The popularity of biking as an alternative means of transportation continues to grow, and with it, so does the demand for improved and increased dedicated lanes on city and suburban streets. Here’s a look at the status of bike lanes across Toronto and parts of the GTA.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford recently released his proposal for a city cycling plan. The plan includes constructing a network of bike lanes physically separated from traffic. The lanes would be built on Sherbourne, Wellesley, Harbord, Beverly, John and Richmond streets. A June 1 telephone survey of over 1,000 Torontonians found that 72% of those polled would support separated bike lanes.

In April, York Region launched York Cycling, an online resource for cyclists in the region’s nine municipalities. The website lists events and news, safety tips, and construction alerts to inform people of impacted bike routes. The most impressive feature is an interactive map that helps cyclists plan their routes.

The city of Hamilton, which already maintains a network of bike lanes, is currently working on the construction of additional lanes and a multi-use trail set to open this summer. The city has also published maps of cycling lanes and paths available at www.hamilton.ca or at locations throughout the city, including libraries and bike shops.

In Oshawa, officials are working on releasing a strategic plan on cycling by the end of the year. The city, which last released such a plan in 1999, currently has only a few on-road bike lanes.

Tired of all the blinking ads and extras on today’s web pages? Well, there’s a simple browser tool that enables you to eliminate web page ads, change the font or type, separate content from design and read happily ever after.

Readability (www.readability.com) is a bookmark-based tool that reformats a web page and makes reading the text simple. You can also tailor Readability to suit your own reading comfort level.

The tool is available as a free browser add-on. The $5 monthly subscription fee offers a great reading platform and saves pages for reading online or offline. The feature also works on all mobile phones.

Some 70% of the subscription fee goes to support content creators. Every time you use Readability to read a particular article, the writer and publisher are compensated.

It’s a love story straight from the pages of a book. An American tourist and a Toronto local meet at the headquarters of romance novel company Harlequin, become lovebirds, and start a family. Except, in this case, the lovebirds really are birds – peregrine falcons named Quest and Kendal.

Peregrine falcons, renowned for their speed, were once a largely endangered species. The widespread use of the pesticide DDT after the
Second World War gravely reduced the peregrine population. Thanks in part to the banning of DDT in North America during the early 1970s, the population began to bounce back.

Still, peregrine sightings are fairly uncommon, which is why falcon enthusiasts were delighted to discover the relationship between Quest, a falcon from Rochester, NY, and Kendal, born in Toronto. The birds are expected to become parents at the end of May.

Like other peregrine falcons in Ontario, Quest and Kendal are monitored by the Canadian Peregrine Foundation. The goals of the foundation include facilitating the recovery of the species, documenting their status, and raising awareness of issues affecting the species.

Its website (www.peregrine-foundation.ca) keeps tabs on other peregrines, including pairs currently nesting in Windsor, Etobicoke, and Ottawa. Dedicated volunteers visit the nesting sites and file status reports for other watchers to read. The website takes tracking the birds one step further: webcams set up at select nesting sites stream live images of the falcons.

Millions of people take multivitamin supplements. But are they really worth the extra money? Do they help keep you healthy? And most important, can they be harmful?

Cost Versus Benefit

Isolated supplements tend to be costly and require a considerable investment of time and energy to ensure they’re taken in a coordinated fashion. A multivitamin ensures proper coordination of all nutritional needs in an easy-to-use form.

Unique Needs

When it comes to multivitamins, one size doesn’t fit all, which is one reason that vitamin manufacturers produce different formulas targeting different genders and ages. Variations on nutritional intake may differ depending upon age and gender.

Special Situations

There are special situations that may warrant the inclusion of a multivitamin, as things like surgery, chronic illness or digestive problems hinder the ability of the body to absorb nutrition. However, even then it is important to understand what is included in a multivitamin. For example, iron deficiency is a commonly encountered health condition easily resolved by the addition of iron in a daily supplement. But for people with hemochromatosis, or iron overload, iron can worsen an already serious medical disorder. Other vitamins included in a multivitamin may interfere with medications or even cause allergic symptoms.