A few of the us drove up to Montreal for a weekend of shenanigans for the stag of one of my good friends. It's a fun place to visit. The city is pretty scenic in a variety of ways. It's cosmopolitan and has a lot of character to it. The old part of Montreal is especially nice. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather...wasn't too hot or cold, just right.
There's an unwritten rule about not taking pictures on a stag so I didn't take any, unfortunately.
Here are a couple noteworthy places to visit if you're in the area:
Restaurant La Banquise: Best Poutine I've ever tasted. Very unhealthy but tastes great at the end of a night out.
Med Bar and Grill: A trendy and expensive place but the food is really good and the place turns in a bit of a club at the end of the night. No dress code, but a snazzy outfit doesn't hurt if you go there.
No visit to Montreal is complete without a stop at Shwartz's deli. It's a landmark in Montreal and serves the probably best smoked meat sandwich you'll ever have.
There are a lot of places in Montreal and these are just some of them. I hear that Jazz Festival up there is a really good time...we were a week too early. Maybe next year...
Monday, June 25, 2007
NOD regatta in Ottawa
I drove up to Ottawa a couple of weekends ago to sail in the annual NOD regatta. It was a little different this time around. I'm not sailing regularly on a boat so I basically was trying to get a ride with someone. I hadn't sailed all year and watching the wind and enjoying the warm weather gave me the sailing itch.
So I left early on the Friday and drove up by myself to Ottawa to meet up with people. I've got a soft spot for the city. I lived there for two great years and had a great time up there. Unfortunately, the economy took a downturn around 2003 and I lost my job and had to leave for work. I try to make it up there at least once every summer and every time I go I start thinking about living there again...who knows if that will ever happen, but it's a nice thought. In any case, my favourite spot there is the patio at the Lieutenant's Pump on Elgin St. I used to live around the corner from it and hung out there a lot...stopping by the Shawarma's King or House of Georgies (gravy on pizza...sounds gross but sooo good) on the way home. If you've never had a shawarma before, you're missing out. It's the Lebanese version of fast food...try one when you get a chance, you won't regret it. But I digress...the pump is also famous for a drink they serve called the smiling jerry. Doesn't sound like a good drink and looks even worse, but it's good. Just don't drink too many of them and make sure you have a ride home after you start drinking them. I managed to meet up with some friends there saturday night and downed a couple of Jerries before heading back to the sailing club.
Chuck was nice enough to have me on his boat "Nemo". He's new to the boat class and I tried to pass on the knowledge that I had. The sailing itself was a mix of good and bad. There was basically no wind on Saturday so no real sailing. The fleet decided to stay out there for the most part and try to enjoy the day without getting too roasted in the sun. Six boats ended up rafting together and throwing an anchor down. Almost everyone donned a life jacket as shorts and bobbed in the water with beer in hand...makes for effortless swimming and a great way to cool off. Here's what the scene looked like:
There was a ton of wind on Sunday though and some pretty good racing as a result. Our crew had never sailed together before and Chuck's regulars were still new to the boat. We put up a good show but had trouble keeping up with the lead group in the heavier winds. We had a couple of good placements but were back of the pack for the most part. Here are some pictures from the weekend. I'm in there somewhere...
So I left early on the Friday and drove up by myself to Ottawa to meet up with people. I've got a soft spot for the city. I lived there for two great years and had a great time up there. Unfortunately, the economy took a downturn around 2003 and I lost my job and had to leave for work. I try to make it up there at least once every summer and every time I go I start thinking about living there again...who knows if that will ever happen, but it's a nice thought. In any case, my favourite spot there is the patio at the Lieutenant's Pump on Elgin St. I used to live around the corner from it and hung out there a lot...stopping by the Shawarma's King or House of Georgies (gravy on pizza...sounds gross but sooo good) on the way home. If you've never had a shawarma before, you're missing out. It's the Lebanese version of fast food...try one when you get a chance, you won't regret it. But I digress...the pump is also famous for a drink they serve called the smiling jerry. Doesn't sound like a good drink and looks even worse, but it's good. Just don't drink too many of them and make sure you have a ride home after you start drinking them. I managed to meet up with some friends there saturday night and downed a couple of Jerries before heading back to the sailing club.
Chuck was nice enough to have me on his boat "Nemo". He's new to the boat class and I tried to pass on the knowledge that I had. The sailing itself was a mix of good and bad. There was basically no wind on Saturday so no real sailing. The fleet decided to stay out there for the most part and try to enjoy the day without getting too roasted in the sun. Six boats ended up rafting together and throwing an anchor down. Almost everyone donned a life jacket as shorts and bobbed in the water with beer in hand...makes for effortless swimming and a great way to cool off. Here's what the scene looked like:
There was a ton of wind on Sunday though and some pretty good racing as a result. Our crew had never sailed together before and Chuck's regulars were still new to the boat. We put up a good show but had trouble keeping up with the lead group in the heavier winds. We had a couple of good placements but were back of the pack for the most part. Here are some pictures from the weekend. I'm in there somewhere...
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Horizon Kompact Panoramic Camera
Hmmm...I'm considering saving my loonies for this camera. It's a nice little simple camera to get into taking panoramic shots. It's all mechanical...no electronics. Single aperture of f8, and just two shutter speed settings: day and night. A really simple camera. It looks like it's mostly made out of plastic so I wonder how long it'll last. You can opt for the scaled up version with a full range of aperture and speed settings, but at double the price.
There's some interesting photos on the web including these on I found by searching flickr for "horizon kompact".
I'm not sure I'm into the lomography culture...it seems like it's mostly hype and sells some pretty cheap looking cameras for fairly high prices. Then again, it really doesn't matter what kind of camera you use as long as you're taking pictures and having fun, right ?
I'll keep checking out prices for these and keep an eye out on ebay...maybe I'll luck out and get a good deal on one. For now though...the loonies will have to go towards a new scanner.
There's some interesting photos on the web including these on I found by searching flickr for "horizon kompact".
I'm not sure I'm into the lomography culture...it seems like it's mostly hype and sells some pretty cheap looking cameras for fairly high prices. Then again, it really doesn't matter what kind of camera you use as long as you're taking pictures and having fun, right ?
I'll keep checking out prices for these and keep an eye out on ebay...maybe I'll luck out and get a good deal on one. For now though...the loonies will have to go towards a new scanner.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Compressed Air Engines
I've been really interested in compressed air engines lately. They're interesting pieces of technology. They're basically similar to a regular internal combustion engine, but without the internal combustion part. The air is compressed externally to high pressures and the release of that pressure drives a piston, which then turns a crankshaft. In an internal combustion engine, the air pressure is created by the ignition of a fuel/air mixture.
Here's an interesting video from Australia:
You can read about the MDI engine here. I still haven't gotten my head wrapped around how the Engineair motor works, but you can read about it here.
This seems like a far simpler way to reduce emissions produced from cars. There are no expensive electric motors or heavy batteries. The fuel infrastructure could be very easily and inexpensively put in place...almost all gas stations have an air compressor now. It wouldn't take much to install bigger capacity compressors. You don't need any fuel to be trucked in on a regular basis. The power needed to drive to compressors could come from several clean sources...solar/wind/wave.
City transit authorities such as the TTC could save a lot in terms of fuel costs by having their buses running on compressed air. They could easily refill at the bus stations every time they cycle through their routes.
Anyways, you can read about some homemade projects here and here. These guys make it seems so easy. Spinmaster Airhogs toys have been powered by pneumatic engines for a while. You can read about how their tiny engines work here.
Here's an interesting video from Australia:
You can read about the MDI engine here. I still haven't gotten my head wrapped around how the Engineair motor works, but you can read about it here.
This seems like a far simpler way to reduce emissions produced from cars. There are no expensive electric motors or heavy batteries. The fuel infrastructure could be very easily and inexpensively put in place...almost all gas stations have an air compressor now. It wouldn't take much to install bigger capacity compressors. You don't need any fuel to be trucked in on a regular basis. The power needed to drive to compressors could come from several clean sources...solar/wind/wave.
City transit authorities such as the TTC could save a lot in terms of fuel costs by having their buses running on compressed air. They could easily refill at the bus stations every time they cycle through their routes.
Anyways, you can read about some homemade projects here and here. These guys make it seems so easy. Spinmaster Airhogs toys have been powered by pneumatic engines for a while. You can read about how their tiny engines work here.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Neat Technology
My friend Todd send me this link about some really neat technology going on in the software world. What they show in the presentation is pretty amazing. It's easy to think of a bunch of new spin off applications. I think a new kind of desktop interface is coming up. I also think browsing the web will change pretty fast too. Really cool stuff.
Poo....
Sad day. The Anaheim Ducks just beat the Ottawa Senators for the Stanley Cup. It was a great run for the sens...too bad they couldn't put up a better fight. Great season though...Hopefully they'll be just as good next year.
Hockey season's over now...I'll probably cancel the cable sometime over the next couple of days. Time to see what life is like without TV.
Hockey season's over now...I'll probably cancel the cable sometime over the next couple of days. Time to see what life is like without TV.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Manufacturing in China
Someone had this video at work so I copied it to put on here. Have a look at this:
It's hard to imagine being in this kind of work environment. It seems like a scene from the beginning of the industrial revolution where Europe and North America had child labourers and all sorts of poor conditions for workers. Wages were also pretty low.
A lot has happened in the west in terms of workers rights since then. Some would argue that unionized workers have it too good and point to examples in GM or Chrysler where the unions have pretty much choked companies through fat pensions and high wages. Beyond that, however, there are a lot of safety regulations, inspections, quality assurance auditing, paid vacation, minimum wage, and other basic benefits that are a given for people working here in Canada. The cost for all of these, along with taxes, electricity, water, building maintenance, and other administrative departments, are carried by any company in the form of overhead costs. They work to increase the cost of any product or service being sold.
In the video, apart from the obvious lack of safety measures, there are 6 people running a single machine. No North American company producing similar products can afford to put that many people on a single machine. The hourly wages of the people alone would make the parts too expensive. Instead, automation and other methods are used to reduce the manpower hours on a production line to produce parts at a lower cost. Machines are significantly cheaper than people in the long run.
What can we do to compete with Chinese labour then? That's too big a topic to write about now. In the meantime, please consider that India has close to a billion people right now and, like China, has a large pool of cheap labour to draw on. Also consider that they are growing rapidly in the IT industry and now have the 5th largest steel company in Tata Steel. So the question now becomes, how do we compete against both India and China ?
As a final note, here's a little example on the reality of cheap Chinese labour:
During one interview that I had in Kitchener, Ontario, the company was having welded metal carts manufactured in China. I asked them why, since it was a pretty basic item and there are plenty of local companies that could produce these carts. The interviewer said that the cost of having them made in China was 30% of the cost of having them made locally in Canada...and that included the cost of shipping the carts half-way around the world.
It's hard to imagine being in this kind of work environment. It seems like a scene from the beginning of the industrial revolution where Europe and North America had child labourers and all sorts of poor conditions for workers. Wages were also pretty low.
A lot has happened in the west in terms of workers rights since then. Some would argue that unionized workers have it too good and point to examples in GM or Chrysler where the unions have pretty much choked companies through fat pensions and high wages. Beyond that, however, there are a lot of safety regulations, inspections, quality assurance auditing, paid vacation, minimum wage, and other basic benefits that are a given for people working here in Canada. The cost for all of these, along with taxes, electricity, water, building maintenance, and other administrative departments, are carried by any company in the form of overhead costs. They work to increase the cost of any product or service being sold.
In the video, apart from the obvious lack of safety measures, there are 6 people running a single machine. No North American company producing similar products can afford to put that many people on a single machine. The hourly wages of the people alone would make the parts too expensive. Instead, automation and other methods are used to reduce the manpower hours on a production line to produce parts at a lower cost. Machines are significantly cheaper than people in the long run.
What can we do to compete with Chinese labour then? That's too big a topic to write about now. In the meantime, please consider that India has close to a billion people right now and, like China, has a large pool of cheap labour to draw on. Also consider that they are growing rapidly in the IT industry and now have the 5th largest steel company in Tata Steel. So the question now becomes, how do we compete against both India and China ?
As a final note, here's a little example on the reality of cheap Chinese labour:
During one interview that I had in Kitchener, Ontario, the company was having welded metal carts manufactured in China. I asked them why, since it was a pretty basic item and there are plenty of local companies that could produce these carts. The interviewer said that the cost of having them made in China was 30% of the cost of having them made locally in Canada...and that included the cost of shipping the carts half-way around the world.
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