Playing chess in Toronto

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Fox News is so diverse

CBC News Toronto -- Notice any difference?

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It's hockey night in Canada!

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Big Boobs

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Nitwit Factor

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Bad Girls

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Toronto mayor, Rob Ford

Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, on accusations of a substance abuse problem...

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You knew it was coming...

Ladies, want to know how, ahem, big your date is? Now, there's an app for that. Developed by a Toronto doctor, and also filled with fun and interesting facts, this app will take inputs such as height and shoe size and give you an instant estimate of penis size.

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New Raptors logo

In light of the NBA Toronto Raptors' recent 10-3 record, I suggest a more appropriate logo...

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Talk about a sugar high

Hundreds of people turned out today in Toronto to witness the construction of the world's largest ice cream cake.
Guinness World Records was on hand at Dundas Square as the 10,130.35-kilogram cake was created.
A forklift brought pallets of vanilla ice cream into the square as 22 workers from Dairy Queen built and iced the cake.
Full Story

Note: A kilo is 2.2 pounds, so those whose countries continue to refuse to join the modern world, double the weight above and add 10%.


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We're finally getting a real football team

For several years, National Football League fans in the Greater Toronto Area have been fighting for an NFL expansion team. Although it seems any expansion plans are on the backburner due to a possible lockout this coming season, sports fans are getting a different kind of football team.

The LFL announced Wednesday that it is branching out to Canada and expanding its teams from 10 to 15, according to the Toronto Sun. Toronto will be one of the five cities to get a team this autumn and will play against Eastern Conference teams Baltimore Charm, Cleveland Crush, Orlando Fantasy, Philadelphia Passion and Tampa Breeze.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/305619#ixzz1JRtikjQh


Did they purposely lace the descriptions with suggestive terms or is it just me? Is a "punishing blow" a good thing or bad? Will they someday compile a video of the LFL's Greatest Hits? Say the last two words three times fast.

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Stuff that doesn't make sense

The Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets of the NBA (National Basketball Association) are having a two-game series in London, England this weekend. My question is...
Why would the league send over two of the very worst teams if their aim is to garner interest???
Their records are 17 and 43, and 17 and 44. I don't think it matters which belongs to whom.

Maybe the league hopes their plane will go down. That would be a quick and inexpensive way to improve league play dramatically. If it happened, those teetotallers across the pond just might take an interest in our basketball.



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Traffic is backed up along Lake Shore Boulevard...

In Canadians' perennial quest to shed their inferiority complex vis a vis their American cousins, they may have finally succeeded. Unfortunately, what they now showcase as equal to if not superior to those of our neighbours', is decadence, immorality, deceit, and bigotry. Modelled after the hit American reality TV show Jersey Shore, I give you Toronto's own...

Lake Shore






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A Toronto tid bit

It seems that just about everything done in Toronto is special. That's easy to say given that I've spent virtually my whole life here, but the city just keeps proving itself over and over again. Few projects are poorly executed. Everyone involved in a major way in this city from the mayor to city planners to large businesses seem dedicated to not being satisfied with the mediocre.

I'm a little late in writing about this, but truth be told, I hadn't really seen the subject of this posting in the three years or so it's been in existence. I'm talking about BMO field--the home of the Toronto FC Major League soccer team.

Here are a few photos that I found impressive:

On one side of the stadium, the seats are colour-coordinated to display the symbol and flag of Canada, the maple leaf. The MLS soccer franchise also happens to be owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL team. Downtown Toronto is in the background, dominated by the CN Tower, which for some 40 years until recently was the tallest building in the world.



On the opposite side of the stadium, the seats spell out "TORONTO".


Background is Lake Ontario and Toronto island.





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Honest Ed's

As newly arrived immigrants, and without much coinage, my mom used to occasionally shop at Honest Ed's discount department store. True to its name, you got honest value for your dollar. Sometimes I went along with her and when I got a bit older, perhaps 10 years old, I sometimes went with my friends. You could always find some bargain toy, treat, or game.

Today, the store celebrated 62 years of serving bargains at the same location at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor by serving 15,001 free meals consisting of hot dogs, chips, drinks and pastries. The extra meal went to Police Services equine Honest Ed, named after the late store owner. This isn't the first time Honest Ed's has thanked the public for their patronage. Every Christmas, the store hands out 1,000 free turkeys for those who may otherwise not enjoy a traditional Christmas meal.

In June 2006, Ed and Anne Mirvish marked their 65th wedding anniversary with a party at the Princess of Wales Theatre. The mayor of Toronto, the chief of police and other public figures delivered congratulatory speeches, followed by a program of vocal music by some of Toronto's opera and theatre stars. In July 2006, Mirvish celebrated his 92nd birthday with a lavish party at Honest Ed's. In honor of this occasion, many items in the store were on sale for 92 cents.

(Honest) Ed Mirvish was a longtime Toronto philanthropist until he passed away in 2007. He is survived by his son David and Ed's wife Anne, who was on hand, today, to enjoy the festivities which also included activities for children, surprise gifts and more. Visitors were entertained by Caribana performances and hula dancers.

Ed has been bestowed with the following honours and awards:

• Appointed a commander of the Order of the British Empire


• Named a Freeman of the City of London in recognition of his contributions to British theatre (he subsequently drove a herd of sheep across London Bridge, a right of a Freeman of the city)


• 1978, Made a Member of the Order of Canada


• 1984, Awarded Retail Council of Canada's Distinguished Canadian Retailer of the Year Award


• 1987, Promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada


• 1999, Awarded Retail Council of Canada's Lifetime Achievement Award


• 2009, One block of Duncan Street in Toronto, near the Royal Alexandra Theatre and the Princess of Wales Theatre in the Entertainment District, is renamed Ed Mirvish Way

Ed won't be forgotten anytime soon. Even my mom, at 88, still harbours fond memories of how far she could stretch her shopping budget thanks to Ed.






Honest Ed's still sports the gaudy Burlesque-like marques from back in the day.





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Macabre Map

This happened two days ago about two miles from my place:

Saturday 2:12 p.m.: A blue car going from Steeles Ave. to Hwy. 410 hit a silver Mazda, causing the Mazda to cross into oncoming traffic and strike a tractor trailer. The blue car fled, leaving the driver of the Mazda to die in hospital and her passenger critically injured.

About two hours earlier, I had used that very stretch of highway.

Last year, when I was driving that same highway, I passed an accident scene that had a car that was almost vertical, nose down between two cars.

When I first saw the story of the more recent tragedy, there was a small map of this on the same page. How nice that people can click on accident sites and read the details of the horrible deaths of their neighbours, friends and family members.


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Toronto to host internation marijuana expo

I was going to go but I forgot about it until this morning, then after I got into the car to drive down, I forgot where it was being held. I hate when that happens.

Marco Renda, who is organizing the expo, said he expects well over 30,000 visitors, including many from the United States and Europe.

Marijuana will not be available at the expo, although registered medical users are welcome to bring cannabis to smoke in a marijuana vaporization room, he said. Vaporization is a process in which hot air is pushed through a chamber containing marijuana. That air is then pushed into a separate chamber, and then inhaled. "Vaporization is a way of using cannabis in a healthier mode because there's no combustion," said Renda, who is a registered grower of marijuana. He is also a registered user of the drug, which he uses to mitigate symptoms of hepatitis C.

"Less than two per cent of the licensed cannabis card holders in Canada actually buy the medicine from the government," he said, adding that many users get the drug from so-called compassion clubs. He said government investment in the growth of medical marijuana is inadequate. As of June 2009, there are just over 4,000 registered medical marijuana users in the country.

Full Story.

The evil weed is de-criminalized in Canada for small amounts for personal use, but IMO it should be made available through government outlets. It would add huge amounts of money to the public coffers and would probably reduce some of the carnage associated with alcohol abuse as I believe many drinkers would opt for pot, instead.

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How much further...

...can the quality of "journalism" sink? If I haven't made it apparent, yet, I am a stickler for spelling and grammar and I am continually shocked and appalled by the new depths it reaches. There seems to be no bounds beneath which it will not go and there is no apparant reason to believe the bottom is anywhere near imminent. The logical conclusion is that one day, sooner rather than later, virtually everthing you read, regardless of source or author, will resemble the worst jibberish one witnesses on intenet message boards, instant messenger chat sessions and mobile text messages.

What's got me in a snit this time? I ckicked on a news story brought to me as part of a collection by Google (by clicking on "News" on the Google portal) and my jaw dropped. It's not as if I stumbled onto the page of an obscure amateur blogger--I'm talking about an otherwise legitimate news service. Here are a few small samples of this "professional" journalist's work:

No really, what kind of idiot would go on tv, in Turkey or anywhere in earth

Get a loud of some of this crap that Hedo spews..

Who knew, Toronto a hard place to play on athletes??????

Now, you might think that perhaps the author has some redeeming talents such as a keen insight into the subject matter or perhaps he weaves a rivetting story. Perhaps you'd be wrong. He offers little insight into anything...other than his abysmal command of the English language, and as for his ability to weave--I'm sure he is far more suited to performing the activity using baskets rather than the English language.

You be the judge.

Maybe I should just accept that the world is changing and learn to change along with it. i thnk ill start rite now, c u ltr..........


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Portrait of an alleged terrorist training camp

Not only does Canada produce more comics per capita than any other country, apparently, even alleged Canadian terrorists are a funny bunch.

A less nefarious picture of an alleged terrorist training camp emerged Thursday, when a Brampton court heard attendees were forced to sleep in a van because of sub-zero temperatures, participated in military marches to avoid hypothermia and squealed when a field mouse ran into a tent.

The portrait of an “utterly disorganized” camp, surfaced as defence lawyer Michael Moon cross-examined police agent Mubin Shaikh, who infiltrated the alleged homegrown terror cell in late 2005.

Court was told that when members of the group attended a December 2005 camp in Washago, Ont., some were terrified a fictional pack of wolves was stalking them, two men cut themselves chopping wood and one nearly lit himself ablaze while pouring fuel onto the campfire.

“These guys were lucky to get out of Washago alive,” Moon suggested to Shaikh, who is testifying at the trial of Fahim Ahmad, Steven Chand and Asad Ansari, members of the so-called Toronto 18, which was busted up by police on June 2, 2006.

Shaikh, the only one who had the foresight to bring a winter tent, said he never believed the campers were at risk of death because they could sleep in their vehicles. But, he testified, “there was a real risk of hypothermia.”

The full story.

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Heh...I was right on

Raptors lose by 13 in another of a long string of uninspired efforts. This, to a team whose record is only better than two teams in the entire NBA. A women's team can beat Raps on most nights. No offence to women.

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