Another Stolen Bike

My bicycle was (again!) stolen while parked on a City of Toronto property. It (had previously) survived previous thefts and recoveries and it's a story worth telling.

Oscars 2021

The current crop of Oscars contenders is a bit depressing, but that's not a reason to avoid them.

Oscars 2020

I managed to watch almost all the Oscars 2020 (i.e., 2019 movies) nominees, and I am sharing my thoughts on them as well as how to watch the ceremonies.

Best TIFF 2019 movies and a TV show

This year we have a change of guard, but personally, I have stopped paying as much attention as I used to as the Festival is continuing its march to commercialism. For many Torontonians, a more relevant and authentic moment of triumph was Bianca Andreescu’s win over Serena Williams at the US Open, even though she is from Mississauga.

posting photos and videos without permission

A while back, I was contacted by a friend of mine from another country asking for my help regarding a former (or existing? can’t remember) colleague who had created a page on Facebook titled “the incompetent ~”, where ~ was her real name, and also using her photo. She had filed a request with Facebook to have it removed, but Facebook refused, citing free speech rights that did not exist in that country’s legislation. More recently, here in Canada, a friend of mine told me a story of similar blackmail and I decided to take a more serious look at what can you post and cannot post.

Best Toronto City Swimming Pools

I used to go to Alexandra Park outdoor swimming pool (pictured below) every summer, starting with Canada Day weekend, when they open, and until the Labor Day weekend, when they close. There was also the occasional heat wave when outdoor swimming pools would be open at night. That won’t be happening this year, as there’s a different “heat warning” policy and my favorite swimming pool is closed, leaving me searching for another one.

Justice in Toronto 1: quick LTB evictions and Ontario standard lease

There has been a lot of talk about “access to justice” (or a2j), the SRL crisis and corruption / underperformance in Canadian courts. While increasingly case law can be found on CANLII, what is often missing is details, and for obvious reasons: getting the details wrong may result in libel lawsuits. However, we believe that making non-identifying details public - i.e., the “story” - can help shed some light on how the litigation industry works (or doesn’t) in our city.