Archive for the ‘ Pictures ’ Category

Somewhere to rest your head

Posted on November 25th, 2011 Comments Off on Somewhere to rest your head

Somewhere near Gerrard and Pembroke.

Filed under: Patrick Bay, Pictures

Sugar delivery

Posted on October 27th, 2011 Comments Off on Sugar delivery
sugar, ship, sugar beach, corus quay, redpath, night, toronto, city, life, blog

Offloading sugar at the Redpath refinery, Sugar Beach, Corus Quay

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Lightning strikes

Posted on October 26th, 2011 Comments Off on Lightning strikes
lightning, art, corus quay, decoration, toronto, city, life, blog

Lightning bolt art at Corus Quay

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Thanks, Jack (part 2)

Posted on August 27th, 2011 Comments Off on Thanks, Jack (part 2)

Jack Layton, former Toronto Councillor and deputy mayor (and most recently leader of the NDP), lying in state at City Hall on Friday night was surrounded by an outpouring of support.

… Continue Reading

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Thanks, Jack (part 1)

Posted on August 27th, 2011 2 Comments

Sarah and I went to see Jack Layton on Friday evening as he lay in state at City Hall. The outpouring of support was impressive.

jack layton, memorial, city hall, nathan phillips square, toronto, city, life, blog

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Oakley and the compassionate tat

Posted on August 26th, 2011 1 Comment

So there’s this guy I’ve been chatting with on Twitter over the last couple of days named Troy Oakley (@OakleyInc) who convinced me that maybe, just maybe, not all conservatives are heartless jerks.

Okay, so it might seem like I’m name dropping here — Troy did after all manage to land country-wide headlines today over this little bit of body art:

tattoo, troy oakley, jack layton, toronto, city, life, blog

…but that’s not the case. You see, our discussion started around the awful direction that the conservatives seem to be heading in in this country. Everyone from Rob Ford to Steven Harper come across as callous axe-wielding maniacs bent on destroying every vestige of humanity in this great country.

Then, almost as if by magic, Troy stepped out of the Twitterverse and agreed with me, all the while claiming he was also a conservative. He even admired the recently departed Jack Layton of the NDP party (the mainstream Commies of the Canadian political spectrum) — someone almost anathema to the Progressive Conservatives.

I was, like, come again?

Yup, seems like you can still believe in not wasting money, being responsible, and all that other stuff without being a bloodthirsty bureaucrat. In fact, the final words Layton wrote as he was on his deathbed resonated with Troy so much that he had them tattooed on his arm. And I gotta say, despite being generally averse to marking up my own flesh, this is something I could never fault anyone for etching on their skin. Beats the hell out of meaningless Chinese symbols or fancy geometric patterns.

And holy fuck if it doesn’t give me hope for the future.

If you happen to be around tonight, tune in to Newstalk 1010 at around 9:45 to hear an interview with Troy, or just pick up a paper tomorrow and read about how the world may not quite be ready to go to hell in a hand basket just yet.

Filed under: Contributed, Patrick Bay, Pictures

To straddle and protect

Posted on August 16th, 2011 1 Comment

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Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Toronto coppers go social

Posted on July 27th, 2011 Comments Off on Toronto coppers go social

The Toronto Police Service launched their social media initiative this afternoon with a live presentation from Deputy Chief Peter Sloly.

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In a nutshell, they’ve put  / will put a few services online that were traditional in-person — background checks and such — but mostly the announcement was about the TPS’ now-official use of social media like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Chief Bill Blair was a bit more detailed:

Despite having more people on the force with Twitter accounts that you can follow, the police are still saying that you have to call 911 for emergencies or get a hold of a specific division if you have less serious stuff to talk about, but this will allow you to follow what cops are doing on the streets as well as giving you a more direct channel for general questions. I’ve chatted with a few of them via Twitter over the past year and they definitely are approachable (and they respond!), so that could work out real well in the community relations department.

The only concern I’d toss out there is in seeing these new channels become saturated and eventually becoming stagnant as responding to everything becomes impossible (you can see this with very popular Twitter accounts). Guess only time will show how prepared the TPS is for this possibility.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures, Videos

Ace of Chase

Posted on July 22nd, 2011 3 Comments

Until a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know that the Mitsubishi City Chase even existed. Apparently, though, it’s a pretty popular event.

city chase, race, mitsubishi, yonge-dundas square, toronto, city, life, blog … Continue Reading

Filed under: B Sides, Patrick Bay, Pictures

When it’s hot…

Posted on July 20th, 2011 2 Comments

…a stroll through Chinatown East (Gerrard and Broadview) is a workout. The breeze up from Riverdale Park East (the big panorama below) is usually refreshing except, of course, when it’s like a blast from a hot oven.

Whew! Too damn hot to type any more.

summer, heat, haze, panorama, hdr, toronto, city, life, blogchinatown, musician, summer, heat, haze, panorama, hdr, toronto, city, life, blog

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures