1976 Festival of Festivals - Brian Linehan interviews Dino de Laurentiis

At the premiere edition of the Toronto International Film Festival Producer Dino De Laurentiis teased attendees with a 90-second preview of his then-unreleased King Kong.

1976 Festival of Festivals - Darren McGavin (the old man from A Christmas Story)

 

1976 Festival of Festivals - Fred Williamson

Blaxploitation actor/director Fred Williamson

 

What's essential to protect your smartphone, computer and devices?

 Antivirus software is a crucial tool for protecting your devices from malware and other cyber threats. In addition to antivirus and antimalware protection, some other features that antivirus programs may have include:

• Firewall: A firewall monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and blocks unauthorized access to your device.
• Email protection: This feature scans incoming and outgoing emails for malicious attachments and links.
• Web protection: This feature blocks access to malicious websites and prevents you from downloading malicious files.
• Parental controls: This feature allows you to restrict access to certain websites and applications, making it ideal for parents who want to protect their children from inappropriate content.
• Password manager: This feature securely stores your passwords and other sensitive information.
• VPN: A VPN encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP address, providing an additional layer of security and privacy.

It’s important to note that not all antivirus programs have all of these features, and some may have additional features not listed here. When choosing an antivirus program, consider your specific needs and look for a program that offers the features that are most important to you123

Learn more

1knowledgehut.com2softwarelab.org3antivirus.comodo.com

Yonge Dundas Square is now Sankofa

 The city of Toronto is naming a public space Sankofa a word from the Akan language of Ghana.Here are ten beautiful Akan words that convey poetic descriptions of humanity:

1. Nhyira (pronounced 'n-CHI-rah'): Meaning 'blessing' or 'goodness,' this word reflects the positive essence within individuals.
2. Owia (pronounced 'oh-WEE-ah'): Signifying 'life' or 'vitality,' it captures the dynamic and vibrant nature of human existence.
3. Sankɔfa (pronounced 'san-KOH-fah'): Though associated with the idea of learning from the past, it also embodies the concept of resilience and the beauty of learning and evolving.
4. Nsoromma (pronounced 'en-SO-rahm-mah'): Translating to 'star,' it symbolizes the unique brilliance and potential within every person.
5. Akoma (pronounced 'ah-KOH-mah'): Representing 'heart,' it embodies emotions, love, and the spiritual essence of humanity.
6. Nsa (pronounced 'en-SAH'): Meaning 'finger' or 'hand,' it signifies human touch, connection, and the ability to create and shape the world.
7. Aya (pronounced 'ah-YAH'): Signifying 'fern,' it's a metaphor for endurance, growth, and adaptability—the traits that define human resilience.
8. Nkɔsoɔ (pronounced 'en-KOH-soh'): Translating to 'wisdom' or 'intelligence,' it represents the intellectual capacity and knowledge embedded in individuals.
9. Mogya (pronounced 'MOH-djah'): Meaning 'blood,' it symbolizes the familial and communal ties that bind humanity together.
10. Ɔkra (pronounced 'OH-krah'): Representing 'soul' or 'spirit,' it encompasses the essence of an individual's inner being and identity.

These words not only carry linguistic beauty but also encapsulate profound aspects of human nature and experience.

The Risk of Plugging Your Devices into Unknown USB Ports: Protecting Your Data Security

In today's modern world, we are heavily reliant on our electronic devices, from smartphones to laptops. We use them for communication, work, entertainment, and more. However, with this reliance comes a risk, especially when it comes to plugging our devices into unknown USB ports. These unknown USB ports can expose our data to security risks such as malware and data theft. Let's explore the risks associated with plugging our devices into unknown USB ports and discuss ways to protect our data security.

Plugging our devices into unknown USB ports can expose our data to security risks such as malware and data theft. This is because these USB ports may be infected with malware or have been tampered with to steal data. For example, a criminal could install a malicious program on the USB port, which would then infect your device when you plug it in. Alternatively, they could tamper with the hardware to steal your data directly. These risks are not just theoretical. In 2019, a security researcher demonstrated how he could hack into a computer by simply plugging a malicious USB stick into the machine. Therefore, it is important to be cautious when plugging our devices into unknown USB ports.
One way to protect our data is to use a USB data blocker or a charging-only cable. These devices prevent data transfer while still allowing your device to charge. This means that even if the USB port is infected with malware, your device will not be infected, as no data will be transferred. USB data blockers are small devices that plug into the USB port, while charging-only cables only have the power pins connected. Both of these options are affordable and easy to use, making them a great way to protect your data when charging your device on the go.

Another way to protect our data is to use a virtual machine or sandbox environment. These allow you to test unknown USB ports and files without risking your actual system. A virtual machine is a software program that emulates a computer system, allowing you to run a separate operating system within your current one. This means that if the USB port is infected with malware, it will only infect the virtual machine and not your actual system. A sandbox environment is similar but is a separate environment within your existing system. Both of these options allow you to test unknown USB ports and files without risking your actual data security.

To sum up - plugging our devices into unknown USB ports can expose our data to security risks such as malware and data theft. However, there are ways to protect our data, such as using a USB data blocker or a charging-only cable or using a virtual machine or sandbox environment. By taking these precautions, we can protect our data and ensure that we can continue to use our electronic devices with confidence.

Atomium in Motion

Atomium in Motion is a trippy highly filtered afternoon at Brussels most famous 1958 World's Far exhibit.

The Atomium is a landmark building in Brussels (Belgium), originally constructed for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair (Expo 58). It consists of spheres connected by tubes that represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. It is now a museum. A vintage Herman Miller Marshmallow sofa is among the many period pieces on display.

CP Railway crossing Leaside Bridge at West Don over ET Seton park

CP Railway freight train crossing the Leaside Bridge at West Don over ET Seton park. This is the double-tracked CP mainline. These shipping containers could be headed east the Port of Montreal for shipping to Europe or Asia.

Eglise Saint Severin

Eglise Saint Severin
1 Rue des Prêtres Saint-Séverin
75005 Paris, France

You’re a hoarder too

Your house is a mausoleum to your own family. Everything in it is a memory of some aspect of your family’s life. And now that you’ve gotten married, had careers, raised the children and retired, that story of life has become history. Your house has gone from a place where life occurred to a place where the next chapter that awaits is death.

Why am I so harsh about this shrine to yourself. Let’s take a tour. We start in the kitchen, with the refrigerator. Oh look, it’s covered in children’s drawings. Today they’re by the grandchildren but the fridge first hosted the work of your children. And where has that work gone? Is it in a box, on a shelf in the basement just off the rec room? Or is it in the attic? Are the mice turning it into nests for their babies?

What of the dining room? I admire your handsome dining room suite. Although it’s more than a little out-of-date. And yet it’s not hip enough to be retro. If you had to sell it you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone to take it. And you’ll never get what it’s worth.

You and your spouse may think that the children will want it. After all, it’s from the mausoleum. It’s part of the archived legacy of how your family became the people we see today. But without even knowing your children, I can tell you that you’re thinking is way off. It stands to reason that if your children are old enough to have careers, spouses a home then they’ve already furnished the dining room with a suite. And it’s up-to-date. Not old and tired.

The living room is next. The TV’s up-to-date. It’s a nice model and has some of the latest features. But your 80+ inches of home cinema would take up two walls in your children’s condos. And besides, they already have a TV. Or they watch Netflix on their laptops.

Then there’s the sofa, and the side chairs, and the coffee table, and the end tables, and the lamps. All worn out and tired. It costs more than it’s worth to have it re-covered. No charity will take it. The grandchildren going off to college can’t fit any of it in their bachelor pads.

Now what really ties the room together is that Persian carpet. Timeless. But if you have one Persian carpet and two children then you have an argument, not a bequest.

Next Up: The bedrooms.

Think of COVID-19 as glitter...

Dr.Ken McGrath provides us with this great analogy for the spread of COVID-19...

Have you ever come into contact with glitter? Like hugged or shaken hands with someone who was wearing or using it? And how for the next two weeks it hangs around forever and ends up on surfaces you can't recall touching, and places you can't image it ever getting, and seems to be there even after showering and washing?

Think of COVID-19 as glitter.

We’ve noticed you're a good customer. If that continues, we will soon have to unsubscribe you.

On Friday the 1st I made a shopping list. Saturday the 2nd I loaded some tempting offers on one of my loyalty cards. On Sunday the 3rd I went on a spree and purchased 125 dollars of Health & Beauty Aids. Creams. Lotions. Ointments. Products that make your dull hair shiny. Products that make you shiny skin dull. Stuff that I needed. Because I had carefully chosen the promotional offer that suited my needs, I was rewarded with over 18,000 bonus points. Nice.

On Monday the 4th I went to pick up something at the post office of that same store. And I remembered I needed some bar soap. Cha-ching, another 120 points. Here, I thought, was a merchant who really gets it. I'm spending money I usually spend at other retailers here, at this store, because of the rewards. And, frankly – d'uh. That's how a loyalty program works.

So imagine my surprise later this week when I got home and opened this email:

“Are you still there?
Hello!
We’ve noticed you haven't opened our emails in a while. If there continues to be no activity, we will soon have to unsubscribe your email address.”

I was going to be fired as a customer. For using my loyalty card to buy hundreds of dollars of merchandise at their store!

How can they have created a stack where, even though I am loading offers on my phone from my emails into their app, and buying products on both a promotional-driven and a daily needs basis, there is some feed that cannot see any of those transactions and decides to fire me as a customer?

This is a retailer whose marketing department is staffed by people who are not in the first quartile of any cohort.

The moral of the story is “watch your stack”. Don't pull a data feed of customers to fire without parsing a feed that shows you customers that have just purchased. In fact, better yet – don't fire your customers using a loyalty program.

BTW worst of all, the only way to re-enroll in the program is to follow phishing-scam style links to dodgy login pages. Priceless.

And PPS. Of course I can't send them an email capturing the above information. Their loyalty campaign emails are do-not-reply.

The Search for General Tso...

There's been a trend since the turn of the Century (or Millennium, if you prefer) to examine the story of the Chinese diaspora in North America in terms of restaurants. Young Chinese are exploring their own cultural heritage via the lens of a menu.

Here's a link to Karen Tam's 2006 Installation at YYZ Gallery: Shangri-La Caf: A Division
of Gold Mountain Restaurant.

In Canada the first wave of immigrants from China built the CPR. Every navvy camp (to use the historically correct and fortunately ethnically-neutral term) had a group of men who cooked traditional meals for the work crews. Obtaining certain items was always an issue.

Food issues were often the cause of work stoppage and job actions. Some Chinese would drop off the railroad and open a restaurant in whatever prairie town they happened to be in. Stepping out from that center, those millennial artists observe that Chinese-Canadian cuisine was the first Fusion cuisine. Also, these restaurants were seen as a tasty window on the exotic East. In that sense it presages the fascination with all things Egyptian that occurred after the successful Howard Carter-Lord Carnarvon opening of Tut's tomb.

Cover Song Wednesdays - James Last- 17 Apr 1929 to 9 Jun 2015

I encountered James Last on a hot summer evening when the townies were getting their groove on at some country club. By prior arrangement I was there to help with the equipment. And in case you're wondering, that's "Last rhymes with Lost" not "Last rhymes with fast". Deutsche, don't cha know.

James Last and his Orchestra were beyond camp. They took bright, poppy hits of their day and arranged them into even brighter, poppier orchestra arrangements that drew you into a "Get Happy" mode that just won't stop.

Your first impression on encountering a James Last track is "Oh no, I've bought a recording of elevator music!" But after listening to enough of his work, you realize that the musicians in this band are cats with some really great chops, man. Including muttonchops, by the 1970s. They're so "out there" they're orbital. Great arrangements, great players. Wall to wall camp.

But don't believe me. Listen to the YouTube of the great James Last...

Judy in Disguise (With Glasses). This song is a Buggles-style parody of the great Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. How hip is it? According to Wikipedia "Jello Biafra released a live version as part of his 2015 live album of New Orleans rock and soul covers, Walk on Jindal's Splinters."

Note: This clip goes on for an hour, so watch as little or as much as you want.

Non-Stop Dancing! Live in Berlin in 1982, non-stop medley of Can't Stop the Music, El Dorado and Xanadu.

For me this whole thing has such a Wes Anderson feel. The band is wearing random and vaguely matched outfits. "Blue, with piping - sure. You're in the horn section. Plum? Swing by strings".

Live At The Royal Albert Hall, London 1978
Hey- That's Star Wars a la disco...

Note: This clip goes on for an hour and a half, so watch as little or as much as you want.

Mamma Mia. James Last and ABBA. It's like a gold-plated black-velvet painting in a champagne fountain infinity pool. FYI the Saxophonist is Matthias Clasen.

Dancing Queen. James Last and ABBA. It's like a Rolls-Royce drenched in Nutella in a Louis Vuitton double-wide trailer home. FYI the Saxophonist is Matthias Clasen.

Orange Blossom Special. The whole show band on Ocean Drive in Miami. So Miami Vice. In 2001. That's PEAK James Last.

MacArthur Park. Are you frickin kidding me?! Have you even been listening to these tracks? James Last was born to orchestrate this cover. Jimmy Webb meets "Hansi" and kicks major butt at 5 minutes 40 seconds...

Derek Watkins on the melodic flugelhorn solo in the early part, and then switches to trumpet.

Live in Vienna 17th april 2013.

Boyhood circa 1942

In 1942 my father is now 11 years old. When I was 11 all I could think about was the moon landing. Projecting that back to my father's childhood, WWII must have dominated his boyhood daydreams.

And 1942 was action packed. First of all, the 128 Thorold Flying Dragons Air Cadet squadron was formed on April 29, 1942. Although my father was not old enough to enlist even as a cadet, I can only imagine the thrill of seeing the unit of boys only slightly older than him in uniforms. And the air service would have been impossibly glamorous - the moon shot of its day.

According to their website "Though no longer a High School Squadron, 128 still parades in the City of Thorold with their local headquarters out of the Trinity United Church and are proud to serve over 70 years for and with the City."

From April 4 to 18, 1942, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings are the Stanley Cup finalists. According to Wikipedia- "After losing the first three games, the Maple Leafs won the next four to win the series 4–3, winning their fourth Stanley Cup. It was the first Cup Final in history to go seven. Leafs win the cup"

The naval history of WWII is often seen as a series of military engagements, which it was. But the merchant marines are also caught up in the maelstrom of destruction. In some ways a ship carrying cargo is a more attractive target than a frigate or a corvette. And on February 22, 1942 the steam ship SS George L. Torian of St. Catharines, Ontario was torpedoed in the Caribbean by U-129. Depending on the source, 13 to 15 souls were lost in that encounter. Only one has a memorial on the WWW - In memory of Master John Allan February 22, 1942. But, there is a U-boat website that gives the crew roster...

Here's the story of U-129.

Skip Gillham writes "George L. Torian headed to the Caribbean to load bauxite at inland river ports for delivery to the transshipment center at Trinidad and then north to the aluminum mills. The vessel had a full cargo and was en route from Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, when it was torpedoed and sunk by U-129 off the coast of British Guiana seventy-two years ago today. This was one of seven ships sent to the bottom by that infamous German submarine prowling in the area over a two-week period.

And in Esquimalt on 2 May 1942 at Yarrows yard the hull K325 is launched. More on HMCS St. Catharines later...

Note - My father recently passed away after 83 years on this earth. I'd like to commemorate his life with a memory project by featuring some milestone events from each year he lived.

1941 give r take

The wreck of SS Thorold...

By 1940 WWII hits very close to home with the loss of the cargo ship SS Thorold in an air raid attack while she was bringing vitally needed supplies of coal to support the war effort. Here's a memorial to the able seamen we lost that day.

Steamer SS Thorold, 1,89grt, (Quebec & Ontario Transportation Co.) had been sailing from Cardiff to London with a cargo of coal. On the 22nd August the ship was attacked and sunk by German aircraft South of the Smalls in position 51' 41N 05' 40W. 10 of her 24 crew killed.

Source: Warsailors.com

And here's the memorial...

Our cousins the Furneys start The Thorold News, as per this delightful recollection by the late Alun Hughes.

Judged fairest of them all in the national beauty contest held Sept. 4, 1940 at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, was Mary Ellen Batten of Thorold.

Note - My father recently passed away after 83 years on this earth. I'd like to commemorate his life with a memory project by featuring some milestone events from each year he lived.

1939 - It's a boy! And the Queen rolls out a superhighway

In 1939 my father's birthday gift would be the birth of his brother Harry on Nov 16, a couple of weeks after my Dad's own birthday. This occurred shortly after Canada went into war in Europe. Something very exciting in newsreels and comic books for a boy of 8, but not something that would touch his family's life in the heartland of Canada.

On the other hand, 1939 saw a whirlwind of Royal visits and the opening of Canada's first superhighway. The QEW was a four-lane blacktop not named for the current Regina Elizabeth the Queen, but rather for Queen Elizabeth - the Queen Mum and the King's consort.

There at at least two blogs devoted to its ceremonial lion monument with the other about the sculpting couple who created one of its two still-extant monuments.

The QEW is so important that even the hipsters of today blog about it. And here - "Historicist: From Magnificent Thoroughfare to Death-Trap"

There's even a cool website about the landau and other ceremonial cars used in the 1939 opening. Many of which are now in collection.


Note - My father recently passed away after 83 years on this earth. I'd like to commemorate his life with a memory project by featuring some milestone events from each year he lived.

1938 - Hello Mr and Mrs America and all ships at sea

In 1938 Canada was totally ramped up for the war effort. In the US they were sleeping at the switch (their attack wouldn't arrive until Pearl Harbour)

Read all about War Industry in St Catharines at wartimehouses.com

The King gave a speech - Ironic Mr Fox 1937 Falls Freezes Over Edition

In 1937 my father turned 6 and was now in school.

It was an exciting time in Thorold... there was a royal coronation to celebrate as George VI was made King. Yes, this was the "King's Speech" King. Here's the facade of Macartney's pharmacy bedecked in bunting.

And it's Still there. Here's a recent image of the front facade of Macartney's (later Henderson's) Drug Store courtesy of Thorold's LACAC.

Yet the Great Depression still loomed over the economy. Just up the road and down the hill Fort George was being restored to 1813 splendor, a "famine folly" that used government funds to put food on the tables of the working poor, and ensure an historic attraction that would last to today.

Just up the road the other way, Niagara Falls freezes over.

Trans Canada Air Lines takes off, serving the upper crust... Eventually they would become Air Canada, with the motto "We're not happy until you're not happy".

Note - My father recently passed away after 83 years on this earth. I'd like to commemorate his life with a memory project by featuring some milestone events from each year he lived.