From Expo Lounge comes this video of the telephone pavilion at Expo 67.
On one hand, the technology looks comically ancient. On the other hand, where’s my videophone?
Monthly Archives: August 2007
A rare glimpse into Coolopolis Towers
Readers of the Gravenor Bros. excellent Coolopolis already know that it’s the featured blog this week.
Getting the story behind it wasn’t easy. Coolopolis Towers is located in an undisclosed offshore location and is heavily guarded. My credentials being as pathetic as they are, I would never have been allowed entry.
Instead, I sent in Mandy, a secret agent who’s been working for Fagstein WorldMedia Ltd. for many years (for reasons of security, I can’t show a picture of what Mandy looks like, but believe me she’s a knockout). Her charms easily got her past the first few layers of security, and her shameless appeal to Kristian Gravenor’s vanity quickly gained his trust. (The secret? Ask him about Azerbaijan.) Through some innocuous-sounding questions and by slipping some helpful chemicals into his drink, Mandy got Gravenor to spill the beans about Coolopolis. A hidden transmitter quickly beamed that information to my top-notch surveillance team sitting on a stealth dinghy nearby.
As the article points out, Mr. Gravenor is a fan of exaggeration. The “gorillas implanted with intelligence chips” are actually chimpanzees, and the chips are just GPS tracking devices. The “800 lb Godzilla-like dragon creature” that is supposed to be guarding the entrance can be generously described as maybe 400 lbs, and is hardly Godzilla-like at all. And “Ruprecht, Her Majesty’s Royal Mail carrier” is actually Roberto, a Mexican-born illegal alien who says his bosses haven’t paid him in weeks.
Instead of owning up to it, of course, Kristian appeals to my vanity, hoping that I’ll keep some of my findings to myself.
Not a chance. The world has to know about Coolopolis.
Video fun in the metro
It’s been the subject of advertising campaigns, design criticism and ridicule. People with lots of time on their hands have created computer simulations of it. Others have shot strange foreign-language films there (familiar-language movies too).
It has a sound system nobody understands. It has buskers, some of whom play in front of giant ads with their pictures in them.
And then there’s the (sometimes drunken) dancing. Some use the poles to dance by themselves… upside down. Others aren’t so agile. Some dance with a friend. Some straddle. Some spin. Some twist. Some groove while sitting down. Some … uhh…
And, then, of course, some people party party party with lots of friends.
Love it or hate it, our metro will live on forever thanks to amateur videographers.
Bonus: Some metro-related things you don’t see every day: Decoupling. The view from the cabin. Door chimes.
Watering lawns makes baby Jesus cry
At least one Pincourt resident is complaining that a ban on outdoor watering, put in place because of demand might exceed supply during the hot summer months, is literally going to turn her lawn into a desert.
Cry me a bloody river.
There are plenty of things people can do to help the environment. Drive less, use less electricity, recycle more. Wasting less potable water is on this list. It costs energy to purify water for drinking, and there’s not much fresh water left in this world.
On the other hand, we need to water our lawns. I mean, it’s not like they water themselves, right? It’s not like some mystical, magical force somehow causes water to spontaneously fall from the sky in large quantities every few days.
Oh wait, THERE IS!
It’s called rain. And if it’s not enough to keep your lawn green and healthy, then there’s something wrong with your lawn, and it doesn’t belong in this environment. Do something green for a change and don’t waste so much energy trying to override nature.
Montreal is still pedophilia-central (but don’t worry)
The Gazette has a long story today about pedophilia websites being hosted in Montreal. It talks about some of these sites, all of which are hosted by Epifora, which I told you about in May. Unlike last time when they were coy about giving away addresses, this story repeats one address almost a half-dozen times. Another one is repeated twice even though they get it wrong both times (it’s a .org, not a .com).
Epifora is a small-guy operation (fully aware of what sites it’s hosting) that’s getting its space from Steadfast Networks. That’s the company people should be targetting with their complaints.
Meanwhile, the children’s festival which brought all this into the limelight in the first place isn’t adding extra security, instead relying on parents to be extra paranoid vigilant.
Destination Nowhere
Spacing Montreal has a post about the work being done on Decarie Blvd. in Ville-Saint-Laurent. It reinforces some of the other criticisms made about the project: that it reduces parking, creates a lot of headaches during construction, and in the end won’t bring people to the area who don’t already live around there.
Please leave your bags at the tax office
Quebec is considering a $0.20 per bag tax on plastic shopping bags. The intent is to cut down on their production, use and disposal.
I’m in favour of reducing the use of these bags. I have a green basket I use when doing grocery shopping. Those few bags I do use get reused to hold what little garbage I produce, and any which aren’t usable get recycled.
I’m even in favour of charging for bags. Something small, like $0.05 per bag, won’t make a big difference to the people who burn through money, but it might make some think twice about double-bagging that milk or using an extra one for the can of concentrated orange juice.
But I’m not crazy about the idea of a tax, that benefits neither the consumer nor the retailer, encouraging both to find a way around it. There’s an (admittedly self-serving) opinion in the Toronto Star which explains some of the cons to such a tax. Basically it comes down to the fact that people need something to carry their groceries in. In some cases this means finding loopholes — those bags which for some technical reason aren’t subject to the tax, and may be worse for the environment.
That’s basically my issue. We need an alternative. The green baskets are great, but they have a high initial cost (around $5), and you need to lug them around. The re-usable bags also require forethought, and might not be sufficient to carry a week’s worth of groceries. Their use should be encouraged beyond the $0.05 per bill rebate that Loblaws offers, but it’s not a complete solution. What about smaller stores? What about department stores like Wal-Mart? What about those clear bags we put fruit in? What about all that excessive packaging that’s used on electronics?
That, combined with the fact that plastic bags still seem to be the method a lot of places use as proof of purchase.
Once we handle these things, then we can talk about drastic measures to reduce bags. In the meantime, I don’t get why stores don’t charge a small amount per bag, and offer more incentives for people to bring their own bags (like, say, ending the policy of everyone having to surrender their bags at the cash when they enter).
UPDATE: The Gazette’s Max Harrold has some man-on-the-street reaction to the idea.
The other Cavendish extension
We keep hearing about the Cavendish extension, a long-awaited road link between Ville-Saint-Laurent and Côte-Saint-Luc which will solve a lot of motorist (and public transit) headaches and get some traffic off the oversaturated top of the Decarie Expressway.
But at the other end is a similar connection waiting to happen. This one is much shorter and doesn’t cross any tracks, but residents are complaining of the same problems.
The issue, as the Chronicle explains, is pure suburban greed. Residents in the northern part, a middle-class neighbourhood of western Cartierville with some very affluent areas, are panicking at the thought of cars taking their boulevard. I’m not quite sure where all this traffic is supposed to go. To the west is the Bois de Saraguay, followed by Highway 13, and to the east is Sacré Coeur Hospital followed by Laurentian Blvd. But hey, outrage doesn’t have to be logical, right? Maybe they just don’t like ambulances on their street.
We’ve seen all this before. James Shaw Street in Beaconsfield, where residents oppose a connection to Highway 40. Broughton Road in Montreal-West, where residents ludicrously complain of giant nonexistent trucks barrelling down the twists and turns of the residential streets to reach a far-off Highway 20. Not to mention at least some opponents of the other Cavendish extension.
Their logic is simple. They have no problem using the streets other people’s homes sit on to drive their SUVs to and from work. But if those other people want to use their streets, suddenly it becomes a child safety issue. Their street deserves protection. Their street must remain a dead-end. For the good of their children.
In case you couldn’t tell by my sarcasm, it’s hypocrisy pure and simple. Greedy suburbanites who want the government to legislate a de facto gated community and have the entire world built around them.
Fortunately, the borough sees right through their arguments. Next time you want to live on a street without traffic, make sure you choose one without “Boulevard” in its name.
UPDATE (Sept. 23): A follow-up story from the Courrier’s Catherine Leroux
UPDATE (Sept. 28): A video posted to YouTube shows traffic on the street, but except for some drivers failing to make complete stops at stop signs, nothing particularly incriminating.
Isn’t being jobless wonderful?
Reaction to the new MédiaMatinQuébec website has been positive (well, according to the group running it, but they wouldn’t cherry-pick positive comments, right?).
Meanwhile, here’s a blog by one of its writers, Michel Hebert (who also likes their website and who seems to enjoy their current situation). (via)
Free WiFi at the Old Port
I’m sitting on a picnic table at the Old Port, after learning yesterday there would be free Wi-Fi here.
It’s a pretty standard free-WiFi setup. An open connection (QuaisduVieuxPort) that at first redirects all HTTP traffic to a special IP address so you can pointlessly click a button that says yes, you want to connect. Then, after a 10-second delay, you get a page that says you’re connected and you can start browsing.
Some more technical aspects for those curious:
- Upstream provider is Telus
- The system gives out unreal IP addresses (10.x.x.x)
- The real IP address you go through has no reverse DNS entry, which might cause problems connecting to some finnicky servers
- No apparent restrictions on POP3 or SMTP traffic, so using email shouldn’t be a problem (of course you’ll have to find an SMTP server to accept your outgoing mail from you)
Speed appears to be pretty good. Coverage is limited to the promenade of the old port itself (you can’t reach it from City Hall, the top of Place Jacques Cartier or from tiny Bonsecours Island).
I’m torn between observing that coming to the Old Port to play with your laptop is lame, and suggesting that it’s better to play with your laptop outside on a beautiful day like this.
Solved mysteries
TVA is taking the credit for Montreal police cracking the 1984 murder of actress Denise Morelle (Wikipédia). She’s the person that tiny park on Rivard Street near the Mont-Royal metro is named after.
Maybe this will provide some encouragement for other unsolved crimes (more info).
Look at how silly we all are
The Gazette has a story that both points out how the media has been bothering everyone who could possibly have been connected to Autumn Kelly’s childhood in Pointe-Claire and proceeds to bother everyone who could possibly have been connected to Autumn Kelly’s childhood in Pointe-Claire.
Bravo.
Poor Debra
For those of you who haven’t been following NBC’s Last Comic Standing (what are you doing, having a life or something?), you missed Canada’s pride, Video-on-Trialer Debra DiGiovanni, getting eliminated tonight.
She was the last of the Video-on-Trial Toronto comics to survive the show, and ended up reaching No. 8 on the series’ first international foray. Not bad if you ask me.
Give her a round of applause as she heads back home with her cats.
(UPDATE: Wow, a lot of people like to talk about what they saw on TV, even if they admit it isn’t funny.)
I’ll tell you where to shove your cable
Steve Hardy (of Creative Generalist) has some all-too-familiar complaints about Videotron’s service.
I see I’m not the only one who’s had these issues.
CBC needs to check out a map
Quebec police closed down Highway 19 in both directions Wednesday to investigate a crack in a bridge between Montreal and Laval not far from the Concorde overpass that collapsed last September killing five people.
Police were called to Pont Viau late this morning to investigate a pothole on the bridge.
The Viau bridge, of course, actually connects des Laurentides in Laval with Lajeunesse in Montreal, and is part of Route 335, not Highway 19, which goes over the Papineau bridge. (If you need a map, may I suggest mine?)
The bridge has now re-opened, after engineers concluded the hole in it is superficial. And therefore there’s no reason to worry, right?
(via Metroblogging Montreal)