39 Replies to “Still Standing”

  1. Once again the CBC shows how clueless they are. They report that “As they drank gin martinis afterwards in celebration, engineers said …”. What does the CBC think, that you can make martinis with something other than gin? Martini multi-culturalism? Nonsense.
    Meanwhile, good to see the old barn put up a fight, the don’t make ’em like the used to. May dad, who was a professional architect before he retired, always says, why use six nails when twelve will do? But you try to tell that to kids these days; they won’t believe you.

  2. Thanks for this article, Kate. I watched some excellent hockey games at the old arena back in the 60’s. Saw the McDonald brier finals there ,too. If I may get sentimental for a moment:
    Best game I ever saw was 1966, Canadian national hockey team vs. the Winnipeg NHL oldtimers. The Nats featured stars like Fran Huck, Herb and Gerry Pinder, Roger Bourbonnais.
    Red Storey and Maurice Richard refereed.
    Oldtimers were led by Billy Mosienko.
    In the third period,the much younger Nats got a little arrogant, with their greater stamina, and started to showboat, skating circles around the NHL’ers. There were a few boos coming from the crowd, Winnipeg hockey fans didn’t like flagrant disrespect for the guys who’d paid their dues.
    A few fancy passes brought one Nat to the Winnipeg blueline stickhandling like a superstar, head down.
    He swept past an Oldtimer forward, and crossed the blueline. There he was met by a pissed off
    Bill Juzda who delivered the hardest bodycheck, with his chest, I have ever seen. The roar from the crowd was unbelieveable. The Nats played the rest of the game in a somewhat subdued manner, and no showboating.
    Sorry to see the old building go, but I guess that’s progress. Too bad Winnipeg doesn’t have an NHL team to go with the nice new arena, it’s one of the best hockey towns in the world.

  3. There seems to be no *About us* at that site. I get sense that wee hours talk show host is in the backgroud. This also security related, but a litlle more down to earth…
    Before you use your credit card on line again, be sure to read this first person experience of a hijacked cardholder. There is a new stealth key logger out that automatically gets and sorts personal information with a bot server. There is no anti- malware software defending against this so far.
    hijacked online
    TG
    PS There is a free logger sweeper at Telus.com/Spywaredetector
    You get three 3 free sweeps before having to subscribe.

  4. In order to ‘pull’ the WTC, the cutter charges would have to have been in place before the planes hit. As to Tim McVeigh- google him and check out the Gore Vidal article!
    Oh- and JFK was killed by one person, acting alone!?! Yeah-right!

  7. Bond, James Bond, was fictional. Putting vodka into a stemmed cone-shaped vessel does not a martini make. It’s gin man, that’s how the non-fictional Sir Winston defeated the vodka-drinking fascists. (Nahh, I’m just funnin’ ya.)

  9. To the point. Perhaps it’s time to send the Winnipeg demolition people to the Middle East for some competency training.

  10. “If we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class. There seems ever to have been a proneness in the brilliant and warm-blooded to fall in to this vice. The demon of intemperance ever seems to have delighted in sucking the blood of genius and generosity.”
    —
    Abraham Lincoln, address to the Washington Temperance Society, Springfield, Illinois, 22 February 1842.

  11. I might add that a Martini is gin, but a vodka martini must be requested.
    Same as that this is a slash /
    And this is a back slash \
    No need to specify a slash … only a back slash.
    this is called economic use of terms. If we had a real language of our own and everyone had to learn it, there would be a lot less misunderstanding.

  12. And in case you misunderstood the slash terms …
    / = forward slash … used on the web
    \ = back slash … used with window applications with the DOS base … anyone remember DOS?

  13. Vit,
    I think people drink mainly for two reasons
    1. they cannot deal with life
    2. they are lonely and bored
    Re #2 I have found that smart people often are those who are the most lonely.

  14. One’s never lonely if one is in love with oneself, Duke.
    “When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.”
    —
    Henny Youngman

  16. Thinking about the Old Barn has reminded me of the old Edmonton Gardens. It went down, what, thirty years ago?
    I wish we could keep more of those old engineering marvels, unforunately the artismist elitists in our community are only interested in gingerbread houses. They’re witches.
    They’re actually putting a big ribbon and bow on the previously classic Edmonton Art Gallery. Buildings don’t have ribbons. (You just wait ’till a block of ice slides off that stainless ramp and kills some pedestrian; then they’ll be sorry.)
    Sometimes it’s just absurd. About ten years ago there a movement to paint the High-Level bridge green. It’s a box-girder bridge. Like the Eiffel Tower, laid on it’s side. I suppose they’re silly enough to consder painting the Eiffel tower something other than black too. No sense of taste at all.

  19. Actually its almost a rust brown…which scared the shit outta me. As if vertigo wasn’t enough to contend with, how about a 900 foot tower lookng rusty. LOL

  20. I think these silly buildings are being built only because engineers and computing scientists have made the technology possible; because they’re different, not because they’re a good idea. I thought it was the architects who were supposed to stand guard against trendy but inappropriate technology. Gehry and Pei are engaged in folly, which would be ok for a few bucks, but not for 100s of millions.
    The exteriors of these buildings are deteriorating at a phenomenal rate. The panels keep separating and detaching, they change colors at different rates, and the roofs leak. What will people think of them in 100 years? Well, I don’t think they’ll be here in 100 years, they’ll be condemned as unfit for human use long before that.
    Buildings should not be curvilinear on all three axes (with the exception of domes and igloos). When curved on two axes, the curves should be simple and graceful. The curved faces of Edmonton’s CN tower are an example of good curves, they change it from a 3 to a 4 on a five-point goodness scale.
    Short buildings should be made of wood, stone, and brick. Tall buildings should be made of steel, stone, and glass. Concrete is ok for structural purposes, but usually should not be exposed, except as a structural highlight. Interiors should be made of warm woods and stones, or simply be neutral.
    I don’t like stucco, aluminum, chrome, or plastic buildings, they’re alien textures. And so is pink. The Edmonton federal building is pink, for god’s sake. I’ll take the Deifenbaker building any day. And our city hall is a bloody pyramid that isn’t big enough to hold any staff, so we taxpayers have to fork out extra rent to house the parasites. Super!

  21. TonyGuitar,
    This trojan goes after a MS fault in handling wmf files. It was first reported in dec 05. When I heard about it, I ditched Norton AV and got the free avast one (they had a fix right away avast.com). Anyway, through the avast site you can get to the MS page … they have plugged this hole for w2K +.

  22. Vitruvius,
    “About ten years ago there a movement to paint the High-Level bridge green. It’s a box-girder bridge.”
    It isn’t a waterfall any more?

  23. Speaking of Towers on the one and only time I went up the CN Tower I was in the elevator with a large contigent of tourists from Japan. About half way up I turned to my companion and said sotto voce,”Did you know that this elevator was supplied by the lowest bidder?” Enjoyed the rest of the trip.

  24. Oh I don’t mind the “waterfall”, as long as it’s not used too often. A little frivolity in art is fine. The waterfall is subtle when not in use, and it does not effect the structure or the form of the bridge. I know that because I discussed it with Peter Lewis at the Bistro Praha when he was designing it (the waterfall, not the bridge 😉
    You can read more about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Level_Bridge_(Edmonton)
    where it is mentioned that “The Edmonton-area Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer uses a rivet hammer purportedly used in the bridge’s construction as part of its ceremony.” I have one of those iron rings, B.Sc.(EE), 1977.
    The iron ring ceremony is centered around a work by Rudyard Kipling. There’s more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring
    You want CanCon? The Iron Ring is a Canadian tradition, now emulated in other countries. Here’s Kipling’s words, transcribed by hand from my yellowed copy, please forgive the typos:
    Obligation
    I, __________, in the presence of these my betters and equals in my Calling, bind myself opon my Honour and Cold Iron, that, to the best of my knowledge and power, I will not henceforward suffer or pass, or be privy to the passing of, Bad Workmanship or Faulty Material in aught that concerns my works before men as an Engineer, or in my dealings with my own Soul before my Maker.
    My Time I will not refuse, my Thought I will not grudge, my Care I will not deny towards the honour, use, stability, and perfection of any works to which I may be called to set my hand.
    My Fair Wages for that work I will openly take. My Reputation in my calling I will honourably guard; but I will in no way go about to compass or wrest judgment or gratifaction from any one with whom I may deal. And further, I will early and warily strive my uttermost against professional jelousy or the belittling of my working-brothers, in any field of their labour.
    For my assured failure and derelictions, I ask pardon beforehand of my betters and my equals in my Calling here assembled; praying that in the hour of my temptations, weakness, and weariness, the memory of this my Obligation and of the company before whom it as entered into, may return me to aid, comfort, and restrain.
    Upon Honour and Cold Iron, God helping me, by these things I purpose to abide.

  25. The only time I ever went to the top of the CN tower in Edmonton was when my friend John and I climbed the utility staircase with Samsonite briefcases full of hard-cover books from the Centennial Library when we were about 16. Somehow, we thought the staircase would eventually provide us with access to a view. Yeah, we were uber-nerds.
    Interestingly, it turned out that all the stair-well exit doors were locked except the main floor, where we had entered, which being kids we had forgotten to determine in process, so we had to climb all the way back down again by hand. Sorry, foot.

  27. Vitruvius,
    I have no problem with the waterfall … I seen it a couple of times years ago. Just didn’t know if it still working. If it wasn’t free, I think I would want my money back though.
    I was up there a couple weeks ago … I understand they are working on the bridge. Never made it downtown. My son and I got out before the snow storm. Had a great time at the WEM shooting range … my son and I both got to scratch shooting a Desert Eagle off our list of things to do.

  28. Good shooting, Ural. Technically, they’re working on the low-level bridge this year. A couple years ago they ran a maintenance pass on the fifth-street bridge.
    And people whined and complained and didn’t plan ahead and caused massive traffic jams for a week until it finally sunk in. Those people would sacrifice the bridge’s structure to their convenience until it collapsed while they were driving on it. Not a good idea.
    Folks should slow down and take the time to smell the roses. And the cordite 😉
    (PS: The waterfall cost $75,000. Probably a better deal than Bubbles Galore, $150,000. But the former was local, the latter federal, so what do you expect? At least our children, and our children’s children, will enjoy the waterfall, in their delightfully childish way. No wonder city council liked it, they’re childish too.)

  29. This is the actual title from Alan Kellog’s article in today’s Edmonton Champagne Socialist / Limousine Liberal / Mastercard Marxist Journal:
    “Alberta Arts Sector is Infrastructure,
    and should be Funded as Such.”
    You can’t make this stuff up, in the sense that the absurdity of the solecism would escape even the most talented satirist.

  30. Vitruvius,
    When I got the info on the High-Level, I was asking about the rat hole … apparently gone now. Apparently my father in law (well into the 80’s) got the bridges/construction confused.
    Bistro Praha? I think I et there. I love corn fritters … as far as I know the only place to get them in the west is at Burger Baron’s in Edmonton … they make a damn fine mushroom cheeseburger also. I remember when Burger King wasn’t Burger King in Edmonton (same name different company).

  31. Ah yes, the rat hole. I found it a delightful tunnel, but actually, it was an engineering failure, other than for the rail yards. Every torrential summer down-pour resulted in the thing half-filling up with water. Less than optimal. And once it became an effective barrier to modern emergency services transportation (think fire trucks) on a major traffic artery, I’m afraid it had to go.
    Still I miss it, the cool dank subterranian atmosphere on a hot summer afternoon. Sort of like the old fifth-street overpass, four blocks away, where my grandfather and I used to watch the trains switching, the wind in our hair on a hot summer afternoon. He was a brake-man who worked at the CP roundhouse in Winnipeg.
    By the way, speaking of rat holes, did you know that Edmonton, and indeed, almost all of Alberta, is rat free (they cause billions of dollars of damage a year, but only tens of millions to keep away, what with our strange isolated geography).
    Well, except of course for those darn… now, now, Vitruvius, don’t go there.

  32. Vitruvious — I get the impression you are one closet engineer (not neccessarily a bad thing). I watched the demo on TV today, and had a chuckle. It seems something was actually made properly, and perhaps exceded the building code! Wow.

  33. Given that I’ve spent the afternoon & evening prancing about on stage here signing the praises of engineering like Tina Turner on a roll, I don’t see where closet enters into it.
    And for the record, to be clear, I am not a professional engineer. My formal background is engineering. I make tools for engineers for a living. But I don’t think I’m quite serious enough to be a professional engineer. No use inflicting me on such a noble tradition.
    Just imagine the smell up in the rafters of the Old Barn, though. We’ll miss her.

  34. Vitruvius,
    I suffer from mapophobia. Edmonton used to be one the few places on the earth where I got relief. I can still handle the west and east … break into a sweat going north/south.

  35. I agree Ural. The anti-Cartesianists are as bad as the Platonists. Pythagorus must be rolling in his grave. Which brings us full circle to my early comments about Gehry and Pei. They’re anti-Cartesianists too.

  36. Looks like an Edmonton love-in gang. Only good thing about Edmonton (lived there twice for queen & country), is Calgary Trail and Highway 2 south!
    /sarcasm off/ or is that a \sarcasm off\
    duke: I remember DOS 1.1!

  37. Texas Canuck,
    Except for the Calgary Trail crack I think we are all in sync.
    Vitruvius,
    See my comment on snow – 2 full full circles? … double helix wanta be?

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