Mayor Plante wants to see 2000 housing units constructed annually to deal with homelessness, and although the Quebec government announced $15.5 million for this purpose on Thursday, she says it is not enough.
Updates from September, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Robert Miller, facing a suit over allegedly paying minors for sex, is selling Future Electronics for $5 billion.
Spi
The proceeds of which will be kept offshore far out of the reach of the Canadian judicial system should he be found guilty in the multiple cases. Then again the Canadian judicial system isn’t overly punitive when it comes to financial compensation and with $5 billion what’s tens of millions? Unless he’s a spiteful old man who wants to ensure his victims don’t get anything.
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Kate
What’s the bird that whistles a distinct “yoo hoo” on 2 descending notes, this time of year?
One of them is lurking in a tree on my street today…
dhomas
Pretty sure they’re chickadees.
Daniel
Highly suggest the Merlin app for birdsong identification.
Blork
I second the Merlin app. It’s free and it comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (part of Cornell University) so it’s not just some “engagement trap” like so many other apps.
Blork
And yes, most likely Chickadee song (not to be confused with Chickadee call, which is the familiar “chicka-dee-dee-dee”). The song is typically three syllables, but the second two often sort of blend into one. It’s anthropomorphized as “HEY sweet-ie.”
carswell
Merlin, which identifies birds using your phone’s mic or camera, and PlantNet, which identifies plants using the camera (leaf, flower, bark), are two of my all-time favourite apps. Both greatly enhance walks in the city and country. The former has also opened my ears to avian neighbours I’ve never seen around here and didn’t know I had — Red-eyed Vireos and Eastern Phoebes, for example. And I wish I’d used the latter before weeding my rooftop container garden the other day, as one of the weeds turned out to be a stinging nettle (later IDed with the app). Ouch, immediately upon grasping the plant and for 36 hours afterward.
If your bird’s a chickadee, the “yoo hoo” will normally be “yoo hoo hoo hoo hoo” or, as more commonly transcribed “chick a dee dee dee.”
carswell
(Interrupted mid-reply by a phone call. Should have refreshed before posting. Apologies for the redundancy.)
Ian
Chickadees have three main calls – chack a dee dee dee, the two-note call, and an alarm call. The two-note call is a mating call 🙂
Ian
@carswell if you get stung by nettles again use plantnet to seek out burdock.if you rub a leaf between your hands until it is mushy and wipe it thoroughly where yiu contacted nettles it will counteract them.
carswell
@Ian Thanks for the tip. Didn’t know that a burdock, a plant I don’t need an app to recognize since it has popped up regularly in every garden I’ve tended, including my container garden and between the cracks in the pavers that cover the roof. There’s lots in the ‘hood, too, especially around the mountain. Have always viewed it as a nuisance, so cool to learn it has a practical use.
MarcG
But mushy burdock attracts wasps! To keep them away you can make a wreath out of dried cannabis and attend tamtams at least monthly.
dhomas
Thanks for the recommendations on the apps! Both Merlin and PlantNet have now been downloaded to my smartphone.
Ian
@MarcG cannabis is for preventing anal leakage, you must be thinking about patchouli.
caveat: I am not a hippy, I just grew up on a farm. I mean yes it was a commune but that was my parents.
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Kate
One of the people damaged in Sunday’s mass overdose incident has died.
steph
Six (if not eight) people overdose, and then one of them dies – at what point is the death considered homicide?
Ian
Immediately if the dealer is legally connected but street justice will take care of them first. The cops are unhelpful and generally to be avoided in these matters.
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Kate
Police are deploying a command post Thursday to try to collect information about the stabbing death of a man earlier this month near Place des Arts.
Item notes that this was homicide #28 of the year, and that the number jumped after the Place Youville fire was determined to have been set, so that the seven deaths there now count as homicides.
Ian 21:30 on 2023-09-14 Permalink
Yeah yeah, easy to grandstand while your administration spends a gazillion dollars on cops whose purpose in this regard is to raze homeless camps.
Virtue signalling and buck-passing is Plante’s specialty.
Kate 10:13 on 2023-09-15 Permalink
I understand your cynicism, Ian, but there will be a moment when politicians act on this problem, and that moment is looming. As Justin Trudeau said this week, Canada has solved this problem before, so we can do it again.
Ian 20:32 on 2023-09-15 Permalink
Yeah well, I’ll believe it when I see it – I’m still remembering that “bib, big conversation” we were supposed to have about defunding the police.