Where the hell are the recent posts?

I'm still posting, but I'm doing most of it
over HERE. Come visit.

Smiling gals

Smiling gals
Originally uploaded by ariehsinger

Arieh took this toothy shot of Constance and me last week at the Green Room. We're looking happy!

Check out his photoblog at www.ariehsinger.com.

On the level

On the level
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen

Headshot

Winged metal

kyra 022
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen

Rideshare

This afternoon, I posted the following to Craigslist:

On Sunday morning (July 8) I'm driving to the University of Montreal. I've got space for one passenger and a few extra bags. I'd ask that we split the cost of gas. Luckily, I'm driving a Chevrolet Cavalier which is an exceptionally fuel efficient car.

This is a one way trip in a non-smoking car. There is AC and a CD player.

Please get in touch with through craigslist if you're interested.

Thanks!

Kyra

The following is one the responses I received this evening:

Would you be willing to take someone with a cage of guinea pigs to Cornwall - 45 minutes before Montreal? I'd pay at least $30.

Sincerely,

xx

Now, I don't know much about guinea pigs, or the standard sizing of rodent containers, but doesn't a cage full of the critters make you wonder just a little? I got a smile out of it.

HOWTO: Spend less in Montréal: Internet

In three days I leave for Montréal. Ahead of me lie five weeks at the Université de Montréal, studying french, paid for by a government bursary. Free education is a wonderful thing. And a lucky thing - the program wouldn't have been an option for me had I been required to pay for it.

Still, there are some fees involved in the experience for which I find my budget totally unprepared. This summer I have played the part of the Grasshopper, stupidly enough. (And not just any grasshopper - I've been the sort who buys a lot of beer and doesn't pay her parking tickets until they've all doubled. And who manages to lose paper money in a way that consistently raises her blood pressure at the thought of it, but gives great cheer to the drunks hanging out at Queen and Roncesvalles at dawn.)

So, roughly 72 hours before I'm to make my way east to la belle province, I'm scrambling to find as many ways as possible in which to spend as much money as I have, which is none.

Since internet access at the place I'll be staying costs $70 per month (!?! does their connection perform at the speed of light?), my browsing will be done on a café-roving, 'connect when I can' basis. This, hopefully, will be facilitated by an organization named Île Sans Fil (wireless island).

As stated on their website, "Île Sans Fil is a non-profit community group devoted to providing free public wireless internet access to mobile users in public spaces throughout Montréal, Canada." If you'd like to read more, check out the Montreal Mirror's article.

Internet, check.

Clouds of Canada Day

Had an excellent weekend with Constance and my extended family. True to Savolainen-Zrichuk form on Lake Fortesque, CK and I polished off a two-four (plus a promotional, extra four) of Canadian and a twelve pack of Steamwhistle between us. (Being not animals, all the beer were interspersed with strong ceasars, rest assured.)

Sitting on the dock, when the rain had dried, my legs peddled the black water underneath and I thought of the days when my dad would lean against the canoe to my left and Dana would be somewhere nearby, safe in the forest. In my mind, Joni Mitchell sung "A Case of You" and Constance asked what I was thinking about.

Toronto Pride, Friday night: Foxhole

Tonight's destination is the Gladstone Hotel for Foxhole, a gay mixer put on by Shane Mackinnon.

Dramatic Chipmunk

This little gem goes out to Constance and her mother. Seems right up their alley.


(Via BoingBoing)

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush vetoes stem cell funds bill

Bush vetoes stem cell funds bill

Dorian's friend Delia

Early in the year, I met Dorian Douma at Salem's Loft while visiting Toti. A bunch of us were sitting around a coffee table enjoying eachothers' company and conversation. The night turned out well. When I left to bike home in the wee hours of the morning, the guys were still upstairs, the Flamenco guitarists mashing with Dorian's drum machine.

Dorian, it turns out, is a very talented sound maker. If you enjoy electronic music and experimentation, click over to his project page, A Great White Bird; there you'll find a few mp3s of his pieces and other information. Or, you can listen to Dorian Douma's "My Friend Delia," below.

Here's some of what you'll find on his bio page:

A Great White Bird is one of the musical projects of Dorian Douma. Dorian grew up in the Yukon and moved to Victoria BC in 1991. He started making electronic music after hearing Radiohead's Kid A.

The A Great White Bird "sound," though singular and specific to the project, obviates Dorian's affection for the ephemera of 60s and 70s documentaries, lo-fi indie rock, the post-rock energy of American bands like Trans Am and Tortoise and European groups like Boards of Canada, Autechre, Radiohead, Broadcast and Stereolab.

I look forward to hearing more of his work, hopefully soon.

Owned

While waiting to hear back from Dan on whether or not I can post the NoReason strip here, I'll share something: Simply put, you are currently reading the blog of someone who will now live on forever, immortalized by the eye roll-inducing, yet admittedly quite funny panels of the latest NoReason comic strip.

---

Inspired by a true story...

---

And the punchline...

---

My friends are neat.

Throw in

Throw in
Originally uploaded by Kyra Savolainen

Spent the evening in Mississauga yesterday, watching Constance play soccer.

I jump

Arieh and I spent the morning at the Badlands today. We had a blast and shot a bunch of photos. You can check them out on Arieh's blog (http://ariehsinger.com) or at my flickr (see sidebar).

An interest in fair taxation

My father was reared in Toronto, but he did much of his growing up in Muskoka. When he and his two brothers were boys, his father would drive my grandmother and the children up to Little Lake Joseph near Port Carling where the three would pass the season. My grandfather would return after each week employed as a metal worker in the City to rejoin the family at the Lake.

Over the five decades on Little Lake Jo, the Savolainen family became part of a close-knit community of locals and seasonal residents from the region and beyond. Gary, my dad, kept fond memories of barefooted tree tag and helping to introduce Ontario to barefoot waterskiing as a youth. My eldest uncle, Carl, even ended up meeting and marrying a lady named Elizabeth, whose family lived nearby. Shelved near me now are ancient reels of film on which my grandmother and her lady friends smoke and smile at the camera from a bygone era of elegant, lakeside glamour.

I'm told again and again by some that buildings are just things and that they aren't the essentially important things in life. But there is much history and family heritage shrouding such land and edifices as a family cottage in Ontario.

My father and eldest uncle eventually inherited their parents' cottage. I don't know if the two discussed in much detail what their long term plan would be for the property. By that time, Carl and his wife had their own home down the lake, and I can only really imagine now that my father agreed to forgo his own to visit my mothers' family's (septic- and hot-water tank equipped) cottage near Kinmount.

In the three years before his passing in 2005, my father's efforts to revive the Savolainen cottage as a place for a third generation to grow up were reinvigorated. Many of his hours were spent burning and bundling off to the dump years of brush and detritus. We had talks about putting hot water and fixing it up together, making it into a rental in order to keep it in the family. But my father's illness was diagnosed late and his time ran out quickly.

It was a great shame to me, then, that less than one year after Gary's passing, the sale of the family's place on the Lake was insisted upon. Carl had his own waterfront taxes to worry about, as outlined in this quotation from the Canadian Home Builder's Association website:

As an example of the impact of the growing tax burden, Carl Savolainen, a retired police officer, told The Toronto Star that his tax bill last year was $7,000, more than double the rate for his principal residence in Oshawa.

He and his wife worry that their children and grandchildren won’t be able to enjoy the modest cottage, built by his wife’s grandfather in 1924. Mr. Savolainen drives a school bus to help pay the taxes. (Full text in .pdf here.)

My mother, unable to afford the growing taxes and never having had anything kind to say about her husband's family's land, agreed to the sale.

And so the cottage sold to a pair of Toronto lawyers who could afford the skyrocketing taxes and will most likely contribute to even higher ones as they redevelop the property, destructing the humble bit of old Ontario.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, or are just interested, consider visiting Waterfront Ratepayers After Fair Taxation (a coalition of associations from across the province).

On the Cottage Life site, you'll find this extensive article on Ontario's cottage taxation problems.

What's observation got to, got to do with it?

Most spine tingling question I've been reminded of in a long time - 'what does the observer have to do with any of this?'

If the double slit experiment of quantum physics is something to which you'd like a very clear, friendly introduction, check out the interesting video below.

Introducing the River House

This spring, my mother purchased a tin-roofed house on the Moira River, near Tweed, Ontario.

Currently, we're both working to clean it up and clear it out. (The previous owner left behind three years worth of cigarette stench for us to contend with.)
The wall-to-wall carpeting has been ripped out. The next major step in Operation Destinkify is painting.

kslog's archives now one year longer!

You'll find that kslog's archive now dates back to 2003. The added posts come from my previous blog, aotp, which can still be found here.

How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons

How to learn Swedish in 1000 difficult lessons

School Archive: Propaganda of the Canadian Nuclear Association

Propaganda Analysis No.2
November 24, 2006

1.)
“Nuclear Facts, Ver.1” is a 30-second television commercial, commissioned by the Canadian Nuclear Association, which has recently aired on network television stations in Ontario during primetime. The digital copy of the commercial that accompanies this paper was obtained from the CNA’s website (http://cna.ca).

According to its literature, the CNA is a not for profit organization “established to represent the nuclear industry in Canada and promote the development and growth of nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes.” The organization was established in 1960.

It is pertinent to note, here, that the executive committee of the Canadian Nuclear Association represents and is composed of formerly and presently active members of Canada’s nuclear industry.

2)
Television was chosen to disseminate the commercial “Nuclear Facts” because, of all media, t.v. has the greatest reach (and frequency) into most Canadian homes. By choosing to air the commercial during primetime programming in the Ontario market, the CNA is able to reach thousands of people in a broad target audience.

Targeted by the advertisement are members of the public who vote or may otherwise influence government policy concerning nuclear power generation in Ontario. In particular, the commercial targets an audience composed of people who are largely under informed on the benefits and threats of nuclear products; people who are often content to gather their local and global news from glossy news digests and infotainment programs.

The tone of the commercial is light and positively reassuring. Throughout the ad, a woman’s clear, calm voice optimistically lists the proposed benefits of nuclear power generation. The ad’s execution is smoothly dynamic, employing graphic techniques similar to those seen in ads for everyday consumer products such as cars or bathroom cleansers.

By using television, the CNA is able reach an easily influenced mass through a multi-sensory medium with which the audience is familiar and comfortable.

3)
It is the CNA’s hope that, in response to “Nuclear Facts,” the audience will come to support nuclear products. The aim is to persuade individual viewers that nuclear power is a necessary, acceptable, clean, efficient, and ‘friendly’ means of sustainable electricity generation in Ontario.

The video’s long term objective is to manipulate government policy in favour of development of Ontario's nuclear industry. Ultimately, the objective of “Nuclear Facts” is to persuade the public – and so the government -- to support the nuclear industry and its products.

4)

The timing of the release of “Nuclear Facts” and the rest of the campaign of which it is a part, is predictable. In 2006, Ontario contends with demand for electrical power which many believe threatens to overwhelm the province’s current [haha] supply capacity.

Pursuing the major opportunity created by such great demand for electricity, nuclear industrialists have successfully lobbied the government to take the first steps of consideration toward increasing the role of nuclear in Ontario’s future energy mix. Various assessments of Pickering B and Darlington stations are underway by the Ministry of Energy in order to ascertain the viability of refurbishment and, in Darlington’s case, expansion (Ontario Power Generation 1).

As a ‘not-for-profit’ organization bent on furthering acceptance and development of nuclear products in Canada, Ontario’s situation has the CNA mobilized. Convincing the public that nuclear energy products are, indeed, ‘clean,’ ‘reliable,’ and necessary in order to meet Ontario’s energy demands of the years ahead, as the commercial's narrator informs the viewer, is imperative to ensuring that the constituents of the CNA are given the go-ahead by the government to capitalize on energy shortages. Once the public has been coaxed into accepting nuclear, the attitude will represent itself in parliament and policy.

Works Cited

Canadian Nuclear Association. Accessed November 23, 2006 http://www.cna.ca.

Ontario Power Generation. "Nuclear and the Energy Mix." Neighbours. Summer 2006: p. 1. Digital copy accessed Accessed November 20, 2006. http://www.opg.com/pdf/PickeringSpring2006.pdf

February 20

She side steps. Announces celibacy and friendship. Informs that she has felt suckered, saved from a lifecycle of black luck. Waltzes at the smokey end.

February 13

my voice sings with JKSamson, Christine Fellows; Sarah Harmer; Sam Parton, Frazey Ford, and Trish Klein.

my eyes stop scanning when i see your name come up the screen. thanks for your wordforms jessie. we won't loose it. i'll be there.

i wish i had a warm smile with me while i crunched a way across public snow fields.