** UPDATE MARCH 31: ** Via @REDBLACKS twitter today: * ". [ @OSEG_Corporate ](https://twitter.com/OSEG_Corporate) has announced that the [ #REDBLACKS ](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23REDBLACKS&src=hash) mascot's official name will be "Big Joe" in English and "Grand Jos" in French." * ". [ @OSEG_Corporate ](https://twitter. ...

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/lolProfile.jpg) ** ** Every week we publish a link to the Lunch Out Loud podcast, a weekly show produced by Nick Bachusky and co-hosted by Andrew Miller. This week, we meet up with Fahd, Ajmal and Khulood, 3 inspiring youth volunteers in Ottawa that balance a school life as well as holding many other volunteering positions. ...

_ A weekly feature by Christopher Ryan , a local photographer, blogger and researcher. It appears every Friday on our blog. _ _ _ [  ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/01.-2014-02-08.jpg) _ Thyme & Again, 1255 Wellington St. ...

_ Winterlude 1. Photo by David Ian Johnson, from the OttawaStart Flickr Group _ Here are our contributors' picks for the best events in Ottawa this week. ** Thursday-Sunday, February 14-17: Third Weekend of Winterlude ** Another action-packed weekend of skating, ice sculpturing, dancing, music and more. ...

_ Rose Simpson’s column appears every Tuesday morning on the OttawaStart Blog. She also blogs at Rose’s Cantina . _ _ Photo: Lines of Power, by Alain Villeneuve _ There’s no place like home. Right Ontario? You can sample fine wines, jump into hot tubs, go parasailing on Lake Ontario, eat in cool restaurants, shop in neat stores. ...

Some pics of yesterday’s Lunar New Year Parade on Somerset Street. The parade featured Chinese lions, zodiac animals, drummers and dancing. The parade ambled from business to business to brig good fortune and ward off evil spirits in Chinatown. Thanks to Gordon Dewis for posting these photos to the OttawaStart Flickr Group . ...

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/lolProfile.jpg) Every week we publish a link to the Lunch Out Loud podcast, a weekly show produced by Nick Bachusky and co-hosted by Andrew Miller. This week we meet up with Mary Taggart, a decorator and editor-in-chief of the Ottawa at Home magazine. ...

_ A weekly feature by Christopher Ryan , a local photographer, blogger and researcher. It appears every Friday on our blog. _ This week’s post about the Somerset Towers Apartments on Carling (beside Carlingwood). I was attracted to it for photographing because it the twin towers' round design, but stuck with it when I learned that it was constructed by a mining company looking to make a play into residential construction. ...

_ “Winterlude House” by Lydia Bociurkiw, from the OttawaStart Flickr Group . _ Here are our contributors' picks for the best events in Ottawa this week. ** Thursday-Sunday, February 6-9: Second Weekend of Winterlude ** An action-packed weekend of skating, ice sculpturing, dancing, music and more. ...

_ Rose Simpson’s column appears every Tuesday morning on the OttawaStart Blog. She also blogs at Rose’s Cantina . _ One of the great things about municipal governments is that, generally, they get things done smoothly and in consultation with the residents who elect them. ...