Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Feb 6, 2012, 9:00 am
Over Christmas my family and I traveled back to Australia for the first time in five years. There had been several reasons for our not returning sooner, high on our list was the cost, and a close second was the actual ability to take a month off to make the trip worthwhile. In a new job, with a gr... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Dec 30, 2011, 11:46 pm
Wishing all of our readers a happy new year. Things have been a little slower around the site than planned for 2011, but we will still be writing into 2012. We’ve moved closer to the action of the lower mainland, and miss some of the luxuries of login in the Kootenays, as well as friends there.But... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Nov 28, 2011, 9:00 am
Educational engineering books that are fun to read and informative are sadly few and far between. A new release from Kate Ascher, the author of The Works: Anatomy of a City, called The Heights – Anatomy of a Skyscraper provides a detailed insight into the planning, construction, operation and mai... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Nov 14, 2011, 11:00 am
While listening to this podcast, I was struck by how similar the discussion sounded to what I had experienced while living in Castlegar, a town of around 7,500 in rural BC.
The Pending Financial Implosion of Small Town America – StrongTowns Podcast. (link to site here).
Strongtowns is a blog and... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Nov 10, 2011, 11:00 am
If nothing else, this Remembrance Day, take a moment to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, for the hope of peace, and the security of future generations.
Or brave the weather on Friday and show your support in your local community. This image is where we’ll be, at ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Oct 31, 2011, 9:00 am
It seems as if we are commonly told that the answer to whatever problem our communities are facing is more density, more houses, better transportation networks and more opportunities for consumerism. In other words that we must keep growing to keep feeding the machine that our society has become. I ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Sep 18, 2011, 10:38 pm
Reviewing the draft posts that I have sitting half-finished for this blog, I realized that there have been some great posts that were never completed for one reason or another. One of my tasks over the next couple of weeks will be to review these posts and see what can be done to complete them. ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Aug 22, 2011, 11:00 am
Communities around North America are waking up to a changed world. Our expectation for continuous improvement of the systems that support our lifestyles, transportation choices and patterns of housing has been shaken. Budget cuts are forcing communities and governments to reconsider priorities; in W... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Jul 24, 2011, 8:07 pm
Daylighting creeks that were culverted as part of recent “urban progress” is becoming a standard response to the concreting of our environment that has occurred over the past decades. Here’s a neat link from Detroit about Bloody Run Creek…
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Daylight for Detroit’s Bloody Run Creek? Ou... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Jul 12, 2011, 3:15 pm
Driving through the freshly extruded suburbs in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, with freshly painted (computer generated?) subdivision names on entrance street corners, I was struck by just how far we’ve fallen into the hands of the developer/realtor driven subdivision craze. Almost all of... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jul 5, 2011, 10:43 pm
I just finished writing an article that will never get published. It was necessary from a journal perspective to get my head back into the right space where I could ask myself the hard question – “why am I doing this”.
The take away message (from this post that you’ll never read) is two ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jun 24, 2011, 1:00 am
Sometimes I read for pleasure, but often my reading takes me on a journey ranging from pain, frustration, through to a cathartic release of anger at how stupid we are sometimes. While reading can be an escape from the mundane moments of life, some books remind me to look closer at the people around ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jun 13, 2011, 9:00 am
Fly fishing is more than a past-time, it offers the purveyor an opportunity to humble oneself in nature, pitting themselves against a quarry with a pea-sized brain, and often returning with little more than stories of the beautiful scenery. There have been days fishing where the magic of the mome... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Jun 6, 2011, 11:57 pm
I am a big advocate of having alternative modes of transport, after all motor vehicles are an expensive* and dirty mode of transport that we have historically given too much influence to in the design of our cities. I believe that the value of a dwelling, particularly in an urban setting, is relativ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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May 29, 2011, 11:23 pm
In recent months we have seen emergencies and natural disasters strike communities around the world. Every emergency unfolds differently, but in cities, industrial or agricultural areas, there are always social and economic impacts from the situation. One of the more contentious questions that foll... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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May 16, 2011, 12:38 am
The Vancouver Epic Expo felt like a successful event by all accounts. A lot of effort went into the production, setting up, presentations and products that were incorporated. And we had a great time taking the kids there on Saturday. But was it sustainable?
If you believe that the path to sustaina... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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May 12, 2011, 11:01 am
#Our Own Experience
A bit over four years ago, we entered the housing market in the Kootenays of BC, looking for a good value home that required no work to move in. We bought a beautiful house on 3/4 of an acre, which we soon converted into a food-producing garden, adding berries to the existing fru... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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May 2, 2011, 10:49 am
As a creative, yet industrial professional, utility is not far from my mind when assessing options, but in many cases, particularly where daily human interaction is part of the design scope, aesthetics is of equal importance.
Simply put, in the age of technology, an object must be able to be easy t... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Apr 27, 2011, 9:00 am
UrbanWorkbench has changed location, and we are now broadcasting over the interweb tubes from Langley, B.C.
Having made, in the eyes of most aspirational Canadians, a backward move from home owners to renters, I can say we are most pleased with our decision, particularly with our move to the lower ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Apr 18, 2011, 11:05 pm
My reading list is eclectic. From homesteading blogs, tech news, engineering and infrastructure press releases, to photography and music sites. My interests cover a range of niches that are well reported in the online world.
A few weeks ago over a beer, a reader and colleague asked me what was on m... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Apr 16, 2011, 2:35 pm
I had intended to postal article this week, but the move and associated admin got the better of me. Today is moving day, (and I’m writing this on my iPhone cause the ‘puter is all packed up and the Internet is off), so this is just a quick post to let you know that everything is on track.
We w... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Apr 6, 2011, 8:00 am
From an idea that formed back in the winter of 2006 while pondering the world from a coffee shop window, downtown Newcastle, Australia; I started the website UrbanWorkbench.com. Today we’ve reached another milestone along the journey, this is officially our one-thousandth post. This has been achie... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
Urban Workbench
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Mar 30, 2011, 8:00 am
The BC Ministry of Transportation has recently started a blog, following in the footsteps of others, like, "The Fastlane”, the blog of the US Secretary for Transportation, Ray laHood. One of my favourite recent posts shows the importance of following spring road limits, with these two photos (clic... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Mar 28, 2011, 8:00 am
Last week we enjoyed a brief trip out to Vancouver Island. Here is a short set of photos taken on a hike around Little Qualicum Falls.
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Mike T. posted an article on
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Mar 24, 2011, 3:30 pm
I love my Moo Cards.
Every time I hand them out there are lots of ooo’s and ahhh’s at the selection of photos, and people can pick their favourite from a selection. Moo is offering a 20% discount until the end of March 2011 on an order of any one product if you use the following Promo Code, (rig... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Mar 24, 2011, 1:58 pm
In the past couple of days I’ve received two emails regarding the level of supplies at local food banks in the Kootenays. These organizations fill in the gap between government assistance and a diet that is healthy, and are usually staffed by volunteers and supplied through donations.
The Kerr A... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Mar 17, 2011, 8:00 am
Article corrected 23rd March 2011. An article from Canada’s North this week may have slipped under the radar due to the high profile of the massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear risks that are gripping Japan.
Recent studies indicate the permafrost of the southern Arctic is deteriorating at an... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Mar 14, 2011, 5:36 pm
One disaster after another. It seems that there are few countries that have come through the past couple of years without wearing some damage from disasters economic or natural. Once again, the Ring of Fire has awoken and claimed thousands of lives. Japan has been considered one of the best prepared... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Mar 8, 2011, 8:45 pm
As we wait to see what will happen in countries like Lybia, where gunfire is being called “Celebratory Fireworks” by the regime, the price of oil once again begins it’s inexorable climb.
Down in the US, those charged with making decisions on behalf of the people are wishing that the magic 8-b... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Feb 23, 2011, 9:00 am
There is a military leadership saying, “Be, Know and Do” that embodies the journey from ethics and values, to knowledge through to action. There are plenty of people who meet two of the three – all talk and no action, or all action but no knowledge. In typical military brevity, this axiom sums... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Feb 16, 2011, 9:00 am
As I am headed to Vancouver for a couple of days later this week, I thought today’s post could start with a focus on a controversial transportation project, the Gateway Freeway “mega-project”. The City of New Westminster is smack in the middle of this project and public sentiment seems to be a... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Feb 8, 2011, 6:00 pm
This weekend, I had a discussion with a colleague in the water and wastewater industry about technologies and ideas for upgrades to an existing treatment plant.
“I told them that they were nuts to be considering slow-sand filtration when the technologies are out there such as membrane filtration... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Feb 1, 2011, 8:00 am
goodreads, a social-networking site for book lovers has updated their iPhone/iPod app, to include a barcode reader for easy cataloguing of books, whether ones you want to read, or books on your bookshelf. I had created a workaround for this with RedLaser on the iPhone, but this is much smoother and ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 31, 2011, 8:00 am
I have a deep respect for traditional building techniques, and the offshoots of these that can be loosely termed “natural building techniques”.
Building dry rock walls is one of the techniques that takes patience and a lot of skill, I’ve seen people who’ve “got it” and those who simply ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 28, 2011, 4:19 pm
When you take lots of photos, inevitably, you’ll end up with archives, and photos that get lost in the stacks. Here are a selection of my favourite photos from my Flickr account. Best viewed fullscreen, for those with flash disabled, link to the slideshow here. You may recognize some of the p... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 27, 2011, 8:00 am
The Kootenays, a beautiful, rural part of British Columbia, features sparsely populated river valleys punctuated by forested mountain ranges, struggles from a lack of cohesive visioning and it seems that only recently have real efforts at economic collaboration been made, such as the Lower Columbia ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 18, 2011, 8:00 am
A pair of raids at MTA locker rooms in the past week have turned up evidence that subway workers are continuing the widespread practice of faking signal inspections.
So begins a piece over at Transportation Nation…
…authorities opened a locker in a crew room at the Times Square subway station ... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 12, 2011, 9:00 am
I see a lot of new engineering technologies that have been developed in an attempt to better solve old problems. And I see a lot of people buying into these technologies because of the sticker price.
I’m ashamed to say that even engineers are suckers for a “bargain” sometimes – without tak... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 11, 2011, 9:00 am
It’s around this time of year that the potholes start to open up again around the Kootenays and probably must of North America. These troublesome portals into the underworld appear most commonly either; at points of high stress in the road surface, or at points of structural weakness that are ex... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 6, 2011, 8:00 am
In a situation that has exposed systemic issues in the organization of Northern Ireland Water, at last a ray of hope in the battle to address the infrastructure issues spread out across thousands of kilometers of water mains. The solution – a mix of new technology and old…
A police helicopter f... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Jan 5, 2011, 8:00 am
Underinvestment in infrastructure was the most likely culprit behind the recent Northern Ireland water crisis as watermains froze then broke, emptying reservoirs and running communities dry.
A big part of the problem for communities of all sizes is the attitude that if you try hard enough, you’ll... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Dec 27, 2010, 8:00 am
While studying Engineering, the majority of students are taught rules, whether rules of thumb or hard and fast rules, most of the life of an engineering student is governed by absolutes in the form of equations, tables, constants, methods, design software and a lot of straight lines, (or absolute cu... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Dec 24, 2010, 8:00 am
Christmas is supposed to be synonymous with warmth, joy, peace and happiness.
This Christmas there are many in North America who don’t have enough money for heating oil or gas. Food banks are stretched to feed all the needy. People who just last Christmas had jobs, a house that they thought was t... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Dec 22, 2010, 8:00 am
Should we be worried about the high unemployment stats in the younger generations? In the eighties, a similar economic and political climate in the UK, the skinhead culture was born, mostly as a result of lost job opportunities….
The true level of unemployment is always somewhat obfuscated by g... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Dec 20, 2010, 1:05 pm
I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the School District 20 debate over the Planning for the Future document. I read through the recommendations when it first came out (I think in 2008 for Part 1), but aside from the tax requisition that is obviously part of the issue, we homeschool our kids, so I... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Dec 15, 2010, 3:00 pm
What do you long for? What are your dreams? What influences these ideas?
Would you feel fulfilled if your lifelong dream actually came true? Or would your lifelong dream seem somewhat dulled by the actual experience of having it fulfilled, like the toy that was so desired the week before Christmas,... Comment - Like
Mike T. posted an article on
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Dec 13, 2010, 8:00 am
I have had a really tough time writing a couple of posts this week. My schedule is off, I’ve been reorganizing my office and finishing off a couple of other projects.
The Christmas party circuit isn’t helping either.
Don’t forget you can follow my less verbose thoughts and links to interest... Comment - Like
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