Kitty Treats for Cats / Training Your Cat

In an effort to train our cat Victoria we have tried rewarding her with Whiskas Temptations (seafood flavour).

What we have determined is that the cat exhibits positive behavioural characteristics when kitty treats are involved. Even the rattle of the treats inside the bag is enough to change the cat's mood and suddenly she is very friendly, less aggressive, and easier to deal with.

In contrast when she is misbehaving she gets the water gun. We tried using a spray nozzle, but determined it doesn't quite work all the time and doesn't spray very effectively. Instead we adopted a Walter PPK plastic water gun as our method of negative reinforcement of behaviours.

At present, just the sight of the water gun or the spray nozzle causes the cat to scurry away - and her negative behavoural traits (aggressive biting) have been reduced significantly compared to when we first got her.

As a rescue cat from the Toronto Humane Society they warned us that she does like to bite - mostly as a way as expressing her dominance, but also as a way of expressing displeasure - and sometimes she just bites because she is feeling playful.

When we got her we were tempted to name her Luisa Suarez, after the soccer player Luis Suarez who is known for biting people.

However we felt that naming her after a vampire who plays soccer was a little too much, so instead we opted for a more regal sounding name - thus we chose Victoria, after Queen Victoria.

Although sometimes I think it should be Queen Bitoria.

Anyway, back to the Whiskas Temptations (seafood medley) - Victoria goes nuts for this stuff. Her behaviour completely changes and using it as a treat for behaviour modification (rewarding her for good behaviour) appears to be working. Thus we are giving it a thumbs up.

We may try other brands / flavours in the future, but for now seafood seems to be working just fine.

Why is the Pickle Barrel's burgers so small?

Went to the Pickle Barrel today. I have been there previously and they used to have large burgers.

Today however... Tiny burger. Tiny. As in McDonalds burgers are bigger. Years ago the burgers at Pickle Barrel used to be quite large, large bun, 1 large thick patty. Now they use a small bun and stick two small patties on there, making it smaller than a Big Mac from McDonalds. (And the Big Mac isn't that "big".)

Tasted like a McDonalds burger too. Very strange.

So it was basically an overpriced McDonalds burger served with a salad. The salad was good, the burger was not.

The burger was also delivered surprisingly fast - like McDonalds fast. And it was undercooked. Medium rare. Not impressed by that either.

Service was par. Nothing impressive there either.

Overall I give The Pickle Barrel 1 star out of 5. It was edible and the service was par. They should be embarrassed.

Cat Product Reviews

Product Reviews Canada now has a cat - Victoria, after Queen Victoria. In the future we will be adding cat oriented product reviews for cat food, scratching posts, kitty litter, cat brushes (Victoria is a longhair mixed), cleaning supplies, odour removal, cat carriers, cat toys, cat treats and more.

Companies with such products who are looking for product reviews are advised to contact us.

We got Victoria from "Pet Smart" with a donation to the Toronto Humane Society. Victoria is a rescue cat as her previous owner abandoned her and she was picked up and cared for by the Toronto Humane Society. The donation was approx. $99.

Victoria is grey, has long hair with bits of orange in it and despite being only 2 the grey hair makes her look quite old. She has a habit of biting people if she gets annoyed which means she is not good with children. I will say you start to develop faster reflexes with your hands for her moods can switch rapidly.

Note to self - buy chew toys.

Update October 19th

The Toronto Humane Society has literally thousands of cats that need homes. If you have a home, and you like cats, why not get a cat that needs some love? We did. And we really like her. Victoria is now part of our family - and we are currently building her YouTube Channel at:

Victoria Has Claws

Ivory Vikings, a Book Review

By C. Moffat.

As someone who has been into woodcarving since the age of 8, and even recently got into carving antler, I found this book to be fascinating. I also am into archaeology, Viking history, and Scottish history. So this book was good on all these topics.

I also as a kid played chess competitively, and can, in my opinion, hold my own. When I resumed playing chess in university I discovered I had only gotten better with age.

The book we are discussing here, "Ivory Vikings" by Nancy Marie Brown, is about a selection of Viking-era Chess pieces found on a beach in north-west Scotland. The majority of the pieces are carved from walrus ivory, and are believed to have been carved in Iceland roughly 600 - 700 years ago.

This is not a storybook. Rather I would classify it as a complete investigation into the mystery surrounding these marvelously carved chess pieces. The total number of chess pieces suggest they were once in a sack containing a total of 4 - 5 complete sets, but sadly many of the pieces are missing and if you mixed and matched the sets you would only get two complete sets.

Reading the book you will however learn lots about the carver(s) of the chess pieces. It is my personal suspicion that like all great artists, the artist who created the chess pieces had apprentices who would do the work on the lesser pieces. Reading the book you may come to a similar conclusion to mine. The author has her own theories so I won't spoil it and let the reader make up their own mind when they read the various theories on the topic.

Now you might be wondering - Wait, why is it a whole book about some mysterious ivory chess pieces? Well these particular chess pieces are the most famous and valuable pieces in the world, they are considered to be invaluable. The value of a single face piece is in the millions. The pawns less so.

While reading the book I even daydreamed of writing a movie script about stealing the chess pieces and a Sherlock Holmes-esque caper to get the pieces back. Perhaps the chess pieces could even be reunited with the full set in the film... With some villainous character having found the missing pieces and deciding they wanted the full set.

Anyway, I think I made my point. Ivory Vikings is an inspiring book to read. It tantalizes the imagination.

Replicas of the Ivory Vikings were used in one of the Harry Potter films.

Also while I am at it the TV series "Vikings" (an action drama produced by the History Channel) is fantastic. I definitely recommend watching it. Below is the trailer for Season One. Season Four will likely begin airing in February 2016.

How to Judge Restaurants based on their Restroom

This post came about by accident.

My girlfriend and I went out to eat at the Indian restaurant "Amaya" on Bayview Avenue in Leaside - and upscale area of Toronto. Which you would think would mean the food is good and the restrooms are clean.

Before ordering I went to use the restroom and discovered a little surprise. A cockroach, live, swimming in the toilet. The rest of the restroom was equally disgusting. As was the basement where the restroom was located. The stairs to the basement were also a tripping hazard, I tripped once on the way down and once on the way up. Wow.

Needless to say we left almost immediately.

We went down the street to "Kama Sutra" instead, another Indian restaurant in the same neighbourhood. The restroom was so nice it had music, smelled of air freshener, and was super clean.
What this tells you is that you get what you pay for. At Amaya the food might be cheaper, but it might also contain cockroaches or their droppings. At Kama Sutra it is pricier, but the food is excellent and cockroach free.

Also I should note the service at Kama Sutra was excellent, the butter chicken was awesome, there is a large selection of beverages to choose from - and they have live music on Thursday nights.

We shall have to go back again sometime.

Behold, the live cockroach in the toilet at Amaya, 1574 Bayview Ave.

Behold, the sparkling clean (and amazingly fresh smelling) toilet at "Kama Sutra", 1522 Bayview Ave.

Aerodynamic components and Industrial Inventory

Looking Online for Industrial Inventory

When you are in charge of keeping your company's industrial inventory replenished, you want to know what options are available that will let you satisfy your duties to your employer, but also give the workers in the factory the best materials with which to work. Rather than restrict your choices to local suppliers, you may enjoy a better selection when you shop online. By shopping on the Internet, you can find materials like aerospace metals and alloys that your employer can use to create its line of products. You also can determine in what format you would like to have this inventory shipped to your factory.

If your employer specializes in making aerodynamic components like wings or fronts of airplanes, you need a material that is lightweight and capable of surviving high altitudes. You could learn more about aluminum and why this material still remains one of the most popular to use in this industry. When you shop online for aluminum, you can learn about its weight and dimensions. If it meets your employer's needs, you can then order the appropriate amount.

Other metals available for you to consider include copper and stainless steel. Both of these metals are heavier than aluminum. Nonetheless, they have their place in the industrial arena. If your factory produces accessories or equipment used in the aeronautic field, these materials may provide the durability that your clients expect when ordering such items from you. You can read up on these materials and learn more about their weights, dimensions, and other specifications online as well.

If you are new to ordering or working with any of these materials, you may be well served by reading the blog found on the supplier's website. The blog can fill you in on key information such as why these materials are popular, how they are produced, and for what purpose they can be used. You can also learn in what format they are available for shipping. For example, if your factory has a narrow, but tall door, you may prefer that your metals be shipped in roll form instead of sheet form. The rolls can fit through the doorways better. Likewise, if your factory has a wide, expansive dock area you can ask that the metals be shipped in sheet form. Sheets of metal are unblemished and ready to cut right away to make products.

iHome Wireless Go+ Splashproof Portable Speaker

A portable bluetooth water-resistant speaker - handy, reliable, difficult to break.

By C. Moffat.

I have been meaning to write this review for several months now. About time I finally got it done.

I purchased the iHome Wireless Go+ Splashproof Portable Speaker at a Best Buy months ago and very quickly discovered it is an awesome little speaker with great sound quality and LOUD for such a small speaker.

Its small size belies its incredible power, it is rechargeable using a standard cellphone USB, can communicate with any BlueTooth device - I use it mostly with my cellphone, but I have also used it with my tablet and laptop for added volume.

The device is also very durable. Its rubber / steel outer layers means this speaker simply bounces off of any surface it falls onto. You would basically have to deliberately attempt to break the speaker in order to prove it can be broken. I have dropped it countless times, not so much as a scratch.

Oddly enough Best Buy no longer seems to sell this particular product, however iHome makes a variety of other BlueTooth speakers in a range of sizes and shapes which are also available at Best Buy.

Other websites have given the iHome Wireless Go+ Splashproof Portable Speaker four stars out of five, but I give it five stars out of five because it does exactly what it is supposed to do, is incredibly good quality, and was a pretty fair price.

I have seen it advertised at other stores for $39.99. According to my receipt from June 20th I paid $54.99 + HST, so the price has also come down a bit since June.

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.

Creed

On November 25th a new film is coming out featuring 'Rocky Balboa', except the film isn't about Rocky for once. It is about Apollo Creed's son.

If you are familiar with the Rocky film series you should know who Apollo Creed is - he was in 4 of the films after all and was killed during the 4th film by Soviet Union boxer Ivan Drago. What they don't talk about in that film and the films that follow is what happens to Apollo Creed's wife and son - and thus we come to the new film "Creed", due out in November.

Oddly enough the new Creed film sets the franchise up for more possible films in the future, with Rocky potentially coaching other boxers to success. One I would like to see: Rocky coaching a female Olympic boxer for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Timing wise the boxer in question could actually be his granddaughter.

Trailer Below



For fun here is a YouTube clip of the fight between Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed.

Forbidden Empire

"Forbidden Empire" is a horror / action film produced in Russia / Ukraine and it was released in the USA in May 2015.

However it never got a theatrical release in Canada, for some unknown reason.

That doesn't mean that this movie isn't very good however. It just means it didn't get a lot of press or media coverage in Canada. In the USA the film received mixed reviews, with some people really liking and others less so. In Russia the film set a new box office record, which gives a good indication that the film is actually good - despite it being an English film made in Czech Republic that was then dubbed into Russian. (Yes, I agree, that is weird.)

Truth be told, it is difficult for movies made in Russia, Asia, Europe, Africa or South America to do well in the USA - mostly due to poor distribution, and having almost nothing to do with the quality of the plot, the actors, the computer graphics, etc. It has a lot to do with the fact many of the film companies in Hollywood are part of conglomerates which also own television stations, traditional print media such as newspapers and magazines, and have access to a vast network of resources to advertise, promote and get their films into the theatres.

Also name wise the name "Forbidden Empire" sounds too much like the Chinese film "Forbidden Kingdom", and the two films are really nothing alike. But it does seem to cause confusion when trying to Google the name.

Below is the trailer for the film. My goal here however is not to review the film. It is to tempt the curious to watch the trailer, go "Whoa! This looks really good!" and then make an effort to see the film. If you end up liking or disliking the film please post your reviews in the comment section further below.