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Re: Treatment of Waterloo in The Canadian Encyclopedia Finally! Waterioo on its own merits I have followed with interest and some puzzlement the correspondence to your paper concerning the fact that the encyclopedia‘s coverage of Waterloo is found in the entry titled ‘"Kitchener Waterloo." (I have had no letters from Kitchener.) No one has disputed the facts in Professor McLaughlin‘s excellent deâ€" scription of the two cities, but the letters to the Chronicle certainly seem to LETTERS How fit are you? Are you able to run for an hour, or can you barely make it around the block without puffing and aching? If the latter describes you, and if you intend to increase your fitness level, you certainly cannot rush out and actively engage in a heavyâ€"duty aeroâ€" bics class and expect anything better than a heart attack as a result. On the other hand, if you can run for the hour, can you lift 20 pounds? You may have a great cardiovascular system but lack in the strength department. Fitness is not an advanced level in any one given sport or activity. It should be an indication of your over all physical condition, including good strength, enâ€" durance, flexibility and aerobic capaciâ€" ty. Before signing up for any program, particularly this time of year when advertised specials are a dime a dozen, you should be made aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. This is espeâ€" cially true for those who have not engaged in regular physical activity for two years or more. Good fitness clubs and fitness instructors should ask you to go through a series of tests to help them determine your fitness level so they can be of better service to your specific fitness needs. Each test will be different, depending what you or the club wants from the results. Most appraisers, however work around a standard variety of tests. Your height, weight and girth will be meaâ€" sured as well as skinfold tests to estimate your total percentage of body fFeedback 2 ":& x §¥ { ff‘?# - M ( > e s C h. "'4,:‘;... % e 5 EÂ¥ A e PA * "Our garage is nice and cool, so I sit in there and drink pop." Mike Harvey Waterioo Fitness Forum Kathy Hammond Fitness Instructor fat. One word of warning â€" don‘t be tricked into receiving just one test. Ask for a second test, with the same appraiser, to get an average of the two tests. It is so easy to go to five different appraisers and get five different reâ€" sults. An important aspect of the test is the stepâ€"up test which helps determine your aerobic capacity. You simply step up and down steps with your heart rate and blood pressure monitored. Two professional people serving the Waterloo Region are Julie Tynham, a fitness appraiser and owner of Body Check in Waterloo, and Diane Urshcel, owner of U.B. Fit, also in Waterloo. Both provide testing and counselling services to anyone who does home fitness and does not have access to a club, or to those who have access to a club but prefer a more personalized service. Strength and endurance is generally tested with pushâ€"ups and sitâ€"ups (the number you can do in 60 seconds) and grip strength. Flexibility can be tested from a sitting position as you reach forward to touch your toes or beyond. Ask for this test twice as well, depending on how flexible you feel at the particular time of day. Though these tests usually take about an hour they are not strenuous. You certainly do not have to worry about failing any of these tests. The idea behind going to a professional appraiser is for discretion and advice. There are no winners and losers, simply fit people and notâ€"soâ€"fit people. confirm his statement that regional government, rather than drawing Kitchâ€" ener and Waterloo more closely together have now provided them "with a forum for discontent.‘" I really should have known better, having lived in Waterloo for two years. Please allow me to complain about statements in some letters you have received claiming that we did not recognize Waterloo‘s "status as a city." It is not true. The fact is thoroughly documented in the entry and full acâ€" knowledgement is made to the separate development and character of each. None of the academics that I have consulted think that the two cities should be treated in any other way, and Statistics Canada considers them a "I stay by an air conditioner, wherever I can find one. On weekends I head for the cotâ€" Louise Novotny Waterioo Question asked on King St. However, please put your readers‘ minds at ease. This is their encyclopedia as well and, while keeping Professor McLaughlin‘s survey intact, we will provide a separate entry on Waterloo as well so that readers across Canada will not be misled into thinking that it has disappeared in the maw of regional govâ€" single municipality when listing Canâ€" ada‘s largest cities. How do you beat the heat? A reader kindly sent me some interâ€" esting material on pearls. I‘d never given them much thought, but it seems that the pearl is the only gem greated by a living organism. And, while it takes millions of years of intense heat and pressure to make a diamond, an oyster can make a pearl in three to five years. Chemicaly, there‘s nothing at all complicated about a pearl. If you crush one with pliers, you‘re left with a tiny pile of lime dust, absolutely worthless. This is because the pearly substance is almost pure calcium carbonate â€" the same as a piece of chalk. Yet, we cannot make a pearl. With all our technology, we can‘t duplicate the special crystaline structure that capâ€" tures, bends and scatters rays of light that give a pearl its unique lustre and colour. A pearl is actually a hardened secretion deposited by an oyster around an irritating particle that the shellfish cannot expel. This may be a grain of sand or other debris, or even an undischarged egg of the oyster itself. For protection, it coats the irritant with a satiny substance called nacre. Each overlapping layer of gossamery nacre is bonded by an organic subâ€" stance called conchiolin, which is much like the stuff our tooth enamel is made of. And here‘s something I didn‘t know. Practically any kind of bivalved molâ€" lusk can build a pearl of sorts. But the pearls sold commercially are found almost entirely in oysters of the genus Margaritifera. . Pearls discovered in platters of oysâ€" ters or clams are dull, opague and quite worthless. I like oysters, and I have often imagined that I might someday look down at my plate to see a giant, irridescent pearl of great price. Now I know better. ‘"I suffer. When it gets really bad though, I take my sleeping bag outside and sleep on the lawn." e q ~% i 4 I : v F d «* mm 3 wite / a s l x 4 ® x : + d s 5 ie «* \wet %;sig‘ <# i wl s a ‘% ww *A.&’?é sn C â€". â€" e ol o L ym V}S, Letters welcome Tom Schnart Kitchener WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 1986 â€" PAGE 7 eoffrey Fellows Only an expert can tell the difference between the two and even then must use Xâ€"rays to be sure. Cultured pearls generally are not large, but an Ausâ€" tralian outfit produced a cultured gem almost an inch in diameter, and it sold for $4,900, an unheardâ€"of price for a cultured pearl. Pearls may be almost any color, but generally are the same color as the motherâ€"ofâ€"pearl of the shellâ€"fish producâ€" ing it. Pink is the color in greatest demand here. White pearls are univerâ€" sally popular, and black pearls, exâ€" tremely rare, are treasured everyâ€" where. Most of the world‘s natural pearils come from the Persian Gulf. Each summer, thousands of divers work the famous pearl beds off Bahrein, using the same primitive diving methods practised a thousand years B.C. Five million pearls may be taken from these waters in a single season. « * Natural pearls are usually rated at five to ten times the value of comparaâ€" ble cultured pearls. To produce culâ€" tured pearls, smooth round beads of motherâ€"ofâ€"pearl are implanted in oysâ€" ters, and they are returned to the water, usually for three to five years, to gloss over these irritants. As a result, there are fewer layers of nacre than a natural pearl of the same size. Direct sunlight, hot water and sudden changes in temperature are damaging to pearls, as are human perspiration, perfume and cosmetics. So, after being worn, they should be wiped carefully clean, before putting them away. While doing so, you might like to study them, and wonder why we can‘t deal with our irritations as beautifully. (Mr. Fellows is the founder of the Human Resource Development Instiâ€" tute, P.O. Box 642, Cambridge, NiR 5W1) ernment. We are very flattered that Canadians have accepted the encyclopedia as a portrait of themselves and we hope that the people of Waterloo will be happier with their place in that portrait next time. "I go to my favourite swimming hole â€" Innerkip. There, I can swim, drink or do whatever I want to keep cool." James H. March Editor in chief The Canadian Encyclopedia Edmonton, Alta. Tina Briner Waterioo