Culture Dynamic

In a small town in Ontario one small franchise is struggling against the economic tide with a slightly new and mostly accidental concept.

http://www.coffeeculture.ca/canada/index-3.html

This latest addition to the Canadian Coffee Shop Community is a firm called "Coffee Culture". The company is bold enough to propose that people might prefer a comfortable place to meet and talk - and that such a place might give birth again to the old European concept of the "coffee-house".



By virtue of design and location, one of the new outlets has attracted a young crowd who have started bringing their guitars and occasional talent to this new place to share their newly written tunes.




This new phenomenon is beginning to attract new musicians - and is getting crowded twice a week.

Hassan Fathy Reloaded

The popularity of a previous Blog entry describing the Hassan Fathy Village near Luxor Egypt has prompted the archive staff to recover some unpublished photos of the inside of Hassan Fathy's residence.
See the Post: Fathy, Fish and Faith Sunday, April 25, 2010

http://waterguyaway.blogspot.com/2010/04/hassan-fathy-fish-and-cathedrals.html

In this picture below the method for supporting the mud brick upper story is shown.



These rooms in the Master's residence display some of the features which he had designed into his own living space. This home was constructed with mud brick and simple wood frame elements - and has stood for 60 years. This bright and airy room is on the second floor.



The rooms display arched door frames and wall inset shelves.



The devotion and work of a local resident has been the main driver behind the preservation of the remaining buildings in the village - especially the Master's residence.



The winter living room featured a fireplace that was to be exactly copied by architects such as Michael Graves who brought Fathy's designs back to life in contemporary resort developments.



The Hassan Fathy Village was recently designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco and is planned for renewal, restoration and incorporation into an Archaeological Research and Study Centre.

Response Time

As the Age of Oil passes middle age the modern world is entering a transition time - the forces of change are at work on the drawing boards - and off the drawing board at a recent exposition in Toronto, Ontario.



In the Toronto EV Fest of October 2010 the coming transition is fast and furious - beginning with a display of the new TESLA roadster - and all electric sportscar.




An electrical engineering student is developing higher battery management performance for his porsche.



A Vancouver company has installed its engineered components in snazzy Italian scooter copies manufactured in Taiwan and now sold all over the country.



Batteries are the soon to be omnipresent elements of modern life, and new conpanies are bringing new technologies to the market.




New electric vehicles on the road will need a place to recharge and works are underway . . .

http://www.ec3initiative.com/initiatives.html

. . . to install hundreds of thousands of charging stations in Toronto over the next few years.

Over Time

A nearby event in Canada's Hockey heartland provided a prologue to the approaching season of snow and ice.

Hockey is a way of life for raising children in much of Canada. As autumn slips into winter a harvest of tournaments fills the arenas of the province.

http://www.londonjuniorknights.com/home.asp




For those big-boned middle class families strong enough to withstand energy-draining schedules, wallet-draining demands for equipment, and chilly arenas - the world's greatest game provides a disciplined upbringing to the country's next generation of leaders.

Here also, potential future stars are watched and graded for prospective work in the professional leagues.

The Colour of Time

Is spilled from branches shaking in the cold winds.

And in the morning there is now a silver frosting on the grass . . . and mists rise from the water . .





Streetscapes change with each passing day.



The sunny warm days of just a week ago now bear the edge of a chill that inspires the northern dwellers to the busyness of harvest and industry.

The brilliance of trees makes the public world a work of art.



And the season that was summer . . . lies quiet on the street . . . soon to be swept away.

Where does NOW go . . . .

. . . when the world is done with it? Stephen King posed this question in his novella "The Langoliers".
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Langoliers

An answer is in present-day Luxor, Egypt, where Luxor's recent history has been snatched away - leaving barren ground and dust swirling in the air.


The real life metaphor of Luxor is as chilling as King's novella. If there is hope and faith that a new "Plan for Luxor" will bring a future dream to life . . . . one can't help but notice that Faith also faces uncertainty. .



The barren land that held Luxor's most recent shape may give life to something new - but what exactly?

Will the "Master Plan" recreate the work of generations - of dreams, ambitions, enterprises, and designs cultivated over decades. Will the plan find it economical to balance aesthetics and make a street more interesting to visitors ?


As in the movie - as the last structure slides into the black chasm of the past, one wonders what happens next? Will the low-bid architects of modern-day Egypt pull the design for THIS building out of their files?



Out in the greyness of the "nows" which have not yet arrived - new shapes are forming. If we wait long enough - they may yet come to life.

Mission: Brass Cat - Part 2

. . . . In our last episode, Agent Hobs had escaped to a safe-house near the ancient City of Thebes in the remote upper reaches of the Nile Valley.

An important part of our Agent's return to normalcy was the debriefing - to help her escape the demons which she had encountered during her captivity. . . . however painful, she recounted the horror of her confinement and torment.



Afterward, it was time to reintroduce her to her old customs and practices . . . .



The details of her final escape must remain secret so as not to compromise the future movements of agents . . ..

Suffice to say . . . in a coordinated movement involving agency support on three continents, Agent Hobs was prepared and trained for the long journey. Between taxis, buses, and airplanes - her only request - a brief stop at her favourite Cafe to listen to some poetry and quaff a beer in celebration of Oktoberfest.




Thirty six hours later . . . Agent Hobs was safely back on the edge of real time . . . looking optimistically toward the future . . .



. . . . and back with her pack . . . demonstrating once again the loyality and comaraderie within the League of Time Travellers . . .