As mentioned
previously, Toronto's mayoral candidates are almost farcical, with the most boring candidate caught in a
sex scandal, another candidate who has the world's worst case of
foot in mouth disease, and another who thought that presenting himself as a
Mafia Don was a good idea. Thankfully, there's still
Steve Murray. Because Toronto deserves
something. If only he hadn't missed the registration deadline.
[more inside]
posted by krunk
on Sep 30, 2010 -
16 comments
The Toronto 18. "The [Toronto] Star was the first to break the news, just over four years ago, that an al-Qaeda inspired homegrown terror cell had been busted in Toronto. ... Numerous publication bans have kept the full story from the public. Now, with the case over, we can present the complete narrative of the Toronto 18: Who they are, how they met, what they did." This is a great example of how to present long-form journalism online.
posted by chunking express
on Jul 9, 2010 -
46 comments
Prior to the G20 last weekend in Toronto, the Government of Ontario met in a closed session. Police Chief Bill Blair announced on Friday June 25th that, in this session, a
law was passed giving police
new powers to demand identification from -- and conduct unwarranted searches of -- anyone approaching within 5 metres of the security fence that had been erected around the downtown core. This law was enforced all weekend; there were
more than 900 arrests. Now that the G20 has passed and the proceedings of the closed government session are coming to light, it's become apparent that the law never existed at all. Bill Blair has now acknowledged that he made the whole thing up to "
keep the criminals out." [more inside]
posted by 256
on Jun 30, 2010 -
101 comments
Tracy Wright, a wonderful gem of the Toronto theatre and film scene, has
died.
posted by Alex404
on Jun 23, 2010 -
23 comments
We saw a post about the
Little House back in 2007. It sold for $139000 then. About a year ago it sold for approximately $173000. Now, it's up for sale again at
reportedly $180000. It's been renovated and now has it's
own site complete with a gallery, history, and celebrity endorsement.
posted by juiceCake
on Mar 26, 2010 -
24 comments
Tim Perlich was the senior music writer for Toronto's
NOW Magazine for 20 or so years. The two parted company for unexplained reasons earlier this year. For those who love or hate him (and there are plenty in both camps), he's now blogging about all things music at
The Perlich Post.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy
on Dec 4, 2009 -
17 comments
Toronto's Open Civic Data. The city of Toronto has released its data to the world via the new Open Toronto initiative: geographic data for a variety of civic divisions, lists of licensed business, public transit stops, routes & schedules, a SOAP-based geocoding API and more.
posted by GuyZero
on Nov 3, 2009 -
30 comments
The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival was held forty years ago today. Performers included: the Doors, Alice Cooper, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry. The highlight for many was the appearance of John Lennon. Lennon was backed by the Plastic Ono Band, then comprised of Eric Clapton,
Klaus Voorman, and
Alan White (w/occasional vocals by Yoko). "We're just gonna do numbers we know because we've never played together before."
D.A. Pennebaker filmed it . YouTube videos of Lennon's set:
Blue Suede Shoes,
Money,
Dizzy Miss Lizzy,
Yer Blues,
Cold Turkey, and
Give Peace a Chance.
[more inside]
posted by marxchivist
on Sep 13, 2009 -
11 comments
Late last night, a cyclist was killed in Toronto. "Ontario's former attorney general
Michael Bryant ... will be charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death, a police source tells the Globe, after a collision left a 33-year-old cyclist dead." Accounts vary, but the sequence appears to be 1) Some collision and argument between the cyclist and the driver; 2) The cyclist grabs the driver's door and hangs on (or he may have been caught on the car accidentally) while the Saab convertible drives on; 3) The car drives into the opposite lane, across a construction zone, and the cyclist is battered against mailboxes and light posts; 4) The cyclist falls under the car's back wheels and is killed.
[more inside]
posted by maudlin
on Sep 1, 2009 -
574 comments
Jackie Shane could rock the Sapphire Club. He was part of the
Toronto Sound of the sixties, and made his mark not only for his soulful voice, but also for his flamboyent, gender ambiguous appearance
(video). His song
Any Other Way went to Number Two on the Canadian Billboard chart in 1963, and was his biggest hit. While his
discography was short and he has faded into obscurity, he has been recognized by the
queer community and
music bloggers as a trail-blazing performer.
In My Tenement,
Comin Down,
You Are My Sunshine,
Stand Up Strait and Tall,
Don't Play That Song.
posted by kimdog
on Jul 27, 2009 -
8 comments
At the Toronto Humane Society, veterinarians say animals die suffering unnecessarily in their cages while pleas to euthanize them are dismissed. Dozens of staff, volunteers and veterinarians have quit in protest. ... A note written by a staff member or volunteer on the medical chart of a cat, animal ID A127495, admitted last fall, reads: "Died Oct 19 3:15 am. Gasped and jerked and cried last breaths, because there was no one in shelter to euthanize or treat. This is not humane." ... [THS president] Mr. Trow says he strives to keep euthanasia rates low for ethical reasons. “How can anyone suggest that, because he might be here longer than anyone would want, that it's better to put [a dog] down?” Mr. Trow asked. “I think that's a strange suggestion, don't you? You live here as long as you can.”
Images (yes, they're disturbing.) Video of a puppy adopted out with a broken leg. The THS web site. [more inside]
posted by maudlin
on May 30, 2009 -
63 comments
NextBus uses GPS to tell you the predicted time of the next bus. Google maps show buses in real time, and you can get updates on your phone/PDA. The coverage is limited to certain agencies within the US, so these other sites might be useful:
Hopstop covers subways and buses in NYC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, and more. (
mobile version)
Google Transit has many US metro areas in addition to Canada, Europe, and Japan.
(previously) Many more locations inside.
[more inside]
posted by desjardins
on Oct 21, 2008 -
36 comments
Remote control Toronto's City Hall by iPhone during Octobre 4th
Nuit blanche. Project Blinkenlights will again transform a huge building into a computer display. This time 960 windows of Toronto's City Hall. Everybody can submit animations to be shown and there will be client programms for iPhone and OSX to receive the signal and interact with the installation.
Watch the previous installations in Berlin [
Mefi thread] and Paris [
Mefi thread] on Google Video.
posted by meikel
on Sep 23, 2008 -
16 comments
A large series of explosions erupted this morning from a welding chemical storage facility in North York (a suburb of Toronto) at approximately 4am EST. The highway 401, North America's busiest, has been closed in sections, and thousands of local residents are still being evacuated, with several of them
injured. Police and fire officials are currently not sure of the possibility of further explosions and are taking precautionary measures. The whole situation has
produced some
apocalyptic-looking pictures.
posted by tehloki
on Aug 10, 2008 -
39 comments
Igor Kenk was arrested for bicycle theft in Toronto on July 17. Here's an audio documentary that includes an interview with the man himself:
Steal This Bike (be warned, a lot of profanity, and a little pretentious).
[more inside]
posted by Chuckles
on Jul 29, 2008 -
46 comments
Montreal Graffiti/Street artist
Roadsworth, who
was arrested in 2005 and faced up to 250 000$ in fines, is
back on the streets,
this time with a permit and a commission. Interestingly, the title of the new piece (which stretches across multiple intersections on downtown Sainte-Catherine street) is "Défense d'Afficher", which means "No Postering". It seems as though he's commenting on the role of art and advertisement in public space, but maybe that's just my take. Thoughts? For a more in-depth discussion, read
the Torontoist's article on graffiti), and for more examples, check out
Vandalist, the same blog's photostream of T.O. street art,
Streetsy, a great photoblog showing off various street art from around the world, and, of course, Flickr's
STREETART pool.
posted by rssaddict
on Jul 3, 2008 -
20 comments
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