The South Bayview Bulldog

Watch as this helicopter accident happens in a split second. It hardly seems possible that the chopper could fall so quickly. Tourist Shawn Winrich was taking photos of Pearl Harbor when he saw a helicopter “essentially coming straight at us” at the popular Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,  tourist destination. He switched to video, recording the helicopter’s dramatic drop into the water below.

VISITING CANADIANS

The family of four visiting from Canada and the pilot on board made it out, but one passenger — a 15-year-old boy who was trapped underwater and had to be cut free from his seat — remained hospitalized in critical condition Friday. No identities have been released

Man rescued from crashed helicopter at Pearl Harbor

The Toronto Zoo’s 11-year-old female rhinoceros Ashakiran, gave birth to a male calf on Wednesday, February 17th at 9:42 pm. He is just about as cute as an English bulldog. The Bulldog likes its funny looks and wishes a similar satisfaction for this little guy.

A company called Bullwheel International Cable Car Corp.is proposing to build a cable car system across the Don Valley from the Evergreen Brick Works to a newly-built platform on the edge of Playter Gardens Park, which overlooks the valley. It is seen as an all-season service which might carry as many as 1,500 passengers on a summer weekend. After lift-off from the Brick Works, the routing appears to take the line over the unpopulated Don River shores to the “Danforth Station” platform at the park. Playter Gardens is on Cambridge Ave.

SHORT WALK TO DANFORTH

From there it would be a short walk to the Danforth and the Broadview subway station. Happily, the line doesn’t propose to run under the Bloor Viaduct. This is a Toronto Star special which has been in the works for a number of days it seems with prepared responses from the Mayor, Councillor Fragedakis and others. They see it as a nice addition to the city’s “transit”. It is suggested the cable car could be running in as little as four years and that the cost would be $25 million. It is not exactly stated but the reasonable assumption will be that this is Bullwheel’s tab and not the city’s. although as in all such appealing ideas it is good to be on guard. Some will note that the service would run across busy roads — the DVP for one  — and the meaning of that to safe driving might be discussed.  Some artwork

Harper Lee has died at the age of 89. The elusive author of To Kill A Mockingbird wrote from the perspective of a young girl (Scout) about life and racial injustice in a small Southern town. It was essentially a story about her own childhood. Lee was enormously modest, saying at various times that she wrote the novel merely by stringing together old letters and later that her editor was the true author of the book. To Kill A Mockingbird became a metaphor for decency and gained international fame and was read by black and white audiences. In later years, the intense focus on race in the U.S. led to criticism that the novel was patronizing of blacks. Lee died peacefully Thursday, publisher Harper Collins said in a statement Friday. It did not give any other details about how she died.

On average, Canada’s weak dollar has driven up imported fruit and vegetables as much as 15 percent, and in some cases even more. Lettuce is said to be up nearly 18 percent over last year at this time. The reason for the dollar’s weakness is of course the sinking price of oil. There’s way too much of it to sustain previous prices. One reason for that is the new river of natural gas flooding the market and the slowdown in the Chinese economy.

STATS CANADA

Statistics Canada’s January year-over-year inflation number was up from 1.6 per cent in December. The agency’s latest consumer price index found the overall cost of food was up four per cent last month compared to a year earlier — with fresh vegetable prices up 18.2 per cent and fruits up 12.9 per cent. Lettuce, as noted, is up  17.9 per cent over the year before, apples were up 16.6 per cent and tomatoes up 11.9 per cent.

CLOTHING AND FOOTWEAR DOWN

Year-over-year prices moved upwards in every category of the index except for clothing and footwear, which saw a decrease of 0.3 per cent compared to January 2015. Lower prices in January for items such as natural gas, fuel oil and telephone services kept downward pressure on the inflation reading, the agency said. Natural gas was down 18.6 per cent, fuel oil down 15 per cent and telephone services 2.5 per cent.

But the leaders of Local 79 of CUPE, with the employment of some 23,000 people at issue, say they are still far apart. That’s tough talk. Will they be crazy enough to strike? Tell us that’s not the right word if you disagree. Or maybe you would prefer to get a secure, well-paid job at City Hall instead. City has a tentative agreement  Josh Matlow letter

The annual New York Toy Show is open today with merchants from Canada, the U.S. and Europe checking out what they might wish to stock in their stores. It is not open to the public but Alex Denis of CBS has this entertaining review.

Diane Buckner reports on this significant opening and the questions that hang over it. Another Saks opens next week at Sherway Mall.

The mystery of checkout Aisle 8 continues at Loblaws at 301 Moore Ave. Today the aisle is gone and the floor has been re-tiled to make it seem like the aisle never existed. Woo. One cheeky clerk said maybe it was going to be a dance floor. Hey, if Whole Foods can have tattoo parlors, Loblaws can surely have a dance studio. It may yet be true that a self checkout lane with a new desk will fill this space. But for the moment, let’s dance.

The mixed blessing of a Facebook persona, the new publicity of having a picture online, has seen a Durham Region woman ambushed when her picture was used by an online predator to attract a 12-year-old boy. The Bowmanville man is now in custody. Police published the picture and asked if anyone else had been entrapped in the same way by the fictitious “Jennifer Jackson.” The real owner of the face and image contacted police and asked that they protect her identity.