Until Wednesday's incident, a Canadian journalist hasn't been injured in a conflict zone since 2002, when the Toronto Star's Kathleen Kenna got seriously wounded by a grenade attack.

But that risk is there. For journalists and news organizations alike, the issue is one of weighing the risk versus the importance of the story.

The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear an appeal of Ontario's anti-squeegee law, an artifact of the Harris era.

However, that didn't stop industrious squeegee-ers from plying their trade at some major intersections in west downtown Toronto this afternoon.

They seem to be going with smaller squeegees with short handles while wearing fairly roomy shirts. That way, if they notice the cops, they tuck the squeegee in the back of their pants and put the shirt over top.

Unfortunately for them, they still pretty much look like squeegee-ers. :)

Riding the streetcar today east on College St., I noticed signs of life at the late, lamented N-Blox condo site.

Behold its successor project: Cube lofts!

Here's an image of the original project:

To my layman's eye, the original is the more eye-catching design. However, even if I had had the $800,000 for an entry-level condo there (about $727 per square foot), I could have bought a very nice house in a funky area (I don't consider Davisville "funky" :) ).

If one went further east to the Europa Condos project at Palmerston and College, the condos there were in the $400 per square foot range, based on the bachelor's units they're still trying to flog.

But whenever I go by that building, I'm left thinking it did nothing architecturally uplifting for the neighbourhood. The project looks like an office building without the character, which amuses me considering the website bumpf says how romantic the neighbourhood is. :)

Now we have a second project to the west that will undoubtedly be more affordable than N-Blox, but to me, doesn't have any excitement to it. However, if people aren't willing to pay the premium to be part of an exciting development, that leaves pedestrian as the fallback option, doesn't it?

Anyways, kudos to the ears of the anonymous commenter from Aug. 5 who said: "I heard a rumour that there will be a re-launch with a more sellable product."

Update

An entry-level suite is $280,000. The top price is $1.3 million..

This is a very savvy online marketing effort:

Update

Some people didn't get it.

Radio Canada's Patrice Roy tells his fellow reporters in Kandahar what happened when the LAV-III in which he was riding got hit by a roadside bomb on Wednesday. Two Canadian soldiers died plus an Afghan interpreter. R-C cameraman Charles Dubois was injured, as was another Canadian soldier.

Here's part one of the Beeb feature, and here's part two.

I found this to be an eye-opening quote from one sex ed opponent:

The right-wing Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) blames "a Western mindset behind the move".

"We run about 26,000 schools across the country. Our teachers have studied the curriculum and they find it obscene and objectionable," RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told the BBC.

"The whole curriculum is designed to suit the lifestyle in Western countries, where there is a general free atmosphere. In our country we live with families."

Mr Madhav says: "Giving sex education on the pretext that India has a large number of Aids patients is illogical."

Avert.org has stats on HIV/AIDS in India.

More information here about the media and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

PS

Great minds think alike. Roughly 18 hours later, but alike. :)

Two Canadian soldiers are dead, as is an Afghan intepreter, following an IED blast in Zhari district of Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

Another Canadian soldier was injured. Charles Dubois, a Radio Canada cameraman, suffered serious injuries to his leg, and reporter Patrice Roy is suffering from shock but not otherwise physically injured.

Since this is a media-centric blog, I'll focus on the journalists.