Whimsical holiday weekend medley

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For a supposedly rainy day, Saturday was dashed sunny. And so Mr Duck, possibly a decoy, was out at Elegant Garage. (No ducks were injured in the making of this post). Down the street, the Hoodie Buddies, sweatshirts with built-in headphones (!) were on display at DEW. Right, we’re still having trouble processing the new Shoppers Drug Mart sign. That marquee hasn’t looked better since it was hefted up there in 1936 as part of the Bayview Playhouse movie theatre. Check out historic pictures from an earlier Bulldog post.

Amazon selling more ebooks than printed

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Online bookstore Amazon.com now sells more e-books than all hardcover and paperback print books combined. “We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com in a statement Thursday announcing the milestone. Since April 1, Amazon.com has sold 105 e-books for every 100 print books. Bezos noted that the Seattle, Wash.-based company has been selling print books for 15 years and e-books for less than four. Amazon introduced its Kindle e-book reader in 2007.

Questions on the end of the world

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There’s something delusional about a news media that tries to get to the bottom of why the world didn’t come to an end. It makes the mind swim. There was the CNN anchor soberly seeking an opinion from Alec Baldwin’s brother. “What went wrong?” was the opening zinger. Piercing curiosity then demanded, “Why did this get so much attention” (Easy one. Check the mirror). And so it went. “Why do some people call this preacher a false prophet?” the anchor asked, seeking that need-to-know answer. All we can say is thank God someone has the guts to ask these kinds of questions. It’s not every day that the world doesn’t end when the media is pretending that it will.

Holdup thwarted on South Bayview

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An alert employee of Shoppers Drug Mart made a crucial call to the police to thwart a robbery attempt at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce on South Bayview yesterday. A masked man entered the bank later in the afternoon. Shoppers Drug Mart is next door to the bank. The employee got wind of the on-going hold up and called police who made a speedy arrival. They arrested an individual.

Johnny Cash and the Plymouth Savoy

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In one of the many junk yards east of Laird Drive lies the 1954 Plymouth Savoy pictured above, centre and right. No one recalls today that Johnny Cash did a commercial for Chrysler (owner of the Plymouth brand) in 1954 when he was getting started. In that ad he called the Plymouth “the best car I ever owned.” This was remembered by the ad executives at Chrysler. In 1972 Cash was hired to take part in a Chrysler promotion in which the world was asked to “Help us find the best car we ever owned.” The winner of this contest was Mrs. Ray Hild of Tacoma, Washington (shown at the left with Cash) whose 54 Plymouth had but 14,500 miles on it. This means that Mrs. Hild was putting barely 800 miles a year on her Plymouth. Wonder where it is today? Certainly not rusting on Esandar Drive in Leaside.

Baseball camp for kids at Howard Talbot

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Howard Talbot Park will be the scene of a baseball camp for kids this Summer. A story is published in InsideToronto. The camp starts at $350 per week, with rates going down $50 every week for kids who stay in the program. You may sign up and make inquiries by writing to leasidebaseballcamp@live.com or calling 647-338-3596.

Rae says he won’t run for Liberal leadership

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Toronto Centre MP Bob Rae says he doesn’t want to be party leader, but maybe he’d accept interim party leader. This was the gist of Mr Rae’s remarks on a conference call today with supporters. He is quoted as saying he would not run a third time for leader of the party. But, it’s suggested, the interim job is a “substantial one” that will give the person in that position nearly two years to reshape the party. Stay tuned.