We Saw a Chicken …

Author: scruss

  • gotta say yes to MMP

    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.

  • is that you, dave?

    New age singer Deva Premal’s name is an anagram of “Dave Palmer”.

  • the colour of

    I picked up these crayons at the GE Wind stand at CanWEA:

    ge ecomagination crayola

    Yes, those really are the colour names – Purification Purple, Evolution Orange, Mother Earth Brown, Cleaner Coal Black, Solar Yellow, Revitalized Red, Hybrid Green, Clear Water Blue.

    ge ecomagination crayola

    Is there a connection between wind power and crayons? Wait until I don my polyester leisure jacket, James Burke-style, until I tell you: Edwin Binney, inventor of Crayola, had a daughter (Dorothy) who married George P. Putnam. Putnam went on (with only a short detour into promoting then marrying the person for whom the word “aviatrix” is most often used, Amelia Earhart) to help create the Smith-Putnam wind turbine (itself perhaps the most heroically unsuccessful story in the history of wind energy).Wind turbines; crayons: it’s all connected, see?

    Maybe I should’ve picked up a bunch of these at the show, as even a ratty package of them is going for over $30 on eBay. I’m glad that mine are already on their way to a 4 year old in Ohio, where they will be appreciated more than by any collector.

  • but at least I didn’t jump up and down like Reese did in “Election”

    Last night at the banquet and annual awards ceremony, I was elected onto the board of directors of The Canadian Wind Energy Association (L’Association canadienne de l’énergie éolienne). The other new directors are:

    I’d like to thank everyone who helped me, and look forward to a busy three years on the board.

  • hunger strikes twice

    On the way to Canwea in Quebec, I stop for food – and find the place oddly familiar. Seems that Catherine and I stopped in this same A&W in St Nicolas on the way to PEI.
    It’s not as if we sought out A&W; it’s just what was there.

  • a demented dimension

    There’s a banjo-uke on craigslist described as: “… it has that banjo twang that just makes people smile! … Add a new demention to your music.” Ah yes, banjo-uke players are a bit demented.

  • Stupid HP!

    My printer required a software update to change a reference to an HP web page that had moved:

    stupid_hp.PNG

    Stupid HP! Don’t you know that cool URIs don’t change?

  • common as muck

    Around Toronto today, I saw three Lamborghinis and five Ferraris. I think I saw fewer SmartCars, so as usual, smarts are in shorter supply than muscle.

  • Mr Dolby — eww!

    I’m a big fan of Thomas Dolby, and I don’t even mind admitting that it was one of his songs that initially got me thinking about what to do with my life (“… etch out a future of your own design”, and all that) . I got Thomas’s Live in Chicago DVD, and was a bit shocked by the visuals he used for wind power:

    still from Thomas Dolby “Live in Chicago” DVD

    Those are some old wind turbines. This would be a bit like going for some modern computer imagery, and plunking for a picture of a VIC-20.

    still from Thomas Dolby “Live in Chicago” DVD

    I mean, eww – those blades are filthy!

  • Ken

    I just heard some music by Ken Reaume – and I need to hear a lot more.

  • there is no enemy

    I finally got to see Thomas Dolby play live last night. A real brass section (the Jazz Mafia Horns) really added to Thomas’s all-electronic sound. Good show!

  • barefoot hydrodynamics

    Ever since I discovered them, I have been fascinated by the Foxfire books. Not that I’m planning to go back to the land or anything, just they they often display flashes of ingenuity and craftsmanship.

    Take this, for example:

    tub wheel - from foxfire 2

    It’s clearly a turbine runner, but it’s made from a slab of solid pine, pinned together then held in compression by steel bands around the rim.

    sam burton chisels out a tub wheel bucket

    It was made by Georgia craftsman Sam Burton, and is documented in Foxfire 2 (Wigginton et al, 1973, pub. Anchor Books, ISBN 0-385-02267-0, pp. 142-163).

  • wee hairy beasties

    We saw The Aliens at Lee’s Palace last night. Shame the place was only half full (have people really forgotten about The Beta Band?), but it was a great show. They’re really high-energy live. Gordon has big hair!

  • most 70s book cover ever

    Floaty-haired woman motif? Check
    Happy couple riding a horse? Check
    Elaborate, possibly ill-advised, used of perspective? Check
    Fashions suggesting high polyester content? Check

    Friends, I give you Mel Bay‘s Fun With The Dulcimer:

    Mel Bay - Fun With The Dulcimer

  • beware of those you pay to beat you up

    Alternative therapy for backache ‘can kill or disable’ | UK News | The Observer

    Spinal manipulation, used by chiropractors to treat hundreds of thousands of patients a year, poses serious risks …

    It’s probably heresy to say this in Ontario (‘cos DD was from Pickering) but I’ve always thought that having someone smack your spine about was not the smartest thing to do. But then, my one of my secondary mottoes for life is Allopathy Now!

  • now then?

    wendy arrowsmith - now then? - cd cover

    My sister has released her first CD, Now Then? I think you’d like it. I do.

  • The Danish Poet

    still from “The Danish Poet” (c) 2007 Microfilm AS and The National Film Board of Canada

    If you haven’t seen The Danish Poet, you should. I had some time to kill on Thursday evening, so went into the Mediatheque. I’d heard that the animation had won an oscar, so I looked it up. It’s a really sweet (if extremely convoluted) story of true love and Scandinavian coincidences.

  • no hybrids for canada

    I was looking to perhaps rent a hybrid for a longish business trip. My company’s preferred supplier, National, doesn’t do them in Canada, but does in the US:

    no hybrids for canada

    Why do they get them, and we don’t? Don’t say there’s no demand; I‘d rent one …

  • one to one

    Whoa, $1 US = $1 Canadian. As Glenn says, it’s not that the loonie is strong, it’s that USD is very, very weak. Way to go, George!

  • serene detachment

    The office network has been down all day. I don’t keep paper copies of anything. Therefore, today has been quite quiet, detached from everything.