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Ten years ago, Gale was a builder and flipper of office parks who would eventually become known for knocking down the Boston landmark Filene’s Basement and replacing it with a hole in the ground. But Gale’s fate began to change in 2001 with a phone call from South Korea. The Korean government had found his firm on the Internet and made an offer everyone else had refused. The brief: Gale would borrow $35 billion from Korea’s banks and its biggest steel company, and use the money to build from scratch a city the size of downtown Boston, only taller and denser, on a muddy man-made island in the Yellow Sea. When Gale arrived to see the site, it was miles of open water. He signed anyway.

…read it all on Fast Company.

Tags:   Sim City · Urban PlanningNo Comments.

Stop giggling, it’s true, this is indeed my favourite.

Need a new tool in your belt, bag or bucket?  Stuck on what to buy grandma?  Look no further.  This is the Bosch PS20-2A Pocket Driver.

I own quite a number of power tools, this is by far the smallest.  So let me tell why I would recommend it to anyone.  For 120$ I can’t imagine a more useful and versatile piece of kit.  I’ve always said, never buy a cordless power tool that doesn’t come with 2 batteries and a case.  This comes with both of those.  The 12V (10.8V*) LiIon batteries hold their charge as you pour through the screws in your tool belt.

While this isn’t my daily driver (that honour belongs to my prized Makita) it does come out of it’s case very very frequently.  Used in tight spaces, used as my primary power driver, used when I need to drill/drive relatively quietly after hours, used as a second drill for counter sinking to save me from having to switch bits on the Makita.  And small enough to fit in a pouch on your belt.

I could go on, but trust me, it’s awesome.  Here, read this more in depth review if you want a bit more detail.

Throw this under the tree for anyone who is handy (or just needs a simple and lightweight drill/driver).  Maybe even stuff their stocking with a sweet set of bits to complete the package.   (ok, the bits are what I want for the holidays…hope someone I know reads this)

Oh, one last bit.  If anyone ever laughs at the fact that your drill has an integrated LED, tell them they have obviously never used one.  Or better yet, tell them…”What do you use?  A Ryobi??”  Then start laughing hysterically.

Tags:   Bosch · Drill · Driver · LiIon · PS20-2A · Tools1 Comment

Is this guy overreaching yet

Milking the the successful run of Holmes on Homes, Mikie has since built a home in New Orleans, ‘wrote’ a home Inspection Guide, launched a Home Inspection show… and now… a magazine.

I’m a sucker for all things reno, the way I figure, if even one thing in the magazine can save me on the next contract, then it’s 5.95$ well spent.  I just want to save you the trouble on this one.  Give this first issue a pass.  Here’s why.

Pros: It’s shiny and new

Cons:

• Mike’s face 13 times
• Font size makes it practically unreadable (headache inducing, no joke)
• Tough to differentiate the adverts from the articles
• Nothing really new and innovative
• Feels like the writers are dumbing it all down for you (or are they just bad writers?)
• Spends 80% of magazine promoting green and sustainable, then highlights the Toyota Tundra as a contractor’s pick… come on!!
• Mike’s face 13 times…

Basically I’ll stick with Fine Homebuilding for the time being and let the editors work the kinks out in the next installment.  This is me, not holding my breath.

Tags:   Holmes on Homes · Magazine · RenovationNo Comments.

Here is a list of powerful, habit changing documentaries.  Collect them all, share them with your friends (yes, Me!).  Apparently I can’t let my kids watch 3.5hours of television daily anymore…so I’ll have to wait a few years to try and brainwash them.

10 Enviro Tales You’ve Never Seen On Film Before

Tags:   Documentaries · Earth Keepers · Finding Farley · Future Makers · NFB1 Comment

If ManBearPig is on your shopping list this season.  Head over to the BioSphere this weekend for the Recycling Artists Eco Fair.

Presented from December 4 to 6, the fourth annual Recycling Artists Eco Fair will bring together 52 exhibitors from Quebec who share the same artistic and environmental vision: to create objects, accessories, jewellery and clothing from recovered materials. A unique opportunity to find original gifts made in Quebec! Admission to the Biosphère will be free during the Eco Fair.

Tags:   Bio Sphere · Eco Fair · MontrealNo Comments.

Thanks to a tip from a good friend named AceOP I present to you the tastiest of battery scams.  Thinking of dropping the disposable battery? About time.  Just be on the lookout for wolves in goat costumes.  Or better yet, crap in a shiny wrapper.

Have a quick looksy at what this author found when he noticed his new D cell rechargeable from Energizer was not living up to it’s fat roots.   He mentions another brand to try, named Powerex, which I haven’t seen locally.  But a friend recommended Sanyo’s Eneloops and after reading this great in-depth review I’ll be stopping off at Costco to pick up a few sets.  We’ve been using energizer AA’s for as long as I can remember and they’ve just plain sucked. Always dead when you need them…  Any how, as the kids age, our battery usage should start peaking and fortunately we now have a practical option on the table.

Tags:   Batteries · Eneloop · Energizer · Rechargeable · Sanyo · Scam3 Comments

I just received a note regarding a course being offered at the end of September in Montreal.  Hosted by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities it will involve the following topics:

–

September 30^th
‘Green Roof Design 101 Introductory Course’
Montreal Location TBA
Presented by: Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (www.greenroofs.org)

For more information or to register for the course, please visit the following link:

http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=a67deeae-9b93-4805-ac37-9ec9873b55cc

–

Tags:   Education · Green Roof · Montreal6 Comments

Tasty lobster rolls in a shiny cool box!  Anyone try this shop out yet?  You have to watch the neat vid on their site.

Tags:   Lobster Rolls · Montreal · MuvBox · Old Port1 Comment

There is always room for improvement. Case in point; the original curbside recycling bins used across the island (save for the monsters used in the burbs…more on this later). A trial of 5000 newly designed laundry baskets recycling bins will be tested/abused over the next little while in an effort to hopefully improve the design and work out the kinks.

- Photo Cred: Mathias Marchal (Metro Mag)

Several blue collar workers provide some deep thoughts on where they believe these new bins will fail.  Either that or they’ll just throw the whole thing out when they collect the first few weeks.

Pros: less crap drifting through the streets on windy days

Cons: they look pretty feeble

Tags:   Green Boxes · Montreal · Recycling Bins2 Comments

ok.  Quebecers went from using 5 million plastic bags a month to 1.5 million a month after major grocery stores started charging a nickel per.  Nice.  Here’s the next step/leap.  Time to move way past the small stuff and rethink our construction practices.  We don’t need to reinvent anything during the design process, there are plenty of great examples to steal from.  Like per chance this fantastic model of shopping bliss…

During every update, every retrofit, every renovation, implement something substantial.  Close those open concept fridge/freezers , harness the sun, clean up the air.  Whether your store is smack in the middle of the Plateau or perhaps on the outskirts of town, the options are all there for the taking.  You will save money and you most likely won’t pass it on to us, but I’ll let it slide.

Tags:   Green Building · Hannaford Supermarket · LEED · Maine · PlatinumNo Comments.

It’s obvious that Alan’s raison d’etre is simply to pass all responsibility onto the province.  So here you go…

Alan DeSousa = Mayor of Ville St-Laurent (Check)

City of Montréal Executive Responsible for “sustainable development”

City of Montreal Executive Responsible for “Blaming Quebec for all that ails the City”

City of Montreal Executive Committee responsible for economic development

City of Montreal Executive Responsible for “Taking zero Responsibility on ANY issue”

His latest headline shines in this Gazette article about Eco-Centres now refusing to handle dead batteries from tax paying merchants wishing to dispose of them in a correct manner.  With 80% of dead batteries ending up in landfill (pleasant) you would think the city would encourage and and EVERY effort made to correctly handle the end-of-life on these cells.  You would think that.  But Alan wouldn’t.

Tags:   Alan DeSousa · Batteries · Dump · Eco Center · Montreal1 Comment

Anyone else notice that about 30%+ of the cars on the streets of Montreal are still wearing their winter tires?  Lovely.

Dear Lazy people,

While you were forced into shodding your car with winter tires last fall, please take heed that while no one is forcing the reverse on you, it would seriously be in your best interest to put the summers (or all seasons) back on pronto.  Those winters were designed to stay nice and pliable at -20C… whereas driving them on hot pavement nearing +40C will DESTROY them quite quickly.

Other non-perks of leaving them on:

Terrible handling, poor fuel economy, shortened life span…

Tags:   Montreal · Summer · Winter TiresNo Comments.