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Difference between revisions of "Toronto"
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. Toronto, with a population of 2.6 million, is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which contains 6.2 million people. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe region, which wraps around Lake Ontario from Toronto to Niagara Falls and totals over 8.5 million residents, approximately a quarter of Canada's entire population. Toronto is the fourth largest city and fifth largest urban agglomeration in North America.
Spawned out of post-glacial alluvial deposits and bluffs, the area was populated at different times by Iroquois and later Wyandot (Huron) peoples. The settlement by Europeans started with the French building a seldom occupied fort near today's Exhibition grounds in the mid-1700s, then grew out of a backwoods English trading post established as York in 1793 (reverting to the current name Toronto in 1834). Later in the 19th century, it grew to become the cultural and economic focus of Canada. Owing largely to the country's liberal immigration policies starting in the 1960s, and the region's strong economy, Toronto has, in recent decades, been transformed into one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in the world. More than 80 ethnic communities are represented, and over half of the city's residents were born outside Canada.
When Metropolitan Toronto amalgamated its six internal cities into one in 1998, it created a new "mega-city" known simply as Toronto, now made up of varied and unique neighbourhoods. Covering more than 600 square kilometres, Toronto stretches some 32 kilometres along the shores of Lake Ontario, and includes a dense, urban core surrounded by an inner ring of older suburbs followed by an outer ring of post-war suburbs. The city is laid out on a very straightforward grid pattern and streets rarely deviate from the grid, except in cases where topography interferes such as the indented, curved Don River Valley and to a lesser degree the Humber and Rouge valleys at opposite ends of the city. Some main thoroughfares do intersect the grid at angles. The six Toronto districts are:
In 1998, the cities of Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, and York and the Borough of East York amalgamated to form the current City of Toronto. This is also known as Metropolitan Toronto or "the 416" after its area code (although now there are some new area codes, the majority of landline phone numbers in the Toronto area are still "416"). The city has a population of over 2.6 million people, of which more than half were born outside Canada: a fact immediately obvious to any visitor, as the city has many vibrant bustling neighbourhoods with street signs in several languages.
Toronto and its surrounding suburbs are collectively known as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Outlying suburbs are also known as "the 905" after their area code, although technically this code is also used in both Hamilton and the Niagara Region, stretching to the border within Niagara Falls. The entire area including Toronto is known as the "Golden Horseshoe" and has a population of over 8 million people. Distances between cities in the area can be great as it sprawls along, outward and even wraps around the western end of Lake Ontario. Public transit is not always effective enough for a quick or seamless trip and many suburban residents rely on motor vehicles to get around.
A popular urban myth has it that the United Nations rated Toronto as "the most multicultural city in the world." While the UN and its agencies are not in the habit of rating cities, it remains a fact that Canada is a nation of immigrants, and Toronto demonstrates this abundantly. A UN agency lists Toronto as second only to Miami as the city with the most foreign-born residents, but Toronto's residents represent far more cultural and language groups, which is arguably a better measure of multi-culturalism. Most immigrants either pass through Toronto on their way to other parts of the country or stay in Toronto permanently. Many people born abroad consider themselves, and are considered, to be as Canadian as born Canadians, and behaving or asserting otherwise is considered offensive, especially so in Toronto. This contributes to the overall cultural mosaic that is Toronto today. Within Toronto, most ethnic groups will work their way into the fabric of Canadian society but some still retain their distinct ways such as language, dress (if only for special occasions), custom, and food.
As a result of this cultural mosaic, Toronto is home to many ethnic festivals throughout the year. Toronto also boasts several radio stations that broadcast in various languages and at least two multicultural television channels. The City of Toronto officially deals in 16 different languages, while the public transit agency Toronto Transit Commission offers a help line in 70 languages. Even large department stores such as The Bay in downtown Toronto proudly advertise service in nine languages. The lingua franca of Toronto, however, remains English.
Toronto's climate on the whole is on the cool side and variable conditions can be expected. Downtown temperatures average -3.8°C (25°F) in January, but the extreme cold experienced further north typically lasts less than a week at a time. Despite this, come prepared. Winters are still cold and mostly cloudy, at some times snowy and uncomfortably windy and at other times, damp. At times, severe storms can impact flights into and out of the city, as well as slow down transportation and activities in the city for a day or two.
The city experiences warm and humid summers with an average high of 27°C (80°F) and a low of 18°C (65°F) in July/August, with many muggy evenings, but rarely extreme heat. The historical annual average of the temperature exceeding 30°C (86°F) is 12 days, but this number has roughly doubled over the last decade. The sun shines more often than not in the summer, but brief thunderstorms occur from time to time, usually lasting less than an hour and bringing heavy rains.
The best times to visit for the weather are late spring/early summer or early fall, with comfortably cool nights and less crowds. Mid-summer is the peak tourist season, but visitors will find that Toronto's vibrancy extends throughout the winter with outdoor ice rinks and bundled up clubgoers. Air conditioning and heating are standard in Toronto's public buildings.
Visitor information
Sports teams & arenas
Toronto has several major league sports teams:
The Air Canada Centre, 40 Bay St, [34]. Sometimes referred to as "The Hangar".
The Rogers Centre, 1 Blue Jays Way, [35]). Often referred to by its original "SkyDome" name.
The Buffalo Bills, [36]. The National Football League are under contract to play one regular-season (home) game at the Rogers Centre through to the 2017 season. The contract also calls for one preseason home game in even-numbered years.
Get in
By plane
Toronto Pearson International Airport (IATA: YYZ) [37] is about 30-50 driving minutes by car from the downtown core (depending on traffic) and is serviced by most major international carriers. There are two terminals: Terminal 1 hosts all Air Canada flights and a few other international (mostly Star Alliance) carriers while Terminal 3 hosts all other airlines. When traveling from Toronto Pearson (and other major Canadian airports) to the United States, travelers will go through United States immigration and customs preclearance in Toronto, and should leave some extra time to account for this. Toronto Pearson has free WiFi internet access.
There is no direct passenger rail link from the airport ( under construction estimated completion date: early 2015) , but other options do exist for getting downtown from Pearson:
Billy Bishop Toronto City Centre Airport, (IATA: YTZ), [43], (commonly known as "The Island Airport" by locals), handles short-haul regional flights only. Its main tenant is Porter Airlines [44], a low-cost carrier that operates flights using turboprop planes to many cities in eastern Canada (Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and St. John's) and the northeast United States (Boston, Chicago, New York/Newark and Myrtle Beach). Air Canada [45] provides service to Montreal. One of the main benefits of flying into this airport is its proximity to the downtown core. Upon landing, you can be downtown within ten minutes.
A free ferry service makes the short crossing. It is just 121 m (397 ft) and the world's shortest regularly-scheduled ferry route. It operates between TCCA and the mainland every 15 minutes, 6:45AM-10:07PM. Once on the mainland, a free shuttle bus connects the terminal with the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, across the street from Union Station.
TTC Streetcars are available a short walk north from the mainland ferry terminal. Route 511 Bathurst provides service north along Bathurst, to Bathurst subway station. Route 509 Harbourfront travels east along the waterfront (Queen's Quay) to Union Station. Both routes end a short distance to the west at Exhibition Place. However, the most convenient connection to TTC Subway and GO Transit services are via the free shuttle to Union Station.
Hamilton International Airport, (IATA: YHM), [46], located about 80 km from downtown Toronto and Niagara Falls, is served by WestJet and CanJet. This airport is served by the ((Hamilton Street Railway)) from the the Hamilton GO Station (36 Hunter Street East) where you can catch a GO commuter bus to Union Station in downtown Toronto ($9.50 one-way). Buses run every 30 minutes. A taxi from downtown Hamilton to the airport is about $25.
For frugal travellers coming from the United States, Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, (IATA: BUF), [47], is another option. Flights to Buffalo tend to be significantly cheaper than to Pearson. Megabus, [48], has varying prices and requires early booking. They run from the Buffalo Airport to Toronto. The trip takes 3 hours, including the border crossing. Rental cars are available at the airport if you prefer to do the drive yourself. Buffalo Airport Limo [49] offers a flat rate of $175 to downtown Toronto from BUF.
By bus
Intercity bus
The main bus terminal in Toronto, the Toronto Coach Terminal (also known as Bay Street Terminal or the Metro Toronto Coach Terminal), is used for intercity coach travel and is served by Greyhound, Coach Canada, New York Trailways, and Ontario Northland.
The bus terminal's main entrance is on Bay Street immediately north of Dundas and the terminal's departures building takes up the northern half of the block bounded by Bay Street, Dundas Street, Edward Street, and Elizabeth Street; the arrivals building is located immediately across Elizabeth Street from the departures building. The departures building is connected by the underground PATH walkway system to Dundas subway station on the Yonge line via the Atrium on Bay shopping centre. The terminal is also several blocks east of St Patrick subway station on the University-Spadina line. Unlike Union Station, the bus terminal has lockers in which people may store luggage. The cost is $5 for 24 hours and you must get a token from one of the token machines located next to the lockers. The lockers are located in the hallway connecting the departures building with the arrivals building. Storing items in lockers overnight is not advisable as break-ins are common at night. Certain items too large to fit in a locker may be stored in the information booth at an extra cost.
The bus terminal in Toronto is very poorly designed, forcing passengers to queue in a space that is little more than a shed with walls on two sides, as a result passengers queueing are forced to inhale the diesel exhaust fumes from the coaches as well as endure the cold winters and hot summers. In addition, there are often queues so long for the commuter coaches that they block other coaches from reaching their platforms. Platforms are also poorly marked, and it is not difficult to queue up for the wrong bus. Do not hesitate to ask anyone for help. Most people in the terminal have plenty of experience with it and understand how difficult it is to navigate. Arrive at the terminal at least 30 minutes before your coach is scheduled to depart. You can avoid the hassle of having to purchase tickets at the terminal; it is generally faster to buy tickets online if possible. If you must purchase tickets at the terminal, be wary of peak travel periods, as the line can take up to 20 minutes. But be aware that Greyhound tickets purchased at the terminal can be used at any time (although they may have blackout periods) while tickets purchased online force you to reserve on a certain bus.
Coach Canada buses to Montreal and Greyhound buses to Peterborough and Ottawa also stop at the Scarborough Centre bus station to the east of central Toronto, this station lies on the Scarborough RT mass transit line. Greyhound buses to Kitchener, Guelph, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, and New York and Coach Canada buses to Buffalo and New York also stop near Union Station, either in front of the York Street entrance to the Royal York Hotel or on University Avenue north of Wellington Street. Two new, heavily-discounted services between Toronto and New York City now operate from the sidewalk in front of the Royal York Hotel, across the street from Union Station. Both advertise electrical connections at each seat, wi-fi, movies, and more legroom than traditional buses. If purchased far enough in advance, tickets can be found for $1 although in reality, most seats range from $15 to $50.
Commuter bus
GO Transit, [57], runs the commuter transit network in the Greater Toronto Area. Their bus services are designed to supplement their commuter trains, most of which run only during rush hour. When the trains are not running, GO runs buses on the same route. Most GO buses run to the Union Station Bus Terminal, adjacent to Union Railway Station. GO Transit also operates services to bus stations at several subway stations, including: Yorkdale Mall, Finch, York Mills and Scarborough Centre.
By train
All scheduled passenger trains in Toronto run into and out of Union Station [58], which is located at 65 Front Street, between Bay and York Streets. Opened in 1927, Toronto's Union Station is generally considered to be one of the grandest, most impressive train stations in North America; with an enormous great hall, the ceiling rising to a height equivalent to seven stories. Despite this impressive hall, most of the activity in the station takes place in the underground concourses which link the commuter rail platforms with the subway station. The great hall is still used for purchasing intercity rail tickets with a row of ticket booths and several ticket machines. The train station is served by a subway station with the same name, accessible from the GO concourse. The main intercity concourse is accessed from the great hall, but all commuter rail platforms are accessed from the underground GO Transit concourse, as is the Union Station Bus Terminal across the street. The GO Transit concourse is accessed by taking any one of the three large staircases in the great hall or directly from the subway.
Most intercity rail travel in Canada is provided by VIA Rail, [59]. Union Station is one of VIA Rail's main hubs and connects several of their lines. Railway lines operated by VIA Rail out of Union Station include:
Montreal 4hrs 37min
Ottawa 3hrs 57min
Winnipeg 34hrs
Saskatoon 46hrs
Edmonton 56hrs
Vancouver 83hrs
By car
Major highways leading into Toronto are the QEW, the 404, the 401, the 400, and the 427. Toronto is in the enviable position of being the largest city in Canada, so it's relatively easy to find a sign pointing you in the right direction. Be advised that traffic on incoming highways can be extremely heavy. In the downtown core there are many turn restrictions, particularly from main thoroughfares to other main thoroughfares (e.g. Yonge to Dundas Streets).
The main streets in Toronto are laid out in a grid pattern that makes it one of the easiest cities to get around in by car. Getting from point to point anywhere in the city can be achieved with only a few turns. Parking in the downtown core can be expensive and hard to find, but is plentiful and inexpensive or free throughout the rest of the city.
Transit bylaws
Toronto follows some bylaws related to the transit system that often confuse or surprise visiting drivers:
Additionally, drivers are advised that Torontonians generally take their obligation to give a wide berth to emergency vehicles quite seriously: if you hear sirens or see lights, pull over to the side of the road safely but quickly.
By ferry
The trip to the Toronto Islands from the downtown core (Bay St and Queen's Quay) is a pleasant 15 minute ferry ride, with frequent summer service and the best views of the Toronto skyline.
There are also guided sailing vessels that take tours of the inner/outer harbour and circumvent Toronto Island
Get around
Toronto is huge, and most roads run for very long distances. Streetcar rail, subway rail, and intercity rail services are clean and efficient but overcrowded, and it's entirely possible to get around Toronto without a car, especially downtown. You may find it quicker and easier to drive, but be aware that traffic congestion is severe at almost any time of day, especially during rush hour. Toronto has plentiful parking garages downtown, but they are very expensive.
Toronto has a very large transit system, the third most heavily used in North America (after New York City and Mexico City). It consists of buses, streetcars, subway lines, and the quasi-subway Scarborough Rapid Transit line. Buses and streetcars are prone to get caught in Toronto's notorious traffic during rush-hours, though some streetcar lines have dedicated lanes.
Toronto's long streetcar lines, coupled with more than a decade of service cuts, have resulted in chronic "bunching", where one might wait for thirty minutes at a stop, and then 4 streetcars will arrive bunched together. In contrast to this, the subway system is quite fast and efficient; the subway lines extend well into the suburbs and have spurred a great deal of high-density, high-rise development in far-flung neighbourhoods that would not otherwise have had any large-scale development. A prime example of this is the neighbourhood of North York, filled with high-rise development right on top of three subway stations. As a result, the subway is the easiest, fastest and most efficient way to get around the city.
Cash fare is $3.00 (discounted to $2.50 if you buy 5 or 10 tokens at a time). When using the subway, one can just pay $2.50 as booths sell tokens, anyway. Be aware that some token vending machines are out of service, but do not have signs on them to indicate that, otherwise making it safer to use manned ticket booths whenever possible.
A day pass is available for $10.50. This pass allows unlimited travel on all TTC services within the City of Toronto, except for Downtown Express buses. For one person, it allows unlimited one-day travel on any day of the week, from the mid-morning (9:30AM) until 5:30AM the next morning. On Saturday and Sunday, and statutory holidays, up to 6 people (maximum 2 adults over 19) can travel with one TTC Day Pass, from the start of daytime service until 5:30AM the next morning. The day pass does not have to be purchased on the day of use.
A weekly pass costs $37.50 a week. It allows unlimited travel from 5:30AM Monday morning, to 5:30AM the following Monday. The weekly pass is transferable, meaning it can be used by more than one person but only one person may be travelling under that pass at any given time.
A monthly pass, termed the Metropass, costs $126.00 per month. This pass is also transferable, with no pass-backs.
Tokens, daily, and weekly passes are available at subway stations, variety stores and newsstands throughout the city. Most businesses that sell passes and tokens have a TTC logo sticker on their front door.
Subway & RT
There are three subway lines and one "RT" line:
Other TTC services are provided by buses, streetcars, the Scarborough RT line, and Wheel-Trans vans (for people with disabilities). There are also a number of Downtown Express buses that run during rush hour, for which additional fare must be paid.
Toronto is one of the very few cities in North America (and the only city in Canada) to retain its streetcars.
Caution: When getting on and off streetcars, make sure that the traffic is stopped in the lane next to the streetcar. While drivers are required by law to stop behind open streetcar doors, some drivers don't. This does not apply when there is a safety island between you and the traffic lane(s). Also, be aware of pickpockets in crowded rush hour situations. Do not keep your belongings in outside pockets.
All but one (Route 99) of the TTC's bus and streetcar routes have a subway station somewhere on the loop, and while many routes will take you into the station and beyond the ticket barrier, some of them (especially downtown) will take you only to the outside of the station. In this case, you can enter the station by presenting a valid transfer. If you don't have one, you need to pay another cash fare.
Transfers are free, but should be obtained at the first vehicle or station you enter on your journey. If your journey starts on a bus or streetcar, ask for one as you pay your fare (simply saying "Transfer, please" to the operator will suffice). If you start at a subway station, look for a red machine just beyond the ticket booth with a digital time clock on its face. Press the gold button and collect your transfer.
A transfer may also be used to pass from a bus or streetcar to another bus or streetcar moving in a perpendicular direction - for example, from a northbound bus to an eastbound streetcar. But in doing so, make sure to transfer at the first intersection possible (i.e. do not get out at an intersection, walk east for a block, and transfer there).
Connecting public transit services
The areas that surround Toronto—Mississauga, Brampton, York Region, Durham Region, Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Hamilton—have their own transit systems. There are no free transfer privileges between the TTC and these other transit systems. To use both the TTC and another system, two fares must usually be paid (though see GTA Pass below). In many places, these networks do overlap, so you can transfer easily. Prices are similar to prices for the TTC. Generally bus services outside Toronto city limits are fairly infrequent, except for a few busy routes (e.g. Mississauga Transit route 1, 19, 26, Brampton 501, 502, 511 or Viva Blue, Purple).
A weekly GTA Pass (Greater Toronto Area Pass) is available for $54. It is valid on the TTC and the transit systems in Mississauga, Brampton, York Region, but not Durham Region or Halton Region. This pass is also transferable, although only one rider may use it at a time. If you are travelling through the fare-zone boundary in York Region with a GTA pass, you will have to pay an additional $1.
The regional transportation agency, 'Metrolinx', operates the PRESTO [63] farecard system which allow users to pay transit fares throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (with the exception of the TTC, where only select subway stations currently accept the card). Although fares and transfer rules are set individually by each transit operator, using the card generally provides a discount from the cash fare and discounted or free transfers between certain systems. Cards cost $6 and are not refundable, but visitors making significant use of GO Transit, or several GTA transit systems might find some cost savings and convenience over using cash or tickets.
GO Transit
A system of regional trains and buses, GO Transit [64], connects Toronto to its surrounding areas. The majority of these services, especially trains, are oriented to weekday commuters travelling to and from downtown Toronto. GO Transit charges fares by distance. Trains are large and comfortable, and the vast majority run only during rush hours. The main exception is on the Lakeshore Line between Aldershot and Oshawa, via Union Station, which runs every 30-60 minutes during off peak times. The GO bus network is much more extensive and fills in for trains in the off-peak hours, but beware that buses may get delayed due to traffic congestion. The vast majority of tourist destinations are reachable by TTC, although you might want to use the GO to get to the Zoo, or to the homes of family members or friends in the Greater Toronto Area.
Discounts on the fares for connecting transit services are available under certain conditions, if you are travelling to or from a GO Transit rail station. The GTA Pass is not valid on GO Transit.
NOTE: in many cases, a GO bus will not stop unless the passengers-to-be indicate waiting to be picked up, even if they are standing at a designated stop. Users must flag the bus down, usually just by raising their hand or ticket in the air as the bus approaches. That is because GO stops often share stops with other municipal transit systems.
Also, GO Trains operate on the Proof-of-Payment system; passengers must possess a valid ticket for the entire length of their journey before boarding a train. Tickets cannot be purchased on board, and there are no gates or staff before boarding to ensure you have a fare for a particular train. GO Transit enforcement officers conduct random inspections of tickets, issuing expensive fines to anyone without the correct fare. Enforcement officers have likely heard every possible excuse from passengers who regularly try to avoid paying a fare, and are often unforgiving of any (even legitimate) reason you might give. If using a Presto card on the GO bus or train, be sure to tap your Presto card both at the beginning and end of your trip.
Each GO train runs with a three-person crew. There are two engineers, who are responsible for operations, as well as the Customer Service Ambassador, who is responsible for passenger service (opening/closing doors, making station announcements, answering questions, dealing with emergencies, etc.) The CSA is stationed in the Accessibility car (the 5th car behind the locomotive), and introduces him/herself during his/her opening spiel. If you are unfamiliar with the system, it is recommended that you remain close to them.
Taxis are plentiful and safe, but not cheap. As with most big cities, driving a car downtown can be annoying; parking is often hard to find and expensive, and traffic along certain streets can make vehicle travel slower than mass transit. However, travelling longer distances, when not close to subway lines is often significantly faster by car or taxi.
By bicycle
Toronto is no longer trying very hard to become a bike-friendly city under mayor Rob Ford, with dedicated bike lanes being removed at a faster rate than they are put in. Nonetheless there are many casual cyclists out all the time. And it is fast: door to door, in all of downtown Toronto, a bike beats a car or transit nearly every time.
There is a lack of clear understanding about regulations regarding bicycles and as a result, there can be hostility between automobiles and cyclists. Generally speaking, if you are on the road, you are expected to obey the same laws as cars, and you are not allowed to ride on the sidewalk. In reality, cyclists have all sorts of driving styles; expect the unexpected.
The city is predominantly flat, aside from a general climb away from Lake Ontario and the deeply indented, forested Don Valley and Humber River Valley, and post-and-ring locking posts are present throughout the city. There are many bike-only lanes on major roads and threading through various neighbourhoods and parks. The city publishes a cycling map, available on the city website [65].
BIXI [66] provides a public bike system with 1,000 bikes available at 80 stations throughout downtown. Subscriptions start at $5 for 24 hours and allow you to use a bike for 30 minutes or less, as much as you like (usage fees apply for trips longer than 30 minutes). BIXI operates 24 hours a day, all year long (but see the warning below about winter biking). Several businesses also offer rentals [67].
It is a provincial law that cyclists under 18 must wear a helmet, and all riders must have a bike with reflectors and a bell. This tends to only be enforced when the police go on their annual "cycling blitz".
Some dangers:
Some recommended cycling routes:
As Toronto is a very large city and many areas of the city are inadequately served by the public transit system, the car is the most commonly used method of transportation in the Greater Toronto Area. The road system (except for Highway 407 ETR) suffers from traffic congestion at almost all times of day, 7 days a week, and severe traffic congestion occurs during rush hour (approximately 6:30am-10am and 3pm-8pm Monday-Friday). Avoid driving during rush hour, and avoid driving in severe weather. Traffic information is available on Google Maps (maps.google.ca, click on the traffic button), 680 News (radio station, AM 680, every 10 minutes on :01, :11, :21, :31, :41, :51 of each hour) and CP24 (television station). Highway 407 ETR [www.407etr.com] is almost never congested, but is a very expensive toll road, also it is strongly recommended that you rent a transponder if you use this highway regularly due to high video toll charges if you do not have a transponder.
The venue was noted for being the first stadium to have a fully-retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348 room hotel attached to it, with 70 rooms overlooking the field. It is also the most recent North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football, as well as baseball, although some of the newer baseball parks have been known to host the occasional college football game, such as AT&T Park, Chase Field, and Safeco Field.
Soon after its opening, the stadium became a popular venue for large scale rock concerts and is the largest indoor concert venue in Toronto; it has hosted many international acts including Metallica, Madonna, U2, Depeche Mode, The Rolling Stones, The Three Tenors, Radiohead, Simon & Garfunkel, Garth Brooks, Backstreet Boys, Roger Waters, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Limp Bizkit, Eminem, Janet Jackson, Avril Lavigne, Jonas Brothers and Cher.
The stadium will be the centrepiece of the 2015 Pan American Games as the site of the opening and closing ceremonies.
Since the early 1990s, a Koreatown has also emerged in North York along Yonge Street between Sheppard Avenue and just north of Steeles Avenue. The area comprises parts of North York, Ontario (Willowdale, Toronto and Newtonbrook) and Thornhill, Ontario (Vaughan, Ontario and Markham, Ontario).
The new Koreatown has many retail stores, Korean grocery stores (some quite large), karaoke bars and family restaurants catering to younger Koreans and those living in the north part of the City of Toronto and York Region. A larger proportion of this neighbourhood are recent immigrants or visa students from South Korea.
Toronto has ample opportunities for shopping, and nearly any section of the city has unique places to shop:
Most Canadians don't carry large amounts of cash for everyday use, relying on their credit cards, ATMs and direct debit cards. Personal cheques are rarely accepted. Also, many places in Toronto accept US Dollars for small transactions- with a rough 1:1 exchange rate.
Interbank ATM exchange rates usually beat traveller's cheques or exchanging foreign currency. Canadian ATM fees are low ($1.50 to $2 per transaction), but your home bank may charge another fee on top of that.
Visa, MasterCard, American Express and JCB cards are widely accepted in Canada. Credit cards can get you cash advances at bank ATMs, generally for a 3% surcharge. Beware: many US-based credit cards now convert foreign charges using highly unfavorable exchange rates and fees.
Always change your money at a recognized bank or financial institution. Some hotels, souvenir shops and tourist offices exchange money, but their rates won't put a smile on your dial.
American Express (905-474-0870, 800-869-3016; www.americanexpress.com/canada) branches in Toronto only function as travel agencies and don't handle financial transactions. Instead, tackle the banks, or try Money Mart (416-920-4146; www.moneymart.ca; Yonge Street Strip, 617 Yonge St; 24hr; Wellesley).
Affiliated with Marlin Travel (www.marlintravel.ca), Thomas Cook (www.thomascook.ca) branches include the following:
Another organization, Calforex Currency Services (290 Queen St West) give good rates for cash, buying and selling GBP, USD, EUR; on substantial sums can be as little as 1% from interbank rates.Fremdh 15:28, 16 January 2010 (EST)
Toronto is generally considered to be one of North America's top food cities. It has the same variety as New York or San Francisco, while the compact, safe, and clean downtown core ensures that many renowned food neighbourhoods and restaurant venues are within a quick and pleasant walk's distance of one another. As one of the most (if not the single most) multicultural cities in the world, Toronto has authentic cuisine from most of the world's cultural and ethnic groups. It is easy to eat out in Toronto and have a superb meal for cheap, while even the more distant neighbourhoods in the city frequently contain one or more ethnic grocers' with both local stock and freshly imported products and brands from all over the world.
As a visitor is quickly bound to notice, Torontonians virtually subsist upon coffee and tea, and the city contains an extremely high density of coffee shops of all types, from affordable franchise locations, to classy bars, to trendy independently owned locales with idiosyncratic brews. An unguided walk through literally any part of the city will take one past many shops selling hot beverages, snacks, and light meals, oftentimes at a rate of several per city block. This makes it exceptionally convenient to fuel a long day of walking, shopping, and sightseeing, as a traveller is certain to be no more than a few minutes travel from a seat, a meal, and a hot drink.
Farmer's markets
Surrounded by the extensive fertile farmlands of Southern Ontario, Toronto has an abundance of farmer's markets - one is happening, in season, almost every day. Several markets are year round, while others are seasonal, generally running from May to October.
Other farmer's markets in Toronto:
Interesting food districts
See district articles for further information
The majority of nightlife in Toronto is centred on the appropriately named Clubland and in the fashion district on Queen Street West. Nearly everywhere is packed to the brim with pubs and bars, but none so much as Adelaide and Queen Street in those districts. Clubs tend to operate on Richmond and Adelaide streets (both run east-west, 1 block apart); names change frequently, but the district keeps on going. Four other clubs of note outside this district: The mega club/ultra lounge Muzik Nightclub (by Exhibition Place), The (long-lasting) Phoenix (on Sherbourne), The Guvernment (Toronto's largest club - on the harbour east of Yonge Street) and the Docks (literally operating on part of Toronto's commercial port, but this place has an outstanding view of the city on warm summer nights, and boasts an extensive entertainment complex).
Some of Toronto's newest and hottest nightclubs have opened up in the King Street West / Liberty Village area. This area tends to attract a more mature (25+ years old) crowd; however this comes at a cost as drinks and admission into the venues are typically a bit more expensive here than in Clubland.
Hip art and music oriented crowds tend to gravitate towards Parkdale (Queen West past Bellwoods Park). The hipsters hangout in the wide array of bars, galleries and clubs that dot the area - in particular Stones Place (mostly Indians and sometimes gay crowds), The Social (a mixed bag), and the Drake and its poor cousin Gladstone Hotels. The same folks also frequent the Annex / Kensington Market Area of the city at night for club nights, casual drinks and art / music events. One of the main "corsos" of the city is Little Italy: College Street, between Bathurst and Ossington flows over with music, sidewalk cafes and excellent food and a crowd that enjoys the summer heat and the offerings. College Street, east of Bathurst, is home to many student hangouts, including Sneaky Dee's which is famous among locals for its nachos. The legal minimum drinking age is 19.
Toronto is also home to a number of microbreweries. These include Mill Street, Steam Whistle Pilsner, Cool, Amsterdam, and Great Lakes. The breweries offer free samples and some have restaurants. Although a tour of the Steam Whistle Brewery costs $10, it includes a gift.
Most hotels and hostels are situated directly outside the downtown core. Prices for rooms generally range from $150+ for a standard hotel, $60-80 for a motel, and $20-40 for a bed in a hostel.
Toronto has a wide variety of hotels that can suit every budget.
Toronto has several youth hostels, including ones in the downtown area. The top hostel in Toronto is the Clarence Park located at 7 Clarence Square, newly renovated in 2013, awesome vibe and comfortable rooms and the best location in the city. [101]Global Village Backpackers [102] at Spadina and King is perhaps most infamous, with its garish, tired colour scheme. Equally well-situated is HI-Toronto Hostel [103] located at the foot of Church Street or Canadiana Backpackers Inn located on Widmer street.
Bed & Breakfast
Another popular alternative for over nighters are bed & breakfasts, of which Toronto has hundreds, many of them in the downtown core. Prices range from $60 to several hundred dollars depending on the house and amenities offered. The Toronto Townhouse [104] is a Toronto Tourism award winner and still is one of the better ones. They have two locations - one in Cabbagetown and the other in the Annex area.
Another popular inexpensive place is Castlegate Inn Toronto Bed and Breakfast [105] because of its proximity to the Spadina subway station and the University of Toronto.
Homestays are an ideal option for mid-term stays of a few months, or for newcomers who need a few months of accommodation while searching for a place to rent. Homestays are very popular for ESL students, often coming from South Korea, Japan, China, and Brazil. It's estimated that there are hundreds of homestays in Toronto, usually in the price range of $750 to $900 per month, and including home-cooked meals. Payments are typically made in cash. Homestays are often listed in online indexes, presented in a manner much like selecting a hotel.
International students often prefer to study in Toronto because of its safety, proximity to other tourist destinations, and favourable exchange rates and visa policies. However, despite its status as the largest city in the country and Canada's economic centre, it is surprisingly under-served by universities. This lack of post-secondary education has led to the development of major universities in the mid-sized cities that surround Toronto: the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, the University of Guelph in Guelph, Brock University in St. Catharines and Trent University in Peterborough. The universities in Toronto remain some of the best in the country:
Toronto, like other Canadian cities, also has dozens of English as a Second Language (ESL) schools. The largest association of private English and French language schools is the Canadian Association of Private Language Schools [112].
For an emergency, dial 911 (you can dial it at the pay phone without inserting any coins).
Local calls from a pay phone cost 50 cents and are not metered, so you can talk as long as you want. Due to the popularity of mobile phones, street pay phones have slowly disappeared. However, most of the large public facilities still offer ample pay phones and they are usually located between the inner and outer doors at the entrances in shopping malls.
Further, many public facilities (such as shopping malls) now offer phones providing free local calls, and are funded by advertisements run on colour LCD screens. Watch for large, wall-mounted ovals in high-traffic areas.
As a visitor, it's also possible to purchase a pay-as-you-go SIM card for your GSM phone. There is no shortage of mobile phone shops and visiting 3-4 different shops should give you an idea of what's available.
Toronto has two area codes: 416 and 647. These area codes overlap. That is, they are both associated with the same geographic area. The suburban areas outside of the city also have two overlapping area codes, 905 and 289. As a result, Toronto has 10-digit local dialling. You must always dial the area code as part of the number you are trying to reach.
International calling cards are widely available in convenience stores and offer reasonable rates.
Toronto is a city with many internet cafés, especially on Yonge Street around Bloor, and also on Bloor Street between Spadina and Bathurst. It's not hard to find a place to call home and the costs range from $3 for 30 minutes. The widespread availability of high-speed internet access means that internet cafes are largely becoming a thing of the past, so on repeat visits to the city, you may find that the one you used last time has disappeared. Most major hotels offer high-speed internet in their rooms and in their business centres. Most coffee shops, and some food courts and restaurants in the downtown core offer wireless internet (some free, some not).
Cogeco operates a public WiFi network called One Zone [113] that covers six square kilometres in the downtown core. Rates are $4.99 for one hour, $9.99 for a day, or $24.99 for a month.
Free internet access is available on computers at Toronto Public Library [114] branches, and the Toronto Reference Library [115] also provides free wireless access on the first two floors.
Free weekly newspapers, distributed from boxes on street corners and in racks in stores and restaurants can be good sources of information on cinema, dining, music, theatre, and other events and local news:
Depending on where you go in Toronto, you will be able to find locally printed newspapers in a variety of languages. For example, in Chinatown, you will find Chinese newspapers. In "Little Italy", you'll find Italian newspapers. You'll also find newspapers in Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Arabic, Tagalog, Greek and more.
Other alternative weeklies include the popular Xtra! [124], which reports for Toronto's large and active LGBT community.
Stay safe
Toronto is remarkably safe and the streets are vibrant with pedestrians and bicyclists, even in most neighbourhoods at night. If you use common sense, you should have no trouble at all.
The overall violent crime rate in Canada, and particularly in Toronto, is much lower than that found in major cities in the United States and below the average of other large Canadian cities to the west. Over the last decade, there have been an average of less than 70 homicides per year in the city, a rate of less than three per 100,000. Organized gang violence occurs but has been very sporadic since a noticeable rise mid-last decade. Petty crime is generally not a large-scale problem in Toronto, but as always, keep vigilant with your possessions and avoid keeping valuables in outer pockets. Car and bike theft are comparable to other large North American cities and many stolen automobiles wind up being exported overseas.
Some neighbourhoods are known in the media and on the street as being more dangerous, but police statistics evaluate crime in a given area based occurrences per 10,000 residents, not including incoming non-resident traffic. The Bay Street financial downtown core actually experiences the highest rate of assault and drug crimes using these parameters, but this has not been well publicized by local or national media. Higher than average crime (compared with the city overall) does occur in certain neigbourhooods. These include:
Parts of Toronto have a visible homeless population, many of whom will ask you for money. This can be a bit startling for newcomers from outside North America. You do not need to give them money and can simply say "no, thank you," or ignore them. They nearly always leave you alone. There have been occasional occurrences of aggressive homeless people, with one resulting in a fatality. If a person becomes aggressive, move away quickly and alert a police officer.
Be careful when getting off the streetcars and look always to your right before leaving the car. Although vehicles are supposed to stop when the streetcar doors open, some motorists and cyclists will ignore this and keep going.
Avoid river/creek banks or bridge underpasses during periods of excessive rain, during/after heavy thundershowers or melting snow. Recent flooding can soften soil and cause it to suddenly collapse into the water under any weight.
Occasionally, Toronto will be hit with a severe winter storm accompanied by significant snowfall (quite often mixed with freezing rain, ice, or sleet). Avoid driving during and immediately after the storms if at all possible. This is especially true for those unfamiliar with winter driving and controlling a car in a skid. Take public transit, walk, or stay inside.
Get out
Toronto is a great starting point for exploring southern Ontario.
Many people visit these regions in fall to experience some of the best fall-colour leaves anywhere in the world.
There are also several golden sand beaches along the clean fresh waters of the Great Lakes that are ideal for hot summer days. Popular beach destinations within 1.5 - 2.5 hours of Toronto include Wasaga, Sauble Beach,Sibbald Point Provincial Park, Sandbanks, Grand Bend, Long Point, and Turkey Point.


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This is a rant. Figuring- Rightly, that nobody really reads this Forum, I'm going to use it to sort my thoughts. The best ones will end up in the "Rant" section at some point. Now to our topic: what is the Purpose of Technology, and how does this differ from a mystical view of the world?
Since our ancestors decided to stop hiding in the trees throwing feces at one another, Human beings have wanted to have some kind of explanation, some Order to the universe, some way of explaining, and/or influencing their environment. Early humans began with the assumption that the rest of the world was as much sentient as themselves-not a bad assumption, when you consider the level of understanding that had to prevail in that environment, after all, how much smarter is a monkey than the tiger that eats him? This assumption of sentience, of a direct will on the part of the universe, is the foundation of the Mystical view of existence. Mysticism is founded on the idea that everything around you has a will, or, spirit, that can be appeased, angered, or, seduced. Believe it or not, Mysticism is alive and well and probably living inside you right now- ask an Atheist why he curses his computer, yells at his car when it breaks down, or snarls at his tools when they don't function as advertised. Human beings want to believe in, if not a greater power, then, an outside power, an imaginary friend, if you will, that they can blame and/or praise. Now, as thinking animals, with relatively poor senses, thin skins, slow growth rates, and big brains, Humans had to find some way to eat, defend themselves, stay warm (or cool), and keep the rain off. Mystical rituals generally don't work for the majority of human beings (in spite of what some practicioners of certain religions tell us, Nature has no respect for human beings, and, never has had any, likely, it never will, either. We're on our own, just like all the other animals.) so, some clever folks figured out a few, basic, things: you can use a rock to club an animal (or, bothersome neighbor) over the head, which can either kill, or, at least, stun so you can kill, your quarry- a lot easier than waiting for a grass fire to sweep by at forty MPH, or, waiting for some other predator to bring it down for you. (imagine the old Tee-shirt showing the two buzzards, the one saying to the other, "Fuck this waiting shit, I'm gonna go kill something", that was probably your ancestors idea. Humans without weapons aren't real good for bringing down prey...) So, Humans figured out how to take control (at least partial control) of their environment- to take away for themselves the powers of the "Spirits", by killing their own prey. The Mystical practicioners soon figured out a way to cut in on this action- by "appeasing" the spirits of the prey, they claimed the ability to ensure good hunting. (Good hunting is a skill- doesn't take any special rituals, just good sense and a strong knowledge of your prey and conditions...) the Mystics still had the edge, then, because they had begun understanding something basic about a real force-of-nature: FIRE. Probably, the first time a Hunter carefully watched the village wise-ass handling the fire, this broke their monopoly. But, Mysticism has an advantage over reason: It's easier to believe in some sentient force that cares for/hates you than it is to believe that something is just a reaction, that your own skill or ignorance is really the important factor... and the stupidity of human beings in large groups is well-documented. So, for hundereds of thousands of years, the Mystics changed their tactics, and, the Reasoning men had to change theirs as well- it's decidedly unhealthy to go loggerheads against the pack shaman when he can count on your buddies to skewer you for heresy. this is important to remember, since it comes back 'round later...
What is the role of Technology? Technology is giving the tools of power to the common man- Joe average can start his car, drive 60 miles in two hours (in Western Washington Traffic), go to his job at the sawmill, where he chops up the pressed, glued-together remains of shredded tree, forming said remains into I-Beams, which are then used to build houses, so that he can have shelter, this activity generates another tool: Money. Money is a tool, it serves as a "Placeholder" of value, a representation of work done for the benefit (one hopes) of the Tribe (civilization) as a whole. Money, unlike bushels of barley, is portable, handy, and, comes in numbered (another tool of technology) denominations of value. This enables said man to 1) Improve his chances of mating successfully (or, depending on his, ehm, "orientation", just get laid...), i2)It aids him in getting actual food items (Shipped via another form of technology-transport, with refrigeration), so that he can fill his belly and not die of starvation in lean times, 3) it keeps a roof (sometimes made from his own efforts, sometimes those of another, who was also paid for his effort), over his head, in short, the advantages of a life built on sweat and effort, guided by reason. The man himself does not have to be anything special in the brains department, he doesn't have to be born with a special mark, or, be of a certain birth order- he merely has to work for it. Technology makes the Common man able to live his life in as much ignorance as he might wish, or, with as much enlightenment as he might be able to handle. Technology powers every aspect of the modern, advanced, western-humanitarian, civilization. We can afford to care, because when the chips are down, we rely on our thinking men, instead of our holy men, to solve our problems. That is the gift of Technological Order.
Mysticism. You would think, in a civilization that relies on Technological Order, that Mysticism would be a waning force. There's an unfortunate side effect to our relative comfort- comfort given by our use of machines and reason. Unreason spreads in comfort. Just as there were Priests who sought to maintain a monopoly of power in the past- through the use of fear and scare tactics, mad appeals to unreason and hidden fears of spiritual and ephemeral presences, so to, in our technological society, there are those who seek a path that would blend unreason into our lives, not for any great benefit to the Tribe of Civilization, but, merely to create their own fame and power. Some of them are obvious about it, and, to an extent, at least honest about what they are doing, if not why. Then, there is the Cult of Psuedo-Science. Psuedo-Science does not seek to win the argument through reason and evidence, but, rather, to baffle the masses with bullshit that sounds good. Example: in the 1950's, some "Climatologists" were claiming that the world would plunge into an Ice-age if Industrial manufacturing was not scaled down. I'm serious, you can find it pretty easily- look up old issues of Popular science from that time-period through the 1970's. Guess what? It didn't happen. Remember Y2K was going to terminate electronic commerce, and plunge the world into a dark age? Hmm... nope. didn't happen. Now, we have "Global Warming". The problem with debunking Psuedo-Science on this level, is that it has an amazing number of vested interests attatched at many levels within our Civilization. The other big problem, is that it relies on ignoring results that don't support the Hypothesis. Example: The Pinatoubo explosion in the Phillipines released more CFC's than the entire industrial revolution to then-present (1987), it did so in less than 10 minutes. We still have an Ozone layer, and the "Expanding Hole" hasn't swallowed the sky yet. (it was due to do so, according to the loudest predictions, by 2002...) similarly, Global Warming alarmists seem to be completely oblivious to a couple of publicly stated facts that,so far, have been true for a while now- The sun is G2 Variable star. "Variable" refers to intensity of activity. You know why your radio's fuzzy? the Sun's been running hot for quite a while now- hotter than it has for decades beforehand. We're also getting more geological activity than we have in quite a while... gee. The widely circulated "Global Warming" theories don't even look at the two biggest factors in our environment- the sun, which provides both the luminant heat, and, gravitational kneading of the core, is in a very active cycle right now... and, we've been having more volcanoes than previously recorded. But, somehow, industrialized, technological man is to blame for a two-degree shift to the positive in our climate... (this is the core hypothesis of most Mystics- that somehow, man has sinned and is being punished for it. Hogwash.) The most insidious of Modern Mystics aren't the "Freaks" at Dennys at 2 A.M., with their Pentacles, nose-rings, and, Playing-at-Nature-Religions, it's the ones that wear a tie, or a nice, tweed jacket, who publish manifestoes in the form of scientific papers in prominent Journals, who hold chairs at our universities, and, advise airheaded "Television charismatic" congresspeople. It's the so-Called "Scientist" on CNN, who uses jargon and hyperbole as a substitute for actual observations, claiming that the antarctic ice-cap is going to melt and flood the earth. (It won't, if you melted both ice-caps, you'd end up flooding lowland plains areas like Washington D.C. and New York City- to a depth of maybe, 200 feet, a catastrophe, but, survivable- nothing's really made there anyway...) Herr Goebbels said that if you tell a lie often, and, loudly, enough, the public will believe it over the truth. He was right. It helps, of course, if there is no counter-criticism, if people of reason and sense don't examine each supposed "Fact" that is handed to them, and ask what the motives behind it may be. The environmental movement of the late 1960's had a point, the Ohio River caught fire, you know. Nobody wants to go back to that.
But, it's gone from being about controlling pollution, to being about controlling People. It's gone from the realm of Reason, to the realm of Mysticism. As with the Mystical Preisthoods of old, questioning the modern Shamans of Environmentalism is tantamount to Heresy, with attendant shunnings and the academic equivalent of witchburnings.
What's this got to do with LGW?
Well, In the comic, I'm basically facing off the forces for Reason and Order against the forces of Unreason. My heroes want to live their lives, such as they are, yet, they cannot, because, in the LGW universe, the Mystics were right. Or, at least, they are on top, which is why Humanity is getting its ass kicked.

subset: commoncrawl


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Post Office and Street Directories
This article originally appeared in "Directories" by Gordon L. Remington, FASG, FUGA in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy
Post office and street directories were originally published by the government to help deliver the mail correctly before the advent of zip codes. Post office directories list all active post offices in the year of publication. For instance, The Street Directory of the Principal Cities of the United States . . . to April 1908 contains the names of streets and the cities with streets by those names. This was necessary in cases where the sender listed only a street address, with no city and no return address. The directory was published mainly for the use of the Division of Dead Letters and should not be confused with the street directories discussed with city directories.
How to Use Post Office and Street Directories
You can use both of these types of directories with old family letters. If you have a letter that bears only the name of a town and state and the town cannot be found in any modern gazetteer, it may no longer exist, or the name may have been changed. A post office directory from the right period gives you the location. If the letter bears only an address on Religious Street and the date of 13 January 1908, the original envelope having been lost, the street directory can help. A 1908 directory shows:
- Reliance Place
- Flushing, N.Y.
- (Elmhurst)
- Relic Alley
- Pittsburg, Pa.
- Relief
- Oil City, Pa., 1-20
- Relief Alley
- Allegheny, Pa.
- Pittsburg, Pa.
- Relief Ave.
- Poplar Bluff, Mo., 200-600
- Religious
- New Orleans, La., 1400-1999
- Rellis
- Saginaw, Mich., 200
- Relyea Place
- New Rochelle, N.Y., 1-20
- Rembert
- Memphis, Tenn., N.
- 61-662 S.<ref>Street Directory of the Principal Cities of the United States Embracing Letter-Carrier Offices Established to April 30, 1908 (Washington, D.C.: Postmaster General, 1908), 637.</ref>
Thus, in 1908, Religious Street existed only in New Orleans. If, however, the name is Relief, you would have more cities to consider. This method can be used with any stray street address, including photographers' addresses on the backs of old photographs.


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Adds to long list of accomplishments this season for the transfer
DES MOINES, Iowa (June 23, 2013) – ETSU junior jumper Tyler Stepp (Dandridge, Tenn.) qualified to compete in the long jump at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships senior meet on Sunday, June 23, at 3:20 p.m. EST at Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University.
Action at the Championships is set to begin Thursday and will run through Sunday at Drake Stadium as the very best of track and field athletes at the college and professional levels in will be competing. The top-three finishers in each event that have met the "A" qualifying standard for the IAAF World Championships will earn the right to represent the U.S. in the August event in Moscow, Russia.
The recent Second-Team All-America selection qualified for the Championships with his personal best mark of 7.80 meters set at the Sea Ray Relays in April. Stepp currently ranks among the top-20 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) with said score in the event.
In addition to being recently named an All-American, the Dandridge native's accolades this spring include advancement to the final at the NCAA Championship as well as being a First-Team All-Atlantic Sun performer and conference gold medalist.
Check out meet information, events schedules, start lists and live results at USATF.org. Fans can follow along with the action on Universal Sports, NBC Sports Network and NBC. Portions of the meet not covered live on TV can be viewed at USATF.tv. All times are central standard.
ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for "Buc Updates." Click here to sign up today!


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Kurt Russell and Alex Waldrop, the President of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, attend the 2008 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.
Jeremy Piven, Elizabeth Moss and Mad Men's Jon Hamm celebrating at the Bombay Sapphire Gin-sponsored Speed the Plow opening in NYC on Oct. 23rd. Additional celebs in attendance included Liev Schreiber and Ugly Betty's Michael Urie.
Jessica Stroup sipped on cocktails from Pavé at Kitson's launch party for the 90210 clothing collection
Star Jones at Gabrielles Angel Foundation for Cancer Research event at Cipriani Wall Street in NYC.
Chuck star Zac Levi watching the Smashing Pumpkins perform at the Best Buy Guitar Hero World Tour Launch party at Best Buy in West Hollywood Oct. 25.
Luke Wilson and Bai Ling at the opening of W Scottsdale.
While husband Nick Cannon was DJing at the Blackberry party at Prive, Mariah Carey went mostly unnoticed at Miami hotspot The Florida Room at Delano.
Hosts Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman presenting their favorite film, All About Eve, at new American clothing brand Martin + Osas In-House Series garden screening at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont in support of FilmAid International.
Elton John joining husband David Furnish to celebrate his birthday at the Hard Rock's Pool at the Palapa hut.
Diddy grooving in the DJ booth with DJ Kiss while celebrating his cover of L'Uomo Vogue at 1Oak in NYC.
Ryan Phillipe and Breckin Meyer having cocktails and shots at Dan Tana's in L.A.
Naomi Watts at the Thompson LES in NYC.
Selena Gomez at the Comme des Garcons for H&M Collection Preview event in NYC.
Michelle Trachtenberg at the Macdella Cooper Foundation fundraiser at the New York Athletic Club.
Jessica Alba and family renting an apartment at 20 Exchange Place in NYC's Financial District.
Paula Abdul at Ra Sushi.
Karina Smirnoff at AXE PROXIMITY and 944 Magazine's Behind the UnScene, an exclusive one-night charity event at Rande Gerbers Stone Rose Lounge in Los Angeles featuring fragrance-inspired cocktails by Belvedere.


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Jorge Mario Bergoglio may be the first pope from the Americas, and the first to call himself Francis. But he is also the first Jesuit ever to head the Roman Catholic Church – perhaps surprising given the order's visible prominence in 112 nations on six continents.
His Jesuit identity, as much as his Argentine heritage, may inform new Pope Francis as he helps shift the church of 1.2 billion away from a period of scandal, corruption, and doubt – a "fractured church" in Europe and North America, as John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, calls it.
As Francis's views are parsed, it appears he does not share Pope Benedict's emphasis on a smaller, more orthodox, and arguably "purer" church, but is emphasizing outreach and a willingness to look freshly at problems. South American liberation theology advocate Leonardo Boff, removed from his teaching post by Benedict in a bitter church fight decades ago, has praised the choice of Francis as a new direction for Catholicism.
The Jesuits, who have been called "God's commandos," have long been influential – an evangelical order that values learning and an openness associated with a distinct spiritual tradition. The order pioneered missions to the Americas. The earliest exchanges between China and the West are found in the journals of Matteo Ricci, a 16th-century Italian Jesuit. Jesuits schooled Descartes, Molière, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fidel Castro, and Bill Clinton; ran thousands of colleges, schools, hospitals, and charities; and became known for sharp dialogue and debate as the 20th century ushered in science and modernity.
Yet until this week, the order, which was founded in the 16th century by Ignatius Loyola and whose staff in Rome lists some 20,000 employees, had never seen one of their rank elected to lead the church.
Partly, experts say, this is due to a strong anticlerical and anti-hierarchical streak among Jesuits, who often discourage devotees from becoming bishops.
Jesuits take a vow of obedience to the pope – a famous Ignatian rule says if the church "shall have defined anything to be black which to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black." But the Jesuits are also famed for doing some of the more ambitious, exploratory, and often liberal thinking and research in the church.
They helped spearhead in part the major late 20th century rethink of Catholicism known as Vatican 2, that the now-retired Benedict spent much of his clerical life opposing.
"There has been a tension, off and on, but especially after modernity, between Jesuits and the papacy," says Tom Beaudoin, a professor of theology at Fordham University in New York. "The Jesuits have been looked at by other prelates as maybe just a little too independent."
"The Jesuits' loyalty to the church is reflected by their loyalty to their order," offers Frank Flinn, author of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism, who argues that Francis "has the qualities to surprise us…. He comes from a view that to find God, you go out and work with poor people. He is strong on that."
Mr. Flinn also thinks that Jesuits have, so far, remained fairly clear of the sexual-abuse scandals that rocked the church in the US and Europe.
Even Jesuits who do become cardinals "tend not to move in 'cardinal circles,' where they get to know each other. That's not our world," said Gerard Stockhausen, executive secretary of the Jesuit Conference USA, to the Catholic News Service after hearing that the new pope came from his order.
The new pope's "Jesuit background will be extremely important in determining what Francis is all about," offers Walter Modrys, a former pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish in New York, saying that the exercise of spiritual "discernment" and listening to the nature of "God's calling" that is paramount in the "Ignatian spirituality" is key.
Since the white puff of smoke indicated his election this week, Francis has been widely depicted as humble, a prelate more interested in pastoral work than theology, a man who combines an interest in social justice and the poor with conservative views on church doctrine.
The latter is likely to mean that Francis will not initiate reforms on core Catholic teachings on such issues as celibacy for priests, birth control, women's ordination, and gay marriage.
"…the Cardinals wanted someone morally beyond reproach, humble, interested in the social justice for the poor and perhaps willing to shake up the Curia," said Gary Macy, a church historian at the University of Santa Clara, in comments to the Catholic Reporter. "They did not, however, want someone who would stray from the theological path set by the former popes. This election was probably as much of a surprise as the College was capable of making."


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Jan 03, 2010
Blakney Named ECAC Metro Division III Player of the Week
Cape Cod, Mass. - Senior guard Kimberly Blakney (Brooklyn, N.Y./Benjamin Banneker) was named ECAC Metro Division III Player of the Week. Blakney was named the Bracket "C" Most Valuable Player at the ECAC Holiday Festival in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. She averaged 28.0 points, 17.5 rebounds and 7.0 steals in leading the Rams to victories over Connecticut College and SUNYIT. Blakney had 24 points, 16 rebounds and seven steals in a 69-55 win over Connecticut College. In the next game, she set tournament single-game records with 32 points and 19 rebounds, while adding seven steals in a 61-54 victory over SUNYIT.


text: I've seen this happen a couple of times as of late. Basically, I make a change to the ISPConfig settings and most services on the box are terminated immediately. Terminated services include Apache, Postfix, Amavis, Dovecot, syslogd... even SSHd seems to have restarted (my terminal session was disconnected, but I was able to reconnect immediately). The specific nature of the change made in ISPConfig was SSL-related. I was installing an SSL certificate for a site... pretty routine. The only thing unusual was that the site in question was not "Enabled" at the time. The only thing in Apache's error log is Code: [Fri Apr 27 06:50:03 2012] [notice] caught SIGTERM, shutting down There is nothing at all in /var/log/mail.log, and logging stopped after this "crash" (syslogd tanked), so new events are not being registered either. EDIT: I noticed that about 10 minutes before this incident, the following was logged: Code: Apr 27 06:37:26 localhost amavis[4085]: (04085-11) (!!)file(1) utility (/usr/bin/file) FAILED: run_command: can't fork: Cannot allocate memory at /usr/sbin/amavisd-new line 3077, line 4946. Seems like the server's memory supply was exhausted. What else could cause this kind of across-the-board service termination? Maybe ISPConfig is just a red-herring in this case, and the change simply consumed enough memory to cause the crash. Where else should I be looking for clues as to what, exactly, happened? Also, is there any easy means by which to bring all services back online? Or should I just restart the box? Thanks for any help!


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A total of $118 million donated or pledged; $82 million left to raise—that was the tally as WHOI emerged from the "quiet" phase of its capital campaign and announced the public phase at its Board of Trustees meeting in January.
WHOI Director of Development Dan Stuermer said the first phase of the campaign secured funds to:
As the campaign marches on, major goals include endowments to secure the future of the Ocean Institutes and to fulfill the Access to the Sea (ATS) Initiative, Stuermer said. The ATS Fund supports new approaches for seagoing research, including the development of new technology (vehicles, observatories, and sensors), ship time for scientists, engineers, and students, and funding for scientifically critical but expensive exploratory expeditions in remote locations.


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Head Start Program gets a failing grade
I wish the Transform Rockford group great success. However, there is one area that needs rethinking: that of the Head Start Program. Started in 1965 (under President Lyndon Johnson), the idea of getting preschoolers ready for kindergarten via Head Start began as merely a summer program for disadvantaged children. This early childhood education was supposed to cover nutrition, social skills, health, well-being and so on. This quickly expanded into year-long programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. Today, this Head Start Program costs the taxpayers almost $9 billion!
Three years later, in 1968, I remember this well: studies were revealing that there was no difference between the now third-graders who had attended Head Start and those who did not. Yet, our Congress passed the Human Services Act in 1981 to expand the program. In 2007, the program was also adjusted to address the systemic poverty among lower incomes. Yet, at the same time, in 2007, reports declared that Head Start's failures are sufficient to warrant its abolition.
In 1998, Congress ordered a study of the effectiveness. The New York Times stated that Head Start had "little meaningful impact" in a child's later achievement.
In 2011, Time magazine said, "Head Start must be eliminated." Be careful, earnest transformers, about pursuing this fruitless goal.
Alice Kaczmarek
From the May 7-13, 2014, issue


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Commerce meets experience.
Magento, an Adobe company, is now part of Adobe Experience Cloud, bringing together digital commerce, order management and predictive intelligence into a unified experience platform. And it's the only commerce platform to integrate both B2B and B2C experiences. Now the entire journey — from content creation and analytics to marketing and commerce — is integrated into one cloud platform.
What is Magento?
It's the most modern commerce platform built for today's experiences. Based on an open-source ecosystem, it extends beyond the web shopping trolley to every shoppable experience, including email, mobile, in-store and marketplaces. And it's the only commerce platform robust enough to handle both consumer and enterprise use cases.
Meet the world's most robust and flexible eCommerce Platform, Magento Commerce. Now you can create engaging shopping experiences on any channel. And you're supported by a global ecosystem of merchants, partners and developers who help bring your commerce vision to life.
Order Management
Deliver a truly connected shopping experience that enables buying everywhere, fulfilment anywhere. Make every experience shoppable and seamless by managing inventory and orders that span across geographies and brands, online and in-store.
Business Intelligence
With Magento Business Intelligence Pro, you get the insights you need to take action. Find new growth opportunities by analysing product, customer and sales data and sharing these insights across your company.
Learn how today's brands are using Magento.
Read how the outdoor brand Helly Hansen boosted sales growth with Magento.
Get a taste of how Sugarfina fuelled their rapid online growth.
By using Magento Commerce Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, Devlyn sold glasses online and increased mobile conversion by over 271%.
Carrier Enterprise launched a flexible, convenient shopping experience across all devices and sales centre locations using Magento Commerce Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud.
With Magento Commerce Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, Heidelberg created an e-commerce website across 21 countries, with a product catalogue of over 50,000 SKUs and 14,700 registered users.
Kurt Geiger moved to Magento Commerce Cloud, part of Adobe Experience Cloud, which allowed them to offer their customers a rich and engaging experience across all devices.


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Saturday, January 17, 2015
Museum of Natural History
In this demonstration, dive deep into the history of whales. Explore some of the earliest known whales! Look at how whales have adapted to thrive underwater by comparing archaic whales to modern whales. Discover how paleontologists study fossils to find the missing link to the earliest known whale ancestor. Finally, you will get the chance to make your own cast of an archaic Dorudon whale tooth!
Hands-on demonstrations are 20-30 minute interactive programs on the 2nd floor of the Museum. They include both brief presentations highlighting University research and engaging hands-on activities, and are suitable for adults and children ages 5 and up.


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At this year's 2013 Shanghai auto show, Mercedes-Benz rolled out the long-wheelbase version of its E-Class, a model that will only be available to customers in China. The Chinese have a thing for long-wheelbase cars, which give them more room to work when they're being chauffeured about town through massive traffic jams. The operative number here is 5.5 inches. The lengthened E-Class is 5.5-inches longer overall, with a 5.5-inch longer wheelbase. And you guessed it, rear-seat passengers are treated to 5.5-inches more leg room.
The LWB E-Class will be offered in two variants, the base Sedan and the Sport Sedan (E 260 L, E 300 L, E 400 L also featuring AMG front and rear apron, new AMG side skirts and AMG wheels on the Sport Sedan). Unlike the E-Class sedans marketed in the rest of the world, the LWB model has limited engine options -- a four-cylinder direct injection BlueEfficiency with 204 hp (E 260 L), and two six-cylinder engines with 245 hp (E 300 L) and 333 hp (E 400 L). Down the line a hybrid variant will be offered for the E 400 L. All engine configurations feature Benz's seven-speed automatic transmission as standard equipment.
Unique to the exterior of the Chinese-market E-Class long wheelbase is a structural line that runs below the feature line from the rear door to the tail light. This new line not only lends to the longer wheelbase but also the side-trim which is lower on this model. At the rear are a newly updated bumper and tail lights. The LED lights feature a two-tone look, which helps emphasize the wider rear-end.
The big change inside is a feature that allows rear passengers to operate the power front seat. Why anyone would need or want this feature is unclear, but it's available. The rest of the vehicle is essentially the same as E-Class models sold in the rest of the world, featuring a wide array of standard and available comfort, convenience, and safety features that Benz has become known for.


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In Orlando, Fla., one brazen tow truck driver openly flaunts his aggressive towing style, using proceeds from questionable yanks to fund a personal fleet of Harley Davidson motorcycles.
On Christmas Eve in Palm Desert, Calif., police arrested three tow truck drivers after an investigation "revealed that the towing service was committing auto thefts and extortion under the guise of legitimate tows," according to the arrest report.
And in late December, Asheville, N.C., police caught two drivers red-handed when they yanked a decoy vehicle from a pay-to-park lot as cameras rolled in a nearby police surveillance van.
Hitching onto the insular, cash-driven and lightly regulated tow truck industry, dozens of communities from Asheville to Davenport, Iowa to Fairview Ore., are exposing a shadowy and controversial front in the parking wars.
Taken together, recent headlines from around the country offer a glimpse into the nebulous underworld of "predatory towing" where risk-taking parking scofflaws share some of the blame with wildcatting tow truck drivers.
But the tension is building as downtown congestion grows, the troubled economy puts pressure on tow companies' cash flow, and what drivers see as their rights increasingly conflict – all summed up by that sinking feeling of perusing a parking lot for a car that is no longer there.
"There are tow companies out there that are becoming more and more visible, out there hijacking cars," says Ron Smith, of Houston-based Compiled Logic, which tracks "non-consensual tows." "Space gets short, communities expand, parking becomes premium, and people ... set up places and try to pull vehicles."
After largely deregulating the towing industry in 1996, Congress tried to address the excesses starting in 2005, when a clause in the federal highway bill gave states and municipalities greater authority to oversee local towing practices.
That led to a tough new law in California that mandates large signage, no cash-only requirements, and no fee if a driver reaches the lot before the tow truck driver has left. A similar New York law went into effect in October, outlawing "kickbacks" from towing companies to property owners for allowing them to tow cars at will from their lots.
Now, with some 30,000 nonconsensual tows taking place in the US each day – most legal, but many not – dozens of communities are also taking advantage of the 2005 law. New ordinances address the chief complaints from drivers: lack of reliable signage, egregious towing and impound fees, and cash-only policies.
"We know that there are some illegal and unethical practices going on," says Captain Tim Splain of the Asheville Police Department. "If you can yank 12 or 14 cars a night at $150 a pop, that's a pretty lucrative proposition."
A growing issue in many cities
Indeed, predatory towing – or "private lot towing," as the towing industry prefers to call it – has become a huge issue in destination cities like Asheville and Davenport, Iowa, detailed in lengthy letters to the editor and debated, often hotly, on Internet comment boards.
"In today's marketing world, wary customers rely on word of mouth more than any other medium, and if we become known as a city that is tow-happy it could greatly affect our visitation numbers," says Kelly Miller, the president of the local Chamber of Commerce and a recently appointed city councilor in Asheville. "There's got to be a better mousetrap to handle all this stuff."
Moreover, critics say tow truck operators tend to focus on areas where there are lots of students and immigrants – people less likely to squawk and more likely to pay up. John Hoff, a Minneapolis author and chief blogger at the TowingUtopia web site, says the trend is worrisome because it tends to affect the poor more than the rich. Equally disturbing to many drivers: A quarter of all towed cars are never claimed – often because they can't be found because of jurisdictional issues and a lack of transparency in the system.
"A couple of days in jail in some ways is less harmful, less of an intrusion on your liberty, than taking your car away," says Mr. Hoff. "There's this huge lack of regulation and really anybody with a hook and a truck can try their hand at this kind of thing and get away with it."
Just ask Dean Middleton. A dental assistant in Asheville, Mr. Middleton recently left his 1987 Ford Ranger at a downtown lot after, he says, receiving permission from the property owner. When he returned, the car was gone. A week later, he found his truck parked at the back of a field. He suspects the truck operator was waiting to take possession of it under state forfeiture laws and sell it either at auction or for scrap. "I felt like someone was trying to steal something from me," says Middleton.
But if industry deregulation has played a role in this cat and mouse game, so have social forces and lack of preparation for an onslaught of vehicles into smaller cities trying to become residential and business hubs, says Siim Soot, of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"Often, the only way to minimize the congestion problem is to tow vehicles," says Professor Soot. "And there's a little bit of gamesmanship here where you can try to park and sort of beat the system by being there long enough so that you can conduct business, but not so long so someone can tow the vehicle. Some people are just willing to take the risk."
Tow drivers say they're scapegoats
Indeed, many tow truck operators say they're simply scapegoats for a more insidious problem caused by city officials failing to anticipate public parking needs – or trying to profit from high parking fees. Already beset by rising insurance premiums, high equipment costs, and low motor club reimbursement rates, they sometimes have to literally fight to make a living. That's one reason why the number of tow truck operations has gone from 130,000 to 30,000 in the last two decades.
"What makes a lot of operators so hard to deal with and so tough is because people want to fight all the time – nobody is happy to get their car towed," says Tom Luciano, a towing industry consultant in Pottersville, New York.
In Davenport, tow truck company owner Dan Wallace has been called a jackal and a vulture on TV – by the mayor of the city, no less. His crime? Aggressively patrolling an apartment building parking lot managed by Susan Graham, who says Mr. Wallace is "doing an awesome job" protecting her tenants' parking spaces.
"The city has issued too many business licenses and too much residential occupancy for the amount of parking available," says Wallace. "So people take a chance."
Defending his practice of stationing a tow truck downtown to patrol the parking lot, Wallace says, "It's no different than a speed trap or a red light camera."


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I have a mini television in my bedroom which has a permanent mark on it which says its mine. It's a candle that was in housed in a metal tin. When I was a student, I left this tin on my TV and it melted in the side of the tv – like completely melted into it. By the time I realised (and amazingly enough, hadn't died in a fire, explosion or by fume inhalation) it had welded itself into my tele. Yes I still watch it to this day.
Kids, don't leave candles unattended. Especially not on plastic items.
Thank goodness I don't leave hot things about anymore (kitties you know, can't have a singed cat) but even so, hair straighteners are HOT. A mat is jolly useful, and I have a few but they are the furry cloth type or the rubbery, almost like foam type.
I'm not a fan of the cloth ones or the foam because I find the latter rips easily and doesn't stay put – the cloth type attracts cat fur like anything and I can't be bothered getting it off sometimes. I have about 4 different heat mats and I don't know where half of them are.
They say:
Gripeze absorbs heat and prevents hot tools damaging dressing tables, cupboards, carpets etc. (and tvs)
1. It grips hot tools and helps prevent them slipping off surfaces
2. It's a real safety device. The mat changes colour and shows you when the tool is hot
3. Ideal for wrapping hot tools when you take them out with you.
I got a Gripeze in a sparkly pink and I like it a lot! For one thing, its less that £10 to purchase. Because its a thick rubber thats bendy, it lasts a lot longer than foam ones that can be easily chewed by kitties. It also GRIPS tightly to the surface because of the grooves on the back of the pad. The other thing it does is wrap up into a little roll that you can store your straighteners in when travelling. Considering the fact that I normally just chuck mine into a bag it offers a bit of welcome padding. Ooh, finally it changes colour to let you know when the tool is getting hot – obviously you are going to wait until your GHDS (other brands are available) beep anyway but its still a nice touch.
It's a nice product, I can't fault it really.
You can buy it here for £7.99 plus £2 shipping.


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Sept. 6, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The MIT women's tennis team kicked off its 2008 campaign by defeating Suffolk University, 8-1, in the inaugural meeting between both programs. The Engineers' ledger improved to 1-0 overall and while the Rams fell to 0-1 on the year. Next up for MIT will be a home match against New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) foe Springfield College on Saturday, Sept. 13. Suffolk will begin Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play on Thursday, Sept. 11 at Simmons College.
MIT's No. 2 doubles pair of Karina Pikhart and Jen Rees opened the day with an 8-2 victory over Alex Hernandez and Rachel Troia. Melissa Diskin and Anastasia Vishnevetsky posted an 8-3 win in the top spot while Kerry Weinberg and Hillary Jenny completed the sweep with an 8-5 decision.
Anisa McCree made quick work of her No. 4 singles foe by registering a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Leslie Hansen overpowered Kaitlynn Cates, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 1 spot while Katie Smyth defeated her opponent, 6-2, 6-0, in the No. 6 slot. Yi Wang edged out Hernandez, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the No. 2 position while Alex Hall fell to Lauren Cameron, 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the next spot. After dropping the opening set of her match by a score of 6-1, Jenny Dohlman battled back and emerged with wins of 7-5 and 12-10.
In exhibition play, Kimee Boonbanjersri defeated her opponent, 8-4.
Suffolk University vs. MIT
Final Team Score: MIT 8, Suffolk 1
1. Melissa Diskin/Anastasia Vishnevetsky (M) def. Lauren Cameron/Kaitlynn Cates (S), 8-3
2. Karina Pikhart/Jen Rees (M) def. Alex Hernandez/Rachel Troia (S), 8-2
3. Kerry Weinberg/Hillary Jenny (M) def. Katelynn Paquette/Rebecca Copeland (S), 8-5
1. Leslie Hansen (M) def. Kaitlynn Cates (S), 6-1, 6-1
2. Yi Wang (M) def. Alex Hernandez (S), 7-6 (4), 6-4
3. Lauren Cameron (S) def. Alex Hall (M), 7-6 (1), 6-2
4. Anisa McCree (M) def. Carla Malqui (S), 6-0, 6-1
5. Jenny Dohlman (M) def. Rachel Troia (S), 1-6, 7-5, 12-10
6. Katie Smyth (M) def. Thuy Le (S), 6-2, 6-0
7. Kimee Boonbanjerdsri (M) def. Katelynn Pacquette (S), 8-4


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I have turned my attention to legs beyond the first one, specifically to legs 2, 3, and 4. Leg 2 should be a trip to the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. There are 3 possible airports there: Arica, Iquique, Antofagasta. The highest probability (by a small amount) of these three goes to Antofagasta, which is a mere 600 miles by road from Santiago. That opens up the possibility of a long bus or self-drive trip to begin leg 3; it also might be a flight to Santiago. The rest of leg three will be a flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas, Chile. The most logical next step is a flight to King George Island(Isla Rey Jorge), which is 100 miles off the Antarctic Peninsula, and overnight there followed by a return to Punta Arenas. Given the times and distances involved this could mean a double leg. For leg 4, from Punta Arenas there is a 3 times per week one hour LAN flight or a twice per week 11 3/4 hour bus involving crossing the Straight of Magellan to get to Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia, Argentina. The one thing that is certain (beacuse van Munster said so) is a trip to the bottom of South America. That is Cape Horn, Chile, a national park on an island and it is about 125 miles south of Ushuaia. The teams would have to do that by boat or helicopter. After returning to Ushuaia, then you can fly out to get to southern Africa. My guess is that the flights connect through Buenos Aires.
QuoteThe connection Equator to Tropic of Capricorn to maybe Antarctic Circle (South 66 degrees 33' 39") would be a whiz-bang start to AR11. I'm all for that! I'll be so disappointed if they don't go to Antarctica (or south pole or whatever Bertram called it)That blog sounds like something I would LOVE to read--can you provide a link to that? (Feel free to send me a message if you need help doing that--it took me ages to learn and I just about drove puddin crazy with questions while I learned... )Tropic of Capricorn in Chile--it is near our hand!
The connection Equator to Tropic of Capricorn to maybe Antarctic Circle (South 66 degrees 33' 39") would be a whiz-bang start to AR11.
El Mitad del Mundo "Middle of the Earth" Equator monument--just north of Quito
Looks like you beat me to it Peach Look no shadows! Its 12 noon at the equator. MITAD DEL MUNDO
I have heard that it is actually 18 seconds of arc south of the equator! Ref. And, using GE, I got that the monument was too far south by 787 feet.
ANTARCTICAToday's weekly travel issue of Newsday.com contained a really good article "Over Antarctica" about the flight that 33 passengers of a cruise ship took from Puntas Arenas Chile down over King George Island and selected parts (unidentified) of the Antarctic Peninsula. This summary of travel options at the end of the article may interest you:Our Antarctic flyover out of Punta Arenas, Chile, was offered as an extra-cost excursion to passengers of the Norwegian Crown ship (ncl.com) that sails from November through March between Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile. Price of the excursion: $1,599 (all prices in this story are subject to change).These programs are limited to cruise passengers, but there are options for civilians. Among those we found:Aerovias DAP (011-56-61-223340; aeroviasdap.cl), a Chilean airline serving Patagonia, offers one-day flightseeing and a two-day, one-night program that includes an overnight at a base on King George Island, one of the islands off the coast of continental Antarctica.Upside to King George Island: It's popular with penguins and technically qualifies as "Antarctica," if you're keeping score. Downside: When you're there (the "season" is December through March), its usual lack of ice and snow won't match your image of Antarctica.Price of that flyover (subject to change) is $2,300; the overnight version is $2,950. Depending on demand, the aircraft can be an eight-seat Beechcraft or a 40-passenger plane. Other points: Hefty non-refundable deposits are required, and passengers are advised to plan on spending several nights in Punta Arenas (not a bad place to spend several nights, under these circumstances) to allow for alternate dates in case the weather doesn't cooperate."It's amazing," Isabel, a reservationist in the Punta Arenas office who made the trip in March 2006, said of the experience. "And you can see the penguins very close."An option that combines the flight, which eliminates the days and potential discomfort associated with crossing the Drake Passage by ship, with a ship-based expedition is offered by AntarcticaXXI (011-56-61-228783; antarcticaxxi.com), also based in Punta Arenas.This program flies passengers in a 50-seat plane to King George Island, where they board an expedition vessel (limit: 46 passengers) and off they go.Prices for the seven-day program start at $7,100 per person, double occupancy.Flyovers from New Zealand, nearest gateway after South America, ended after a 1979 flight crashed into 13,200-foot Mt. Erebus on the continent, killing 257 passengers and crew. But Antarctica flightseeing from the region resumed in 1994, and these days there are two flights annually, both from Australia -- one out of Sydney and a second leaving from Sydney with a stop in Melbourne. The most recent was on New Year's Eve, and the next is scheduled for Feb. 7. These are 12-hour flights -- four hours to Antarctica, four over the continent and four back -- aboard a Qantas Boeing 747, with prices based on seat location. Prices: from $713 for a seat you probably don't want to $4,126 for First Class and a guaranteed window seat during prime time. Food and bar included. Details: Australia-based Croydon Travel (011-61-3-9725-8555; antarcticaflights.com.au).Now, if you're really serious about this Antarctica thing and can afford the cost of seriousness, there's a U.S.-owned company that operates out of Punta Arenas with programs that fly you into the interior: Adventure Network International (adventure-network.com). Among its programs: an Ice Marathon. Price: $15,000. A seven- or eight-day adventure that will get you to the South Pole and back runs a tidy $33,500. There are more options. A Wilmette, Ill., agency that features adventure travel, Northwest Passage (800-732-7328; nwpassage.com), can answer questions.Most other access to Antarctica is via ship out of (or at least stopping in) Ushuaia, Argentina, in vessels ranging from luxury cruisers to small-ship expeditions utilizing converted Russian icebreakers. Prices are all over the map.
The locutario where the pics were taken was at the corner of 25 de Mayo and San Martin in Ushuaia.
Quote from: georgiapeach on February 02, 2007, 07:45:41 PMQuoteSheepskins and leather--pictures please! You must have some of the man-in-uniform variety!GMAN when you say it was summer, was that Western Hemispere Summer? Because if so then that should be the colder part of the year for the sputhern Hemisphere. Just curious, becuase I would think it could get significantly colder then 70 below.It was summer for the Southern Hemisphere which runs from December 21 to March 21. And in the Antarctic we had sunlight almost 24/7 during this time, so it was a little warmer than normally is the case in the Antarctic.
QuoteSheepskins and leather--pictures please! You must have some of the man-in-uniform variety!GMAN when you say it was summer, was that Western Hemispere Summer? Because if so then that should be the colder part of the year for the sputhern Hemisphere. Just curious, becuase I would think it could get significantly colder then 70 below.
Sheepskins and leather
I just checked all my recorded promos for TAR6 Premiere and the entire occupation of Iceland. The shot of 'bergy bits' above never appears. The icebergs in the detour there have a whole different look. The shot above looks like busted ice from the surface of the ocean. It's not the kind that would be from a glacier falling into the sea.Once we check TAR2's Alaska we should be able to call it Antarctica ice. picture source
Can we lock this or no? :-\Is the race more difficult than previous seasons?
lol peach ...if you want to see Antarctica your welcome to come visit my house
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ODYSSEY (lil mp3) – Same (Prod. Dru Stylez)
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