Curiosities
February 22nd, 2010
An old street sign in the foreground, with a newer metric speed limit sign and the Disco Road waste transfer station in the background.
Disco Road, a four-lane industrial road in northwest …
January 12th, 2010
The Twitterverse recently led me to an interesting blog post that pointed out how, in the Bourne movies, the Jason Bourne character “uses public infrastructure as a superpower.”
A battered watch and an accurate U-Bahn time-table are all he needs for a perfectly-timed, death-defying evasion of the authorities. … Bourne wraps cities, autobahns, ferries and train terminuses around him as the ultimate body-armour.
The writer contrasts this with a character like James Bond who is backed by plentiful resources and so uses powerful, private high-tech gadgets to pursue his ends.
It makes sense — Bourne is a man with almost no resources, and public infrastructure is built to give those who have few resources a range of potential activity comparable to those whose resources are plentiful.
November 13th, 2009
Until December 31, 1999, the TTC had a convenient mobile schedule system called Timeline. An early post on Spacing Toronto gives a history of the system and goes into the details of …
September 19th, 2009
Updated September 21 at 3:25 pm: According to Spacing’s contributing editor Steve Munro, the TTC has announced that it will be reviewing, correcting and replacing the new maps. I do not know …
September 3rd, 2009
When I was travelling around the Netherlands this summer, I saw this nice example of a retractable traffic bollard in Delft that controls which motor vehicles can drive into a walking-priority …
August 7th, 2009
Imagine my delight when, wandering around Copenhagen on vacation, I came across an entire exhibit of funny signs in one of the main squares. The Signspotting exhibition was organized …
July 24th, 2009
I spotted this sign at the Scarborough Bluffs last weekend, not long after ignorantly (but gleefully) breaking rule #2. I’m generally not a huge fan of signs detailing what activities are prohibited …
July 16th, 2009
The Hug Me Tree, the infamous tree stump on Queen West at Peter and felled almost one year ago, has returned to it’s original location.
Since Nuit Blanche in 2008, a paper maché version of the tree had occupied the original tree’s place. During that time, the tree was moved to a gallery, and plans were hatched to weather-proof the tree and figure out a system that could keep it in place on the sidewalk. While a network of roots used to keep the tree upright, a metal plate now occupies the base for added balance, sturdiness, and durability. And as some of the images of the new installation show, a few more features have been added to the tree that will allow passers-by to interact with the tree.
There are more photos if you follow the link.
July 15th, 2009
Last week we posted briefly on the new poster pocket plants at Queen St. West and Spadina Ave. We recently got in touch with the creators of the project, artists Sean …
July 10th, 2009
Spotted on St. Clair Avenue West on a psychogeographic walk. The construction on the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way is progressing nicely, with nice new platform shelters with stops …
