Posts Tagged ‘ontario’

let it all hang out

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

Ontarians free to hang clothes in yards. Yeah, I couldn’t believe that it was illegal to hang out the washing in some areas either.

tat, too

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Props to the older gent in the Tim’s at New Hamburg. “What’s the tattoo on your arm? I can’t make it out”, asks the server. “It’s supposed to be a panther’s head, but it’s not finished”, he replied. “I was meant to go back the next day, but I sobered up.”

CBC Radio 1 Bandwidth: It’s a Banjolution!

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

CBC Bandwidth had a good show yesterday on the many banjo players and styles in Ontario. It features, amongst others: Jayme Stone, Jeff Menzies, Chris Coole, Chris Quinn, the Foggy Hogtown Boys, Andrea Simms-Karp, the Barmitzvah Brothers, Jenny Whiteley, Sheesham and Lotus, Feist and Elliott Brood.

If you missed it, I saved a copy of the stream here: http://scruss.com/music/banjodwidth-20080322.mp3 (25 MB).

There’s a faint click in some of the audio (I always seem to get it from CBC’s streams), but it’s not too noticeable.

Ravenswood Opening

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

a V82

Yesterday — five years after the WindShare turbine started generating — Sky Generation’s Ravenswood wind farm was officially opened. Ravenswood is the first wind farm built under the Ontario Standard Offer program, and four of its six 1.65MW turbines operate under that system. The other two turbines supply power to Bullfrog.

Tom, Glen & Martin
Tom Heintzman, Glen Estill and Martin Ince.

The Mayor, the Landowner and the Energy Minister

The Mayor, the Landowner and the Energy Minister cut the ribbon.

Glen shows the Energy Minister the SCADA

Glen explains the SCADA to Gerry Phillips, Ontario Energy Minister.

Here’s what Glen said about the opening: Grand Opening of Ravenswood.

Gallery: http://scruss.com/gallery/v/ravenswood/

quit reading this and

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

vote

… I know I have.

gotta say yes to MMP

Tuesday, October 9th, 2007

I saw my first anti-MMP flyer today (a postcard from nommp.ca, which appears to be run by a trainspotter from Guelph) and it surprised me that there could be such virulent opposition to what is basically a good idea. MMP, or its local variant, has worked very well in Scotland. So I’m going to vote for MMP.
When the Scottish Parliament got going late last century, it had a proportional representation system from the start. It did allow some minority parties in - like the Scottish Greens and the Socialists - but in doing so more fairly represented the wishes of the Scottish people.

True, there were some unusual antics in the house at first from some of the Socialist members, but I notice that they are no longer represented. Act like a jerk, nobody votes for you again - that’s democracy.

I’m not sure about the rise of the Nats, and the Greens are hanging on by one member, but it seems to work, and ends the “3 years of doing the opposite + 1 year of campaigning” to which majority rule seems to devolve.

voteforcleanenergy.ca

Saturday, September 8th, 2007

vote for clean energy in ontario

cautiously optimistic

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Ontario getting 2000MW more renewables is undoubtedly good news. But we’ve got some other concerns that need dealt with - lack of transmission, our woeful energy efficiency, consumers paying less than the true cost of power, amongst others - that make make this announcement less joyful than one might at first think.

forget, forget, forget

Saturday, August 11th, 2007

Well, the exam’s done. With luck, I can get on with life now.

The gym at UofT where the exam was held was stiflingly hot. It also didn’t help that the invigilator dude made announcements through a cruddy bullhorn, so he ended up sounding like an imperative Miss Othmar.

Ask me how I did in  mid-October.

cram, cram, cram

Saturday, August 11th, 2007

I have my PPE exam today for my Professional Engineers Ontario licence. This is my first exam in 15 years (not counting citizenship, which was more of a test). I think it’s my first essay-question exam, possibly ever, certainly since school.

I never was very good at studying; last minute and aim for one point above the pass mark was more my style. I’m sure Catherine can confirm it hasn’t changed.

ich bin ein hamburger

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007

In New Hamburg, they do things differently. They still have the winter ‘Snowman Suicide Pact‘ cups at Tim’s …

energy does matter; energy *is* matter …

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007

I’m going to Energy Matters for the next couple of days.

three sixty five

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Happy first birthday, Kingsbridge Wind Power Project - commissioned a year ago today(ish). I hope there’s cake …