Barber-ism

I got a kicky new 'Do today. Well, actually my standard summer buzz. “Hair too hot – must remove to cool brain.”

To get to my barber I must walk for 20+ minutes past block after block of other barber shops. That causes me to reflect on why I am so picky?

I have of course gone to all the great Toronto stylists of the 1980s and 1990s, such as the late John Steinberg's Rainbow Room. John was awesome. I do miss him. There was a window in the 1980s where he would fly in the best stylists in the world and I would produce takeaway videos of their live styling performances. Those were good times my friend.

John Steinberg. Handout photo found all over the web. © someone, no doubt. We respect that.

For a time I visited what law enforcement calls "A Basement Betty" which is a licensed hair stylist working out of her own home. Although my Basement Betty was Ian. I never ratted him out to law enforcement, even though he never got my color correct.

Now all I want is a proper haircut. I have gone all the way down to Steve's, on Queen East at the east side of the corner where The Opera House is. Steve's is famous for his happy endings. Which are not what you think. He has one of those electric shoulder massages and he gives you a free electric shoulder massage. Which is awesome. But Steve has this habit of returning to Greece for July and August. And hey, July and August are two months when I demand biweekly buzzes. "Hair too hot – must remove to cool brain."

I'm too cheap to take transit to go to Micheal’s at Church & Wellesley. Michael no doubt does the best job on my hair. But why spend the extra 6 bucks on tokens just to look good? I mean, I'm the guy who had a Basement Betty named Ian dye his silver hair chesnut?!

But today is all about "John's Classic" at Broadview and Danny. A real haircut, 17 bucks (plus three dollar tip, of course). My guy can deal with my double crowns and my nose hair problems. I do my own eyebrows. And he's just finished my birthday buzzcut so I am one happy dude - "Hair too hot – must remove to cool brain."

Me, sporting a John's Classic. Viewed from my best side.

The sadness of sadness

I'm sad. I'm not going to say why I am sad right now because this blog is not a place for revelatory confession. Also the events involve others and I have no permission to expose their pain.

I had the great misfortune to have a happy childhood. To have been born during the postwar boom was entrée into the most privileged life any generation of what we now call "the 99%" has ever known. Houses cost a few thousand dollars. Cars a couple of thousand. There were more jobs than men to take them. Unions were making a difference. The doors of the Nation were wide open – please, come on in, this is Canada. Welcome!

And for a child life was an endless series of amusement park entrances in candy-coated red with the promise of all fun within! And sugary treats. And naps – many have written about falling asleep in one place (perhaps the car) to awake in another (probably your own bed). Anyhoo, a tapestry of squealing delight to the point of complete exhaustion.

The legendary Canadian supergoup Rush has a song titled "Lakeside Park". That was a real place. An amusement park in my home town. When I was 13 my friends and I rode our bikes out there (4.8 kms). We arrived and saw that the park was demolished. There was an atmosphere of disbelief. I walked to where the park should have been. I found the cement footings of what had been a ride called the Caterpillar. I sat in the sand and wept.

Like Holden Caulfield, I was weeping at the loss of my own childhood.

Me, in happier times

The Caterpillar Ride, today, at Idlewild:

Standing is outstanding

In Saturday's National Post Andrew Coyne devotes his column to decrying sitting. Citing an article in the British Medical Journal The Lancet, he says sitting now kills more people than cigarettes. And I agree with him. When you sit in an office at a computer all day long

• You are not exercising any muscles
• Your blood distribution is disturbed
• Your lymphatic fluids pool instead of flushing away

It's why I always get up every hour and walk once around our floor when I'm at work.

Read the whole story here. Stand up for saving your own life!

Me, standing at work

The Trillium Building

A generic mid-century high rise residential apartment building located in East York near Woodbine and O'Connor. Displaying some very classic Googie-like adornments including a Porte-Cochere full of wholes.

Videography by Alan Fox. Soundtrack "Blip Bounce feat. Philter Fox"

Alternative Transportation: AutoShare vs car2go vs Zipcar

BlogTO provides a surprisingly helpful look at Toronto's three competing hourly car rental outfits. Surprisingly helpful because a typical BlogTO article sends its abstemious vegan food critic to review restaurants like WVRST, which serves ONLY beer and sausages. Neither of which the food critic will consume before writing their review.

BlogTO: Car sharing in Toronto: AutoShare vs. car2go vs. Zipcar

BTW the comments are even better than the article. Especially the comparison of insurance plans, which the vegan reporter never thought about because they've never driven a car and were too busy with their soy smoothie.

And here's the AutoCar AND Zipcar location right at the end of my laneway. It's so darn handy I'm actually going to get a driver's license again.

Alternate Housing - Shipping Container Conversion

There are many ways to build a home. It's an issue I track because, like many Canadians, when I retire I'd like it to be a snug home in a beautiful, natural area.

"Shipping Container" may not be your idea of a snug home, but there are many firms working to change that. Here's one...

Converting shipping containers into dwellings, offices, labs and other habitable structures may just be the beginning of the trend.

image courtesy David Hawgood

Update: The National Post has an article about a shipping container housing project in Vancouver

Photos: Innovative homes made from shipping containers are viable – not to mention very cool

Personal Rapid Transit - In Pod We Trust

Everybody loves elevated railways.* Except anyone on the second floor. Never knowing when a few thousand of your fellow citizens will zoom past your cube is the number three reason why no one takes monorail seriously.

However in our world of dreamers and schemers monorail just makes sense. No less an imagineer than Walt Disney made it the theme transit system of tomorrow. Even one of Toronto's Mayor Fords proposed it as a scheme to shuttle people from nowhere to some deserted plateau. And Jane Jacob's urban visionary successor, The Simpsons, lampooned the monorail as the ultimate gimmick for desperate cities in desperate times.

Yet the dream of monorail will not die. First of all, it excites urban planners because it's a method to use the only available downtown real estate - the space above the roadway. With a monorail, erection is a breeze! Everyone who wants to drive on the road can do so, plus you can whisk those second-class losers who can't afford cars on their choo choo in the sky.

And times must be very tough indeed, because there are now three elevated railway companies pushing the same urban transit concept – Personal Rapid Transit. Yes, a streetcar meant to carry one person?! On demand!

This is one idea that looks sensational on a drawing board. It makes for a great set of powerpoint slides. It carries a price tag that is surprisingly cheap. You can build a system that blankets all of downtown for the cost of a few miles of four lane highway. Including the cars!

Then some poor unfortunate has to climb those long stairs up to the elevated train, and stand on the edge of a platform with no railings suspended some 20 feet in the air.

Let's watch that video:


So that was some time ago. What's happening with PRT today?
Well better 3-D computer graphic animations. Without further ado, let's submit to Sweden's Vectus PRT sales presentation



Well that was professional. Now, let's look at the video shot at the test track and see what it really looks like.



Nothing screams "unproven technology" like the flashing amber lights attached to each outbuilding along the course. "Danger! Our technology is being used."

During the "Winter Test" part of the video, we saw the #2 reason people hate monorails- because they dump huge amounts of snow at random intervals on the pedestrians foolish enough to walk on the streets.

And I hoped you noticed all the ladders around the test track. A reminder of the #1 reason everyone hates monorails. Because if they break down or malfunction in any way... you're stuck way up in the air. Enjoy climbing down that ladder!

PRT systems are being not built all around the globe. Masdar City in Abu Dhabi is not building a PRT system. In North America, Microsoft is not building a Vectus System at their Redmond Campus. In fact, more PRT systems are not being built now that at any time in the previous century!

UPDATES
The Economist reports that if Ben Cayetano becomes mayor of Honolulu he is going to do a Mayor Ford and cancel the elevated rail project that would have serviced all of Oahu..

And The Monorail Society reports that Moscow is going to decommission its 8 year old monorail. Looks like we can call that one a monoFAIL.

The Reality: Heathrow's Ultra PRT
The Ultra Personal Rapid Transit system at Heathrow is in a glorified busway, and they lumber along with the grace of racoons, slamming into the sides of the track on curves and bouncing up and down. That would be a great ride action for a haunted house ride on the fair, but probably not quite what the international air traveler is looking forward to after taking the red eye over from North America.

Here's the video. You may as well skip the first two minutes of them training the passengers.



And finally, because you've been so patient, here's a treat. The King's monorail!

Fahrt im Kaiserwagen der Wuppertaler Schwebebahn




*Disclosure: Elevated railways are not monorails, although most monorails are elevated railways. All of the systems in this article are railways and none are monorails, except the Schwebebahn. Explaining why is boring and geeky. But calling all of them monorails is more fun!