• "Mr. Volpe has received (leadership campaign) donations of $5,400 each from five current and former executives of Apotex Inc. and 15 of their relatives, including some who are under 18..." [Globe and Mail, CP]


• TTC giving $4 back to pass holders [680 News, TTC]


• Heat wave fuels coal debate [Toronto Star]

• List of all Ontario municipalities [MAH]

TTC strike news

That's the thing with illegal strikes... the no notice thing. Anyway:

• TTC Press Releases
  • TTC Service Stopped Due to Illegal Job Action
  • TTC: Labour Board Issues Cease and Desist Order
  • TTC Workers Ignoring Cease and Desist Order: 'Waiting to Hear from Kinnear'
  • TTC Strike Declared 'Unlawful' by Labour Board
  
  
• Toronto Star
  • Hope fades for p.m. restart
  • Photos: deserted stations, frustrated commuters
  • Wildcat strike possible today, Union says


• Globe and Mail
  • Labour dispute halts Toronto transit
  • TTC strike could cost Toronto economy [duh?]

Also: where did the extra 100k riders come from? At first, media were quoting the TTC's daily ridership as 700,000; by mid-day, the figure was boosted to 800,000. In this Globe article, Mayor Miller decries the inconvenience to "nearly 2 million Torontonians"; presumably, this refers to between 1.4 and 1.6 million rides, not riders...

• SmackBook! [via Gizmodo]


• Pledge: "I will purchase the $100 [OLPC] laptop at $300 but only if 100,000 other will too." [via Gizmodo]

There's a doin's a-transpirin'

I've yet to decide how this flyer [pdf] may affect my perception of Ward 8 Councillor Peter LiPreti.

Am I feeling more:

1. Grateful
2. Curious
3. Electioneered
4. All of the above

In any case, a welcome sign of interest on the Councillor's part.

Tags: Peter LiPreti, municipal politics, Toronto, housing advocacy.

• Insisting the parliamentary press gallery is, like, totally biased and stuff, Harper says he will avoid the national media and skip the filter by taking his message to the people. Gee, where have I heard that argument before? [Toronto Star]


• "Half of Namibians voting in an informal radio survey believe the day Angelina Jolie gives birth should be declared a national holiday, an honor usually reserved for kings, queens and national heroes." [Reuters]


• Former Olivia Chow aide Helen Kennedy wins NDP nomination to battle indie Adam Vaughan for world Ward 20 domination [Globe and Mail]

• Good: Toronto's Molar Radio podcast


• Also good: Birds and Beans coffee

Doors Open Toronto '06

This year, 144 locations are participating in Doors Open Toronto. Sadly, many are only open on Saturday, so an extensive tour is pretty much out of the question.

In any event, here are my tentative hit-lists for Saturday, May 27th (my birthday!):

• Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library


• City of Toronto Archives


• Coach House Press


• Canadian Broadcasting Centre


• Ontario College of Art and Design

And Sunday, May 28th:

• Toronto City Hall


• Ontario Legislative Building


• Riwoche Tibetan Buddhist Temple

Anybody interested? Got suggestions? Hit the comments!

Tags: Doors Open, Toronto, architecture, urban exploration.

• Subway fire at Finch station? [Toronto Fire Services]


• Petition + Stephen Lewis = Nobel Peace Prize? 19,140 signatures and counting...


• Plan your own Doors Open Toronto weekend with The Star's google map.


• Sheppard Ave. West (now sinkhole free!) to re-open today: 84ites rejoice! Oh, Jane & 7, too.[City of Toronto]


• UN to US: Close Gitmo [New York Times]


• US Senate proposes bigotry English be made national passtime language [Kansas City Star]


• Torontoist has begun a TTC quest of its own [69 stations]


• Paved rips Toronto Life a new one here.

• Low-tech med tech: DNR tattoo [via bOINGbOING]

Library School Confidential

I've created yet another (fourth? fifth?) blog to keep track of this-and-that related to my time at Seneca College, where, as of last Monday, I'm working on an accellerated Library and Information Technician diploma.

So far I've discussed Google Library, hinted at something about the RSS-interlibrary loan-Anderson's long tail relationship that I haven't really explored yet, and learned about bookplates and book repair. Exciting!

And yes, I did rip off the name from the new John Malkovitch movie, which is the second project of the Writer-Director combo responsible for the most excellent Ghost World.

Tags: Library, Seneca College, diploma.

• York U to re-name Accolade West building after developer - "Just over a year ago, the Toronto Star alleged that Tribute paid $15.8 million dollars for 42 acres of land on the southeast side of York's Keele campus, which was 'substantially less than market value.'" [Excalibur]


• Anti-migraine med overuse screws up hormone levels? [Reuters]

New subway design?

The Star says that the TTC will run a contest to 'name' the new subway cars (here are some early, and 'interesting' ideas); meanwhile, Northern Ontario Business reports that talks between Bombardier and the TTC about actually building 'em are "intense", and quotes Commission Chair Howard Moscoe as saying "I don’t want to build my cars in a communist regime...I want to make my cars where it benefits Canadian workers."

Tags: Subway, TTC, Bombardier.

• RIP Dose [CBC]


• Who's whacking Bikeshare bikes? [Torontoist]


• Without his favoured oilman ex-CEO, Harper abandons oversight agency altogether [Globe and Mail]


• "Farmers' markets could be pushed out of business under new health regulations being developed by the Ontario government..." [Toronto Star]


• Single joint leads to trafficking charge for high school student [CBC]


• Skype calls to 'real' phones now free in US/CAN [Skype via eBay]

• Niiiiiiice.


• "This past Saturday, knitters of Toronto united for the second bi-annual TTC Knit-A-Long." [Toronto Star]


• "The Harper government is censoring hundreds of pages of official documents dealing with the resignation of David Dingwall as president of the Royal Canadian Mint, despite Conservative promises, made while in opposition, to expose the circumstances of the former Liberal minister's departure." [Globe and Mail]


• Homeless panel votes to oust Pitfield - "Dan Heap — a former Toronto councillor and MP — presented a motion of non-confidence in Pitfield's leadership of the committee, calling her [anti-panhandling] proposal 'a bylaw to oppress the poor.'"[Toronto Star]


• "Toronto's CC Salon is a monthly event focused on building a community of artists and developers around Creative Commons licenses, standards, and technology." [via BlogTO]

• Esso + President's Choice = Best Friends 4 Eva.


• Kijiji, while conononfusingly named, is clearly a Craigslist-a-like.


• Ontario AG Michael Bryant wins CAJ's Code of Silence Award [National Post via Torontoist]


• Toronto City Summit Alliance's Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults says "current policies and programs do little to realize and sometimes run contrary to their objective of supporting adults in gaining economic independence and a stable attachment to the labour market." [Report via Globe and Mail]


• Toronto cuts deal with Bombay Mumbai [The Star]


• Of would-be Liberal leaders, all but Brison, Dryden, Bennet and Fry are nominally bilingual [Globe and Mail]


• Canadians to Haper: keep the gun registry! [National Post]


• A vision of pale beauty carries risks for Asia's women - "One commonly repeated rationale is that a lighter complexion is associated with wealth and higher education levels because those from lower social classes, laborers and farmers, are more exposed to the sun." [New York Times]

• Google Trends fun: Avian flu vs. Bird flu, blog vs. weblog, Bush vs. Kerry, Leafs vs. Senators...


• Celebrate Victoria Day at "historic" Toronto museums.

• Best gardening idea ever lately [via Craigslist Toronto]


• "Morgellons disease is not yet known to kill, but if you were to get it, you might wish you were dead, as the symptoms are horrible." [Article via bOINGbOING]

The Da Cross-promotion Code

Tags: The Da Vinci Code, Royal Bank, free stuff.

• New social housing or better youth programs, but not both? [Globe and Mail]


• Sheppard bus riders to Ellerslie Ave. whiners: screw you! [NOW via BlogTO]


• Conservatives to shrink immigration targets [CBC]


• Kennedy to (eventually) quit Queen's Park for Liberal leadship bid [The Star, Globe and Mail]


• "The [secondary school] graduation rate fell to 71 per cent in 2004 from 78 per cent in 1995, even though student test scores in Ontario rose compared to those in other provinces." [CBC]

• Attack on judiciary shatters strategic silence - "The last thing Mr. Harper wants right now is for what some people view as the lunatic right wing of his party to start mouthing off." [Globe and Mail]


• Conservatory digs The Hip [CBC, National Post]


• In Alberta, Hutterites can carry no-photo ID [CBC]

• Playstation 3 to cost almost $700? [Gizmodo]


• The census is important. Don't boycott it. Ok? [Rabble]


• Tiny Eyes is an infant vision simulator [via Kottke]


• Have I mentioned I'm addicted to The Conversations Network?

No WMD? Betcha the analyst's a Democrat...

CIA chief leaves behind weaker, demoralized agency - "Goss' close aides showed disdain for officers who had spent their careers in public service... the perception that [he] was conducting a partisan witch hunt grew too, as staffers asked about the party affiliation of officers who sent in cables or analyses on Iraq that contradicted the Defense Department's more optimistic scenarios." [Chicago Tribune]

• The Thick of It = The Office + Yes, Minister? [IMDb]

• CBC Radio finally adds (long-promised, much-anticipated) podcasts. There's no good reason why a public broadcaster shouldn't make 100% of their programming available online, perhaps with a day or so of lag to please the advertisers [via BlogTO]


• Toronto Councillor Rob Ford's pants on fire [via Torontoist]

I'll take "hissy fit" for $1200, Alex

Yes, that's right: the only families that will see anything close to the $1,200-per child Harper promised at election time will be one-earner (read: stay-at-home-mom'd) households earning $200k.

Nice.

One-earner families also tie or beat two-earner and single parent households in all but three income categories. Only at $50k does a single-parent family's benefit exceed that of a one-earner couple with the same income.

Gee, who needs money for daycare more desperately? Oh, right, this isn't about daycare... it's about "choice in childcare".

Sweet. Single parents earning $30k will soon have a whopping $.82 more choices per child each day.

[Data source: The Star]

Tags: Stephen Harper, childcare, tax credit, fiasco.