Homs, Syria - It’s terribly sad these journalists have died, and they knew what they were getting into. But the reports from these journalists indicating that this is the ‘worst war in the world’ seems to be unfounded.

Marie Colvin, 55, of the London’s, The Sunday Times (owned by NewsCorp – Fox)  and correspondent for CNN, was killed along with war photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, today in Homs, Syria. Many in the World remember Colvin for her identifiable patch over her left eye, which she lost during a conflict in Sri Lanka in 2001. The details of exactly how they were killed, has not been disclosed, but it appears they were hit by shelling today, as nearly 100 people are killed every day in Homs. But the Government of Syria suggest these killings have been initiated by terrorists and they are NOT responsible for any killings.

Do they not remember Darfur, Sudan? estimates from the UN say that 70,000 were killed by the Sudanese government but many put that even 4-5 times higher. How many more innocent children must die before the world steps up and does something? Will the genocide continue?

The people of Darfur wanted nothing more than freedom, and the Sudanese government has been accused of genocide in the killing and displacement of millions. To date the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been accused of killing 4-5000 in the past year.

War is terrible no matter where it occurs, but sadly, the victims of war are truly the innocent, seeing a two-year old dying in the arms of their fathers, is the worst of the worst.

The world must step up and help these helpless people now. In Darfur and in Syria, and anywhere else it may occur. What is the reason that China and Russia denied to get involved in the Syrian conflict? Does it have anything to do with money?

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

It appears approximately 30-40% of the passengers on the Costa Concordia grounding, have accepted the $11,000 euros as settlement. The tragedy which occurred on January 13th off the coast of Italy (Giglio Island) shocked the world and over 30 have been reported dead with another 15 missing.

The Concordia whose parent company is Carnival Cruise Corporation in Miami, Florida have received a class action law suit for $460 million. There were less than 100 Americans aboard the doomed ship, and yet many just want to put the tragedy behind them and take the small settlement. There were over 4200 on the ship when it grounded and none of the settlements have been offered to the crew or onboard staff.

An excellent update can be viewed HERE, on Cruise Critic an online resourse for the cruise industry.

CLICK HERE for my previous reports. Iltalian prosecutors are seeking 2697 year sentence for Captain Francesco Schettino, 52, (dubbed the ‘Chicken of the Sea’ by the New York Post) charges towards the tragedy, if convicted of all charges.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Giglio Island, Italy - It has been revealed that the Costa Concordia Captain, Francesco Schettino, 52, (dubbed the ‘Chicken of the Sea’ by the New York Post)  had cocaine in his hair follicles just after the tragedy.

Cocaine can stay in the hair follicles for anywhere from three to 12 months, and it doesn’t have to be a hair from the head. Schettino, is currently under house arrest in Italy, and charges have been laid. (prosecution wants him to serve 2697 years)

Approximately 35 people have been reported dead so far with another 15 still missing.

The Concordia is still laying on its side off the coast and salvage operations are underway.

They are continuing to remove the fuel and oil and is expected to take several months. A class action law suit is underway for the surviving passengers, 4200, who are launching the suit against the parent company, Carnival Cruise Lines, in Miami, Florida.

To read more about the tragedy of the sinking of the Costa Concordia CLICK HERE for my previous reports.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Toronto, Canada - New penthouse on the 75th floor of downtown condo (being built now) is not available, it has been sold to a Norwegian billionaire already, and it’s only 11,370  square feet. Much too small for me, you can view the VIDEO HERE.   Really incredible video, we can all dream.

Although it is not the most expensive condo/apartment in Toronto, it has been called the largest in Canada, at the moment.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

UPDATE: February 23/2012 - RadarOnline is reporting EXCLUSIVELY from an ‘inside source’ that she died of “deadly mixture of Valium, Xanax and alcohol in her system”

Whitney Houston died this week, was it because of abuse of prescription drugs, or something else?

I don’t know, but most of the ‘main stream’ media have already decided, “she misused prescription drugs and alcohol.”

How do they know, the toxicology results are not back yet and will not be for 6-8 weeks, if not more. Bill O’Reilly of the Factor on Fox News even goes further, check it out HERE.

Give it rest already, we don’t know how she died and we can all speculate, but let’s move on. She will be buried on Saturday (1500 by invitation only) in New Jersey and all the media can talk about,  is how she used  illegal drugs in the past, she didn’t just inhale.

There is no question, she was one of the best singers in the world, and has a world wide following, and her great talent will be missed. The infamous picture of her with ‘blood’ on her leg, is a stretch at best, and I thought from the beginning,  it could be red wine.

But if it was just red wine, how could they sensationalize the news feed, if it wasn’t drug abuse?

It may well be that she was using more prescription drugs than necessary, and that is wrong, but please do not jump to conclusions ‘just to get/create’ a story, how shameful.

R.I.P. our dear friend,  forever.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

February 13/2012 – Toronto, Canada – You can clearly see by the video, that Bell FibeTV offers many new features, how wonderful. They tell you this, but they don’t tell you everything, they leave out the part where it will cost you extra money. Yes, by the end of the month if you have your twitter, or facebook feed on the TV constantly, that go towards your allowed bandwidth for the month.

BANDWIDTH ISSUES – ALLOWANCE PER MONTH

This is something that is held very close to the vest, and it is unlikely you will be told anything about this if/when you sign up for Bell FibeTV. The minimum allowed with any package, appears to be 25 GB and what that means is the amount of uploads/downloads you make on your computers in the house. An example would be if you downloaded a movie from Netflix, that would be almost 1 GB of data for your total computer usage for the month. Once you go over that 25GB you get charged extra. And that counts towards anything you watch online from YouTube videos or any ads that pop up on your screen while you are surfing, it all counts towards your bandwidth. But does Bell FibeTV tell you all about that?   NO.

Are the big guys ripping us off, if we allow this, it will continue unless people step up and say,  NO …

An article in The Toronto Star recently explains what the big guys are doing to our internet access.

“Net Neutrality is the governing principle of the Internet that requires that Internet service providers not discriminate including speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination. Net neutrality protects our ability to direct our own online activities. With net neutrality in place, a network’s job is to move data in a non-discriminatory manner, based on what people want.” If we allow this to continue, we will be sitting in the slow lane, and only those that pay extra, will be allowed in the passing/fast  lane. That’s what they call bandwidth throttling.

These apps that Bell FibeTV is pushing, increase their income without explaining it to us, although they do mention it very briefly when you activate, but who reads that stuff.

The deceptions started the first day when they were in our lobby, showing  their Bell FibeTV, was a channel they were promoting. It was HD Net and one of my favourite shows, Prison Break, I was ready to sign up immediately. But no, HD Net was not available, on Bell FibeTV. After I asked some tough questions, which they hesitated to answer, they told me, “Yes, you can record four (4) shows at once,” not mentioning that I can ONLY record 2 High Definition (HD) and 2 Standard (SD) at once, however after complaints, they have upped that to 3 HD and 1 SD. (Although that may not be available everywhere, and there could be an embargo on the extra recording channel.

It’s happening in the USA too, on phones, CLICK HERE to see video.

I just watched a Bell FibeTV advertisement last week, and they are still continuing the “sham” they still say on the ad, “you can record 4 programs at once.” Why are the hiding this information? Why not tell us everything?

The ads Bell FibeTV are running also say the packages start at around $30, I’m not sure what ‘PACKAGE’ that gives you, but we pay $150 per month, even with all our problems.

They did the same thing at the sales pitch, “You can pause live TV” but failed to mention, only on one receiver. But now, they do allow ‘pause live TV’ on all receivers, after consumer complaints.

You must decide for yourself, but do the research, and when you call, be sure to get the name of the person you talked to, and write it down. Because Bell is famous for saying, “who told you that?” and we always get so many different answers.

But when Bell FibeTV is working properly, it is one of the best systems in the market, but be cautious when you call because they are famous for giving, “stock answers.”

To read more about our experiences since November 2010, CLICK HERE, we are still waiting for our credits for poor service, which we have not received.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Toronto, Canada - Isn’t it strange how the sports media keep showing us the stats for our beloved Toronto Maple Leafs, and tell us how many points they have until playoffs? But for some reason they never tell us how many games are still remaining in the NHL regular season. Yes, it’s 82 games, and that means there are over 20 games still remaining before playoffs, but why the emphasis on standings, when so many games still remain? The sports media have been reporting these standings for a couple of weeks since the All-Star break.

So the Leafs are currently in eighth place with 62 points and have played 55 games (out of 82) and I think it could change drastically before the end of the regular season. The cut-off for playoffs is the eight top teams in each of the four divisions and since the Leafs are somewhere around the cut-off mark, they want to keep us still interested. The Eastern Conference where the Leafs play, is only separated from first place by New York Rangers, by 11 points, but Rangers have played three less games than the Leafs.

The playoffs are where everything changes, players grow beards, games become more intense, and the crowds increase in places where they have stadiums unfilled during regular season. The does not happen in Toronto as nearly every game at Air Canada Centre is completely sold out. And what’s going to happen with Nazem Kadri, he has been sent back down to the American Hockey League Marlies, and we are all hoping he will be back for the playoffs.

It was just announced this week the Leafs will play in the next Bridgestone Winter Classic in Ann Arbor, Michigan against the Detroit Red Wings on January 1/2013. But the Leafs are already selling tickets for the event on their website. Is this event for the fans or is it pure greed by the NHL as you will undoubtedly need binoculars to see anything with over 100,000 attending.

I’m sure we will soon see the Maple Leaf flags on cars as it is very possible the Leafs will make the playoffs, but remember, they have over 20 games to go. Go Leafs go.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

It was announced today by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that the next outdoor Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® will be held in Michigan Stadium with over 100,000 seats.

It will be hosted by Detroit Red Wings against Toronto Maple Leafs (both original six) on New Years day 2013, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

You may well need binoculars to see any of the action, but this (if full) will be the largest hockey attendance in North America. The largest crowd so far, was back in 2010 at the Michigan Stadium, when 104,000 attended a match between University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

This will be the sixth running of Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic® and probably one of the riches rivalries in the NHL. There’s no doubt many of the Toronto Maple Leaf fans will make their way to Ann Arbor for the event and the festivities prior to the regular scheduled league game. Previously the largest crowd for The Winter Classic was back in 2008 (the first game in The Winter Classic) when Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins played before 71,000 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, NY.

It may well be that Detroit will be playing the Stanley Cup winners, but that may be a bit of a stretch, but Toronto is having one of their best seasons in many years.

We can always hope, since it has been since the 60′s when Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

On screen ‘scrolling tickers’ started around 911 and they have continued to this day. It appears now that CNN is taking it to the next level, as seen here, they are taking up 25% of the actual screen view and distracting from watching the TV.

It’s not such a big deal to me, since I never really look at them, but now that CNN has chosen to increase the size during this Presidential Election it is just taking too much space. When something you want to see the original picture, it is obstructed by the stupid ‘scrolling ticker’ which is now taking up almost half the screen. They don’t even remove it when they show a picture or video, when you need to see the bottom of a photo.

Am I the only one getting annoyed by these ‘tickers’ and if so, maybe I should just read online, but it’s even worse there. You now have to scroll down about three times to get past all the advertising, well online that is part of life, but on my home TV, please let me see the show. And why don’t they just use it for ‘BREAKING NEWS’ instead of having it 24/7, all the time?

What’s next, ‘tickers’ at the top of the screen too, and then we get a five inch screen to watch, no thanks, I’ll go elsewhere.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - David Carter, 44, (but about 40 when he committed suicide) was found in his home alone last week when an agent came to his house to serve foreclosure papers. He had no immediate family, but he had told his friends (some friends?) that he was moving to New Mexico in 2007, but his almost skeletonized remains were found with a handgun laying on his chest. He was identified by dental records.

He went four years without paying any bills, but I guess in his case, he had no need for hydro, water or cable. How sad, that no-one would have dropped by his house, for anything.

His mother had died of cancer in 1997 and he became very depressed and started drinking heavily, but it appears he does have a daughter who is reported as being 14 now, and she may be entitled to his assets, if he has any. Since he has not been around for the last four years, the city had cleared his snow and mowed his lawn to the tune of $37,000, which was added to his tax roles, and still outstanding.

He was a college graduate and worked for the city of Milwaukee as a nuisance control officer, whatever that could entail.

Daniel … Toronto, Canada
My take on everything
@dandmb50