“I lied and lied,”says author of Dylan quotes

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A staff writer for The New Yorker has resigned and his bestselling book has been halted after he acknowledged inventing quotes by Bob Dylan. Jonah Lehrer released a statement Monday through his publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, saying that some Dylan quotes appearing in Imagine: How Creativity Works did “not exist.” Others were “unintentional misquotations, or represented improper combinations of previously existing quotes.”Lehrer said he acknowledged his actions after being contacted by Michael Moynihan of the online publicationTablet Magazine, which earlier Monday released an in-depth story on the Dylan passages in Imagine. “I told Mr. Moynihan that (the quotes in question) were from archival interview footage provided to me by Dylan’s representatives. This was a lie spoken in a moment of panic. When Mr. Moynihan followed up, I continued to lie, and say things I should not have said,” Lehrer wrote in his statement. “The lies are over now. I understand the gravity of my position. I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers.”

Microsoft changes Hotmail to Outlook.com

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Still the most popular mail in the world, Hotmail faces growing challenges from g-mail, social  media upstarts like Twitter and mere texting. CNN Money

Synchronized “sisters” bring home bronze

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Meaghan Benfeito (right) and Roseline Filion, of Montreal,  receive their bronze medals for women’s 10m Synchronized Diving. The two have worked together as a team since 2005, a long hard road to see their dedication finally pay off.  Yesterday they were asked if they were sisters to which Meaghan said “no, but we will be tomorrow when we’re in the pool.” YouTube

Trees on east side of Bayview? We live in hope

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Last fall we wondered innocently when the folks on the east side of Bayview might see a tree or something in those rectangular plots of asphalt along the curbs of the new sidewalk. It seemed a reasonable hope that there might be some work done this summer. We live in hope, of course.   Previous post

Long odds that local voters info at risk

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The odds are long, but real, that local voters in Don Valley, Don Valley West and Toronto Centre, may have had their personal information compromised by carelessness at Elections Ontario. The privacy commissioner, Ann Cavoukian, is outraged about the loss of two USB keys containing unencrypted personal information for as many as 2.4 million voters. Elections Ontario could not establish which of some 25 electoral districts out of a possible 49 were impacted. The privacy breach affects potentially four million voters, including the local ridings mentioned above.  Elections Ontario says the information could only be accessed with  internal software. There was no indication that such a compromise had occurred.  

Stylish, out-front woman named City Planner

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A stylish, out-front woman is Toronto’s new chief planner. Jennifer Keesmaat was appointed today.  She has led city planning projects in Vancouver, London and Halifax, and has been involved with international projects in the U.S., Ireland and Greece. Earlier this year, Keesmaat was a guest speaker at the TEDx conference in Regina, where she presented on the societal benefits of children walking to school, which she called a “simple, hopeful, powerful act.” She is a planner and partner in a well-known local firm, Dialog, as well as a commentator for CBC Radio. Professional publicity pictures of Ms Keesmaat abound and those above are but three. Notes from a symposium on Ms Keesmaat.

IOC hints Ye Shiwen did not test positive

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National Post

Blazing swim time raises drug speculation

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The IOC reacts to calls for a doping test for 16-ear-old Ye Shiwen, who swam faster than anyone thought possible..Ye astounded the world  Saturday when she completed the final 50 metres of the 400 IM — her weaker event — in a blistering 28.93. Report by Sophie Foster.

Contract opens way for AC budget carrier

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They’ve been battling it out for 19-months and now the Air Canada pilots have lost. Their new government imposed contract seems like little solace. It includes wage increases of 2% in the first year, 5% in the second, 3% in the third, and 2% in the following two years, and is retroactive to April 2011 when the previous contract expired.  Gov’t forces settlement on Air Canada pilots, opens way for AC’s new low cost carrier

Gov’t will not allow delay of school year

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The Ontario government will use legal compulsion in contract talks with the province’s teachers if school board trustees are “unwilling or unable” to negotiate accords by Aug. 31. The education minister is quoted as saying: “We will not allow the start of the school year to be delayed or interrupted,” Ms. Broten said at a news conference. “We are giving school boards the opportunity to finish the job we started.”  Globe and Mail.

Chatting away, man walks off subway platform

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The camera catches what might be called a cell phone suicide attempt. This took place in a Philadelphia subway station. Fortunately, the dopey guy shown here escaped serious injury from his fall onto the tracks. He scrambled out before a train came through. 

“Ranked Ballots” an election game-changer

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Daniel Dale

A story tonight in the Star by Daniel Dale says that there is a lot of support at City Hall for an electoral system of  so-called Ranked Ballots for the municipal election of 2018  Briefly, this system permits voters to rank candidates by number, one through whatever, according to the number of candidates.  In some Toronto wards there are frequently many candidates, leading to a victor who has only a plurality of the ballots. The Ranked Ballots would give voters a winner with a majority.. As explained by Dale, if there is no majority winner, the last place candidate is eliminated and his/her second place votes are distributed as marked to the remaining candidates. This continues until there is a majority winner. The South Bayview Bulldog finds it interesting to guess how this system would have effected the results of the 2010 municipal election in local wards here. In Ward 26, Councillor Parker was elected with a plurality of only 6,203 votes out of a total of 19,832. The field in Ward 26 contained seven candidates. Equally interesting is Ward 27 where Kristyn Wong-Tam was elected with a plurality of 7,527 out of 26,619 votes cast. The riding had an astounding 15 candidates.  Story by Daniel Dale.