Shirin Delsooz

My Life Adventures and Thoughts

The Good Side of TPL

I think I was a little bit too harsh in my open letter to the TPL. Now that I think about it, I feel like one of those do-nothing ungrateful citizens that always expects miracles from some tax dollars.

In all fairness, I think we could all use a bit of critiquing, but we should not oversee the good. So here it goes…

Thank you TPL, for still being my number one informational resource!

I make extensive use of your music library collection that’s always updated with the latest in pop, and Canadian independent music in both CD and music score format. I am always delighted to find what I was looking for in the large music score readily available as if no one knew about it before– like it was my own secret. I’ll never forget how shocked I was to see so much Jann Arden!

Also, the reels and reels of newspapers dating from hundreds of years ago are neatly organized and beats any trip to a historical museum. I could sit for hours reading and looking at the pictures of the city I lived in a hundred years ago today, and it’s made possible because of the donations and taxes that go into the library.

There are also a lot of neat features about the library that not a lot of people don’t know or take advantage of. Did you know they lend out pedometers for free? And museum passes too?

That’s not to mention the countless workshops and activities to engage the community.  There’s everything ranging from movie night to just learning Microsoft word.

They even renovated their Dufferin location to simulate the Starbuck’s experience. This library with its sleek modern interior allows its visitors to eat INSIDE while using their laptops with music played in the background. You don’t have to pay $6 for a grande, this joint is for free!

I probably didn’t even list a fraction of all that the Toronto Public Library has to offer but anyone in Toronto can tell you it’s great. And I get angry at those who ruin it for others with their book hoarding and accruing unpaid big fines! Not cool.

Anyway, the place is great, that I really hope I can get more involved with the library community… maybe as a workshop leader on blogging?

My open letter to the Toronto Public Library head honchos

Today I was disappointed to discover the music practice rooms in the Toronto Reference Library were complete duds.

What you call a practice room appears to me as a make shift room hastily put together by wooden boards and some glue. If this was an attempt to barricade sound, could the three walls at least meet the ceiling?

I suppose the ‘music’ in the TRL’s practice room denotes the two Casio keyboards awkwardly put together quite literally side by side. Surely no one will hear a peep with the headphones permanently attached. But could the TRL at least acknowledge how awkward it was for me to play away Fur Elise when a complete stranger was allowed to barge in and play the keyboard next to me? Surely anyone with any musical inclination can agree practice in its most blandest of forms requires privacy and space- the library’s traditional stacked study desk arrangement does not apply.

Being able to only play the provided keyboards in a room officially dubbed ‘piano/practice room’ completely disregards other musicians. Why can’t guitars, violins and other acoustic instruments be played inside without being in violation of having to be heard by the entire library? Why does the library give preference in accommodating keyboard players?

As it stands now there are no other public spaces for musicians to play in privacy other than the North York Central Library where a fee is charged by the hour. If the library is a resource for learning, I think it is imperative to dedicate at least a room as small as 7 square feet in at least one of the downtown branches to better provide for its music community.

I hope you will agree! And I think I should also let you know I will be posting this letter on my blog so my musician readers will also become aware of this issue.

Thank you,

Van Delsooz

Beating the greedy software companies… again

With the advent of technology, software is becoming harder and harder to rip these days! It takes more than a serial code and a torrent!

Adobe Photoshop is one beast I had to deal with lately. Since I connected the internet on my computer, Photoshop wouldn’t work until I register online. Not with my illegitimate serial was this possible, so I took the time to call Photoshop posing as a paying customer, but they didn’t really buy my story.

I gave up. It was time to give into the man and purchase the damn program. But how could I? My jaw just dropped when I saw that it was $1000! I couldn’t justify this price, especially since I use this software on a casual and seldom basis. Why are these companies making it hard to be honest consumers?

Here were the legal options I was left with:

1. I could go to a co-op media post production editing facility where they charge $7/h to use their computer, but the only one I found based on a google search was in Vancouver http://videoinstudios.com/post.php .

Somehow public funding at Toronto Reference Library wasn’t enough as they charge even more at $10/hour to use Photoshop in their Digital Design Studio! http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/spe_lea_digital_design.jsp#details

Here is an even better alternative I discovered:

2. Download an equivalent software programmed by a collective of do-gooder computer wizards in what is known as an “Open Source” Software.
How it works is that the original software programming is taken and tweaked around to change it, if not make it better, so it can be free of copyright infringements and made available directly online with no hassle.

One of the most popular photoshop open source software is “Gimp”. http://www.gimp.org/ . Of course on the site itself, there is no mention of the word “photoshop” but any graphic designer can feel at home with when using it. My tecky friend recommended gimp to me, and I have been using it since with great success. Anyone using it should pay what they can to these selfless programmers as there is an option to donate made available.

To learn more about this cool concept of Open Source software, you can of course wikipedia it, another genius invention brought together by a collective of selfless professionals.

Asbestosis and Political Apathy

Asbestos, being the lethal substance that it is, is banned in Canada yet still remains to this day a heavily exported item. One member of parliament, being the one in my riding, has no problem making this clear with me.

The issue first came to my attention from a piece done by the CBC that insightfully explained the plight of the millions of Indians currently dying a excruciatingly painfully slow death because asbestosis.

Canada exports 4 millions tonnes of asbestos each year, a third of it goes to India, and the rest goes to Russia, Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe.

It goes without saying, this is very criminal and highly uncharacteristic of what the Canadian government is supposed to stand for.

There’s a few glimmers of hope though, a few NDP MP’s have brought the issue up, and even Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff voiced his concern in parliament.

I wanted my MP to join the movement, but he made it no secret that he fully supports the exports of asbestos!

To my utter dismay, Jim Karygiannis (who is a ‘liberal’) tells me that we need to be mindful of the jobs in Quebec (where asbestos is mined), and Canadian businesses have to stay competitive. If we ban the exports, then India will buy asbestos from another country, and Canada will lose money. oh no.

I told him these are the low morales of a used car salesman, not the Canadian government!

He went on to use analogies such as guns being banned in Canada but we still produce and export them to other countries. In fact there is a factory in Scarborough that produces guns! Should we close it down in light of the fact that 200 families will be without food on the table?

Could he at least be more convincing in his arguing? Did I have to tell him this short sighted view doesn’t consider that those guns kills way more than 200 people, if not a lot more people around the world!

Then he gave me some silly shpeel of how the money makes the world go round, and we gotta create jobs. So why stop human trafficking? Where does ethics come to play?

But he seemed to have more insight in that regard, “I saw suffering. I was in Iraq last week,” So?

For him, money is the bottom line. The mission in Afghanistan was just to give soldiers jobs he said.

I don’t mind an opinion, but I do mind an ill-informed one. Then I checked his credentials, which was engineering. That might explain why he thinks in numbers, but that’s not an excuse.

If you live in the Scarborough/Agincourt riding, please let him know that some Canadians care about others, even if they are Indian.

jim@karygiannismp.com
(416) 321 5454

Getting my leather boots tailored at a Good Price in Toronto!

I found the right boots at the mall last week, and like all boots, the calves area was just too large. I had to get it tailored by the right guy, but not for an arm and a leg! Some charge up to $100 for this!

Mr. Sako at Van Horne Plaza in Toronto does it for $50! And he does a good job! I thought I should take some time to praise good work as it is rare to come by these days.

He paid extra attention to every detail, measuring and repeatedly asking me if I was comfortable. He made me walk, bend down and walk some more just to make sure. It was ready in a week, and when I came to try it on it was a perfect fit! No hassle, no fuss, no muss.

I am a new proud owner of nice sleek boots. Some people argue that $50 is even too much… but I’m someone who puts emphasis in having nice things to wear. I’d rather have one pair of nice boots than 10 crummy ones! If I could, I would tailor all my clothes too!

If you live in the Toronto area and need someone to trust your expensive leather items to tailor, check out:

Mr. Sako Shoe Repair

2824 Victoria Park (Vanhorne Plaza)

(416) 491-2351