Author: Bill

The ribbon cutting was just last weekend. The little snow piles are Zamboni scrapings. That’s all the snow we’ve got on the ground. It was a surprisingly warmish, pleasant day here in Toronto.

In a word, it’s puny.
I laughed in understanding when I read a reviewer’s remark that the Mini camera still has a measly 5 megapixels, “disappointing the dozens of people who enjoy tablet photography”.

When the light is strong results are much better…

This is a detail of one of the pillars in the Museum TTC Station. Also represented are the arts of ancient Egypt, classical Greece, China and aboriginal North America (Turtle Island).

As the sunset shot below shows, the iPad Mini camera has trouble with bright light situations, flattening out areas of interest very destructively. It’s range is very limited… good enough for reference shots or ephemeral trivia, but no substitute for a real camera.

This sky was full of character but shapes and shadows of the clouds have been completely washed out. To see what that sky really looked like, see these.

Now that the leaves are finally down, I see that one of the Normandy Boulevard oak trees has circled its branches into a nice, round “O”. Or maybe its nothing.

Danica is coming home with more than she contributed, which is the general idea in these fundraisers, I think. She baked a delicious loaf of pumpkin bread with chocolate and nuts, then bought a wide array of goodies made by Beach Hill neighbours. Of course I have sampled and I’m honestly shocked at how good everything is.
A bit of drizzle did nothing to dampen the turnout. I won’t be surprised to hear that more was raised than last year. The money goes to pay for improvements along our little commercial strip… flowers around the trees, benches on the sidewalks, paint spruce-ups and supplies for volunteers who build things like the new bulletin board. People around here care and it shows.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, dear sister-in-law.

(Anna has always been skilled and clever at doctoring stock greeting cards and making them her own. With the arrival of e-cards, she had a whole new medium.) Thanks for the Facebook swipe, Anna.

Friend John Robert Colombo has left traces of his work all over the internet. Some of them existed even before there was an internet.

A couple more, under 2 minutes each…

It’s called the Google bubble, and you see different results in your bubble from those who are in a different bubble. This picture illustrates. All of the words are there in all cases, but the prominence of the words varies from bubble to bubble.

Many people don’t realize that their Google searches give different results from the results other people get when they enter exactly the same search terms. The first page of results has been tailored by things Google knows about you. Advertisers love this, of course, but it drives web site owners crazy. They waste big bucks trying to get top ranking. They think they have it… until they try searching for their company using a different computer. Suddenly, they find themselves buried away on page three.
If you don’t see what you’re after in the first page of Google search results, do dig deeper. There’s a lot more good stuff outside your bubble.
If you don’t like being tracked and profiled, but still like getting the power of Google’s search engines, use DuckDuckGo when you search. Your searches are not tracked and you’ve busted out of your bubble.

Danica and George admire the work of our Normandy neighbours. Designed by Richard and built by Nigel, a handsome new bulletin board stands at the main intersection of our Beach Hill commercial strip. The first poster announces a bake sale that Danica will contribute to this Sunday.
The street will look nice in the Spring… new sidewalks, more trees, spiffed up storefronts and loads of flowers. A lot of locals have contributed to a renewed sense of community around here, but a special shout out goes to our tireless “benevolent dictator”, Kate Tennier.

He loves her so much, he “wouldn’t trade her for go-o-o-ld”. If he did trade his lady for gold, he would be a pimp. But, no… his love is stronger than that. What a romantic!

This post comes via the new, free wifi at St. George Station on Bloor Street. I didn’t even have to enter the turn style to connect. The only inconveniece is a15 second video that users are required to run before they log in. Don’t have to watch it, though. 🙂

Wow! Look at that speed! 45 Mbps. And a couple of guys just asked me for directions to Simcoe Street. I was able to Google Map it for them. This could be handy. Let’s get more stations with wifi. So far, it’s only available at St. George and Yonge stations.