Revered Leafs veteran George Armstrong has died at the age of 90. He was a 60-year resident of Leaside.

• George Armstrong, Maple Leafs legend and long-time captain, dead at 90
• Affable legend George Armstrong honoured by Leaside
• Wikipedia

Blue quartz crystals create Cookie Monster/Mike Bowers Facebook

A geologist has found a lump of volcanic rock in Brazil which when cut open reveals an uncanny similarity to Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster. The rock has entranced geologists, Sesame fans and people in general as pictures of the grinning prehistoric cookie nut fly across social media. The rock was found in the Rio Grande dol sul region near Soledade by a man identified as Lucas Fassari. He sent it to a California rock specialist named Mike Bowers. Mr. Bowers posted these pictures on his Facebook page and made an entertaining video with the voice of the cookie monster. The rock was found in November 2020 and looked deceptively uninteresting until it was sliced. Bowers says the interior contains deep blue quartz crystals that form the Cookie Monster face and that it may have a value of as much as $10,000.

Peanut-shaped in original form/Mike Bowers Facebook

Two winning tickets were sold for the jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw — one in Quebec and the other in British Columbia. Each ticket is worth $4.2 million. The draw’s guaranteed $1 million prize also went to a lottery player in B.C. The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Jan. 27 will be approximately $5 million.

A ticket holder from the Prairies won Friday night’s whopping $60 million Lotto Max jackpot. There’s no indication in which of Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta that this happy windfall occurred. The draw also offered six Maxmillions prizes of $1 million each, and one of them was claimed by a lottery player in Quebec. The jackpot for the next Lotto Max draw on Jan. 26 will be approximately $15 million.

Scene of moped fail to remain

Police have located the driver of a white Ford pickup truck with a sander on the rear after a public appeal Wednesday. The truck was in a collision with a moped operated by a man, 59, who was seriously injured. He was turning east onto O’Connor Drive at Woodbine Ave. as the truck also headed east. It failed to remain at the scene.

White Ford pickup sought by police

Unprovoked violent attacks

Do not approach

Police are looking for a man who has committed a series of unprovoked violent attacks on unsuspecting people he accosts on the street in North York. He approaches and begins hitting his victims in the head and face. In some instances, the suspect hits people until they fall to the ground. He then flees. He is described as approximately 5’8″ to 5’9″, 20 to 25, has a beard/goatee, a thin to medium build, and has black hair. He was wearing a black hooded jacket with grey interior lining in the hood, black pants, and black shoes with a white stripe around the sole. Two areas where such attacks have occurred are Yonge St. between Sheppard and Finch Aves and the general area of Bathurst St. and Wilson Ave. If seen, do not approach this man. Call 9-1-1 immediately.

Rylan Parrott bringing Saskatchewan ice-fishing to TikTok

Now a break from everything else and not a moment too soon. First we have Saskatchewan pals Rylan Parrott and Koltyn Piller racking up more than 16 million TikTok views in just a few days with their extreme ice-fishing exploits. Then, hairdressing and haircuts are not allowed during Ontario’s C-19 crackdown. Or are they? Below that, the lamentable state of National Hugging Day. May it soon return. Lastly, we see UK prime minister Boris Johnson totally gobsmacked as a reporter asks him if he thinks President Biden is woke.

The delay in delivery of the Pfizer vaccine has placed focus on vaccines still being tested — those from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. These vaccines have not yet been approved in Canada although AstraZeneca has been approved in the UK and India. Health Canada spokesperson Eric Morrissette told the National Post that government regulators continue to look at the vaccine and have been receiving information from the company since last fall, but they don’t have a firm timeline for a decision.

Guarded optimism in Ontario

There’s guarded optimism that Ontario may be flattening the spread of C-19. Thursday the Ministry of Health reported 2,632 new cases and 46 more deaths linked to the virus. As seen in the tweet below, Health Minister Christine Elliott says there were 897 new cases in Toronto, 412 in Peel Region and 245 in York Region. Most notably, testing for this period achieved a healthy 70,300. Typically, more testing reveals more cases.

Ontario is reporting 2,632 cases of #COVID19 and nearly 70,300 tests completed. Locally, there are 897 new cases in Toronto, 412 in Peel, 245 in York Region, 162 in Ottawa and 118 in Waterloo.

— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) January 21, 2021

Project Plastic Pickup

Please pick it up

A Leaside man, Paul Bolté, and two friends have started a company that makes and sells reusable face masks called Eco6ix. Part of the firm’s promotion is Project Plastic Pickup, a contest that urges people to pick up and properly discard plastic refuse. The contest is described on the firm’s website.