19 posts tagged “toronto”
My neighbour's house has a massive dent in the brick wall with cracks extending up to the second floor after a Jeep Grand Cherokee drove into it. Interestingly enough, there are no roads nearby from which the car crashed into the house.
Police, ambulance, firefighters, Toronto Hydro and at least 3 television channel reporters showed up to cover the story.
Apparently, the driver had accidentally floored the gas pedal when meaning to step on the brake causing the car to shoot out of the parking lot, over a field with an 8 metre dirt mound in the middle, through a chain link fence, a hedgerow and into the brick wall. My neighbour was in the kitchen at the time and her stove was rammed right across the room. She was sent to hospital for a bruised leg while the driver suffered minor injuries. Thankfully no one was more seriously injured.
My neighbour's family is now staying at my other neighbour's house due to the extend of the damage. I wonder how difficult it will be to repair the house, it may need to be torn down.
A propane depot blew up at around 4 A.M today near Wilson and Keele Ave. about 4 blocks from where I live, causing a massive fireball, knocking out power and causing an evacuation of 13,000 residents. Streets were closed off for several blocks surrounding the area all day. From what I could gather from rumours and the local news is that one person is still unaccounted for and a firefighter died during the operation (seemingly from natural causes since there was no evidence of trauma).
Check out the video that someone shot. Massive shockwave, explosion and mushroom cloud.
Photo and additional news coverage via CTV
The current TTC website is archaic, hard to navigate, not very informative, not web standard compliant, had poor JPG image compression (GIF or PNG anyone?), and otherwise an overall embarrassment. After almost a decade of being tossed around in limbo (How can they not "believe" in the Internet?), it's finally going through a redesign with input from the public and Toronto bloggers.
The new site is a work in progress, but it's already a huge improvement in appearence and functionality. It also happily validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional! I think it still needs work, but compared to some other transit websites, it's definitely a good start. Certainly prettier than most, though the London one isn't bad.
It's Bike Month and Toronto cyclists are kicking it off with a number of events for the two wheel inclined.
- The Toronto Cyclists Union launches this month, with the goal of "ensuring that cycling is a legitimate, accessible, and safe means of transportation." Now accepting memberships starting at $2 per month.
- The TTC is now equipping more buses with bike racks so you can hitch a ride back home if you get tired.
Saturday, May 24th
- The Green Toronto Festival at Yonge-Dundas Square will feature a performance by Chantal Kreviazuk and an attempt to break the world record for largest bicycle bell ensemble at noon.
Friday, May 30th
- Toronto launches its first official bike race in well over a decade with The Toronto Criterium at the St. Lawrence Market.
- The monthly Critical Mass event takes place on Bloor and Spadina at 6 PM blocking traffic for cyclist avocacy.
Sunday, June 1st
- The Heart and Stroke Foundation's Ride for Heart event takes place across Toronto, from the CNE, down the Gardiner Expressway, up the Don Valley Parkway and back all with a goal of raising $3 million. I'll be taking part again this year, so feel free to make a donation.
Friday, June 13th to Monday June 16th
- Toronto hosts the 16th Annual Cycle Messenger World Championships, for bike polo, various fixie events, and a 3-hour race circuit.
Saturday, June 14th
- You won't catch me at the World Naked Bicycle Ride (NSFW), but you can participate if you're not timid.
Nine Inch Nails is touring North America and will be visiting Toronto at the Air Canada Center on August 5th, 2008. Advanced tickets will be on sale soon (around $45 $75) and I'll probably see if I can snag a couple... Dammit, completely sold out in 15 minutes while I was trying to make up my mind which seats I wanted! So close!
More awesome NIN news, Trent Reznor has released a brand new album, The Slip as a completely free, creative commons license work. You can download the album for free and encouraged to share and remix it to your hearts content. CD and vinyl versions to come in July.
It's amazing to see all these albums coming out within such a short timespan, I suspect he has a backlog of stuff that he's been hording, keeping them away from the record companies and releasing them all now that he's a free agent.
Queen Street West is Toronto's hub for the arts, entertainment, music, and fashion districts, full of shops, restaurants and cafes. It's part of Toronto's heritage with century old buildings and has served as a major tourist area. This morning at around 5:00, a major fire broke out at Queen West and Bathurst, laying waste to a block of buildings.
Over 150 firefighters converged on the scene, dousing the area which quickly froze into beautiful draping icicles juxtaposed to the blackened skeleton of the buildings. Several businesses and residents are completely gutted including Duke's Cycle which has been in business at the location since 1914. I'm a frequent visitor to Duke's having purchased my cycling shoes, tires, clothes, helmet and repair services. I was window shopping there just a couple of weeks ago ready to check out their new spring inventory.
Thankfully, there were no serious injuries as a result of the fire, however many residents in the area have lost all their possessions. The Torontoist has coverage on the details along with oddly beautiful photos, and a video from the Toronto Star.
It's been up for several days and I suppose the Hudson's Bay Company has really bad tech support, probably outsourced to IBM (rolls eyes).
I climbed the CN Tower on Sunday as part of a fundraiser for the United Way.
1,776 steps in 144 flights (that's a lie, because after they punch your finishing time, they make you climb another 10 flights or so before they let you actually finish), I completed it in 19 minutes, 9 seconds.
It wasn't as bad as I thought. My legs weren't tired, just a little stressing cardiovascular wise towards the end. I started off pretty fast, slowed down in the middle a bit since I wasn't sure how I was supposed to pace myself and then sprinted up the last 40 flights.
Tips: climb 2 steps at a time, using your arms to pull yourself up on the railings. Go early to avoid crowds. The hardest part is figuring out how to pace yourself for the best time without burning yourself out.
Maria signed me up for the CN Tower Climb for the United Way. I can't help but feel a little ill prepared since it's typical for me to be physically inactive this time of year. Everyone else seems to think that I will be able to scale it from the outside with nothing but a rope and harness. Actually, I haven't gone rock climbing or cycling in quite some time and I'm starting to feel it. Anyway, it's for a good cause and I guess I'm a glutton for punishment to let people talk me into signing up for these kinds of things.
The CN Tower has 144 flights totaling 1776 steps from ground level to observation deck which sits at 330 metres (1,082.7 ft). The fastest climb record of 07:52 was set in 1989 by Brendan Keenoy, an Ontario Provincial Police officer. Typically, it should take the average climber 20 minutes. I'm not going to make any promises on time.
The climb takes place on Sunday, October 21, 8:00 AM. I thought I would find an apartment building and climb the stairwells to prepare for it, but this chair is too darn comfy and I must be biologically preparing for winter hibernation. Nah, I'll wing it.
Wish me luck and drop off a pledge.
Edit: I've done some calculations and realized that I have rock climbed 240' (60' tower x4) on a continuous speed climb at the gym so that's equivalent to quarter of the way to the observation level of the CN Tower. I'm sure I can climb the equivalent height of the CN Tower in one sitting at the gym on a relatively easy 5.7-5.9. Sounds like a challenge!
In other news, I purchased a pair of Michelin Krylion Carbon tires and a F'iz:ik Arione Wing Flex saddle with Ti rails. Hopefully they will ship here before the actual event.
Heart and Stroke Facts: 40% of all Canadians will develop some form of heart disease or stroke over their lifetime and at 75,000 deaths in Canada each year, it is the leading cause of death.
