Results tagged “polls”

Effective Monday, October 26, it will be illegal to operate any handheld device while operating a vehicle in Ontario. Following years of studies demonstrating that holding a phone to your ear while driving shows a similar level of impairment as driving drunk [PDF], the province has banned any handheld electronic device that takes a driver's attention away from the road: no dialling, no talking, and—we can't believe we have to say this—no texting or emailing. And this should be obvious, but if you're behind the wheel and need to call 911, call 911. Tickets won't be issued during a three-month education period (though police can still lay charges if talking on your beloved BlackBerry leads to other violations), but after that, it's handsfree or hands off. Recent evidence seems to show that even taking a call on a Bluetooth headset might pose a similar risk to holding a device, so expect to be entirely incommunicado on wheels some day.

It turns out that technology once only dreamed about in the back of comic books is now a reality: T-ray scanners may soon be deployed at an airport near you, and they know what you look like naked. Transport Canada is now reviewing a six-month trial of the security scanners, which are currently only voluntary and are used only when someone has set off the metal detector. The subject's body is scattered with terahertz radiation, which—unlike X-rays—are believed to be harmless to human tissue. A technician reviews the scanner results in a windowless room, and the resulting images are anonymous, incredibly unflattering, and decidedly unerotic. Images can't be stored, faces are obscured, and cameras aren't allowed in the viewing room. Still, opponents say that peering at nude bodies is even too extreme for already-excessive security theatre, and may even run afoul of child porn laws. According to a spokesperson from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, however, 95% of travellers in the Kelowna, B.C., trial preferred it. If approved by Transport Canada and the Canadian privacy commissioner, the high-tech peepshow could be coming to Toronto airports soon.

For some, the works are underwhelming and too few and far between, yet for others, it's one of the few times when Toronto steps outside its dreary box—and that's reason enough to celebrate. You may think it makes modern art accessible to the masses, but perhaps you feel that the installations could be better. Cast a vote, and then head over to last year's poll to see how it compares.

Polls, it is important to remember, do not measure reality but perceptions thereof. The best we can hope to learn from a poll is what people think is going on, not what actually is. Last week, jaws dropped around the city as an Ipsos Reid poll, commissioned by Global TV, revealed that David Miller's approval rating had fallen to a new low of 29%. What this tells us is that our mayor is failing to impress, not that he is failing.

Some, like the Star, were a tad overzealous about Earth Hour's success earlier tonight. "No," wrote Daniel Dale, "you are not witnessing a city-wide power failure. Toronto's Earth Hour has begun." From where we were, sandwiched between a few dozen high-rises downtown, there was still plenty of light to be seen—and from our site statistics for the hour, it's not looking like all that many (of our Saturday night readers, at least) switched off their computers, either. But, now that another Earth Hour has come and gone, this one bigger and even more contradictory and token-y than ever, it's still worth asking the same question we did last year: did you participate in Earth Hour?

Original graphic by Dave Meslin for Who Runs This Town? recoloured by Jonathan Goldsbie.

It's election day down south, and you all have a right to be jealous. Except for those lucky Torontonians with American citizenships, most of us are forced to be spectators to what seems to be nothing less than a defining moment in history. (We'd say more about that, but the importance of this campaign has become an untranscendible cliché.) And though Obama will almost certainly win tonight, and though we're already pretty sure where this city's—and the world's—loyalties lie, we're still curious: if you could vote today, who would it be for? Consider this your absentee ballot.

The sun will rise on Nuit Blanche soon, so let's just get the inevitable out of the way. Last year, when we polled Torontoist readers about their impressions of Nuit Blanche 2007, the bulk of you, 39%, voted that it was "pretty lame, actually." (Only 11% said it was "wicked awesome.") As it turns out, that seemed to be something of a consensus last year, as underwhelming exhibits, long lineups, big crowds, and relentless corporate sponsorship turned many off, especially in light of 2006's spectacular debut. So while we're working on collecting our thoughts (and our photos), we'll ask it again: what'd you think of this year's Nuit Blanche?

On Monday, after running a factually-dubious cover article claiming Toronto was in the midst of another "summer of the gun," the Toronto Sun conducted a poll asking their readers if they thought Toronto was safe. Of 3648 respondents, 72% said no.

Last Thursday, we wrote about OCAD's awkward new name—OCAD University—and asked readers to come up with some alternatives. The school, a university since 2006, wants to ditch its college reputation without, well, ditching the "C" in its acronym that stands for "College."

Like it or not, Earth Hour has come (and gone)! And we're curious as to whether you participated. Officially, all you had to do was turn off all your lights, though you were welcome to have gone all-out and turned off everything that consumed electricity, like your computer (though at least according to our stats, not too many people went that far). And if you're kicking yourself for missing it, hey, there's always 8 p.m. on March 29, 2009. Or basically any other time you want.

Photo by Fanch the System.

"There is nothing more valuable to families than time together. And yet it seems tougher than ever to find, with so many of us living such busy lives." So declared Dalton McGuinty on last October's announcement of a new holiday: Family Day! And McGuinty's right: work is hard, days off are totally sweet, and families are pretty great!

See, all that snow shovelling was just a waste of time. Toronto is expecting record-breaking heat over the next couple of days, with highs expected to hit 13 degrees. The heat wave is expected to give dumbass radio personalities a chance to say things like, "Hey, this global warming thing is OK by me!"

After eight days, twenty-four heroes, and twenty-four villains,* Torontoist's Heroes and Villains 2007 is done! Hooray! There's just one little thing left: naming a Superhero and Supervillain. As promised, that extraordinarily prestigious decision rests with you, our readers.

On Thursday evening, Torontoist broke the news that Wednesday's bomb threat at the Royal Ontario Museum was OCAD student Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson's final project for an advanced video class. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp's readymades (like Fountain, pictured above), Jonsson told us that the piece was about recontextualization, the idea that context changes art's meaning; in this case, something that is, he said, "quite clearly not dangerous, but when you put it in a different...

When we interviewed TTC Chair Adam Giambrone in August––at the height of anxiety over potential cuts to his system––he told us that the TTC has "an acceptable level of advertising. Could it be less? Absolutely. At this point any reduction would be a budget reduction, and I'll tell you I'm not really prepared to reduce the budget of the TTC to reduce the advertising. At the same time, I think we certainly have enough...

So, Nuit Blanche.

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, Finals:

Kensington Market vs. The Environment
ROM Crystal vs. Toronto Islands

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 Environment
Kensington Market vs. Bike Lanes

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:

ROM Crystal vs. 416
CN Tower Ice vs. Toronto Islands

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 Lanes
Taste of the Danforth vs. Kensington Market
The Environment vs. IllegalSigns.ca
Lower Bay vs. Queen streetcar

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: Kensington Market turns out the lights on Nuit Blanche (118 - 95): Dizzy from the smell of fish, Nuit Blanche stumbles in this epic battle of nocturnal versus somnambulant. Al Waxman named MVP of Kensington for numerous slam dunks. IllegalSigns.ca revokes Dufferin Grove's permit (109 - 106): In yesterday's closest match, Dufferin Grove's bonfires, farmer's market and cob thing are not enough to tackle IllegalSigns.ca, who points out the gaudiness of the Dufferin Mall across the street to distract the park and score a tie-breaking three pointer with just seconds left on the clock. Today's matches, Region I + II, Quarterfinals:

St. Clair ROW vs. CN Tower Ice
Toronto Islands vs. Jane Jacobs
Condo Boom vs. 416
Anagram Map vs. ROM Crystal

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 on suspicions of steroid use, yes? Toronto Islands sink The Beaches (95 - 91): The ultimate NIMBY showdown sees the neighbourhood with an identity crisis get denied like a cross-harbour bridge. Today's matches, Region III + IV, 3rd Round:

The Annex vs. Island Airport
Leafs Fans vs. Bike Lanes
Taste of the Danforth vs. Turnitin.com
Nuit Blanche vs. Kensington Market
Congestion Charge vs. The Environment
Dufferin Grove vs. IllegalSigns.ca
Lower Bay vs. IKEA North York
Spadina North Station vs. 501 Queen Streetcar

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. Today's matches, Region I + II, 2nd Round:

The Giambroney vs. St. Clair ROW
CN Tower Ice vs. Parkdale
The Beaches vs. Toronto Islands
Jane Jacobs vs. Gas-Fired Power Plant
West Side Lofts vs. Condo Boom
416 vs. Queen West
Yonge Street vs. Anagram Map
Miller's Hair vs. ROM Crystal

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 yesterday's matches: Taste of the Danforth grills street meat (103 - 100). In an amazing and dramatic last-minute turnaround, Toronto showed that it salivates more thinking about one day of tasty meat to a whole year of drunk food vendor patronage. Spanakopita, anyone? Today's matches, Region IV, 1st Round:

Road Tolls vs. Congestion Charge
Stephen Harper vs. The Environment
Dufferin Grove Park vs. The Parks Department
IllegalSigns.ca vs. Viacom Outdoor
Lower Bay vs. The Brickworks
IKEA North York vs. The Sheppard Line
Spadina North vs. Lowther Station
Hipsters vs. The Queen Streetcar

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 match, with the mayor's seemingly flawless haircut against the undead, Miller's golden wave came out on top. Only time will tell whether it can compete against the major league Layton's mustache. Today's matches, Region II, 1st Round:

The Annex vs. Skunks
Island Airport vs. Belinda Stronach
Leafs Fans vs. The Club District
Rob Ford vs. Bike Lanes
Street Meat vs. Taste of the Danforth
Turnitin.com vs. Jane Pitfield
Nuit Blanche vs. TIFF
Crack vs. Kensington Market

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 yesterday's matches: Jane Jacobs makes Yonge-Dundas look square (107-95): The usually untouchable Jacobs was thrown off her game early on by anti-gun rallies, massive video billboards and a late-game PR stunt by a chewing gum company, but pulled ahead with minutes to go. Kyle Rae grabs an assist for a slam dunk by Metropolis. Power Plant burns Megabins (70-66): In a close mid-day victory, Torontonians made it know that they prefer air pollution to visual pollution, and would rather have a clean streetscape than clean air. Zany! Islands silence the Docks (105-35): Residents of Ward Island grabbed points early in the game by distracting the Docks with noise complaints. Reggaeton nights get put on the bench in the second half. Today's matches, Region II, 1st Round:

Bohemian Embassy vs. West Side Lofts
Condo Boom vs. Suburb Growth
416 vs. 905
Queen East vs. Queen West
Yonge Street vs. Porn Shops
Anagram Map vs. TTC's Website
Zombie Walks vs. Miller's Hair
AGO Façade vs. ROM Crystal