Slate had a story on the collapsing housing market in Orange County, California recently, noting the ties between Irvine as corporate headquarters to some major mortgage lenders and the rapid decline in house prices. The story linked to the Irvine Housing Blog, which I’m finding oddly gripping, despite the highly repetitive nature of its posts.continue reading
Current Events Archives
I see the difference. Can you see the difference?
The Star polishes up yesterday’s Ontario Auditor General report on the immigration year-end grants: Auditor General Jim McCarter found that Liberal connections played no role in which groups received money, but that the money was doled out without proper controls. What the Auditor General actually said (emphasis added): We found no evidence that any organizationcontinue reading
Diamonds for cash
The Toronto Sun, in its paranoid wisdom, has an entertaining article linking a one-off, one-week traffic enforcement blitz , acknowledged and publicized by the police, as a desperate cash grab by Mayor Miller. The anonymous officers quoted in the story lend some credence to the rumour that the Toronto force is less-than-enthralled by enforcing existingcontinue reading
Even GPS can’t help
An OPP officer in Grand Bend explains the meaning of “lost” in today’s Globe: “I don’t think we can say where he is, and that’s very problematic in trying to track him down,” said Detective Inspector Dave Cardwell of the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch.
It’s just a ghetto thing
This is an appalling story: “Ghetto dude” e-mail sent by mistake, province says But taking it a step beyond the obvious racist, classist slur meant to describe, it seems certain, the job applicant is the pathetic bureaucratic reaction of the supervisor of the woman who sent the e-mail: Reached on vacation in the Maritimes, Craigcontinue reading
15 minutes of fame, sort of
Sassafraz is planning to reopen in time for the TIFF, and in preparation they are posting on the hoardings and on their website comments from blogosphere circa the time of their fire. Was surprised to walk by the site and find myself quoted (yes it’s from the law-related one).
TREB’s Victory
The delay of the vote on the land transfer and vehicle registration taxes may represent a defeat to Mayor Miller, but more than anything, it’s a victory for the Toronto Real Estate Board, who orchestrated a bombastic campaign against the former. “Nobody likes taxes, but the public has been adamant that a second land transfercontinue reading
South Park L.O.L.
Not sure where to start with this one.
“Rifle-toting senior 2, cabin-sniffing bears 0”
Remember the 87-year-old woman who shot the bear the other week? She got another one, which gave CBC an excuse to re-run the spectacular photo from the first time: Rifle-toting senior 2, cabin-sniffing bears 0 “I looked out through and I said, ‘Oh my God, I got a bear in my snare,’ ” said Smith,continue reading
Estonians triumph yet again!
Another win for the Estonian wife-carrying team (Why the Times of India is covering this news, I have no idea.) (I am half-Estonian, for those who don’t know, but I do not wish to be carried unless the carrying involves bearers and fine wine.) The prize is very sensible: The winners received a beer keg,continue reading