Hints:

1. It is a small Canadian city.

2. It is in Ontario.

Safer Streets or Big Brother?

Over the past year, the Toronto Police Services has installed numerous cameras along Yonge Street and elsewhere in the city. These cameras monitor our public spaces 24/7. Is there a problem with this? Are we concered that our public spaces are no longer as open as they used to be? Or are cameras nothing to worry about from a public space standpoint?

This week we are planning to start answering these questions. The kickoff meeting of the Cameras in Public Sapces Campaign is this Thusday, November 30th at 6pm in Metro Hall, Room 313.

If you are at all intersted or concerned about the growing number of police and government cameras in public spaces, come out to meeting. We will be discussing this growing issue, and what, if any, our reaction should be to it.Please bring with you any information you may have regarding the state of cameras in the city. Where you've seen them, and how/why they're used in that space. Are they monitored or recorded? Setup for sepcial events or running 24/7?

For more information, or to leave your comments if you can't attend, please contact Daniel Quinn at dan@publicspace.ca

Metro Hall is located at King and John. The nearest subway station is St. Andrew. It is easily accessible via the PATH system from the station or via the King streetcar.

Wallpaper

GUESS WHO?

Broadway, NY, NY, USA

Name the highlighted street.

Hints:

1. It is in a major North American City.

1951 - The Broadway play Gigi opens with a then unknown actress by the name of Audrey Hepburn in the title role.

Happy Birthday Brian

GUESS WHO?

GUESS WHO?

Hints:

1. Island(s).

On This Daye...

• 1617 Quebec Quebec - Anne Hébert marries Étienne Jonquet; first marriage on record in the colony.


• 1904 St Louis, Missouri - Third Olympic games close. Canada did not send an official team, but Canadians bring back four golds, in golf (George Lyon), lacrosse (Winnipeg Shamrocks), soccer and the 56 lb. weight throw (Etienne Desmarteau).


• 1962 Nashville Tennessee - Nova Scotia's Hank Snow has a #1 country music hit single with 'I've Been Everywhere'.


• 1995 Ottawa Ontario - Jean Chretien unveils federal unity plan; Prime Minister suggests distinct society thrust


• 1988 Edmonton Alberta - Oiler Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th career NHL goal.
• 1965 My brother, Brian was born. Happy Birthday!

History Lesson...

• 1993 - Toronto Ontario - Justice Horace Krever starts his public hearings into Canada's blood supply, and the AIDS tainted blood and blood products given to Canadians in the 1980's, before the Canadian Red Cross began testing for HIV.
• 1963 - Toronto Ontario - John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination leads to closing of Toronto Stock Exchange in mid session for first time.
• 1943 - England - RAF and RCAF crews start air bombing of Berlin.
• 1594 - London England - Martin Frobisher dies; Arctic explorer, discoverer of Frobisher Bay for England.
• 1957 - Cornwall Ontario - First ship passes through Iroquois Lock, first lock of new St. Lawrence Seaway.

Iroquois Lock on the St. Lawrence Seaway, Cornwall, ON

1957 Cornwall Ontario - First ship passes through Iroquois Lock, first lock of new St. Lawrence Seaway.
Hints:

1. This place is in Canada.

2. It is in the Eastern half of the country.

South Fork Ranch & Convention Centre, Plano, TX

Hints:

1. The Place is in North America

1980 - Who Shot JR? - The Dallas Episode "Who Done It?" aired on US television today. It was one of the highest-rated episodes of a TV show ever aired.

Odescalchi Castle, Italy

Today we are looking for the name of the building. I think this one is pretty easy so the only hints are that the place is not in Scandinavia or Antarctica. Good Luck!

Here is a better picture of the castle:

St. Vincent de Paul Hospital, Brockville, ON

For todays POTD I am looking for the name of a building or site, not the town/city. Sorry the Google Earth image for this area is not all in high resolution so it made it difficult to zoom in on the actual site, as I normally would have done.

HINTS:
1. The POTD is part of a larger post today, so you can most likely deduce that the POTD is related to the theme of the rest of the post
2. It is in Canada
3. Today is my birthday. (Gifts are nice, but a smile and a hundred dollar bill is even nicer).

All you ever wanted to know about the song, and so much more!

Today is my birthday (just in case you didn't already know), along with these other fabulous people;

9 - Vespasian, Roman Emperor (d. 79)
1502 - Atahualpa, last emperor of the Inca (d. 1533)
1905 - Queen Astrid of the Belgians (d. 1935)
1925 - Rock Hudson, American actor (d. 1985)
1938 - Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer
1942 - Martin Scorsese, American film director
1943 - Lauren Hutton, American actress
1944 - Danny DeVito, American actor
1944 - Lorne Michaels, Canadian producer
1951 - Dean Paul Martin, American singer and actor (d. 1987)
1954 - Mark Brandon Read, Australian criminal
1960 - RuPaul, American drag entertainer
1968 - Amber Michaels, German porn actress

Warsaw Ghetto, Poland

HINTS:
1. On November 16, 19__ a significant event happend in this place and the people who lived here.
2. It is in Eastern Europe.
3. I am specifically looking for the name of the area shown, not necessarily the name of the town/city.

Soo Wong, Miller Win!

...and in Ward 20 its Soo Wong!

Andrew

San Quentin Prison, CA, USA

HINTS

1. It is in the United States.

On this day Scott Peterson was found guilty of murdering his wife Lacy and their unborn child Connor. Peterson, who was later sentenced to death now resides in San Quentin Prison.

On This Day- 1838

Prescott Ontario - Republican Colonel Nils von Schoultz leads 200 Canadian exiles and US sympathizers in an attack against Prescott; fights the four-day Battle of the Windmill against British regulars and the local Canadian militia. Von Schoultz, a Finn, runs his schooner Charlotte aground below Prescott, and takes up position in a 6-storey stone windmill and several stone houses nearby; Canadians send a small vessel, the Experiment, to cut Schoultz off from the US, while 700 militia start arriving from the surrounding counties and a force of 70 British marines comes downriver by steamer from Kingston; the militia drive the Hunters from the houses into the windmill the following day; on the 14th Col Henry Dundas arrives with 4 companies of the 83rd Regiment, 2 eighteen-pounders and a howitzer; the rebels surrender on the 16th.

Canada's National War Memorial

'The Farm'

Don't even bother Paul, you don't know this one. -Mark

If I don't see someone from home guess at this I am going to be pissed off!

Click 'comment' below to enter your guess.

HINTS:
1. This place is in Eastern Ontario.

THE WORLDS BIGGEST BOOKSTORE ~ EDWARD ST. TORONTO

Opened on November 5, 1980

Hints: It is located in one of the three largest cities in Canada. It has been around for about 26 years. Its the POTD on this site.

Civilian Deaths Reach New Milestone

You may have seen the box near the bottom of this page which displays the number of civilian deaths since the Iraqi invasion began. It is supplied by the site Iraqbodycount.org

There are actually two sets of numbers, a low and a high. Deaths are confirmed by reliable sources whenever possible, and a list of the dead and how they died is available at the site. I believe these numbers to be accurate or I wouldn't post them.

The high number has now passed the 50,000 mark. Even if the numbers are wrong, as some people will surely claim. How many civilian lives are too many? Innocent women and children are always the ones who suffer the hardship of 'war' the most. Please don't forget that the United Nations was created for a reason, and this invasion was not, and still is NOT sanctioned by the United Nations.

Iraq may have had a terrible dictator in Saddam Hussein, on that, I think we can all agree. The real question now is: Do Iraqi's have a better quality of life now than prior to this invasion?

I think the majority do not. The country is essentially in the midst of a civil war at this point with the U.S. and the UK (and their invasion allies) stuck in the middle.

It is in the interest of all mankind to support the UN and what it stands for and make the UN an organization that has some muscle in the world. I don't know how that happens, but I do know that I have never supported this invasion and still don't. I'm proud that Canada has not taken part in Iraq, and I am proud that we are taking part in Afganistan and making a difference there.

It is time for a plan with the United Nations so the Iraqi people can have their country back. A withdrawl could take place over several months, with UN officials immediately taking over administration along with the Iraqi government (to ensure fairness amongst the various Iraqi stakeholders) until the Iraqi government can manage things themselves with a new democracy, or whatever form of government the Iraqi people create for themselves.

Dixie Chicks Doc Opens Nov 10th

In 2003 Natalie Maines, the lead vocalist for the country trio, Dixie Chicks made an off the cuff remark at a London, UK concert. She said "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." This comment came at a time when the United States and the UK were about to invade Iraq. This did not sit well with many in the American media, some Dixie Chicks fans, and politicians. Many felt that as the country was about to "go to war" it was inappropriate to publicly disparage the President.

A documentary called Shut Up & Sing covering the time period from the comment incident to their 2006 tour has been made and will be released on November 10. The movie was screened at the Toronto Film Festival in September of this year, and was the first documentary in 14 years to be screened at a gala presentation.

Click the play button below to view the trailer.

The group was on Oprah recently to promote the movie, their new album and tour. I was familiar with their new song, 'Not ready to make nice', which I really like, but I wasn't aware until the Oprah show that the song is essentially the Chicks response to the backlash against them, which included protests, the burning of their records and even a death threat. That threat, and a reference to a Mother telling her toddler daughter to call the Dixie Chicks "scum" (which can be seen in the movie) are part of the lyrics that make up the powerful climax of the song:

Not Ready To Make Nice
Words & Music by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson

I made by bed, and I sleep like a baby,

With no regrets and I don't mind saying,

It's a sad sad story

That a mother will teach her daughter

that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.

And how in the world

Can the words that I said

Send somebody so over the edge

That they'd write me a letter

Saying that I better shut up and sing

Or my life will be over

Quotes from Emily, Martie and Natalie about their new song from their official press website:

Emily [Robison]: We knew it was special because it was so autobiographical, and we had to get it right.

Martie [Maguire]: I realized I had suppressed a lot about the death threat. It all came flooding back in the process of writing this song, I think we all realized just how painful it had been for us.

Natalie [Maines]: This album was therapy. To write these songs allowed me to find peace with everything and move on."

I will see the movie when it comes out, and I will write my opinion about it here. It should be interesting and entertaining, even though some have said it is simply a ploy by the artists to increase their sales and try to win back fans. That may be so, but, America is supposedly a free country, and if at the same time the group is educating Americans to be a bit more tolerant and accepting of the rights they so proudly brag about all the time, then it can't be all bad.

Related:
MSNBC
CNN Story November 24, 2003
New York Times Article on Barbara Koppel
SAWF

Feeling Better On Saturday

Its Saturday afternoon and for the first time this week I am feeling a little better, finally. I can't recall the last time I slept so much or spent so much time just laying around, but it seems to have worked and this cold is passing. Now I've got a ton of work that needs to be done around here and I will try to get to some of it today.

David bought the new live Pet Shop Boys CD, 'Concrete'. We just finished listening to it. There aren't any new songs on it, but there are new versions of some of their older stuff and a few from their newest CD 'Fundamental'. I guess that gets crossed off of his birthday/Christmas gift list!

Last night we watched one of the latest DVD's in my Nicole Kidman collection, Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' which also stars Nicoles ex-husband, Tom Cruise. I had never seen this movie until last night, and I would have to describe it as unusual and even bizarre, but interesting.

You may have noticed something new here. On the left side of the page, down below the word of the Daye is something called 'match-up'. You click on a word in the left column and try to match it with its definition in the right column. I've been doing these for awhile now, and they are usually quite challenging, so I thought I would share it with you here. I hope you like it.

One other thing; If you would like to guess the Place of The Daye, just click onn the 'comment' icon below the post to enter your guess.

Click on 'comments' below the picture to enter your guess.

Please don't email me as I automatically receive your comment via email.

Thanks for stopping by and Good Luck!POTD: November 4, 2006

HINTS:

1. It is a church.

2. It is in Quebec

3. 1673 is the year, and today is the day.

My Sick Week

This blog originally started as a spin-off of a regular email that I would send out entitled "Word of the Daye", I decided that I wanted to create a blog, partly because I wanted to write more, and I thought this would encourage me to do that. This has not really happened, as the blog has been mainly links to news items etc. with the occasional item of personal note. Since I would like to change this I am attempting to write more in my own words, beginning now.
This week has been very quiet. I have been sick with a head and chest cold and finally today I am starting to feel a little better.
Last night David and I went to St. Barnabas United Church on the Danforth to hear Author Bill Bryson read from his new book, 'The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a memoir' followed by a question and answer session. Mr. Bryson was quite entertaining and told a few stories from some of his books. I haven't read any of them, although I will be reading 'A Short History of Nearly Everything', which David brought with us and had the author sign.

This picture is a plaque that was on the wall. I was bored waiting for David to get his book signed so I took the picture here. Was the dead woman, Edith was married to her brother?

Drug Using Preacher

Ahhhhh.... the sweet, sweet smell of another hypocrite falling! Click the title for the story of the alleged queer drug using preacher. Another man of God to look up to!

Chalk River, Ontario, Canada

POTD for November 3, 2006

I am going to attempt to have more Canadian places as the POTD starting with this one. This is in Ontario, Canada. Name the town.

On this day in 1957 National Research Unit reactor starts operation at Chalk River; one of world's most advanced nuclear reactors.

Just a coincidence but yesterday's and todays POTD were both linked to events that happened in 1957.