia Laws


Book Description

British Columbians are well known for being a laid-back population, but you'd better mind your Ps and Qs, or you might be headed to jail. Read about these strange and wacky laws and more in Weird British Columbia Laws: * From 1947 to 1986, it was illegal to sell stoves on a Wednesday in Vancouver * Kelowna once permitted nude bathing in any public waters, but only between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am * In Port Coquitlam, it is against the law to own more than four pet rats or to allow your cattle to roam the streets * One of Esquimalt's first bylaws prohibited the throwing of snowballs within city limits * From 1916 until 1977, you couldn't buy any booze on Election Day in British Columbia * An Oak Bay bylaw requires its residents to keep their noisy parrots quiet * And so much more.




Sea Serpents: On the Hunt in British Columbia


Book Description

Pat Spain is used to doing things that he acknowledges are not normal — such as lying in a pit of 200,000 snakes or having a pygmy village take excessive interest in his bathroom habits. /Sea Serpents: On the Hunt in British Columbia/ chronicles the coolest thing this host of multiple wildlife-adventure TV series has done yet — traveling 1,000 feet underwater in a three-man sub. Follow Spain, and the National Geographic film crew that went with him, as he sets sail on a commercial fishing boat with a dozen angry men; plays a dangerous, absolutely bonkers sport; almost falls off a mountain while drunkenly hiking; and then some. Spain puts his marine biology degree to good use by getting drunk off the fumes of a pickled specimen of the largest bony fish on Earth, all in an effort to track down the truth behind stories of a giant Canadian sea serpent. The answer to the mystery probably isn't what you're thinking.




Listverse.com's Ultimate Book of Bizarre Lists


Book Description

FREAKS OF NATURE, ODD CRIMES, SHOCKING DEATHS, DEVASTATING DISASTERS, BLOOD-CURDLING RITES, CRAZY CONSPIRACIES & MUCH, MUCH MORE -Gruesome Torture Devices -Mass Hysteria Outbreaks -Unbelievable Miniatures -Disturbingly Scary Clowns -Outer Space Mysteries -Astonishing Aphrodisiacs -Disgusting Ancient Jobs -Spooky Sports Curses -World-Famous Penises -Mail-Order-Bride Shockers -Brutal Pope Deaths -Outrageous Wedding Locales -Grossest Edible Animals -Appalling Religious Practices




Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Weird Canada


Book Description

The Great White North is revealed as the Great Weird North in this entertaining tome from the best-selling Bathroom Reader series. Did you know that Canada was almost called Hochelaga? That’s just one of thousands of wacky facts awaiting readers in Uncle John’s quirky celebration of Earth’s second largest country. You’ll find page after page of bizarre history (like why the beaver was once classified as a fish), plus head-scratching news items (like the crook who returned to the Tim Hortons he’d just robbed to tip the workers), odd places to go (like Mr. Spock’s birthplace in a town called Vulcan), and crazy eats (like the restaurant that makes you eat in complete darkness). So whether you live in Come By Chance, Joe Batt’s Arm, Starvation Cove, or anywhere else inside (or outside) of Canada, yukon count on Uncle John to deliver a world of weirdness from all over this great country. For example: - Cow-patty bingo in Alberta (Rule #1: Wear gloves) - How to enforce the new Quebec law that requires dogs to be bilingual - The sea of Molson Golden that once shut down an Ontario freeway - The mystery of the mini earthquakes in a New Brunswick town - Why it’s illegal to kill a sasquatch in British Columbia - The Nova Scotia company that makes mattresses for cows - Saskatchewan’s Willow Bunch Giant, a real man who could lift a horse over his head - The giant fiberglass “Happy Rock” statue in--where else?--Gladstone, Manitoba And much, much more!




Fishery Bulletin


Book Description




British Columbia Place Names


Book Description

Elephant Crossing, Houdini Needles, Miniskirt, Billy Whiskers Glacier.There are just a handful of the many colourful names you will come across in this newest edition of British Columbia Place Names, which has been expanded to cover some 2,400 places acros sthe province. This BC classic and its predecessor, 1001 British Columbia Place Names, together have sold over 29,000 copies. British Columbia Place Names is truly the work of a lifetime. The authors, Philip and Helen Akrigg, have spent more than forty years researching BC place names, hunting through archives in Canada, the United States, and Britain, and making extensive field trips across the entire province to interview informants and view sites. The result is a marvellous book filled with remarkable historical facts, interesting anecdotes, and brief biographical accounts of the characters for which the province’s towns, cities, rivers, lakes, mountains, and islands have become namesakes. Tickletoeteaser Tower, The Lecture Cutters, Why Not Mountain, Phyllis’s Engine. The list of intriguing names goes on. This book will be a source of fascination for browsers as well as an invaluable resource for historians. It should definately find a home on the bookshelves or in the glove compartment of anyone with an interest in BC history. Philip Akrigg was for many years professor of English at the Univeristy of British Columbia. Helen Akrigg also taught at UBC and is a past president of the British Columbia Historical Association.




Energy Justice


Book Description

Energy Justice: US and International Perspectives is a pioneering analysis of energy law and policy through the framework of energy justice. While climate change has triggered unprecedented investment in renewable energy, the concept of energy justice and its practical application to energy law and policy remain under-theorized. This volume breaks new ground by examining a range of energy justice regulatory challenges from the perspective of international law, US law, and foreign domestic law. The book illuminates the theory of energy justice while emphasizing practical solutions that hasten the transition from fossil fuels and address the inequities that plague energy systems.




Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs


Book Description

Does the giant Yeti roam the mountain ranges of Tibet? Does a real-life Shangri La lie waiting to be discovered in a Himalayan valley? Do transmissions from lost civilizations beam messages of salvation to humankind? What lost creatures lurk in the murky depths of Scotland's brooding Loch Ness? And who - or what - is responsible for the implacable monoliths which tower over Easter Island? The obsession that so many now have with the uncanny and the unnatural is in itself a mystery. It prompts serious questions which could have remarkable answers. Drinking deep from the wells of esoteric knowledge, Greg Reece undertakes a heroic quest for solutions. Braving the darkest recesses of cult belief, he stalks the twilight borderlands of contemporary culture, where, at the outer edges of mainstream thought, things become downright freaky and outlandish. Taking his life in both hands, the author explores a subterranean cavern reputed to be the home of elusive blue-skinned troglodytes; goes hiking in the backwoods for a glimpse of Bigfoot; investigates the truth of Alternative Archaeology in search of Atlantis; and tests for himself the time-travel and anti-gravity theories of famed inventor Nikola Tesla. Unashamedly revelling in the unexplained, Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs is both a penetrating analysis of the hidden underbelly of science, pseudo-science and religion as well as an unforgettable journey into the innermost depths of the fantastic, the extraordinary and the peculiar.




The grotesque in contemporary British fiction


Book Description

The grotesque in contemporary British fiction reveals the extent to which the grotesque endures as a dominant artistic mode in British fiction and presents a new way of understanding six authors who have been at the forefront of British literature over the past four decades. Starting with a sophisticated exploration of the historical development of the grotesque in literature, the book outlines the aesthetic trajectories of Angela Carter, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Iain Banks, Will Self and Toby Litt and offers detailed critical readings of key works of modern fiction including The Bloody Chamber (1979), Money (1984), The Child in Time (1987), The Wasp Factory (1984), Great Apes (1997) and Ghost Story (2004). The book shows how the grotesque continues to be a powerful force in contemporary writing and provides an illuminating picture of often controversial aspects of recent fiction.