The Globe and Mail reported last week that bloggers don’t create news; instead, they opine on news published by mainstream media. This seems to suggest that bloggers editorialize rather than produce fact-based reporting of their own. That assertion is both ridiculous and offensive.

In other news, the Canadian Press reported Tuesday that women are increasingly outblogging men - in quantity, at least. The blogs I regularly read are mostly female written - although, this is more a symptom of my profession than the opinions available in the blogosphere - roughly 80 per cent of the students in my PR program are women.

Was anyone else getting a bit sick of last Saturday’s Earth Hour? Kudos to Tara Wood (a Centennial grad) and the WWF for their successful promotion of the event itself, but what were the key messages? Turning off the lights is a good idea? Symbolism is necessary to show public support for climate change initiatives? What exactly was I supposed to have learned because of the darkened hour?

I have many opinions concerning the TTC and its labour dispite, but I’m not going to share them now. Instead, I’d simply like to observe that the colour maroon is a poor brand choice for an organization dealing with claims of chronic filth. Maroon looks dirty even when it’s not. If cleanliness is next to godliness, then the TTC’s maroon dress has turned it into the devil’s mistress.

I went on a build for Habitat for Humanity Toronto last Friday in the exotic locale of Scarborough. It was great fun and I’m not just saying this because I’m doing my internship at the non-profit. I got to hit things - like nails and my thumb - saw things, crow bar things and pick up nails with a super magnet attached to a stick.

March was social media month in the Wall Street Journal, which I discovered by randomly picking up a section of it in the Tampa airport on my way back from Florida over reading week. When I tried to follow its content online, however, it was restricted - to paying readers.

Both the Wall Street Journal and the Globe and Mail should follow the lead of the New York Times. The latter publication recently returned to offering its online content free - much like the Toronto Star has always done. I’m all for some well placed capitalist greed, exploitation, what have you, but media have a legitimate and necessary role in any truly functioning democracy. In other words, media have a responsibility to keep citizens informed so that the decisions that are made are based on fact.

Why does Google’s spell check insist that there is no ‘u’ in colour? I can’t be the only one who gets penalized for spelling colour, honour, centre, metre and doughnut correctly. C’mon, Google, get it together.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that my efforts to save Alma College (see some of my previous posts) are complicated by internal failures at the Ontario Municipal Board. It issued approval for the demolition of Canada’s most endangered heritage property based on the type of research I’d have been failed for submitting back in my undergraduate days at McGill.

Last Friday, the Toronto Star reported that the city of Aurora is “slamming a decision by the OMB not to hold a special joint hearing with the province’s environmental review board.” Interesting. Alma College’s fate was sealed when none of the groups actually interested in preserving the school were allowed to have a say in its fate.

The OMB has a new website. I couldn’t find its mandate or mission anywhere. Go figure. Even Toronto urban designer Ken Greenberg is grumbling about the dominance of the OMB. Referring to the proposed construction of suburban box stores in the city core, he says, “The sad truth here is that the OMB has become the de facto planning board for Toronto, a role that it was never set up to fulfill.”

Coming home on the subway today I was assaulted by an advertising campaign for Gillette Mach3 Disposable razors. Its eco-insulting tagline - “enough said.” Really? I mean, really!? At a time when western consumers are being encouraged to minimize their consumption, is it absolutely necessary to promote a product that’s the personal hygiene equivalent of an SUV?

Finally, Statistics Canada released 2006 census data this morning that accurately expresses why Toronto is such a unique and exciting city - it’s one that belongs to the world. Nearly 43 per cent of Canada’s largest metropolis is a visible minority. Eat your apple, New York City!

(original blog art by Sandra Poczobut, 2008 - available for commission - sandra dot poczobut at gmail dot com)

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