While there is a public perception that cyclists are usually the cause of accidents between cars and bikes, an analysis of Toronto police collision reports shows otherwise: The most common type of crash in this study involved a motorist entering an intersection and either failing to stop properly or proceeding before it was safe to do so. The second most common crash type involved a motorist overtaking unsafely. The third involved a motorist opening a door onto an oncoming cyclist. The study concluded that cyclists are the cause of less than 10 per cent of bike-car accidents in this study.
The available evidence suggests that collisions have far more to do with aggressive driving than aggressive cycling.
The chair of the Toronto Board of Health — the body that oversees the pilot project — acknowledges there is room for improvement but disagrees that the vendors are over-regulated.
"There a few glitches and we are sorting that out — such as what makes a viable location, what food sells well [and] what doesn't," said city Coun. John Filion. "We are evaluating all of that. That has nothing to do with bureaucratic red tape or regulation."
I know this is old news, but not over regulated?? What is a city councilor evaluating how these foods sell? Does the city make a different amount of money based on how well the cart sell there? And if so, isn't it a bit too micro-managing to evaluate just how well for what type of cart? The health and safety thing; for sure, but c'mon...
August 14th game: Argos vs. Lions. Great game, until the final 8-9 minutes, where the Boatmen fell apart. Other than the game itself, a very fun evening.
Yup, that's Lisa down there. Apparently see was asked the game before but declined (?!). This time I think we got enough beer in her.
She mentioned afterward that they were having trouble with the towel; hence the straight arm running style and hand behind the head.
Jason passing tips along?
Awesome.
Look carefully below.. very carefully.
The burger making contest. Lisa wasn't the only one who won big that night. That guy carrying the cheese made me 2 bones richer.
Demonstrations; above and below.
Kicker (Medlock) played great; 3 field goals from 50+ yards, 7 for 7 +1 XP that night.
This is all in anticipation for tonight; our flag football semi-finals!
Nice little brain expansion page. For example, last night I looked up this one:
Experiments with the Revival of Organisms. Pretty cool stuf, and I knew they tried it, but got a few more details here. I decided to look up the movie, and wouldn't you know; youtube.
The video is a bit dry, and very slow moving, but the deliberate progression is certainly there, and nice to see it translated into English (complete with title and video overlays!).
or, this one:
Thought-terminating Cliché A thought-terminating cliché is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissention or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating. Thought-terminating clichés are sometimes used during political discourse to enhance appeal or to shut down debate. In this setting, their usage can usually be classified as a logical fallacy. (via @thefigg88)
The Perseids meteor shower, which I only heard about a few days before, reached its peak the morning of August 12th. Apparently. I decided to head north of the city and try to see something, but it turned out to be pretty fruitless. After getting stuck in some 427 traffic (construction - single lane) and on-ramp 400 traffic, there was a major delay just north of the city on the 400, which took about 40 minutes to get through. All this around and just after midnight. Had a gps unit, and kept trying to find somewhere dark asap.
I tried to get lost up there, which apparently is pretty hard to do south of Barrie. I drove all the way up to Orr Lake and took a few shots there..
As you can see, nothing. Moon was too bright, and cloud cover didn't help. I did see one streaker very early on but it wasn't caught on camera as I wasn't really, ummm, ready. Oh well, there's always next time.
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Here's a very short video taken this year... doesn't seem like too much activity either. Not sure when or where it was taken, but here's the Flickr page for it.
I went to the release party last night at the Gladstone to pick up an issue. Saw one person I know, left sheepishly about a half hour later.
-- The Issue: The 'burbs
As you can see by the above cover image, the issue’s cover section focuses on Toronto’s suburbs. The city faces its greatest challenges and opportunities in these areas. Spacing senior editor Dylan Reid presents compelling examples of how the suburbs can evolve instead of trying to be reinvented. Spacing’s other senior editor, Shawn Micallef, examines the walkable community of Dorset Park in Scarborough. Our writers explore such things as plans for a downtown Mississauga, environmentalists in Markham, urban farming in subdivisions, the makeover of downtown North York, Burlington’s successful waterfront, and how youth are being engaged to shape the future of their suburban communities.
Ahem, I realize this came out a little while ago, but here it is.
Elliott BROOD – Mountain Meadows (Toronto, ON) Fucked Up – The Chemistry Of Common Life (Toronto, ON) Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels (Toronto, ON) Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) (St. John’s, NF) K’NAAN – Troubadour (Toronto, ON) Malajube – Labyrinthes (Montréal, QC) Metric – Fantasies (Toronto, ON) Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax, NS) Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane (Calgary, AB) Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms (Montréal, QC)
Patrick Watson again?? No Handsome Furs or Wolf Parade, and no Cœur De Pirate is a bit surprising. Also, I'm tired of the Chad VanGaalen sound.
Download, listen and decide for yourself here, then go to a show or two. Joel is a lock.
One possibility was validated a few weeks ago. Scientists, after about 2 years of testing, confirmed that essential amino acid building blocks required for life (protein making and make-up) could survive space and could have arrived via a comet impacting earth millions of years ago. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17628-found-first-amino-acid-on-a-comet.html
So, why weren't amino acids available on earth to begin with? I mean, why does a comet have to come down to provide for us? It seems like amino acids can be created from simpler compounds (ie. CO, NH3, H2O), or, in other words, organic carbon matter and water. Also, since amino acids are fairly complex, you'd assume some energy as well. It seems that this process is not exclusive to comets.
" Other researchers say the finding appears to be solid, although some are skeptical of its significance. Robert Shapiro, a professor emeritus and senior research scientist in chemistry at New York University, says that because of their low concentration, extraterrestrial nucleobases were unlikely to have played much of a role in kick-starting life. "They're a subunit of a subunit of DNA," he says. "My opinion is that their amounts were utterly unimportant and insignificant." He says he would be more impressed if whole nucleosides—bases plus sugars—were found in meteorites in concentrations similar to those of amino acids.
And researchers may yet discover ways that Earthly chemistry—perhaps around hydrothermal vents—could have generated nucleobases and other compounds."
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Ok, so amino acids could have come from a variety of sources. Now, how did they combine further to produce RNA / DNA? or why? More specifically, what kind of outside pressures would result in their formation (against entropy) of larger amino acids and eventually chains? .. more later, as work is calling.
"Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë, building on the success of the city's popular Vélib curbside bike rental scheme, is planning to deploy a fleet of 2,000 electric cars that customers can pick up and drop off at rental stands around the city. Another 2,000 vehicles will be offered in two dozen surrounding cities."
The surrounding cities thing kind makes sense... Rent a bike in town; going outta town = rent a car. And if you are renting a car, it may as well be electric? But the limited range...
"Although rates haven't been set yet, city officials say each half-hour is likely to cost $6 to $9... Customers would have to register for Autolib in advance, presenting a valid driver's license and paying a monthly subscription fee of about $22 to $29."
"Environmentalists favor ride-sharing programs or more traditional rental schemes in which cars have to be reserved and then returned to the same location, which discourages people from going for drives on a whim.... Advocates of Autolib, however, contend that people will be less likely to buy cars if they have access to flexible... The cars will probably have a driving range of no more than 100 miles before needing a recharge, making them unsuitable for long trips."
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