What seemed yesterday like a minor news story about a Montreal man using a scan of his passport to visit and return from the U.S. has become a big deal, with the American customs agency denying that it could have happened as described.
Updates from January, 2012 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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A New Year’s Day brawl at a Chinatown restaurant was caught on video, posted to reddit today and has now reached CTV even though nobody is pressing charges. OpenFile has a bit more about it and now other media are telling the story.
The CBC says the brawl “caused up to $20,000 in damages” but although I see this usage all the time, it’s wrong. The brawl caused damage. “Damages” is a legal term describing money paid in compensation for loss or injury.
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Rajjer Rabbit
How come I never have this much fun when I go out to eat? *sigh*
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The BBC has a piece published today on the North Atlantic coast and its charms, and recommending Bixi rides here and sugar shacks outside Quebec City.
Also today on the Beeb is a reading of a Mordecai Richler story set in Montreal, one of the stories in The Street.
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The city’s public consultation office wants public thoughts on the future of Griffintown at its upcoming session – lots of stuff on the OCPM pages linked above.
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The contentious interim Canadiens coach has promised to learn French apparently in hopes of keeping the job past the end of this season. But Cunneyworth also has to emphasize that the performance of the team is his first priority.
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The Port of Montreal beat its own record in 2011, shifting 28 million tonnes of stuff. Of course this success is accompanied by concerns about the percentage that’s contraband. Port operators are also a little concerned by the drop in cruise activity and are considering trying to attract more cruise activity to the port.
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As usual, the city is organizing a Christmas tree collection with individual borough info available on the city site. Or bring your tree to an ecocentre.
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Ian
It’s worth noting that you can get info on Xmas tree pickup as well as regular garbage, recycling, dangerous materials and large object pickup by calling 311.
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Kate
Yep. The article has that, but it’s buried.
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William
Or if you’re a eco-conscious citizen of the Mile End, you can just dump it in the street whenever the hell you feel like it.
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Tux
Christmas trees burn real good in backyard chimineas.
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Kate
Or, see my later post, bring it to the Biodome to use for the forêt éphémère.
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Only a few of the city’s outdoor rinks are currently usable; the city says weather’s been too unstable, but opposition says it’s another example of the city’s inefficiency.
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Vera
Hmm, the article says there are none open in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, but I am staring at one where kids are playing hockey as I write. I saw them filling it late in the evening of December 30th and people began using it in earnest a couple of days later.
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Kate
The city’s official rinks page still says (Thursday) the state of all the MHM rinks is “mauvais” but either it’s not up to date, or else the kids don’t care if the ice is up to NHL standard. There’s also the open-source Patiner Montréal site to check.
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Josh 12:22 on 2012/01/05 Permalink
I saw something on TV last night about how this guy crosses the border with some regularity and also that he was the one to bring this to the media’s attention.
Tell me why anyone who crosses the border often would want to make a big deal of it, and have his name in the news for something like this. Think the guards recognize his name next time he’s crossing to Vermont?
walkerp 15:30 on 2012/01/05 Permalink
I know, seriously. You got away with murder, so just shut your mouth so you don’t ruin it for anyone else and the one-time mellow customs guy. Now they are going to all get shit on and have to be even more uptight in the future. And big thanks to the CBC for making a big deal out of it because they have no interesting news unless they create it.
First rant of the new year on the MTL Web log! Happy new year everbody! :)
Tux 12:10 on 2012/01/06 Permalink
Yes to both Josh and WalkerP – border crossings in the car are still, somehow, pretty humane and efficient. There are a lot of crazy Americans who’d like nothing better than to turn it into some billion-dollar TSA-style freak show so we really shouldn’t be drawing attention to the fact that – oh noes! – border guards can be reasonable human beings.