Victoria B.C. Canada - Saturday around town · Saturday June 21, 2008 by colin newell
A Saturday walk downtown. If it is a 2.5 km walk from our perch in Rockland (a chi-chi neighborhood up the hill from downtown Victoria…) I would be surprised. But since it is largely downhill, it is a breeze.
This stroll takes us down Fort Street right down Antique Row past bustling cafes, lunch spots into the heart of the city.
Today we walked directly to Paradiso de Stelle… paradise of stars… a neat Italian gelato-cafe that features a wonderful selection of panini, illy coffee, liquor and Café Correcto… oh yea and lots of fresh Gelato produced on site. Paradiso de Stelle is below Bastion Square in Victoria and it wins points on the quality of its food and drink, the professionalism and beauty of its staff (yea, I get warnings from my editor about using words like beauty) and the great people watching.
From there it is off to Habit Coffee and Culture on Pandora Avenue – the 600 block just below Government Street (Photo above). Habit Coffee and Culture is ground zero for the 3rd wave coffee scene makers in Victoria. Their espresso based beverages are always spot on – and the vibe is not unlike many of Portland and Seattle’s grooviest coffee joints like Stumptown.
If you live in Victoria B.C. Canada and think you know great coffee – unless you have been to Discovery, Cafe Fantastico and Habit… all in the same day… oh yea, and Buon Amici’s over on Tyee road on the West side… you have not experienced what truly great coffee is.
So put down that Folgers, get on your bike or put your runners on – and get going!
Air travel rant #6 enough is enough is enough is enough is enough · Friday June 20, 2008 by colin newell
The airport in Kelowna, B.C., will be the first in Canada to test a new type of passenger scanner that creates a three-dimensional image of people’s bodies.
This equipment has been in use in the U.S. for some time now.
Why are we adopting it? Well. Because the U.S. told us to.
The security guard operating the machine sees a simplified image on a computer screen that sees where ceramic weapons, plastic explosives, grenades, Uzi’s, pop rocks or other suspicious items might be concealed.
But in a separate, private room, another officer sees the full detailed black and white image of the person’s body; boobies, pee-pee’s, tushies, implants, enhancements, warts and all.
Say it with me folks: F*ck, F*ck, F*ck, F*ckity, F*CK!
Enough. Enough. Enough. Enough. Enough of this pointless bullsh*t security.
Since 9/11, there has been a total of 2 terror related fatalities in the Continental U.S. by Al Hoo-Hoo or terror wanna-be’s.
And taxpayers are on the hook for billions and billions of dollars spent on this electronic crap.
In the same time period, hundreds of people have died at the hands of angry bath-tubs… and nothing is being done about that!
Read the CBC article and the zillion comments here
Comment [2]
Saving the Planet one volt at a time · Thursday June 19, 2008 by colin newell
We had the Gem Car road show pop by the campus for a few hours today – and I had the opportunity to pilot the E2 and the E6. Top speed on the E6 is about 40km/hr – the E2 about 25km/hr – an electronic governor keeping it from achieving light speed in under a handful of nanoseconds.
I took these two muscle carts around the campus ring road, much to the amusement of senior-citizens with walkers who bravely (and easily) passed by… and various University staff who looked quizically at the over-sized Pilates ball on wheels.
The Gem looks like a golf-cart on steroids – It’s 12V Gel-Cell and 7 Hp motor giving it remarkable pick-up and range (something in the order of 30 miles between Gerbil feeds…)
The sleepy community of Oak Bay, near Victoria, is thinking of buying a few – We speculate for the Oak Bay Police Department – a community largely consisting of septuagenarian millionaires who, not surprisingly, move around this sleepy hollow… on much smaller electric carts.
I can picture these crime busters now – Racing to the scene of a bank heist in the Oak Bay Village as a 70-something Clint Eastwood wanna-bee tries to knock off the Credit Union. He flees the scene on his scooter reaching speeds of 10 km/hr as he races through the sleepy berg, putting life and limb at risk. Other elderly Oak Bay residents hobble and shuffle for cover. Soon, very soon, the Oak Bay cops give chase – reaching speeds of 15 km/hr. They catch up with the evil doers somewhere near Esquimalt – but not before running many red lights and frightening bystanders into mild strokes and heart attacks.
Yup. I can see it now.
Air travel rant #5 website of the month TSA Blog · Wednesday June 18, 2008 by colin newell
Terrorists Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead. You Play A Part.
The TSA Blog deserves a metal for effort, an Oscar for the acting and some kind of of American online literary award for a stunning, brazen and breathtaking piece of fiction.
The TSA Blog is the mouth-piece of the TSA and has voluntarily opened itself up to the wrath of the American traveling public with its open-comment system:
In a blog entry Why is ID important for security? – the readership takes the TSA to a verbal slaughter and it is so stimulating to hear America speak that it gives me shivers…
If the security systems actually worked then there would be no need to check ID. This is just another attempt to control the American people and steal more and more of our rights. We need to take back some more essential liberty.
Wake me up when the TSA actually does something that actually increases airport security! (Although I still stand by the opinion that if someone ever tries to hijack an airplane ever again, every person on that plane will stand up and beat that hijacker into a bloody pulp.)
Too many holes in this feeble attempt to say that it enhances security. Show me just ONE terrorist that you have apprehended. Or maybe you can use the argument that they are scared away.
And on and on and on and on and on – read for yourself
Someone summed it up on the radio today with a new expression: The militarization of the Canadian airspace has led to a dilution of civil liberties and freedom… There are now 3000 Canadians on a no-fly list, for reasons that cannot be explained to them without any opportunity for exemption. Over one million Americans are now on the no-fly list many for the crime of having the same name of someone else on the no-fly list.
Millions of Americans are now eschewing air travel in favor of alternative means of getting around their country – However, fissures are appearing in the economy of travel leading to airline bankruptcies and other similar crises.
And no one knows where this will lead.
