I’ve already eaten all the good ones so now what am I supposed to do one do with all the leftover Christmas cookies?
Christmas trees too — done, pack ’em up and ship ’em out. It’s over. Next up, my birthday in which I get to keep all my cash … yay!
…sunsets by the lake are worth the frozen nipples.
…it’s good to be. Holla!
Compared to the northern trails I’ve been walking, Toronto isn’t so bad. But even so, there’s always that wind. It would whip around up at my folks’ place but here it howls; you round an innocuous corner and wham! Just like a ninja.
I’m in the process of digging through the collected post-holiday mountain of stuff so there won’t be much more to this post. But I sure would love to finish my top 10 posts of 2010 roundup for later today — we’ll see how good my ascension skills are.
…the great white north. And when I mean north, I mean, like, way the hell north. The north where rocks are extracted from big bouldery hills and where bodies are easy to dispose of.
This is not Toronto – a rarity, so don’t get used to it!
It is a sort of sub-alpine town (if the hills were only bigger), situated somewhere in that vast swath of land called Northern Ontario.
Getting my pre-holidays sickness out of the way (surprised if I wasn’t snotting up right now, to be honest), and not really into “Four Eyed Monsters” at the moment.
…what crime these three are accused of committing?
Hint: Others rounded up in the police sweep included a priest and a scout leader.
Here’s the answer: http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/903516–7-gta-men-arrested-in-international-child-porn-probe
And there you have it; stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason.
Nothing like a whack of indoor flakes to take your mind of the stuff outside, eh?
Haha!
Ah, but I kid. This is actually a serious problem for Toronto retailers. Last year we lost 12 people in an avalanche at the lower-level Starbucks…
It’s the WikiLeaks of Toronto!
Well, almost. Kinda. Not really. But still neat.
The Open Data (http://www.toronto.ca/open/), project recently announced that it was putting raw data sets online so you can check the veracity of City Hall’s statistics for yourself.
From my very quick and cursory looksee, it’s chockfull of the daily drudgery of running the city, so I don’t see it being turned into a movie anytime soon. But who knows what interesting factoids some dedicated analysis might turn up.
I should mention that this data appears to be a direct database dump, meaning it doesn’t come with any nice viewing / searching interface – it’s just raw data. There’s a brief explanation of all the possible formats here: http://www.toronto.ca/open/glossary.htm
Some of it is XML-formatted which means you can open it with anything that edits basic text (Microsoft Word, OpenOffice Writer, Windows Notepad, Mac TextEdit, etc.), as well as most modern web browsers (just drag the XML file into an open browser window). Also, you should be able to import XML data into spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc which should make it easier to read.
However, despite looking complex, XML data (especially the Open Data ones), is actually pretty simple to understand in its raw state.
The Open Data site also offers alternate data sets like JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), and CSV (Comma-Separated Values) – it’s the same information that should be in the XML files, just in a denser and less human-friendly format.
I haven’t had much success with ESRI Shapefiles, a common informational map format found on the Open Data (and other sites), but I’m sure you can dig up something to view them if you’re determined.
Besides this, the site offers web services which are essentially the same data that’s available for download, but for web applications through a special URL like “http://map.toronto.ca/servlet/com.esri.wms.Esrimap?ServiceName=CityGeoSpatial”. Kinda fun for web developers, for building things like blog widgets, but not terribly useful if you’re just browsing.
Currently available for Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
Right around this time of year my nose turns into a permanently open tap and shall remain that way until late May or so. The only thing that helps is warm Miso soup and ample Wasabi-based abuse.
Simple sushi joints tend to be cheaper but … c’mon … sushi on frickin’ conveyor belts?! That’s worth an extra few bob. I’ve seen a fancier place where the sushi floats around on a man-made stream on top of little boats but I bet you’d pay plenty for that little bit of theater.
Toko on Yonge Street (near Isabella), has a dual conveyor belt winding all the way through the restaurant past booths and counter seats. I’ve never seen sushi running the whole length but I swore that one day I would. Bet it’s a sight to see.
Here’s a section of the conveyor as it re-directs plates onto the return belt. Crappy cell phone video but, alas, I was too busy stuffing Salmon into my face to operate anything fancier.
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