Creepy Peter Pencil Eater finally dispatched by deadly lead

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A highly imaginative Halloween display on the lawn at 384 Belsize Drive recounts the evils of chewing your pencil. Left, Creepy Peter Pencil Eater is portrayed dead (see below) while (centre) kids peek into his wretched house in terror. Right, the hoard of pencils which finally dispatched Peter. This front yard fun comes with a carefully inscribed warning sign as follows:

Pencils were his favorite lunch,
top to bottom he would crunch
At first just one — or may be two
Then he bit off more to chew
Hoarding pencils in his desk,
His workplace was a horrid mess
His boss said “Go! You filthy louse”
And move these pencils to your house
His life turned dark his only light
Was pencil chewing day and night
His hair fell out, his skin turned grey
— then horror on that fateful day 
On a chair they found him dead
Poisoned by the pencil lead 

Clark Kent quits Planet to become a blogger

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Even Clark Kent can see through the writing on the wall when it comes to the newspaper industry. In the next issue of DC comics’ “Superman,” due out on Wednesday, the superhero’s alter ego will eschew being a mild-mannered reporter, presumably to become a snarky blogger, when he quits his post at the Daily Planet. “This is really what happens when a 27-year-old guy is behind a desk and he has to take instruction from a larger conglomerate with concerns that aren’t really his own,” Superman writer Scott Lobdell said to USA Today. “Superman is arguably the most powerful person on the planet, but how long can he sit at his desk with someone breathing down his neck and treating him like the least important person in the world?” Lobdell said. In the comic’s current story line, the Daily Planet’s editor-in-chief has soured on Kent because he is not getting enough front page scoops on his beat of covering all things Superman. To make matters worse, head honcho Morgan Edge has been giving Kent a hard time, which causes him to go from mild-to-wild-mannered, quitting on the spot in the middle of the newsroom before launching into a diatribe about the state of journalism. “This is not the first time in DC Comics history that Clark Kent has left the Planet, and this time the resignation reflects present-day issues – the balance of journalism vs. entertainment, the role of new media, the rise of the citizen journalist, etc.,” DC Comics said in a written statement to FoxNews.com. “Over the next several issues, readers will enjoy the many surprises in store for Clark, as the ‘H’el on Earth’ storyline unfolds.” From Fox News

It’s official — Canadian Tire to re-open December 1

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A sign has gone up at the Canadian Tire Store on Eglinton Ave E at Laird Drive confirming that the store will re-open on Saturday, December 1, 2012. The Auto Centre portion of the CTC location re-opened for business this week. 

Windows 8 could pose a challenge to users

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Consumers are in for a shock when Microsoft releases the Windows 8 operating system later this week. The interface changes are the most widespread the OS maker has undertaken since the release of Windows 95

Writer raises prospect of 99 cent a litre gas

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Writer Henry Stancu in the Star this morning is suggesting that the price of gasoline in the Toronto area might decline to something like 99 cents a litre by year’s end. He seems to be saying that it’s about competition. Toronto Star
ALSO
TTC uniforms to change from maroon to (maybe) blue
BMO says we’re feeling the morrtgage pinch

Property Brothers at Hollywood Gelato Tuesday

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The W Network’s Property Brothers will be at Hollywood Gelato on South Bayview (at Manor Rd) tomorrow doing some filming. For those who are just too television-deprived,  the Property Brothers are  twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott. Drew’s a real estate agent and Jonathan’s a contractor – together, they find down-and-out fixer-uppers and turn them into perfect homes for their clients. Perhaps they will renovate a Gelato or two.

Auto service re-opens but CTC store still closed

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The Canadian Tire Auto Service Department has now re-opened at Eglinton Ave. E. and Laird Drive in the RioCan Leaside Centre. The main store remains closed however, the result of a fire that destroyed the CTC Garden Centre on September 24, 2012. Officials on the scene today said it will probably be December before the store is back in business. The fire caused extensive smoke damage forcing the company to replace the entire floor and fixtures, as well as inventory.

Danish firm unveils eye-operated smartphone

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Danish company The Eye Tribe says it is almost ready to roll out eye-operated tablets and smartphones. Report by Sam Datta-Paulin.

3 a.m. Sunday break-in at Sporting Life on Yonge

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Toronto Police Service report: Sporting Life, 2665 Yonge Street, reporst that on October 21, 2012 at approximately 03:00 hours, entry was gained in to the premises by unknown means. Removed was a quantity of merchandise.

Liberals will choose new leader in January, 2013

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Ontario Liberals will convene on Friday, January 26, 2013 at a location yet tio be announced.  It seems likely the actual vote on who will lead the government will occur on either Saturday or Sunday of that weekend. In the meantime, Ottawa MPP Yasir Naqvi, who is also Ontario Liberal party president, said a decision about when the Legislature will be recalled won’t be made until after the party selects its new leader.

“Enough action has been taken on housing”

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Canada has done enough to slow its housing market and prevent a crash like that seen in the United States. The finance Minister, Jim Flaherty was insistent on this point when he spoke on CBC Radio yesterday. Flaherty said he had no plans to take further action to put the brakes on  the housing market, after a series of moves to tighten conditions for mortgage lending. The most recent change was in July. “We’ve done enough, I do not intend to do any more,” Flaherty said, adding that he was pleased at signs of a slowdown in key sectors of the market, like the condo market in the big cities of Toronto and Vancouver.

Son of railway porter rose to vice regal heights

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Lincoln Alexander, Ontario’s 24th lieutenant-governor and the first black Member of Parliament,  will be honoured during a week of tributes starting Sunday at Queen’s Park and culminating in a state funeral Friday in Hamilton. Alexander, who died  age 90  will lie in state in the lobby of the main legislative building starting Sunday. Around 12:30 p.m. Alexander will arrive accompanied by his wife Marni and members of the family where they will be greeted by Lt.-Gov. David Onley and Premier Dalton McGuinty. Other dignitaries and invited guests will pay their respects through the afternoon until members of the public are welcomed between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The public will again be allowed to pay their respects between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday. He will then lie in repose at Hamilton City Hall — a city he represented as an MP for 11 years — from Tuesday to Thursday with the public being invited to pay their respects between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. each day. The state funeral is scheduled for Friday and Hamilton Place. Further details will be released later in the week. Alexander, the son of a railway porter from St. Vincent and a mother from Jamaica was born and raised in Toronto.