sqwabb

[caption id="attachment_10555" align="alignnone" width="497"] How he rolls. Looks like Hansen's statue is about to run the barricade.[/caption]

As I rode west along 10th Avenue I happened to spy a big hunk of something behind barricades and yellow caution tape in the little parking lot beside the Blusson Spinal Cord Centre. It was a very impressive statue of the famous wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen.

This was not a new statue; it had previously been featured on the grounds of Rogers Arena in downtown Vancouver. I had no idea why it was parked here, but here it was in stall 2524.

The larger-than-life size granite sculpture was carved by sculptor Bill Koochin in 1997 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the completion of Rick Hansen's Man in Motion World Tour.

I was writing a post about Low Orbit Ion Cannons (really) but then this Kate Upton in zero gravity story broke.

At first blush I'm inclined to declare that it's the greatest event in aviation history -- I could be overreacting.

But probably not. Forget about putting a man on the moon! Putting a woman -- Kate Upton -- in a zero gravity plane along with a pile of photographers and stylists and then repeatedly looping-the-loop, all for the 2014 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. That's aerospace history in the making.

And they filmed it! Mesmerizing!

[caption id="attachment_10201" align="alignnone" width="497"] The Lovers II by Gerhard Juchum, a 1973 sculpture in concrete on the grounds of City Hall.[/caption]

As I was passing City Hall on Friday, on the Cambie Street side, I glanced eastwards over the grounds and spied these two naked guys in close embrace. My first thought naturally was that they must have been freezing their, ba... um, tuckuses off.

On closer inspection the duo turned out to be a sculpture. According to a plaque affixed to the base, it's called "The Lovers" by Gerhard Juchum. And the pair wasn't entirely naked; they were partially covered by dirt and moss.

Yesterday afternoon I was stopped with the rest of the traffic at the intersection of Broadway Avenue and Cambie Street and watched as a fellow triumphantly strode down the middle of the northbound lane of Cambie. He was preceded by a phalanx of Vancouver police on motorcycles and trailed by a gaggle of happy hangers-on, apparently celebrating his achievement.

[caption id="attachment_9785" align="alignnone" width="497"] Artist representation of unveiling with dignitaries and Harper government officials.[/caption]

The news on Friday that a giant slab of granite sits idle in a Gatineau Hills barn while Vancouver's new condo kitchen counter tops go begging was frankly irksome to me.

The granite was meant for a statue of the late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. However the drive to memorialize the politician who repatriated the Canadian Constitution and gave us the Charter of Rights and Freedoms ran out of gas somewhere between now and the year 2000.

After his death that year, a "Trudeau Sculpture Committee" was formed, granted charitable status and duly commissioned sculptor John Batten. He in turn came up with a design approved by the Trudeau family and land was set aside in the former City of Nepean overlooking the Ottawa River at a spot that, according to the Ottawa Citizen, Justin Trudeau had described as perfect.

A 29-tonne slab of Canadian Shield granite was harvested deep in Vermont, then hauled to John Batten's barn in the Gatineau Hills area outside Ottawa, the capital of Canada in the province of Ontario.

All these many years later that slab is still sitting in the barn. It's disappointing.

Jonathan says:

“Canada is a third world country with wings.”

Don't know what it means; don't think Jonathan knows, but it's the most profound thing I've heard in a while.

Nearly a week ago my friend Karen Kohagen passed away suddenly and without warning.

Karen's sister Gail and Gail's son Mark came to Fairview Sunday evening to tell me personally. I had spent two days only knowing that Karen had gone to the hospital.

They explained to me that on Wednesday afternoon Karen was at her apartment in Fairview, when she realized she was suffering a heart attack and called an ambulance. She was conscious and talking as she was transferred into the ambulance in a wheelchair.

She died a few hours later at Vancouver General Hospital from a massive heart attack. I believe she was 68-years old.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do a bit of computer tutoring, which required me to focus on the needs of another person.

Like I say, I was lucky. For most of the day it took my mind off my sorrow.

I have things to say about Karen, how she was special, about what it meant to me to know her. How much I miss her. But the more I try to focus on those thoughts the more they just jumble up meaninglessly. I can't think about them and I can't not. I'm a bit of a mess.

I do have an awful recurring thought about the heart attack; I hope it was so massive that there was no time for panic or suffering. What a terrible thought to take refuge in. And I think about how I knew Karen for barely a year and how hard this must be on her sister Gail.

According to stipulations Karen made in her will she is to be cremated as soon as possible and her ashes are to be scattered in a special part of the city she loved: Toronto.

She is survived by two brothers and a sister and many friends and loved ones. I was just one of many. I know all of us will miss her.

I guess this is goodbye but it hasn't sunk in yet.

[caption id="attachment_8960" align="alignnone" width="497"] Now they can put him on a tenner? From Polari Magazine. Click the image to go to the original article.[/caption]

On Christmas Eve Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous royal pardon to British computer pioneer Alan Turing -- big deal!

The pardon comes 61 years after Turing was convicted for homosexual activity in 1952, and 59 years after he killed himself as a result. And it comes 68 years after the end of the Second World War.

Turing not only helped win that war for Britain and the Allied powers, his contribution as a codebreaker was so great, that it is agreed he personally shortened that war by at least two years.

In the process he helped invent modern computer science, and is acknowledged as one of the principal inventors of the computer as we know it, and thus the world we live in today.

Sometimes I'll come over a rise, and see someone binning in front of me; "etiquette" says we binners shouldn't cut each other off, so I'll peel off to another lane. Sometimes, as in the case of this woman, it's not at all clear what sort of person I'm seeing ahead of me at a blue box: Another binner making a withdrawal, or a resident making a deposit, or something else.

Lola -- that's her name. Isn't that great? -- is an artistic recycler. she makes new artful assemblages out of found objects; often things people have thrown out. Lola is very positive, vivacious, and quite camera shy, which is a shame because more of the world should get to see her smile. Here she's selecting some of the more interesting bits from a box of tossed-out lamp bits. At one point I plucked a rare-earth  magnet off my bike frame and began checked each chunk of metal -- ferrous/not ferrous. "What's that?" Lola wanted to know. I told her; saw she really liked it, so I gave it to her, which earned me another big smile. Honestly, she didn't needed any more magnetism than she already had. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Chris speaks softly, with a British accent, and carries a big hammer, or a shovel, or whatever the job calls for. He's been the go-to handyman for the entire neighbourhood around the Go Green bottle depot, at 7th Avenue and Ontario Street, for all eight years I've been taking bottles to Go Green. Chris says he's been working in the area for about 10 years. In the last few years I've watched him pop up all over the neighbourhood, taking care of all kinds of construction, and renovation work -- tear-downs to fixer-uppers. Chris's neighbourhood is made up of old, two-storey, wood-framed homes, and a lot of small, one-, and two-storey businesses -- retail, often to the service trades, and-light industrial. And one bottle depot. It's perfect for a man with Chris's skills, and Chris uses those skills to keep it perfect.

My laptop, and I were lapping up Wi-Fi on West Broadway last night when Florida Pete came along, making his nightly, Westward migration. Above, he shows off an Ovation acoustic guitar he expertly repaired -- really, you can hardly see the gaffe tape! In spite of the large hole in the back, or perhaps because of it, the guitar sounded as good as Pete's ability to play it (cough). Below, is a look at the showroom of his home-based business -- Pete is quite the entrepreneur; the nick-knacks, doo-dads, and other found objects in his shopping cart, are for sale, and are carefully arranged, within the limits of time, space, and inebriation,  to maximize their sales appeal. Click on the images to enlarge them.

This is Dallas. He surfaced yesterday evening at the McDonalds at Broadway and Granville, after midnight, fresh, he said, from an underwater-themed house party. When I saw him, truly, a B-52s song came to mind -- "Rock Lobster!" So -- good outfit. My single, head-to-toe shot wasn't in focus -- had to stand too far away I guess. Click on the images to enlarge.

[caption id="attachment_3428" align="alignnone" width="497"] Zhaleh Moulaei has her hands full, not just with the hoops, but also with all the questions about what she's doing from passersby. Click the image to enlarge it.
[/caption]

For several days, two artists have been doing strange, and eye-catching things with, and to, pink and blue hula hoops -- hundreds of them! On the Columbia Street, and 8th Avenue corner of Jonathan Rogers Park, Zhaleh Moulaei and Byron Chiang have been building their HULA! art installation, which will be featured in front of Pacific Centre this August as part of the City of Vancouver's Viva Vancouver 2013. Here's a visualization of HULA! from a February proposal. Here's the HULA! Facebook page.



The two artists are up to their ***'s in hoops. Note the working model -- the Mateus bottle represents Pacific Centre, I think. Click the images to enlarge them.

[caption id="attachment_3434" align="alignnone" width="497"] Byron Chiang is making art, one hula hoop at a time.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3408" align="alignnone" width="497"] Memorial in Vancouver. Photo by REUTERS. Click the image to go to the original Telegraph item.[/caption]

The bull-headedness of Albertans in general, and Calgarians in particular, cuts both ways; praiseworthy when Calgary Stampede organizers didn't let the recent severe flooding of their fair city stand in the way of holding their world-famous rodeo on time, "come hell, or high water.". And downright blameworthy the way Calgary Herald writer, Licia Corbella didn't let facts stand in the way of of her assertion, in a recent newspaper column, that Vancouver's permissive drug culture helped kill Glee actor, and singer, Cory Monteith. On July 13, 2013, the 31-year-old Calgary-born actor was found dead in his hotel room at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in downtown Vancouver. On July 15, the B.C. Coroner’s autopsy report stated Monteith died from "a mixed drug toxicity" consisting of heroin and alcohol. Monteith had reportedly struggled with addiction for a decade.

In a Friday, July 19 column in the Calgary Herald -- widely syndicated --, Licia Corbella bluntly asserted the actor got the drugs from Insite, the supervised, safe injection site, located in the Downtown Eastside, about 1.4 km from Monteith's hotel, as the crow flies.

Very hot day in the old town; you might eve say it's equatorial. Mimi's Blue and Gold Macaw, named Archie, might just feel right at home -- he seems to like the heat -- Mimi, not so much. So I snapped some photos fast, while she looked for shade. She's had Archie for six years. These Macaws, a type of Neotropical parrot, are quite intelligent, and are popular for how closely they bond to their owners, as well as their ability to speak. Archie was silent until I crossed the street back to my bike, at which point the bird let loose with a stream of words which, though I couldn't quite make them out, sounded quite colourful. Macaws are also known for their long life spans, so Mimi can look forward to enjoying Archie's conversation for decades to come. Click the images to enlarge them.

It'a a hot, sunny, sultry afternoon in Fairview. What do my ears hear as I ride through the back alleys in search of cans, and bottles? Well, let's listen -- cars, people, lawn mowers, birds -- and one viola. Surely Fairview is the only neighbourhood on Earth where you can bin for bottles to musical accompaniment!

Sure enough, in a back alley, a woman is standing in a parking lot, playfully plucking a viola. Nicole is getting some face time with the Sun, and practising for a gig next Tuesday, when she'll be joining friends on stage at a local bistro. Looks like she's just fiddling around, but Nicole is a professional musician -- "a versatile violinist, composer and singer," as she writes on her Web site. She's also teaches music. Through stringalliance.com. She offers "Progressive Music Instruction For All Ages and Levels ... Specializing in Violin and Fiddle." Click on the images to enlarge them.

[caption id="attachment_3204" align="alignnone" width="497"] The camera refused to focus on it's job. Mr. Cassel isn't this fuzzy in person.[/caption]

Here we see musician David Cassel, better known as The Ukulele Bandito, recording a song in his tricked-out Fairview garage. You can get more information about him, along with a taste of his music on his Web site, otherwise you can often find him busking somewhere on Granville Island. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Another cool garage workshop ►

There's an unusual memorial sculpture in Vancouver's Stanley Park -- Unusually large, and unusually dedicated to a U.S. President -- not a great one, but Warren G. Harding, who passed through the City of Vancouver, on his way to San Francisco, where he passed away.

[caption id="attachment_3060" align="alignright" width="138"] Harding certainly looked presidential.[/caption]

Warren G. Harding was the first sitting President of the United States to get off his butt and visit both Alaska and Canada. He stopped over in Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 26, 1923, on his way back from Alaska -- part of a West Coast tour that included Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco, California.

While in Vancouver, Harding gave a speech in Stanley Park, before an estimated crowd of 50,000. He lunched downtown at the Hotel Vancouver with B.C. Premier John Oliver and Vancouver’s mayor Charles Tisdall, and managed to squeeze in six holes of golf -- before he had to pack it in -- he felt tired. he later complained of nausea and abdominal pain to his White House Homoeopath. Apparently he came down with pneumonia while in our fair city.

Exactly one week after visiting Vancouver, Harding and his entourage were in San Francisco, when he died, at the Palace Hotel. The Kiwanis Club (Harding was a Kiwanian) raised funds for a memorial to him at site of his speech in Stanley Park. The monument was designed by Vancouver sculptor (and Kiwanian) Charles Marega, and unveiled in 1925.

While everyone agrees Harding died, the cause of death has been in doubt from the beginning: Food poisoning, stroke? There is even a persistent theory that he was deliberately poisoned to death. ►

He's a little teapot, short and stout ...

Warren G. Harding was President for less than three years. A former publisher from Ohio who went to the Presidency from the U.S. Senate, as a compromise candidate chosen by Republican Party bosses for the 1920 election. He won a resounding victory on a platform of restoring normalcy. Harding had several things going for him: He wasn't Woodrow Wilson, the Great War (they weren't numbering them yet) was over, and he looked like a President. On the other hand, he was less interested in being President than he was in playing poker with his buddies, who numbered quite a few dishonest scoundrels. His administration will forever be linked to the Teapot Dome Scandal, where private oil companies bribed their way into the U.S. Naval petroleum reserves. and his name has been a virtual synonym for incompetence among Presidential historians, who have raked over his mistakes, and misdeeds, ranking him at the bottom in Presidential effectiveness. Recently his reputation has rebounded a bit, and he's being seen as a mediocre President who was fiscally prudent.

I think Harding did the U.S. an important service -- a person of such low qualifications becoming Head of State, truly tests the strength of a nation, and the United States easily survived Harding and his various misdeeds. At the very least it was good practice for Nixon. Click on the images to enlarge them.

[caption id="attachment_3067" align="alignnone" width="497"] 1924 editorial cartoon showing politicians trying to avoid being caught up in the growing Teapot Dome scandal.[/caption]

Vancouver Archives: Harding in car leaving Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club ►
Harding's tee shot at Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club ►
A good selection of photos and text about the visit and the monument ►
Text of Harding's West Coast tour speeches, including in Vancouver, B.C. ►

[caption id="attachment_2865" align="alignnone" width="497"] Chin up Mark! Photo: Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press. Click image to go to the source CBC page.[/caption]

Wow! Mark Carney seems too good to be true. Carney is the former Governor of the Bank of Canada who's just become the first ever non-Briton to head the Bank of England. He's only been on the job for one business week, and The Telegraph newspaper has already lauded his performance, saying an action he took together with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi "tore up the policy rule book" -- in a good way. All Governor Carney seems to have done was signal that interest rates would not be going up. Apparently, it was how he did it: plainly and transparently. Watever! The financial markets loved it. Earlier in the week the British people loved that Carney eschewed a chauffeur-driven ride to take the Tube to work in the City. It didn't hurt his "ooh wot a luverly man" rating when he missed his stop.

The 48-year-old Mark Joseph Carney was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada, but he seems to have grown up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He earned degrees in economics at Harvard, and then went to work for the investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. He worked his way up company ranks for 13 years, and then, effectively, took a big pay cut to become a civil servant in the Canadian Government's Department of Finance. From 2003 to 2004, he joined the Bank of Canada as a deputy governor, but went back to Finance to serve as senior associate deputy minister of finance. By 2008 he had been a high-flyer in Finance under both Liberal, and Conservative governments.

From February, 2008 to June 2013, Mark Carney served as the eighth Governor of the Bank of Canada. He was credited with successfully steering Canada's economy through the global economic crisis which ran from 2007 through 2009 -- only a month into his term he issued an important rate cut, and later in 2009, used, what Wikipedia describes as a "nonstandard monetary tool: the 'conditional commitment.'" What I remember about his tenure as Gov' of the Bank of Canada was how direct, and plain-spoken he seemed, also, he was very young.

According to this interesting profile in the Star-Phoenix, Carney had been a managing director at Goldman for barely a year when he quit to become Canada's deputy bank governor in 2003. A bank director who knew the details, said Carney traded “at least $2 million a year,” for the governor,'s salary of $508,000 CAN. In the article, his friends describe him as being "obsessed with policy," a real policy wonk who believes in serving.

The Government of Canada doesn't knowingly headhunt fools, and neither does the United Kingdom. Mark Carney clearly knows his stuff. Great Britain is clearly hoping his made-in-Canada reputation is justified. England is part of Europe, after all, and can be dragged under by a wreck in the EU, or by some of it's own weak economic fundamentals. They need a decisive, sure hand on the economic tiller.

Mark Carney may even be a kind of game-changer; his skill and competence is trusted by both his peers, and by the financial markets. Couple that with his known ability to successfully apply unorthodox solutions, and you have a kind of mainstream radical who isn't afraid to break the rules when he thinks they need breaking. It seems a high-stakes gamble on the part of Great Britain, but that's what makes it all so interesting.

How Mark Carney spent his first day deciding whom to put on the new £5 note ►

[caption id="attachment_2355" align="alignright" width="97"] Vancouver City Councillor Adriane Carr.[/caption]

Last Sunday, In Vancouver's downtown West End neighbourhood a group pushing for a one cent deposit on cigarette butts, collected, and paid out, on some 60,000 of the discarded stinkers ► -- this was during the West End's Car Free Day -- fortunately, not Carr Free, because Vancouver's Green party City Councillor, Adriane Carr has now lent her voice to calls for a provincial cigarette butt deposit and refund program. ► The more mundane problems, like under employment, affordable housing, drug addiction, and crime (petty to very organized), will just have to wait while everyone tackles the burning issue of cigarette butts.