Month: June 2013

Blackberry stock could have gone either way today, when the first quarter sales results were released. The bears guessed right.
CEO Heins is on the ropes, so he went back on his promise to bring the new BB10 operating system to Blackberry’s unsuccessful tablet. He can’t spare the resources to keep his word and the Playbook is dead-ended. All it’s good for now is wi-fi web surfing, getting email, shooting HD video, taking photos, watching movies, video chatting and that sort of thing.

Watching a video or movie on your iPad screen? If you have an AppleTV gizmo attached to your big TV screen, you can see it displayed on your big TV screen via Apple AirPlay.

Double-click your iPad Home Button to see the bottom row of app icons shown above, then scroll to the left-most end of the row to see the buttons above.
When you click the AirPlay button, a window will open, letting you choose where you want to see your movie.
[Addendum: iPad 1 does not mirror everything that can appear on the iPad screen (such as web pages) but you can play many YouTube movies and other videos, sending them to your TV screen using AirPlay. Look for an AirPlay icon on the control bar under your video. If it’s there, you can stream it to AppleTV.]

The easiest way to understand how SketchUp helps you draw in 3 dimensions… the Beginner’s tutorial!

Think you’d like to try it? It’s a lot easier to move furniture around with a mouse than with your back! Grab the free version.
If you watch and do the 3 introductory tutorials, you’ll be amazed at what you can design. There are thousands of free 3D models to download, too. Need a refrigerator, easy chair or desk to furnish your interior? How about a tank to park in your driveway? Type your wish in the warehouse search box and see what’s available.

You can rotate your creations in space, to see how things look from various viewpoints. SketchUp lets you drop warehouse models into your drawing from within the app. (Window –> Components)
But watch the tutorials. The instructions are very good.

I just learned that the Stanley Cup had been won yesterday, ending the hockey season.

Sandy Zwyer rightly observes that this news would have drawn favourable comment from our old friend Ben Viccari. Since Ben’s not here to do the job, here’s a link for you to follow.
I am particularly pleased to see reference to the way residential school experiences echo down through generations. The damage wasn’t just to those who were sent to the schools. The kids they raised, and their kids, were affected adversely. The disaster continues right to this day. It’s amazing to me that so few non-native people grasp this fact.
[Sorry about the stupid CBC ad and use of Flash]

My neighbour Lisa was on her way back home by the time I hit the street, but she gave me a tip. The pair of adult swans in the pond at Woodbine Park have 3 young ones at the moment. I had my iPod Touch in my pocket.
Most of the people with dogs in the park were using leashes, but not one old dude. His animal was free to lunge at the swans, as other unleashed dogs have been seen to do. One even got a defending swan by the leg. It’s not the fault of the dogs, but perhaps their owners should be neutered.

From the left, writers (and readers): Lisa Moore, Sheila Heti, Miranda Hill, Claire Messud

There are Luminato events going on all over town this week but Danica and I only made it to one… a gala reading at the Toronto Public Library’s Appel Salon near Yonge and Bloor.
It was a well-attended event, introduced by programme director Tina Srebotnjak and hosted by writer Michael Redhill. Women in the audience outnumbered the men by about ten to one, in my estimation. Just as well. I think the kind of everyday minutiae that figured in so many of the readings would appeal more to female readers. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the evening. Claire Messud’s work seemed strongest to me. I liked Sheila Heti’s sense of humour, too (although I had to check with Danica to be sure she was joking).

This sort of thing impresses me. I mean, they had to remember a lot of steps to do this so well, and in shared tights? Well, it’s genius, that’s all.

International artist and famous Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei has provided Toronto with a foretaste of his major show, coming to the AGO in August. There are twelve bronze sculptures mounted in City Hall’s courtyard reflecting pool. They represent the animal figures of the Chinese zodiac but they are also a political reminder of The Opium Wars, which are a historical dark stain on European relations with the Chinese. The twelve heads are inspired by sculptures that were looted by the British and French when they burned down the Chinese Emperor’s summer palace in 1860.

Of course, everyone goes immediately to their own sign… Danica was born in the Year of the Horse. More pictures below…

John Robert Colombo has shared his discovery of a remarkable site by an equally remarkable man. Paul Gilbert has made himself an expert on Russia’s Romanovs.
Of particular interest to me was the Toronto connection to the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. She escaped Russia when Bolsheviks assassinated most of the Russian Imperial family in 1918. Her first refuge was Denmark, but postwar dangers forced her to seek asylum in Canada. Fascinating tale. As it happened, she died in a tiny apartment above a beauty salon at 716 Gerrard Street East… a few blocks from the first house Danica and I bought. [See map below] We walked by that little building many, many times, oblivious to its history.