I now found out that to configure Adobe flash to not send me upgrade notices I need to go to their website, where I can then configure my own flash? There is something called the Flash Player Settings Manager that needs to be changed but can only be changed from this website. What a hassle. If all manufacturers did this we’d be doomed.

Anyway here is where you can turn off update notices to Adobe Flash. I found this tidbit here and at Mozilla. You should have option to turn this off at the first notice. Bad usability, Adobe.

Rola Bola made of 27 inch long 2x8 pine, varnished

Life can be simple yet fun. Take the example of a Rola Bola, aka rolla bolla, rolo bolo, roly boly, balance board, rocker-roller board or bongo board. Whatever you call it, there is a board that allows you to stand shoulder width apart, a wooden stop board on the underside each end, and a rolling cylinder. You put the board on the cylinder and get on. Simple.

Bola Construction: Cut a piece of pine or other wood you have around to a little longer than shoulder width. Plywood is also great. I had some 27″ 2×8 pine. Add some wooden stops on the underside of the board. I glued and screwed it to the top board with #6 1.5″ wood screws. Only sand the top deck, and only in the middle of the board. Leave the bottom deck unsanded or roughed up so it can grip the cylinder. After 4 coats of varnish to protect the wood and you’re done. I only did one coat for the sides and bottom.

All the rola bolas that I saw on the internet had grip tape on the top deck. As I was varnishing I decided that if sprinkled sand on the deck it would come out roughly the same, and it did. After initially using the board we found grip tape or sand was unnecessary. I sand down the sand and revarnished the top deck.

Bola Finish: For the finish of the board we varnished top and bottom once and then varnished the top another 5-6 times. We used Varathane or polyurethane, and wiped it on. The cleanup is easy if you use a rag as you just throw it away. Use disposable vinyl gloves. One of our boards was stained black, then varnished as above.

Safety: I had read that safety was important when learning the rola bola, so was concerned with allowing my kids to use it. This proved to be unfounded. With a standard 3″ roller the rola bola only goes up a maximum of 6″ on either side. Kids usually shift their weight down on one side, the deck touches the ground and stops all action. Even when moving kids can simply get off the board. As a toy it would be difficult but not impossible to badly hurt yourself. The toy is more dangerous as a swinging blunt object, or maybe if you threw the cylinder. Used as a rola bola it is extremely safe to learn and use. Appropriate ages to start rola bola are from 5 years old up. For smaller kids use a smaller cylinder and hold their hands for support. For use on carpet, first put down a piece of plywood, then the rola.

Rola Types: We tried a variety of cylinders:

• 2.25″ ABS pipe: Available at any hardware store, used as standard drain pipe, there are scraps of this pipe all over. It is very inexpensive and very strong. We found that it is more difficult to learn on this size pipe because the stops keep hitting the bottom. you have less room to recover your balance. For kids it is the safest cylinder to start. Cost: free.
• 3″ circumference propane cylinder: This propane cylinder was empty, discarded as trash after use. Used to solder copper pipes in plumbing, once empty is is garbage. As the tank is a pressure vessle capable of 2,000 psi, empty is can easily handle a 200 lb adult. There are lots of these around. Instead of throwing them into hazardous waste, they make a great cylinder. Cost: free.
• 3.5″ circumference metal tube. We got these out of an old electric lawnmower. They are great magnets as well. While not as wide as the top deck, they are the right size to start rola bola. Inert, will last forever, repurposed and saved from the landfill. Cost: free.
• 3″ ABS drain pipe: The drain pipe walls are thick and rigid and works very well. Note that the 3″ diameter is the inside diameter. The outside diameter is 3.5″. This is my recommendation for beginners, especially kids. Cost: $10.50CAD/3′
• 4″ ABS drain pipe: The drain pipe walls are thick and rigid and works very well. Note that the 4″ diameter is the inside diameter. The outside diameter is 4.5″. This pipe is large and rolls quickly. Cost: $18CAD/3′
• 5.5″ furnace motor fan: Disconnect the metal brackets adn you have a round motor housing. It is heavy but rolls pretty well. A little slippery and difficult to mount, but otherwise Ok. Cost: free.
• 10″ circumference PVC sewer pipe: These took some help getting on the board. A helper can step on the inside of the pipe and balance the board on top. The rider can then get on with two handed help from the helper. Once on, the roller is not any more difficult to ride than a 3″. An alternate mounting method is to hold the helper’s two hands and jump up and on the board. It feels initially scary but really is not. Cost: Free, as I found it at a construction site.
• 11.25″ circomference PVC sewer pipe. Same as the 10″ PVC sewer pipe. you really feel no difference. Cost: Free

Here are some tricks from Wikipedia:

• Acrobalance on the board
• Balance with one knee and one foot
• Center stand (feet together in the center of the board with your feet facing forward)
• Combine with other circus skills (e.g. juggling on the rola bola)
• Free mount and ride for 30 seconds
• Free ride for 3 minutes
• Frog stand (slowly squat down while riding the board)
• Full jumping turns – 360°
• Half jumping turns – 180°
• Hand & foot balance
• Jump mount
• One hand/one foot on both sides
• Penguin stand (feet together in the center of the board with one’s feet facing one of the long ends of the board)
• Quarter jumping turns
• Riding a bowling ball
• Riding two rollers (going in different directions)
• Riding 3 or 5 rollers stacked in a column (see picture)
• Standing on one foot (foot must be right over the roller)
• Surf hop (while surfing, stand on one foot then hoop to the other foot)
• Surfing (riding the rola bola with the feet facing one of the long ends)
• Walking the board (walking the board on the roller from one end to the other)
• Stacking additional boards for height in layers of “board-2 cylinders on end-board”; one must jump up accurately to mount

Other tricks while riding a Rola Bola:

• reading out loud
• Playing “Simon Says”
• juggling balls, diabolo
• partner gives you simple math problems, like addition of the fingers on each hand
• Rubic’s Cube
• girl’s hand clapping games with another partner also on a rola bola

Rola Bola is inexpensive, safe and fun for kids and adults. It will allow you to practice your balance. Try to make one with your kids. They will love it.

Update Aug 25 2010: So I have been trying different rollers. Lawnmower wheels can be bolted together to form a long enough roller. The ones I have are 4.5″ and 5.5″ in diameter. Unfortunately they are rubber coated and squish, so they do not provide enough support. They also flex and twist, throwing me off the board. Made of plastic the wheels seemed strong enough but do flex when weight is applied. I also tried an old metal furnace motor with a diameter of 5.5″. After I took off the clamps it rolled very well, though it was heavier than an ABS pipe. It is a little larger and heavier to be portable.

On a trip to the Home Depot I picked up 3′ of 4″ black ABS drain pipe. Cutting it with my mitre saw was not difficult, though the saw could not cut through the whole pipe. Cut, rotate, place carefully, then cut, and all was well. At 1′ each, I got 3 rollers from the pipe, all for $18CAD. The drain pipe is very rigid and is a very good roller. Note that the 4″ diameter is the inside diameter. The outside diameter is 4.5″, a little larger than 4″. I might try the 3″ pipe, a little safer until I become more skilled.

Update Aug 26 2010: So after purchasing and chopping the 4″ ABS pipe, which has an outside diameter of 4.5″, we found the difficulty level much higher than a 3″ roller. The kids were initially a little afraid. For certain the excitement level is higher because you can swing farther and higher, but with increased risk of falling. We have all fallen off this 4.5″ ABS pipe. On the insistence of my oldest I have purchased the 3″ ABS pipe but have not yet cut it. The OD of the pipe is 3.5″.

Links:
Balance board

Rola bola cartoon depicting it as a surfing alternative

Kettling tactic employed by the Toronto Police during the G20 Summit at the intersection of Spadina and Queen on June 27, 2010: Eldar Curovic

The “kettling” tactic, where police corral protesters into a tight, enclosed space without access to food, water or bathrooms, has been the focus of much criticism over the past decade. During the London G20 summit in 2009, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor died after being kettled.

Anatomy of the G20: the story from both sides of the fence: Toronto Star

Afghan Kite Flying in Afghanistan. Here in Canada do not use glass covered or metal kite line. They are illegal and dangerous.

Kite flying is a favourite pastime of our family. It is so unfortunate that kite flying at Milliken Park, Toronto, Canada, a very large park near our house, has recently been banned. Kite flying is very kid and family friendly, but has been spoiled by people that come from different cultures. South East Asian (India, Pakistan) and Afghanistan kite flyers in their country use metal wire and glass coated flying line to cut the lines of competitors. They are importing and illegally using this type of line here in Toronto, Canada. They then leave the lines as garbage. Kids and adults using the park get cut up from these types of lines. It is certainly a safety hazard.

The few that spoil it for the majority should be punished. Representatives from these minority groups should spread the word that glass covered and wire kite lines are illegal in Canada and should not be used. Kite flyers should also clean up after themselves. Local parks are for all to use, not just for kite flyers.

I could not be happier about this ban. I certainly wish it didn’t need to come to this, but clearly there is no other way. On April 19th, 2010, my (then) 3 year old son and I were out for a walk. We were on the sidewalk adjacent to the park when my son stepped into a loop of string on an abandoned kite. At the same time that he stepped into it, the kite was caught on a moving car. Luckily the car was slowing as it came to the intersection at Middlefield and Steeles, but it was still moving fast enough to cause the string to slice through my sons pants, sock and flesh. As I have no vehicle, I was forced to call an ambulance to take us to the nearest hospital. The wound took over a month to heal, and my son (now 4 years old) has a nasty scar and is absolutely terrified of kites AND Milliken Park. Hopefully with this ban, we can begin to use the park again. It’s been a long summer without the use of the park that we live right across the road from.

LiamsMommy

MOTHER CHEERS BAN

Liam Forbes is terrified of kites. And his mother is furious with kite fliers.

In April, Liam, then 3, was walking home from Milliken Park with his mother when something grabbed his left ankle. He crashed to the ground and was dragged a few metres, feet first.

His mother, Lauren Forbes, reacted quickly and untangled the boy. The cause: kite line. A loose kite had floated to the street and its nylon line sliced through Liam’s pants and sock before gripping his ankle, Forbes said.

Broken kites and metres of tangled line, the aftermath of kite fights, are found on the ground, in the bushes and trees at Milliken Park — the principal reason the city has banned kites there.

“I think the ban is a great thing,” Forbes said. “I know I’m a little biased, but it’s common courtesy to clean up after yourselves.”

Doctors told Forbes stitches weren’t needed because the string cauterized Liam’s blood vessels, effectively burning the cut closed.

Liam limped around for a month and his wound required cleaning and dressing twice a day. That was an inconvenience. The real problem became Liam’s fear of kites — and the park. “He freaks out if he sees a kite now. He won’t even go near one,” Forbes said.

Liam will only venture near the park if he’s wearing his rubber boots so his ankles are protected. The family used to fly their kite at the park, but it now rests under the stairs.

Toronto Star

I have been cut TWICE in that park. Once by string with pieces of glass on it, the other time by a really fine but hard wire.

chrix

You guys have no idea what the problems are

Do you guys even live in the area to understand what the problems really are? The problem is that kite flyers tend to cut other kites off which then fly off to far flung area with the strings. These runaway kites are the targets of loafers who run after them in streets of Markham, grab the kites and leave the plastic strings all over the place. I live in Markham right next to park have seen my property being over run several times. I have lost two grass cutting machines due to strings left in my backyard, have seen kids fall off their bike because leftover strings entanglement, have rescued three wounded sea gulls whose wings were entangled in the strings. Hoodlums running after the kites endanger their safety as well as those of other drivers. The problem is not kite flying, it is the utter carelessness of those who fly and engage in sporting battles to cut others lines off. Please drive on Steeles between McCowan and Middlefiled and see for yourself how many webs of plastic stings are stuck on utility poles,

Toofan

Few bad apples spoil the fun.

I work near this park and I can tell you first hand that there are a lot of people that are not cleaning up after themselves in this park. Have had 3 instances this summer alone where we needed to call the humane society to pick up injured birds tangled in kite string. Its too bad that some of these people have ruined it for everyone else, but I wont miss the kite string littering the area.

spicoli

I frequently walk at Milliken Park and have been tangled up in discarded kite line. It is not pleasant and is a safety hazard. In another local park by my house I have met two kite flyers from Afghanistan who used glass covered kite line. Once their kites were lost they simply walked away, leaving the dangerous kite line on the school grounds. This kite line then got caught in my bicycle wheel.

If this is the attitude of the South East Asian and Afghan kite flying community, then Canada will certainly ban kite flying in Toronto. Unfortunately this penalizes all local kite flyers such as myself.

Race often comes up when discussing the ban of kite flying in Toronto. New immigrants are very welcome to Canada and to Toronto. If a new immigrant has a cultural norm or pastime that they did back in their native country they are welcome to practice it here in Canada, but not at the expense of the safety of fellow Canadians. Using glass covered or metal kite line is both illegal and dangerous. Expect a backlash against such practices here in Canada. You come to a new country you follow our rules. If one of your cultural norms hurts fellow Canadians this must stop.

Cooler than leather better than mesh: perforated leather

Leather gear is very protective, offering the rider both impact, with armour, and abrasion resistance. Use by professional sportbike riders is a pretty good endorsement for its utility. Unfortunately leather, like anything else, has its disadvantages, two of which is weight and that it is hot to wear. While we cannot do much about the weight issue, adding small perforations to the leather will allow increased air flow and cooling without compromising protectiveness. While perforated motorcycle gear is popular with the summer rider, it is expensive, even more expensive than non-perforated gear. I’ll cover a possible method to perforate your own leather gear.

Some methods of piercing leather will not work. These include: using a drill, safety pin, finishing nails, golf/football shoes, shotgun, falling off bike and others. You don’t want to rip or otherwise destroy the leather. The perforated hole should be round and in a uniform pattern throughout the area. The greater the density of perforations the better the cooling but the worse the integrity of the leather.

Osborne leather punch no. 622, the ventilator punch

There are limits to DIY perforating your own leather garment. Factory perforated garments start with leather already perforated, so when they sew zippers and seams all the leather used will be perforated. DIYers cannot do this because with multiple layers of leather the seam will be too thick to perforate and would unduly weaken it. DIY perforation is therefore limited to open areas, where you can access both the front and back portions of the leather section.

Punching a hole into leather is pretty easy. You put the cutting board under the leather, take a leather punch, align and hit it forcefully with a hammer. Since motorcycle leather is between 1.2-1.4mm, leather thickness is not an issue for any leather punch. Osborne and others have commercial punches available but they are difficult to find and expensive. The Osborne Ventilator Punch costs $82US.

Useful tools include:

• A set of individual hollow tipped leather punches. Multi head punches on a wheel will be limiting when trying to perforate the middle of a leather section.
• Hammer, preferably rubber
• plastic cutting board: An old one is good.
• Some method of aligning holes: I am thinking of a graph paper grid in transparent plastic, available at art stores in 8.5″ x 11″ sheets. They have different densities for the graph paper, so find one that you like
• small needle

Here’s my method. Lay the plastic cutting board on a solid table. Put the leather garment on the cutting board. Align the graph paper plastic sheet on the leather and using a needle make small holes where you want a perforation. You should be able to see the needle holes in the leather. If you have a larger area than the sheet, do one section first, then move the sheet, aligning some of the holes to the edge of the plastic sheet and repeat. Remove the plastic sheet. Take a hollow tipped leather punch of your choice and punch a hole in one of the needle holes. Repeat as required.

I do not think there is much more to perforated leather than this. You could take a look at commercial perforated garments and see how much and where they perforate. The whole garment need not be perforated. If an area is covering armour there may not be a benefit in perforating this area.

Related links:
http://www.midcontinentleather.com/p-84832-ot-622-punch-ventilator.aspx
http://www.sportbikes.net/forums/general-sportbikes/316875-anyone-know-how-perforate-leather.html
http://www.600rr.net/vb/showthread.php?t=30014&highlight=punch
http://vansonleathers.com/product_pages/jackets/veo4_perf_veo2.htm

Someone jumped into the viewfinder without looking. Oh well. There's further learning required.

He goes to summer camp without a care in the world, smiling to the world. There’s no grumbling about the heat, that the mosquitoes are out, that there’s sand in his shoes. Eager to leave the house, he repeatedly asks me to get to camp early. I do not complain that it’s simply too early and the camp will not be open. His happiness is the fruits of our parenting skills, and we are glad it is working out for him. We would not have it any other way.

As single and a newly married couple kids were the furthest issue from out minds, as it is for the vast majority of couples. You have so much freedom and happiness to do whatever, meet whomever and go wherever you wish. The constraints of time, money and effort were the only limiting factors.

Kids change everything. It is an innate feature of animals to take care of their young, and humans are not exception. There’s a stage where you wonder if you, the parent, are training and nurturing your young, or that your young are training you to take care of them. The distinction may be blurry, but nevertheless there: In the former you are in control and in the latter you are not. Nurture or nature. While no one likes to be taken advantage of, who is there to blame?

Eventually the parent gets the hint that the kid and nature is in charge. We have a role to play and are preprogrammed to follow. There are highlights throughout a typical day that make the journey and effort worthwhile. You do overcome the really bad days that we all experience

Whatever the cost, we give it up for the kids. It’s not that we give the kids whatever they want, but they get whatever they need. Sometimes they do not understand, but in time they do get the message. This is part of their life education.

Personally, parents do give up a lot for their kids. If it was not for kids, many would be off to other countries, experiencing the vitality of travel and fun. Sacrifice for the future is our watchword. We can only hope that our sacrifice will be duly noted in the sub cortex of our progeny, such that the favour will be returned when we are frail and falling apart. Even if it is not I still feel I did my duty and ask for nothing in return.

As a parent you try your best to teach your kids. you do this for near two decades and beyond. After an indeterminate time the reigns of responsibility slowly shift from the parent to the child. When this shift occurs really depends on the child, but also on the parent. Some parents hang on for as long as they can, somewhat smothering their kids. Whether it retards their upbringing is in question, but no doubt that the kids knows he is loved. Maybe too much.

Letting go of kids, allowing them to venture into the big and bad world is a scary process. There are many nasty things that can happen in the world, from getting hit by a car to internet luring. With proper coaching and a slow release of responsibility, the process does occur. It must, no matter the opinion of the parents.

For better or for worse, parenting is certainly not a straight journey. What will happen down the road is as undetermined as the journey of the individual child. To all parents, through all the trials and tribulations, keep up the good work.

Chinese People's Liberation Army revolutionary movie lipsynchs Waving Flag by K'naan

This is very disrespectful to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, or Jiefang Jun, and will probably get censored within China very soon, but is very funny. Since I am in Toronto, Canada, getting Toudou video is difficult. The original source is from Chinasmack. Thankfully others have uploaded Tudou video to Youtube. These are old videos of PLA plays, video mixed to modern songs. Though the lipsynching is not great, the whole video does pull it together.

Waving Flag by K’naan
Beat It, MJ
Madonna Feat Justin Timberlake

Heat Period
Baby, Justin Bieber
Floor Filler, A-Teens
Hey Oh, Pokerface (French)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

On the surface, unregistered religions are religions. They are very benign. People share a belief system, meet and pray together, mind their own business and carry on with life. It’s really no big deal here in North America. We have lots of people gatherings that do just that, that range from religion to sports to volunteer organizations.

There is supposed freedom of religion in China, but only for those religions that are “registered”. Registration requires the head of the church to acknowledge that the head of their Church resides in Beijing, and not where ever the worldwide head happens to reside. As such for example the head of the Roman Catholic Church in China resides in Beijing and not the Vatican. It matters little what happens in the rest of the world. In China all roads lead to Beijing.

Religions that are not registered or refuse to be registered are illegal and thus subject to prosecution. In China this could well mean the local authorities will gather a gang of thugs and beat the living daylight out of you, and jail you with hard labour for a couple of years. While China’s police may act illegally under Chinese law, this means very little when the gang of thugs are commissioned by the local Communist Party. You should expect the worst. These rules are very old and unchanged for at least 20 years. We do not do this in North America. Again it merits repeating that China is communist country and thus plays by their own rules.

Local crackdowns have much to do with retaining power for the Communist Party of China (CPC). If whatever group, religious or not, has the ability to gather enough people, to organize, to raise money and to stand independent of the CPC, in China they will be destroyed. In the recent past even something as innocuous as English Corner, where people that study English can gather and talk to a foreigner, has been banned. Those who persisted are arrested.

For a religion to advertise their service, to build a large fund, buy land and build a large building, especially one that is larger than the office of the local Communist Party, is flying way above the radar. These people should have known or did know that the large red hammer was about to smash them into dust.

For those who live in China, or are thinking about going to China, these ideas of control are something to keep in mind. No group of size who can organize people can exist without the blessing of the CPC. Those who attempt to do this will be destroyed.

It is unfortunate that people who practice religion in China are persecuted for their beliefs. North Americans who are stoutly religious will be up in arms over the stomping of bible readers. It really is not that China hates religion. It is not that personal. Substitute a soccer league for a religious group and the reaction from the Communist Party of China would be the same. All roads in Chinese life must lead to Beijing. Always.

There is no real rush or sense of direction for the Doju. Really, life unfolds day after day, all with its own trials and tribulations. He puts one foot before the other, wags his head and tail asynchronously, looking around as the world glides by. Food and water are plentiful, so once the necessities of life are taken care of, the mind can wander, abstracting from reality to a dream world of make belief. Worries are banished from his little head, as they are beyond his control anyway, so there is little he can do to change the passage of time.

Did the chicken come before the egg? If one cannot hear a tree fall in a forest did it really fall? Can an evil eye really cause the receiver harm? All these and more can be debated by the Doju, for it is better to occupy the mind than to slothfully pass through the day sleeping, not that the Doju has anywhere specific to go, oh no.

A tree approaches, creeping up on Doju and getting larger with each step. It is a tree with white bark. Who would take the trouble to partially strip the bark off this lovely tree, leaving the bark still attached? This is most puzzling. Maybe it is an odd type of bird that likes the ripping nose of taking white bark off the tree, but gets alarmed when the bark actually falls off? Is there some use for this partially stripped bark? Perchance the bark is used in winter to make ice cream cones, as in winter it could certainly hold ice cream in cone form. That must be it, as the ice cream would be held upright by the bark. Someone is so clever, but who would want an ice cream cone in the middle of a large white tree? I cannot think of a soul who would do this.

Maybe it is the same being that put those holes in the middle of the tree? And why would someone want to dig holes in such a manner? Again the Doju did not have much of answer. The questions keep popping up in his head though. Do others ask themselves and busy themselves with so many issues? Issues they are, and only of Doju could answer them all the would would be a much more orderly place, I guarantee it.

And so the Doju walks on, observing as he goes. His discovery of self continues undetected by himself or others. He has been walking all his life and still has a long way to go.

I have lived in Beijing, China for a couple of years and the bike culture there is pretty safe. This has degraded somewhat now as more people become wealthier and can afford cars. It’s sad to see China go backward on bicycles, but such us progress in the People’s Republic of China.

Taking my son to his sports camp yesterday by bicycle we were waiting at the intersection of Birchmount and Huntingwood for the light to turn green. Once the light turned green I looked to see if the way was clear, when a grey Prius, on a red light, cut us off and made an illegal right turn. The driver made no attempt to stop at the red light and almost ran us over. This is so dangerous and happens all the time. Toronto is a car culture through and through.