Moving Product Reviews to LilithPress.ca/Shopping.html

Hello Frequent Shopper!

If you are reading this it is because we have decided to move (copy) many of our most popular posts to the following website:

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Shopping.html

Going forward, all new Product Reviews will be posted on the Shopping section of Lilith Press Magazine. Or possibly both PRC and Lilith Press Shopping.

Also to avoid understanding that doesn't mean we are deleting this website. By moving, we really mean we are "focusing" on the new website and "copying" our most popular posts over to the new site.

 

We may also continue to do short snippet reviews on PRC and possibly some longer ones too.

 

So if you want to see more Canadian product reviews, written for Canadians, go visit Lilith Press and bookmark the website for future use.

Plus Lilith Press has separate sections for the following topics:

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Art.html

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Books.html

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Entertainment.html (Games, Movies, Television)

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Fashion.html

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Food.html

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Music.html

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Sports.html

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Tech.html (Cellphones, Computers, Tablets, etc)

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Transportation.html (Cars, Bikes, Trains and More)

http://www.lilithpress.ca/Travel.html

So technically not everything will be in the Shopping section. Quite a bit will be spread around in the Books, Food, and other sections. But we will cross-list anything that fits in multiple topics.

Now please note, we do have over 440 product reviews on here... so it will take some time to copy the old reviews to the new website. We have decided to prioritize the most popular reviews.

Also, if you could be a doll, please tweet, facebook and link about our new website. We could use the extra advertising.

Thanks for visiting and supporting Product Reviews Canada!

Doing a Facebook Purge, a Review and Commentary

By C. M. - January 15th 2018.

Facebook isn't just any website.

It is the 3rd most popular website in the world after Google and YouTube. (See https://www.alexa.com/topsites for the list of top sites.)

As a social network (the first truly popular social network) it has played an important role in the last decade of helping people to communicate, socialize, organize events and meet new people with similar interests.

But it is also broken.

Don't take my word for it. Mark Zuckerberg (the creator of Facebook) recently said his new goal (resolution?) in 2018 is to fix Facebook. He has realized it is broken and needs to be fixed.

The realization came to Zuckerberg after the revelation that the Russians had manipulated Facebook with fake news reports to influence American voters into voting for Donald Trump. This kind of sophisticated election tampering by the Russians went unnoticed until it was too late.

"I started doing these challenges in 2009," Zuckerberg wrote in the post on his Facebook page earlier this month. "That first year the economy was in a deep recession and Facebook was not yet profitable. We needed to get serious about making sure Facebook had a sustainable business model. It was a serious year, and I wore a tie every day as a reminder."

"Today feels a lot like that first year. The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do -- whether it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent."

"My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues. We won't prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools. If we're successful this year then we'll end 2018 on a much better trajectory."

 However...

This is not why I am doing a Facebook Purge today.

I am personally doing a Facebook Purge because of the following reasons, in order of significance.

#1. I find myself too often arguing with morons and jerks.

Yesterday I made a comment on a group about how admins have to balance free speech with the desire to moderate and remove hate speech. I said it was a balancing act. Yeah, metaphors. And wouldn't you know it, one moron decides to disagree with me and says it is not a balancing act, you just make rules and then stick to them.

Oh really? What rules? How do you make the decisions of what to allow and what not to allow?

So for example the admin in that particular (male dominated) group was banning racist comments. But sexist comments were probably still okay, as male dominated groups tend to not worry about sexist comments. Thus the admin is still making decisions about what to allow and what not to allow... which makes it a metaphorical balancing act.

And I have to explain this to the moron who just doesn't get it.

So one of the things I will be doing today is purging Facebook groups that I find to be a waste of time. Groups where people just argue most of the time.

For example I am a member (or was a member until today) of the Toronto Vegetarian Association (https://www.facebook.com/torontoveg/).

I joined that group because I like eating more vegetables. I am not a vegetarian or a vegan. I was simply a person who wants to eat healthier and I was hoping people on there would be posting recipes, events for foodies, that sort of thing.

Instead what I routinely see on there is people complaining about the meat industry or the fur industry, arguing about organic food, free range chickens, and a whole host of other topics.

Worse, vegans and vegetarians have a tendency to be jerks. Or sometimes morons. Sometimes both.

And so I am leaving groups like that too, because frankly they are not posting the food recipes I had hoped they would be. I should have just joined a cooking group.

So why am I wasting my valuable time arguing with morons and jerks?

So I will be purging every Facebook group I consider to be a waste of time.

#2. Finding more time for groups I admin.

I am the admin of various groups and part of this Facebook Purge process will be deciding which Facebook groups I want to keep being the admin of, and whether those groups need a set of rules so that people know that I expect a certain level of behaviour.

So for those groups I am keeping, I will be posting a set of rules. Hopefully this will discourage people from being jerks - and thus I won't be bothered as much to decide whether to ban people who are disruptive jerks posting racist/sexist comments.

Although I admit, there is a certain kind of joy that comes from banning a person from a group and sending them a message that tells them why I kicked them out. That part is certainly enjoyable.

#3. Friends and people I barely know who waste my time.

Sometimes you end up being friends with people whom you have not seen in years. They move away, you stop hanging out, but you still talk to them regularly on Facebook.

Some of them I have realized... they're just a waste of time.

Some of them are even argumentative jerks and morons and yet I am still friends with them. Clearly I need to dump them and purge them.

#4. Wasting time when I could be doing something more productive.

Facebook is a huge time waster.

I currently spend at least hour every day talking (sometimes arguing) with people on Facebook, clicking Like and so forth.

A lot of it is things that don't even matter to my day to day life.

What I need to do is prioritize things that are my close friends, the people I actually socialize with, and family.

Everyone else is basically me wasting time on Facebook with cat videos and things that have little or no bearing on my life.

#5. I have a son now.

And I would rather be spending time with my son. I routinely post photos of him on Facebook (to share with his grandparents, other family members and friends who also have kids). But if I cut down on the wasteful Facebook time, that means more time spent with my son (possibly taking more photos of him).



So what about you? Should you do a Facebook Purge too?

Probably a lot of us should purge how much we use Facebook.

Just imagine how much more free time we would have to do something productive instead of all the time we waste on Facebook.

Amazon's Shipping Speed - and why you should not pay extra for it

By C.M.

This year I did most of my Xmas Shopping on Amazon.

And I did not spend a cent on shipping.

Nor am I am member of Amazon Prime. (Nor I am using Amazon Prime free for 1 month on any such promotion.)

Instead I have been clicking on the free shipping option where it is supposedly shipped slower and is supposed to take 5 to 8 days for my packages to arrive.

And instead they have been showing up in 2 to 5 days.

Take for example 3 card games (my parents like card games) I decided to order as bonus gifts just last night on Tuesday.

According to Amazon Tracking they will arrive Thursday night around 8 PM. I will likely delay picking them until Friday though, more convenient for me.

My worry on ordering them on Tuesday night was I was not sure when they would arrive on time to be given as Xmas Gifts... and since they were bonus gifts and I was not too worried about this so based on previous experience I knew that even if I did select 5-8 day shipping that it would arrive earlier than that... so I went for it.

And instead of 5 to 8 days it is arriving in 2.

That is pretty amazing considering that the shipping costs is free.

So what are the 3 card games I ordered?

• Monopoly Deal
• Wizard
• Rook

I have already written about the card game Wizard on a different website called Nerdovore (an eating and nerd culture blog). So no need to write about it again here.

I have never played Monopoly Deal or Rook, but they both looked interesting and had lots of good reviews so I figured they would be fun to try.

Plus my younger sister refuses to play normal Monopoly (she always loses) so maybe she will play this game instead.

An Open Letter to Meetup.com

To Meetup.com!

From C.M.

I already sent this to Meetup via their Help Center, but here we go again:

Hello!

Awhile back Meetup changed how people suggest and organize meetups. The group I am thinking of is https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Area-Gamers/ and the new system is very restrictive for how to organize an event.

Under the old system anyone in the group could organize an event, which is a necessity since the people running and hosting games have to be the ones posting it, editing any changes, etc.

Under the new system people have to suggest the event, wait for the leadership team of 33 people with busy lives to hopefully respond... and even then there is problems.

The new system is full of problems that many of the people I have spoken to are switching to organizing events via email, Facebook and other means. I personally in the last week organized two different events via Facebook.

So my question is, why are you not trying to fix this problem when clearly you are going to be losing money over the issue in the long run?

Why should we, the customers, continue to pay for a service that has gotten worse, not better?

Why Yelp is a horrible website full of fake reviews

By C.M. - November 22nd 2017.

One of the things I have noticed about the website Yelp is that the reviews posted on there are increasingly fake.

And there are several different categories of fake reviews on Yelp.

#1. Fake reviews written by the owner / manager of the company.

These usually emphasize a particular product or service, and while they sound really good, it is pretty obvious the reviews are there to tempt people reading the review into buying the product or service. It is basically just another form of advertising.

#2. Fake reviews written by the company's employees.

Employees are expected to want their company to do well, so they write a nice review but fail to mention that they also work there.

#3. Fake reviews written by competitors.

To make the competing company look bad, obviously. This doesn't really need much explanation. Depending on how much competition there is in a particular field, this could be pretty cutthroat with far more fake reviews being written by competitors.

eg. Imagine 10 companies that all sell "Super Spicy Edible Widgets". If each company then writes 1 positive review about themselves, but 9 negative reviews about all their competitors you will end up with all 10 companies having 9 horrible reviews and only 1 positive review - excluding anything written by actual customers.

#4. Fake reviews written by the employees of competitors.

Same reason as #3.

#5. Fake reviews written by former employees.

If a former employee is angry at their former employer, one way to further burn bridges is to post a negative Yelp review - possibly targeting a manager or co-worker that they despised in an attempt to get that person fired.

#6. Fake reviews written by "Yelp Privateers and Pirates".

I am coining some terminology here... Yelp Privateers and Pirates are hired thugs who either try to make a particular company look good, or try to make a different company look bad. The border between what makes a Privateer and what makes a Pirate is a bit blurry.

• Privateers are hired to post positive reviews, using multiple Yelp accounts.
• Pirates are hired to post negative reviews about competitors.

Often the two can be the same person, but may be using multiple accounts to avoid suspicion.



Brand Reputation Management


From an advertising perspective, a lot of what goes on above falls into the categories of "Marketing Brand Management" or "Brand Reputation Management", and being executed by amateurs who don't actually work in the advertising/marketing industry.

In which case there are some tricks that companies can do to combat negative fake reviews.

#1. Claim the reviewer is a former employee.

If someone posts a really nasty fake review, a company can claim that the person posting the fake review is actually a former employee. It isn't true, but that doesn't matter. Yelp has rules about former employees posting fake reviews, and this is ultimately a quick and easy way for companies to get rid of negative reviews.

#2. There are a variety of ways to flag negative reviews:

• If the post contains false or out of date information.
• If the post is by someone affiliated with the business (employee, business partner, loan shark, etc).
• If the post is from a competitor.
• If the post contains any kind of threats, lewdness or hate speech.
• If the post isn't even about a personal experience.
• If the post is a violation of Yelp's privacy standards (naming the names of employees, etc).
• If the post contains advertising.
• If the post is for a different business.

 Any one of these reasons could be used as grounds to get rid of a negative post.

#3. Report a specific profile.

If a person has only a few reviews and they are all negative, they are probably a fake profile. In this case the whole profile could be reported and deleted. All of their reviews for your company and potentially others could be deleted, all at once.


Conclusions regarding Yelp

It is very easy for companies to manipulate their reputations on Yelp, and to damage the reputations of competitors. The more reputation savvy a person or company is, the more they can take advantage of Yelp's system.

Which ultimately means the more useless and horrible Yelp is as a company itself, because it has become flooded with fake reviews.

Which is why I am giving Yelp one star out of five. For being utterly useless.

6 Ways to Improve Yelp

#1. Add a GPS requirement to Yelp.

Under this new rule, people submitting a Yelp review have to be in the immediate vicinity of the location. This would reduce the number of fake reviews submitted dramatically, and put Yelp Privateers/Pirates out of business.

Or failing that, people who include a GPS component to their Yelp review should have their review "valued more" than reviews that were written a significant distance away or did not list their GPS location at all.

#2. Add a time limit to reviews.

If a review is older than 1 year, it should be deleted. The person who posted the review would need to revisit the location and post a new review.
#3. Algorithms designed to spot fake or suspicious reviews.

It would not be too difficult in my opinion to design a computer program that looks for fake reviews. All they need to be looking for is:

• An imbalance between positive and negative reviews (eg. a person who only posts negative reviews or a person who only posts positive reviews.
• A person who posts a positive review of one company and a negative review of another company should be flagged as suspicious.

#4. Suspicious reviews should be downgraded.

Pushed further down the list of reviews - and their star rating should only count for half or less than half if they are flagged multiple times.

And if they are flagged 3 times or more for being suspicious, they should be removed entirely.

#5. Banning the accounts and personal IP addresses of individuals caught posting fake reviews.

Once they recognize an account that has too much suspicious activity, they need to be deleted, banned and blocked.

Obviously you would not be blocking IPs from public libraries, Starbucks, or internet cafes, but that is where the GPS requirement comes into place... If GPS location is required, then they won't be able to use public IP locations like libraries, Starbucks or internet cafes anyway.

#6. Video reviews should count for double.

If a customer posts a video of them reviewing the company, it should count for more. At least double in my opinion. Same goes with reviewers who take photos. Their reviews should be valued more, like perhaps 150%.

Final Commentary

Honestly, if Yelp doesn't start making changes to improve the quality and honesty of reviews on their website then people should just stop using Yelp. The website has become bogged down with useless fake reviews, and the more people realize that Yelp is useless, the more people should stop using it.

A 2013 Harvard Business School study determined that 16 percent of Yelp reviews are fake. Four years later, we expect the percentage of fake reviews has gotten higher. Anecdotally, we estimate the number of fake reviews on Yelp is now between 20 to 30%.

Yelp isn't the only company which has problems with fake reviews. eg. Amazon also has severe issues with people posting fake reviews. So this is an issue that effects multiple companies and can be expected to get worse before it gets better.

But if there was a GPS requirement and video/photo reviews were valued more, this could change dramatically the quality of the review system Yelp currently has to one that is held to a higher standard.

Bidding on eBay Antiques

By C. M. - August 31st 2017.

For the past three years I have been making a habit of buying antiques off of eBay and I have learned a number of things both about bidding on eBay and about myself.

• The bidding can sometimes get crazy.
• I really need to avoid anything where the bidding goes crazy, and so I have learned to set a maximum amount I am willing to bid.
• While there is a wide variety of antiques and collectibles to choose from on eBay, I generally prefer to stick to the older items that are in really good condition.
• I have learned that I need to set a limit for how many antiques / $$$ I am willing to spend in a given year. This way I don't end up spending a ridiculous amount on antiques each year.
• I also restrict myself to buying antiques at one time of the year, typically July to September. If I manage to get my purchases done by the end of August, that is a good thing.
• It is wise to restrict yourself and set limits.
• Always check to make sure they actually deliver to Canada. Some Americans refuse to ship to Canada.
• The shipping price might be more if they are shipping from the USA to Canada, so confirm the price.
• When possible, try to bid on products that are already in Canada. Makes the whole shipping thing easier.
• Plus I prefer to spend my dollars on Canadians when possible. Keeps the wealth in Canada.
• Sometimes you can get a sweet deal because nobody else bids on a particular item.
• Check out the option to Buy Now. Sometimes you can get pretty good deals there too.
• If making an offer for a Buy Now item I will sometimes bid $5 or $10 less than they are asking.
• If the seller suddenly ups the price of shipping "for no good reason" and it is suddenly a different price that what the courier quoted, something is fishy and you should cancel your order/payment.
• Watch Lists are handy for tracking the bids of multiple items that are similar so you can see how high the bidding goes and decide if you even want to bid at all.
• Never bid on something you don't actually want. I haven't made this mistake yet thankfully.
• Never bid on something until after you confirmed they do ship to Canada and the cost of shipping to Canada.
• You can always change your mind and refuse to pay. The item will go to the next highest bidder.

One of these days I am going to teach my mother how to sell her old records on eBay - the old records she never listens to that is. Some of them she does actually listen to regularly. At which point I should mention my parents also has numerous other antiques in the barn she could sell too.

If she learned how to do that it would give her a new hobby to do in her old age. ;)

Plus it would help to get rid of "old junk" and clutter that is in the shed, garage, barn, basement, attic and so forth. Some of it she will no doubt keep for sentimental reasons, but others... why not sell it?

And the same goes to you, the readers, do you have old stuff you don't really need you could sell?

I know I have a few things I do not need. Various books, comic books, a stamp collection, a coin collection... I imagine some of them could fetch a pretty penny.

One of these days I should sell such things. Just as soon as I find the time.

Buying Things Off Facebook = Bad Idea / Waste of Time

While I like the idea of buying something off Facebook from a friend, buying things from STRANGERS on Facebook is actually problematic.

The concept seems like a good one. Someone has an used product they want to sell or even trade and they are looking for other people on Facebook to sell or trade to. But actually doing so sometimes comes with problems.

Two recent incidents have caused me to swear off any more attempts to buy things off Facebook. In the future I will be sticking with Amazon, eBay, Craigslist and similar websites.

THE FIRST INCIDENT

A woman was looking to give away a baby feeding pillow designed for newborns. I wanted to get it for my wife, but I was so busy and the women lived further away so picking it up was going to be difficult.

Ultimately there ended up being delays and the woman ended up giving it to someone else. By the time I was able to go over there and get it, she informed me it was already gone. Fortunately I did not have to waste a trip.

Instead my wife ended up getting a near identical pillow from a store near us that sells used goods for babies and toddlers (Once Upon A Child, located at 1386 Bayview Toronto).

It wasn't free, it was $10, but that was still a very good price compared to the $50 to $70 the pillow costs at regular stores. Buying it an actual store ended up saving time and transportation money, so I am happy with the result and don't mind that it wasn't free.

THE SECOND INCIDENT

A guy named Guillermo Aristizabal posted a Korean SKB horsebow for sale, plus 18 arrows, assorted arrowheads and all his archery gear. And he was asking $200 for it.

Which frankly was a really good deal.

So I immediately contacted Guillermo Aristizabal and arranged to pick up the bow and everything ASAP.

I got off work early on a Thursday, I send him two messages (one via Facebook and a 2nd to his phone) both telling him my ETA, traveled for an hour to North York to a suburban neighbourhood and was only a few minutes from his home when I get a text from him...

The jackass had sold it to someone else just minutes earlier. He knew I was almost there. He knew I was en route and had been for almost an hour.

So... context. I spent $6 on travel expenses to get there and back via public transit.

It was very hot and humid outside and his home was 20 minutes walk from the nearest subway.

He knew I was on my way and what time I would be arriving.

But the jackass apparently did not think, did not have the sense of etiquette to warn me that someone else might beat me to it and that I was wasting time, effort and money to get there in a hurry.

What a ****ing ***hole.

So I had to turn around and walk back to the subway in the heat and humidity, having completely wasted two hours of my afternoon that I could have spent doing something productive.

CONCLUSIONS

After the second incident I basically determined there would not be a 3rd time. There is no way I am buying anything (or trying to buy anything) from a stranger off Facebook ever again.

A friend or family member, certainly.

And the reason why is because a friend or family member would never waste my time like that. A stranger has no bond of friendship or kinship, which binds them to be nice to their friends or kin.

A stranger is also not a company. They have no reason to observe any kind of customer service to protect their reputation.

This is why I have chosen to use Guillermo Aristizabal's name on here. The guy is an ***hole for wasting my time, money and effort. If he knew someone else was on their way to pick up the equipment he should have told me in advance and I would have known not to waste my time.

And time is more valuable than money typically. I personally value my time at $40 per hour, which is the rate I charge my clients usually. So wasting two hours of my time, plus $6 travel expenses, means he wasted $86 worth of my time/money. To say nothing of the heat and humidity.

An ***hole like Guillermo Aristizabal deserves to have a bad reputation, just like a company selling things and having horrible customer service deserves to have a bad reputation.

So if you are buying stuff online, via Facebook for example, don't buy anything from people with a bad reputation. They are probably just going to waste your time/money. Sadly there are no websites, to my knowledge, that track the reputation of people. There probably should be.

And that my friend is some valuable consumer advice.

At least on eBay there is a seller reputation number, out of 100, which tracks feedback from buyers. The best sellers have 100% all the time and try really hard to keep it at 100.

So now I am going to go browse bows on eBay. At least they deliver. At least they don't waste your time/money outside in the heat and humidity. And frankly the fact that they track a seller's reputation is a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Why does Amazon not accept PayPal?

By C. Moffat

Amazon is one of the world's largest online marketplaces for ordering pretty much anything you want.

PayPal is basically the world's largest online bank, the preferred way to pay for things online because it is safe, secure and fast. In 2014, PayPal moved $228 billion in 26 currencies across more than 190 nations.

So you would think it would make sense that Amazon would accept payments via PayPal...? Wouldn't you?

It would, except that PayPal used to be owned by eBay - an online rival marketplace, but one that focuses on auctioning off used items to the highest bidder.

Now you would think Amazon, which sells new items, and that eBay, which sells mostly used items, would not be rivals, but for whatever reason they are.

In order to better facilitate eBay's users they started the company PayPal to make it easier for people to pay for things online - and PayPal spread across the internet, becoming one of the best ways to safely and quickly transfer money to pay for things, send money to family/friends, etc.

Below is a Live Chat conversation I had with a "Help Representative" from Amazon. He deliberately avoided the real answer as to WHY Amazon doesn't accept PayPal.

The funny thing is that eBay doesn't even own PayPal any more. They are now separate companies, and have been completely separate since July 18th, 2015.

So admittedly the split was very recent. But still this would be an opportunity for Amazon to finally step up their game by accepting PayPal - and what is more they had roughly a year to prepare for the July 18th split, as eBay announced plans to split PayPal off from the parent company back in 2014.

So will greed finally win out and consumers will finally have another option instead of credit cards (which are notoriously problematic to use online)...?

Only time will tell.

What I will tell you is that I have 6 items in my eBay Shopping Cart waiting to be paid for - and I am not going to bother buying them until eBay gets their act together.

African-American Culture and News

Appreciating African-American Culture And Entertainment

African-American culture isn't entirely different from some mainstream cultures, but it's different enough that African-Americans feel an emptiness when they look at mainstream media. They don't see people who look, think, and talk like them, and they detect a noticeable absence of African-American figures in the arenas of politics and business. For those people who want their children to grow up appreciating their culture, and for those African-Americans who want to hold onto their own culture, there are channels that broadcast African American news and issues that hit home with its audience.

News and issues

News and issues focus on central figures in the African-American community that are up and coming on the political scene or that are doing noteworthy things in the community. There are also stories of community news that deal with noteworthy legal issues that might be pressing for the African-American community.

Sports and entertainment

It's not all serious on African-American channels. There are entertainment and sports features that bring home those genres to the masses and give the entertainment an African-American voice to appreciate. This might include musicians, actors, sports figures, and stand-up artists who bring joy to the world through those gifts.

You don't have to be African-American to appreciate the culture. Anyone can tune in, just like African-Americans also watch mainstream networks and news shows that focus on a more causation audience. Diversity in our entertainment broadens horizons across the board for people across cultures.

Shoes, Handbags and Free Shipping

Honestly I am not into buying shoes online. I like to try them on in person.

Thus when I see websites like Sole Society I shake my head in disgust. The site in question sells shoes, handbags, jewelry, hats, scarves, sunglasses and accessories - most of which are things you would probably rather try on in the store before purchasing.

For example I have never purchased shoes without trying them on first.

I have never bought a handbag / backpack or anything like that without opening it first and checking out the inside.

Jewelry? Well, if it was a ring for example I need to try it on to see if it fits. Bracelets and necklaces, okay, probably don't need to try it on, but it is still nice to see it in person first. Maybe check to make sure the diamonds are real.

Hats and sunglasses, again, need to try them on and check yourself in the mirror.

Scarves are the only item on the website I would even consider ordering.

In which case, am I that low on stores nearby that sell scarves? I can get to the Eaton's Centre in 30 minutes if I time the buses and subway perfectly. (When I lived downtown I was able to walk there in 10 minutes or bicycle there in 4.)

So I really don't see much benefit in buying shoes/similar items online unless they are ridiculous cheap compared to a store, which I doubt because the cost of shipping must be worked into the price somehow. Or if they are ridiculously cheap, there must be something wrong with them.

For example I know I can go on Alibaba and order lots of super cheap things from China and India. eg. You can buy 100 bamboo arrows from China for $30 + shipping. And the more you buy, the cheaper they are. That is amazingly cheap for a product you can sell in Canada for roughly $5 per arrow. So as long as a person could find plenty of buyers, you could conceivably buy 1000 arrows on there for about $300 + shipping and then sell them here in Canada for $5000.

That is the big trick about Alibaba. Everything is in bulk orders. eg. 50 pairs of shoes, or 120 pairs of shoes - everything is a minimum order of a relatively large amount.

But you won't find reputable brand names on there because you have to purchase those from the manufacturer's distributors. eg. I tried looking for Nike shoes, but the only thing I could find is display cases for selling Nikes on.

So in this case, yes, you can find things for ridiculously cheap prices online. But they won't be brand name and you have to order it in bulk. And the shipping isn't free.

Essay Writing Companies in Toronto

Essay writing companies are not illegal - which I find funny, because they are promoting academic dishonesty. Because cheating in school is really only an academic problem...

What is also funny is how they are a dime a dozen. Here are the names of just a few of the local companies, some of which even have offices within walking distance of the University of Toronto campus.

Organized Alphabetically

canada.customessaywritingservices.com

customessay.com

essayexperts.ca

mastersessay.com

toronto.universitytutor.com

ultimateessays.com

And many more are out there. These are just a few of the essay writing companies in Toronto that I found by browsing a single Google search.

The companies in question also legitimize themselves by offering other services, like resume writing, CV writing, cover letter writing, editing and proofreading services, course work and research papers.

They can even make Power Point Presentations and Multi Media Projects.

So yeah, there is really no limit to academic dishonesty.

If you asked the student to write poetry or a simple fictional short story, they could probably take it to an essay writing company and they would get poetry and short stories easily.

I have no idea what the prices are for poetry or short stories, but I imagine it is something quite expensive. Creativity and quality writing takes time and effort. The higher quality companies no doubt charge more. Browsing prices on an essay writing website makes for some interesting reading.

For example MastersEssay.com has a form you can plug in your desired requirements for your project and then it gives you a chart that shows the prices for what you are looking for. (And also three levels of quality, so you can choose how good you want your essay to be.)

And you can rush order essays to be done in 3, 6 or 12 hours.

Although I do wonder what crazy person is writing a 10 page art essay in 3 hours... and how much is the writer's cut after the company takes their share?

Evidently a cheating young student would save a lot of money simply by ordering their fake essay at least 10 days in advance.

What I am seeing here is that these companies have become very sophisticated and now offer a huge range of services.

Everything from editing to research to writing the entire thing for you.

In browsing MastersEssay.com's services they even list solving math problems as part of their services.

MATH!

Wow.

Now I feel really smart because all my life I wrote all my own essays, did all my own math homework, and I won both literary and math awards back in the 1980s and 1990s.

I find it funny that people are hiring other people to do their own math problems.

What happens when they get out into the real world, are hired as an economist for a big bank... and they cannot do simple math problems??? Are they going to hire someone else to do all their math for them???

I can just imagine the homeless person on the street holding up a sign that says "I have a Masters Degree in Economics but got fired because I cannot do math..."

Sheesh.

Over 300 Product Reviews + Website Statistics

We recently published our 300th product review on Product Reviews Canada.

As such we feel it is a good time to list some of Product Reviews Canada's statistics and services.

#1. Product Reviews Canada created its first product reviews on October 7th 2010.

#2. Since 2010 Product Reviews Canada has received over 140,000 visitors and continues to become more and more popular. eg. Product Reviews Canada's popularity quadrupled between December 2012 and December 2013. (Not bragging, just saying.)

#3. The vast majority of people visiting Product Reviews Canada come from the USA and Canada - which really is not surprising since the website is in English and usually talking about products and services only available in Canada and the USA.

#4. Product Reviews Canada has had 17 approved comments.

#5. Product Reviews Canada has had 79 comments that were not approved because they contained spam links. (Word to the wise spammers, if you want advertising you need to pay for it or send us a free sample of your product so we can review it. If we see anything spammy or it contains a link to your business, we hit the spam button and delete it.)

If you want a product review just contact us { charlesmoffat at charlesmoffat dot com } and request a product review by sending us a free sample of your product or a gift card for your services.

Oh and by the way... Canada beat Sweden 3 to nothing at the gold medal men's hockey game in Sochi. Suck on that Sweden! :)

YouTubes Random Movies go up and later come down

If you search for the term "full movie" on YouTube you can find a variety of free movies (many of them Bollywood or Asian movies) that you can watch in HD without having to pay a cent.

Two days ago I watched "White House Down" (the 2013 action film) in HD thanks to some random person who uploaded it. (The film itself was good, I give it 4.5 stars out of 5. I even had tears in my eyes at the end when *SPOILER ALERT* the daughter waved the American flag on the White House lawn.)

Today the movie is gone. Deleted by YouTube's 'copyright infringement police'.

But call it the beauty of YouTube, the copyright infringement police only pay attention to popular movies that came out recently - and what is more they only seem to care if the film is English.

If you browse the long list of films on there (many of them in HD) you will notice that older films and foreign films are widely abundant and all free. Because if it is not new or not in English, then YouTube doesn't care about copyright infringement.

So huzzah. If you're bored and want to watch a random movie for free, just go to YouTube, type full movie in the search and pick from recent releases (which will soon be deleted), old movies (which they don't care about), or foreign films (which might even be recent).

You could watch for example:

Sky Riders, an American action film released in 1976.



Or you could watch

The Defender, a Chinese action film starring Jet Li released in 2013



Not to be confused with...

The Defender, the 2004 movie starring Dolph Lundgren



Silliness. :)

Ties, Suspenders and Cufflinks Oh My!

Grey Paisley Design Silk Tie - $9.95 AUD

Honestly... When it comes to ties, suspenders and cufflinks I really could not care less about Brand Name.

Why?

Because I can't NAME a brand name of ties, suspenders and cufflinks. (Ask me about bicycles on the other hand and I will rattle off about Miele, Norco, CCM, Raleigh, Cervelo, etc.)

And it is the honest truth - myself and, I imagine, many other men would be hard pressed to name a manufacturer of ties, suspenders and cufflinks - unless they were really into a particular brand for some reason.

Now for demonstration purposes lets use a website which has all three. The Aussie website Ties n Cuffs (www.tiesncuffs.com.au) has all three - and they sell men's handkerchiefs too. And scarves, men's underwear, tie clips, socks, silk vests and more. So they will be a good demonstration for talking about ties and other things.

But what impressed me about this website is that they DO pay attention to the brand names of all the companies. They are (I copy pasted this straight off their website so some of them are not actually brand names, but just topics like "clip on ties" instead) the following:

2eros 4 Play London Business Socks 4Play London AFL Belts AFL Credit Card Holders AFL Cufflinks AFL Tie Bars AFL Ties AS Colour Belt Buckles Ben Sherman Underwear Bloke Undees Bonds Bow Tie and Hanky Sets Bow Ties BR4SS Underwear Braces Braces by Buckle Budgy Smugglers Business Belts Carlo Visconti Collection Carlo Visconti Socks Celtic Antique Silver Cuffs Chicklinks Clip On tie

Collar Stays+ Collar Bars Cufflink Box Culture Cuffs DC Comic Cufflinks DC Comics Diesel DIY DKufflinks Footy Cuffs Footy Socks Frank Dandy Fun Novelty Cuffs Geoffrey Beene Gianfranco FERRE Gift Voucher Giorgio Rossini Italy Givenchy Ties Grundies Hardy Amies Hardy Amies Cufflinks Hardy Amies Formal Ties Hardy Amies Pocket Squares Hardy Amies Socks Holeproof Socks Jockey

K by Karl Lagerfeld KENZO King Socks Knitted Scarves Lafitte Socks Lapel Pins Leather Belts Leather Island Belts Men's Gift Sets Money Clips Moschino Mosmann Australia Muay Tie NRL Official Team Cufflinks Nudie Ties On sale ties Oroton Underwear Pashmina fashion Scarfs Personalised Beanies Personalised Belt Buckles Personalised Collar Stays Personalised Cufflinks Personalised Lapel Pins Personalised Scarves Personalised Supporter Sets

Personalised Tiebars Personalised Ties Plain Silk Scarves Plastik Underwear. Pocket Squares Polyester Scarves Puma Socks Puma Underwear Roberto Loren Collection Salvatore Ferragamo Silk Georgette Scarves Silk Knot Cufflink Series Silk Satin Scarves Silk Series SirRocco Cufflinks SirRocco woven ties Sly Underwear SmartSet Snatch Underwear SNJ Socks Socks Express Star Wars Cufflinks Teamm8 Tiebox Timothy K

TNC TNC Bottle Openers TNC coins TNC Cufflinks TNC Custom TNC Money Clips TNC Neckties TNC Novelty TNC Pewter Mugs TNC School Ties TNC Skinny TNC Tie Bars TNC Vests TNC Wallets Tribe Underwear Underwear Of Sweden Valentino Vintage Cufflinks Vintage Ties VIP Wedding Cravats Wedding Cuff Links Wedding Silk Ties Wood Look Cufflinks Wright Socks

Hardy Amies Formal Silk Tie - Black Floral - $50.00 AUD

In which case, that is A LOT OF BRAND NAMES.

I had no idea there was so many companies in the men's accessories business.

I do like suspenders and ties myself (especially silk ties with a very kewl pattern on them), but not a big fan of cufflinks. The photos I have chosen for this blog post are silk ties I picked out because I like their patterns.

What I do like about the Ties N Cuffs website is that you can search their selection very easily and it shows you EXACTLY what you are looking for...

Examples

http://www.tiesncuffs.com.au/search?q=grey+ties

http://www.tiesncuffs.com.au/search?q=silk+ties

http://www.tiesncuffs.com.au/search?q=black+suspenders

Mucho gracias!

The only disappointment was when I tried typing in "Moffat tartan" to see if they had a tie with my Scottish family tartan on it. They did have a variety of tartan ties (44 results, including bow ties and other tartan products), but they didn't have specifically the tartan I was looking for (see Moffat tartan below).

So maybe that is something they could add in the future. Tartans ties and bow ties for specific families.

However I will note they also had custom bow ties and custom ties. So maybe it is possible to get the exact thing you are looking for.

The last thing I should talk about is the prices.

Ties can get quite expensive sometimes. The Hardy Amies Formal Silk Tie in Black Floral for $50.00 AUD above for example... is a tie worth drooling over. But you wouldn't want to drool physically on it because its $50!!! That is the kind of tie you should wear to weddings, funerals and really important events.

The Grey Paisley silk tie that I picked out (way up at the top) on the other hand won't break your wallet. And it still looks fantastic.

What I also like about that website is that it tells you when a product is currently sold out.

What I don't like is that you cannot sign up for a waiting list so that they will email you when the product becomes available again. (I should email them with a list of suggestions for improving the customer experience...)

Still, its a very good website and one worth checking out if you like ties, cufflinks and other accessories.