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Morning Brew: Another poll, Rogers City Council feed sees spike, the problem with a green winter, Toronto Life jumps the shark, and a different kind of ghost bike
Despite a recent Stratcom poll that had Rob Ford's approval rating diminished after last week's transit vote, a new survey, conducted by Forum Research, begs to differ. 43 per cent of 1,547 residents thought Ford is doing a good job. Should there be an election today, however, TTC Chair Karen Stintz would be the more likely candidate to win. Are these polls worth anything other than a headline?
The City Council feed on RogersTV used to be reserved for local politics junkies and senior citizens with nothing better to do, but since Rob Ford won the mayoral election, Rogers reports an extraordinary increase in its online steaming of council meetings, particularly around the Core Service Review and the Port Lands hullabaloo.
Looks like Doug Ford has been spending more than zero dollars on business expenses; more like $2000. Ford said he intended to claim 0$ on his office expenses, but, several invoices obtained through The Globe and Mail say otherwise. Ford said Tuesday, "I've disclosed to whoever we disclose to, the city clerk's office. At the end of the day, I'm not spending taxpayers' money."
Sure, it's nice to be able to walk outside in February with a light coat and shoes instead of having to undergo the usual bundling-up-routine, but when winter looks more like spring, it affects the fauna and flora around us. Bulbs could open too soon, mosquito eggs won't hatch, and field mice are starving to death. Why should you care? It's the circle of life, people.
Mountain Equipment Co-Op has just introduced Ghost bikes as part of its retail line-up. Although the German-based brand has been around since the early 90s, given the meaning of the term in our local context, one wonders if the implications will put potential buyers off.
And, last but certainly not least, Toronto Life provides yet another reason why it can't be taken seriously. "'We buy a new Mercedes every three years; it's our big indulgence,' says Doug. 'We always pay cash. This one was $80,000.'" That's the "true cost of city living" alright.
IN BRIEF:
Photo by tapesonthefloor in the blogTO Flickr pool
Discussion
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Aww, that's a shame. :)
The truly nauseating ones are the 30-40-somethings with a cottage, Leaf tickets, and a $1000/month habit at Harry Rosen, who then complain about the cost of living. It's called "living beyond your means".
P.S. I could probably be painted with the same brush, but my family lives comparatively frugally and I try to restrict my complaining about taxes and expenses to private conversation.
Wise up, you selfish human.
Hence these two aren't a great fit for a series on why life is so hard with over $150K.
In addition to our writers (some of whom take photographs), we have an active staff of photogs who shoot all manner of subjects. Where do you think all the photos of concerts, restaurants, cafes, fashion, etc. come from?
Photographers who submit to the blogTO Flickr pool, whose work is primarily used to accompany posts like this one, happily do so knowing that their photos will get additional exposure via their presence on the site.
2 Toronto Life's target IS the wealthier demographic so it wouldn't give a sh*t about offending anyone else with an article like this.
3 Each family seems to have an example of a splurge or expense that they take for granted. And for that lack of selfawareness I say they are all kind of dumb.
4 The old couple: good for them. They worked their asses off and now they get to enjoy spending their money. WHy would anyone sh*t on them for that?
5 Most of this entire country, rich or poor, live beyond their means. And that's stupid. There's nothing wrong with saving up to buy something.
Toronto Life is flawed, but is probably the second-best city magazine in North America. Granted, that's something of a backhanded compliment. Most of the other ones read like monthly advertorials. Check them out at Chapters - you'll see.
These two are not the right couple to rail against or to have profiled in this piece.
The top 1% in the US is ~$500K
Lewis-Koonings: RRSPs and investments: $0. (“Ha! We live month to month. When we have money left over, we go out.”) = GIANT MORONS
Norrises: living off the enormous pile they saved. SUPER GENIUSES
Haynes: Single guy only saving 20,000 a year: GIANT MORON
He could double that and not feel a thing
Jibodus: No savings whatsoever = GIANT MORONS
Damianis: 4000 RESP, 20000 RRSP/stock. With 2 kids, saving 24000 AND owning a cottage = not bad. NOT GIANT MORONS
However, our study found - more significantly, in our view - that while the % of residents who STRONGLY APRROVE of mr Ford's job performance has been steady, the % who STRONGLY DISAPPROVE has doubled from 17% in March 2011 to 35% now.
The question is: what does Forum's tracking show on these data points, which are changing even more rapidly than the 'overall' approval numbers?
But if you're stupid about money, and most people are, you can live like Elvis with a crap wage and a few credit cards.
Its cool if you can sit around and slam other publications for feeling sorry for rich people, but you guys actively take advantage of peoples free work and expensive equipment every day. Pretty ironic.
but that's me...
In the interest of not spamming the hell out of this and being off topic, this will be the last time I post. Your actions actually hurt the photography business as a whole. I know you dont realize this, because your having fun and maybe its exciting as a hobby for you as you have a day job. Maybe one day you want to become a real photographer, I dont know. There are too many photographers giving their pictures away for free. The more people that give it away, the more people looking to have photography done will expect to get it free as well.
The people who pay for pictures and that will hire you DO NOT care if you have been published here, New York Times, or the cover of PEOPLE magazine. They care about your portfolio, professionalism, and ability to DELIVER. Unfortunately many amateurs think there is some path to becoming famous just simply by getting published. You will never get a phone call from someone who wants to hire you because of a byline here. It just doesn't work that way.
How is it healthy for an industry to give their product away for free? Why would anyone want to pay you if they know you work for free?
I'm replying as one of blogTO's paid professional photographers, and, coincidentally, as the featured "hobbyist" photographer at the top of this article. There's room in my life for both, and there's room in this world for both, too.
I take "hobbyist" photos to show other people what things look like. I share them widely, because I want people to see them. They are a "product" of my work, but they are not a product. I will never charge anyone to look at them, ever. I will never make a living based on them, ever. I spend my own money on gear and software to support this hobby, and I do it gladly. This is the nature of "art" to me. I pursue this photography only for its own sake.
I allow a certain few commercial ventures use this work to colour theirs, because I trust their motives, and because I like their audiences. This is called "sharing." There's room in this world for sharing, too.
Since the digital revolution made information scarcity a thing of the past, numerous industries are fighting with everything they have to protect their way of life. The recording industry is the most documented of these, but the effects of cheap consumer cameras on professional photography has been widely discussed, too. This isn't really the forum to continue that discussion. A quick search will take you somewhere more appropriate, and you can jump in there. I will say, though, that if my amateur photography, and the amateur photography of the humming community of Toronto photographers that I follow closely, has in some way undercut someone else's established economy, I have no choice but to question the wisdom of building a way of life on something so tenuous, and so filled with mediocrity. I mean... didn't you see this coming a mile away?
Photography isn't dying, Mark. Photography is being born.
Here is a back-and-forth on the subject you might enjoy:
This Photograph Is Not Free
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/01/10/this-photograph-is-not-free/
This photograph is free
http://standblog.org/blog/post/2012/01/11/This-photograph-is-free
With respect,
Nick