There’ll be a solar eclipse this evening. The Vancouver Sun says: The eclipse is set to begin at approximately 5:00 p.m., and will partially block the sun until just before 7:30 p.m. Even if you were all set to see it, you’ll have noticed that there are no clear skies above Gabriola today. So, out [...]
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A friend’s son has been setting snares to catch rabbits. (No, not on Gabriola.) She knows it’s probably illegal where they live, but doesn’t care. Being a boy is illegal these days, she told me. It’s illegal to give your kid a normal childhood. So she says nothing about the boy’s attempts to catch dinner [...]
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From the NYT: An Effort to Bury a Throwaway Culture One Repair at a Time. AMSTERDAM — An unemployed man, a retired pharmacist and an upholsterer took their stations, behind tables covered in red gingham. Screwdrivers and sewing machines stood at the ready. Coffee, tea and cookies circulated. Hilij Held, a neighbor, wheeled in a [...]
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This is not a local story, but it makes me laugh. From CBC: Winnipeg man told to wrap up 24 years of home renos. Oh my. Can you imagine? We all procrastinate here and there, I figure, and some of us are better at it than others. I know a Gabriola man who’d like to [...]
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This wsj.com article is just too interesting to miss: The Upside of Autism: New data show autistics’ superiority at some cognitive tasks.
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I love this approach. From Aces Too High: Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tries new approach to school discipline — suspensions drop 85%. The first time that principal Jim Sporleder tried the New Approach to Student Discipline at Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, he was blown away. Because it worked. In [...]
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If you have teenagers, especially those who don’t fit in with the other kids, read this. Or maybe you were the weird kid who didn’t fit it, or you have some sympathy for those kids. Yeah, you go read it, too. It’s Joe Peacock’s article in the Huffington Post: That’s Why You Don’t Have Any [...]
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Oooh, I want one! From Treehugger: Powerpot Generates Electricity From Your Campfire. It used to be that you didn’t need a lot of electricity when you went camping; now nobody goes anywhere without their phone or GPS unit. But how do you keep them charged? The PowerPot is a very clever solution to the problem; [...]
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I drive past the sheep on South Road and wonder what it’s like to keep sheep. They’re awfully cute, but I’ve heard they eat everything, which would be a huge problem in my garden. But hey, lookit this! Somebody’s figured out how to train sheep to avoid certain plants. It’s a nefarious scheme, but it [...]
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Do you take photos? Invite the neighbours over to see them? This seems like an awesome format: PechaKucha. (I wish somebody had invented this before my childhood. Because oh, the neighbours went to Mexico and we saw so many boring travel photos I could have screamed.) A PechaKucha night at the Roxy might be fun, [...]
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Have you joined the Gym at Twin Beaches, then found that you have trouble finding the discipline to get down there for workouts? If you’re an iPhone user, here’s a weird thing that might be your solution. You sign up with Gym-Pact, and say how often you’ll be at the gym. If you make it, [...]
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As far as I know, we don’t usually have bears on Gabriola, so this is just for fun. UPDATE: This post used to link to an amusing Youtube video. But alas, that video has been removed by the user, Youtube says, so I’ve removed the link to the video. You can’t watch it today. If [...]
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From Treehugger: Cool Electrical Recumbent Bike is Driven by Cordless Screwdriver. …we’re intrigued by this cool prototype for an electrical recumbent bike that’s made primarily with bent wood — and is driven with a Bosch cordless screwdriver. [continue] (More info at the rennholz.com. English text is below the German.) If you happen to see Georgi [...]
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I never did find out what the weird goop on Whalebone beach is, but that post did get me to read up on ambergris, which is used in making perfumes. Well. Here’s an alternative to ambergris: How to make high-end perfumes without whale barf. University of British Columbia researchers have identified a gene in balsam [...]
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A couple of our Gabriola friends have house construction projects underway. They’re thinking about what style of this and that to buy, what tile would look good above the kitchen sink, and which light fixtures will match their taste. Buildy kids, you must see Omar Arbel’s planter chandelier. Doesn’t that look like fun? (Probably costs [...]
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There’s nothing like an hour spent in the Quinsam line-up to make a person dream of alternatives. If you’ve been dreaming of a flying car, this will be of interest: Flying car a ‘step closer’. I’d love to try one of those, but flying cars are the last thing we need. The helicopters over Gabriola [...]
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Have any Gabriola groups considered using electronic clickers to encourage participation? Here’s an article from the NYT about the devices: Speak Up? Raise Your Hand? That May No Longer Be Necessary. In recent years, college students have been bringing clickers to lecture halls, where professors require their use for attendance, instant polls and multiple-choice tests. [...]
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The Tyee offers an excerpt of Grant Buday’s book, Stranger on a Strange Island. He’s writing about his experience on Mayne, but does part of his account remind you of life on Gabriola? The most basic social division on Mayne is that between islanders and off-islanders. While there are categories of off-islanders, all are, by [...]
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