My evil misunderstood overlords at The Gazette have launched two new blogs this week, bringing its total to 1,425:
Stage and Page, which I have to admit is a kind of catchy title, is the blog of new "culture critic" Pat Donnelly. Formerly the books columnist, she's taken over Matt Radz's theatre beat as well, bringing herself to a level of cultural aptitude that simply puts the rest of us to shame.
Green Life, by reporters Monique Beaudin and Michelle Lalonde, is the environment blog, which was launched last Tuesday as part of the whole Earth Day thing. It's part of a larger "website" devoted to environment issues. There will also be a weekly column on the environment on Mondays (including a big splash in today's Arts & Life section on reducing your carbon footprint in 12 easy steps). The column will alternate between the two as they teach us new and disgusting ways to make us greener.
(UPDATE - April 30):
Showbiz Chez Nous, by Brendan Kelly, follows the same subject matter as his weekly column: TV and movies in Quebec.
Austin Hill's Akoha project just announced that they have $1.9 million in funding thanks to a dozen angel investors.
For those who don't know, Akoha is ... uhh ... what does the "About Us" page say again? Something about fun and play and sharing and making the world a better place.
It could be a social-networking site for fundraisers or it could be a giant multiplayer Pong game with the Sesame Street theme playing all the time. They're still kind of being coy about it.
I'm not much connected to the investor/rich-people market (if I did, I'd probably have a better apartment and/or life), so the names don't quite impress me. The one I do recognize is Jonathan Wener, who sits on Concordia University's board of governors and its real-estate committee. He's a big reason behind the new buildings they have, to the point where I don't know why he doesn't have one named after him yet.
More importantly, he's very rich and not one to waste money on some go-nowhere startup without a plan. That alone makes me think Akoha's got something here.
You know what's cool? Video demos featuring me. (Though I'm no longer the first result for "cyberpresse" apparently.)
Via Sekhmet.
It's about to get just a bit easier, and yet more difficult, to drive through Cartierville and Ville-Saint Laurent.
The city has presented its plan for making sure the residents on or near Toupin Blvd. don't get overwhelmed with through traffic when Cavendish Blvd. is extended north to Henri-Bourassa.
The main focus is to get people coming to and from Laval to use the arteries: Highway 13 and Marcel-Laurin/Laurentien.
For the full details, you can see the slideshow (PDF), which has crazy details like counting the number of cars through each intersection and including the width of lanes and stuff.
But here's the skinny for drivers:
OK, I made that last one up.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Transport completed inspections of 135 bridges and overpasses that were red-flagged by the Johnson Commission as potentially hazardous and immediately restricted from carrying overweight trucks.
The result: While 83 of those overpasses have been completely reopened, the rest will require either major repairs or replacement over the coming years.
Among the last to be inspected (or at least evaluated) (PDF) were three on the island of Montreal: Two overpasses of Highway 138 over Monette Street in LaSalle will be replaced, while Côte-Vertu over Highway 13 will require major repairs.
With the list now complete (PDF), I've updated my overpasses-of-death map on Google Maps to reflect the results.
The green marks note structures that have had all their restrictions lifted. Yellows mark those which will see major repairs in the next few years. Red ones mark those which will be demolished and replaced.
Not sure if seeing so many red marks should make us feel good or bad about the situation.
From Jon Lajoie:
Note: Please do not take this literally. Flyers fans are human too. If you see one trying to steal the purse of a helpless old lady, please report the matter to the police immediately and do not -- I repeat: do not -- beat the person to a bloody pulp.
You find the weirdest stories on Craigslist sometimes...
You knew it had to come eventually: the "I'm real sorry for what I did but I was drunk and other people did worse things and OMG POLICE BRUTALITY!!!" quote from a semi-repentant rioter who got caught throwing bottles at police.
During the Montreal-Boston series, The Gazette and the Boston Globe would exchange columns from Dave Stubbs and Kevin Paul Dumont, respectively. Now that we've said na-na-na-na-hey-hey-hey-goodbye to Boston, the paper is continuing the tradition with Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Phil Sheridan, giving a Philly perspective on the series.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.
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