'Separated at Birth' Advertisements

• #1 — José María Narváez, Spanish Explorer — first European to visit the Sunshine Coast (1791). This ad first appeared on July 31, 2008. See my feature story on Narváez here.

• #2 — Abraham Ortelius, Cartographer — first to create a modern atlas (1570). (Yes, Chief Justice McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada was Gary's advisor when he was a student and she was a professor at UBC Law School in the late 1970s, before she was appointed to the bench.) This ad first appeared on August 28, 2008.

• #3 — Clark Kent, Mild-mannered Reporter — first to leap tall buildings in a single bound. (Yes, Gary does have a cape cut in the shape of the Sunshine Coast, you can see it here. It was presented to Gary at the Royal LePage Christmas party in 2007 to commemorate his various mapping activities.) This ad first appeared on September 25, 2008.

• #4 — Count Dracula, Urbane Vampire — first to put the area of Transylvania on the map. (The "MM" on the collar of Gary's cape stands for "Map Man".) This ad first appeared on October 30, 2008.

• #5 — Santa Claus, Jolly Person — owns a very large workshop. This ad first appeared on December 18, 2008.

• #6 — Barack Obama, Politician — President of the United States. (That's a Sechelt B.C. Blessed by Sun and Seas pin I'm wearing, not to mention my favourite map tie. And, yes, Gary has written 7 books, all on computer-related topics.) This ad first appeared on February 5, 2009.

• #7 — Leifur Eiríksson, Fearless Viking — European discoverer of North America. (The photo on the left is of Stirling Calder's famous 1932 statue of Eiríksson in Reykjavík, Iceland.) This ad first appeared on April 2, 2009.

• #8 — King George V, King of England. (The Statute of Westminster in 1931 marked the effective legislative independence of Canada, Australia, Irish Free State, Newfoundland, New Zealand, and South Africa. Gary received a bronze medal from the Governor General of Canada in 1971. On his chest you will find the Governor General medal, a Royal LePage pin, an Apple Computer 5-year pin, a B.C. 150 pin, and a Sun Microsystems 5-year pin.) This ad first appeared on May 14, 2009.

• #9 — Sir Isaac Newton, Famous Mathematician. (Gary worked for Apple Computer for over 10 years.) This ad first appeared on June 25, 2009.

• #10 — George Vancouver, Famous Explorer. (Vancouver was mortified, his word, when Galiano and Valdés showed him the map of the Georgia Strait area prepared by fellow Spaniard Narváez the year before. Vancouver unexpectedly encountered the Spaniards off Point Grey when returning from his survey of the Sunshine Coast.) This ad first appeared on July 30, 2009. See my feature story on Vancouver here.

• #11 — Karl Marx, Philosopher. This ad first appeared on September 3, 2009. It's all about Labour Day.

• #12 — The Wolf Man, Hirsute Lycanthrope. (Clap for the Wolfman was composed by Burton Cummings, Bill Wallace, and Kurt Winter of The Guess Who and released in 1974.) This ad first appeared on October 29, 2009.

• #13 — Ebenezer Scrooge, Banker. This ad first appeared on December 17, 2009.