The South Bayview Bulldog

Parents will have to decide if it’s all too much, but the smart toothbrush is upon us and it seems to have a real appeal for young kids. This latest example of the Internet of things can be expensive, but perhaps worth it.

The City will begin spraying for a period of  about three weeks in Toronto’s west end to control the Gypsy Moth. There is no information in the release here as to whether similar spraying will be necessary in South Bayview, particularly in the ravines, as has occurred in the past, to combat the Gypsy Moth.

The Canadian Real Estate Association says home sales were down in April after hitting a record high in March. CREA said home sales over the MLS system fell 1.7 per cent last month compared with March. Nationally, the drop was a remarkable 30 percent in April over March. Compared with a year ago, sales in April were down 7.5 per cent across Canada.

Do you know him? He’s wanted for indecency at the door to the women’s showers at a hostel at College Street and Spadina Avenue. He is described as 30 to 40, olive complexion, medium-to-heavy build with short, brown, receding hair. He had marks or scars on his cheeks. He was wearing a black jacket with a light-blue shirt underneath and blue jeans. He possibly had a Spanish accent.

A release Monday morning from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms says a notice has been filed with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on behalf of resident Lorne Grabher. It asks that the court find the government’s decision to revoke Grabher’s personalized license plates is a violation of his constitutional freedom of expression. It also asks that the court find the decision was “arbitrary, unreasonable, based on irrelevant considerations, an abuse of authority, a denial of procedural fairness, and otherwise invalid.”  The plates, which had been in the Grabher family since 1991, were determined to be “socially unacceptable” by the Nova Scotia Registry of Motor Vehicles earlier year. The justice centre has issued bumper stickers (below) which may be purchased for $5 or three for $10 as a form of support for Grabher and his action.

The Toronto bomb squad took three tries to detonate a package wrapped in duct tape and showing a fuse outside St. Eugene Catholic School in Etobicoke on Sunday. The explosion seemed to suggest the device was not an active bomb but an analysis of the content may reveal that answer. It was reported by a man who saw three boys “playing with” the package. They fled when he asked them about it. Police tried to “disrupt” the device twice, without success. It exploded with a loud bang on the third attempt, with sparks and flames continuing to burn for a short while after the detonation.

Kevin Pillar hit a homer in bottom of the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Blue Jays a 3-2 win over the Mariners. It is Toronto’s fifth consecutive win and a sweep of the four-game series with Seattle. Pillar came to the plate with two outs and the game seemingly headed to extra innings. There’s joy in Mudville. The Jays were wearing pink trimmed livery this Sunday to honour Thank You Mother.

Forgive the flippancy above but the neglected study of ancient Egypt is upon The Bulldog. There is a most interesting discovery at the Upper Egyptian city of El-Minya, some two hundred kilometres from Cairo. Then it’s the Matheroo sisters back in town to straighten things out with City News ace Avery Haines. We’ll let you judge. Below that, CBC re-discovers the abrupt transition as old as time for any woman who becomes a mom. Yes, life does change. And finally, hilarious SNL stuff with Melissa McCarthy. Catch it now because SNL takes down its videos quite quickly.

The UK defense secretary has said that the hospitals in the National Health Service were warned repeatedly to make sure their systems were as up to date as possible against hacking. There’s a lot of blame to go around for Friday’s sitting duck theft of medical records in the NHS. In Ontario, it appears that Oshawa General Hospital was infected with the WannaCry ransomware worm. Was it dumb luck we escaped worse?

OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT

Reasonable citizens would very much love to listen in on phone calls from the Ontario Ministry of Health to hospitals across the province. It’s not just the outrageous ransom paid out in that untraceable criminal currency known as Bitcoin. It’s the lives that are bound to be lost if health systems are turned upside down like this. Maybe Ontario needs a Ministry of Cyber-Systems Integrity. It seems that our lives depend on it — literally. Might be more useful than money spent on trying to perfect the species. BBC

Someone needs help. Police say a 35-year-old apartment dweller in Scarborough has set 17 fires in recent months. His method was to light objects and drop them down the stairwell or garbage chute. All this occurred at ten Glen Everest Road near Kingston Road and the Danforth. Richard Joseph is the accused.