Bloor business should be for bikelanes

Spacing.ca

The report: Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business (pdf file)

Bells on Bloor

A lot has been written about this Bloor bike lane, so I'm not gonna repeat it here.. .not sure if it would make that much of a difference immediately, but would definitely have a longer term impact making novice riders feel safe and comfortable biking on Bloor street, enhancing business, and eventually add to a tourist-type package potential of Toronto. It's an easy concept that has obvious benefits for all. Side steets in Toronto are great for riding, but something like this would be marvelous.

I like theoretical physics.

Not necessarily the math parts, just the what could potentially happen, has happened, is happening parts. From large to small. Also, many of the physicists themselves are really interesting people, and have fun breaking down their science into layman's terms... Here's Dr. Neil Tyson on black holes and asteroids hitting earth. Hahaha.. great intro. No really, it's worth watching.

The preparation of a dead girl / bride

Article in today's Globe and Mail

Gustave Courbet's painting above, The preparation of a dead girl / wife has a wonderful story of accidental modernism behind it. Courbet, probably better know for different painting, painted the above with the ... ahh fuck it; time for more work. Here's Sarah Hampson from the Globe article above:

"

What is a wife? A dead girl.

That is the message – unintentional, mind you – of a painting by French artist Gustave Courbet that belongs to Smith College, a famously feminist all-women's institution in Northampton, Mass.

The 1850s-era work depicts a young bride surrounded by women who are helping her prepare for her wedding. But for many years, there were questions about it. Why is the bride's head slightly lopsided? Her arms limp by her side? Why is she slumped in her chair?

An X-ray provided the answer. Mr. Courbet had painted a scene of women preparing a dead body for a funeral. He left it unfinished, however, and after he died his sister asked another artist to make adjustments to create a happier scene so the work would sell. Mr. Courbet's original title, The Preparation of the Dead Girl, had been changed to The Preparation of the Bride.

The Smith College Museum of Art now uses the before-and-after to help teach students about art history and painting technique, says Louise Laplante, the school's collections manager – not as a comment on marriage.

"

Anyway, pretty cool! Another NYT article.

Camera deal fell through..

Still looking for that camera... had a beat on a d90, but sold to someone else.. still looking, but may have a lens by tonight.

Icycle 2009

Bike racing on an outdoor ice rink. Studded tire and rubber tire classes. This Saturday at 9pm, Dufferin Grove Park. Anyone want to join me? I'm hoping to have the new camera in time for this...

http://www.ibiketo.ca/node/2852

Overanalyzing the song of the day: a-ha - take on me

Maturity

... is a weird thing. Intentions, willpower, responsibility... I'm reminded of the memory when I was a teenager, helping take out groceries outta my mom's car. We've just gone swimming beforehand, and my dad reminded me that I forgot my swimming bag in the trunk... ahh, I'll get it later I remember saying. He turned around and said, why delay it?... later you'll have your shoes off, comfortable on the couch, maybe eating... you really wanna do that later? Are you actually going to do it later?.. If not, the car is going to start to reek (paraphrasing), and someone else will have to do it for you, most likely resentfully (really paraphrasing)...



Yeah.. it has something to do with cleaning up your own messes, has something to do with running your own life, or at least taking some responsibility for it.

And he said: "Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along."

Well, luckily (and very thankfully!) I've had people help me along. Maybe now I can help myself and others, take out my swimming trunks, maybe the rest of the fam's swimwear, and go fucking wash them.

Stuff I want to do: Montreal bike fest

NOT A RACE!











I hear it's better at night.





http://www.velo.qc.ca/feria/index_e.php

Obama bringing modern transport to the USA?

Well, it's not a bike..

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/obama-high-speed-railroad.php

Changing the way people conceive convenient long distance modern travel?

"It’s amazing. I’m stunned,” he said in an interview Friday, hours before the bill passed Congress. “I’m glad I get the credit in Nevada, but this is Obama’s No. 1 priority. This is his legacy issue out of this bill, because we need these high-speed corridors. ... I’ll take credit but frankly didn’t have much to do with it other than carry forward with what Obama wanted.”

But it is a landmark transportation investment with regional effects in almost every corner of the nation. Just last October, former President George W. Bush signed a bill authorizing up to $1.5 billion for high-speed rail through 2013. Obama’s commitment in the same period will be eight times that. -not me.

More on high-speed rail:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/realizing-potential-high-speed-rail-climate-protection-business-productivity-security.php

And who doesn't like taking the train?.. Sure, it may take a bit longer, but just like the Porter experience, you'd expect bonuses... better food, higher capacity for bodies, sausage, and luggage (how you say, less dense?), get to fool around with your girlfriend, explore different cars and visit different stops, etc... definitely a different experience. It just must be as cheap as flying. In that way it can start to challenge the aviation industry in terms of both convenience and emissions.

One of my best train experiences, filming 'Where the Change is' was on a cross country millennium-timed mokumentary film trip (false millennium - 2000 - for the geeks), documented with Where the Change Is. We took VIA across to Vancouver and up to Churchill on what I seem to remember being a 15 day pass; an absolute life enhancing experience. Think free sleeper cars, open roof cars, trying to sneak into sleeping cars, waiting on the Edmonton VIA stop for only 15 minutes, learning to knit from a octogenarian, shooting a uni movie with your friends, polar bears, sled dogs, and the bore of Ontario.

Smoking in cars

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090216.wsmokingban0216/BNStory/National/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090216.wsmokingban0216

A 20-year-old Port Hope, Ont., man has been ticketed for smoking in a car in which a 15-year-old girl was one of his passengers.

(Umm.. I'll ignore the obvious)

While Tory Ashton was waiting for his $155 ticket, the girl got out of the car and legally lit up a cigarette of her own.

So, second hand smoke: http://heartdisease.about.com/od/smokingandheartdisease/a/2ndhandsmoke.htm?terms=second+hand+smoke

"While secondhand smokers only inhale about 1/100th the dose of smoke inhaled by the smokers themselves, the effect of that secondhand smoke is large. Secondhand smokers have a risk of coronary heart disease that is 30% higher than for nonsmokers who are not exposed to secondhand smoke. In contrast, the risk for actual smokers is increased by 80%."

Yeah, smoking is bad, I agree. But the rest of your lifestyle choices are infinitely more important to your overall health, quality of life and longevity, especially if you smoke in moderation. I suppose that's one problem people have, is the moderation part. Anyway, back to this new law, I don't feel cops should be pulling people over in traffic because they're having a smoke in the car. There are better ways of going about this kind of thing.

http://banthebanwisconsin.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/formula-for-youth-is-beer-and-cigarettes/

Some young photos...

some night in Kingston.