downtown

There are 6 posts tagged downtown (this is page 1 of 1).

Windsor, Ontario for Urban Explorers

Windsor Blight, on Flickr

Group Description This group is for all those photos of Windsor, Ontario that exhibit the current state of property in the city. Abandoned homes, brownfields, vacant stores, empty factories, etc. The current commercial vacancy rate in downtown Windsor is an astonishing 24%. The residential vacancy rate is the highest in the country, and has been rising since 2005. Businesses are closing left and right, and our leaders don’t seem to understand the importance of a vibrant downtown. A lot can be said about this subject, but this group’s purpose is to SHOW our leaders what is happening across our city. Add your photos of blight in Windsor, and hopefully we can illustrate to the powers that be that immediate action is needed.

Ottawa’s Old Train Station

Bhat Boy’s exhibition, called the Old Train Station, featuring scenes from Ottawa’s original train station downtown [was] showcased at the Orange Art Gallery.

“One of the things that really interested me is that the old train station was the hub of industrial Ottawa before it became a government town,” Bhat Boy said in an interview.

According to a press release, the old train station, built in 1909 and located across from the Chateau Laurier was closed in 1966.

The Grand Trunk Station officially opened in 1912, bringing historic arrivals and departures, including New Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry departing for the First World War before the station was renamed to Union Station.

It was the arrival and departure points for everyone from King George VIII and Queen Elizabeth, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and even Elvis.

Source: Ottawa Community News

Dust Bunnies

What do you know about dust bunnies? Or do you think they don’t really exist, like pixies, fairies and the Loch Ness Monster? Dust bunnies are real, I’ve seen them. I’ve swept them up and cleaned up after them.

Downtown Dust Bunnies – Two sets of sisters on a mission to uncover the cause of the recent increase in dust bunnies.

Museum of Dust

Connie Hwang: Art Museum Dust Collection

From Wikipedia:

Dust bunnies (or dustbunnies), also called dust mice, are small clumps of dust that form under furniture and in corners that are not cleaned regularly. They are made of hair, lint, dead skin, spider web, dust, and sometimes light rubbish and debris, and are held together by static electricity and felt-like entanglement.[citation needed] They can house dust mites or other parasites, and can lower the efficiency of dust filters by clogging. The movement of a single large particle can start the formation of a dust bunny.

Dust bunnies are harmful to electronics, as they can obstruct air flow through heat sinks, severely raising temperatures and shortening the life of electronic components.

Dust bunnies have been used as an analogy for the accretion of cosmic matter in planetoids.

In Jude Deveroux series, dust-bunnies are small, but deadly, little creatures resembling fuzz and was described as looking like “something that rolled out from under the bed.”

The ‘Dust Bunny Facts’ and ‘The Evolution of the Dust Bunny’ (below) come from another site. Not updated in awhile but clever enough to be worth saving. So many clever things have disappeared online.

Dust Bunny Facts
Last updated 06/07/2006

Where to find them or ” The Natural Environment”

Dustbunnies have been around for centuries and are an untouched resource of easy-care pets for our busy life styles. They have lived quietly along side us and have already been domesticated.

You probably have one or two which have “adopted” you and you wouldn’t even know it.

The Dustbunny seeks out spaces that receive little traffic, and preferably dark – although some do become curious of the outside world.

Dust bunny Defenses

Dustbunnies have their own paratrooper squads that one must be on the look-out for. However, since the Dustbunnies do not have their own Air force they depend on fan blades to transport them, so invasions usually take plan during warm summer days

There are also small legions of foot soldiers that parade across the floor when the ventilation units are turned on.

When heavy objects are moved they will scurry for cover. This is the best time for capture.

Submitted by Robin and Anna: Did you know that Dustbunnies eat spiders and other things that crawl into there territory. Also, they like to use pencils as excise equipment. It may cost $100 per day to capture them if you live in a big city.

Dustbunny Social Life

Dust Bunnies are very prolific. There is no such thing as ONE Dust Bunny. Left to their own vices, dustbunnies will reproduce at alarming rates.

Dustbunnies like to use stereo-systems as their own personal Singles Clubs. Dancing usually takes place on the older models with a LP turntable, as the laser show of the CD drives have been linked to Fur Cancer in studies conducted at DBU.

Believe it or not DISCO is still their favorite music. If you find any dancing on the head of you needle, please remove gently and place off to the side so they can catch their breath.

There is now a new “Take your Dust Bunny to Work Day”.. If you do this, make sure you only bring back your home Dust Bunnies and not the ones from work. Although, the ones at work may like a nice holiday.
Dustbunny care:

Care for dustbunnies is very low maintenance.

Feeding: Dust Bunnies will find their own food. They have a tendency to turn vegetarian – if you do not wish them to eat your houseplants you may wish to gently wipe them off the leaves with a gentle but firm “no”.

Dustbunnies need a quiet, dark place to make a hutch or home, under beds and dressers are the ideal spots. If you wish them to find their own space, don’t be surprised if you catch them crawling the walls and hanging from the chandeliers.

Dust Bunnies prefer small hidden places where no on looks.

When giving you Dust Bunnies a bath, make sure that you have the safety net put on. This way your Dust Bunnies will not get sucked back into the wash or go down the drain. They enjoy congregating in pipes and Router Rooter may hurt them.

Now that the heating season in here, make sure that you have collected your Dustbunnies off of the heaters and registers. Burnt fur does not smell very good and it does spook your Dustbunnies.

When using a dehumidifiers, please pay special attention to the coils. Dustbunnies like to drink from these and may become too wet to move. Gently wipe them off and place in a dryer with cloths. They will collect on the lint screen and then can be released.

Health Care: Unlike many pets, Dustbunnies do not need inoculations or veterinary visits. If your Dustbunny begins to look peaked, build it a nest of laundry lint and in a few days your pet will be looking fine and frisky.

Making your home Dustbunny friendly:

If you are missing an item, check the Dust Bunny hutch. Unlike Raccoons who will actively look for goodies, Dustbunnies will only take what they can get easily especially anything left on the floor near their home.

Natural enemies of the Dust Bunny: Giant sucking machines (i.e. Hoovers, Kirbys, Dust Vacs, etc.) keep them as far away from your Dustbunny if you don’t want to scare them.

Glossary of terms

How to speak Dust Bunny

Underground Railroad: Air ducts

Express Lane: Using the air ducts while furnace or AC is in use

Caribbean Vacation: Dryer lint screen

The Evolution of the Dust Bunny

Dust bunnies are, of course, the harmless little bits of fluff that accumulate under furniture where ever people live. Seldom noticed, though often known about, these rather harmless little creatures exist in many places. There are, of course, those homes in which no self-respecting dust bunny would live. Overuse of cleaning products and or frequent violent cleaning seems to interrupt the breeding of the adorable dust bunny. This should be discouraged whenever people actually live as it would seem to indicate an unhealthy environment for humans or dust bunnies.

However, there are some residential places that rarely have dust bunnies. They go straight from “just cleaned the place” to “hibernating dust bears” with no small cuddly dust bunny stage in-between the two. Hibernating dust bears are fine, until you actually need to clean. Then, of course, you run up against the “do you really want to wake the dust bear” problem. Naturally, I recommend leaving the dust bears alone in their natural Habitat. Who knows what a dust bear will do once woken?

If the dust bear is allowed to complete its hibernation, it will again evolve to the final form. The final form is the dust devil. These are no longer harmless bits of fluff, nor are they sleepy. These are dangerous balls of accumulated flotsam that can threaten a household. Ever wonder if the monster under the bed is real? Well, it is and it is a dust devil. They have a taste for small innocuous children and harmless pets, they leave kindred spirits alone.

There is only one known cure for a household infected with dust devils. Dynamite is guaranteed to remove all traces of the dangerous beasts. Unfortunately, it will also require the rebuilding of all the furniture, if not the house itself, but is absolutely necessary if the house is infected.

The tricky part to all this is to know when the dust bear, harmless sleepy creatures that they are, need to be removed from a house. Timing is critical, you should not disturb dust bears until it is necessary. But wait that critical day and you may well be missing a small child or pet next time you take a head count around the house.

What can you write about dust, how creative can you get with something so simple and yet so legendary?

It’s Time to Think of your Foundation Garments

Some of us plan our underwear, some of us even think of it as panties rather than undies. Some of us buy them in sets with matching bras. I, am a boring pantie person, as it turns out. I wear undies that could be compared to the stereotypically challenged Granny panties. But I wear them well and I like them! They fit, they come in cotton and the odd colour other than white.

Yes I would like to be swept off my feet for a romantic interlude which would include sexy lingerie, a weekend at a fancy hotel downtown and maybe something exotic (more exotic than pink champagne – which I’d also like). I’m thinking exotic like a trip to the adult store. I’d wear a disguise.

How would your perfect adult weekend go? Write about it. Include all the romantic and not so romantic details. Then send it to your lover (if you have one). If not, you could post it online with an anonymous/ secret email address and just see what happens, a little experiment. It could be fun!

The Ultimate Pantie Survey from A Slip of a Girl (for inspiration).

Tired of Flying Rats? (Aka Pigeons)


Have a look at these pigeon spikes. Fairly nasty, even I think impaling them could be a little extreme. However, not so long ago they used to be an ingrediant. So this is the lazy person’s way to hunt for pigeons. I bet you could be cooking up pot luck for the whole neighbourhood in some city areas. Feed the homeless potluck pigeon pie!

Although, I think people who live downtown sometimes get confused. There are so few wild animals down there, other than rats, pigeons, insects and the odd raccoon that they consider pigeons to be a real bird. They even feed them, on purpose. It’s really too bad and someone should suggest that they get out more. Out of the city that is. There are real wild animals still left. You don’t have to settle for flying rats who poop all over everything and everyone. City people… there are real birds just a little north of you (everything is north of the cities here in Canada).

I don’t know why these people want to hunt crows. I actually like them. They keep to themselves and clean up roadkill.