Yahoo promises “not to screw up” Tumblr
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Yahoo has purchased the micro-blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion. It is thought Tumblr will bring millions of young users under the Yahoo umbrella. Tumbler’s front page says it owns 108.9 million blogs. as CEO Marissa Mayer has put a casual stamp on the transaction which Yahoo says “per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business” with David Karp staying on as CEO. Charming
Matlow tweets “resign” message about mayor
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Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has become the first member of city council to publicly call for Mayor Ford to resign. Mr. Matlow tweeted: “Serious accusations have been made against the mayor of Toronto. If they are proven to be true beyond a reasonable doubt, he should resign.” Councillor Matlow has had an on and off relationship with the mayor. In recent times, their exchanges in council have been rancorous. And while there is no record yet of any other elected members calling on the mayor to quit, the coming week would seem to be, to use a phrase, a time of truth for the mayor. Proof of what he did does not lie in scrutiny of the video made by the cocaine criminals from Etobicoke. The public may reasonably assume the mayor has done what he is accused of unless he is able to say clearly that he did not do it. This matter will be heard in the court of public opinion and the public will expect the mayor to prove himself innocent. There is not a politician in Canada who could not, if falsely accused in this manner, dismiss the lie with a few simple facts. The mayor’s inability to declare with conviction that this is a hoax should correctly seal his fate in the public mind.
Dear Gawker: Send the dough to Bosma’s widow
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There’s a foolish man named John Cook at Gawker, the scandal outlet. He’s on radio and TV here in Toronto just about bursting with excitement at the thought of being able to buy the video made by cocaine traffickers so “we can all see Rob Ford smoking crack.” He wants us all to send him some money for the creepy cocaine movie makers. Yes, he knows the price is high at $200,000, but what fun to have that video to drool over. Oh yes, and air it for his audience all over the world too. Well gee, Mr Cook, thanks so very much but no thanks. You may not make the people of Toronto as upset and sad as the mayor, but you are doing a good job. Airing this video will help the people of Toronto not one bit. There is already a picture in the public domain. The mayor, unfortunately for us, has failed to tackle the allegation head on. Unless he does so, we may take it that he did what he is said to have done. Mr. Cook knows very well there’s no civic value in airing the tape. We wonder if he’s heard of Sharlene Bosma. Maybe Mr. Cook would care to collect some money for the trust account at the TD Bank in the name for Tim Bosma’s widow and her two year old daughter. That’s where our money will be going.
Tearful farewells as Beckham plays his last game
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Never a stranger to the big stage, David Beckham was finally overwhelmed and reduced to tears as he went out in a burst of fireworks and cheers Saturday in his final home game for Paris Saint-Germain before retirement. Fans chanted his name before the game, and they chanted some more when he was finished. There was an outpouring of hugs, cheers, song and congratulations — from teammates, opponents and even former president Nicolas Sarkozy. There also was some soccer to be played. And Beckham, appointed captain for the game, was involved in two of his team’s goals in a 3-1 victory over Brest. Fox Sports
Counterfeit $100 polymer bills appear in B.C.
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The Government is warning people to be on the lookout for counterfeit $100 polymer bills. A man passed two of them in a British Columbia store earlier in May and since then others have appeared. The RCMP is starting to worry that Canadians have grown over-confident in the new bank notes. But, even though there is an outbreak of counterfeiting, the number of phony polymer bills per million is only about 25. At the peak of counterfeiting in Canada post 2000, there were more than 450 bogus bills in circulation for every million bank notes.
$7,000 raised by Shelter Foundation Sale 2013
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The final count of receipts at the LePage Shelter Foundatiom Sale last week indicates that more than $7,000 was collected for this very worthy cause. The organizers are sending thanks to many of our business neighbors: Cobbs, Canadian Tire, Starbucks, PODS, We Move You, Frog Boxes, Valumart and others. Thanks to all those donors and volunteers as well. Previous post.
Leaf Shack will rise next year win or lose
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| Doug Radford |
The Radford family of Hanna Rd. has declared the Leaf Shack to have been a total success. Doug Redford, a Toronto paramedic, told The South Bayview Bulldog that the Game 7 turnout to the family’s backyard television theatre attracted at least 70 people, most of whom Mr. Radford says he had never met before. “Next year I’m going to have to extend the back of the tent a little further. It was pretty much standing room only for a lot of people,” said the creator of the Leaf Shack. As reported here the Leaf Shack concept goes back more than a decade and was recreated for this year’s winning season. But, says Radford, there will be another Leaf Shack next year win or lose.
Belsize listing from winter shows strong market
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The Globe and Mail is reporting the sale of the semi-detached home at 260 Belsize Drive near Forman Ave. As many will know, this places the home on the attractive Glebe Manor Square boulevard park that stretches along certain sections of Belsize. The sale appears to be a winter listing which for reasons of a long close is only being reported now. The asking price was $679,000 and it sold for $760,000. The home had sold previously in 1988 for $262,000. Sydnia Yu, Special to the Globe and MailKettel gives north end break-in alert in Leaside
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Geoff Kettel has written email to residents alerting them to a series of break-ins last night targeting bicycles and other valuables. It appears thieves worked their way east on from Bayview Ave. on Glenvale Blvd. One resident had his expensive bike stolen from a shed that was locked.
Rob Ford vs Mike Duffy in clash of scandal titans
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Ford’s lawyer denies crack tale, cops “monitoring”
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A lawyer for Mayor Ford says the accusation that Mr. Ford is seen on video smoking crack cocaine is “false and defamtory” Dennis S. Morris, whose practice is on John Street, made the declaration in response to the Toronto Star story today (Friday, May 17, 2013) in which two well known reporters. Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan, write that they have screened a cellphone video shown to them by men who are apparently traffickers in crack. A photograph showing someone who looks like the mayor is published with the Star story. The Star says that it was asked to pay a million dollars and other sums of money for the video. It says it paid nothing. On the tape the mayor is said to utter a number of vulgarities and to be clearly impaired. The mayor himself has called the video “ridiculous” and yet another attempt by the Toronto Star to discredit him. He did not comment on the appearance of the story first in the gossip online publication Gawker. The Gawkter story, written by John Cook, is very vitriolic and the writer is conducting a campaign to solicit a sum of $200,000 to buy the video. Mr. Cook observes that the owner of the video may wish to leave town for fear of retribution. As he hustled through City Hall today Mr Ford was hectored by reporters: “Is the video a fake, Mr Ford?” “Why would someone make a fake video?” and similar questions. One of the Mayor’s allies on council, Doug Holyday, said that he did not know what to say except that drug traffickers cannot be trusted. CP24 quotes police spokesman Tony Vella as saying that the department is “monitoring” the situation but PC Vella had no more to say about what that meant. Many commentators are suggesting the video represents a fatal turn in the mayor’s career from which he may not be able to recover. .