Getting a custom motorcycle jacket.

April 22, 2013
Motorcycles
Inspiration jacket, recoloured a bit closer to what I'm looking for.

Inspiration fashion leather jacket, recoloured.

Hunting for a motorcycle jacket has been infurating.  Rage inducing.
At my size & shape, there’s little if anything that fits.
If I can find an XS jacket that fits across the chest, it’s always been too short in the arms or torso. The closest fit was a textile RevIt jacket, but I didn’t like the material, colour, design… well, anything about it. Lets not even get started on the embroidered flowers, swirly stuff and pink.

So I decided to go custom.
Discovered Velocity Sports Gear through GTAmotorcycles, and booked a fitting with Jimmy Singh. Their website’s limited gallery and pictures show almost exclusively race style gear for men, but on the phone I was assured they could make me the classic style jacket of my dreams.

Jimmy says that in the last six months, he’s had more female clients than the last four years combined. Going to show there’s a massive market of women disatisified with the limited quantity of off the rack jackets.

For my hour-ish long consult, I brought in some pictures, talked to Jimmy about the style of bike I have, colours I like, and the usability I’m looking for. He showed me a great fashion leather jacket he’d been working on recently that was almost a dead ringer for the style of the inspiration picture I brought in. He’ll be adding 4 air vents, a removable insulated vest, armor and building the whole thing out of kangaroo leather.

My leather will be custom drum dyed to meet my preference (I’m going for a distressed finished near-black-brown)

It should be done by the end of May, I have zero issues waiting. I’ll be gleefully patient for something custom, and talking with Jimmy showed me he’s obsessive about details.

Vienna’s Globe Museum

March 14, 2013
History, Maps

The Globe Museum was my favorite part of Vienna, original post with pictures can be seen here.

While leafing through the editions of Imago Mvndi : a review of early Cartography (GA 101 .I45 v 4-7) it opened to this page detailing the origins of the Globe Museum.

globe-museum

 

A Globe museum has been established in Vienna by engineer Robert Haardt. At the outset a private venture, the musuem was made a state institution in 1945. The collection, hitherto in engineer R. Haardt’s private apartment, has now be placed in special premises. The pictures show a part of this collection in engineer Haardt’s private apartment.

Its purposes include: To show the development of globes in originals, copies, pictures, as well the collect world maps in original or reproductions with pertinent literature. To collect artistic representations of globes in pictures, on sculptures, engravings, etc. To compile a world catalogue of early globes.

– Imago Mvndi : a review of early Cartography, page 65

Anaglyph Nazi Cartography Book

February 7, 2013
History, Maps, World War 2
Gelände- und Kartenkunde, Handbuch für militärisches Aufnehmen und Kartenwesen für Offiziere, Offizieranwärter und Wehrsportler sowie zum Selbstunterricht.

Full title: Gelände- und Kartenkunde, Handbuch für militärisches Aufnehmen und Kartenwesen für Offiziere, Offizieranwärter und Wehrsportler sowie zum Selbstunterricht.

This amazing 1942 Nazi military manual for officers, cadets (and athletes?) is filled with beautiful diagrams and cartographic details. It comes with a pair of red-green 3D glasses – though the only anaglyph image is the cover.

As a side note: the first method to produce anaglyph images was developed in 1852 by Wilhelm Rollmann in Leipzig, Germany. (Wikipedia)

Major C. P. Stacey’s Pocket Atlas

January 24, 2013
History, Maps, World War 2

British Isles Pocket AtlasWhile shelf reading at the Map & Data Library, I spied a handsome little 1935 British atlas, and on the inside cover found the inscription:

Major C. P. Stacey
C. M. H. Q
London, January 1941

Incribed title page - Major C. P. Stacey

The first hit when looking up “C. M. H. Q” is a informative page by the National Defence and Canadian Forces explaining that:

Major (later Colonel) C.P. Stacey was appointed Historical Officer, General Staff, at the Canadian Military Headquarters in London, England, on 11 October 1940. His task, as conveyed to him by Lieutenant-General H.D.G. Crerar, Chief of the General Staff (the officer responsible for recommending Stacey’s appointment) was “the collection and preparation of material for future use of the official historian and the placing on the record of historical material not otherwise recorded or available.

Colonel Charles Perry Stacey (1906 – 1989) served oversees until 1945, and later served as a Professor of History at the University of Toronto from 1959-1975.

The Head Map Librarian, Marcel Fortin, knew all about this atlas. Then again, he’s worked here much, much, much longer than I. Finding goodies like this in the stacks is always delightful.

Canadian Military History isn’t a strength of mine, but it is fascinating.

Inside the British Isles Pocket AtlasG_1810_1935_004

It’s a tiny little thing. Roughly 11cm by 15cm, now tucked safely in the Brittle Book section.

Grumpy Cat Needle Felt

January 10, 2013
Art

My dear friend, recently divorced and generally heart broken, told me that Grumpy Cat was his spirit animal. Another beloved friend, Jana, helped me get hooked on fiber art recently so I made this Tard felt portrait.

grump_felt

Grumpy Cat (2012) 12x17cm – wool felt – Diactus

 

 

BATL- Backyard Axe Throwing League

November 30, 2012
Toronto

Jon and I have been throwing in BATL for about two years now and hands down – it’s my favorite activity in Toronto. Met some of the most amazing people through this unusual social activity. It gets a lot of local media coverage, like Breakfast Television, Discovery Channel and City TV. But despite this, it’s managed to stay a small(ish) group of connected people.

Here’s Matt Wilson breaking down the rules for one of our favorite games when we’re not playing regular league competions.

1955 Toronto Waterfront

November 13, 2012
Toronto

Cover from the publication “Metropolitan Toronto, 1955″

Toronto Waterfront, 19551955 view of Downtown Toronto along the waterfront from York Street, to Bay Street, to Yonge Street.

It’s strange to view the city in such a flat state. The Royal York Hotel looms as the highest structure in it’s block, the Toronto Harbour Commission Building stands alone, much further inland than when it was originally built in 1917.

Disappointed to find out the 1956 cover uses the same photo. I thought for a second it was the same point of view, but a year later. No such luck. Though it was in much better shape than 1955 and a bit more of the ferry houses are visible to the left.

historical Toronto waterfront 1956The 1967 publication in the same series shows a drastically different built city. The Toronto Dominion Center soars above the Royal York Hotel, the ferry piers are almost all gone and the Lakeshore Expressway slices across the terrain.

Toronto lakeshore 1967 skyline transformation.