Motor bike rider saved from flames by motorists in China

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The quick reaction of a truck driver and others saved the life of a motorcyclist who crashed into a dump truck. The bike erupts in flames on contact last Saturday in Nanchang, capital of east China’s Jiangxi Province. The video is quite harrowing to watch. Next, it is fascinating to look at this video of an albino Orangutan in Indonesia. There is a contest to name it. Then, Conservative cut ups in the Commons were ribbing the government about the full-size cut-outs of the prime minister that have been ordered by some embassies abroad. They say the appeal is two-dimensional. And finally, power will change hands Sunday in France where outgoing president Hollande has been seen with the incoming Emmanuel Macron.

First day of TTC random tests turn up drug, alcohol cases

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The first day of random drug and alcohol testing at the TTC yielded two employees one who were under the influence — one of drugs and the other of alcohol. They have been suuspended with pay.  The TTC’s Brad Ross told NewsTalk 1010 that the positive tests occurred on Monday. Ross said that the employee using alcohol is not a driver but is one of 10,000 workers with a “safety sensitive” position. The list of employees deemed to have safety sensitive positions, includes maintenance workers, supervisors and executives. He called the results disappointing.

There are some who want sidewalks and some who don’t

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City News has covered the uprising of some Lawrence Park parents who want more and better sidewalks for the safety of their kids as they walk to school. One family even got their little girl to speak personally about it. Punchy stuff. But as Ward 25 Councillor Jaye Robinson knows only too well, there is long-standing opposition not just to sidewalks but to the street paving that comes with it. There are east end streets that look like war zones. And that’s how ratepayers like it. They know their street will never become a speedy short cut for anyone while it’s in that condition. Oh, yes and there are the trees too. But sidewalks can go around trees as they do on well-paved McRae Drive in Leaside for  example. Lots of different kinds of fish to fry at this party.

Ontario Teachers won’t vote for Bombardier chairman

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The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) pointedly withheld its vote on the re-election of Bombardier-family nominee Pierre Beaudoin at Bombardier’s annual meeting last week, echoing similar moves by Quebec and British Columbia funds. The founding family is facing increasing pressure to permit an independent chair to take over the troubled airline and train maker. It’s problems are legion  Some would say scandalous. More than that, the heirs of the founder, Joseph-Armand Bombardier, inventor of the snowmobile, control Bombardier with barely 13 per cent of the equity through a dual-class share structure that confers control and a third of the current board being Mr. Beaudoin, his father, two of his uncles and a cousin. Reuters

RBC building at 20 King West to be closed for six months

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The Royal Bank of Canada building at 20 King West will be closed for at least six months to clean up soot and smoke damage caused by the hydro vault fire last week. The bank’s senior vice-president and global head of corporate real estate mailed employees Tuesday that the banking tower will be cleaned from top to bottom before it re-opens for employees and the public.

Desperate TDSB blocks Snapchat, Instagram and Netflix

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Toronto District School Board has blocked Snapchat, Instagram and Netflix after it found that those three sites were burning up more than 20 per cent of the board WiFI capacity. In a statement Tuesday TDSB said these sites are making many necessary operational tasks like attendance, registration and report cards nearly impossible to complete.  The “interim measure” will help alleviate congestion and boost network capacity while minimizing the impact on teaching and learning, it said. The board said it was working on providing a faster network, and said regular WiFi access is expected to resume in September.

Watch as hail turns man’s windshield into shattered glass

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Denver and region experienced a nasty hailstorm Monday. Take a look at some of the activity. The first video is from a dash cam which chronicles the destruction of a perfectly good windshield as the driver tries to get home.

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Please don’t try this amazing trick on the Don Valley Pkwy

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Here we see rally driver Tomasz Kasperczyk escape a surely fatal spin right off a mountain road during the Rally Islas Canarias, part of the European Rally Championship on Friday. Watch as his car is secured by the flexible road fencing from a disastrous drop. Kasperczyk leapt from the passenger seat of the car, which was left teetering above a sheer drop, and signalled he was uninjured by holding up a sign with ‘OK’ printed on it.