The South Bayview Bulldog

Checking for calcium in the sewers on Bayview Ave. has caused several days of disruption and loss of parking in the district.  A contracted firm called No-Digg in there every day scanning the sewers to see there is a build up of this pernicious mineral. Some think Wednesday is the last day for it but next week, when the scanning has been reviewed, there will be calcite wonks back here examining those sewers again  This may be progress. Calcite

From residents of Moore Park who remember Gord Downie when he had a home on Rose Park Drive to the Bobcaygeon cottager who has decorated his summer place with framed lyrics from the  Bill Barilko song, Canadians are talking about and rooting for the lead singer for the Tragically Hip. One day after revealing that singer Downie has terminal brain cancer, the Tragically Hip have posted the dates for an upcoming summer tour.

 

• Victoria, July 22. Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
• Vancouver, July 24. Rogers Arena.
• Edmonton, July 28. Rexall Place.
• Calgary, Aug 1. Scotiabank Saddledome.
• Winnipeg, Aug 5. MTS Centre.
• London, Aug. 8. Budweiser Gardens.
• Toronto,  Aug 10 and Aug. 12. Air Canada Centre.
• Hamilton , Aug. 16. FirstOntario Centre.
• Ottawa, Aug. 18. Canadian Tire Centre.
• Kingston, Aug. 20. Rogers K-Rock Centre.

Stephen Harper is set to resign his seat in Parliament and return to private business, CTV says. The former prime minister represents the riding of Calgary Heritage. No other details are known.

BBC talks to Jack Dorsey, boss of Twitter, about how he intends to change the service. Very informative and fascinating to watch Dorsey dodge saying whether he will ever permit messages longer than 140 characters The answer looks like “not yet”

Police say two large rodent like creatures called capybaras have escaped their pens in High Park Zoo and are loose in the park. The dog-sized rodents are native to South America and stand about two feet tall and the average one weighs about 75 to 150 pounds.

The Chelsea Flower Show has opened in London with an extraordinary hand sewn display of poppies. The show is organized by the Royal Horticultural Society and is emblematic of the British love of flowers. It shares the honour with the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. The weather is forecast to be cloudy this year, with the odd rain shower, but sometimes, the vagaries of the English climate really does get in the way. In 1932 the rain at the show was so severe that a summer house display fell to pieces. In another wet year an exhibitor named it “The Chelsea Shower Flow.”

Gord Downie, the lead singer for the Canadian band Tragically Hip has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. The band posted a notice on its website about Downie’s illness and said it will launch a summer more tour with their lead singer in place.  Downie received the diagnosis in December and has since then “endured a lot of difficult times, and he has been fighting hard,” while he deals with the diagnosis in private, along with his family. The 1980s group, formed among high school students in Kingston, has endured in varying popularity among fans since then. Over 30 years of The Tragically Hip playing together for tours and shows, it has released more than 15 albums and had  many hits. A news conference at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centres Tuesday heard that Downie is facing one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer but has been cleared to perform. Dr. James Perry, head of neurology at Sunnybrook said Downie has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, which is the most common and most aggressive cancerous primary brain tumour. He also said the brain cancer is incurable. Glioblastoma affects about two to three people per 100,000 in Canada, the United States and Europe, according to information supplied by Sunnybrook Heath Sciences Centre, which is treating the musician. Perry said it is the most common cause of cancer deaths in Canadians between 40 and 60 years old. Dr. Perry speaks at length in the CBC video below. Twitter

The second Canadian who is presumed dead in the EgyptAir Airbus crash is Medhat Tanious of Toronto. It is not clear about family here or how often Mr. Tanious is here. He travels on an Egyptian passport. Tanious’ niece, who lives in Australia, confirmed her uncle was among the passengers aboard  jet. The other Canadian was Marwa Hamdy, a native of Saskatoon who moved to Cairo about 10 years ago after marrying an Egyptian. She was an IBM project manager and mother of three.

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The South Bayview Bulldog has recorded more than 50,000 page views and more than 40,000 unique users in April, 2016. It is the seventh straight month that the Bulldog has seen more than 40,000 unique users. The numbers are calculated independently by StatCounter, the recognized London-based web statistics firm. The Bulldog’s growth in readers has been dramatic since its inception in 2009. In 2012, the Bulldog was redesigned to accept local advertising. Page views have grown more than 21 fold from about 20,000 in 2012 to nearly 420,000 in 2015. The unique local news service is on target to once again see a record year of readers in 2016. Against this, the unmatched value in advertising on the Bulldog has remained the same. Most Bulldog advertisers show their message and website link to thousands each month for less than 85 cents a day with a six month prepaid ad. There’s no better way to catch the attention of local readers or build front-of-mind awareness. Take a look 

The widely believed intent of the government to somehow, someday get homes in Ontario off natural gas and onto electric heating has shocked many people — notwithstanding reassurances that it isn’t true, exactly. The decision to declare natural gas a hated “fossil” fuel has stunned people who believe it to be a relatively clean way to heat homes and water. Until very recently, this was official policy. Now natural gas is apparently seen as a blight in the Environment Ministry. Below are some figures of the cost of conversion to electricity supplied by gas suppliers at current rates.

Comparison Shopping:

• Annual Cost of running an electric furnace: $2,722 based on 19,171 kWh at $0.420 per kWh
• Annual cost of running a gas furnace: $668 based on 1,971 M3 at $0.2181

Difference: $2,054 a year

• Annual cost of running an electric water heater: $838
• Annual cost of running a natural gas water heater: $194

Difference: $644

Combined savings of gas over electric: $2,698

(Source: Ontario Natural Gas Alliance)

Gassed Up:

• Percentage of Ontario households with forced-air furnaces: 76%
• Percentage of Ontario households where natural gas is principal energy source: 62%
• Percentage of total Ontario household energy use coming from natural gas: 58%

On location at Woodbine Beach, enjoying the sunshine, The South Bayview Bulldog met up with “Poster Boy” who takes eye protection very seriously.  This Bulldog approves.