On vacation

I'm on vacation for the month of August.... Back in late August early September!

More on Union Station (the book I'm reading) eventually as well! Stay tuned!

Law & Order & Muppets

Gothamist: Law & Order & Muppets

Sometimes it is interesting to see if you were to throw two television shows into a blender what you would get.

Click here to see what happens.

Finally....

Finally I have found Ontario strawberries!

Since May I have been looking at my local No Frills store for fresh Ontario strawberries. Sure year round they stock Ontario Apples and other produce. But I wanted strawberries from Ontario!

I could find strawberries flown from California, but not a short haul basket from a local Ontario strawberry patch.

I also have visited a local Loblaws store in Richmond Hill and struck out there as well.

But thank goodness for the Aurora Farmer's Market where, this morning, I picked up a basket of fresh Ontario strawberries!

Why did I want the Ontario strawberries as opposed to the California ones? Simply the fresh juiciness of strawberries is lost once you start refrigerating them and transporting them miles upon miles.

Sure I am all for free trade, but sometimes free trade just doesn't work. In this case fresh Ontario strawberries is required and nothing else will do.

TheStar.com - Patsy, famous Toronto Zoo elephant, dies

TheStar.com - Patsy, famous Toronto Zoo elephant, dies

A sad day at the Zoo for many a five year old....including this blogger who grew up watching the Toronto Zoo's elephants.

2nd Blogiversary!

Michael Suddard's Homepage - Michael's Blog

So I missed my Blog's birthday (or is it anniversary?). July 20th 2004 I started what you are reading as an experiment.

I initially wanted it to allow friends and family in Aurora and other places to be able to keep up with me while I was teaching in New York City.

Then I added, when I felt like it, opinion pieces on events of the day both local and international. Some of these opinion pieces even were shared with "The Art of the Rant" (Bill Arend's Blog) where I am also a contributing editor.

Lately the blog has changed again, as I have now been back in Aurora for almost a year. It continues to document the happenings in my life but the New Yorkness has left simply because I don't live there anymore.

The opinion pieces do contain New York issues as I continue to read their online media. Opinion pieces tend to bubble up within me as I think about things going on around me. Hence, they tend to be either local or Canadian in nature. The opinions I have also can be found at The Art of Rant as well.

Pictures? Where are the pictures? The pictures I have taken will continue to be posted on the blog as I wander around the world. I am always continously uploading my picture collection to my main website (see scrapbook section) as I go on.

The main website is almost done receiving a complete overhaul (which has taken over a year to reformat all the content into new font and layout).

So to the blog, you will continue on your evolution of wherever I want to take to. HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!

Lost in History?

TheStar.com - Tesla's theories remain current

Sometimes a people get lost over time. Nikola Tesla is one of those people whose name has gotten lost in time over the past one hundred and fifty years. Before you go and click on the link above about who Tesla is and what he invented, consider these hints:

1. J.P. Morgan (yes the same banker who helped to launch the J.P. Morgan bank that eventually merged with Chase financial to form J.P. Morgan Chase bank in the United States) and George Westinghouse (the founder of the Westinghouse appliance company) both thought Tesla's invention would change the future.

2. Niagara Falls would not be the same today without Tesla.

3. Thomas Edison was a competitor to Tesla, but eventually Tesla's invention won out over Tesla.

4. Unless your Amish, you use Tesla's invention everyday one way or another.

Any guesses?

Click here to find out via today's Toronto Star article for a full history on Tesla and his invention that changed the world.

Italy wins the World Cup

TheStar.com - Italy outkicks France in shootout

Who cares about soccer (football)? The Italians won in a penalty shootout after a full game and an overtime period. One missed penalty kick meant the French lost.

I watched maybe a quarter of the game and was sadely dissappointed in the game. Soccer to me is watching a mass of players kicking the ball back and forth to each other in their opponents end. The defensive team basically creates a wall around their goal, the defense rarely charges at an offensive player at centre field. Basically the offense, once they get possession of the ball in their own end are allowed to kick the ball down the field uninterrupted by the defensive team and making the odd pass. Once in the defensive end, the offensive team passes the ball around and sometimes back to centre field and then a little further towards the goal. But usually the ball, if still in control of the offense, is past back away from the goal. Besides this boring style of play, the games are usually decided in either penalty kicks or one goal leads more than 95% of the time. What gives?

Now add up to the diving and other stuff that the players seem to get away with and the game looks like a sham to me.

How to improve the game?

Have the two teams remove one or two players per team from the field to give more space to the players. Currently the two teams seem congested in defensive end. This has worked for hockey in overtime when four players play instead of five. Could this work for overtime in soccer? Could it work for the whole game in soccer? This change might open up scoring more likely. So instead of 1 zip, two zip or two to one final scores in soccer games there might be 4-3 or 3-0 games. More scoring means more fan appreciation of the game. But this change is unlikely to happen because of the uforia coming from European cities over the past couple of weeks the World Cup has been going on.

In other news, pizza delivery in Canada is not going on right now as the drivers are on strike in favour of dancing in the streets because a foreign soccer team one a world cup soccer game.

Good thing I ordered pizza on Friday, because right now (Sunday evening) the Italians have taken over Yonge Street in Aurora with their horn honkin' and flag waving.

I just don't get it.... I just don't get it....