Sometimes one sees a well accepted solution that simply does not work. Having the public purchase large paper bags in order to dispose of yard waste is at best a bad idea and at worst simply a waste of money. Yet here in Toronto, Canada, these bags are almost universally used for yard waste.
Hate it, I do, when a product fails before I believe it should. I have ranted about such products here before and I stand by my rants. Specifically you see products fail mere months after the warranty has expired, seemingly on queue for you to purchase yet another replacement. The old one goes into the garbage and then landfill, and the environment takes an unnecessary penalty for our stupidity. Clearly this should not be. I purposely buy products that last a long time, if I can, and take measures to ensure they do last.
ICE 3 Vending Machine: Cheaply made in China, stay away and save your money
Deceptive advertising can be, but when you can take a machine apart there is nothing but the truth to see. This is surely the case for the ICE 3 MIS2200 personal vending machine or chill can dispenser. Sold under the names Heartland America or Curtis, this is truly a piece of junk and cheap from bow to stern. At $79 I council you to run away from this unit.
Lint in my Ralph’s Hard Dough bread: Found four pieces embedded into the dough, Photo by Don Tai
Furious was I when my daughter took out two pieces of Ralph’s Bakery hard dough bread, from the bread bag, to eat and there was some unidentifiable foreign objects embedded into the bread. These objects needed to be physically pulled from inside the bread. It looks like some white lint mixed with human hair. We later found two more slices with these fibers. I am unhappy. Here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, this is not acceptable practice. I will stop buying Ralph’s Bakery bread.
Little Weed has decided to raise goldfish, and has dragged me in for technical support. I have not kept fish since I was his age, so know almost nothing. It has been an interesting learning experience, delving into a subject matter that is completely foreign to me. Still, as a quick study in anything, I am learning fast. Research has always been my strong point, and keeping an aquarium is no exception. Here are some hints and tips. Once set up an aquarium is really not much work to maintain and it really does a good job of humidifying your house!
We did not intend to live in a Chinese enclave when we moved into our Scarborough, Canada home in Toronto. It seemed like when a white elderly couple would move out, a Chinese family would move in. As the years passed, this continued, until 50-60% of our street is now Chinese. It also was not our desire to live in a Chinese enclave. Our intention was to live in a multiculturally mixed neighbourhood.
I write this post after being prodded by this article on Markham Chinese enclaves. Markham is just north of the Scarborough and Toronto border, and can be considered an ethnic extension of Scarborough. In fact we often shop there.
Rarely do I see any progressive movement from my City of Toronto municipal government. Rob Ford, elected mayor during the last election, had promised to clean up city hall, but all we have seen so far has been further politiking and delays in large infrastructure, such as the Sheppard subway. Yesterday Ford proposed a motion to stop the $0.05 charge on plastic bags from retailers, but council turned the proposal around and banned all plastic bags, effective Jan 01 2013. Quick and efficient, yes, and I approve, but what happened to due process?
Lights of America LED bulbs 2025LEDE12-65k claim 40 watt bulb equivalent and 30,000 hr life. Real world says 25 watts equivalent and maybe 1,000 hrs. Do not buy this junk.
Browsing through Walmart here in Toronto, Canada, I stumbled upon some LED light bulbs on sale. From a company named “Lights of America”, they have a smaller base for use in a chandelier. Regularly $5.50CAD, they were going for $2.00CAD. Labeled “Made in China”, I hesitated. I could buy them, research them, and if necessary, return them if I was not happy. The results of research were that these LED light bulbs are junk and should be returned. They not only do not live up to brightness claims, but also only last a max of 1,000 of their claimed 30,000 hours of use.
Chinese made paper shredder, no brand name nor factory, model number WMC6X, irreparable because of this cheaply made plastic gear. While there were many metal parts in this paper shredder, the gears driving these metal parts are plastic? Who decided this? What a waste of resources, not to mention cheating the consumer. Photo 3x macro.
The randomness of life has once again asserted itself in Agincourt Mall, in front of NoFrills, Kennedy/Sheppard at 09:15 June 03 2011, an older Italian lady fell, cut her finger and could not get up. Her elderly husband could not help her and he was very distraught. A crowd gathered and we assessed her condition, which seemed not life threatening. Eventually an ambulance came and took her away. What was surprising to me was my reaction: Because she fell down in the middle of the road in front of our busy NoFrills, on the grounds of Agincourt Mall, that we were in danger of getting run down by dangerous and inattentive Scarborough drivers.
