Jammin' at the Dominion Pub

A few more pics from our Toronto visit:These were York University engineering students showing off some musical instruments they had made that used water and hands to create sounds. The tank at top worked by slapping or splashing the water above sensors, which produced a different note for each hydrophone (for a one-octave, eight whole-tone selection). The bottom device was a sort of organ that created a tone when you stopped the spray from a particular hole (about one and a half octaves, with semitones). While the top device was monophonic, the bottom was polyphonic, and you could create chords by blocking more than one hole. All were connected to a computer and sound board to generate the tones. Lots of fun to try - and a bit wet, too. Wouldn't be allowed to be shown in Collingwood because they'd be treated as amplified buskers.Street art: a cat sculpture on a chair poised high above the traffic. On Spadina, near College.A shop at 13 Baldwin Street done up in very un-heritage colours and look. I used to have a bookstore at this address, back in the late 1970s. As I recall it, the stairs then didn't extend across the front and there was a railing instead across the porch.

The big event for us was the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the ROM. We spent several hours in it, Thursday morning. Couldn't take pics, so all we have are the posters outside. It was a good exhibit, but not a great one. It was a bit dark and since there was a lot of reading to do, anyone with vision problems would have had difficulty. The actual number of terracotta figures is very small - the videos are great and show hundreds in the tomb and excavations. But the ROM had 10, perhaps 12, total. It's educational and interesting, and worth seeing, but not awe-inspiring as we had hoped.Aside from the problems of the small type and poor lighting, the size of the exhibit didn't really convey the full sense of the broad scope of the history it described. The Qin and early Han periods of Chinese history are exciting, lively times. Lots of fighting, politics, and controversy, but also the forging of a great empire. Not to mention the mysteries of the First Emperor's tomb city. Its size and scale is simply breath-taking. And only a small fraction has been excavated. More than 8,000 clay warriors are believed buried, and no one knows how many models of animals, birds, actors, civil servants and others are still to be discovered. It made me want to read more, learn more - I almost bought the DVDs the ROM shop was offering, but couldn't justify some of the prices (the History Channel DVD on the First Emperor was $35, but you can get it online for $10). Nor were there any video displays so I could see what the DVDs offered - just the packages and whatever was on the backs. And there was nothing to indicate that the DVDs on sale contained anything at all from the videos shown in the exhibit. I wanted to buy what I saw, but had no clue if any of them contained those images.But don't get me wrong. It was a good exhibit and well worth attending. I just wanted more from it and wanted to see more than I got. Seems I have to do some research online to learn more.We spent another hour or so in the ROM before and after the TW show. Of course we had to visit (or rather, I had to visit) the dinosaur display, an area where I spent a good part of my younger and early teen years. It's all redone now, but I recognized many of the displays and pieces from 45 or more years ago. I can still remember the names of most of the dinosaurs, even after all these years. I had to correct a woman who was telling her passle of kids that a vegetarian hadrosaur was "velociraptor" and directed her to the diminutive raptor skeleton that seemed like such a disappointment to the kids compared with the massive hadrosaur. She shot me a black look when I did that, but hey, if you can't tell the difference, then either read the labels on the displays before you speak, or go to some display area where you might actually know what you're talking about.I suppose there's some connection between dinosaurs and being a politician that speaks to me, especially when I think of our recent patio debate.We didn't really go anywhere else, deciding instead to walk down to Kensington Market for a late lunch. We'll go back again to see another section or two - we just became ROM members and want to enjoy it in day trips to the city.For the rest of the time we walked, window-shopped and just played the tourist. Didn't buy a lot, spent more time oggling than shopping. And, of course, eating. Sad to say, we enjoyed a few drinks and meals on building-side patios in Toronto, an activity we can rarely enjoy here in Collingwood (at least not on ourt main street).