Photo: "they didn't have what I was looking for...go figure" by dave_in_t_o, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

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

Several GTA residents have been charged after allegedly tricking hundreds of Americans out of some $5 million over the phone. Strategies ranged from fraudulent prize claims to mass-marketing cons. This reminds me... I haven't gotten a car warranty expiry call (from the US) in quite a while now.

On a more local level, an ATM PIN number harvesting scam has lots of people in downtown Toronto on the phone with their banks.

Don Cherry likes the idea of an NHL team coming to Hamilton, but doesn't like Balsillie's bully approach to achieving the move. It's hard to put much stock in a guy's opinion when he talks out of his ass most of the time, while wearing a suit made out of curtain fabric.

The Toronto Reference Library is poised to get a $34 million in renovations. What's the deal with the popularity of giant, glass facades? And I really do hope that the design doesn't incorporate the ugly signage depicted in the sketch.

A 17 year old from Toronto has beat out hundreds of other contestants and won an international space colony design contest sponsored by NASA. Check out Eric Yam's orbiting colony concept.

Ontario's highest court has ruled that health care workers and others who contracted SARS back in 2003 are not able to sue the provincial government for essentially failing to prevent the spread of the virus. Perhaps this will get them off the hook in the future too, when swine flu sweeps through.