Author: Bill

…with this reminder that autumn is here and fall fairs are in full swing. Some get their seasonal awareness from the new nip in the air, others notice Halloween costumes in dollar stores. Thanks, Karen.

Danica with the Playbook, using wi-fi at the Mr. Pide Restaurant on the Danforth
The 32GB Blackberry Playbook is selling now at Staples for $149. [Introduced at $599, quickly reduced to $299] It is an end-of-line product but I think we might still get 3 year’s use out of the new one I just bought. It surfs the web with wifi and shoots HD video. That alone is worth the price. Anything else is gravy.
And there will be quite a bit of “else”, I think.

Bad, blue-tinted speed results from Speedtest.net My wi-fi signal became irritatingly slow sometimes, making videos stall. Then, for no apparent reason, the speed would pick up again. (OK, for me a speed of over 4Mbps is fast enough. Not starry, but adequate for my needs.)
The problem wasn’t with my ISP. Teksavvy has delivered reliable service consistently. Google revealed the culprit… a “traffic-shaping” setting on my wi-fi router. Once I turned of the QoS feature in my router, bingo!
Here’s the URL that set me straight.

Walking the Railpath the other day, Toronto’s Colombo and I wondered about a concrete box bearing graffiti spray and a plaque. Hilary’s Shed. What’s it for? Who is Hilary? And what the heck does “aporia” mean? The word is sprayed on at least twice. Colombo’s a word man; aporia tickled his memory but refused to identify itself fully.

The great English author has fans all over the world. Here in Canada, he is particularly appreciated by the Canadian chapter of The Pale Parabolites. Their leader, publisher George Vanderburgh, decided that a club pin was needed and asked me to design one. I did so happily, in gratitude for the many hours of side-splitting pleasure I have gotten from Wodehouse’s accounts of the adventures of Bertie Wooster and his loyal man servant Jeeves. Wonderful stuff.
Here’s a nice biography you may care to listen to. At the same time, you will discover a treasure trove of other biographies. Enjoy.

This Land Is Mine from Nina Paley on Vimeo.

Photo by John Robert Colombo
A cool Monday was the perfect day to take up John Robert Colombo’s offer to show me the railpath. There doesn’t appear to be much shade and it might have been killer hot in midsummer.
As it was, a bit of cloud cover made ideal weather for exploring the rust belt of old factories and industrial works that line the GO train tracks. I love this stuff… somebody had a great idea, to make a public asphalt path and let nature do the landscaping. Low maintenance, quiet and real.
[Update] JR and I are shown standing in front of one of four mesh sculptures that are situated along the Railpath. The artist is John Dickson.

Here’s an excellent example of what my former business partner, the late Paul Royko, called Toronto Bonzai. City foresters cut pathways through the foliage to accommodate ubiquitous hydro wires.
Royko was an enthusiastic bonzai practitioner on his own and even edited a newsletter on the subject. Of course, his tree sculpting was on the more traditional, small scale. I don’t think he was very impressed with the large scale practice. Not really beautiful, is it?

Yonge Street was closed to cars on Saturday night, from Dundas Square to south of Queen. Bay and other streets got the same treatment so that thousands of nighthawks could prowl hundreds of art installations and performances.
ByoLogyx was one of our favourite events… too elaborate in concept to explain here, but there where uniformed “security” people confronted by mock protesters, an injection clinic and alleged bio-hazard conspiracies. Kathleen was not intimidated, as you see.
Behind City Hall, a drunken lamppost opened a flap and relieved itself in a steady stream. Yes, the trickle did run toward Council Chambers. Most disrespectful.
We took lots of photos, so I’ll put them into a slideshow and add them ASAP. Meanwhile, here’s my Quicktime movie of a lightshow that was projected onto the Giant Mushroom inside City Hall. As you might have guessed, everything is being sucked down the drain rather than lifted upward.