More fun spaces to explore this summer. Michelle Lalonde lists 17 possible excursions for you and the family.
Paradise, just around the corner
Explore 17 parks on Montreal Island, where you’ll find just what you need for a day’s getaway, from rides on an electric trolley to a stroll through the wild habitat of fox and white-tailed deer
Tags: Montreal · ParksNo Comments.
– Richard Crowson / Wichita Eagle (August 3, 2008)
Also along these hazy lines, have a look past the propaganda and dig into the data points that prove that the pollution will continue unabated. More drastic measures will certainly go into effect. How about surrounding the city with Made in China vacuum cleaners with HEPA filters…? One or two million of them should do the trick. Oh wait, 80% of your power is derived from disgustingly nasty coal? Oh, you’re screwed.
Pity the populace post closing ceremonies. Ok, turn those factories back on and let the 1.3 million cars back on the road.
Tags: Air Quality · Beijing · Cough · Olympics · polution · SmogNo Comments.
I remembered to snap a pic of the “post graffiti cleanup” on the corner of Greene and St Antoine. This is an update to a post back in June.
Tags: Cleanup · Grafitti · Post · WestmountNo Comments.
Digging through the ingredient list on sunscreen is a pain in the ass. The Environmental Working Group has done their homework and amassed a large searchable database of sunscreens to save you the pain.
I’m not a big sunscreen user, I tend to seek shaded nooks and trees with massive canopies. However the little guy, well he strives for the outdoors. Hence the research. Nothing sucks more than finding out the stuff your slathering on your son was probably not the best choice. Thankfully in our case it was a good pick. Here’s hoping this helps you out as well.
Tags: Database · Montreal · SPF · Sun · Sunscreen · UVA · UVB2 Comments
Tags: Awesome · fuelcell · geothermal · Solar · youtubeNo Comments.
Snapped this crazy pic on the way home from working up north last week. Just a massive storm front moving across the island. I had never seen anything so … linear … before.
Tags: Horizon · Montreal · Storm Front2 Comments
As mentioned below by faithful commenter ‘the milliner’ people are often looking for alternatives to the way it used to be. That being not giving a shit about the products we ingest or bring into our homes. Options are becoming more readily available for every recipe, for every project. Take plywood, please.
Columbia, North America’s largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer has created a formaldehyde-free product branded, Purebond.
Columbia has converted all of its hardwood plywood and particleboard facilities to a proprietary formaldehyde-free manufacturing system called PureBond®. Cost-competitive with the similar urea formaldehyde (UF)-made hardwood plywood, Columbia’s PureBond formula is derived naturally, then enhanced with a proprietary resin, giving it particularly strong bonding and water-resistance qualities. And better yet it enables Columbia to completely eliminate formaldehyde from its standard veneer-core decorative panel production.
So if you’re having some built-ins constructed, or you need a new coffee table, or perhaps the bookshelves are in need of a makeover. You now have a local source for Purebond. Unfortunately that source is the Home Depot… groan. I tried to order some panels last year direct from the local distributer, he asked how many pallettes I needed, click.
If it’s proving hard to find in the store, look for the labeling on the side of each panel. Since you surely won’t get any help from the staff…Highest price being the 3/4″ 4×8 sheet with Birch veneer at 64$.
PS: As for sustainable and healthy MDF, you’ll have to look for SierraPine products branded as; (I haven’t tried to source it in Montreal…any help out there?)
Arreis SDF No-Added Formaldehyde Industrial MDF
Medite II SDF No-Added Formaldehyde MDF with Superior Properties
Medex SDF No-Added Formaldehyde MDF for High Moisture Areas
Tags: Birch · Formaldehyde-free · Maple · Montreal · Plywood · Purebond · VeneerNo Comments.
Montreal’s finest were just hit with a 60000$ verdict in the case of:
‘Oh sorry we didn’t mean to jump out of our cars with guns drawn assuming since you were three black men (in their 40’s and 50’s) that you were obviously robbing the house that one of you lives at…’
How about the case of a very badly parked Jamaican man on Ste-Catherine a month ago? I say Jamaican since he had a Jamaican emblem on his sports jacket not because of rastafarian coloured Dodge Neon.
Here is how it went down:
Cops witness the bad parking, tell the guy he’s gonna get a ticket. The man says ok, fine I’ll move it and find a new spot. The cops say no, we’re going to give you a ticket first. (Ok who wouldn’t be pissed at their lack of leniency) The guy manages to hold back his frustration and tries to argue his way out of the ticket, saying again, he’ll move the car, no harm done. The cops have none of it. He tries to get to the car door slowly and says come on, just let it go. One cop declares you can’t leave this scene, you’re now under arrest… WTF?!
Now he’s pissed, railing on them verbally for their obviously bullshit maneouver and lack of diplomacy. Calling them out for what they are, racist cops. If this were anyone other than a black guy, the cops would have let it slide. So they call for backup (even though he is now in cuffs under complete control). Dude, you’ve got my number, call.
Tags: arrest · jamaica · Montreal · Parking · police · racist2 Comments
While not quite supersized, it’s super cool. Classified as a micro van, this Honda Acty is totally awesome. The owner of Budget Drain has all his bases covered; niche service and fuel efficient work van and right-hand drive!!
They still manufacture this little wonders, although the new ones are a tad more tricked out. How are your kanji reading skills?
Tags: Budget Drain · Honda Acty · MicrovanNo Comments.
While I completely understand local resident’s desire to have a better say in the redevelopment of the Turcot exchange, there can be no doubt that this mass of gorgeous concrete is at the end of it’s useful life.
With giant holes appearing, overloaded trucks banned and a permanent state of panic laden repairs taking place, we need a new way.
Now back to my google maps search on ways to avoid the interchange until 2015…
Tags: Holes · Mobilization · Patchwork City · Turcot · Walking Turcot YardsNo Comments.
IKEA is large enough to set trends in the marketplace. When they introduced a 0.05$ charge to take a plastic grocery bag, people took notice.
In the first six months of the “Bag the Bag” program, IKEA Canada has reduced its Plastic Bag use by 90 per cent across the country. Last October, IKEA Canada conducted a survey with its customers and received more than 60,000 responses, which concluded that plastic bags were an environmental issue that needed action. Shortly thereafter, the retailer began charging for its plastic bags, donating the full $0.05 to Tree Canada.
Other grocery and department stores hopefully took notice. But more importantly it exposed the ‘concept’ to the masses, making it palatable for future use elsewhere in the country.
Hopefully a few other trends take hold. Such as their testing and reduction of VOCs and specifically formaldahyde in thier particle board furntiture. Here is an interesting exchange between a customer and IKEA. The last thing you want to be doing is filling your home with toxic (yet sooo affordable) goods.
Another trend we admire for the present moment is the ‘family’ parking spaces they allocate near the entrance. While they could never fully meet the needs of the high percentage of parents with babies in tow (have you ever been for breakfast on a Tuesday?) they at least make an effort.
So the only downside to this visit was found near the exit (no not the lineup), it was this display.
Perhaps a letter or three would get them to ditch selling single use Alkaline batteries… while they do offer a recycling service (kudos), rechargables would be a better option.
Tags: Alkaline · Batteries · Formaldahyde · IKEA · Montreal · Parking · Plastic Bags · VOC1 Comment
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles shoppers soon won’t hear the question, “Paper or plastic?” at the checkout line.The City Council voted Tuesday to ban plastic shopping bags from stores, beginning July 1, 2010. Shoppers can either bring their own bags or pay 25 cents for a paper or biodegradable bag.
Take note Montreal city council…it can be done.
Tags: LA · Plastic Grocery Bags Banned · USANo Comments.