Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Walter, Florida on July 13, 2009:

I used to live in Pennsylvania and always left out the "h".

Posted by Barking Unicorn, Denver, CO on July 13, 2009:

"the Caribbean Festival that turns the city half black for a summer weekend every year"

And then it turns back to what for the other 363 days? And where do all those blacks come from? These stats are from the city's own Web site:

# The top five visible minority groups in Toronto were (in 2006):

• South Asian at 298,372 or 12.0 per cent of our population;
• Chinese at 283,075 or 11.4 per cent;
• Black at 208,555 or 8.4 per cent;
• Filipino at 102,555 or 4.1 per cent;
• Latin American at 64,860 or 2.6 per cent.

"Visible minority" is defined by Statistics Canada as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour".

Actually, that's everybody except albinos and Aborigines.

Posted by Tom, Port Townsend, Wash. on July 13, 2009:

It defies reality in any case, as none of the individuals is shown as being obese.

Posted by Dan, Florida on July 13, 2009:

At one point around the turn of the 20th century, the federal government was trying to standardize the spellings of place names, and attempted to remove the "h" from the end of various places ending in "burgh", including Pittsburgh. It didn't stick, and soon the "h" was back. However, when I looked back at old archives of the Carnegie Mellon newspaper The Tartan going back to the early 1900s while a student and Tartan columnist there in the 1980s, I saw a few references therein to "Pittsburg". (They also referred to "football" as "Foot Ball".)

Posted by Greg, Washington on July 13, 2009:

Are KDKA the right call letters for a Pennsylvania radio station?

Maybe it's an urban legend, but I'd always heard that call letters west of the Mississippi started with K (like KTLA, Los Angeles's oldest TV station) and east of the Mississippi they started with W (like WKCR - the student radio station of Columbia University).

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That is the general rule, but that rule was implemented in the 1930s, and KDKA got that callsign in 1920. Another exception to the rule is WFAA in Dallas. -rc

Posted by Ray, New Mexico on July 13, 2009:

Garbage strike? Good grief, is Toronto ever strike-free? I went there some years back and the cabbies were striking over fees to get to the airport (good thing they don't work at DFW). Plus the meeting host, an engineer with Hydro One, was picketing outside the building in which we met. I can't remember whether the Parks and Rec workers were about to strike or had just had a strike.

Posted by Michael, UK on July 14, 2009:

Check out the kid on the left. In the original pic his arm looks like it ends in a stump somewhere around the elbow. Now this is most likely a trick of lighting, perspective and arm position but then check out the cover. Yes, they gave him his arm back... no disabled people in Toronto, no sir!

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I didn't even notice that part! Good catch. -rc

Posted by Becky, Toronto on July 14, 2009:

This is just like Toronto Tourism. Does anyone else remember the Miss Toronto Tourism Pageant fiasco? ( http://www.thestar.com/article/297985 )

They seem to come by it honestly, though. Ontario Tourism can't seem to understand that having a jingle that doesn't even once refer to the province is just plain silly.

Posted by Robert, Portland on July 14, 2009:

It is so much worse than you think. I say this as someone who used to be in the acting/modeling industry. About 25% of models are black (exactly one per photo), despite the United States being 11% black. But more revealingly, it's disproportionately uncommon to find a black model with straight hair or full lips (especially female): straight hair isn't "black enough" but full lips are "too black."

There is a very concentrated effort to market to white people who want to feel like they're racially diverse. The 'diversity' advertising is not to attract minorities, it's to make white people feel like they're not excluding anyone.

Posted by Diana, Pittsburgh on July 14, 2009:

Commenter Dan from Florida is correct about the Federal government's idea of standardizing spelling - but that's only half the story.

Before the government initiative, people hereabouts spelled our city's name both with and without the final "h," and nobody thought too much about it either way. However, when the government decided to tell people how to spell it, Pittsburghers (as we are wont to do) got their collective panties in a bunch, and demanded that we keep the final "h." All sorts of protests, letter-writings, and so forth ensued, with Pittsburghers stubbornly refusing to spell the city's name in the Feds' preferred manner. And so it is today. :)

We aren't likened in character to Scottish border folk for nothing (even those of us of the decidedly Slavic persuasion!). It is, as you say, a matter of civic pride. :)

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And yaknow, I can't think of a better reason to settle on that spelling! -rc