Toronto - View from the Ground

Toronto

Toronto is the capital city of the province of Ontario and the largest city in Canada by population, with around 3 millions of residents (but the Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA), the majority of which is within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), has a population of around 6 millions. Toronto is the anchor of an urban agglomeration, known as the Golden Horseshoe. Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, situated on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years.The British established the town of York in 1793, which was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during Canadian Confederation in 1867.

The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada, with over 50 percent of residents belonging to a visible minority population group, and over 200 distinct ethnic origins represented among its inhabitants.While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city.

Victorian house close to Royal Ontario Museum

Dundas Place, Toronto's downtown.

Urban Eatery and other publicities. Downtown.

Hard Rock Cafe, Dundas street and Dundas Square

Dundas square, new pubs

Toronto Planetarium (building only, the planetarium was closed)

Bay and College street

Solar panels, Breadalbane and Bay street

Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Queen street and Bloor street.

A street in downtown Toronto

Munk School of global affaires, Bloor street

Elm street at Rosedale, Athletics and Wellness center

Bata Museum of Toronto.

Bata museum facade.

Equestrian statue of King Edward VII. Originally standing in Edward Park, Delhi, India, this statue was erected on the present site through the generous subscriptions of the citizens of this area. This gift to the City of Toronto was made possible by the Government of India and the former Canadian High Commissioner to India, His Excellency The Right Honourable Roland Michener, C.C., C.D. Governor General of Canada, and brought to this City through the personal generosity of Henry R. Jackman, Esq., Q.C.. May 24, 1969. William Dennison, Mayor

Queen Park and University street.

Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806). First Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada between 1791 and 1796. Founder of the City of Toronto on July 30th, 1793.

The Church of Rock'N Roll

The Church of of Rock'N Roll

If you loved, or missed, rock's early years, try the Rock'N Roll Hall of Fame

So you've already criss-crossed the country. And you've hit all of the meccas of American culture. And you just don't have the energy to follow the Dean or make Lollapalooza your life. No problem. Unearth thouse tapes you used to listen to when you wore those hot pants! Pack the car with ones that make you feel like a voodoo child. Take along your prized Fender Telecaster, and drive yourself through all the fields of gold until you reach Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

The concept for a museum dedicated to the history of rock and roll was born over decades ago, with the creation of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. Founded by a group of music industry moguls, the foundation honors men and women who have made unique contributions to rock and roll. In 1986, after a nationwide search for an appropriate location, Cleveland, Ohio, was chosen as the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The doors open in September 1995.

If James Brown's stage costume, Pete Townshend's battered acoustic guitar, Big Joe Turner's passport, or Grace Slick's dress from Woodstock aren't enough of a draw, it's worth the trip to Cleveland to see the creation of one of the world's most famous architects. Designed by I.M. Pei, who also renovated the Louvre, the rock museum has not only exhibition areas and archival facilities, but also indoor and outdoor concert areas, and a working studio where visiting D.Js can conduct live broadcasts.

Rock N' Roll new  young Stars. Photo by Elena

Inside the dramatic cantilevered spaces, the exhibits are likely to delight not only the most diehard rock fans, but also the most technologically sophisticated of visitors with the way high-tech wizardry has been blended with good, old-fashioned story-telling to show how rock and roll helped shape today's culture.

The collections spotlight Hall of Famers by including materials that cover the entire scope of each individual<s life and work, as well as portraying rock and roll in the context of the society that gave birth to and felt the impact of such high-decibel stars and the Rolling Stons, the Beatles, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and James Brown.

Museum officials embrace the good, the bad and the ugly; the major music scenes, and the music's impact on the way we live are all covered in exhibitions.

This is no mere Hard Rock Cafe. The museum's special features include a multimedia presentation that leads visitors through a recording session; a series of ongoing film presentations and focused exhibits that provide in-depth information on artists, historical periods, and current events; and interactive database featuring “The 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”; a three-dimensional display that traces the history of fashion in rock and roll; and tons of memorabilia collected by fans or donated by the legends themselves.

Location: The museum is located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland's North Coast Harbor at 1040 East 9th Streeet, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.

A Healing Fire

A Healing Fire

By William T.Lowe. Excerpt

The Higbee barrens is roughly rectangular in shape, bounded on two sides by county roads, a stream on the east, and the pastures of a big dairy farm to the north. These are pitch pines, taller and a harder wood than the common jack pines. Pine trees in the Adirondacks have not yet been damaged by acid rain as our maples have been.

Three families live on the edge of the barrens, and I was asked to visit them and reassure them that they wouldn’t have to vacate their homes and that there would be special insurance protection on the remote chance of any damage.

I set out the morning after the meeting. It was an early spring day, bright and fresh. There was still a trace of snow on Whiteface; trees were starting to bud. I passed a stand of willows showing that shade of mustard that would soon turn to a light green. Soon I was driving along the age of the barrens, a dense stockade of trees opened here and there by a Jeep trail or a footpath. The air was rich with pine.

My first stop was Clyde Spenser’s place. He lived on the east side of the barrens near Foxtail Creek. He came into town alone once a weel to play the lottery and do the family grocery shopping.

For a couple of years I’ve suspected Clyde of growing … somewhere near his place, but I’ve never been able to prove it. As a deputy I’ve found pot patches hidden on the banks of a stream, in the middle of a cornfield, on the back side of a hill. It’s easy to grow; all you need is sun, soil, water, and privacy.

A healing fire. Photo by Elena

Clyde wouldn’t invite me into his house. “My wife is ailing,” he said. He was disturbed by the idea of strangers setting fires in the barrens next door. “I won’t leave my house,” he told me over and over. “No matter what.”

I assured him he would have nothing to worry about. As I turned my car around, I saw a woman I took to be Mrs. Spenser in the back yard feeding some chickens.

Did Clyde have something hidden in the house? Being suspicious is part of being a peace officer; it goes with the territory. I would be back to see Clyde again.

My next visit was to the Walter Doyle place on the southbound country road. His small frame house needed paint; the yard needed raking.

A lean-to sheltered an ancient pickup. Some distance away from the house but near the road was a large old barn, its roof swaybacked, the wooden shingles warped and moss-covered. High weeds around the door showed that the barn was seldom if ever used.

Inside the fence and in front of the house a big fishing boat sat on its trailer. A fitted cover was stretched over the cockpit; a chrome bow rail glistened in the sun.

Walter assured everyone that he was a carpenter but that a long-ago accident had gifted him with a permanently sore back and subsequent disability compensation payments.

Published in September 2000, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery magazine

Is There Momentum in the Stock Market?

Is There Momentum in the Stock Market?

The technician believes that knowledge of a stock’s past behavior can help predict its probable future behavior. In other words, the sequels of price changes prior to any given day is important in predicting the price change for that day. This might be called the wallpaper principle. The technical analyst tries to predict future stock prices just as we might predict that the pattern above the mirror. The basic premise is that there are repeatable patterns in space and time.

Chartists believe there is momentum in the market. Supposedly, stocks that have been rising will continue to do so, and those that begin falling will go on sinking. Should the stock begin to fall or “act poorly,” investors are advised to sell.

These technical rules have been tested exhaustively by using stock price data on both major exchanges going back as far as the beginning of the twentieth century. The results reveal conclusively that past movements in stock prices cannot be used to foretell future movements. The stock market has no memory. The central proposition of charting is absolutely false, and investors who follow its precepts will accomplish nothing but increasing substantially the brokerage charges they pay.

The City of Toronto has established many park`s facilities over the past years, including Hillside Gardens, three swimming pools, tennis courts, field houses and an outdoor ice rink. Sakura, Sunday. Photo by Elena

One set of tests, perhaps the simplest of all, compares the price change for a stock in a given period with the price change in a subsequent period. For example, technical lore hast it that if the price of a stock rose yesterday it is more likely to rise today. It turns out that the correlation of past price movements with present and future price movements is close to zero. Las week’s price change bears little relationship to the price change this week, and so forth. Whatever slight dependencies have been found between stock price movements in different time periods are so small that individuals who pay commission costs cannot hope to profit from them.

Economists have also examined the technician’s thesis that there are often sequences of price change in the same direction over several days (or several weeks of months). Stocks are likened to fullbacks who, once having gained some momentum, can be expected to carry on for a long gain. It turns out that this is simply not the case. Sometimes one gets positive price changes (rising prices) for several days in a row; but sometimes when you are flipping a fair coin you also get a long string of “heads” in a row, and you get sequences of positive (or negative) price changes no more frequently than you can expect random sequences of heads or tails in a row. What are often called “persistent patterns” in the stock market occur no more frequently than the runs of luck in the fortunes of any gambler playing a game of chance. This is what the economist means when he says that stock prices behave like a random walk.

Burton G. Malkiel. A Random Walk Down Wall Street, including a life-cycle guide to personal investing. First edition, 1973, by W.W. Norton and company, Inc

Wine

Wine

Yoon Ha Lee

“Well,” the Snake Councilor said softly, “I hope we have enough wine to offer our guests. Assuming they imbibe.” The others ignored her, on the chance that she wasn’t joking.

Their guests numbered two. They didn’t so much step through the doors as emerge like cutouts suddenly fleshed.

The first was a woman, tall, with the finest of veils over her face. She wore soft robes with bruise-colored chadows, and her cloak was edged with dark feathers. The Snake Councilor glanced at the Falcon Councilor, but the latter’s face was an unreadable labyrinth of refractions. The other guest was a man, neatly shaven. His hair was black, his eyes of indeterminate color.

The Falcon Councilor inclined her head to them. «We are grateful for your promptness, » she said. « We are Nasteng’s Council of Five, and the nature of our emergency should be clear to you. »

« Yes, » the woman said. The man bowed, but did not speak. There was something borced about the curve of his mouth, as though the lips had been sutured together. « You may call me Ahrep-na. I have a great deal of experience with situations like yours. I assume you’re familiar with my past successes, but if you need – »

« We know, » the Falcon Councilor said. She had heard the name of Ahrep-na, although it was not safe to use it until she had given you permission. It was why she had left Nasteng all those years ago, in search of Ahrep-na’s token.

Wine. Photo by Elena

« In that case, Ahrep-na said, « we will need to discuss the contract. My methods are particular. »

The Falcon Councilor thought wryly of Nesteng’s high generals, some of whom were rather more useful than others, Most of whom were rather less. One of the dangers of having its officers drawn almost exclusively from the nobility, or from people who bought their commissions. « That won’t be an issue, » she said. Behind her, she heard a harrumph from the Snowcat Councilor, but he didn’t interrup otherwise.

They spoke some more about operational and logistical details, about courtesies blunt and banal, and circles eventually to the matter of payment. Given Ahrep-na’s bluntness about everything else, her difficence about this matter puzzled the Falcon Councilor. But bring it up she did. « Our contracts are tailored to the individual situation. » Ahrep-na said. « Up-front, we require – «  She named a sum. It was staggering, but su was annhiliation.

Finance was not the Falcon Councilor’s domain. The Snake Councilor turned to a page in her empty book, frowned at a column of figures that wasn’t there, and said, « It will be done in two days. »

Ahrep-na’s smile was pleased. « We will also require the fruits of a year’s harvest. »

« You’ll have to be more specific, » the Falcon Councilor said, as though this were a tedious back-and-forth about supply depots and ammunition.

Ahrep-na wasn’t fooled. « This point is nonnegotiable. » She offered no elaboration.

The Falcon Councilor opened her mouth. Prompted by some nuance of sound behind her, however, she turned without saying what had come to her mind. Harvest. The councilors’ secret that was no secret to the outside world anymore : the wine that kept them young.

Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, edited by Rich Horton, Prime Books, 2015.