Ride of Silence tonight

(last year)

DATE: May 19, 2010
TIME: 7:00 pm
WHERE: Hundreds of locations world wide
Join cyclists worldwide in a silent slow-paced ride (max. 12 mph/20 kph) in honor of those who have been injured or killed while cycling on public roadways.
WHY DOES THIS ORGANIZATION EXIST?

* To HONOR those who have been injured or killed
* To RAISE AWARENESS that we are here
* To ask that we all SHARE THE ROAD

THE RIDE OF SILENCE WILL NOT BE QUIET

On May 19, 2010, at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn't aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.

In 2003, Chris Phelan organized the first Ride of Silence in Dallas after endurance cyclist Larry Schwartz was hit by the mirror of a passing bus and was killed. (Read the full history here...)

The Ride of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph and remain silent during the ride. There are no sponsors and no registration fees. The ride, which is held during National Bike Month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for those who have been killed or injured.

--

For Toronto, the ride today starts at 7pm on the south east corner of Bloor and Spadina.

Sharrows with parked cars

New bike sharrows have just been installed along College between Lansdowne and Dufferin (only going eastbound).

These are actually comical. I may be able to see what the city peeps are trying to do here with their limited resources, but doesn't this just decrease/de-emphasize the 'sharrow value' to vehicle drivers during rush hour/in future use?

Isn't it clear that this vehicle/parked cars/sharrow association may set a bad precedent for all bike associated lanes? I think these just lead to driver confusion; moreover, they devalue actual bike lanes. I can certainly see the association and drivers may end up thinking they can park in those as well...





A grandstand for Toronto's improving cycling infrastructure! Are there future plans to modify parking restrictions at least?

Here is some info from the city. I really hope I'm not up to date here.

Lawyers gone bad

Despite not actually being lawyers, or djs for that matter, Jer and I are mixing the tunes tonight at Lot 16 in celebration of summer sun and birthdays.

Come on by and share the dancefloor with us! Tons of CanCon and Britpop is promised.

Yeah, I know, more food photos...

What good moose and lamb kidney pudding looks like. Perhaps because it was cut so perfectly, or perhaps because it was tenderized with onion and mushroom over night - perhaps I have no idea what I'm talking about - the mlk pudding tasted like I needed three helpings.

mmmmmmm.... Thanks S&J!

Treme, S01E01, and beyond. Shit, fuck, shit.

How motherfucking awesome is Treme?

All music on the episode comes from a radio, a dj, live, etc... all the music is laced in. Song is so involved within the entire show, and not really a spoiler, but it continues as the series goes on... it reminds me of a Polish tradition... going to Poland with my dad, all they did was get together and sing songs (longer story there... ). We don't have that here.

A great scene of availability. I was about to type this up myself but someone else did it better:

"In the middle of the first episode of David Simon’s New Orleans drama “Treme,” chef Janette DeSautel has run out of dessert. And so, three months after Hurricane Katrina, she sells a customer the packaged Hubig’s pie in her purse, telling her sous chef to “dress it up baby – drizzle something on it.”

It’s the tastiest moment in the show – invoking a collective sigh from the New Orleans diaspora – and one of the most inaccurate. There were no fresh Hubig’s pies in the city at that time. The Simon Hubig Co. Inc., which did not flood but sustained serious roof damage following Katrina, didn’t reopen until the first week of January 2006.

“The fact that all she had in her diner as a dessert item was a Hubig’s pie was completely accurate,” Hubig’s Drew Ramsey tells CNN.com, recounting a time post-Katrina when the packaged pies were one of the only treats in town. “The fact that it was a month or so early was artistic license.”

Download the episodes here.

Here's the music to Treme (first episode, with links to the rest.. ), but honestly watch the series before the music. It's passion with research.

Let's start out nice, slow, mob like, and easy...



More links:
http://thesultanofsarcasm.blogspot.com/2010/04/hbos-treme-creator-david-simon-explains.html
http://treme-jazz.com/tag/hubigs-pie
Good: http://search.nola.com/treme?date_range=all

Love the series, and actually disappointed I need to wait for future episodes.

08.05.10

Gayley's breakfast to start off the morning. We ordered an extra kids side of blueberry pancakes. I'm not one to take photos of food (ok, gfy) but it turned out that it's not only a nice place and not too busy, but had eager staff and was family run, complete with the youngest brother sleeping-in upstairs, so we were told.

After that, Parkdale plant fair (2 Jaune Flamme stems - Orange fucking tomatoes).. pretty bare. Here's a tip!: If you're ever going to a plant fair, go early! This is to go with the cucumber seeds I have going, which are showing absolutely no signs of cucumbering.

Anyway, the original plan was to head out on lake Ontario in the canoe, but no way that was happening.



So, plan b. Harbourfront art and science fair.



Bridge building. This one held 111 lbs. There is an awesome ly crude joke in there, not too far away...


Cool one above. A sea shell and a megaphone. Further, the sea shell is slowly moved back and forth across the face of the megaphone to simulate the sea change...



Yup, the art and science of how actual oil sand extraction works...


Ten steps... pretty fucking awesome.



A working electromagnetic force hat. Walk around the house with this hat on and listen to music increase in pitch and tempo as you approach higher EMFs (i.e. a laptop).




The one below seemed interesting until I hooked up my phone to it (I totally bought in) and the machine told me it was a "my little pony" in a previous life.


I love this shit.

Ok, this one was an example of an early virtual reality machine, where images in your helmet changed based on the heat produced within the helmet. The harder you breathe...

Alright... not being one for words at the moment (!), Cowbell...

... and some karaoke at Gladstone...

Mother fucking perfect day.

I got one of these for my birthday!!

Thanks Justyna! Perfect!!!

My favourite Tea Party song

Yes, that Tea Party.

Here's the original, on youtube. It actually sounds relatively horrible here. Lo-fi. Especially the knocks, that no cover has gotten yet actually, so...



here's the best cover I've heard. Better than the youtube original version. Prettier too. Such a gorgeous song.












Down to impatience.



Listen, I know I've been lazy recently with this blog, but there have been other things to do. Tending. I'm intending to pick it up.

You'll notice (if you've listened to more than the original) above that there are many different interpretations, notes, strokes, harmonics, pacing, almost sound like the original. Ok, that's understandable. Is it exact? I suppose that's the attempt... the sound at least. I mean, there are many ways to play.. but why? Inclination? Style? Skill? Individual interpretation? I mean, obviously these dudes are skilled enough to play it 'exactly'. Why are there differences? Inclination and style I suppose? That's not the whole story.

--

God I love this song. I could listen to it until the day I die.. at least when it's done well. The arrangement is so driving, so playing on momentum, the pacing, the key, my heart rate changes because of it, hypnotic, instrumental, ugh.... Moreover, why do I like this so much? I mean, I don't really know anyone who likes the tea party, I've never seen them live, and there are no lyrics here. I dunno. Need to look into the chords more.

Eric Chang this post is for you.

By Dive Right

By Divine Right



You listen to it.

How do you learn a song?

Let's go out, we'll take no prisoners
Lonely love, gotta leave it behind
We look like a million dollars
Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind

Let's get wrecked on Rolling Rock and stroll down to the sea
I'll come to my senses there and then you'll come to me
Let's forget about all the ringing telephones
Let's forget about the boring brick suburban homes
Let's go out, we'll take this town
Let's wrestle this city to the ground

Let's go out we'll take no prisoners
(Lonely love, we'll leave it behind)
Lonely love, gotta leave it behind
(Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind)
We look like a million dollars
(Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind)
Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind

Let's go make some history
Before we fall apart
True love might escape us, girl
But at least we got some heart

Let's forget about all our friends and family
Let's forget about all our lovers, enemies
Let's go out when the sun goes down
Let's wrestle this city to the ground

We'll go out, we'll take no prisoners
(Lonely love, we'll leave it behind)
Lonely love, gotta leave it behind
We look like one million dollars
(Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind)
Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind

We'll go out, we'll take no prisoners
(Lonely love, we'll leave it behind)
We look like a million dollars
(Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind)
Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind
(Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind)
Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind
Every time they look at us, we'll blow their mind

Last night...

Ryan's NPP: Gros Morne blew me away last night. So inspiring. So well done.

I got home and picked up an instrument or two... retuned the violin that's been sitting in the corner for a bit. Watched an episode of Treme... wrote music and played all night long.