For the last few weeks of the summer, Torontoist is investigating ideas that we could benefit from pillaging from others. Last week we looked at Madrid's integration of public libraries and public transit, as well as their insistence on keeping a more humane schedule for workers. This week, we'll examine Amsterdam's method of accommodating—and legitimizing—different modes of transportation within their small city grid. Amsterdam pulls off small, quaint, and charming without being sleepy or provincial.......

Don't panic, but food prices are rising. Turns out that oil becoming an inelastic commodity, collapsing fish stocks, climate change affecting crop growth, and increased demand for food in China and India as they grow richer makes food more expensive! Who could have foreseen this happening? Oh, right, lots of people. Speaking of oil becoming an inelastic commodity, gas prices are going to skyrocket this summer and continue climbing for the foreseeable future. When......

When the City of Toronto issued a press release last week detailing its TTC strike contingency plans, cyclists quickly noticed that alongside the proposals for parking restrictions and pleas for employers to allow workers to use staggered schedules, "cycling" and "bikes" were mentioned exactly zero times. Spacing Toronto's Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler reported yesterday: Mayor David Miller noted this, too, and said earlier today that during the last TTC strike he was concerned by the thousands......

Jarvis Street, circa 1910. (City of Toronto Archives) Torontonians should be ashamed at what happened to Jarvis Street. The city's first paved road was once the grandest tree-lined boulevard around, bracketed by the mansions of some of Toronto's wealthiest movers and shakers. Then, in the 1940s, the stately Jarvis boulevard was transformed: trees were pulled down and sidewalks ripped up to make way for the automobile. Jarvis Street was turned from a gorgeous historical......

A line of high-fiving cyclists paraded along the city's newest bike lane Monday morning. Then, without warning, a gust of wind tangled the whole thing, nearly sending every set of pedals flying. No injuries, though; every cyclist remained mounted. A few bemused, rubbernecking motorists gawked at the intersection, watching one helmeted participant lay an ironically tire-shaped weight to keep the "bike lane" from blowing into traffic. Happily, things held together long enough for TaketheTooker,......

One day, if bicyclists and the groups that represent them like TaketheTooker get their wish, a bike lane spanning the length of Bloor and Danforth Streets might be a reality. Until then, Rick Conroy's masterful manipulation, above, will have to do. The edited photos of bike lanes plopped onto Bloor at Bay look so real that they fooled a few Bike Land Diary readers back in February 2006 when Conroy first let the images......

Every weekday, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Today's matches, Region III + IV, Quarterfinals: 501 Queen streetcar vs. The EnvironmentKensington Market vs. Bike Lanes Polls after the jump.......

Every weekday, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Today's matches, Region III + IV, Quarterfinals: The Annex vs. Bike LanesTaste of the Danforth vs. Kensington MarketThe Environment vs. IllegalSigns.ca Lower Bay vs. Queen streetcar Polls after the jump.......

Every weekday, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Some highlights: ROM Crystal's sharp edges cut Miller's Hair (104 - 101): In the closest and most depressing match of the tournament so far, a napkin sketch gone wild shears the mayor's golden locks from atop his head. The late game upset may qualify for a recount......

Each weekday for the next two weeks, Torontoist is facing off local memes and blog drama in a tournament-style ladder and you, the reader, decide the outcome. View the full ladder here. Some highlights from Saturday's matches: 416 trounces 905 (95-12): In perhaps the most dramatic victory of the evening, the Toronto area code showed up the surrounding suburbs in a true show of telecommunications muscle. Miller's Hair buries Zombie Walks (59-47): The closest......