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Queen Maggie

One of the odd anglo traditions that is still very popular in Canada, is to listen to the Queen’s Christmas speech. Often this is done with fair sincerity by youngsters, and then increasingly for comedic or ironic value over time (even my

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Old St Lawrence

Every town should have one (top photo) I’m pretty sure that every great town has a few great markets in it – and somehow we are attracted to them deeply, without often stopping to think about their extraordinary cultural inertia. I will

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Parting on the square

And then there’s barrel-vaulting (top photo) Transit in Toronto and the region is one of the most contentious issues there is – we have had tons of misfires, multi-decade fights and studies of studies (even studies of why there are so many

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TANSTAAFL!*

Just finished a really lovely read – Variable Star – which was written by Spider Robinson, from 1950s notes for a never-completed novel by Robert Heinlein. Quite a nifty piece of work it is, too, in genesis and execution. Robinson’s curiosity and

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Hamilton steam

As I mentioned the other day (Pinhead-camera) Catherine and I had a lovely day-trip with her father Neville to see the Hamilton steam museum last week. The museum consists of five structures which went into operation in 1860 – and the exquisite

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Pin-head camera

There’s been a lot of talk lately about one of the more interesting and surprisingly ancient optical technologies – the pin-hole camera, or camera obscura – by which an accurate projection can be made upon a screen, of any scene toward which

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Adults have lives

Here’s one final piece from the Guillermo Del Toro show (I know, but really, I couldn’t resist) – it’s not the most glamorous or polished instalment, visually – but without doubt, these hand-drawn spreads (and the other notebooks also on display) give

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Many Tellings

Of course one of the very best things about any museum collection is the display of assembled diversity. Almost every exhibit reminds us that the ancient world was really not the way we see it reflected in movies – that is, centrally

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Lizard people

Ancient Roman space-man “proof” (top photo) (Hey cool, that title has nifty meter – up there with “Hemingway hated disco music!” (a favourite, in our house) I’m building up a whole arc of serious history posts – starting from essential considerations of

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Secondary indicators

I really was fascinated by libraries and museums when I was a kid. I even made a tiny museum of my own, complete with an illustrated card catalog for each of the exhibits, including acquisition-date and provenance. Most were of particular interest

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That all may know

Had a truly lovely expedition this weekend to the Royal Ontario Museum – with my adventure buddy Nada, and also three new friends, Evelyn, Keith and their smart and charming daughter Isabel – which made the whole day a great deal more

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Where (and how) you find it

I love my town, and I’m incredibly curious about the world, but I generally avoid super-popular touristy things, because so many feel overcrowded, over-managed and overly dumbed-down. (And yes, I may also be just a teensy bit cantankerous)  ;o) HOWEVER – Nada’s

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Robots and aeroplanes

I don’t this point can be made often enough – tacky, eclectic, oddball, low-rent, artsy and/or just plain freaky storefronts are by-far the best for both musing and photography. Nor is this for such an entirely obvious reason as that old mean-comedy