Friday, December 21, 2007

Happy Christmas to you all

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Thursday, November 22, 2007

First Sign of Winter

Is a Ford Explorer in the ditch...
Snow mixed with freezing rain created slippery driving conditions this morning, with the weather causing as many as 200 crashes in the GTA since rush hour Wednesday. Most of the collisions were single vehicles sliding into ditches, hitting guardrails, and spinning off the highways.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

Saturday, November 10, 2007

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae

A Day of Remembrance

A Day of Remembrance - Veterans Affairs Canada

The Legion - and the poppy's history

Monday, November 05, 2007

Toronto Airports

[quote="rob in angus"] Another airport in Toronto area is somewhat needed.
Are there any neutral studies showing this? The GTAA master proposal is based on forecasted passenger levels from 1999. Given that's pre-9.11, I imagine things have changed (see here).
[quote]would reduce congestion around Pearson. Congestion means increased CO2 emmisions from idling traffic[/quote]
1) Presumably opening a new airport would shift the traffic volume to the new airport.
2) people should turn their engines off instead of idling - as the City bylaw requests
3) Congestion around YYZ is not driven by the airport's presence. YYZ is immediately adjacent to the 401/427/27/409/Eglinton interchange as well just west of the 401/400/Black Creek Drive interchange. That particular section of the 401 is among the highest volume arteries in the world, averaging average annual daily traffic of 607,800 cars. Pointing to the airport as the sole cause, or establishing a new airport won't help. Reducing congestion driven by visits to YYZ requires a mass transit link to the airport. One effort to do just that was Blue 22 (about which see here and here, but but it appeared to be killed by the McGuinty's pre-election MoveOntario 2020 announcement. If you're interested in reading about efforts to incorporate mass transit access to YYZ, try Steve Munro's website, especially this post.
[quote]If not Pickering then where? Is there a better spot to build?[/quote]
How about improving trains? That might move a high % of the short-haul flights to a different mode of transport, which concomitant environmental benefits. One of the most striking parts of Monbiot's book Heat was on the impact of flying. His blog has some analysis on it here, here and the UK government's Royal Commission here. Short recap for the 99% of people who don't wish to read all of that - aviation is a remarkably awful contributor to global warming, not just from the physics of flying (burning a lot of extremely high octane gas to keep aloft) but also from impact of contrails, etc.
Anyway, I would be extremely curious to find out what % of YYZ and YTZ's flights are w/in the Windsor/Quebec City corridor. I would prefer to use better (read: faster & more reliable) train service as in France to visit my Montreal/Ottawa-based clients - especially b/c it cuts out the commute, boarding & security hassles on both ends.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Canoeing Guest Speakers

Some cool topics here, including Shawn's family friend Al Pace.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

When Will the West Run Out of Water

Fascinating article.
Actually, there's a series of Canadian implications that aren't spelled out here (well, duh, it's the NYT, why would they...)

1) Water diversion. The "Great Lakes" looks like a huge pool of fresh water. But it's not actually self-replenishing, meaning that it's not actuall a renewable resource, meaning that any sensible public policy action is to ban water exports. Chicago has already messed with Lake Michigan. the St. Clair river drain hole (explained here) . Water levels are shrinking across the Great Lakes - adding exports will mess with the ecosystems (and boating, cottaging, fishing, the St Mary's River, the Soo Locks, etc.). Martin Mittelstaedt of The Globe had a great series on this... In fact, I'll steal a graphic from it below.

Actually, the CBC has a solid page on this as well.

And here.

2) Western Canada itself. Professor Schindler has written in the past of consequences to the West of the shrinking glaciers. As they continue to retreat, the western rivers become shallower - meaning warmer and lower in volume - and less reliable for drinking water, irrigation, or other industrial uses. This leads into the kinds of issues being confronted by the US states profiled in the NYT article above. In fact, the simple way of putting it is here. More here

2a) Energy patch vs. water. Some of the issue in the oilsands are spelled out in a report by U of A and U of T which can be found here.

Top Chef's Last Supper

Featuring some of the world's biggest names in cooking:

Ferran Adrià

April Bloomfield

Daniel Boulud

Alain Ducasse

Martin Picard

Gordon Ramsay

and Mario Batali.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Local Farmer's Markets

Basically available every day now.

Thursdays

DUFFERIN GROVE ORGANIC FARMERS' MARKET, 875 Dufferin, south of Bloor, 416-392-0913 Toronto's largest organic market is open from 3 to 7 pm year round in the park.

METRO HALL FARMERS' MARKET, 55 John, at Wellington, 416-338-0338 8 am to 2:30 pm through October 25.

Fridays

BIRCHCLIFF VILLAGE FARMERS' MARKET, 1512 Kingston Road, at Manderlay, 416-686-6528 Next to St. Nicholas Church, from 2 to 7 pm till October 19.

HIGH PARK FARMERS' MARKET, beside Grenadier Restaurant, south of Bloor, 416-882-5140 Noon to 7 pm, plus Saturday and Sunday 9 am to 6 pm, till November 25.

Saturdays

BRICK WORKS FARMERS' MARKET, 550 Bayview, south of Pottery, 416-596-1495 In the Don Valley eco centre 8 am to 1 pm till December 1.

FARMERS' ORGANIC MARKET, St. George the Martyr Church, John and Stephanie, 647-226-2418 Toronto's oldest organic gathering takes place from 9 am to 3 pm in south Grange Park year round.

ST. LAWRENCE FARMERS' MARKET, 92 Jarvis, at Front East, 416-392-7219 In the North Market from 5 am to 5 pm year round.

VILLAGE MARKET, 9100 Bathurst, at Rutherford, 905-707-5771 Suburban organics at the Toronto Waldorf School from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm year round.

WITHROW PARK FARMERS' MARKET, 725 Logan, at McConnell 9 am to 1 pm till October 27.

WYCHWOOD BARNS FARMERS' MARKET, Church of St. Michael and All Angels, 611 St. Clair West, at Wychwood, 416-653-8546 2 to 5 pm till October 27.

Sundays

LIBERTY VILLAGE FARMERS' MARKET, 34 Hannah, at East Liberty In the parking lot from 9 am to 2 pm till October 28.

Mondays

SUNSHINE GARDEN ORGANIC MARKET, CAMH Grounds, 1001 Queen West, at Ossington, 416-363-6441 10 to 11:30 am Mondays and Thursdays through October 18 .

Tuesdays

RIVERDALE FARM FARMERS' MARKET , Riverdale Park West, Winchester at Sumach, 416-961-8787 3 to 7 pm till November 27.

TRINITY BELLWOODS FARMERS' MARKET, Dundas at Crawford, 416-350-9694 3 to 7 pm till October 30.

Wednesdays

TORONTO CITY HALL FARMERS' MARKET, Nathan Phillips Square, Bay at Queen, 416-338-0338 Same vendors as Metro Hall's, through October 17, 10 am to 2:30 pm.

COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA)

PLAN B ORGANIC FARM, 905-659-2572, www.planborganicfarms.ca Drop points throughout Toronto; winter and summer shares.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Very Cool Trails


Vaguely reminescent of parts of Lake O'Hara's trail system.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Unfortunate events

My heart goes out to the families and friends of Fontaine and Juryn.

10 things I learned during this election • Spacing Votes • blogging Ontario’s 2007 provincial election

From John Lorinc on the Election

More MMP guesses, err models

See the spreadsheet for details.

Modelling MMP in Prior Elections

Sure there's a Big Assumption inherent here, but it's interesting...

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Hypothetical MMP in 2003 Results

Now this makes MMP easier to understand/analyze...

Tories Against MMP

Which makes sense. The most plausible future for the Ontario Tories under a Proportional Representation system would be permanent leader of the opposition, while the Liberals make concessions to either the NDP or Green or other minority/fringe parties (an as-of-yet non-existent Northern Ontario Party comes to mind as a strong possibility) to stay in power more or less consistently, until the inevitable scandal.

So, if you're a Tory, then for purely partisan reasons, I can't think of any reason to endorse any sort of PR system - even the mixed version proposed here.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Friday, September 21, 2007

WCA has Acquired the MyCCR

http://www.myccr.com/announcement.htm
Well, the good news is that it is not folding! Not sure if there is any bad news.
Certainly still the first and last word in backcountry canoeing (and often winter camping) online.
All credit to Richard Munn for founding and establishing the site over the years - must have been tough but my gratitude at least.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Friday, September 07, 2007

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Congratulations!

Posted by Picasa

Sunset over Rundle


Frappuccinos: summer's liquid cheeseburger!

"A cup of black coffee is a three-calorie beverage. Add a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk and you're up to 35 calories. But order a frozen coffee drink and you've turned a low-calorie beverage into a 500-plus-calorie liquid dessert."

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The Polish John Cleese

"However, Ms Merkel views Poland, rather than Britain, as the main opponent of a deal and the hardest nut to crack. Such perceptions were confirmed when Warsaw raised old grievances about Germany to try to bolster its case for a "fairer" voting system in running the EU. Under current arrangements dating from 2000, Germany has 29 votes to Poland's 27 in EU councils. The new system, based on population sizes, will give Germany more than double the Polish vote. The Poles are demanding a new way of calculating votes that would diminish German "hegemony."
Under the nationalist Kaczynski brothers, prime minister and president of Poland, it seemed Poland was bent on refighting the second world war against Germany in the bunkers of Brussels.
"If Poland had not had to live through the years 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million", rather than 38 million, and would warrant a much higher quota of votes in the EU, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the prime minister, told Polish radio.
Well. Seeing as the founding principle of the EU is "Don't Mention The War!" it seems to me that the only possible response would be repeated viewings of this classic Fawlty Towers sketch. However, the Poles had a different response - thinking out of the box as it were and I have to say, I didn't see this coming:

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Luminato is over


This is my awful snapshot of PulseFront. You can find much, much better ones in places like this such as this one.

There were lots of other public art things around, such as Union Station's horses.
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Friday, May 25, 2007

Friday, May 18, 2007

Friday, May 11, 2007

100 Mile Diet in Toronto

Technically, Bonnie Stern cheated, but this is seriously impressive for Toronto in the spring:
An incredible taste of the place she lives. The salad alone contained marvels we’d never eaten before: a winter lettuce called Tango (among 11 other lettuces), marigolds, chickpea sprouts, popcorn shoots. On top of the greens, roasted white beets with smoked ricotta cheese and smoked, sun-dried Principe Borhgese tomatoes (an Italian food tradition that has faded so badly that Ontario’s David Cohlmeyer now ships his to Italy - so it goes in the global-local food chain). Then came sweet potato and maple syrup mash, roasted carrots, and braised short ribs from Cumbrae Farms, a group of selected small farms working with special breeds. (Someone asked Cumbrae’s Stephen Alexander if there was a simple way to tell small-farm meat from industrial, factory-farm meat; he replied, “Forget claims and trust your eyes and trust your palate.” He says he can instantly smell the sulfates from industrial animal feed.) We drank apple sangría and local wines. Dessert was caramelized apples with maple syrup semifreddo over crepes.

A Kitchen On The Cheap

The New York Times on the bare minimum one needs to provision a kitchen - for $300.

In Toronto, you could go to :

The list:
  • 8-inch, plastic-handle stainless alloy chef’s knife for $10
  • Instant-read thermometer $5
  • 3 stainless steel bowls $5
  • Sturdy tongs: $3.50
  • a sturdy sheet pan
  • plastic cutting board
  • Paring knife $3
  • Japanese mandoline for $25 (for thin, even slices or a real julienne)
  • $4 can opener
  • vegetable peeler
  • colander
  • a small, medium and large cast-aluminum saucepan (total: about $30) - just not the awful wafer thin sets of stainless or aluminum ones sold in big-box stores.
  • medium nonstick cast aluminum pan (10-inch; $13)
  • a large steep-sided, heavier duty steel pan (14-inch; $25)
  • single lida skimmer (for removing dumplings or gnocchi)
  • a slotted spoon
  • a heat-resistant rubber spatula (replacing the classic wooden spoon)
  • a bread knife (good for crusty loaves and ripe tomatoes)
  • a big whisk
  • food processor (12-cup capacity)
  • salad spinner
  • Microplane grater
  • coffee and spice grinder
  • An immersion blender
  • A whetstone or a decent steel
What not to Get!
  • BREAD MACHINE You can buy mediocre bread easily enough, or make the real thing without much practice.
  • MICROWAVE If you do a lot of reheating or fast (and damaging) defrosting, you may want one. But essential? No. And think about that counter space!
  • STAND MIXER Unless you’re a baking fanatic, it takes up too much room to justify it. A good whisk or a crummy handheld mixer will do fine.
  • BONING/FILLETING KNIVES Really? You’re a butcher now? Or a fishmonger? If so, go ahead, by all means...
  • WOK Counterproductive without a good wok station equipped with a high-B.T.U. burner.
  • STOCKPOT The pot you use for pasta will suffice until you start making gallons of stock.
  • PRESSURE COOKER It’s useful, but do you need one? No.
  • ANYTHING MADE OF COPPER More trouble than it’s worth, unless you have a pine-paneled wall you want to decorate.
  • RICE COOKER Yes, if you eat rice twice daily. Otherwise, no.
  • COUNTERTOP CONVECTION OVEN, ROTISSERIE, OR “ROASTER” Only if you’re a sucker for late-night cooking infomercials.

Jesse in the Garden

Some photos of the rapidly changing garden.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

On Virginia Tech

"There is no reason that any private citizen in a democracy should own a handgun. At some point, that simple truth will register. Until it does, phones will ring for dead children, and parents will be told not to ask why."
Shootings: Comment: The New Yorker

The Way We Age Now

Human beings fail the way all complex systems fail: randomly and gradually. As engineers have long recognized, many simple devices do not age. They function reliably until a critical component fails, and the whole thing dies instantly. A windup toy works smoothly until a gear rusts or a spring breaks, and then it doesn’t work at all. But complex systems—power plants, say—have to survive and function despite having thousands of critical components. Engineers therefore design these machines with multiple layers of redundancy: with backup systems, and backup systems for the backup systems. The backups may not be as efficient as the first-line components, but they allow the machine to keep going even as damage accumulates. Gavrilov argues that, within the parameters established by our genes, that’s exactly how human beings appear to work. We have an extra kidney, an extra lung, an extra gonad, extra teeth. The DNA in our cells is frequently damaged under routine conditions, but our cells have a number of DNA repair systems. If a key gene is permanently damaged, there are usually extra copies of the gene nearby. And, if the entire cell dies, other cells can fill in.

Nonetheless, as the defects in a complex system increase, the time comes when just one more defect is enough to impair the whole, resulting in the condition known as frailty. It happens to power plants, cars, and large organizations. And it happens to us: eventually, one too many joints are damaged, one too many arteries calcify. There are no more backups. We wear down until we can’t wear down anymore.

Annals of Medicine: The Way We Age Now: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Pearls Before Breakfast

The Washington Post has a brilliant concept piece, perfectly written and illustrated with video. Wow. Joshua Bell, Kant, Stradivarius, Koyaanisqatsi and the life of a commuter all in one article.
Likely the best article I've read in months - and those that know me know that encompasses several thousand articles (which is actually an interesting point in itself. I should one day work out just how many words a day I read. A scary thought, greatly in inverse proportion to how much I write). I wonder if it will actually change my behaviour on a day to day basis.
Anyway, I imagine that the WashPost will take it offline or behind subscriber doors soon, so I highly recommend reading/watching/pondering it.
Also - a follow-up here.
and here
and here

Saturday, April 14, 2007

The 4 Kinds of Flat Roofs

Hmm. What to do...

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/knowhow/exteriors/article/0,16417,1127447,00.html

Friday, April 13, 2007

housing prices rollercoaster

What a ride! And quite the information aesthetics. I want to do that for some of my work data...

Friday, April 06, 2007

Have Your Say On Toronto's New "Street Furniture"

Toronto's sell-out of public space continues.
It's instructive to examine the vendors record on illegalsigns.ca

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Toronto's hidden rivers

This is great. Check out the sub-links on Toronto area river basins: http://www.thestar.com/photoGallery/199469.
http://www.lostrivers.ca/
http://www.torontofieldnaturalists.org/

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Fernie Report

Unfortunately ski conditions have been less than attractive. Last Sunday and Monday, the Pineapple Express, that was advancing over BC, peaked over Fernie. The ski hill was assaulted with high winds and pounding rain that extended almost, but not quite, to the highest skiable terrain. On Monday, much of the hill was closed because of the avalanche danger and there were several large slides within the ski hill boundary. Since then there has been a dusting of new snow and colder temperatures. Neither of which have managed to undo the storm damage.

Today was nice and sunny but “Old Sol” was unable generate sufficient thermal energy to do much good.

Not that it would matter, as I didn't have any gear until after 2:30 and then when I borrowed my sister's - my "loaned"season's pass was flagged as not being mine! So quickly skated away from the liftie, who was saying "Sir, you have to go to guest services!" so I can be fined and the season pass pulled!!!

Oh well. Quite the birthday.

We're Not Happy Till You're Not Happy

Thanks Air Canada for making my birthday something less than it could have been. A nice blue bird day here in Fernie - and me without any luggage.


PS - any fault that could/should be addressed to me for last-minute unpreparedness is totally deserved, and will be ignored as per usual :)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Intersection of antropology and economics

It's a clever blog - and apparently that intersection is mostly marketing, but there's some fun commentary on things as diverse as why female CMOs are more likely to be sacrificial change agents to people's relationship with their pets.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Friday, February 16, 2007

Seadoo Spray

Gung hei fat choi!

Chinese New Year is upon us!

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

For someone in my line of work (loosely described as tech research - better described as custom data collection - accurately described as monotonous), this is an awesome screed on the biz as it is.
Oh, and the worst: fielding emails from PR parasites eager to suck away precious time in a half-hour phone meeting while the Senior Vice-President of Smoke Blowing tells me about how his company's software—based on an idea cribbed from Google—is going to change the way I look at something I didn't care about in the first place. (Inevitably, "forever.")

CSM Re-cap

CH did his crazy thing - skied 70 km carrying his sleeping bag and food, slept outside, then skied another 70 km faster than I could without a pack...
SI and PS both finished 70 km both days as Coureur des Bois Silver, so they can now enter CH's category
Coureur des Bois Gold next year should they be so foolhardy (and yes, of course, they are that foolhardy :)
I entered the "tourer" category, and started at 8:30 am (not the 6:30 am start of the CdB's) after missing the first bus- then tried to catch up and beat the time cut-offs (like the Ironman, they close the course to stop people from skiing in the dark). I made the time cut-off at the last checkpoint by 3 minutes - going >50k in 6 hours - then I bonked. And couldn't move - next year I'll remember to drink more fluids/eat more, so I can finish the whole course. Anyway,
on Sunday, seeing as I wasn't eligible to finish as a CdB, I skiied a fun 30k with L (well I had fun - she seemed kind of zonked at the end :)
It was interesting as I've never really been an endurance sport kind of person to see what it was like - over 6 hours of going hard, your mind/body goes through all sorts of weirdness. Anyway, burning >6000 calories in a day means that I don't feel bad about eating well for a while :)
And it's the furthest I've skiied in a single day ever - and same for L, so good for us (and to P, S, & C, thanks for dragging my as out to this after 5 years of procrastination ).

Monday, January 29, 2007

CSM Changes

This is good to know about...

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Bartleman's Book Drive

This is a great initiative that I'm sure we can help out on.
For more details, please see here or here for this year's program. In short, it's:
From January 1st to January 31st, new and gently used children’s and young adult books can be dropped-off at any OPP or Toronto Police Services detachment in Ontario (including Toronto Police Services headquarters on College Street in Toronto). With the support and assistance of the Canadian Forces, other voluntary organizations, and shipping companies, these books will be shipped and distributed to aboriginal communities.

Monday, January 01, 2007