Contextless Links
- How Canada is killing hockey :: "For most provinces, the last big push to create facilities was the Centennial year, 1967," said former Olympic runner Bruce Kidd, now dean of the U of T's phys-ed department. "That's why they're 40 years old and crumbling."
- Bear Stearns teeters on the edge :: Bear Stearns & Co., a U.S. banking giant forged in the aftermath of the First World War, which survived the Great Depression and once bailed out New York City, was forced into the arms of one of its rivals yesterday, a move that panicked the markets and battered financial stocks into a deepening downward spiral. It does show that the credit crisis is deepening. Now economists are saying this recession could be worse then the others.
- A good story on how hard fought the Obama/Clinton fight has become
Labels: Contextless Links
11:30 AM ::
4 Comments:
Maybe I've been hoodwinked as well but Mr. Obama is a fresh change from the politics as usual crowd. He's calm, gracious, open and unlifting. Hillary is not.
She brings out not only the worst in politics but what's proving to be the worst in people. She spins and works the angle on a continual basis with half truths, lies and deceptions. There is no hope for change in Washington if she is elected president. What a disaster she is. As a Canadian, I have big questions especially for the Democrats regarding policy but when it comes to who do I want living next door, give me Obama any day.
How about that hockey? How practical is it to build outdoor rinks, without refrigeration pipes? What would the hockey season look like?
Saskatoon Temperature tells me that November through March pretty much guarantees cold days. October and April might be possible? Nighttime only?
Of course, you would have to figure out a way to keep snow off the ice, maybe a rolling canopy could be moved over the ice when it's snowing, and rolled back, to take advantage of radiational cooling at night, etc.
A large fence, or bleacher structure could provide shade, keeping the sun from softening the ice.
Or for a totally indoor rink, how about just circualting brine, from an outdoor heat exchanger, no refrigeration, just cold air chilling the brine? You would need 20 degree (F) days to do this, making for a short season.
Ice rink stuff gives some tips.
Many years ago, I designed a refrigerator for an African village. It used ammonia, and was an absorption system. Build a fire, keep your food cool. How about burning some of those tar sands, and making the rinks hard?
I played hockey outdoors in Calgary. We played if it was above -15 celcius and it was fine. We practiced regularly in Saskatoon at -30 and it was harder on the parents than it was on the kids (they had a warm up shack and we would practice 15 to 20 minutes at a time and I liked it. We still pay shinny outside on the rink when we can find one.
Saskatoon does have some outdoor rinks but they tend to fall out of favor and are not maintained. I think it kind of what Putnam writes of in Bowling Alone and more of a disintegration of the community association.
Of course that being said, the bigger issue in Saskatoon is not Saskatoon rinks which are all very well maintained but rural rinks where the rural communities are dying. We have a bunch of arenas and most of our older ones have been replaced. The problem from this is that the costs have gone up with equipment (now that Nike and Reebok dominate the market) and ice time is really expensive. Some zones require teams to take a bus to a tournament which are almost every weekend and the costs keep adding up. I was chatting with an old coach of mine who said that if his kids were Mark's age, he didn't think he could afford it.
In the country, the rinks are in bad shape but hockey often only costs $50 per season which is a lot more affordable but the gas costs are getting high.
"The Long Emergency" may apply to hockey as well.
Also in some rural communities, rinks are just metal quonsets with locker rooms. They have artificial ice and run on volunteers. In the 80's in Calgary we played in one called "The Bubble" and they keep the wind off you so there are some affordable solutions out there.
Now is Nike would just start to make some affordable skates.
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