Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Personal. Show all posts
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This pinko Commie bear has nothing to do with the Capitalist Olympic Games in Sochi.[/caption]
Unlike the dog-eared and bedraggled pink teddy above, the Russian bear has cleaned itself up and is fairly resplendent in full rainbow colours -- all the better to wow the rest of the world and steal the thunder from any pesky gay rights advocates.
The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics are in full swing and by all accounts the tribute to Vladimir Putin's one man rule is packing them in. Someone even hijacked a plane to get there; unfortunately they ended up in Istanbul and completely missed the opening ceremonies.
The superficial aspects of venues and spectacle change every two years but the underlying mechanism of the Olympic machine seems to runs like a turn-key operation from one country and one season to another. So it's interesting to note that Russia does bring something unique to the Olympic mix: an unparalleled expertise in, among other things, counter-propaganda.
This pinko Commie bear has nothing to do with the Capitalist Olympic Games in Sochi.[/caption]Unlike the dog-eared and bedraggled pink teddy above, the Russian bear has cleaned itself up and is fairly resplendent in full rainbow colours -- all the better to wow the rest of the world and steal the thunder from any pesky gay rights advocates.
The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics are in full swing and by all accounts the tribute to Vladimir Putin's one man rule is packing them in. Someone even hijacked a plane to get there; unfortunately they ended up in Istanbul and completely missed the opening ceremonies.
The superficial aspects of venues and spectacle change every two years but the underlying mechanism of the Olympic machine seems to runs like a turn-key operation from one country and one season to another. So it's interesting to note that Russia does bring something unique to the Olympic mix: an unparalleled expertise in, among other things, counter-propaganda.
If you were S.H.I.E.L.D., a supranational, super-secret organization with flying cars and stuff an a brief to contain and neutralize alien threats
Chris Jensen has gone missing from Fairview. This, by itself is neither unusual, unexpected or unwelcome.
What is unusual is that he left behind his bicycle and attached bicycle trailer, loaded with most of all his worldly possessions.
Wednesday morning I arrived at the Broadway and Granville McDonald's by 8 a.m. and Chris' bike and trailer was in their usual spot and Chis himself was in his usual spot, muttering under his breath and gumming his way through a muffin while, I assume, he attended to his blogs.
He left before me, at about 10 a.m. and here was the first unusual thing: he unhitched his bike from the trailer and rode of eastward, leaving the trail in front of McDonald's, and he didn't have a backpack, so had he left his laptop on the trailer?
I last saw him Wednesday evening, again at McDonald's; his trailer was still where he had left it in the morning, apparently undisturbed. Chris himself appeared about 9:30 p.m., left his bike in the restaurant, leaning against the soda fountain-slash-condiments island, and went off somewhere. I left before he came back.
Next morning -- Thursday, another homeless fellow intercepts me in the last block of alley on the south side of Broadway
What is unusual is that he left behind his bicycle and attached bicycle trailer, loaded with most of all his worldly possessions.
Wednesday morning I arrived at the Broadway and Granville McDonald's by 8 a.m. and Chris' bike and trailer was in their usual spot and Chis himself was in his usual spot, muttering under his breath and gumming his way through a muffin while, I assume, he attended to his blogs.
He left before me, at about 10 a.m. and here was the first unusual thing: he unhitched his bike from the trailer and rode of eastward, leaving the trail in front of McDonald's, and he didn't have a backpack, so had he left his laptop on the trailer?
I last saw him Wednesday evening, again at McDonald's; his trailer was still where he had left it in the morning, apparently undisturbed. Chris himself appeared about 9:30 p.m., left his bike in the restaurant, leaning against the soda fountain-slash-condiments island, and went off somewhere. I left before he came back.
Next morning -- Thursday, another homeless fellow intercepts me in the last block of alley on the south side of Broadway
Winding my way westward from the bottle depot at Ontario Street I stopped in a parking lot that I use as a shortcut between a street and an alley. I got it into my head to try and catch the multitude of specular highlights the setting sun was bouncing off the parked cars.
I was aiming the camera at the cars like you'd aim a rock you wanted to skip across the surface of a lake. I got one shot off before I heard:
"What the @%#☄ are you doing?"
This blind-sided Mini Cooper was sitting off Cambie yesterday. I know it's only a car, but doesn't that look painful?
I can't stand by and just watch an overly anthropomorphized car suffer!
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Stand and be counted. Is this evidence of pigeon numeracy?[/caption]
What looks like aimless movement to you and I may look to a trained "pigeologist," like this group of six pigeons is getting themselves into a so-called "L.E.D. formation."
According to the theory of Fowl Numbers, once in position these pigeons will then be able to express any number between zero and nine.
We may be seeing a small practice run for a later, much larger, "flock array calculation" where as many as 72 pigeons can combine to represent numbers in the billions.
The vast majority of researchers are at a loss to explain any appearance of numeracy in pigeons: why they may have it, and more importantly, what use they could possibly put it to.
As it is, without thumbs they have no way to write the numbers down.
There are some arguments to the effect that pigeons are just trying to "keep their beaks in" while they wait for evolution to catch up.
Stand and be counted. Is this evidence of pigeon numeracy?[/caption]What looks like aimless movement to you and I may look to a trained "pigeologist," like this group of six pigeons is getting themselves into a so-called "L.E.D. formation."
According to the theory of Fowl Numbers, once in position these pigeons will then be able to express any number between zero and nine.
We may be seeing a small practice run for a later, much larger, "flock array calculation" where as many as 72 pigeons can combine to represent numbers in the billions.
The vast majority of researchers are at a loss to explain any appearance of numeracy in pigeons: why they may have it, and more importantly, what use they could possibly put it to.
As it is, without thumbs they have no way to write the numbers down.
There are some arguments to the effect that pigeons are just trying to "keep their beaks in" while they wait for evolution to catch up.
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Pete admires the green guy's soap art on McDonald's front window.[/caption]
Many homeless, and formerly homeless people call this part of the month "Mardi Gras" because it's when they receive their welfare or disability cheques, which were duly issued this last Wednesday. The party will have already run out of steam for many, but not for all. For some, Mardi Gras is more a state of mind than the state of their wallets.
This evening I came upon two of my homeless friends "frolicking" in the alley just around the corner from the McDonald's at Broadway and Granville. They had the entire brightly-lit loading area behind the Bombay store on Granville entirely to themselves. One of the mildest homeless fellows I know, the "green guy," was aggressively pacing, tracing the letter Z, "zed" -- he declared emphatically -- in the air -- for "Zorro." His most recent dumpster mp3 player was attached to the sort of cheap portable powered speaker we all see in the garbage. The combined low-fidelity ensemble was pumping out Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On." He was wide-eyed, and talking a lot like someone on jib, a kind of street speed: "Don't blink. Don't you dare blink!" The other homeless guy was Florida Pete.
Pete admires the green guy's soap art on McDonald's front window.[/caption]Many homeless, and formerly homeless people call this part of the month "Mardi Gras" because it's when they receive their welfare or disability cheques, which were duly issued this last Wednesday. The party will have already run out of steam for many, but not for all. For some, Mardi Gras is more a state of mind than the state of their wallets.
This evening I came upon two of my homeless friends "frolicking" in the alley just around the corner from the McDonald's at Broadway and Granville. They had the entire brightly-lit loading area behind the Bombay store on Granville entirely to themselves. One of the mildest homeless fellows I know, the "green guy," was aggressively pacing, tracing the letter Z, "zed" -- he declared emphatically -- in the air -- for "Zorro." His most recent dumpster mp3 player was attached to the sort of cheap portable powered speaker we all see in the garbage. The combined low-fidelity ensemble was pumping out Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On." He was wide-eyed, and talking a lot like someone on jib, a kind of street speed: "Don't blink. Don't you dare blink!" The other homeless guy was Florida Pete.
I heard a strange, new, sound today, I was in a back alley, collecting my bottle- and can-shaped nuts and berries, on my way eastward to cash in at a bottle depot. The sound stopped me in my tracks. Kind of a click, click, click -- screech! I thought it was a bird, but it wasn't. It was a squirrel on an overhead transmission wire. Both an unusual sight, and sound. I stalked the squirrel with my new Nikon camera, and considered what might be up with this little shrieking rodent.
A special prosecutor with the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch has reiterated that no criminal charges will be laid in connection with the 2007 shooting death of animator Paul Boyd by Vancouver police.
Paul Boyd was a 39-year-old animator who suffered from bipolar disorder. He was described as not having taken his medication when he was shot, and killed during a confrontation with police on South Granville Street, near the intersection of 15th Avenue, on August 13, 2007. He was hit by eight of nine bullets fired by Vancouver police Constable Lee Chipperfield. Boyd, a large man, had a bike chain when police confronted him. It is now reported that he was "armed," or, as this Province item puts it, "brandishing" the bike chain. At the time of the incident, he was reported to have been swinging the chain, and that he had hit an officer with the chain, as this CTV News item reports.
At the time there was speculation -- un-proveable -- that responding police officers may have believed they were dealing with a homeless drug addict, and that may have influenced how they handled the confrontation.
The B,C. Criminal Justice Branch, and several earlier investigations had previously cleared Constable Chipperfield of any wrongdoing, but in 2012 a 49-second cell phone video of the 2007 incident surfaced showing an unarmed Boyd on his hands and knees. The B.C. government had the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) re-investigate the case.
ASIRT executive director Clifton Purvis saw "reasonable and probable grounds" to believe Chipperfield committed homicide, and submitted a report to the Crown for charge assessment in June.
In a statement issued yesterday, Special Prosecutor Mark Jette concluded there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction because the Crown wouldn't be able to disprove self defence beyond a reasonable doubt.
Video of the Boyd incident by Andreas Bergen. released in 2012 by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=207_FGF3wZk
Paul Boyd was a 39-year-old animator who suffered from bipolar disorder. He was described as not having taken his medication when he was shot, and killed during a confrontation with police on South Granville Street, near the intersection of 15th Avenue, on August 13, 2007. He was hit by eight of nine bullets fired by Vancouver police Constable Lee Chipperfield. Boyd, a large man, had a bike chain when police confronted him. It is now reported that he was "armed," or, as this Province item puts it, "brandishing" the bike chain. At the time of the incident, he was reported to have been swinging the chain, and that he had hit an officer with the chain, as this CTV News item reports.
At the time there was speculation -- un-proveable -- that responding police officers may have believed they were dealing with a homeless drug addict, and that may have influenced how they handled the confrontation.
The B,C. Criminal Justice Branch, and several earlier investigations had previously cleared Constable Chipperfield of any wrongdoing, but in 2012 a 49-second cell phone video of the 2007 incident surfaced showing an unarmed Boyd on his hands and knees. The B.C. government had the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) re-investigate the case.
ASIRT executive director Clifton Purvis saw "reasonable and probable grounds" to believe Chipperfield committed homicide, and submitted a report to the Crown for charge assessment in June.
In a statement issued yesterday, Special Prosecutor Mark Jette concluded there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction because the Crown wouldn't be able to disprove self defence beyond a reasonable doubt.
"there is no substantial likelihood of conviction on a criminal charge. (It) is his assessment that the evidence is not sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooting of Mr. Boyd constitutes a culpable homicide within the meaning of the Criminal Code of Canada."
Video of the Boyd incident by Andreas Bergen. released in 2012 by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=207_FGF3wZk
While binning for returnable containers, I stopped to snap the occasional photo. I became so intent on photographing this crow as it took it's plate through the "buffet line" of a construction dumpster, that I failed to notice it was dancing up and down on a bag that contained at least one returnable orange juice container. Dumb old crow -- dumber old binner! Click the images to enlarge them.
I got the nickel from the crow by the way ►
Last night's moon over Vancouver (I'm told everyone on Earth sees the same one, but I find that hard to believe).
Following up my post about a motorhome scraping through the narrow lane behind my sleeping spot, here are some photos of the wall of the condo, which the Winnebago, very noisily scraped on it's way through. The lowest damage will be from the motorhome, the higher breakage is from something else.
I'm speechless. It's better that way. I wouldn't want to say something catty about the package design. Click the image to enlarge it.
This LG LCD screen was in a container bin. Rather than just tossing it in a dumpster, I took it apart first, to see what was in it. All I needed was a screwdriver, and two heads -- a Phillips (+), and slot head (-). There were only three screws; otherwise it was a snap-tite model kit. The model number for this LG Display, if anyone cares, is: LM240WU8.
Aside from the black laminate of plastic, glass -- and I assume circuitry -- it's a bunch of sheets of plastic, probably representing hundreds of physicist-years, One sheet was very prismatic, and provided several minutes of entertainment. Click the images to enlarge them.
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A huge thank you to my assistant, Miss "I-just-wanna-put-my-recycling-out."[/caption]
I think this is an old "el-pee," an analog music storage device. I've never heard of the record label, but it appears to be a recording of some kind of Metal band. Unfortunately it might as well be a grinding wheel for all the luck you'd have trying to get the music out of it -- you'd need a veritable room full of obsolete hardware to do that. Click the image to enlarge it.
In Vancouver we like to kid ourselves we have four seasons, like everywhere else -- Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. but, there's a strong case to be made that here, on the Wet Coast, we only have two: Blue-green, and Gray-green. Click the images to enlarge them.
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Did I get a spot on the camera lens again?[/caption]
Are we looking for a spider, or is the spider's name "Spot?" If we wanted to find a spider named Spot, could we even write a sentence like "Spot Spot the spider" without the language police whisking us away to a minimum security spelling bee? Whatever. This post isn't about bees, it's about spiders.
Did I get a spot on the camera lens again?[/caption]Are we looking for a spider, or is the spider's name "Spot?" If we wanted to find a spider named Spot, could we even write a sentence like "Spot Spot the spider" without the language police whisking us away to a minimum security spelling bee? Whatever. This post isn't about bees, it's about spiders.
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