hame.ca

Happy Birthday Peter!

August 2nd is Peter's Birthday - he's 66 today!

Haven't updated in a while, here's some new stuff!

The Canadian Government is on the verge of enacting one of the worst copyright reforms in the history of the very idea of copyright protection. Much worse than the American's DMCA. The situation has been written up in the Globe's Web 2.0 column today, and copyfightin' lawyer Michael Giest's site has more.

The Strangest Disaster of the 20th Century - telling the story of Lake Nyos in Cameroon, of how more than 1,700 people (and countless animals and birds) died when an enormous quantity of Carbon Dioxide bubbled up from the depths of the lake and suffocated almost everyone in a 12 mile radius. A fascinating story of a horrible (but inevitable) tragedy.

My friends Sam Javanrouh (Daily Dose of Imagery), Rannie Turnigan (photojunkie) and Christopher and Jessica (istoica) are in a group photography show along with inconduit and are currently on display at Whippersnapper Gallery in the College St. 'hood... Definitely a recommendation to go check it out! So much terrific work up on the walls.

Awesome music, digital tampering and

Sigur Ros's new album, Hvarf/Heim and the DVD of their Icelandic homeland tour in 2006, Heima, are out now and they're awesome. I soooo want to go to Iceland some day.

Digital Tampering in the Media, Politics and Law looks at photographic meddling dating back to the Civil War period. Photoshopping is hardly a new phenomenon - it's just easier now.

Wow

Some crazy Norwegian fellow has created a gigantic scale model of Uncle Scrooge's moneybin.

AMAZING!

Time Bandits Map Replicated 26 Years Later

Terry Gilliam's wonderfilm "Time Bandits" was a favourite of mine when I was a kid. Now, 26 years later, the efforts of a number of truly dedicated fans have produced the closest replica yet to the 'map' the Time Bandits used to find the holes in the fabric of the universe that they dropped through in their quest. Beautiful.

Bill Watterson Reviews Schultz Biography

Bill Watterson, the hermitic creator of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, has posted a review of the new biography of Peanuts' creator Charles Schultz, in the Wall Street Journal today. He seems to like it.

Consumer Consequences is a game that helps you find out if you're living a sustainable life. How many Earths' worth of natural resources would it take to sustain all 6.6 billion humans, if everyone lived like you do.

"The Year of Living Biblically" - what would your life be like if you actually followed all the rules in the Bible?

So my iPod Touch is almost here...

I received notification last Friday that my iPod Touch was shipped via FedEx and is on its way. It departed Kunshan China on the 21st, travelled to Anchorage, Alaska, then down to FedEx's hub in Memphis, Tennessee, and has made it up to Mississauga, Ontario where, having travelled over 13,200kms it is now in "Clearance." I can't wait!!! It's absolutely killing me. The thing is right around the corner from my office (FedEx's depot is less an a km from here) and I have to wait... sheesh.

Today in History: Sept 17,

Today in History: Sept 17, 1976 - the prototype Enterprise Shuttle rolls out on the tarmac in California and begins the era of reusable orbiter spaceflight.

This past weekend I attended the Roncesvalles Village Polish Festival with my daughter Chloe. It was a ball! Took a bunch of good photos, too. You can see them here.

Faceyourpockets - photocopy your face smooshed on the glass with the contents of your pockets. Cool.

Meat Heads

The photographer Julia Kissina specializes in portraits of people wearing meat on their heads.

Wow! iPod Touch announced.

Link to Apple's tour of the iPod Touch, announced today.

Gerrymandering can be fun! The ReDistricting game by the USC Annenberg Center is a fun way to learn about how elections are won and lost in the U.S.

Control Rooms: Decrepit

Haiko Hebig's photography of abandoned or decrepit industrial machinery and its control rooms (via Boingboing). Beautiful.

A wonderfully nostalgic gallery of

A wonderfully nostalgic gallery of photos of a guy's visit to Toronto back in 1977. --- with some updated matching photos from post-2000.

A family tree of comics in the UK. Buster! Beano!

Steve Munro's Web Site is

Steve Munro's Web Site is a terrific source of behind-the-scenes information and analysis of the Toronto Transit Commission. Steve has a long history of transit watching and he is considered an expert on the subject of the TTC both by municipal government and the commission itself.

Boing Boing:
The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has a post with a bunch of interesting WWII propaganda posters. Link

Ever wondered what happens to bacon and eggs when they're sealed (separately) in lexan 'tombs' and kept for a month.. two months... or even a year?

Made in China!

Made in China: The Atlantic.com has a terrific slideshow(with audio) about the manufacturing industry in Shenzhen.

Consumer Reports has an article on the "ten most hyped kitchen products." No kidding.
Turbocharged dishwashers?

Consumerist's top-10 Tips That Will Make Sure You'll Stay Broke

July 27, 1866 - the

July 27, 1866 - the first transatlantic cable is completed and put into operation.

Today is also the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Spadina LRT.

10 Virtually Instant Ways to Imrpove Your Life. LifeHack is such an awesome site.

A SimCity-like flash-game. wicked! ElectroCity!

Thomas Briggs' art is incredible.