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Entries Tagged as 'Canada'

Keeping Apple honest

July 21st, 2010 · View Comments · Around the World, Currently, Media Matters, Pop Culture

NEW YORK TIMES media columnist David Carr had an interesting piece in last Sunday’s paper looking at the role Consumer Reports played in the iPhone4-reception debacle. The magazine said it can’t recommend the phone because of issues with the antenna, which wraps around the outside of the device. If the phone is held a certain way, dropped [...]

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Happy “Canada Day”

July 1st, 2010 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada, Pop Culture, Toronto

I SPOTTED this sign last night as I was out “shopping”… Here in Ontario, beer and liquor stores are government-controlled. That means they’re closed on holidays, every last one of ‘em. It’s a stupid system, and as with so many other services in this country, there’s no real alternative. If you want a cold one [...]

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Sexymoto: January 2008 – June 2010

June 22nd, 2010 · View Comments · Crossing Canada, Currently, Toronto

SEXYMOTO IS no mo. My first-ever new car was involved in a pretty brutal accident a couple of weeks ago. Don’t feel like getting into too much detail here. Suffice it to say it was pretty rough, it wasn’t my fault (100 per cent not my fault, according to my insurance company) and no one was hurt too badly. [...]

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A ‘G’-gantic waste

June 7th, 2010 · View Comments · Around the World, Currently, Oh Canada, Toronto

ON MONDAY Toronto began the erection (tee hee) of security fencing for the upcoming G20 summit. Lockdown time is drawing nigh, and the city can start looking forward to having a sizable portion of the downtown core sealed off — and to coping with the traffic restrictions and road closures that will screw over residents and businesses in the affected areas. Suppose it’s pointless to wonder why [...]

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France’s freaky first lady

May 25th, 2010 · View Comments · Around the World, Celebrity Scandal, Currently, Pop Culture, Weird and wacky

YOU CAN’T HELP but be intrigued by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, France’s freaky first lady. At the moment she’s in deep caca, if you will, over the re-emergence of a video clip of her from 1996 – long before she was Mrs. Sarkozy – in which she reads from the “Hot International Love and Sex Guide,” apparently a [...]

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Ukraine: How egg-citing

April 28th, 2010 · View Comments · Around the World, Currently, Weird and wacky

AND HERE I thought American politics had reached a partisan boiling point. On Tuesday, just before the Ukraine parliament approved an agreement to allow the Russian Navy to remain in the port of Sevastopol until 2042, opposition legislators began tossing eggs in protest and then smoke bombs were set off. Things got so eggy in there that the speaker had to be shielded [...]

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When the lights go down in the city

March 29th, 2010 · View Comments · Around the World, Currently, Media Matters, Oh Canada, Toronto

THE BOSTON GLOBE has a nifty Earth Hour 2010 feature on its Big Picture blog. (The blog itself is pretty darn cool on any given day, BTW, always worth checking out.) Toronto got knocked a bit in the local press for not turning its lights down all that much during Earth Hour; the local hydro [...]

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O Canada, get over it

March 5th, 2010 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada, Pop Culture

JUST WHEN YOU thought there was nothing left for people to get uptight about, along comes a real gem to file under “Political correctness gone ridiculously wrong.” In Wednesday’s throne speech, Canada’s government said it would be looking into a proposal to change the lyrics of the national anthem. “Our Government will … ask Parliament to examine the original [...]

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Canada’s big moment

March 1st, 2010 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada, Sporting Life

WORST OLYMPICS EVER, EH? Well how do you like us now, you tea-sucking hacks? Sure the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games had its share of mishaps / challenges / tragedies – capped off by a closing ceremony that was embarrassing at points; giant inflatable beavers… really? – but man, events-wise, what a spectacular finish. Sid the Kid [...]

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The game plan for the weekend

February 26th, 2010 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada, Sporting Life

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Stephen Harper's extra-long snow day

January 6th, 2010 · View Comments · Around the World, Currently, Media Matters, Oh Canada

IT’S HARD TO get all that excited about Canadian politics, even during an election.  Whether it’s because nothing genuinely thrilling ever happens in Ottawa – compared to Washington or London, at least – or it’s simply that Canadians are apathetic about how our country is run, the fact is no one seems to care all [...]

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The agony of Leafs Nation

December 19th, 2009 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada, Sporting Life

NOTHING ENCAPSULATES how badly things have been going for the Toronto Maple Leafs – and their legion of masochistically loyal fans – quite like this awful goal from last night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. As the video shows, this is the same hapless (hopeless? useless?) goaltender, Vesa Toskala, who in a game against the [...]

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Refreshing our memory

November 11th, 2009 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada

NOVEMBER 11 IS Remembrance Day in Canada and a host of other nations. It marks the day in 1918 that World War 1 formally ended with the signing of the armistice. When I was in school, every Nov. 11 we would gather for an assembly and observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. Usually someone would read the [...]

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Reign over us

November 3rd, 2009 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada, Pop Culture

THIS WEEK’S visit to Canada by Prince Charles and Lady Camilla has renewed an age-old debate about whether Canada’s constitutional monarchy should be replaced by an elected head of state. A former British colony, Canada still retains a significant connection to the Crown, right down to having the Queen E. on our currency. (The governor-general [...]

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X-ray-ted at the airport

October 30th, 2009 · View Comments · Currently, Oh Canada

CANADA’S PRIVACY commissioner has just given the OK to airport scanners that enable security officers to see through the clothes of travelers. Ostensibly, this scanner will show if people are packing explosives or any other weapons that might slip through a conventional metal detector. Officers will view this three-dimensional image in a separate room, and won’t actually [...]

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