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Morning Brew: Gladstone Cowboy (1941-2009), Ritchies Auction House Bankrupt, Library Computers Seized, Lots of Toys For Tots, Really Royal Winter Fair

Posted by Jerrold Litwinenko / October 28, 2009

17 Comments

Photo: "14" by a*e, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

In sad news, Hank Young (also known as the Gladstone Cowboy) passed away at the age of 68. A beloved Parkdale icon, Hank's association with the Gladstone Hotel spanned decades, and his gig as the antique elevator operator was a natural fit for an unofficial neighbourhood and hotel ambassador.

Here's proof that city council actually does work in our best interest sometimes. For the fourth consecutive year, council voted in favour of foregoing the purchase of 16 season tickets to the Toronto Blue Jays for city councillor use. Or perhaps I'm wrong, and this proves instead that the Jays aren't even worth watching for free. I kid, I kid!

Ritchies, the high-end auction house based out of Toronto, has gone bankrupt. Who would have thought that collecting significant commission on millions of dollars worth of art couldn't be sustainable and profitable?

Was missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili lured via the internet? Police have seized computers from Forest Hill Public Library and the Barbara Frum Public Library, as part of their investigation into her disappearance. While Toronto Public Libraries don't log keystrokes, browser history might contain clues. I haven't used the web on a TPL computer in forever... do users log in with accounts (that maintain user-specific logs), or is it totally open public access on their machines?

In a follow-up on the stolen tractor trailer of toys story, generosity from the community and businesses, and effective police work have resulted in a serendipitous windfall for the Toys For Tots charity program. Police are still seeking a fourth suspect in the case.

And Prince Charles and Camilla (the Duchess of Cornwall) will be part of the opening ceremonies at the Royal Winter Fair this year. Their stop in Toronto is part of a 12-day (smile and wave and try to remain relevant) tour of Canada.

Discussion

17 Comments

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lisa / October 28, 2009 at 09:41 am
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Re: Library computers. I think that if you want to log on for 1/2 hour then you use your library card id and password. If you only use the express computers (15 minute limit) there is no log on required.
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mike / October 28, 2009 at 09:51 am
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The library should say what data they're collecting, cause its somewhat creepy that they're collecting any data.

Although hopefully in this case it helps find this girl.
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Maria / October 28, 2009 at 10:11 am
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It's very sad the cowboy dad, but really nice that he's remembered so lovingly by everyone.
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o_O replying to a comment from mike / October 28, 2009 at 10:18 am
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I was concerned what TPL was tracking when I went into my local branch yesterday so I asked the librarian. She told me they don't database any information but that similar to my home PC, past activity can be tracked because that's what all computers basically do. I'm pretty comfortable with that...When I'm using a public computer I'm not really expecting complete and total privacy and since the cops went and seized the computers with a search warrant, it's not like TPL was just opening up any records it does have for the police to indiscriminately look through at their leisure.
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Andrew / October 28, 2009 at 11:35 am
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" I haven't used the web on a TPL computer in forever... do users log in with accounts (that maintain user-specific logs), or is it totally open public access on their machines?"

That's some great investigative journalism you're doing
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Jays Fan / October 28, 2009 at 11:56 am
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Its great to hear that the city is passing on Jays season tickets.

Can they now confirm that they are not spending tax payers money on Leafs seasons tickets and Raptor's season tickets...
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G Smith replying to a comment from Andrew / October 28, 2009 at 12:09 pm
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Andrew, this isn't a hard-hitting investigative report -- it's a quick roundup of the morning's headlines. Or am I wrong?
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isandrewsloworsomething? replying to a comment from Andrew / October 28, 2009 at 12:17 pm
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Yeah! Why didn't you go to a library this morning? Interview everyone there? Ask all the hard-hitting questions? Expose a major controversy? Then post it here in one paragraph by 9am? Where's the video footage and the background study info? This here _link_roundup_ sucks! ;)
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o_O replying to a comment from Jays Fan / October 28, 2009 at 01:00 pm
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Jays Fan, there are no other sports tickets that the city buys. They have Jays tickets because they were given a box for free when the Dome opened in the 80s. The deal was that they just had to buy the tickets and pay for the hostess in the box or opt out of the purchase on an annual basis. In practice, those tickets were given out to local community groups across the city, mostly children and youth. Given the city's financial position, it was only sensible to stop the purchase of tickets.
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Ratpick replying to a comment from Andrew / October 28, 2009 at 01:35 pm
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Is Morning Brew your main news source, friend? Go buy an Economist or something and get schooled.
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Jenny replying to a comment from mike / October 28, 2009 at 01:54 pm
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Uh, Mike? Perhaps this whole browsing thing is new to you. Or perhaps you're just a little bit paranoid. But certain bits of information do get left on a computer when it's used -- regardless of who owns the computer. In addition, police have forensic tools to find Internet related computer evidence. The library is not deliberately collecting your data.
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Roger / October 28, 2009 at 02:58 pm
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In other news, a young Toronto woman <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto-singer-killed-by-coyotes/article1341376/"; target="_blank">was killed by a pack of coyotes</a> while hiking in a park in Cape Breton.
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conscious replying to a comment from Roger / October 28, 2009 at 05:17 pm
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That is the very definition of tragic. Sad...
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Mike W replying to a comment from Andrew / October 28, 2009 at 06:00 pm
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Just ignore this troll. He disappeared for while but I guess he's back to try to boost his ego again.
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mike replying to a comment from Jenny / October 28, 2009 at 08:53 pm
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Oh Jenny - perhaps this whole logical-deduction thing is new to you, but if the TPL deleted your data, like they claim to do, then there would be nothing for the police to recover.

Obviously they're not deleting it very well, as the police think they can recover the data weeks later.

That doesn't seem like some huge leap of intellectual rigor, so perhaps you can keep your condescending bullshit to yourself.
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Keven / October 28, 2009 at 11:04 pm
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Mike, Jenny isn't being condescending she's 100% correct. Any data written to disk at any point can be recovered with the proper forensic tools

Your ignorance however is not only condescending it's annoying to challenge something you obviously have no clue about
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Linda / October 29, 2009 at 07:17 am
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The library deletes all temporary files at the end of any Internet
session. This means that we don't keep a record of sites visited,
emails sent or search terms entered in an online search engine.

The police have sophisticated forensic tools that can recover and
reconstruct portions of deleted information in some cases.


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