news
Newsstand: October 15, 2009
Say, what would you do with a free domain name from none other than Raptors’ power forward Chris Bosh? Okay, you probably aren’t on the list of Bosh’s beneficiaries, but here it is just in case you want to check [PDF]. If you are among the roughly eight-hundred athletes and celebrities whose names Bosh just rescued from internet infamy at the hands of cybersquatters, you’ll probably want to start by scrubbing out all the tacky ads and XXX links. Then again, if Bryan Colangelo or Scarlett Johansson can’t find a more profitable use for their new domain names, we hear that marketing cheap Cialis online (no Rx needed!) is a reliable way to make a living.
Two classy gentlemen have been charged with illegally obtaining toys stolen from a children’s charity (many of them having actually been donated by police officers) and selling them for five dollars a piece. The toys disappeared from a Toys for Tots trailer stolen from a parking lot on September 26, a theft the pair was not accused of committing. And who knows? Maybe a few of the playthings ended up in the hands of the underpriviledged children for whom they were meant, although at a significant markup. Think of the whole thing as a stimulus project, whereby the enterprising suspects turned a bunch of worthless charity into 715 bucks of pure profit. And they would’ve got away with it, too, if no one cared about those meddling kids!
At three downtown high schools, a pilot tech project will see fancy digital screens installed in hallways to beam out school announcements, public information, and maybe messages from the sponsors. The plan has the support of the Toronto District School Board’s chair, John Campbell, who stressed that it will not initially involve corporate advertising, although the proposal itself notes such ads “could be considered as a potential future source of revenue.” Campbell defended the plan, but allowed that there was “a bit of concern on the part of some that this will be a slippery slope and will lead to commercial advertising.” That “some,” incidentally, includes Bruce Davis, head of the TDSB’s own Administration, Finance, and Accountability Committee, who slammed the idea back in September. “The only reason companies would respond [to donate technology for the pilot] is that it’s a foot in the door,” he said. But though trustees hotly debated the proposal, they have little say in whether or not it moves forward, because the digital screens are to be donated by yet-unnamed companies, making the trustees’ approval unnecessary.
Back in our high school days, when a bomb threat, chemical spill, or intruder prompted teachers to clear all students out of the hallways and make everybody sit tight in classrooms wondering just what was going on out there, they called it a lockdown. But in these PC times, it seems that word no longer applies to just any security situation. Accordingly, the TDSB has decided that, from now on, schools should only trot out the spine-tingling term when there’s a very serious risk of harm. The change might make school disruptions a bit less exciting, but it will definitely make for more reliable statistics. The school board’s formerly permissive view of the word led to 101 incidents being recorded as “lockdowns” last year. The change, presumably, will lead to more meaningful measures of school safety.
What’s wrong with Toronto joining the federal and provincial governments in giving eligible homeowners cash incentives to upgrade their insulation and reduce their energy footprint? Well, it may sound fair at first, but the plan to mail out rebate checks for improving ceilings ($200), walls ($500) and foundations ($300), is taking heat from those who think that tax is theft and global warming is fraud.
Finally, Adam Giambrone is opening up about the possibility that he might run for mayor to replace David Miller. Now that Miller’s campaign only exists in the pages of Toronto Life’s November issue (which we looked into yesterday), it’s interesting to watch which of the mayors’ allies are thinking about stepping up. If Giambrone, chairperson of the Toronto Transit Commission, does run, we’re guessing he’ll want to play down Toronto’s awful history of transit hikes and blaming Metropass users for the TTC’s budget problems.