Morning Brew: April 6th, 2009
Photo: "rippling intimation;" by Artisan Hill, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
It's a toque and umbrella kind of morning. Winter's (hopefully) last gasp is with us for he next couple of days. There's no white stuff outside my window yet this morning, but the weather people tell us that the GTA can expect to see rain/snow mixes, high winds, and between 2-10cm of snow [CityNews] (depending on where you are, and how right or wrong predictions are).
First-year university students in Ontario are being accused of general immaturity, laziness, ill-preparedness, and of having a disconcerting over-dependence on Wikipedia [Star]. Cutting OAC (grade 13) and education budget constraints may be parts of the problem, and math skills are noted as particularly lacking. Perhaps we need to nip that one in the cocoa bud.
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The Summerhill LCBO was the scene of a standoff between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters [Sun] this weekend. Calls for a boycott on Jewish wines (as Passover approaches) were coupled with taunting and the calling out of "self-hating Jews" and within a short time, police had to ask the protesters to disband. Reports suggest that the store sold out of Kosher wines (some 150 cases) that day.
The TTC is touting the efficacy of video surveillance in helping apprehend the accused in yet another subway passenger pushing incident [G&M]. Hopefully knowledge that cameras are rolling acts as a deterrent, and when it doesn't, at least allows police to identify the suspect.
Going to the Jays home opener tonight? I'll be Tweeting up in section 540... and behaving in a manner that would make a sedated angel seem rambunctious, but of course. This weekend, Rogers let fans know that the draconian powers that be (aka the AGCO) have doled out some penalties that will make some games (including tomorrow's) dry this season - news that is being met with much scorn.
On Saturday the folks at Daily Challenge and some 602 Torontonians broke a world record and made a charitable donation after a successful "Pay it Backward" day. The organization is an online social network that aims to solicit acts of kindness (like buying the person behind you a coffee) for good causes.
