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Toronto-Age |OT2|

R

Roto13

Member
Takao said:
Where can I get some prepaid Visa, or Mastercards? I want to do some online shopping, and buy some stuff off the Nintendo eShop.
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The one prepaid mastercard I ever bought (for the PSN, before PSN cards were available in Canada) was at a 7-Eleven.

You can link a bank account to a paypal account for online shopping, though.
 
S

StevieP

Banned
Zombie James said:
Security with fewer police officers, clean roads without snow removal, and a clean city with prisoners picking up garbage.
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Maybe the extra drunk drivers on the road due to the loss of the blue night will plow it for us
with people's skulls
 
R

Roto13

Member
What's with that, anyway? I never see 7-11's in this city. :p

I'm sure I've seen prepaid credit cards around elsewhere, though. Money Mart, maybe?
 
A

AlphaTwo00

Member
Roto13 said:
What's with that, anyway? I never see 7-11's in this city. :p

I'm sure I've seen prepaid credit cards around elsewhere, though. Money Mart, maybe?
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"There are more Libraries in Toronto than 7-11"
 
C

crimzonflame

Member
As do I. I just hear from people from other cities around the world how separate races usually stick to themselves. When I tell them how many different friends I have in Toronto they seem to think my friends are just acquaintances or I am the exception to the rule. Toronto does have ethnic enclaves but I have been to many and never felt unwelcome which isnt the case in other cities.
 
A

Azih

Member
crimzonflame said:
As do I. I just hear from people from other cities around the world how separate races usually stick to themselves. When I tell them how many different friends I have in Toronto they seem to think my friends are just acquaintances or I am the exception to the rule. Toronto does have ethnic enclaves but I have been to many and never felt unwelcome which isnt the case in other cities.
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Yeah people from different places still stick to each other a bit here (hence why there are enclaves) I think the difference is that no one has any issues with hanging out with different people in different 'enclaves'.


I think it mostly has to do with the awesome public schools that this region has that pretty much all kids go to.
 
R

Roto13

Member
Azih said:
Well I am one soo... yes.
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Get out of my country.
LLShC.gif


crimzonflame said:
As do I. I just hear from people from other cities around the world how separate races usually stick to themselves. When I tell them how many different friends I have in Toronto they seem to think my friends are just acquaintances or I am the exception to the rule. Toronto does have ethnic enclaves but I have been to many and never felt unwelcome which isnt the case in other cities.
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Once I met an Arabian friend after his ESL class or whatever, and his friends from the class were impressed with him for having a Canadian friend, even though he'd been living in Canada for like six months.
 
A

added_time

Member
crimzonflame said:
Quick question. Do you guys have friends that are ethnic minorities/immigrants?
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All of my childhood friends are Chinese. My friends include a Sri-Lankan, some Eastern Europeans etc...

but my grandparents moved to Canada from Austria so I've always thought everyone in Toronto is an immigrant in their own way (except for Native peoples)

...oh and my wife is from New York which is in some far away land called the United States of America.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
a176 said:
i voted for ford for the city, i voted torie for parliament; i was considering hudak on the point of just ousting the liberal party but frankly, he just seems more nutty by the day.

i will be voting ndp for ontario.
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Unless you're in a riding where the NDP traditionally win, a vote for NDP is a vote for Hudak.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Draff said:
Phew, I was worried the city would lose sight on its priorities. It's good to know that Ford truly knows importance of smooth clean roads! I was afraid he was going to divert money into social programs and transit.

http://www.thestar.com/iphone/Top Stories/article/1028946
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Talking about the uproar over proposed cuts, Ford reassured Torontonians, saying he’s a “man of integrity” and “it’ll all come out in the wash.”
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What the fuck does this even mean?
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
crimzonflame said:
Quick question. Do you guys have friends that are ethnic minorities/immigrants?
Click to expand...

This is Toronto you're speaking about. Toronto and Vancouver are mostly ethnic/minorities and immigrants.

There are "ethnic enclaves" but you'll see that everyone is welcome to go there and buy stuff or hang with friends.

Diverse public school systems promote social integration. I'm concerned that when all 3 tiers of government go Conservative, there will be actions taken to destroy the public school system in favor of private schools. Conservatives have been in love with the idea of private schools for decades. They want to give people tax rebates for going to private school, with the money coming out of public school budgets.
 
R

Rinoa

Member
StevieP said:
As someone who went to York U using transit back in my youth (which took nearly 2 hours from Scarborough) I would've appreciated a westward extension of the Sheppard line.
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I also went to York U in my youth, but even these subway extensions will need surface routes (bus or streetcar) to really service them and make them worth using.

Speaking of which, if there's any extension we need, it's relief for the Yonge line. It's far beyond max capacity at rush hour and impossible to ride. Adding more lines that pour into Yonge is just adding to the problem.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Zzoram said:
I hope the damage Ford does can be repaired by the next Mayor.
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Doubt it, unfortunately. Look at what the Conservatives did in the 407 sale, all Ford has to do is stick a 99-year lease on whatever he sells off (and throw in some no-compete clauses) and the public will never be able to buy it back.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
The 407 sale... ugh

Build it at ridiculous public expense, give it away to a private conglomerate to collect all the profits, the Conservative way.
 
S

StevieP

Banned
Zzoram said:
The 407 sale... ugh

Build it at ridiculous public expense, give it away to a private conglomerate to collect all the profits, the Conservative way.
Click to expand...

It was sold, not given away - no? :p
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
StevieP said:
It was sold, not given away - no? :p
Click to expand...

The price the 99 year lease was sold for was basically a giveaway. The conglomerate is going to make such ridiculous profit on the deal.

The highway opened in 1997, and highway cost roughly $1.6 billion. The published $1.6 billion cost does not take into account more than $100 billion spent since the early 1970s acquiring the land that it sits on.

As part of a controversial plan to balance the budget, and just prior to the Harris government's re-election campaign, the highway was leased to a conglomerate of private companies in 1999 for $3.1 billion, who renamed the route 407 ETR. The company, known as 407 International Inc., is owned by a consortium of Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte (major shareholder) from Spain, Macquarie Infrastructure Group, and Montreal-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin. The deal included a 99-year lease agreement, unlimited control over the highway and its tolls and a restriction under which the government may not build any nearby freeways which might potentially compete with 407 ETR; however, the Government maintained the ability to build a light transit system along the 407 right-of-way.
Click to expand...

Basically after the government spent $100Bn+ on making an alternative to the 401 along the most congested part, they gave it to a conglomerate for $3.1Bn for 99 years, and due to their toll fees discouraging use by many, it didn't do anything to relieve congestion, but it's making some companies a lot of money. It gets a decent amount of use, and use is increasing as 401 congestion gets worse, but the government should have just kept the highway and administered the tolls themselves. That way they could charge a lower toll to encourage more use, relieving more 401 traffic, so they wouldn't have to spend a bunch of money expanding the 401 more like they're going to have to now. Also, if the government was collecting the tolls, eventually they'd make more money than they got selling the 99 year lease to the conglomerate.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
StevieP said:
It was sold, not given away - no? :p
Click to expand...

Technically sold, yeah, but...

The highway opened in 1997, and highway cost roughly $1.6 billion. The published $1.6 billion cost does not take into account more than $100 billion spent since the early 1970s acquiring the land that it sits on.
Click to expand...

As part of a controversial plan to balance the budget, and just prior to the Harris government's re-election campaign, the highway was leased to a conglomerate of private companies in 1999 for $3.1 billion, who renamed the route 407 ETR.
Click to expand...

On October 5, 2010, the Canadian Pension Plan announced that an agreement was reached with the owners of the roadway to purchase 10% stake for $894 million Canadian dollars. This implies a value of close to $9 billion for the highway in its current state.
Click to expand...

So:

  • Land Highway 407 was build on cost over $100B.
  • Highway 407 itself cost $1.6B to build, sold for $3.1B.
  • Highway 407 today worth ~$9B.

Net Gain (roughly): -$98B. And Conservatives call themselves smart business people. Then there's this:

The deal included a 99-year lease agreement, unlimited control over the highway and its tolls and a restriction under which the government may not build any nearby freeways which might potentially compete with 407 ETR; however, the Government maintained the ability to build a light transit system along the 407 right-of-way.
Click to expand...

SMH. Yeah, let's have another repeat of this shit.
 
R

Rinoa

Member
crimzonflame said:
Have you guys ever had a Jamaican beef patty in coco bread?
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The best was at Joyce's Jamaican Foods (RIP) at Bathurst/Bloor back in the day. However the grade of meat in beef patties is so bad that when I had one from Bathurst station a few months ago, just to remember the taste, my stomach protested. I had some of a friend's patty w/bread from Patty King in kensington and it was def better than the Bathurst patty.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
Did someone in this thread earlier say that Rogers was increasing the data caps for home internet? Their website hasnsn't shown any increase.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
StevieP said:
"The Tax Man"
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Taxes aren't his problem IMO. McGuinty's main weakness is that he keeps appointing or creating new beaurocrat positions where the people end up doing nothing while collecting huge paychecks.

His intentions seem to be in the right place, but he doesn't seem to know how to reign in administrators.
 
R

Roto13

Member
I need new glasses. Where should I go for an eye exam and some new specs? I live downtown. I've only ever been to one optometrist in my life, in my home town, because he was the only one there. :p
 
Q

Quick

Banned
crimzonflame said:
Quick question. Do you guys have friends that are ethnic minorities/immigrants?
Click to expand...

My friends are a mosaic.

I'm sort of the opposite when it comes to the generalization that people of the same background stick together.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Member
Zzoram said:
The price the 99 year lease was sold for was basically a giveaway. The conglomerate is going to make such ridiculous profit on the deal.



Basically after the government spent $100Bn+ on making an alternative to the 401 along the most congested part, they gave it to a conglomerate for $3.1Bn for 99 years, and due to their toll fees discouraging use by many, it didn't do anything to relieve congestion, but it's making some companies a lot of money. It gets a decent amount of use, and use is increasing as 401 congestion gets worse, but the government should have just kept the highway and administered the tolls themselves. That way they could charge a lower toll to encourage more use, relieving more 401 traffic, so they wouldn't have to spend a bunch of money expanding the 401 more like they're going to have to now. Also, if the government was collecting the tolls, eventually they'd make more money than they got selling the 99 year lease to the conglomerate.
Click to expand...


But please, everyone, forget about all of this and vote for Hudak. It's not like he's associated to Harris in any way, not even by marriage. No way.

Ah, who am I kidding - the Cons will win because of a vote split, followed by the NDP provincials giving their own embarrassing "victory" speech.

Canadian political attitudes can suck my balls right now.

We're a bunch of fascists right now.
 
D

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Entropia said:
Remember the Snakes & Lattes meetup? :lol

If you guys have a meetup, hope it goes better than that one! :)

Unfortunately I'm a couple hours out of TO and probably wouldn't be able to make it.
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What happened at Snakes and Lattes?
 
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