Electric bikes hit the road in Ontario — but you have to wear a helmet, for some reason.
Year: 2006
fake plastic trees
They’re setting up some kind of christmas filmset in the parking lot – an ad, maybe? There are many fake trees in the parking lot, some with lights, and what looks like rolls of fake snow. There are also a hotdog stand and a London Underground sign – wha?
they don’t like it
New Socialist doesn’t like TPSC. Maybe they should come out to a meeting?
neat neat neat
it’s official
I’m standing for election to the CanWEA Board of Directors.
confused
is there a Toronto Public Space Committee meeting tonight?
that’s what you wanted
a sometimes food
I met someone yesterday who actually believes the Nieman-Marcus Cookie Urban Myth.
sunflowers again
Strange mini-sunflowers are growing up the stem of the half-dead plants.
no shave and no haircut, no bits
The Barber’s Chair has left Scarborough Town Centre. Seems that branch went bust. They left in a hurry; there’s still unswept hair on the floor. Now I have to go to Yorkville for Arthur’s Clydebank patter.
about to be gone
This corner of Bloor & Bedford is about to be gone:
It has memories for us, as the first place we stayed when we arrived was just up the road. Breakfast was at Country Style (which became a Booster Juice after the massive Tim’s opened across the road), lunch was from Pita Factory, the daily paper from Gus at the Mac’s, dinner was sometimes at Swiss Chalet #1; all on the same block, all going to be gone.
If you look at the bigger picture, you’ll see that hugin neatly severed a couple of heads. It might smart a little, but with some bactine and gauze, it’ll grow back in the morning.
Bored grad students of 1928
also known as Seth, J. B., Chetan Anand, and Gian Chand. “The effect of moist air on the resistance of pencil lines.” Proceedings of the Physical Society 41.1 (1928): 29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/0959-5309/41/1/303
amalgam squidge
Got yet more mercury alloy trowelled into my head tonight by Dr Choi. I have to say, the best bit about going to the dentist is the squidgy noise the filling paste makes as it compresses into the cavity. It means it’s nearly over, and the burring slow drill is banished until next time.
frying tonight!
We have 22 eentsy platy fry bopping around in the isolation tank. They may be small, but they’re crafty and difficult to net. There are about 3 I didn’t manage to catch, and they’re (figuratively) thumbing their noses at me from under floating fronds.
no snooze
The Science of Sleep is good.
uptown senga
The Yorkville matron, clad in too much Burberry, doesn’t realise she looks like a chav.
big boy’s book of big things
Christmas came early. With money from Carlyle, I bought a reproduction of Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary, a three-tome work from the 1870s which catalogued mechanisms, devices and machinery known at the time. It’s the ultimate nerd read.
You can browse two electronic versions online:
- at UMich; large page images.
- at Princeton Imaging; in DjVu format, this is a little easier to read if you have the right plugin.
I have to say, though, that the dead tree version is a splendid read.
in a jam
I was supposed to have a book on the Golden Ratio waiting for me, but instead they had the Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving.
that was easy
I upgraded Catherine’s eMac last night, which up until then was probably the last Mac on the planet running 10.1. It now talks to the network better, and runs quite a bit faster.
spider in the house
Ole! Tarantula is in the house, but where’s the promised bonus CD?