You will be riveted to this video as a family of ducks crosses a busy four-lane highway in Minnesota. The cars swerve, brake, nearly collide and pull off the road. It makes the occasional work of Toronto police on the Don Valley Parkway look easy. Truly a miracle. And quite dangerous for everyone.
You know the Apple watch is moving slowly when it shows up courtesy of Apple at Best Buy. So if you’ve got $450 lying around for a watch, pop into Best Buy. Not CTC. CBC
The new pedestrian tunnel to Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island has been opened and it has turned the 10 or 15 minute trip (sometimes) on the ferry into a six-minute quick-walk along moving sidewalks and escalators. It seems like a nice job and the striking model of Bishop’s 1917 Nieuport 17 in which he reputedly shot down the Red Baron is wonderful touch. Bishop was, in any event, a true Canadian hero. The video below shows the plan for three years of work (2012 to 2015) and is quite informative. All in all, a job well done.
Saks Fifth Avenue will hire as many as 365 people over the next six months to staff its Toronto stores on Queen Street and at Sherway Gardens. That number includes full and part-time staff. Work continues on the two stores which will open in the Spring of 2016. Following department store protocol these days, there will be an emphasis on the profitable cosmetics trade. It may be hard to get 20 feet inside without a squirt of some male, female or unisex fragrance. Hudson’s Bay Co. (TSX:HBC), owns and operates Saks after it acquired the New York-based company about two years ago. The retailer plans to bring seven Saks Fifth Avenue stores to Canada and as many as 25 stores under the Saks Off Fifth discount brand.
A kind stranger called authorities for help when Mark Lorenzoni was found wandering in the shopping mall at Kipling Ave and The Queensway yesterday. He was not recognized by either the Good Samaritan or by authorities when they took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital. But within an hour or two someone at the hospital recognized Lorenzoni from the pictures in the media. It was then that his family was contacted. A happy ending in Toronto the Good.
York Regional Police have thanked the public for its help in locating Mark Lorenzoni. He was located in Toronto in good health and was reunited with his family today. Mr. Lorenzoni is 33 and has limited social confidence. He had no means to buy food or water. Police and family feared for his well-being. How he was found.
The Toronto Star and its subsidiary newspapers in Hamilton, Kitchener and Guelph has reported a stunning drop in revenue as a result of fleeing display advertising. Torstar announced today the second quarter ending June 30 saw operating revenue of $206.3 million against $225.6 million last year.. The company reported a loss attributable to shareholders of $1.1 million for the quarter compared with a profit of $19.7 million a year ago. The results include the firm’s Metroland community papers. Torstar also said it had bought into the web forum company VerticalScope. It has more than 600 consumer enthusiast online forums and premium content sites. The Financial Post said statistics referenced by Torstar, VerticalScope’s roster of sites attracts a combined total of more than 80 million unique visitors per month and more than 500 million page views. It makes money from selling banner advertising and through sponsored content. It employs 130 people. There was no information in the Torstar announcement about the profitability of VerticalScope.
Canada’s elaborate society of rights and expectations has barged right into itself on a Porter airlines flight. A woman is complaining that her “right” was at least threatened because the gentleman, an orthodox Jew, wanted to exercise what he saw as a religious right. Frequently, when “rights” collide, one or both parties say that the other person’s concern isn’t really a right. No no. Welcome to the perfect world of rights.
Yes, Bombardier has made a total muck up of the streetcar contract. Out-of-alignment frames and substandard workmanship has left the City without the vehicles to replace older cars. Only a pitiful handful of cars has been delivered. We’re not sure as Josh Colle, the TTC chair says, that “Torontonians are looking forward to the pleasures of their new streetcars”. Riding a tram isn’t like an evening with an old friend. But never mind. Bombardier is a bit player in the streetcar scandal played out daily in Toronto. Whether it be the enormous cost and inconvenience of maintaining a street railway in 2015, the extraordinary obstruction of traffic caused by streetcars, the inflexibility of streetcar routing and the time it costs the public or the maddening exercise of building tracks on the street in Leslieville — it is all entirely the fault of elected City Councillors who voted for a 19th century transit system. Please do not talk of the environment. The impact of electric and natural gas buses on the environment is a piffle. Council is talking of blacklisting Bombardier. Fine. But let members also awaken from their long dark night as streetcar zombies.
