The Bulldog

Rudy has chat while bus sits out delay at Wicksteed crossing

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Loyal reader, naturalist and Leaside gadfly Rudy Limeback is saying tonight that he waited a while for the 88 South Leaside on Overlea Blvd to take him back to Bayview Ave. but he spent the first 45 minutes talking to the driver because of another disruption at the CP Rail mainline crossing on Wicksteed Ave. So the bus was delayed. Those gates can be cranky. Seems we have a diversion of the 88 at least once a month. Tonight it was closed from about 8 to 9 p.m.

Ontario gets a measles all-clear as Quebec cases multiply

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Ontario is now thought to be measles-free but in Quebec the number of cases has mushroomed from 32 to 119. A serious breach in efforts to protect school children occurred in the town of Joliette when a student who had the disease infected dozens of unvaccinated kids in a single day. All of Quebec’s cases have occurred among unvaccinated children and adults. In Ontario the health department has been counting the days from the last outbreak and now concludes that the incubation period for any more cases as expired. That’s 21 days at a maximum. Unless there are unreported cases somewhere, the outbreak should be over, says Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins. In Joliette there are 114 students and 51 staff members at the school who have been identified as not fully vaccinated. Health officials said that parents and staff members have been notified of the exposure and that vaccinations will be offered at the school today (Thursday,March 12, 2015). Those who deny vaccination will be required to stay home for two weeks. All 119 cases are connected to a measles outbreak in California’s Disneyland, which began in December 2014, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Real royalty visits those who merely play the part on TV

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Kate, the expectant Duchess of Cambridge, has visited the set of Downton Abbey and had her picture taken with the production staff and stars of the popular drama. According to reports,  the program’s creator Julian Fellowes told Kate that she is partly responsible for its global success. The duchess visited the set of the award-winning costume drama at London’s Ealing Studios and met such well known cast members as Jim Carter, who plays butler Mr. Carson. She visited hair and makeup departments, toured scenery construction and watched a scene being filmed. Mr. Fellowes described how a 2011 visit to the U.S. by Kate and her husband, Prince William, came as producers tried to raise the profile of the show. Fellowes said when the duchess mentioned she was a fan “this went into the media like an Exocet missile. And soon all of America and most of the world knew it.”

 

Proposed replacement for Stollery’s would soar 80 floors

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A proposed new tower at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets has 80 floors — on paper at least — and is ready to become the City’s second highest building after the CN Tower. It will be pricey too and one price to be paid will be the view from St. Clair and Mt. Pleasant. The developer of the former Stollerys site showed off renderings at a community meeting on Wednesday with a 318-metre tower. The plan calls for 72 levels of apartments on top of an eight-level luxury shopping mall, and 10 stories underground, at a total cost of $1 billion. Developer Sam Mizrahi has called his new monument The One. (Oh my. He’s The One). The design is by Foster Partners and Toronto’s Core Architects. Some have noted that external steel skeleton. Keep in mind it would run all the way up to the clouds. It is reminiscent of the first so called exoskeletons built in Hong Kong during the 1980s.years.