An article appeared today on insidetoronto.com’s Scarborough Mirror. The article deals with the concern of some residents about kite fighting that takes place in near by Milliken Park. I have been aware of the kite fighting in Milliken Park for the past couple of years as the Toronto Kite Festival is held there each year. Around 5 or 6 O’Clock on Saturday and Sunday the kite fighters would show up with boxes of Afghani fighter kites. All the families would attend with large platters of food and it appears to be harmless, that is until you start looking at what they use for flying line. I am pretty sure that the kite fighters are using Manja or Tar (glass coated kite line in the Afghan language). This is a huge part of the problem, you can successfully kite fight with out using glass so the Tar should be banned. Even if the kite fighters were not using Tar there would still be another problem; disgarded kite line.

Here is my take on it, for what it’s worth… Kite fighting is not the problem, people are! If you are going to fight kites then be responsible. If the fighters would just pick up after themselves we wouldn’t have a problem with people or wildlife getting injured by stray kite lines.

InsideToronto.com writes
Complete article here

Man fears kite fighting injuries
North Scarborough residents frustrated by situation

LISA QUEEN
Jun. 8, 2006

A Scarborough father who saw a bird strangle to death in string cut loose from a kite fight fears its only a matter of time before a child is seriously injured.
“Birds are flying into it and cutting their throat. (On Monday), I saw a bird caught in it and hanging upside down. It was nasty,” said Khurram Hanif, a married father of two small boys who lives in the area of Steeles Avenue and McCowan Road.

“I’ve had to retrieve string wrapped around my bumper. It’s down low enough it could get a child. The sport is not worth the risk.”

In kite fighting, participants use their expertise to try to cut the string of an opponent’s kite. Sometimes, the string is coated with tiny bits of glass.

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Kite Patent Blog

Received an interesting link today from fellow kite blogger Adi Shavit. Adi has created a blog that lists and discusses kite patents. Some really nice patents here, everything from complex cellular kites to early two line designs.

Adi Shavit writes
Historic kite patents are a freely available source of inspiration and ideas with their own kind of aesthetic appeal. Expired patents are often great kite plans for the DIY kite builder.

Update from Adi
Adi sent me some more information about his site…
Adi Writes…
I’ve noticed that many historical kites have been patented through the years and, though this is often stated, the actual patent numbers are often hard to come by. I wanted a single place where one might come to get a direct link to the original patent with the original figures and wording. Patents are in the public domain, and most are actually freely accessible through the web if you know where to look.

I try to put a wide varaiety of kites on the blog to keep things intereting.
Pre-1900 patents are the rarest, or more accurately, harder to find since there are no references.
I find that the early patents (up to ~1920s) have a certain naive charm.

In my searches I have found some real gems.
It is quite amazing how some inventions are actually re-inventions of past patents.

I’m glad you like it. I try to post one patent every day as time allows.
I’ve got hundreds more lined up so keep watching.

Check it out here.. http://kitepatents.blogspot.com/