Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty emphasized that today's budget will be "frugal" in anticipation of an economic slowdown in the coming year. To demonstrate the concept in symbolic terms, Flaherty had an old pair of shoes resoled instead of buying the pair of new shoes traditionally associated with budgets. Flaherty also announced that he's saving money on undergarments by going "commando," although to be fair that gesture is more about sexiness than symbolism.

A 90-year-old woman using a walker was robbed near Victoria Park and O'Connor by a man who casually blocked her path and went through her purse as she tried to call for help. If you know who the suspect is, contact police or just push him under a bus.

A group that includes all the major oil sands producers as well as First Nations organizations has asked the Alberta government to stop selling oil sands development leases in order to "maintain the conservation opportunity." Premier Ed Stelmach has thus far refused to put the brakes on, vowing to grow the sands until all of Alberta is fabulously wealthy or buried under soot, gravel, and toxic waste ponds, whichever comes first.

Canada is sending a $200 million robot called Dextre to the International Space Station. I wonder if anyone up there is nervous about being stuck in a tin can thousands of miles from earth with a massive two-armed robot named after a TV sociopath?

A move by the Pakistan government to block YouTube for carrying videos "unflattering to Islam" left the video-sharing site unavailable to most of the planet for several hours yesterday. God hates the internets, you know.

Photo by Barbera from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.