We spent our anniversary weekend in Guelph, which is a nicer town than most Torontonians give it credit for.
(the title is Catherine‘s tourism slogan for the city.)
Tag: toronto
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the search for fair trade coffee @ SB’s
got a tall Estima (supposedly fair trade — they didn’t know) at the First Canadian Place branch at Adelaide & York, Toronto. It’s okay, but most fair trade coffees are too light for me.
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Debunking the 25% Myth
My dad called yesterday, asking, “Wind turbines do run for more than 25% of the time, don’t they?”. Seems he read an opinion piece in his favourite fair ‘n’ balanced rag (The Telegraph) that said that wind turbines only run 25% of the time.
I see this factoid popping up more and more from the anti-wind crowd. It’s a particularly difficult one to refute in the press, as by the time you’ve tried to explain the difference between capacity factor and operation time, you’ve lost them. Or gone over your allotted time/word count, at least.
I’ve got a year’s production data from WindShare/Toronto Hydro‘s turbine in front of me. It’s on a marginal site, one that probably wouldn’t be developed by a commercial entity. So, does it run for more than 25% of the time?
Yes; the turbine is generating 63% of the time. I’ve defined generating as providing a net export of power to the grid. Our turbine’s a bit more cranky than most, and I have a suspicion that our metering system is dropping some production, but even so, 63% is way more than the claimed 25%. So it gives me great pleasure to say:
MYTH: Wind turbines only run for 25% of the time.
BUSTED! Wind turbines run at the very least 60% of the time, usually more.(I can’t guarantee that Country Guardian won’t quote me out of context. I could make a cheap shot about not blaming them for their paymasters in the nuclear industry requiring value for money, but I won’t …)
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Rolser shopping cart
My late grandmother’s intense dislike of them notwithstanding, it looks like a shopping cart from Rolser Canada could be just the thing for the carfree-about-town. Lugging shopping bags about is teh suk.
The intensely tony Pepper Mill in Hazelton Lanes seems to be the stockist for Toronto.
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the missing
Missing BikeShare bikes: #2 Taxi, #3 bumblebee, #4 Bike four, #5 Nico, #8 Blue Elephant, #10 Momentum, #15 Paw Print, #17 coffee & joy, #19 buddha, #20 Sulpher, #22 Ticket To Ride, #27 Tianamen, #30 Nimbus, #33 Turntable, #44 Napolean, #47 Matilduh, #49 Paris-Roubaix, #53 Cracked, #54 Frodo, #55 Che, #57 froggi eyes, #58 Penny Farthing, #60 Lemon, #68 north bay or bust, #70 Boulder, #75 morris, #77 DownTube, #80 Delta, #83 schep, #84 Sunshine, #88 Blue Heeler, #91 Stella by Starlight, #92 Clara the Shark, #94 Over the Hill Pinky, #95 Kushner, #101 Murphy, #103 Tulip, #106 Fly Grrl, #113 Moo Moo, #117 Art, #128 Phineas Foggs, #129 Slow Poke, #135 Darbellay, #142 Winterton Wendigen, #144 Tessa Kat, #148 Throckmorton, #153 Left and leaving, #163 Husky, #168 NoToryUs, #188 Troz Forster, #192 Shooting Star, #210 National Unity, #223 Mango, #225 Drew, #230 Purity Passion Revelry
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Smog City TO
According to Toronto Public Health, we’ve had more than double the number of smog days in 2005 than the previous record year — and the year’s nowhere done yet!
We had more smog days in June 2005 alone than we had in all of 2004! And it’s all because of Margaret’s right to drive an SUV.
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search for the sensible bicycle, pt317
I was in Curbside on Bloor West today. They have nifty-keen vehicles like Bromptons, Pashley roadsters (like the Tube Rider, sigh), German roadsters from Hawk Classic, and some frankly over-designed things from Biomega. But what really made me happy is that they’re about to start importing Batavus roadsters from the Netherlands. Yay! Sensible bicycles!!
Not having the readies to buy a bicycle, I made do with walking out with a Sigg; Europe’s equivalent of the ubiquitous Nalgene.
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more cheapeats joy
Looks like I’ve won a copy of the new edition of Cheapeats Toronto, thanks to publisher Alexandra Clark. Seems my re-recommendation of the Detroit got into the draw for a free copy. All your cheap eats are belong to me!
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mmm, detroit
I think I’ve had one of the top three burgers of my life today. It was at the Detroit Eatery, on the Danforth at Chester. It was definitely one of the cheapest, but was seasoned and cooked to perfection. Score one for a Cheap Eats Toronto recommendation.
My top three burgers are probably:
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of montreal, rightful rulers of the universe
I’m just back from hearing Of Montreal play at Sneaky Dee’s. My, that was a fine show.
The support was, uh, interesting. The first, The Lollipop People. They’re your usual art-rock chamber ensemble; fun enough if Grade-A Canadian Beefheart is your thing. If the second support band’s name Better Than Everyone is true, everyone is in real trouble. They had their troublesome cheapo electronic equipment turned up (and stuck at) suck.
So, Of Montreal; beautiful, melodic, loud pop with just a hint of disco. They pretty much ran through their current album The Sunlandic Twins, but it was a stellar performance. It’s still too soon — and I’m still too deaf — to be articulate on this show. The floor at Sneaky’s was jumping, everyone grooving.
More later. It’s early.
And I nominate the late b. p. helium as 2005’s Carnaby Street Scarecrow.
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guns suck
Someone shot and very nearly killed the son of a friend of mine. Only after extremely complex surgery at St Mike’s does it look like he’ll pull through. Get well soon, Andrew; you’ll be parkouring again before long. His family’s requesting donations to the anti-arms-trade Project Ploughshares.
It’s strange, but in Glasgow — a city with an exceptionally violent reputation — anyone who carries a gun is seen as either a coward or mental. Gun violence in North America isn’t doing anything to change my mind.
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For the TTC strike: ATU 113 – Contact List
Just in case the strike goes ahead, and you need to tell someone exactly how you feel:
Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113
812 Wilson Avenue
Downsview, Ontario
M3K 1E5Phone: (416) 398-5113
Out of Town: 1-800-245-9929
Fax: (416) 398-4978Note: All correspondence should be addressed to the Secretary-Treasurer.
— from the ATU 113 – Contact List. Bob Kinnear is the president and business agent.
You also might want the TTC Contact Details.
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‘Robyn Hitchcock and His Sadies’ – Toronto date announced
Robyn Hitchcock and His Sadies
Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON
Saturday May 28, 2005 9:00 pmTickets $17.50, on sale now at TicketMaster.
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Toronto transit workers to strike Monday
TTC strike set for Monday. Guess I’ll be using the Brompton.
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not top dollar
I briefly visited the Toronto Dollarevent this evening. While I’m a huge fan of local currencies, this one’s a bit too local to claim the Toronto name — looks like it circulated in about two blocks downtown. C’mon, people, Scarborough’s Toronto too … should I found the Scarborough Lek in parallel?
