Is Calgary an international city?

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I think Vegas has you beat.

I was trying to think of counter-examples, and Vegas never came to mind for me, but it's probably the best one out there. Is it more of a world-class city? It's certainly far more famous, and it a tourism hub. But it's not particularly developed in terms of infrastructure, and I don't think there are a lot of corporations or financial institutions that have centers there. There are not diverse ethnic communities there. Really, I don't know that it has much going in regards to world-classness beyond tourism, and I don't think tourism alone is enough to make a city world-class.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It depends on the denomination or even individual intepretation on the so-called weighting of sins. Certainly if you read the bible literally, it's pretty difficult to come away with a egalitarian answer like "sin is a sin" when there are specifically verses which talk about "6 things that God hates the most" and "the unforgivable sin", etc.

Your Confirmation Days? Mormon? I think that in Dess' world, your stand would have to be outside of the Stampede grounds as well. And Bear infested.

Lutheran, and I wouldn't say I believe unequivocally it today. Just the fact that was try to 'level' with DESS and speak his or her language.

[Orange]

Originally Posted by ok, ok,....I get it

DESS, you think we should be going everywhere there is evil......Zimbawe, Sudan

And especially Edmonton...


I'm down for an invasion on Edmonton, the war on mulletism!

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by DESS

It would be nice to see the Stampede take more of a Christian angle, as most Calgarians are Christian.

How about for the rodeo they replace the cowboys with priests and the bulls with alter boys? Would that work for you?

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

How about for the rodeo they replace the cowboys with priests and the bulls with alter boys? Would that work for you?

Those are Catholics! They already have Mardi Gras. Before Lent, girls go wild!

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Maybe you should be mad at your mom and stop blaming the Stampede for all your problems.

I don't like the Stampede either and I gotta wonder what tourists who come here for it think of it all. My guess is that more than a few of them every year find themselves in the middle of Stampede Park and they say "we came all the way here for this? We coulda gone anywhere!"

It's better for the locals than it is for the tourists. If you come in from out of town, it's basically a regular city with a second-rate amusement park in the middle of it, and a rodeo. But for the people who live here, it's a week of slacking off at work, heavy drinking, pancake breakfasts, so it's good.

Oh yeah, and all this "attracts a million visitors", it's like Stampede Propaganda and we've heard it repeated so many times some people seem to believe it. If the turnstiles turn a million times at the park, it doesn't mean a million people came to Calgary. The vast majority of the people that go to the Stampede live in Calgary, and a lot of them go more than once.

Uh a lot of people out here on the coast make the trip every year...in fact the stampede is pretty favorite trip for alot of lower mainland kids...Of course they are here for the bands/bars and atmosphere...then the rodeo..but the stampede is a pretty big deal for some people outside of Calgary...

There really is no bigger party in Western Canda...

[jammies]

I'm a lot more interested in Calgary becoming a cosmopolitan city rather than an "international" city that is well-known worldwide. The latter has no practical impact on my life at all, as nobody cares what part of Canada you are from overseas, and nobody knows any of the parts of Canada below the 49th.

Seriously, if you meet someone from Germany, do you think of them as a Berliner (for example) instead of a German? We may think we are vastly different from a Torontonian, but the rest of the world sees the similarities far more than the differences.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

[Hack&Lube]

We should start a list of things that Calgary should be famous for so we can be dorks and tell people on travels.

Like how we are the birthplace of the Bloody Ceaser and Ginger Beef. When in Germany, the only thing I could think of that a German could relate to was telling somebody Owen Hargreaves was from Calgary. Also the guy who invented JAVA was from Calgary. And Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong is from here.

[4X4]

Dont forget crutons!

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Dont forget crutons!

What's a Cruton?

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Dont forget crutons!

really?

[DESS]

Really? Crutons? You would think dried-out bread husks would have been invented in the middle ages. lol

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by DESS

Really? Crutons? You would think dried-out bread husks would have been invented in the middle ages. lol

Actually I think God invented them

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

What's a Cruton?

crouton

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by DESS

Really? Crutons? You would think dried-out bread husks would have been invented in the middle ages. lol

I'm pretty sure they were. Basically the trencher/sop that was placed in ancient soup.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

Croutons

Thrifty cooks have been finding creative ways for using up stale bread since the beginning of time. The connection between stale bread and soup dates to the Medieval times, when soup was served in sops (pieces of stale bread). French onion soup is classically topped with a <A href="http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsoups.html#frenchonionsoup">crust of stale bread
Croutons, purposely spiced and gently toasted, are more refined twist on this culinary theme. One might reasonably argue croutons were inspired by biscotti and other ancient twice baked goods.
"Crouton. Derived from the French crouton, has been an English word since early in the 19th century, whereas two other connected French culinary terms, croute and croustade, have remained French...All these terms derive from the Latin word crusta, meaning 'shell'. Thus the outside of a loaf of bread is the crust or croute. Crouton, the diminutive form, usually refers to the familiar little cubes of toasted or fried bread which might originally have been cut from a crust...It first appears in French in the 17th century when it is described as 'a little piece of bread crust served with drinks'. In recent times, croutons are often added to fish soups, and occasionally to certain salads."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 229)
"Croutes for soup. Thick slices of French bread (flute) which have been partly hollowed out or cut in two lengthways and dried in the oven. Croutes are served with all kinds of soups, usually separately, either plain, garnished or filled...In the Middle Ages, the thin slices of bread soaked in stock, wine or milk, which were served with gruels or liquid stews, were called soupes. Later the name croute was given to lightly browned slices of bread served after the soup: these were coated with puree, garnished with crayfish or asparagus tips, and moistened with partridge gravy or cooked au gratin using Parmesan cheese."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated edition [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 380)
The Larousse de la Langue Francaise [Librarie Larousse:Paris, 1969 ] traces the word crouton in French print to 1596. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest instance of the word crouton in [English] is 1806. You can view several 19th century crouton recipes published in American cookbooks courtesy of Michigan State University's digital cookbook collection (recipe search: crouton).

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Uh a lot of people out here on the coast make the trip every year...in fact the stampede is pretty favorite trip for alot of lower mainland kids...Of course they are here for the bands/bars and atmosphere...then the rodeo..but the stampede is a pretty big deal for some people outside of Calgary...

There really is no bigger party in Western Canda...

Uh, that is kind of surprising, but I wasn't really talking about people from western Canada.

The Stampede trumps it up as this big family affair with tourists from all over the world. If that is true, well, I just know some of them are just a little disappointed. If Otto from Hamburg bundles up his wife and kids and comes all the way here for the Stampede, I gotta think he looks around at the Stampede grounds and says "vee picked dis over Dissneyland"?

Maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe because since I've seen it all my life, I don't understand why anyone would choose a "Stampede Vacation" when there are so many other things to do in the world.

Could be that I'm just like the kid with the swimming pool. I've gone swimming a million times, I'm sick of swimming.

[ok, ok,....I get it]

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Uh, that is kind of surprising, but I wasn't really talking about people from western Canada.

The Stampede trumps it up as this big family affair with tourists from all over the world. If that is true, well, I just know some of them are just a little disappointed. If Otto from Hamburg bundles up his wife and kids and comes all the way here for the Stampede, I gotta think he looks around at the Stampede grounds and says "vee picked dis over Dissneyland"?

Maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe because since I've seen it all my life, I don't understand why anyone would choose a "Stampede Vacation" when there are so many other things to do in the world.

Could be that I'm just like the kid with the swimming pool. I've gone swimming a million times, I'm sick of swimming.

I was that way too once..until i left the city..

"Western" culture is fascinating to some people...The big sky and open spaces and the majestic rocky mountains is fascinating...just like you are I visiting France or Italy etc...It is different people will come. We are very humble in Calgary and in Canada for that matter...people do like coming here..the numbers speak for themselves...I spent my fair share of years working in the service industry in university...met alot of people from all over (especially during World Police and Fire Games in '97)..people love it here...