In my second edition of Toonie Tales, noticing the behaviour (<– notice my spelling) of people here has been a refreshing change from those south of the border. No matter where I have gone – take it from the Passport Office to the Tim Hortons to the Government of Ontario offices to the people at Pizza Pizza – there has been nothing short of gracious service and friendly people everywhere. It’s a complete culture shock even though I have visited here nearly every year since I moved away but moving back has been great.

First experience was immediately felt at the border. I presented the guy there with my proper forms of ID for crossing into Canada and I figured since I had tons of stuff with me, I would have my work contract since he would most likely ask. Instead, the guy asked me about my school and where I graduated from, which state I was currently residing in and whether I planned to still own the car the next time I would visit. THAT was it. My contract lying on the seat next to me went by the way side, no luggage check for someone admitting to move into the country and in under a minute, I was on my way. It’s safe to say, people like me are usually the ones “randomly” selected to be inspected at any TSA line.

I had heard about this issue rumbling around the state of New York for a while now but I got this concrete petition from my cousin over at Chill Yo Islam Yo and even heard about from my dad today. New York City has the nation’s largest school system. A 2008 study by Columbia University’s Teachers College estimates at least 10 percent of the city’s 1.1 million students are Muslim.

Supporters say the school board needs to be inclusive of the growing number of Muslim students in New York. Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke out against approving the holidays this week, saying it would open the door to other religious groups asking for days off. The Mayor seems to have no issues of celebrating Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur with two days off every year however…

As all of you might know already their has been aggressive efforts to make Eid al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha an observed school holiday. This comes by no surprise,  since their are around 800,000 Muslim New Yorkers and about 10% percent of children who attend NYC public schools are Muslim.

Recently, the resolution was almost passed until Mayor Bloomberg pulled a stunt on the Muslim community and rejected it. His excuse? It will give too many days off for students when added to existing school holidays. Come on Mr.Mayor, keep it real! You’re jewish, listen to Rabbi Moshe Edelman.

Insh’Allah the resolution gets past and Mayor Bloomberg stops being shady, after all American Muslims are productive members of society as well.

chillyoislamyo.com, Chill Yo Islam Yo, Aug 2009

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Print it, sign it, do what you need to do with it to pass the word. You can send your signed copy to the following address:

If I need hockey news from someone I know personally, it is usually down to three people and two of which I went to high school with. One of those two has written a guest post on the upcoming NHL playoffs that get underway on Wednesday with 3 Eastern Conference series and 1 from the Western Conference.

I have bolded his series predictions below and added mine [in blue]. I think it just might be a nice contest throughout the playoffs to see who predicts the series more accurately.

Here is an analysis from Rusty Moke who is an avid hockey fan since as long as I can remember and has been in attendance for more hockey games this year alone than I even I got to watch:

The NHL playoffs are finally upon us; if 82 games weren’t enough get ready for a couple more.  Now, I’m no NHL scout or hockey analyst, (just an old high school buddy of a specific angry brown guy, who I’d like to thank for making room for me in his intelligent blog) but as an avid hockey fan/player you might be able to find a morsel or two of decent predictions among all of my ranting.

There are 8 different matchups, so I’ll make it short and sweet for each one.

(8) Montreal vs (1) Boston – The Bruins have surged forward this season, from 8^th playoff seed last year to 1^st this year.  The Canadiens have limped down the stretch, Markov is injured, and Price needs another year or two to become an outstanding goaltender.  Although I believe Boston is overrated and Tim Thomas is garbage, I’ll say Boston wins the series 4-1. [Boston - 4-2]

Just got this off of Engadget but you knew this was only a matter of time before it became a reality with the direction this country is headed in. Luckily I don’t live in New York but being just a state away, will New Jersey follow suit?

NY state inserts RFIDs into licenses; citizens next?

by Tim Stevens, posted Sep 17th 2008 at 10:58AM

What can we say about RFIDs that hasn’t already made you afraid? Your passport? Clonable. Your work ID and “secure” credit cards? Yeah, those too. Not scary enough? How about every adult New Yorker walking around with one in their back pocket? It’s just a matter of time, as the Empire State’s clearly enhanced drivers licenses (says so right on ‘em) are now hitting the streets. For $30 on a new one, or $10 if you’re looking to upgrade, you can get yourself a radio-wave emitting ID, enabling you to cross the border into Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean sans-passport. Don’t worry, the cards won’t be broadcasting any personal information — just a unique code that the government can use to track your every movement.

[Via Crave]

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Back on March 29th, I made baseball predictions about where the teams would finish and here is what I had said back then.

AL: Boston (East), Detroit (Central), Los Angeles (West) and Toronto (Wild Card)
NL: New York (East), Chicago (Central), Los Angeles (West) and Philadelphia (Wild Card)

As of right now, 2 of those picks are dead on (Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs). 2 of those picks are flat out wrong (Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays). What is going to be interesting is the race down the stretch to see if Boston can make up 3.5 games to win the division, whether the Mets hold on to win the division (up by 3 right now) as well as if the Phillies can gain 4 games on the Brewers with a little over 20 to go. I didn’t know it then, but what a story it would be if Joe Torre makes it to the playoffs with Manny Ramirez and the Yankees don’t make the fall classic.

I can go from having as little as only two correct picks or I can have as much as six out of the eight possible teams in their correct location.

Down the stretch analysis after the break…

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