Mike Browne’s Blog

Here’s Blog regular Enomis singing her drunken lungs out with her pal, Mike, at a Karaoke bar in Louisiana the other night. Wonder what song the were singing. My guess “Islands in the Stream”.

Go to Shotspotter, Inc. Click a button on the page to hear a driveby shooting. Yikes.

The first of 4 Short films answering the question: What is the MATRIX?

Wired News: To the Moon in a Space Elevator?

My old pal Ken sent me some more pictures of the ice in Bridgewater. I’ve posted all I have here.

Police trailers on notorious pig farm count as ‘improvements’ to property

I got an email from an former Save Easy co-worker, Tammy who still lives in NS. Apparently there’s some bad news ice wise in Bridgewater. I knew about it already from my online subscription to The Bulletin but Tammy forwarded pictures with descriptive text from her friend. As soon as I saw these I had to post them.

Here’s an edited version of what she sent with links to more pictures below:

Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 9:42 AM

Subject: Ice

Currently, both bridges and the King Street elevated parking lot are closed to vehicular traffic from the threat of ice pressure built up against bridge abutments.

…You can see how close the ice piles are to the girders of the bridge span. In photo one, you can barely tell that the ice is higher than the metal sheathing used to protect the bridge abutments.

The remaining photos show what you can see of the old bridge, given all the good vantage points are off limits. Note how the ice has invaded the truss structures underneath the bridge. There are unconfirmed reports that the superstructure of the old bridge has buckled from the ice. Photo #4 shows the ice build up around the trusses. In photo #5, there is a slim white line of snow crossing the bridge deck. Note the sidewalk and guard rail where this line crosses the bridge – it does not appear quite level to me, but I can’t tell you if this is a buckle.

I did wander behind Ko’s and the Scotia Business Centre at the corner of King and Dufferin. There are fire escapes behind these buidlings that lead to an embankment ordinarily a metre or so above the water line, and ordinarily dry land. This morning, the bottom steps of these fire escapes are under water, and the river is fast against the foundations, and in some cases, above the foundations of the waterfront buildings on King Street.

This has attracted a Canada Day crowd to King Street. Lots o’ excitement. The high tide has just recently occurred, and time will tell whether the retreating tide will loosen the ice jam. There is speculation of dynamiting the ice, again, unconfirmed.

… … … … …

Pretty scary. I remember this stuff happening when I was a kid. I’m not sure but I think the Old Bridge went once.

Thanks for the info and the pictures Tammy.

Yahoo! News – WTC Finalists Include Tallest Structures

Pregnant doll doesn’t offend shoppers

Unlike in the U.S., where she was pulled from shelves when her marital status was in doubt, Barbie’s best friend is selling out here.

Lance thinks Midge is from Surrey (the underage pregnancy capital of the Lower Mainland and car theft capital of North America). Thanks for the link Lance.