City
Morning Brew: November 25th, 2008
Photo: "Art Gallery of Ontario at Sunset - Frank Gehry" by Scott Norsworthy, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
Although the idea of creating offshore wind-powered energy farms in Scarborough has its fair share of proponents, it also has its detractors. Visual blight, sound, risk to migratory birds, and unknown long term effects (huh?) are among the cons that are making for heated debate amongst residents.
The proposal for public transit by ferry along Toronto's lakefront has been dealt a blow, after the TTC has heeded the advice found in a commissioned transportation expert's feasibility study. The report pegs the costs of building and operating the service as far too high for the few benefits that would result, so for now, it's a dead concept.
Hamilton is considering a ban on smoking in public housing, beaches, and parks. A report due in June of next year will likely spark a debate between those who feel they have a right to breathe clean air when they're taking a stroll, and those who feel they have the right to blow smoke in the faces of others while they're trudging and panting their way along the boardwalk.
We can always count on CityNews for lifesaving tips. After all, pretty much everything out there is poised to sneak up on us and unexpectedly kill us, right? "Trust no one" this holiday season. It could be counterfeit Christmas lights engulfing your family and your home in flames, or it could be an argument over a holiday bonus with your jerk of a boss that leads to cardiac arrest. ZOMGWTF? Who writes this stuff? Do they intentionally mask the identity of their writers under the umbrella of "CityNews.ca Staff" or is it a backend technical limitation that's to blame?
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Provincial laws are facing changes that will hopefully result in better protection for abused women and children. Deeper probing of backgrounds of those seeking child custody, easing of requirements for emergency restraining orders, and easier asset division in divorce cases are all forthcoming.
How does a fake brick of cocaine (part of an RCMP-monitored sting operation) make its way from Lima, Peru, and into the storage compartment of a Sea-doo in the garage of the home of a Peel police officer? The courts are looking into it while the officer remains suspended with pay (for 3 years now?).
Anyone watch Jeopardy and feel like rooting for a local guy? Torontonian Nathaniel Barnes - a bartender and classical musician - will be the returning champ on tonight's episode after netting $23,900 on last night's show. It was pre-taped in September, but he's sworn to secrecy with respect to results.
Discussion
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Q: Do you think the "scare pieces" would be written differently had the writers been obligated to attached their names to them?
I sometimes worry that this Giambrone fellow is a few bricks short of a load. I'm glad they sunk this crazy idea before any more money was spent on it.
You raise a good question though and it might be worth it for us to do a test.
Cigarette smoke is hardly the only carcinogen at Hamilton Beaches.
I wish blogTO would let us know where they stand on this issue!
outside is a big place. there is room enough for smokers and non-smokers.
low level vibrations. seriously?!?
Lets keep these projects on hold just long enough to spend billions more on nuclear power and fall another step behind the rest of the world as the global shift for renewable energy chugs along.
Here's the same story on BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7745324.stm
All of the opinions expressed within the Morning Brew are my opinions, not blogTO's collective opinion. Cheers!
Aside for some specials like interviews with Miller and other interesting guests, I stopped caring because it's just horrible. I feel like I'm being taken for an idiot when watching cp24 now.
It's much easier following stupid american trends of bad tabloid "news", than doing leg work and putting out actual news and using word "current" instead of "breaking".
Silverman was one of the few actual real reporters and he got canned. We are entering the times of stagnation and slowdown not just in economy but in out heads, and the media is only happy to push us off of that cliff.
Ferry services work best when the route has no directly parallel road and thus the ferry's slower speed is countered by a much shorter travel distance. Pull out a map of the Golden Horseshoe and only one origin/termination pair meets that criteria - Toronto and the St. Catharines/Niagara-on-the-Lake area.
I think two ferry services should be considered - one passenger/car ferry to Niagara and a truck ferry to just west of the US border (but not Rochester for the reason stated above). This would reduce the need to extend GO into Niagara and expand highways there while reducing lineups at the border from freight trucks.
We've already got a ferry terminal at Cherry Street - let's use it.
Yes please! I'm all for people's right to pollute the air in their own enclosed spaces but can't wait for Toronto to adopt something similar to L.A.'s ban on smoking in all public places (sidewalks, parks, beaches, etc). Go Hamilton!
"<i>...my rewrite of an international wire story really doesn't need my name on it. It's not relevant."</i>
I'd argue that it is relevant. Just because it's a rewrite doesn't mean there shouldn't be an author attached to it. And accountable for it.
'What they want' doesn't mean it's good for them and doesn't mean it's okay to give it to them.
Now lets do somethin about all them there smoke stacks Hamilton.
They needed a study to say its too expensive? You're the TTC apparently your almost broke every year why would you even consider this? Take a water taxi if you want a ride along the waterfront.
You mean like export all the dirty industry to China and leave us with nothing but graphic designers, bankers and baristas?
"those who feel they have a right to breathe clean air when they're taking a stroll"
If were cleaning the air, then YES lets clean it all. If one has to move somewhere else, and take thier money and business somewhere else for the right to smoke, then the stacks can move elswhere as well they make alot more pollution and stench. Export them. You want jobs in a smokey city? Or no jobs and the best air quality?
Nobody WANTS to hear stories about 'dangerous' toys or products, but they will read them anyways for fear the article is relevant to them.
When there is a plane crash.
What if you were on flight 619?
One wheel falls off of a car on the highway.
How safe are your wheels?
A murder on a bus.
How safe is the bus you're riding on?
A house burns down.
Are your fire alarms faulty?
I'm not going to get sick from the smoking jogger exhaling on a park path. Industrial air pollution, just maybe.
[...]
the most important characteristics of yellow journalism - the endless drive for circulation. And unfortunately, the publisher's greed was very often put before ethics."
From Citynews.ca
"<b>Police Issue Public Safety Warning About Strange Goings On Near Scarborough Schools</b>
...But they admit there's no hard evidence to base their caveats on, only that parents should talk to their kids about being careful."
"Consumer Alert: Counterfeit Christmas Products Could Lead To Fire In Your Home This Holiday
...You can see it in every store.
You can hear it on almost every radio station.
<b>And you can even find it in your own home.</b>"
Is it just me, or does that not sound like the voiceover for a horror movie?
Get City-TV on the line!
Great, another law that will be impossible to enforce...and unenforcable laws are bad ones. Good luck finding a cop to take your "I saw someone smoking in the park" complaint.
I find it odd that this afternoon there's still a glaring typo in the last sentence of that story:
"His death follows by a month another lost legend who played a very different brand of music. Frankie Venom of Teenage Head succumbed in October after a battle with <b>thorat</b> cancer."
You see still assholes smoking inside bus shelters, but the fact it exists helps discourage the behavior and gives authority figures the right to tell someone to stop.
I don't see it being that big of an issue in parks, however I'd be happy to see it enforced at beaches.
-People tend to stay in one spot and when it is crowded, you're pretty much guaranteeing someone downwind is going to consume a fair portion of your cigarette
-Second, I'm sick of all the cigarette butt litter on beaches. Seriously, it's disgusting. I'd like to know what is going through a smoker's mind when they do this? It's not socially acceptable to throw a wrapper or other garbage on the ground, so why is okay to leave your cigarette garbage on the ground?
You have to deal with it becasue your in public we all have to get along with each others smoking, sneezing, garlic breath, bad body odor. Its part of being out in public. If you want privacy stay home, why do people always go in public and want privacy? Can I get some public over here Not Privacy, Public!!! If I wanna sing and smoke while your out for a walk or on the phone, your in public not private. Lets learn to share the streets. I don't like walking behind a fat ass either but I accept its part of what I get when I go out...
Shouldn't smoking be banned in parks on the premise that parks are meant to provide adults AND CHILDREN with clean, green recreational space, especially in a big city? There isn't much worse than jogging or playing tennis in a park and having to huff in secondhand smoke. Or stretching afterward amid an ashtray of cigarette butts.
What's so hard about being considerate? Why are smokers so "entitled" about not having to be?
Who says someone isn't being considerate? it often effects someone else differently. Maybe they have already stepped outside in consideration of others. I agree with the Butts thrown around its disgusting. But like TV, change the channel. If you don't like the smoke, loud music, whatever your public beef is, step away from it, your allowed. That's consideration. Do you need the first seat thats available on the bus as well?
Remember when you point your finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you. We all can make improvements, we all know what we could or should do but we don't. Why aren't you out getting 45 mins of cardio and drinking 2L of water?
Say I found myself a nice spot down on the sand at Ashbridges Bay to sunbathe when someone parks their ass 15 feet away upwind and lights up a cigarette. So you're saying if I don't like it, I should just pack up my stuff and find someplace else?
As an individual solution, it's a logical one, however when applied as a philosophy, it becomes a little backwards.
If everyone who didn't smoke (which is the majority of the population) catered to the whims of nearby smokers, it would essentially be giving smokers a privilege they most certainly do not deserve.
For the record, I'd vote for a ban on smoking at beaches, but not in parks (but perhaps a ban on smoking in the immediate vicinity of areas in which children play). Public housing is a bit of a grey area for me.
I was using the first come first serve, first right idea as well, but in the view that the smoker was there first. But if the non smoker is there first, the smoker should be considerate and move elsewhere before lighting up, knowing that the habit is intrusive. I think smoking should be banned from beaches and parks as well. The Butts are gross. And Grosser as they sit there for weeks. Kids as everyone should be able to go to a park and not have butts everywhere. Also ever see a seagul fly away with an old cigarette in its mouth, like its a french fry or peice of bread in its beak after someone tosses it aside. I have.