Eglinton P.S. album is enormous local fun

by  • 

All those tens of thousands of people whose lives are intertwined with Eglinton Public School will find the excellent album prepared by The Friends of Eglinton to be enormous fun. It is located on Facebook and is publicly available at the link below. At the right is a tiny portion of this charming collection of pictures of Eglinton P.S. as it celebrates its 100th year. These are kids from the Grade 3 and 4 split class of David Moscoe in 1962. The official centennial day was Saturday and we can only hope that the rain didn’t dampen spirits. In the photo collection are copies of a good conduct certificate given to worthy pupils. There are “progress reports” and nostalgic pictures of the original school which was demolished in 1996. The “last day of the old school” collection catches the spirit of fun at this venerable place of education at Eglinton and Mt. Pleasant. Here’s the link

“No Woman, No Drive” video tops 3 million views

by  • 

Saudi musician and singer Hisham Fageeh has become a global Internet sensation after his tongue-in-cheek version of a Bob Marley classic goes viral. He offers a satirical take on the Saudi ban on female driving, poking fun at one cleric’s assertion it could harm reproductive organs. Speaking to Euronews he remained coy about social activism, though his Twitter account cites the haystack for the Women2Drive campaign. “If I’m being ambitious, I’d like it to get to people’s pages, newspaper pages and onto their television sets,” he admits continuing, “and for people to think that Arabs and Saudis can joke and they can laugh. I think that’s what is really important to us – that people abroad understand that.” One of his well-known comedy cohorts was cited as quoting Oscar Wilde when he wrote: “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” The group’s YouTube channel garners around 1 million hits a day. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest per-capita use of YouTube in the world, meaning viral videos could be an effective tool for social change, On Saturday, several women risked arrest for defying a ban on driving and posting videos online. YouTube

Disservice to keep poisoning details secret

by  • 

It seems like a disservice to all Ontarians for the Health Department to throw a cloak of secrecy over the deaths of two persons who drank liquid hand sanitizer. We are not suggesting that the private lives of the deceased be made public, but some information would help parents to better address their fears for their children. It is a curious story. The labels on Bodico brand of sanitizer clearly say that the contents should not be ingested. But there is an error apparently in which the active ingredient, methanol, was mislabelled as ethyl alcohol. Ethyl alcohol is made from grain and is usually potable. It is a serious error. But it makes the point that those who drank this sanitizer knew enough about alcohol to believe they might actually consume hand sanitizer and survive. Who would do this?  It is a fair and important question. Ontario residents have a right to know the general circumstances.  

Here’s how to frighten and shock your neighbours

by  • 

If you catch them when they aren’t thinking about Halloween, you can give your neighbors a good shock when they see your place is for sale because it’s been condemned. That’s what the high-spirited (spirited, get it?) family on Hudson Drive in Moore Park did when they wrapped the front drive and walkway of their lovely ravine mansion in yellow tape, cobwebs and this sign announcing the end of decent property values nearby. But, of course, it is Halloween. It’s all good. 

Forest Hill loses Heritage Kitchens to Thornhill

by  • 

Heritage Kitchens, the custom manufacturer of many installations across Toronto, will move from its location at 369 Eglinton Ave West where it has been for about 20 years. The company says that all things change and it now needs to place its order centre and showroom next to the fabricating facility at 2600 John Street, Markham. 

Tories pondering giving break to “Senate 3”

by  • 

Senators in the Conservative majority are pondering whether to amend the motion to suspend senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau, to maybe give them a break. Government Leader in the Senate Claude Carignan says the caucus could craft new motions tomorrow (Monday) as long as there is consensus among party members. The announcement has infuriated  Senate Opposition Leader James Cowan. “Instead of having this thing dealt with in the Senate, where Sen. Carignan has said it should be done . . . now it’s going to be settled in the Conservative caucus in private,” Cowan complained.

Karen Stintz says she will run for mayor in 2014

by  • 

Karen Stintz, TTC chair and member for Ward 16, has told Don Peat of the Toronto  Sun that she will run for mayor in 2014. The online version of the story sets its posting at 11 p.m. Saturday evening. “I’m running,” Ms Stintz is quoted as saying on Friday. “I’m assembling a campaign team because I believe that elections are about choice and I want to be able to offer a choice to the people of Toronto.”  The announcement seems to open the door for more — many more — candidates now that a main event of sorts has been set up between Ms Stintz and Mayor Rob Ford. The conventional view of this type of contest is that it may very well have the effect of electing left-wing candidate Olivia Chow. In this strategic view, the presumption is that Ms Stintz and Mr Ford could split the centre-right vote sufficiently to let Ms Chow come up the middle. Ms Chow has not yet declared, but she is widely thought to be readying a run. Other serious candidates might include John Tory, now a radio talk show host, who has said recently on the air that he is still thinking about running. Support for Ms Stintz on council will be substantial. It is clear that in 2010 Mr Ford had the backing of councillors like Ms Stintz, Jaye Robinson and John Parker. The same does not seem to be true today. Mr. Parker has stayed publicly neutral but some suspect that his appearance with Ms Stintz at events in his own ward suggests a sympathy for her ambitions. The TTC chair will have a stronghold in her residential locale of Lawrence Park, an area where ratepayers share the values of those in much of east central Toronto and South Bayview. Mr. Peat recalls that Stintz was Ford’s hand-picked TTC chair in 2010. She quickly found herself at odds with the mayor and his brother, Councillor Doug Ford.  Don Peat

Washington wanted to kill off Buick and GMC too

by  • 

Former General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz is saying that the big car firm was forced to kill its Pontiac brand by the U.S. federal government. Not only that, the government was not so hot on keeping Buick and GMC. Buick was saved because it was the best-selling car in China. If it were forced to eliminate Buick at home. GM argued, the Chinese consumer would quickly lose interest in it. That warning worked. The GMC brand survived when GM insisted it was the heart and soul of its truck business. The crisis is still less than five years old and many will recall how Barack Obama essentially fired GM President Rick Waggoner in 2009 because he would not declare bankruptcy. “I badly wanted to keep Pontiac,” Lutz is quoted as saying recently by Jalopnik.com.  Pontiac, Lutz argued, was on its way back after years of mismanagement. The  Solstice sports car and Pontiac G6 were new and had a great future, Lutz said. Washington  wanted to get GM down to Cadillac and Chevrolet. They said “you don’t need all these brands. You need one prestige brand, and one mass-market brand.”