Low-key “shoes” ad gets Bulldog prize

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The South Bayview Bulldog gives the nod to the NDP “shoes” advertisement for the most imaginative bit of electioneering in this campaign. It might not make you vote for Andrea Horwath but as a way of telling you she is different from the others, it’s quite effective. The ad appears to have run mostly on the Internet where you can find it by searching “”andrea shoes”.

Election polls head off in all directions

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If pollsters Angus Reid, Abacus and Ipsos were physicians, you’d have a hard time figuring out what was wrong with you. The three political forecasters have got very different projections this morning about the outcome of the Ontario general election tomorrow. Angus Reid for the Toronto Star has the Progressive Conservatives ahead of the Liberals by three points, 36 per cent to 33 per cent. The NDP has 26 per cent. But wait, an Abacus survey for the Sun has the Liberals ahead by a three-point margin, with the NDP at 24 per cent. Both these numbers suggest a minority government. Finally, the Ipsos poll released last night night shows the Liberals heading for a majority, with a 10 point lead at 41 per cent. The Tories are at 31 per cent and NDP at 25 per cent. Altogether a oddly mixed set of results.

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Very entertaining and informative post by Jenna Hatfield at BlogHer on Apple’s incredible manipulation of the market with — would you believe it — an iPhone 4S, — not an iPhone 5. They say the iPhone pundits are quite cranky about this. Don’t blame them. The iPhone 4S seems to have less to do with the natural evolution of the phone and more to do with artificially moving old product. BlogHer.

City has sympathy for Pottery Rd. users

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The City says it’s really sorry but Pottery Road has to remain closed until engineers figure out how to stabilize the wall of the ravine near the top of the road at Broadview Ave. The stability isn’t perilous but it has to be addressed before the road can re-open. The City’s manager of technical services says: “The slope is not in imminent danger of failing; rather, the City wants to ensure that there is a sufficient factor of safety from a future potential slope failure at the location of the retaining wall,” he said. “The City is sympathetic to the public for the inconvenience.” This began when for whatever reason engineers were not able to accurately gauge the nature of the ravine wall (right) before they began to cut it away to build a nice bike path on the other side of the road (left). A retaining wall was built but it wasn’t high enough, apparently. A sad experience for citizens and for engineering credibility, it would seem.

We’d stay up all night to eat these bagels

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Now that the Bagel House at 1548 Bayview is open 24 hours a day we have to think of a reason to work in some midnight dining there. As legions of Montreal Bagel fans know, the two genial baker-owners, Jessie Sahdra and Sat Chouhan, have built a fantastic business on quality and superb chewy, flavourful bagels. They began in 1999 when they migrated from traditional Montreal bagel bakeries Fairmount and St. Viateur where they learned their craft. We don’t know whether its ‘the simple ingredients, the hand rolling, boiling in honey water or the wood-oven baking. Together however, the Montreal Bagel is a South Bayview treasure. Correction Make that a national treasure.

Ford pushing hard to keep police car business

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Ford Motor Company is pushing hard to keep the police cruiser business it has dominated for decades with the Crown Victoria. As reported a few days ago, the Crown Victoria is now discontinued, the last one rolling off the line at St. Thomas in September. The 2013 Ford Police Interceptors have begun a tough round of testing at the hands of police, and the early results say they are “pursuit-rated.” Ford says the Interceptor sedan (based on the Taurus) and utility vehicles (the Explorer) passed stringent Michigan State Police tests last week.The Interceptor sedan is equipped with a 280-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 engine, a major shift away from the 4.6-liter V8 in the outgoing Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. But it comes with a booster package that ups horsepower to over 350. The utility is equipped with a 300-hp 3.7-liter V6. And while Chevrolet is trying to grab off some business with a Caprice cruiser, Ford says it has extras not available elsewhere like standard four wheel drive and optional bullet proof doors for those nasty gun fights.

Will “Occupy Toronto” re-play G-20 violence?

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It’s not an alarmist question as so-called “veterans of the G-20” are said to be joining up with others who will launch something called Occupy Toronto at the corner of Bay and King on Saturday October 15, 2011. The linked story from CTV raises the same concerns the public had with the G-20 bunch. In New York the “against Wall Street” protesters are leaderless and have no coherent explanation of what they want. So far, Occupy Toronto seems to be heading down the same vague road. This is the kind the kind of flypaper that attracts self-involved people looking for an opportunity to feel important. Frequently, if the question “what do you want?” were answered honestly it would be “to mix it up with the cops” or maybe “break some windows.” There will be a newly elected provincial government barely sworn into office when this happens. Will it be ready?