Paul's Reading List

I will be bring a copy of "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future"

'Masterfully crafted, deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding.'-Los Angeles Times In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. Deep Economy makes the compelling case for moving beyond 'growth' as the paramount economic ideal and pursuing prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. Our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value, McKibben argues, and the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.

The Halls of Stormweather, a novel in seven parts, is the first book in a series that explores the mean streets of a city where everything has its price and even the wealthiest families will do anything to survive!Ed Greenwood -- The creator of the Forgotten Realms begins the tale with the capable but embattled patriarch of the Uskevren family.Clayton Emery -- The heir to the family fortune is brought to life by the author of Star of Cursrah and the Netheril Trilogy.Lisa Smedman -- A veteran science fiction and fantasy author shows us a young woman who's more than just a maid.Dave Gross -- The author of An Opportunity for Profit tells the story of the youngest son who carries a horrifying curse.Voronica Whitney-Robinson -- The story of the willful daughter Thazienne is told by the co-author of Spectre of the Black Rose.Richard Lee Byers -- The author of Dark Kingdoms tells a tale of a wife with a past as long as it is dark.Paul Kemp -- A talented newcomer creates a servant with more secrets than his master could ever guess.

In this brightly satiric, postapocalyptic novel of the far future, a young Indian brave named Broadway Danny Rose embarks upon a quest across the desolate planet Earth to find the mysterious Valley of Day-Glo, where plants and animals and large bodies of water are rumoured to still exist, and where, according to legend, "death becomes life."

Valley of Day-Glo is a brilliant blend of Douglas Adams's farcical humour and Kurt Vonnegut's droll absurdity. Hugo Award-nominee Nick DiChario delivers a witty and poignant story that deals with the power of myth, the search for truth, and the meaning of life and death.

temagami

A camping we will go....we're heading off for a real holiday...yeah!!! (We love Mark and Carissa). Reading material I'm taking with me...



No Such Creature

Tooling across the American southwest in their giant Winnebago, Max and his nephew, Owen, seem harmless enough, the actorly old fellow spouting Shakespeare like a faucet while his young charge trots him through select tourist destinations along the road. But appearances, as you might imagin Max is actually a master thief, and young Owen’s summer vacation is his careful apprenticeship in a life of crime. Pulling heists is scary enough, but ominous signs point to the alarming fact that The Subtractors are on their tail, criminal bogeymen who stop at nothing to steal from other thieves. The road trip soon turns into a chase, by turns comic and horrifying. The most disturbing twist: Owen’s slow realization that the person he loves most in the world is the one who can do him the most harm.



Late Nights on Air

Harry Boyd, a hard-bitten refugee from failure in Toronto television, has returned to a small radio station in the Canadian North. There, in Yellowknife, in the summer of 1975, he falls in love with a voice on air, though the real woman, Dido Paris, is both a surprise and even more than he imagined.

Dido and Harry are part of the cast of eccentric, utterly loveable characters, all transplants from elsewhere, who form an unlikely group at the station. Their loves and longings, their rivalries and entanglements, the stories of their pasts and what brought each of them to the North, form the centre. One summer, on a canoe trip four of them make into the Arctic wilderness (following in the steps of the legendary Englishman John Hornby, who, along with his small party, starved to death in the barrens in 1927), they find the balance of love shifting, much as the balance of power in the North is being changed by the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, which threatens to displace Native people from their land.



With Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered rave reviews around the world. But the riveting story of Archie and Gretchen was left unfinished, and now Chelsea Cain picks up the tale again.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Portland’s Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the last time they found a body there, more than a decade ago: it turned out to be the Beauty Killer’s first victim, and Archie’s first case. This body can't be one of Gretchen's—she’s in prison—but after help from reporter Susan Ward uncovers the dead woman's identity, it turns into another big case. Trouble is, Archie can't focus on the new investigation because the Beauty Killer case has exploded: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison.

Creepy Puppet Project - Dusty Zombies

A new Zombie puppet production has been released from our friends at the "Creepy Puppet Project" our good friend Bea at the "Match Factory" is the Character Wardrobe person for the production. Yeah Bea!

Good going Random House Canada

RH Canada Goes With Green Energy
-- Publishers Weekly, 7/14/2008 8:08:00 AM

Random House of Canada has signed on with a green energy supplier to power a portion of its operations. The Toronto-based publisher has agreed to purchase emissions-free electricity from Bullfrog Power, a Canadian provider of green electricity. The house has agreed to purchase nearly 1,300 MWh of green electricity annually, covering operations in both Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario. RHC CEO Brad Martin said the company "takes our environmental responsibility seriously,” adding that it has "been impressed by the positive impact Bullfrog is having and are pleased to be working with them as one of our environmentally conscious initiatives.”

Smart Meters

From the Hydro One Website:

Five Smart Things Your New Smart Meter Will Do in the Future:

1. Measure how much energy you use and when you use it — providing you with the opportunity to take action to better manage your hydro bill by:
* Lowering your electricity use during peak (higher cost) periods; and
* Shifting your electricity use to off-peak (lower cost) periods.

2. Smart metering systems will store your electricity use information — allowing you to review your electricity use information the next day through the internet or telephone.

3. No more estimated bills — your smart meter will automatically and regularly send your readings via wireless technology.

4. Help us to better manage power outages

5. Reduced need to build power generation facilities — as all Ontarians shift energy use away from peak periods.


SO,
We now have a smart meter.... time will tell as to what this will really mean for us.

David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," ( The Christian Science Monitor )is truly a gift. Here he is with the new collection of essays...

Some latte art - still practicing

A little latte art - 'cause we're creative whether we want to be or not sometimes... oh - and they taste good.