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Raccoon climbs 213 metres up Toronto condo tower

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 16 April 2015 | 22.55

A tower-crane operator looked down from his work on a downtown Toronto condo to see a raccoon had climbed up 213 metres on a ladder on Thursday morning.

The operator, who tweets under the name @SkyJacked793, noticed the animal on Thursday morning and posted a photo to Twitter.

Raccoons have amazing dexterity and use their front paws to pry things open, turn knobs and handle objects, according to Toronto Animal Services.

The operator tweeted "Wasn't me!" as a caption with the animal looking upward.

Raccoon climbing down

A photo of the raccoon, climbing down the ladder of the crane, face down.

Both he and the raccoon were at the L7 condominium tower next to Yonge Street and The Esplanade.

The operator reported the raccoon hissed at him and then climbed down, somewhat awkwardly, down the side of the crane.


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'Success Kid' turns to internet seeking kidney transplant for dad

The child in one of the internet's most uplifting memes is trying to find his dad a new kidney and raise $75,000 for expensive medical treatments.

The boy known as Success Kid, who is now eight-year-old Sam Griner, rose to internet fame after his mom uploaded an image to Flickr of the 11-month-old Sam standing on a beach with a fistful of sand and a triumphant look in his eyes.

Some MySpace users started using the image in their profiles, according to the website Know Your Meme. But it really hit its stride in 2011 as a captioned meme.

Success Kid captions describe situations that end up better than expected. Some common captions include, "Don't know question on a test. Answer is in another question," and "Late to work. Boss was even later."

His mom, Laney Griner, made her first Success Kid meme more than two years ago. "Dropped out of college. Gave birth to Success Kid," it read.

Now, the face behind the lovable meme is asking the internet to help his dad, Justin Griner, who needs a kidney transplant.

Laney Griner set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the expensive treatment.

"Please help us reach our goal so that Justin may get the pre-treatments and transplant he desperately needs," she wrote. "His mother died from this disease, please help us write a different story for Justin and his son, Sam."

Justin Griner was diagnosed with kidney disease about nine years ago, she told the Daily Dot. Since 2009, he's been on dialysis after experiencing a full kidney failure.

While Medicare pays for dialysis and would fund a kidney transplant, extra costs such as anti-rejection drugs add up to thousands of dollars.

Laney started promoting the fundraiser on her Twitter feed, using her son's internet fame to garner attention for the cause.

People started sharing her story on the internet, and thousands of dollars came pouring into the GoFundMe page.

As of Wednesday evening, the fundraiser had surpassed its original $75,000 goal. Nearly $90,000 had been donated.

"Spent a good portion of my teen and early adult years giggling at Success Kid's memes. I also very much love my father. Live a long and happy life papa!" wrote one woman who donated $7.

The page also asks people willing to be live donors to fill out an online living donor evaluation form from the Mayo Clinic to see if they're a match.

"Just filled out the donor application," one woman wrote in the fundraiser's comments. "I lost my dad at six. No child should have to go through that."

"I called to see if I could be a match," wrote someone else. "Sending prayers."


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Doh! New Yorker inadvertently sets rental car on fire while trying to kill bedbugs

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 15 April 2015 | 22.55

Motorist poured alcohol in car to kill insects, then lit cigarette

The Associated Press Posted: Apr 15, 2015 7:42 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 15, 2015 8:01 AM ET

Police say a Long Island man set his rental car ablaze while trying to kill bedbugs inside the vehicle.

Scott Kemery suffered first- and second-degree burns in the incident Tuesday outside an Eastport supermarket.

Police say the Bridgehampton resident poured alcohol over the insects, then sat in the car and lit a cigarette, setting off the blaze.

He fled the vehicle on his own.

Det.-Sgt. Edward Fitzgerald told Newsday that someone told Kemery that if he saturated the bedbugs with alcohol it would kill them.

Police say two other cars were heavily damaged from the intense heat of the fire.

Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

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Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are moderated and published according to our submission guidelines.


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Justin Bieber gives Carly Rae Jepsen another boost with I Really Like You lip-sync video

I really like you :) http://t.co/EWIk9v3mYL

— @justinbieber

Justin Bieber has teamed up with Ariana Grande, Canadian music producer David Foster and a bunch of other celebrities to create a lip-sync video of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit I Really Like You.

And now you'll never get this song out of your head. 

Bieber linked to the YouTube video Tuesday afternoon and it's already racked up more than a million views. 

Along with Grande and Bieber, who share a manager, Scooter Braun, with Jepsen, the video includes cameos from several other showbiz luminaries, including Foster, Empire actor Bryshere Y. Gray, singer Lance Bass, model and reality TV star Kendall Jenner, designer Jeremy Scott and Korean pop star CL. (Thanks to Buzzfeed for the IDs.) 

Bieber helped popularize Jepsen's smash hit Call Me Maybe by appearing in another lip sync video back in 2012. 

They've since appeared on stage together several times, including a Grey Cup half-time show that garnered a mixed reaction from CFL fans. 


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Target employees sing their farewell (and it's awesome)

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 14 April 2015 | 22.55

Semisonic - Closing Time (Target Edition)

"A little musical send off, with what we had available."----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Seeing as this has gone viral I feel as though I should update this description to provide a little more detail. Our final day was closing in, we were discussing how to close out the store and had no ideas. We decided that we would play the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic over the P.A system, but Kyle decided to take it one step further and taught himself how to play it on the guitar. We were discussing it again a few days later and he mentioned that he had his guitar in his car and had learned the song. So we printed off the lyrics (that Liam M didn't even know 20 minutes prior to recording this) and began putting the pieces together, with this being our result.In one take, and no practice, we took to our make shift instruments. I sat and played a shopping basket with two plastic hangers, Liam M grabbed a hanger bar to use as a faux-mic, and Eric mounted up his camera and masterfully filmed and edited this bad boy. With Brady and Liam K (Skipper) pulling us along, we poured our heart into our final goodbye through song, to a job we loved, and a building that contains so many great memories!Enjoy!

Posted by Evan Holbein on Sunday, 12 April 2015

Target employees in Victoria struck a chord after posting a musical tribute to their last day of work on Facebook.

In his Facebook post Evan Holbein says staff were thinking about playing the song Closing time by Semisonic over the store's PA system on the final day of work, before the idea morphed into an impromptu recording session.

"In one take, and no practice, we took to our make shift instruments. I sat and played a shopping basket with two plastic hangers, Liam M grabbed a hanger bar to use as a faux-mic, and Eric mounted up his camera and masterfully filmed and edited this bad boy," said Holbein.

"With Brady and Liam K (Skipper) pulling us along, we poured our heart into our final goodbye through song, to a job we loved, and a building that contains so many great memories!"

Target Canada announced earlier this year it was closing at its 133 stores across Canada putting 17,600 employees out of work, less than two years after coming to Canada. 

YouTube: Closing time by Semisonic


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Octopus will take your picture for just $2

Tired of asking other humans to take photos of you? At a New Zealand aquarium, you can get an octopus to do it instead.

Octographer photo

If you pay $2 to get your photo taken by Rambo, you're guaranteed not to have a finger in the shot. But there's always the possibility that a tentacle will sneak in. (Sony New Zealand Facebook page)

Rambo, a female octopus at Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium in Auckland, has been trained to use a $300 Sony Cyber-shot TX30 waterproof digital camera to take photos of tourists. The aquarium charges just $2 in local currency (about $1.88 Canadian) for the service. The money goes toward aquarium operations and programs.

"She loves the game now," said Rambo's trainer, Mark Vette, in a video posted online by Sony New Zealand.

The company sponsored Rambo's photography training to help raise awareness about how intelligent octopuses are and show how durable the TX30 camera is, reported the website DIY photography.

The project certainly showcases Rambo's intelligence — she was trained in just three tries to respond to a buzzer as a cue to take a photo, Vette said in an interview with the TVNZ show Seven Sharp.

Vette, lead behaviourist for Animals on Q, an Auckland-based firm that has trained a variety of animals, added that if a dog learned the same trick in 10 tries, "I'd be very happy."

As for the durability of the camera, it might be advertised as shock-proof, but it was definitely not octopus-proof.

Rambo pulls trigger

When Rambo hears a buzzer, she clambers onto the camera, and reaches her tentacle down a tube to push a red button that turns on the camera and takes a photo. (Sony New Zealand/YouTube)

"On day two, she pulled the camera off, ripped it up, smashed it to bits and spat it out," Vette recalled in the Sony video. "We realized how powerful she was."

Eventually, the camera was secured in a specially-designed octopus-proof housing that appears to be made of plexiglass.

Rambo takes photos by reaching her tentacle down a tube to push a red button that turns on the camera and takes a photo.

Dozens of her photos have been posted on the Sony New Zealand Facebook page.


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What?! Madonna shares big, sloppy on-stage kiss with Drake at Coachella show

Written By Unknown on Senin, 13 April 2015 | 22.55

Add Canadian rapper Drake to the list of performers who Madonna has locked lips with on stage.

During his Sunday night headline set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., Drake, 28, invited Madonna, 56, to join him. At the end of her short set, Madonna planted a lengthy, open-mouth kiss on the Toronto native.

"What the f--- just happened?" Drake said as Madonna walked off the stage.

Madonna is no stranger to kissing younger music stars. During the 2003 MTV awards show, she famously kissed both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. 

Madonna stays young by discreetly sucking the life out of the youth. #SaveTheYouth #StopMadonna pic.twitter.com/QlhxrzuNx6

— @ItsJadaRice

That kiss just guaranteed Madonna another 8 years of life. Thanks Drake.

— @JasFly

People are Twitter are reading a lot into Drake's reaction to the kiss. 

Something tells us @Drake wasn't expecting Madonna to do this... #ThatFace #Priceless https://t.co/rIoltuhOvP

— @1Xtra

I never thought I'd say this, but: I feel bad for Drake. pic.twitter.com/FHCbEvrj5g

— @saladinahmed

Some are posting about their own reaction. 

watching that Madonna and Drake kiss like pic.twitter.com/TBrlNGsJsg

— @SamDiss

But if you're grossed out by Madonna kissing Drake, check your own prejudices. 

So gross when Madonna kissed that young guy. Not at all sexy like almost every aging male celeb with their 20 year old girlfriends.

— @OhNoSheTwitnt

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If Kanye West jumped into a lake, would you jump too?

Police had to shut down Kanye West's impromptu free concert in the Armenian capital of Yerevan early Monday after the U.S. rapper jumped into a lake, inspiring dozens of fans to follow.

"We're going to do something different right now," the 37-year-old performer of Yeezus exclaimed before leaping into a shallow pond known as Swan Lake.

Within moments, a swarm of fans watching from the other side also jumped into the water, with some getting too close to the American star.

Kany West

Kanye West, third from the right, smiles as he's escorted out of Swan Lake by security guards and policemen early Monday morning. (Vahan Stepanyan/PAN Photo/Reuters)

Police and West's security staff quickly leaped into action, escorting the rapper to safety, pushing at least one eager concertgoer out of the way in the process.

West's wife, reality star Kim Kardashian, had announced the free concert to her 31 million followers on Twitter.

According to her, thousands of people turned out for what became a "crazy night."

Can't see the tweet? See it here. 

The surprise concert was the last event on an Armenian tour by Kim Kardashian and family.

West and Kardashian were joined by daughter North and sister Khloe for a four-day visit to the Kardashian ancestral homeland.

Kim Kardashian

US reality TV star Kim Kardashian, centre, and her rapper husband Kanye West (third from the left) visit the genocide memorial, which commemorates the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, in Yerevan on April 10, 2015. (Karen Minasyan/AFP/Getty Images)

The tour included a visit to a complex created in memory of the estimated 1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of the First World War.

The famous family is now in Israel for what was described as a private two-day visit.

They are expected to shoot some footage for their reality show in Jerusalem before moving on to Jordan.


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'Thank you Mother Nature!': Otter sliding party captured on film

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 12 April 2015 | 22.55

Donna Dooley just wanted to see whether the ice on the Cameron River outside of Yellowknife had thawed when she, her daughter and her daughter's friend went to the Cameron Ramparts for a picnic on Easter Monday.

"We had the campfire going and we were starting to cook bannock and smokies and had sat down by the campfire and my daughter said, "Oh my God! There goes an otter!"

Dooley says she'd hung her camera on a tree branch and scrambled to get a shot as the animal disappeared over the bank. "I thought 'Oh that was so exciting but, aww... I just got a picture of its butt, oh well.'"

But the show wasn't over.  

Dooley says as they sat, looking out over the river, they saw three otters going in and out of a hole in the ice. Then they disappeared from sight.

"Next thing I know, they were coming up the trail behind us and sliding down!" she says.  

For the next half hour, Dooley witnessed a group of otters running straight across the river ice and sliding down the hill into a hole.

"They were peeking at us, running across the snow, in and out and down the trail… It was amazing!" she says. "They were having a good time."

Otters common in N.W.T.

River otters are fairly common in the territory, where they're found all the way up the Mackenzie River and the territorial mainland to north of Inuvik, says Suzanne Carriere, an ecosystem management biologist with the territory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Carriere says although they're in the same family as weasels and wolverines, otters are much different.

"These guys are very social, sometimes even a bunch of guys just hang out together, not just families."

Carriere says that playfulness speaks to their high level of intelligence. 

"If you have animals that are more intelligent they'll have play as part of their behaviour," she says, citing wolves and ravens as doing the same.

Carriere also says the otters can swim "really fast" underwater and can spend up to five minutes below the ice.

River otters make their homes in holes in the sides of river banks or in old beaver lodges, but they like to travel and make their homes from one body of water to the next.

Culturally significant

Besha Blondin, a traditional healer in the N.W.T., says the cultural significance of otters to First Nations people runs deep. The Dene story, "The Old Man with the Otter Medicine," is read in classrooms across the territory.

Blondin says the animals have been used traditionally in healing because of their medicinal role.

"If a person is really sick with internal sickness, or emotional problems, they'd look for an otter to use the healing power to fix them and get healthy," she says.

Blondin says her people know that every spring is a playful time for the otters. 

"So if people see them playing, it's like a gift given to you," she says.

Dooley agrees. She says she and the girls packed up their picnic and left their site when the otters appeared to have done the same.

"As we were leaving we were yelling, 'Thank you Mother Nature!' I think if anybody was around they probably thought we were crazy," she laughs.

"It was just so amazing to see them."


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The Rock is threatening cod stocks, but not the Rock you think

There's the Rock that has been under a cod moratorium since 1992, and then there's The Rock who most certainly has not.

Social media was buzzing this week when Muscle and Fitness magazine posted Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson's bodybuilding meal plan. 

Seeing The Rock on television and in movies, I always assumed he needed a good dose of protein to maintain his size and muscle mass. 

However,  what blew me away was just how much codfish the former WWE wrestler consumes on a daily basis.

Dwayne Johnson Huge

Dwayne Johnson revealed his muscle-building meal plan in this months issue of Muscle and Fitness. (Muscle and Fitness)

Our Rock — by that, I mean Newfoundland — was legendarily built on cod, and it turns out that the other Rock was, too.

According to the Muscle and Fitness article, Johnson eats 2.3 pounds of cod every single day, which adds up to about 821 pounds per year. That's over 1,000 calories of cod every single day!

A pound of fresh cod at Sobeys in St. John's this week costs $8.99. That means if The Rock was living on The Rock (aka Newfoundland), he would have to spend $7,380 per year to maintain his current cod consumption.

If cooked cod is more your style, consider this ... Ches's Fish & Chips weighs out six ounces of cod for a two-piece meal.

That means The Rock eats the equivalent of 5.5 two-pieces each and every day!

ches fish and chops

A two-piece fish and chips from Ches's in St. John's has 6 ounces of cod. (Ches's Fish & Chips)

The wrestler-turned-Hollywood superstar eats seven meals per day as part of his dietary plan, two of which have cod as the main source of protein.

Along with seafood, Johnson also eats 12 eggs daily, along with healthy servings of chicken, steak, protein powder and vegetables.

However it isn't all lean protein for The Rock. While training for the movie Hercules, Dwayne Johnson famously treated himself to one "cheat meal" after 100 days of eating clean.

What did he have? Twelve pancakes, four "double-dough" pizzas and 21 brownies.

Dwayne Rock Johnson cheat meals

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson photographed himself during his cheat meal day during the filming of Hercules in 2014. (twoscoopsgethuge.com)

I think by now we can all "smell what the Rock is cookin'," and as it turns out, it's a whole lot of food.

It can't be easy or cheap to get all of that cod every day — even for a rich movie star.

With the Newfoundland and Labrador recreational food fishery set to last three weeks this summer, perhaps Johnson should come to this province, go out in a boat and get his daily quota and stock up for future meals.

Or actually, maybe not. With a yearly appetite of 821 pounds, Dwayne Johnson would only be helping the Newfoundland cod stocks to once again hit "rock bottom."


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The Rock is threatening cod stocks, but not the Rock you think

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 11 April 2015 | 22.55

There's the Rock that has been under a cod moratorium since 1992, and then there's The Rock who most certainly has not.

Social media was buzzing this week when Muscle and Fitness magazine posted Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson's bodybuilding meal plan. 

Seeing The Rock on television and in movies, I always assumed he needed a good dose of protein to maintain his size and muscle mass. 

However,  what blew me away was just how much codfish the former WWE wrestler consumes on a daily basis.

Dwayne Johnson Huge

Dwayne Johnson revealed his muscle-building meal plan in this months issue of Muscle and Fitness. (Muscle and Fitness)

Our Rock — by that, I mean Newfoundland — was legendarily built on cod, and it turns out that the other Rock was, too.

According to the Muscle and Fitness article, Johnson eats 2.3 pounds of cod every single day, which adds up to about 821 pounds per year. That's over 1,000 calories of cod every single day!

A pound of fresh cod at Sobeys in St. John's this week costs $8.99. That means if The Rock was living on The Rock (aka Newfoundland), he would have to spend $7,380 per year to maintain his current cod consumption.

If cooked cod is more your style, consider this ... Ches's Fish & Chips weighs out six ounces of cod for a two-piece meal.

That means The Rock eats the equivalent of 5.5 two-pieces each and every day!

ches fish and chops

A two-piece fish and chips from Ches's in St. John's has 6 ounces of cod. (Ches's Fish & Chips)

The wrestler-turned-Hollywood superstar eats seven meals per day as part of his dietary plan, two of which have cod as the main source of protein.

Along with seafood, Johnson also eats 12 eggs daily, along with healthy servings of chicken, steak, protein powder and vegetables.

However it isn't all lean protein for The Rock. While training for the movie Hercules, Dwayne Johnson famously treated himself to one "cheat meal" after 100 days of eating clean.

What did he have? Twelve pancakes, four "double-dough" pizzas and 21 brownies.

Dwayne Rock Johnson cheat meals

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson photographed himself during his cheat meal day during the filming of Hercules in 2014. (twoscoopsgethuge.com)

I think by now we can all "smell what the Rock is cookin'," and as it turns out, it's a whole lot of food.

It can't be easy or cheap to get all of that cod every day — even for a rich movie star.

With the Newfoundland and Labrador recreational food fishery set to last three weeks this summer, perhaps Johnson should come to this province, go out in a boat and get his daily quota and stock up for future meals.

Or actually, maybe not. With a yearly appetite of 821 pounds, Dwayne Johnson would only be helping the Newfoundland cod stocks to once again hit "rock bottom."


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'Thank you Mother Nature!': Otter sliding party captured on film

Donna Dooley just wanted to see whether the ice on the Cameron River outside of Yellowknife had thawed when she, her daughter and her daughter's friend went to the Cameron Ramparts for a picnic on Easter Monday.

"We had the campfire going and we were starting to cook bannock and smokies and had sat down by the campfire and my daughter said, "Oh my God! There goes an otter!"

Dooley says she'd hung her camera on a tree branch and scrambled to get a shot as the animal disappeared over the bank. "I thought 'Oh that was so exciting but, aww... I just got a picture of its butt, oh well.'"

But the show wasn't over.  

Dooley says as they sat, looking out over the river, they saw three otters going in and out of a hole in the ice. Then they disappeared from sight.

"Next thing I know, they were coming up the trail behind us and sliding down!" she says.  

For the next half hour, Dooley witnessed a group of otters running straight across the river ice and sliding down the hill into a hole.

"They were peeking at us, running across the snow, in and out and down the trail… It was amazing!" she says. "They were having a good time."

Otters common in N.W.T.

River otters are fairly common in the territory, where they're found all the way up the Mackenzie River and the territorial mainland to north of Inuvik, says Suzanne Carriere, an ecosystem management biologist with the territory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Carriere says although they're in the same family as weasels and wolverines, otters are much different.

"These guys are very social, sometimes even a bunch of guys just hang out together, not just families."

Carriere says that playfulness speaks to their high level of intelligence. 

"If you have animals that are more intelligent they'll have play as part of their behaviour," she says, citing wolves and ravens as doing the same.

Carriere also says the otters can swim "really fast" underwater and can spend up to five minutes below the ice.

River otters make their homes in holes in the sides of river banks or in old beaver lodges, but they like to travel and make their homes from one body of water to the next.

Culturally significant

Besha Blondin, a traditional healer in the N.W.T., says the cultural significance of otters to First Nations people runs deep. The Dene story, "The Old Man with the Otter Medicine," is read in classrooms across the territory.

Blondin says the animals have been used traditionally in healing because of their medicinal role.

"If a person is really sick with internal sickness, or emotional problems, they'd look for an otter to use the healing power to fix them and get healthy," she says.

Blondin says her people know that every spring is a playful time for the otters. 

"So if people see them playing, it's like a gift given to you," she says.

Dooley agrees. She says she and the girls packed up their picnic and left their site when the otters appeared to have done the same.

"As we were leaving we were yelling, 'Thank you Mother Nature!' I think if anybody was around they probably thought we were crazy," she laughs.

"It was just so amazing to see them."


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Nutella is coming to Tim Hortons in Canada

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 10 April 2015 | 22.55

Tim Hortons is rolling out Nutella as a spread option as well as two new baked goods featuring the iconic Italian condiment in Canada.

Timmies announced Thursday that starting April 15 it will offer a new chocolate-hazelnut doughnut filled with Nutella and pastry pockets filled with Nutella.

The coffee shop will also begin offering Nutella as a spread option on bagels. The new options will be available for a limited time and will disappear from stores on June 9. 

The coffee chain is also starting an online contest to go with the Nutella launch.

Anyone who sends an uplifting message to a friend on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #SpreadTheLove will be entered in a contest to win free Nutella baked goods. The receiver of the message will be entered in the context as well. 

While the launch is scheduled for later this month, the new products appear to be showing up in some locations already. One customer spotted Nutella pastry pockets at a Tim Hortons in Calgary.

Shut The Front Door @TimHortons!!! #Nutella #YYCFoodies #DreamsComeTrue pic.twitter.com/Ux1Bub7Mm4

— @Goodwill_Carlos

The Nutella news has set off a wave of reaction on social media. Most of it has looked something like this:

Um @TimHortons is launching a Nutella line. BEST NEWS EVER. http://t.co/IaEe3Aafis

— @erinbury

But before you get too excited about the new Nutella-infused offerings, it might be good to remember that Nutella is not exactly health food (despite some previous advertising suggesting just that).

CBC's Marketplace recently revealed that one tablespoon of Nutella contains approximately one tablespoon of sugar. Think about that. 

For its part, Nutella maker Ferrero suggests the spread should be enjoyed in moderation.


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Irish company turns anti-gay pamphlets into confetti for same-sex weddings

Of all the many uses for confetti — showering award show winners, stuffing envelopes, jazzing up nail polish — subverting homophobic propaganda may be the most creative and powerful one we've seen to date.

In the run-up to Ireland's May 22 marriage equality referendum (citizens will vote on whether or not to legalize same-sex marriage within the country), opponents have been distributing anti-LGBT leaflets in an attempt to win support from voters.

Containing unfounded statements suggesting that gay people "contract cancers earlier in life" and that children adopted by same-sex couples are "50 times more likely to die of injuries inflicted on them," many of the pamphlets have upset the people they've been given to in Dublin.

Some on Twitter are destroying the anti-gay leaflets they receive, but Irish paper company Daintree had a better idea — create confetti out of them to be used at gay weddings.

"If you receive any dishonest flyers or leaflets in the run-up to the referendum we want to recycle them into confetti," reads a message posted by the company online. "Just drop into our little paper shop at 61 Camden Street, Dublin, and hand the lies over to one of our lovely shop staff and we'll create more beautiful confetti to help people celebrate marriage equality."

Daintree has set up a dedicated website to host materials for its confetti campaign, which it calls A Shred of Decency.

There, the company is actually selling bags of confetti "made from 100% recycled lies" for €5, with 100 per cent of its profits going to Ireland's pro-LGBT Yes Equality organization.

While the company is shipping its confetti internationally, leaflets are currently only being accepted for shredding at its Dublin headquarters.

Those who would like to participate remotely can still do so, however, via Twitter.

"If you see any negative and dishonest tweets about the marriage referendum on Twitter, we can shred these Tweets for you too!" reads the campaign website. "Just reply to the dishonest tweet and add #shredthistweet. We will then print the tweet off and add it to the pile."

"We'll also send a tweet to the source of the dishonesty and thank them for their very generous help in supporting YES Equality," the company notes. "We will try (and probably fail) to suppress a tiny smile whilst doing so."

While some on Twitter are indeed calling out hateful messages on the hashtag, most are simply using it to praise the campaign and share images of the confetti they've received from Daintree.

Daintree Paper manager Nichola Doyle told the Independent newspaper that 500 batches of confetti have already been created from leaflets collected by her staff. 

They're going fast, though, according to the campaign's Instagram account — which makes sense considering that a majority of Irish voters plan to support gay marriage on referendum day, according to polls.

Watch the campaign's full video here:


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$100 doughnut at B.C. bakery dazzles with edible gold, sugar diamonds

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 09 April 2015 | 22.55

First, there was a $100 hot dog and an $850 pizza being sold at separate restaurants in the Metro Vancouver area. Now, a bakery in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley is home to a $100 doughnut.

To celebrate its grand reopening on the weekend, Dolicious Donuts in West Kelowna created the Donutopia, a luxurious treat laced with gold, sugar diamonds and chocolate.

The inspiration for the decadent doughnut came from a loyal customer, said store manager Melissa Sam.

"He had been going there since he was just in elementary school, and he wanted to propose to his girlfriend," Sam told Daybreak South.

"So he came to us and he wanted to put the ring into a Bismarck [a cream-filled doughnut], as a pillow for the ring to present to his girlfriend."

The Donutopia is made with pure 24-karat gold flakes, sugar diamonds, ice wine, luxury bottled water and a chocolate topping infused with aged balsamic vinegar.

To hear the full interview, listen to the audio labelled: $100 doughnut in West Kelowna, B.C.


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Will new green bins bring Toronto victory in raccoon war?

Raccoons try, and fail, to crack Toronto's new green bins

Mayor John Tory is confident he has in his arsenal an "ingenious" new weapon in Toronto's long and losing battle against "the forces of raccoon nation that have defeated us for some time."

At a news conference Thursday, Tory gleefully presented a video he says shows that the days of raccoons treating Toronto organic waste bins as a nightly buffet will soon be over. 

The difference? A new design Tory says is resistant to even the most clever, bin-savvy raccoons. 

"We are ready, we are armed. We are motived to show that we cannot be defeated by these critters," said Tory with a hint of humour. 

The city's video tells a tale of two green bins. The surveillance video first shows raccoons easily breaking into the bins currently in use. Later, the video shows raccoons as they try and fail to find their way into green bins the city expects to approve and put into service staring in 2016. 

Tory admitted that residents' attempts to make the old bins raccoon-proof  — everything from homemade latches to bungie cords and the use of rocks and bricks as weights — have largely resulted in failure.

"You name it, people have tried it but the raccoons have adapted very well to city life," he said. He said the old bins are already at the end of their 10-year life span, offering the city an opportunity to improve the design.

He said the new bins are taller and more stable, making them a harder nut for the critters to crack. 

If approved at committee and council, the new bins will be delivered starting in 2016 at no cost to residents. The old bins will be taken away by the city and recycled. 

The bins will also have more capacity for trash. 

"Most people can comfortably skip one collection day if they want to," said Tory. 


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Man sends wife hilariously 'sad' photos to prove his vacation was no fun without her

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 08 April 2015 | 22.55

Believe it or not, the incredibly sad-looking man in these photos was on a free vacation in tropical paradise when they were taken. 

He wasn't unhappy with his luxury resort accommodations, bothered by the balmy weather of Puerto Rico, or even suffering from a jellyfish sting. 

He simply missed his wife and baby daughter.

Kevin Blandford family

Kevin Blandford, his wife Bonnie, and their 7-month-old daughter Gwyneth Paige. (Kevin Blandford / Facebook)

Kevin Blandford, 34, recently won a trip to the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa in Puerto Rico through work. The vacation was a reward for his outstanding performance as a quality assurance supervisor at the telecommunications company he works for in Louisville, Kentucky.

While understandably thrilled to have won the trip, Blandford soon learned that he wouldn't be able to bring his wife, Bonnie, or 7-month-old daughter, Gwyneth, along for the adventure.

"Bringing [Gwyneth] along was complicated, and Bonnie didn't want to be away from her that long," he told CBC News, noting that it would have been logistically difficult to bring a baby to Puerto Rico at the time.

So, Blandford went on the trip without his girls — but he made sure to let Bonnie know how much he missed them by sending along photos of himself looking miserable (taken with the help of his dedicated friend, Alec.)

Bonnie got a kick out of the photos, leading Blandford — an avid redditor — to think that the internet might enjoy them too.

He was very, very right.

Blandford uploaded 14 photos of himself having "not a single second of fun in Puerto Rico" to Imgur when he returned from his vacation at the end of March, and then posted the gallery's link to the r/pics subreddit.

The gallery has now been seen more than 2.3 million times in just 7 days, attracting international media attention and messages from new fans all over the world.

"I thought that Reddit might like the photos but I had no idea it would blow up like this," said Blandford. "I've gotten messages from people at work that I don't know, I've gotten LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter messages. It's been surreal."

And Blandford isn't the only one being sought after — after all, his wife was the one who inspired this project.

"Since it's been so huge she's been getting as much attention as I have," Blandford said of Bonnie. "It's really been so much fun and so crazy. I don't think she really understood the scope until she started getting calls from CNN and Ellen." 

While Blandford admits that he didn't, in fact, have a terrible trip – "you can't go to a place like that and not have some fun," he said – he maintains that he would have preferred to bring his family along.

Fortunately, he'll get a chance to do just that if he decides to go on any of the three separate trips his family has been offered since the gallery went viral.

"We got offered two Puerto Rico trips; one by the hotel I was staying in and the other by the Puerto Rico Ad Agency," he told CBC News. "I also got offered a trip to Mauritius. Ever heard of that island? I hadn't. I'm looking into it to make sure it's legit and that I will come home with both kidneys. If it is, it could be the trip of a lifetime."

No dates have been set, but Blandford says he's excited to return to Puerto Rico, "this time, WITH my girls."


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PM's office mocked on Twitter after spelling British Columbia wrong

Press passes for Prime Minister Stephen Harper's student grant announcement in Vancouver Tuesday contained not one, but two typos.

  • Stephen Harper expands eligibility for Canada Student Grants program

It seems the Prime Minister's Office neglected to use an apostrophe when referring to the event and misspelled British Columbia.

The Prime Minister's Office was not immediately available for comment.

However, the reaction on social media was swift after CBC reporter Kirk Williams tweeted about the pass.

OOPS! Ah, @pmharper, the province you are visiting today is spelled with a "U" as in Col-U-mbia. #cbc #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/fJqXgs18OQ

— Kirk Williams (@CBCKirkWilliams) April 7, 2015

Fellow Twitter user Robert Joly replied in jest that Harper might have been thinking of going to the country Colombia to escape any backlash from the Mike Duffy Senate expense scandal.

@CBCKirkWilliams @spiderzjay @pmharper He just missed the country of his last hide out from the Duffy scandal.He will hide in Panama friday

— @bodelairo

Tweeter Yvonne Fortin also replied, questioning the government's priorities.

@wafflewrecker9 @calgarykiaguy @CBCKirkWilliams @natnewswatch @pmharper Grammar & spelling are "clearly" not important #BoysInShortPants

— @yvonne4tn

And someone writing under the handle @albertarabbit had stern words for the federal government.

@CBCKirkWilliams @marionetta @pmharper Those PMO kids need to brush up on all their skills. This is not a first & won't be a last.

— @albertarabbit

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Von Trapp family still singing 50 years after the Sound of Music

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 07 April 2015 | 22.55

50 years after the release of The Sound of Music film, the great-grandchildren of Captain von Trapp are continuing the family tradition with the release of a collection of original songs.

"It's young and fresh but it still carries a lot of that optimism that is similar to the Sound of Music but with a bit of a contemporary feel to everything," Melanie von Trapp, 23, told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"A lot of it's based on inspiration we've had by being on the road and travelling most of our lives."

This will be the first release of original songs from Sofia, Melanie, Amanda, and August von Trapp, but the siblings have been touring and performing classics for the past 12 years.

Melanie von Trapp said their grandfather, Werner von Trapp — portrayed as Kurt, the youngest of the boys, in the film — taught them to sing.

"He would always come to Montana, where we grew up, and teach us folk songs and little Austrian yodeling songs," said von Trapp.

"Eventually he had a stroke and couldn't come visit so we ended up recording the songs that he taught us and making a little album for him to listen to in the hospital, and that kind of set the ball in motion."

The four von Trapps will perform at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver tonight, and the audience can count on a few classics from the Sound of Music soundtrack.

"I think we'd have tomatoes thrown at us if we didn't sing Eidelweiss, but we actually love it. I love that music," said von Trapp.

To hear the full interview with Melanie von Trapp, listen to the audio labelled: The von Trapps are still singing.


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No love for Lucy statue in Lucille Ball's hometown

They may have loved I Love Lucy but many in Lucille Ball's western New York hometown have no affection for her life-size statue in a local park.

Since the bronze sculpture was unveiled in 2009 in Lucille Ball Memorial Park in the village of Celoron, the statue has been blasted by critics who say it bears little or no likeness to the popular 1950s sitcom actress and comedian.

Village officials told The Post-Journal of Jamestown that they've talked to the sculptor about making changes to the statue's face, but the artist wants as much as $10,000 US to alter his artwork. Other sculptors have quoted a price tag of about $5,000.

"We'd like to work with the original sculptor, and wish he would stand behind his work enough to step up and fix it for free," Celoron Mayor Scott Schrecengost told the newspaper.

He said no taxpayer funds will be used for the statue project. The village has started a fundraising effort to pay for the sculpture's makeover.

A statue replacement campaign has been launched on Facebook with the name, "We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue."

The statue was commissioned privately by a couple who hired a sculptor from neighbouring Jamestown, 100 kilometres south of Buffalo. The 400-pound statue was installed in August 2009 in a park Celoron, where Ball spent much of her youth.

The statue depicts Ball with her signature swept-up hairdo, but the sculpture's face has been described by some online critics as "a nightmare" that resembles a drunken zombie. The sculpture shows Ball holding a spoon and a bottle of Vitameatavegamin, a fictional elixir featured in one of her most famous episodes.


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Woman can serve divorce papers via Facebook, judge says

Written By Unknown on Senin, 06 April 2015 | 22.55

Husband has only been in touch with wife by phone and Facebook, ruling says

The Associated Press Posted: Apr 06, 2015 8:58 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 06, 2015 8:58 AM ET

A judge has given a New York City woman permission to file for divorce from her elusive husband via a Facebook message.

The woman's lawyer says the ruling was made by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper.

The Daily News says Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku will be served with the divorce summons via a private Facebook message. It will be repeated once a week for three consecutive weeks or until "acknowledged" by Ellanora Baidoo's hard-to-find husband.

Attorney Andrew Spinnell says the couple married in 2009 in a civil ceremony. He says the relationship began to unravel when the defendant reneged on his promise to a traditional Ghanaian wedding ceremony as well.

The marriage was never consummated and the couple never lived together, but Blood-Dzraku doesn't want a divorce, Spinell told the Daily News. 

The ruling says Blood-Dzraku, who has no fixed address, no place of employment and has refused to make himself available to be served with divorce papers, has only been in touch with his wife via phone and Facebook.

Comments on this story are moderated according to our Submission Guidelines. Comments are welcome while open. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.

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Von Trapp family still singing 50 years after the Sound of Music

50 years after the release of The Sound of Music, the great-grandchildren of Captain von Trapp are continuing the family tradition with the release of a collection of original songs.

"It's young and fresh but it still carries a lot of that optimism that is similar to the Sound of Music but with a bit of a contemporary feel to everything," Melanie von Trapp, 23, told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"A lot of it's based on inspiration we've had by being on the road and travelling most of our lives."

This will be the first release of original songs from Sofia, Melanie, Amanda, and August von Trapp, but the siblings have been touring and performing classics for the past 12 years.

Melanie von Trapp said their grandfather, Werner von Trapp — portrayed as Kurt, the youngest of the boys, in the film — taught them to sing.

"He would always come to Montana, where we grew up, and teach us folk songs and little Austrian yodeling songs," said Von Trapp.

"Eventually he had a stroke and couldn't come visit so we ended up recording the songs that he taught us and making a little album for him to listen to in the hospital, and that kind of set the ball in motion."

The four von Trapps will perform at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver tonight, and the audience can count on a few classics from the Sound of Music soundtrack.

"I think we'd have tomatoes thrown at us if we didn't sing Eidelweiss, but we actually love it. I love that music," said von Trapp.

To hear the full interview with Melanie von Trapp, listen to the audio labelled: The von Trapps are still singing.


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Want fresh eggs daily? Rent-a-chicken service coming to Toronto

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 05 April 2015 | 22.55

Just in time for Easter and perhaps the most in-demand season for eggs, Rent the Chicken company announced it is expanding its chicken rental services to Torontonians.

The company strives to provide people wanting backyard chickens the chance to do so without the hassle.

Wannabe farmers can rent two or four chickens. The company provides them with a portable chicken coop, food, and food and water dishes.

People keep their chickens for six months, and the hens lay between eight and 28 eggs a week — depending on how many birds the person has.

After six months, the company takes the chickens back for the colder months. Hens typically lay fewer eggs during the winter. Once the spring returns, customers can once again rent their chickens.

The company also has a hatch the chicken program. It allows families and schools to rent seven fertile eggs for five weeks. The chickens take about three weeks to hatch, giving the renters two weeks to spend with the adorable chicks before handing them back to the company.

For people who can't quite let go of the chicks after bonding with them, there is an adoption option.

The city of Toronto currently does not allow people to keep backyard hens or roosters. Toronto's licensing and standards committee deferred a vote in January 2012 that could have allowed residents to keep a limited number of hens in a backyard coop.

Since the committee deferred the item indefinitely, city officials will continue responding to complaints, but won't actively enforce the bylaw.

Rent the Chicken addresses this law saying, "Due to local chicken owning laws, renters are actually purchasing the hens. At the end of the season, unless the hens are adopted, the hens will be bought back for $1."


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After 6 years and 3,800 km, Cleo the cat back where she belongs

Cleo the cat and her owner shared a tearful reunion at Edmonton's International Airport Saturday morning, after being separated by thousands of kilometres for over half a decade.

"I didn't think I'd cry as much as I did," said Amanda Graham while holding her long-lost pet.

'Just remembering Amanda when the kitty cat climbed on her, you can't put a value on that.'- Richard Guyon

It was the first time Graham has seen the calico since she went missing from her family's farm in Kemptville, Ont., just south of Ottawa, six years ago.

Graham said Cleo was somewhat of an escape artist. She loved going outside, and no matter what the family did to keep her on the farm, she would find a way to wander off.

But when Cleo failed to return one day, Graham feared the worst. When a search for Cleo and putting up posters yielded no sign of her pet, she gave up. A year later, Graham moved to Edmonton to finish her schooling.

She put Cleo out of her mind. until last week, when she received a call from Betty-Jean Matthews, the owner of the Stuck in the Mud Animal Rescue. Cleo had been found in September, wandering the streets of Brockville, Ont.

richard guyon

Richard Guyon decided to donate Airmiles to fly Cleo home after reading about her story on CBC News. (CBC)

She had been placed at the pound before being given to Matthews. A veterinarian noticed a faded identification tattoo on her ear, one that had not been used in the province for years. They were able to track Cleo back to an Alberta clinic where Cleo was spayed in 2009.

"When we found the tattoo was leading us to Edmonton, we didn't really believe it," said Brenda Potts, who works with Stuck in the Mud.

"They didn't believe us that it was their tattoo. And we kept going back to the drawing board. But we double-checked, it was Edmonton."

Potts said Cleo was a shy and sensitive cat, who had trouble adjusting to new situations. She wasn't being picked up for adoption, which she said made them more determined to find her original owner.

Using veterinary records, Facebook and some luck, the rescuers were able to find Graham and phone her.

"She was essentially on deaths row for euthanization … [They] tracked her down all the way through records and finally found me," said Graham.  

Now that Cleo had been found, there was another obstacle: getting her back to Graham.

Potts said the organization was trying to raise funds to fly Cleo to Alberta, when Richard Guyon stepped in.

The Edmonton man said he heard about Cleo on the news, and decided to help reunite Graham and her pet.

"I said 'well, I have Airmiles. I can help take care of the airfare to get her home,'"

The staff at Stuck in the Mud were initially surprised by the offer. But Guyon said it was well worth it to bring Cleo to Edmonton.

"Just remembering Amanda when the kitty cat climbed on her, you can't put a value on that."

Graham said she is grateful for all the time and money put into bringing Cleo back to her.

"'It's just incredible, these nice people doing this amazing thing for someone they don't even know."

She said it will be an adjustment when she gets home with Cleo, especially since the cat will now have to get used to living with Graham's pet husky. She also said she plans to get Cleo's ear tattoo updated, just in case the calico starts her wandering ways again.


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Want fresh eggs daily? Rent-a-chicken service coming to Toronto

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 04 April 2015 | 22.55

Just in time for Easter and perhaps the most in-demand season for eggs, Rent the Chicken company announced it is expanding its chicken rental services to Torontonians.

The company strives to provide people wanting backyard chickens the chance to do so without the hassle.

Wannabe farmers can rent two or four chickens. The company provides them with a portable chicken coop, food, and food and water dishes.

People keep their chickens for six months, and the hens lay between eight and 28 eggs a week — depending on how many birds the person has.

After six months, the company takes the chickens back for the colder months. Hens typically lay fewer eggs during the winter. Once the spring returns, customers can once again rent their chickens.

The company also has a hatch the chicken program. It allows families and schools to rent seven fertile eggs for five weeks. The chickens take about three weeks to hatch, giving the renters two weeks to spend with the adorable chicks before handing them back to the company.

For people who can't quite let go of the chicks after bonding with them, there is an adoption option.

The city of Toronto currently does not allow people to keep backyard hens or roosters. Toronto's licensing and standards committee deferred a vote in January 2012 that could have allowed residents to keep a limited number of hens in a backyard coop.

Since the committee deferred the item indefinitely, city officials will continue responding to complaints, but won't actively enforce the bylaw.

Rent the Chicken addresses this law saying, "Due to local chicken owning laws, renters are actually purchasing the hens. At the end of the season, unless the hens are adopted, the hens will be bought back for $1."


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Spider-Man in Saskatchewan? Reddit loves Prairie humour

People in Saskatchewan have always had a sense of humour.

Just ask the residents of Dog River.

But this week the province appears to have become a favourite punchline on Reddit.

An April 1 post of an animated GIF from a user named thunderbay-expat advertises a new Spider-Man movie set in Saskatchewan.

"Initial concept artwork looks promising," reads the title.

Click here to see the GIF hosted on Imgur if you're on mobile.

Of course, the joke becomes immediately apparent when you realize that Spidey would have no buildings to swing from on the open plains.

The post has received more than 1,500 upvotes and is one of the top-rated links from this past week in the Canada section of the popular website.

While the Canadian version pokes fun at Saskatchewan, the animation was first posted to Reddit as a Kansas joke. You can watch the original video that spawned the GIF above or here if you're on mobile.

Another one of this week's top-rated links was a photo gallery of decidedly underwhelming travel shots from a roadtrip through the province.

We brought you that story on Monday and it attracted a lot of attention. Take a trip down memory lane into the never-ending horizon here.


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City withdraws fine against Hamilton man who cleaned up garbage

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 03 April 2015 | 22.55

The city has backpedaled on a decision to give a Hamilton man a ticket for cleaning up litter in the downtown alley next to his condo after a strong community backlash.

Ted Pudney, a video editor with the CBC in Toronto, moved to Hamilton from that city about three months ago. Tired of looking at the trash outside his building at 80 King William, he went out and spent nearly three hours cleaning it up himself. The garbage included broken glass, pop cans, tissues and needles.

'An apology would be nice but not necessary.'- Ted Pudney

But when he stacked the trash in a nearby alley for collection, a pair of city bylaw enforcement officers wrote him a ticket for $125.

On Thursday afternoon, after angry calls from residents and a storm of negative attention on social media, the city withdrew the ticket.

"We were advised some of the garbage was from the alley way," said Jason Thorne, general manager of planning and economic development, in an email to councillors obtained by CBC Hamilton. "Upon review, the ticket is now being withdrawn."

Pudney said he's happy to hear that.

Pudney's story drew attention from a nearby doctor who volunteered to pay his fine, and from Chuck's Burger Bar, which offered him a $125 gift card.

The alley in question is on a city "hot list" of locations to monitor for illegal dumping, Thorne said in his email to council. The area draws an abundance of waste from nearby businesses, and "there is zero tolerance in that alleyway" for illegal dumping, he said.

The city's illegal dumping team has visited that alley more than 100 times over six months and removed more than 250 bags of illegally dumped waste, he said. 

Pudney said the two bylaw enforcement officers approached him as he was cleaning the alley. He tried to tell them he was doing a good thing, he said, but they wrote a ticket anyway.

Hamilton's lower housing prices and cost of living drew him, he said. He likes the city otherwise. 

"The city itself is trying to shed its reputation and is going through the revitalization process," he said. "That said, it would be a benefit to work together."

samantha.craggs@cbc.ca | @SamCraggsCBC


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Trailer Park Boys' plea to #SaveSunnyvale goes viral

A video made by the Trailer Park Boys calling attention to a possible cut to Nova Scotia's Film Tax Credit is going viral.

The video, featuring Mike Smith, Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay — playing their iconic characters Bubbles, Ricky and Julian — has been viewed on Facebook more than 250,000 times since it was posted Thursday.

In character, the boys muse about moving production of their show.

"Okay, so, we live in the Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Nova Scotia Canada and I just found out on the internet here that the Nova Scotia government might be cuttin' the tax program, the tax credit thing," said a visibly upset Bubbles.

"If they do that, then the camera people that come and film us, put us on the TV — they're not going to be able to come anymore. So there'll be no more shows, unless we move away."  

"I'm not moving, I've lived in Sunnyvale my whole life," Ricky said in the video.

"No Ricky, I'm not either. I've got my kitties – I cannot just pack up 116 kitties and move, but what are we going to do?" Bubbles asks.

In their appeal, the boys ask fans to contact Diana Whalen, finance minister for the province, hoping to gain enough support to prevent the cut.

"Don't be mean, don't be rude, swearing at them and stuff, just say 'I live in whatever country here you're in and I know all about Nova Scotia, Canada because of those guys and I watch the show. Please don't let it go away.' Maybe they'll listen," said Bubbles.

Earlier this week, Whalen openly mused about cutting the tax credit. According to Whalen, it costs the government $25 million and she says most of the companies that receive the credit do not owe taxes in Nova Scotia.

Her decision will be revealed in the next provincial budget that's due on Thursday.

  • GRAPHIC LANGUAGE WARNING: This video contains language that may offend some

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Would you spend $2,500 on a puppy?

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 02 April 2015 | 22.55

A puppy that sells for $2,500 in Canada isn't even a dog that cracks the Top 10 most popular purebreds.

In fact, the Labradoodle never makes the Canadian Kennel Club's list because although increasingly popular, it is not a purebred. It's a cross between a Labrador retriever and a poodle. 

'If you want the best of a poodle, why don't you buy a poodle?'
- Peter Welsh, poodle breeder

So what makes the Labradoodle, dubbed a designer dog, so expensive? 

"Part of the price has to do with the demand, and certainly there has been increased demand," said Debi Andrus, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business.

"They're so cute, but the other thing is they have been positioned in the minds of the people buying them, the potential pet owners, as having the best of all of the breeds they are cross-breeding."

Labradoodle

A five-week-old Labradoodle puppy from Prairie Doodles in Alberta. (Prairie Doodles)

That's the easy-going nature of the Labrador retriever with the smarts of the poodle, she said. But for some buyers it's the breeder promise of a low to non-shedding pet that might be better for allergy sufferers and people who just don't want to deal with fur.

"You still have to keep them well groomed and brushed, but there is a slight misconception that they are hypoallergenic, but it isn't 100 per cent, people still do have issues. If you are very, very sensitive you will have issues with any breed of dog," said Andrus.

The Labradoodle also has the celebrity endorsement factor that has spiked the popularity of dogs from the Chihuahua to the chow chow. "It is part of the pop culture now that we see photos of celebrities and their dogs," she said.

Ethical breeding

The world of puppy breeding can be murky with a huge price range between a puppy sold in a parking lot through contact on Facebook to one that comes from a well-known breeder who tests for genetic ailments and offers a lineage that includes show dogs. There are options in-between too, with ethical considerations for potential puppy owners.

While Labradoodles aren't members of the Canadian Kennel Club, there is an association of breeders called the Australian Labradoodle Association of America that maintains a database of more than 20,000 dogs and sets health testing standards.

Member Gail Groeneveld has bred Labradoodles for 10 years near High River, Alta. After her beloved Labrador retriever died, she did some research and was drawn to the idea of a low-shedding, family friendly dog. While many breeders charge $2,500 for a pup, Groeneveld recently upped her price to $2,750 for a fixed puppy, which includes GST. Her puppies are fourth-generation Labradoodles.

"There is always a big demand for them, our puppies are always pre-sold — they are sold before the puppies are born," she said. "We really educate our families. I am not selling a dog with an ad on Kijiji and having someone running out from Calgary on a whim to pick up a puppy."

Long before the puppies go to homes, she gives the new owners books to read and makes sure they have the appropriate supplies and have contacted a dog trainer.

Do the research

Some purebred breeders are hesitant to talk about the Labradoodle, but one standard poodle breeder in Ontario was blunt about his feelings. 

"If you want the best of a poodle, why don't you buy a poodle?" said Peter Welsh. "Why would you dumb down a poodle?"

Andrus, who once owned a keeshond dog, recommends that anyone who wants a puppy to do extensive research. Labradoodles, like any dog, can have behavioural and health problems if poorly bred or trained. There are even rescue associations dedicated to the breed.

"I think anybody wanting to buy a dog has to look at why they are buying them and do the research, whether it is a rescue dog, a crossbred or a purebred, and know that any pet is going to take time and effort," she said.


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The Chocobatch: A life-sized Benedict Cumberbatch out of chocolate

Benedict Cumberbatch fans can drool over a life-sized chocolate version of the Sherlock star created by British chocolatiers to celebrate the launch of U.K. television channel Drama.

It took a crew of eight people more than 250 hours to create the six foot tall sculpture out of 40 kilograms of chocolate.

The team was commissioned to make the giant Cumberbatch confection after the Sherlock star was voted the "dishiest TV drama actor" in a British poll, the broadcaster said, beating out Broadchurch's David Tennant, and Homeland's Damien Lewis.

"The striking thing about Benedict is that he's got quite a thin face but he has got quite a large head," said chocolate sculptor Tim Simpson in a video on the making of the creation.

"So, trying to get that look right is quite tricky."

Unlike the real Cumberbatch, the "Chocobatch", as he is affectionately called by his sculptors, is hollow.

British fans will be able to get an up-close look at the candy man when he goes on display in Stratford, London on Friday.

Chocobatch

It took a crew of eight people more than 250 hours to create the six foot tall sculpture of actor Benedict Cumberbatch out of 40 kilograms of chocolate. (Matt Alexander/PA Wire)


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Winnipeg plans to gas problem gophers with 'Giant Destroyer'

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 01 April 2015 | 22.55

Winnipeg's hole-burrowing Richardson's ground squirrels are up against a new enemy this summer - 'The Giant Destroyer.'

The City of Winnipeg has been forced to change tactics in its ground war against Richardson's ground squirrels. Last spring, a pet dog ingested some poison used to combat the gophers, prompting the city to rethink how to control the population.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders Football Club saw fit to make a gopher their official mascot, but in some Winnipeg parks the furry rodents are on a hit list for making holes and injuring walkers and sports team players.

This spring, the city will use a fire-cracker-like incendiary device called The Giant Destroyer.

Crews will light a fuse and stuff the cartridges containing sulphur and sodium nitrate into gopher burrows. The resulting smoke will gas the gophers.

Pet owner questions use of chemicals

Heather Wieler takes her dog Mister on frequent visits to Little Mountain Park. She acknowledges the gopher holes are a danger to walkers, both of the human and canine variety, and to sports enthusiasts and joggers.

But Wieler worries about what the smoke from The Giant Destroyer will leave behind.

"I'm not a huge chemical person. I always think there is a natural...nature's way of doing things," she said.

Wieler remembers they used to pump water into the burrows on her family's rural Manitoba property to drown out or relocate gophers and other critters. She says gopher patrols used to be a way to pick up pocket money for kids.

"The municipality used to pay farmers for however many gopher tails they got and that encouraged teenagers with pellet guns to go have a fun afternoon. But I guess in a public park that's not a feasible thing," she said.

Chemical cartridges to be used in a dozen city parks

Dave Domke is the manager of parks and open spaces for the City of Winnipeg.

He says there are about a dozen parks in Winnipeg where The Giant Destroyers will be deployed.

He says the cartridges have been approved for use by Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency and the residue from the sulphur smoke is not a hazard.

"They are really a lot safer than the product we used last year," he said. "They are a gas, so the gas will just dissipate up into the air."

There is an almost bewildering array of choices to control ground squirrels.

Taz Stuart, the director of technical operations for exterminator company Poulin's Services and a former city entomologist, says the company does plenty of gopher control for both residential and government clients.

"It's a three day job. It's not just going in, doing the treatment and saying - see you later," he said. 

Stuart says Poulin's can set traps for the ground squirrels or will deploy pellets the company developed in-house, called Gopher Doom.

He says Poulin's also sells The Giant Destroyers cartridges, but warns they must be deployed a minimum of five metres from buildings to prevent the sulphur gas from seeping indoors. 

University of Manitoba researcher James Hare doesn't like the use of poisons.

"It's just a miserable way to go," Hare told CBC News when the city announced it wouldn't be using poison.

Hare says trapping and euthanizing the gophers was much more humane.

The City of Winnipeg is also looking at a pilot program using carbon monoxide gas to exterminate the gophers.

Those tests won't begin until the ground has thawed and the gophers are active.


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Sinkhole swallows Jaguar, driver escapes out window

A Toronto driver was forced to escape through a car window after his Jaguar was partially swallowed by a sinkhole early Wednesday. 

Mario Tavares told CBC News he pulled into the parking lot of a building he owns near the intersection of Todd Bayliss Boulevard and Industry Street near Black Creek Drive and Eglinton Avenue West. 

Tavares said shortly after pulling into the parking lot, the pavement gave way beneath his car, which sank in the soft dirt up to its windows. The door wouldn't open, forcing him to escape through the car window and onto the hood. No one was hurt in the incident. 

It's believed the sinkhole was caused by a watermain break. A nearby printing business is closed for the day. 

Metrolinx has confirmed the sinkhole is not related to the construction in the area for the new Eglinton-Crosstown LRT light-rail line.

Upon seeing the news this morning and learning that the driver is OK, the CBC.ca audience added their quips about the incident on Twitter.

Here's a sample:


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'Flying sheepdog' drone may be herding dogs to the unemployment line

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 31 Maret 2015 | 22.55

It appears as though replacing human workers won't be enough to satisfy our shiny metal overlords when they take over. 

As evidenced by this footage of a drone successfully herding sheep, robots are coming for all of the jobs — canines included. 

Irish farmer and aerial photographer Paul Brennan uploaded the video seen above on Saturday after experimenting with his new quadcopter in a sheep pasture.

Despite soaring high above the flock at several points to capture its scope, Brennan's "drone sheepdog" was able to herd approximately 120 sheep from one field to another in just minutes.

"Watch the sheepdog of the future Shep the Drone as he moves sheep from one field to another" wrote Brennan in the description of his YouTube video, which has now been viewed more than 100,000 times.

Brennan told the BBC that his quadcopter worked "perfectly" in rounding up the sheep on his brother's Dublin farm, but the U.K.'s National Farmer's Union isn't so keen on seeing dogs replaced by drones.

Westminster 2014 Sheepdog

An Old English Sheepdog at the 138th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show February 10, 2014. (Timothy Clary/AFP/Getty)

"There may be a use to check-in on animals grazing on common land or in the hills but that's about the limit," said a representative for the organization to BBC News. "The reality is that a good sheepdog is a far better way to go about the job."

Some of the commenters on Brennan's YouTube video were similarly put off by the idea of a "flying sheepdog."

"It's people like you who are contributing to the epidemic of unemployed sheepdogs," wrote one commenter. "For shame."

"So now, even the Border Collies are losing their jobs," wrote another.

All robot-related dog unemployment jokes aside, many are pointing out that this is a particularly useful application for a drone.

Commercial drone applications have been making headlines for years, but often only for novelty's sake (or because they've run afoul of the law.)

The quadcopter

What a sheep's-eye view of a 'quadcopter' might be like. (Mel Evans/Associated Press)

When contrasted against drones that deliver beer, tacos and mistletoe, a sheep-herding drone seems like a work of "shear" genius.

While SHEP is by far the most high-profile sheep-herding drone at this point, Brennan's drone was not in fact the first quadcopter to successfully wrangle sheep.

At least half-a-dozen similar videos dating as far back as June, 2013 can currently be seen on YouTube, though none of the drones are seen herding as many sheep as SHEP.

Other videos on YouTube show drones herding cattle, mountain goats and even Canadian geese.

That'll do, drone. That'll do.


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Reddit user's photos show 'breathtaking' Saskatchewan sights

Tourism Saskatchewan might want to get in touch with a Reddit user touting the exciting geography of this province.

"Breathtaking Photos from my Glorious Road Trip across Saskatchewan," reads the title of the March 29 post from HippySol in the Canada section of the website.

The images hosted on Imgur are mostly sarcastic jabs at Saskatchewan's seemingly unending flatness and wide open spaces. Some of the sights include a train, another train and an icy patch.

People seem to enjoy the dry sense of humour as the Reddit post has around 2,400 upvotes and the Imgur gallery already has more than 36,000 views.

It's all in good fun and you can flip through the photos above to see what all the fuss is about.

Just don't expect to see anything as truly beautiful as these Saskatchewan scenery shots.


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Hamilton taxidermist makes 'cute forever friends' with dead rats

Written By Unknown on Senin, 30 Maret 2015 | 22.55

Ankixa Risk is an affable and enthusiastic Hamilton business owner who just happens to enjoy skinning rats.

You know, for art's sake.

She's a Toronto transplant now living in Hamilton who started practising taxidermy about a decade ago. Now, she's bringing it to the masses with one-day lessons in "casual taxidermy" where you too can learn to gussy up a rat and turn it into art.

"I'm making cute forever friends," Risk told CBC Hamilton from her exhibit at Compilation on Wilson Street, near James Street North. "I love the presentation of the afterlife."

'It took my mother a long, long time to be able to look at a piece.'- Ankixa Risk, taxidermist

That presentation varies – one of those "forever friends" is a rat riding a bike. Another is a graffiti artist rat holding a spray can. Next to that is a mounted, mythical Jackalope – a jackrabbit with antelope horns.

"I just realized I'm wearing the same skirt as she is," she says, pointing to another one of her stuffed buddies.

Jackalope aside, most of her work is done using rats in an effort to keep things ethical and sustainable, she says. They come from reptile supply stores and after she or a student skins them, the meat from the animal is sent to reptile zoos to be served as dinner.

Occasionally though, a carcass will come to her through other means. Sometimes it's someone's pet that they'd like to have preserved.

She'll only do that for rats and some other small animals like hedgehogs – no dogs or cats, as she feels like it could be traumatic for the person in the long run.

Then there's roadkill. Risk isn't above plucking an animal from the side of the road or the woods to use for her art. She's still lamenting a roadside possum carcass she missed while driving not long ago because she didn't have the right storage tools on her.

Taxidermy

Most of Risk's work deals with "anthropomorphic personification," and posing animals as people. (Adam Carter/CBC)

But in her classes, it's all frozen, ethically purchased rats. Within an eight-hour session, students learn about taxidermy techniques that have been around since the Victorian Age, including how to skin a rat and then stuff it with cotton, fibre and pipe cleaners.

Then it's all about finding the right accessories for the rat to turn it into a proper art piece. Bizarrely, most doll accessories tend to fit them. "They're almost Barbie-sized – just with a more realistic waist," she laughed.

Risk realizes this isn't for everyone, but says most people have an open mind about her work. In some circles, taxidermy is even growing in popularity and becoming a bit of a fad. Her classes are small, but keep selling out. She's even heading to the east coast this spring to teach there, too.

That said, some people will always find this fundamentally creepy.

"It took my mother a long, long time to be able to look at a piece."

adam.carter@cbc.ca | AdamCarterCBC


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    Burgess Shale fossil beds in B.C. reveal ancient ancestor of spiders, lobsters

    Written By Unknown on Minggu, 29 Maret 2015 | 22.55

    A newly identified marine creature found in a shale site on the Alberta-B.C. border lived more than 509 millions years ago, more than 250 million years before the first dinosaur walked on the Earth.

    The creature known as Yawunik kootenayi, was about 10 centimetres long, with two sets of eyes and three long claws, two of which were lined with teeth that were used to help it catch prey to eat. The claws also included long, whip-like appendages used to sense its surroundings.

    The Yawunik was an arthropod, which links it to modern day creatures like spiders, lobsters and butterflies. The fossil was identified by paleontologists at the University of Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum, and Pomona College in California.

    Cédric Aria, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study published this week in the journal Palaeontology, said that the Yawunik belongs to a "stem group" of arthropods that makes it an ancestor of modern-day creatures as diverse as spiders, shrimp, lobsters, and ants.

    "It has the signature features of an arthropod with its external skeleton, segmented body and jointed appendages, but lacks certain advanced traits present in groups that survived until the present day," Aria said.

    He estimates that over 100 specimens of the Yawunik were found in the shale fields in Marble Canyon.

    The creature was named in tribute to the Kootenay or Ktunaxa Nation, who lived in the Marble Canyon region. The Yawunik, meanwhile, was a fierce mythological sea creature.

    Yawunik kootenayi holotype

    A fossil of the Yawunik kootenayi, which lived about 509 million years ago, was found in the Marble Canyon shale field in B.C.'s Kootenay National Park. (Jean-Bernard Caron/Royal Ontario Museum)

    "Yawunik is a central figure in the Ktunaxa creation story, and, as such, is a vital part of Ktunaxa oral history," said Donald Sam, Ktunaxa Nation Council Director of Traditional Knowledge and Language in the ROM's press release. "I am ecstatic that the research team recognizes how important our history is in our territory, and chose to honour the Ktunaxa through this amazing discovery."

    It's the first creature identified from the Marble Canyon, a site located in B.C.'s Kootenay National Park. It's 40 kilometres away from the 505-million-year-old Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, which is recognized as one of the most important fossil fields in the world.

    Scientists first discovered the field in 2012, unearthing the remains of 50 animal species, 12 of them new to the science world. Aria explains that fossils in the Marble Canyon are unusually well-preserved, even including creatures' internal organs. That's thanks to the fine-grain mud that buried the creatures millions of years ago in an area of the canyon with water that had little or no oxygen, which reduced the ability for micro-organisms to decompose the fossils.

    Aria says a second new arthropod will be announced to the public in the coming weeks, and that "those are the first of a long list" of new species to be identified.


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    Hamilton taxidermist makes 'cute forever friends' with dead rats

    Ankixa Risk is an affable and enthusiastic Hamilton business owner who just happens to enjoy skinning rats.

    You know, for art's sake.

    She's a Toronto transplant now living in Hamilton who started practising taxidermy about a decade ago. Now, she's bringing it to the masses with one-day lessons in "casual taxidermy" where you too can learn to gussy up a rat and turn it into art.

    "I'm making cute forever friends," Risk told CBC Hamilton from her exhibit at Compilation on Wilson Street, near James Street North. "I love the presentation of the afterlife."

    'It took my mother a long, long time to be able to look at a piece.'- Ankixa Risk, taxidermist

    That presentation varies – one of those "forever friends" is a rat riding a bike. Another is a graffiti artist rat holding a spray can. Next to that is a mounted, mythical Jackalope – a jackrabbit with antelope horns.

    "I just realized I'm wearing the same skirt as she is," she says, pointing to another one of her stuffed buddies.

    Jackalope aside, most of her work is done using rats in an effort to keep things ethical and sustainable, she says. They come from reptile supply stores and after she or a student skins them, the meat from the animal is sent to reptile zoos to be served as dinner.

    Occasionally though, a carcass will come to her through other means. Sometimes it's someone's pet that they'd like to have preserved.

    She'll only do that for rats and some other small animals like hedgehogs – no dogs or cats, as she feels like it could be traumatic for the person in the long run.

    Then there's roadkill. Risk isn't above plucking an animal from the side of the road or the woods to use for her art. She's still lamenting a roadside possum carcass she missed while driving not long ago because she didn't have the right storage tools on her.

    Taxidermy

    Most of Risk's work deals with "anthropomorphic personification," and posing animals as people. (Adam Carter/CBC)

    But in her classes, it's all frozen, ethically purchased rats. Within an eight-hour session, students learn about taxidermy techniques that have been around since the Victorian Age, including how to skin a rat and then stuff it with cotton, fibre and pipe cleaners.

    Then it's all about finding the right accessories for the rat to turn it into a proper art piece. Bizarrely, most doll accessories tend to fit them. "They're almost Barbie-sized – just with a more realistic waist," she laughed.

    Risk realizes this isn't for everyone, but says most people have an open mind about her work. In some circles, taxidermy is even growing in popularity and becoming a bit of a fad. Her classes are small, but keep selling out. She's even heading to the east coast this spring to teach there, too.

    That said, some people will always find this fundamentally creepy.

    "It took my mother a long, long time to be able to look at a piece."

    adam.carter@cbc.ca | AdamCarterCBC


    22.55 | 0 komentar | Read More

    Plane with nobody aboard crashes in Saskatchewan

    Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 28 Maret 2015 | 22.55

    A plane with nobody aboard crashed in a field near Nipawin, Sask., and sure enough, nobody was hurt.

    It happened shortly before 6 p.m. CST Thursday at the Nipawin Airport, the RCMP said.  

    An initial investigation revealed the pilot tried to "prop start" the plane by standing in front and spinning the propeller by hand.

    The engine turned over, but before he could get inside the Aeronca Chief two-seater, it began moving forward on the taxiway, gaining enough speed after 10 metres to become airborne.

    Police said the pilot was left behind, embarrassed but uninjured.

    A little later, the plane crashed.

    The Transportation Safety Board was notified but an official told CBC News that aside from noting the incident, it would not be pursuing the investigation any further.

    Nipawin is about 270 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

    Light plane crashes in Saskatchewan

    There are two seats in this Aeronca Chief plane, but both were empty when it crashed in a field beside Nipawin Airport on Thursday. (Nipawin Fire Department)


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    Men are going nuts over Lululemon's 'anti-ball crushing' pants

    The Canadian sportswear brand famous for making yoga pants the de facto uniform of women on university campuses everywhere appears to have shifted its focus from butts to balls.

    That's right, Lululemon has entered the menswear business — and it's attracting a lot of men's business with pants designed for men's business.

    Below is a photo of the Vancouver-based company's new "anti-ball crushing" (or ABC) pants, which were engineered to give "the family jewels room to breathe," according to a product description.
     

    ABC Pants 2

    Lululemon's 'ABC' (or 'Anti-Ball Crushing') pants also advertise a slim-fit style to ensure 'your pants and your bike chain won't cross paths.' (Lululemon)

    Lululemon CEO Laurent Potdevin told investors during a call Thursday that this innovative garment was a driving force behind the 16 per cent same-store sales increase the company experienced last quarter.

    After suffering an eight per cent profit drop ahead of December's holiday shopping season, this no doubt comes as good news to shareholders.

    It may also come as good news to men who've not yet heard of the ABC pants and want to experience a "wide panelled gusset" and "four-way stretch Warpstreme™ fabric" themselves.

    While the Internet Archive shows that customers have been able to purchase the $128 trousers from Lululemon's website for at least eight months, few online appear to have heard about the anatomy-friendly pants (as Bloomberg calls them) until reports from the investors call came out this week. 
     

    Many were joking about the pants on Twitter Friday afternoon, but dozens of reviews on the product's webpage show that some men do take their… er… bike-seat comfort very seriously.

    "I would buy more of these pants except then people at work would think I only owned 5 pairs of one kind of pants in different colours," wrote a customer from Toronto earlier this month. "They are fantastic! Buy one size bigger than normal. If that bugs your ego you can sew in a new label size ..."

    "Things will never be the same," wrote another customer from Houston, Texas. "These pants hug me in the right places." 
     


     

    Lululemon's intensified push into the menswear market, which saw the company's first brick-and-mortar store dedicated to men's clothing open in November, follows a couple of turbulent years in the world of their women's wear.

    In July of 2013, Lululemon was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that its Luon yoga pants were too sheer (if not entirely see-through), following a recall that saw its shares drop 3 per cent in one day.

    Later that year, company founder Chip Wilson ignited controversy by saying that Lululemon yoga pants "just don't work" on some women's bodies. Many accused Wilson, who established the business in 1998, of fat-shaming larger customers, slamming Lululemon online and threatening to boycott the store.

    A poorly-received charitable partnership with the Dalai Lama, shopping bag messages that appeared to discourage customers from wearing sunscreen, and Wilson's plans to build an enormous dock on his waterfront B.C. property despite complaints from neighbours further damaged the company's public image.

    Wilson stepped down from Lululemon's board of directors in February, saying in a statement that he believed the company to be "back on track" in terms of product, brand and culture.

    If the popularity of the anti-ball crushing pants are any indication, he may have been right.


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    'Also Shot on iPhone 6' ads parody stunning Apple billboards

    Written By Unknown on Jumat, 27 Maret 2015 | 22.55

    A series of iPhone 6 parody ads are winning nods of approval from even the most die-hard of Apple fans this week for having some cheeky fun with the company's latest billboard campaign.

    The ads in question, installed across the world earlier this month, display spectacular photos above a line of text that reads "Shot on iPhone 6."

    "People take incredible photos and videos on iPhone 6 every day," reads the campaign's companion site on Apple.com.

    Called World Gallery, the website contains approximately 60 photos (many of which have been spotted on billboards), as well as information about who took each image, where it was shot, and which apps were used to enhance it.

    The photos used for the campaign are undeniably stunning, and a few people have gone so far as to suggest that they weren't in fact shot with an iPhone 6. Many more are rolling their eyes at Apple's apparent suggestion that anyone can shoot a billboard-worthy photo using a smartphone.

    Let's face it – the average iPhone user is a lot more likely to have pet portraits and last night's dinner in their camera roll than a perfectly lit field of Thai sunflowers.

    The "Also Shot on iPhone 6" parody campaign makes this abundantly clear.

    Satirical versions of Apple's new ads have been popping up around San Francisco in recent days, prompting lots of discussion online about what photos shot by a typical iPhone 6 user tend to look like.

    As a Tumblr set up to document the project shows, awkward bathroom selfies dominate the game.

    The Bold Italic reports that two San Francisco advertising creatives (who wish not to be named) are behind the spoof campaign.

    "The iPhone 6 ads are all over San Francisco and we walk by them everyday. All the photos Apple selected for the campaign are beautiful," one of the artists explained. "Our thought was that people don't always take pretty pictures on their phones, so we thought it would be funny to show the other, non-beautiful, photos people take."

    The duo started putting up posters in neighbourhoods in and around San Francisco with blown-up iPhone images on Sunday, and the web's been loving on them ever since.

    Here are some of the most popular parody ads posted to the project's Tumblr page so far:

    also shot on iphone 6

    (alsoshotoniphone6.tumblr.com)


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