Other stations that I liked were Channel 38 ("Ozzy's Boneyard" - Classic Rock presented by Ozzy Osbourne) and 39 ("Hair Nation" - featuring 80's hair bands!)...25 was also good ("Classic Rewind" -70's and 80's classic rock)....
But enough about the music...what the hell are "Inukshuk" you ask?
Well, during the second leg of our trek up to Sudbury, we drove through miles and miles of country road. Along the way, we noticed rock walls hugging the highway. Bert started chuckling when he saw his first rock formation....
"Hey, someone made a little rock figurine on top of that rock wall!" Bert mused.
"Where?" I asked. As I whipped my head around, I missed it, but then we found there were more as we kept driving on.
Can you spot it?
We noticed them at random walls. Sometimes there would be just a small pile of rocks. Others were more elaborate, in the shapes of people.
It didn't matter how low or high the wall was. Whoever did these were fearless!
I ended up texting C about these rock formations and she replied that they were known as "inukshuk" or aboriginal markers which meant "you are here" or "food cache nearby", etc. It was cool to learn that these formations had a meaning and weren't just a random occurrence made by bored or drunk hitchhikers.
According to the wikipedia entry on Inukshuk:
"The word inuksuk means "something which acts for or performs the function of a person"...It is pronounced inutsuk in Nunavik and the southern part of Baffin Island (see Inuit phonology for the linguistic reasons)...
Despite the predominant English spelling as inukshuk, both the Government of Nunavut and the Government of Canada through Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are promoting the Inuit-preferred spelling inuksuk."
We enjoyed spotting all of the different formations that we saw...
Here's a closer look...
"In some areas, including Northern Ontario, individuals have built a large number of inuksuit along the Trans-Canada Highway. In 2010, a journalist from Sudbury's Northern Life counted 93 inuksuit along Highway 69 between Sudbury and Parry Sound."
While we were amusing ourselves by spotting the inukshuk along the way, we snacked on the Ruffles spicy ketchup chips which had a bit of a kick!
Why can't they sell these in the U.S. dammit?
Turns out the the inukshuk is becoming a Canadian cultural symbol. It even appears on the flag of Nunavut (a Canadian territory) and an inukshut figure was a mascot of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
About the music:
For a complete listing of the stations and genres of Sirius Satellite radio, click here for the channel lineup.
We were nearly there and couldn't wait to see our friends whom we hadn't seen in two years!
But first a little break for ice cream at a boonies gas stop
2 comments:
Very cool. one of my favorite course in college was non-western art and I really enjoyed the Inuit segment. Didn't learn about inuksuks tho.
I enjoyed my art history class in college as well, but it was mainly euro-centric.
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