Kate’s slip-of-the-tongue signals it’s a girl

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Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has made a slip of the tongue that apparently suggests that she is going to have a daughter. During a routine royal appearance  a woman gave Kate a teddy bear.  Kate, 31, said: “Thank you, I will take that for my d… for my baby.” After the slip Kate insisted she did not know the sex of her baby — who will be third in line to the throne — with Prince William.  Another woman who was next to the duchess in the crowd, said: “I distinctly heard her say ‘thank you, I’ll take that for my d …’ then she stopped herself. I said to her: ‘You were going to say daughter weren’t you?’ and she said ‘No, we don’t know’. “I said ‘Oh I think you do’, to which she said: ‘We’re not telling’.”

Will streetcars fit on the tracks — we’ll soon know

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Funny thing about streetcars — they have to fit on the tracks. But we love those big electrical passenger ferry boats of  the streets and the TTC has 204 of them just waiting to see if they fit on the city’s tracks. Paula Fletcher (Ward 30 Danforth) told the CBC she’s excited and nervous to see them in action. The trams were designed for Toronto by Bombardier as part of a deal signed in 2009. Ms. Fletcher’s worry is that a vehicle of this kind has never operated in open traffic anywhere in the world. “Everyone’s just waiting to see how well they’re going to work on the current track,” she said. So later this month, when the snow subsides, the new streetcars will hit the tracks and we will all find out of they fit the tracks. Can’t help wondering  where the bus is. Montage: It shows the exterior of the new Bombardier, self-contained motorman’s cab where operator can lock him/herself inside, new miniaturized fare boxes, token and transfer dispenser.  

Toronto now 4th largest city in North America

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News that Toronto has become the fourth largest city in North America seems easy to understand. People are flocking here from all over the  world. Wonder why? Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York.  It’s an easy one. Toronto overtook Chicago last year apparently. According to the latest census data from Statistics Canada, as of last July 1, Toronto’s population was 2,791,140, about 84,000 more than Chicago’s 2,707,120. So after all the self-flagellation at City Hall over starvation (where?) bad transit (here comes the bus now) and crime (just try and buy a handgun at Wal Mart) Toronto comes out ahead in the migration stakes. 

Hugo Chavez dead at age 58, Venezuela reports

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President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, surrounded by other government officials, announced the death in a national television broadcast. He said Chavez died at 4:25 p.m. local time. National Post 

China, U.S. agree on new action against N. Korea

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Reuters is reporting this afternoon that that U.S. and China reached a deal that “significantly expands” U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its third nuclear test, eliciting a renewed threat by Pyongyang to scrap an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea also said it would sever a military “hotline” with the United States if South Korea and Washington pressed on with two-month-long war games. China’s U.N. ambassador, Li Baodong, told Reuters the 15-nation Security Council was aiming for a Thursday vote on a draft sanctions resolution, which was agreed to by Washington and Beijing after three weeks of negotiations. The landmark move, in which China finally seems to have agreed to taking action rather than merely disapproval, still has to unfold. But it is different and reveals the growing concern in China that North Korea might somehow trigger a war. In any such conflict, North Korea would be beaten but the death toll and social impact of the regime’s collapse is troubling to most parties. North Korea’s response to the news is revealing as well. It has not threatened a cataclysm as it frequently does, nor does it dare say a word against China.  

Rolls Royce Wraith has dangerous “suicide doors”

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Remarkably, the half million dollar or so Rolls Royce Wraith has shown up at the Geneva Auto Show with front-opening suicide doors, a dangerous and antiquated feature that was largely  abandoned by automakers more than 70 years ago. This video is an amusing change of pace which will sit in this position for a few hours before moving to the side. The gentleman behind the wheel is the aptly named Andrew English

Casino lobbying ahead of April council vote

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The sides are lined up in advance of  the vote by the city executive committee today on  the prospect of a casino for Toronto. Whatever the outcome, the final vote will occur in April at 
city council.  680 News 

Three Target stores open in Central Ontario

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Lineup at a target store today

As posted yesterday, the forerunner Target stores in Milton, Fergus and Guelph have opened this morning with much concern about prices. The linked CTV story speculates about a “price war” because of the Target impact. The Comments on this story are fun to read as dizzy people worry about American imperialism and “human rights violations”  as a consequence of  Target opening in Canada. Woo. CTV

Bayview pothole adorned with detour arrows

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News that the city’s pothole-repair program is underway will be good news for users of Bayview Avenue and other South Bayview roads. The polthole-sinkhole that opened up on Bayview just north of Millwood Road is now adorned with a huge “detour” sign with arrows pointing to  the centre lane for southbound traffic. No action on that one yet. But all up and down Bayview, Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Laird Drive there’s lots of work to do. The city says it will be doubling the number of staff fixing potholes to almost 100 (25-30 crews) over the next few weeks. During the last three years, the City of Toronto has repaired an average of 200,000 potholes per year. The City spends approximately $4 million per year to fix potholes. Residents are asked to call 311 to report potholes so that crews can be assigned to fix them. There are some ways to make it easier for the crew to fix a pothole. When you call, provide the precise location and street address if possible.  You are also asked to estimate the size of the pothole.   While city staff usually repair potholes within five days, requests are prioritized based on the amount of traffic on the road and the severity of the pothole

Toronto Star plans to out-source page production

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The Toronto  Star will lay off 55 employees and is making plans to out-source what is known in the newspaper business as page production. This process involves the fabrication of the plates bearing the information from which the newspaper pages are printed. The layoffs come as no particular surprise with the Star, like newspapers everywhere, facing a revenue squeeze caused by the Internet revolution. Those who follow the economics of newspapers will understand that the flight of paid classified advertising to cyber platforms where it is published free, sinking subscription revenues and the many alternatives for display advertisers are threatening the very existence of large daily papers.  

Target opens in Guelph, Milton and Fergus

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Target announced Monday afternoon that it will open three “pilot stores” in Ontario on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. They are at Stone Road in Guelph, Milton Mall Shopping Centre in Milton and Gates of Fergus in Fergus. The release said that the three pilot stores are the first Target locations to open in Canada, and the first of 124 Target stores that will open across the country throughout 2013. Target has said internally that the new store in the East York Town Centre will open Monday, March 25. That date appears to be firm, so far at least. 

Hockey poll says delay body check for kids

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The annual report of the Rick Hansen Institute on youth health and safety contains a survey of more than 2000 hockey parents which finds that 67% of them would delay the introduction of body-checking until age 15 or older.
  • Two thirds of hockey parents (67%) and four-in-five hockey fans (79%) support delaying the introduction of body-checking until age 15 or older.
  •  Two thirds of parents (66%) and seven-in-ten fans (71%) support the idea of having youth only play others of the same age. (Currently, player ages can vary by as much as three years in some divisions).
  • One in six (16%) have considered moving their child to a non-body-checking league.
  • Only 17% think delaying body-checking will hinder their child—half (49%) believe it will make no difference and one-in-four (26%) think it will be helpful.
  •  And, only about 7% of respondents oppose enlarging rink sizes to international standards, which some say is another important way of reducing hockey related injuries. Read the full report from the Rick Hansen Institute