I’ve always hated using hose clamps. I’d buy them from Home Depot and curse when they are installed and leak. I’d tighten them more and they’d deform and sometimes break. It did not dawn on me that, like everything else, there are different quality hose clamps than the crappy “All Gain” ones I use. This is particularly true for my compressor hose, which, over time, loosen and then leak. My compressor only needs 125psi.
The decimation wrought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 2022 Feb 24 has been immense. Ukraine has crumbled, its economy severely damaged and its people scattered across the EU and the Western world. On one hand Ukraine has a bully neighbour intent on destroying it, while on the other Western countries have continued to provide Ukraine with enough weapons to continue its fight, the result being even more destruction of Ukraine. Ukraine’s predicament has had many other global implications, almost all bad.
China is without a doubt the fake manufacturer of the world. They can counterfeit almost anything. Here in Canada the newest item I’ve found is the Canadian $2 coin, commonly called a toonie.
Look for the right paw of the polar bear, where the toes splay out like a camel.
Fake counterfeit Canadian $2 coin, or toonie, Made in China. Look at the splayed right toe of the polar bear, or camel toe
Real Canadian $2 coin, or toonie
Please be aware and examine all toonies you receive. It looks like these are common now.
You could see it coming from a long way: Omicron will overrun the Ontario healthcare system. While the system usually works for us in normal times. It’s internal partial collapse is imminent. The cascade of partial failure is very evident, and will continue until Omicron passes. We can only hope that another variant will not emerge. It is clear that we, as advanced as we think we are, are at the mercy of this little, persistent, virus. We could have done more, I think, but that may not have prevented the collapse.
Inglis RBF175RA fridge, brand name logo, right side lamp shade. Photo by Don Tai
Over twenty years ago I moved into my house, replete with an avocado coloured fridge, an Inglis model RBF175RA, and a bunch of other old appliances. Through the years most have been replaced, but this fridge lives on. Getting older, the fridge has had trouble controlling its temperature, but today I repaired it with a new cold control thermostat replacement.
Canada Election 2021 DRO kit, ballot box, ballots, lots of papers. Photo by Don Tai
In Canada’s elections, there are hundreds of polling locations. Each polling location must have one or more polls, where a Canadian citizen over the age of 18 will receive a ballot, mark their chosen political candidate on the ballot, and finally drop the ballot into the ballot box. At the end of the night after polls close, the ballots in the ballot box are counted. Results for each candidate are then phoned into the local polling office. Results are then tallied up to larger and larger geographic levels.
This image was banned on 2 QQ (Chinese) social media forums. This is a label from a carton of 30 Burnbrae large eggs, made in the USA. Photo 1 by Don Tai
I do not intend to be subversive on Chinese social media, nor very political. I also do stay away from sensitive issues on QQ, a Chinese social media messaging and forum site. This image ban, however, really took me by surprise. I teach some English on the Chinese forums, so I thought I’d show them a typical Canadian product label in English and French. I tried 3 times, and the QQ bot banned me all three times from posting to 2 separate QQ forums. Very odd.
Kids need to go back to school, this is not in doubt. When kids return to school their parents can return to work, thereby helping the family as well as the economy in general. Getting our lives back to normal is difficult during this 2020 CoVid-19 pandemic. This virus is highly contagious and unforgiving. The need to prepare for school openings puts mankind against the virus. With proper preparation we can safely open schools, but there is so much the West has not done in school buildings that makes school openings very dangerous. In Ontario masks are not even required below Grade 4.
The CoVid-19 pandemic has walloped us in the head, in an obviously direct way. We, as a species, probably needed this kind of wake up call, as it seems no other method would get our attention. Starting from China, CoVid-19 has spread throughout the world. This, after 5 months of near lock down here in Toronto, is no longer news. Now we are faced with a new school year, the possibility that kids will return to their elementary school classes, become infected, and bring the virus back to their parents and grandparents. While we are still learning about this virus, what is clear is that it is highly infectious and no one is immune.
This is not NoFrills but an example of their line of cashiers. The single line queue for a cashier would start where the photographer is standing. This results in significant delays and increased risk to shoppers. This has discouraged me from shopping at NoFrills and going to other grocery chains, which offer similar prices and sales, more convenience and less risk of contracting the CoVid-19 virus.
