It’s that time of year again folks: Labour Day Weekend is finally upon us. And while for some it means the unofficial end of summer, and for others it means the first week of school, for CFL fans it means a weekend of brilliant rivalries.
For more than 60 years Canadian Football fans have spent Labour Day Weekends watching their favorite team square off against their most-hated opposition. That means more than 60 years of TiCats vs. Argos, Blue Bombers vs. Rough Riders, and Eskimos vs. Stampeders.
The first of four games was played last night, and was the only Labour Day Classic game that didn’t feature any sort of actual rivalry. The BC Lions upset the Montreal Alouettes, taking them down 38-17. It was a great game to watch, but the happenstance pairing just seemed to miss the spirit of the weekend.
Here’s the remaining schedule, with times to reflect the Eastern Time start of the TSN broadcast;
Winnipeg at Saskatchewan – Sept 5, 2pm
Toronto at Hamilton – Sept 6, 2pm
Edmonton at Calgary – Sept 6, 5:30pm
Which games will you be watching, and who will you be rooting for?
(PHOTO NOTE: While the two teams pictured aren’t Labour Day rivals, I simply couldn’t imagine a better picture to capture the nail-biting excitement of Canadian football.)
If you’re a t-shirt junkie, you’ve no doubt long ago fallen in love with the wonders of Threadless.com. With original ideas, regular sales, and decent quality products, few places are better for meeting your monthly quota of short-sleeved shirts. But have you ever stopped to wonder where those original ideas come from? If you’re imaginative enough, they could come from you!
The shirts sold on Threadless start as creations in the Threadless Community. The site always has an open call for t-shirt design ideas, and site members can submit and vote on other people’s submissions to help pick which shirt will be the next selected for production. Becoming a member couldn’t be easier — if you’ve ever signed up to buy a shirt, or simply signed up for free without making a purchase, then you’re already in the club.
So what’s in it for you? How does $2500 sound? Each shirt that gets published comes with a $2000 cash pay out for the designer, as well as $500 in Threadless store credit. Don’t worry if you’re not artistically inclined, either. While Threadless is always looking for great visual designs, they’re also looking for slogans too. My stick people may look like chicken scratch, but I’ve been using my charming wit to create original ideas on Threadless for years. And while none of my slogans have been picked up for publication, participating in the community and seeing the work of others always makes a visiting the creative side of Threadless a real treat. (on a side note, winning slogans pay out at a smaller $500)
It’s been a little over a year since our last caption challenge, so we’ll forgive some of our newer readers if they make puzzles faces when we say the word “return.” The challenge (as well as it’s author, humble ol’ Jim Squires) has returned from a lengthy hiatus, eager to see what silly captions the SmartCanucks readers are ready to create!
And before you ask, sorry folks, there’s no prizing or winners here. The challenge is simply a weekly exercise in silliness where the suggestions of your fellow SmartCanuckers can quickly put a smile on your face. If you’d like to enjoy some of the past entries, feel free to explore the tag caption challenge.
This week’s photo challenge takes place at Washington’s Lincoln Memorial, where the famed marble man sits atop his perch, getting a much needed ear de-waxing. Far be it from me to advise the former presidents, but they really say you shouldn’t stick anything smaller than an elbow in your ear… Although I guess a cotton swab of that size is a bit bigger than the common elbow.
So without further ado, please give Mr. Lincoln and his swab swinging friend your best captions in the comments!
Tim Hortons is offering free summer swims throughout the summer in select locations. What’s better then cooling off for free? Below is the schedule. Click here for more information.
American Farmland is now sending their free bumper sticker ‘No Farms No Food’ to Canada. American Farmland is an association that supports and protects farm and ranch land and works to improve the economic viability of agriculture. This is such an important cause for the United States, Canada and, well, everywhere! Surfing through this site you’ll find great reminders why it is so important to support our local food growers.
This hits home for me right now because, though I know it’s small potatoes (no pun intended), my family grew our first vegetable and fruit garden this year. Just last night we harvested our apples (the tree was mature in the yard when we started our garden :-)) and spent two hours making (very yummy) applesauce. Every body was tired and ready to order Dominos after about half an hour which was a great headway into a very important discussion about how hard farmers and food processors work to ensure that we have affordable and healthy food on our tables. All this combines to remind me to attend my local farmers market this weekend.
To get your free bumper sticker and explore American Farmland click here.
“Hello, and welcome to the moon!” Ok, the backdrop suggests it’s probably Mars, but still.
I’d love it if we start offworld colonization at the same time we’re experiencing an all-encompassing 60’s cultural resurgence. Wouldn’t it be great if everything in space looked just like Epcot?
A hamburger! That’s right, just a classic, plain ol’ run of the mill hamburger. Not a salad. Not a yogurt. Not even the Filet-o-Fish. According to an admittedly unscientific study conducted by Lifehacker.com (they relied solely on McDonald’s published nutrition facts), the classic, affordable, and still delicious hamburger is the best thing on the menu.
It should probably be noted that the info they referred to is the US nutrition facts. Would anyone be interested in SmartCanucks putting together a similar article focusing on Canadian McMunchables?
Sometimes employees change endcaps and displays without really thinking about the signage. Usually it’s just annoying or an indicator of the stores inability to manage itself. Other times it results in great savings if it’s an old price sign that hasn’t been removed. But this time — this time it’s just a hilarious train wreck for all.
Unless of course it’s not a mistake, in which case I have to ask; did Wal-Mart just call my mom a slut?
While a mother’s day post at the end of July might seem a tad odd, today is in fact my mommy’s birthday and I felt the need to defend her honour. Happy birthday mom!
Some days it seems like everyone has a cool uncle who invents crazy dangerous stuff in his garage but me. Despite my sadness, ROCKET CHAIRS RULE. Balancing might be a little difficult though. And what is she using for propulsion?
My guess? Baked beans.
Strap in, hold on tight, and commence caption lift off!
The Grimace has a long and sordid history that one of these days we’ll address here in a McDonald’s Monday post. But today? Today we’re going to enjoy a little Kevin Smith.
The above clip is from the incredibly short-lived Clerks: The Animated Series. If you’re a fan of Smith’s work it’s well worth checking out. I’ve been recycling some of the jokes from it amongst friends and co-workers for years. In the scene above, the local chief of police is addressing the crowd… but he was on his way to a costume party. Not pictured in this clipp is the mayor, on his way to the same costume party, trapped in a Mayor McCheese outfit.
Good ol’ Pinky here is just one of the hundreds of cultural oddities dotting the American landscape. Set up next to a Citgo station in DeForest, Wisconsin, this big pink elephant has long been the subject of photographs and delighted travelers.
But taking all of that out of the equation — what are we left with? A big pink elephant with glasses.
Sometimes it seems like getting a combo in a fast food restaurant is a no brainer. You want a complete meal, so why not just order the #3? Fries, drink and a sandwich, and it shaves a little of the cost off of ordering the pieces individually… doesn’t it?
A few weeks ago The Consumerist reported on a McDonald’s in Edmond Oklahoma that was charging $4.09 for a McChicken Meal. The problem? The components in the meal only came to $3.49 when purchased seperately. They’re actually charging you 60 cents more to make it a meal.
This isn’t an isolated incident, either. I had noticed the other morning that it’s cheaper to order my breakfast in pieces than in a meal. If you want a Sausage McMuffin (no egg), hash brown and a large Diet Coke for breakfast (I like soda, get off my back) you’ll be paying $3.99 for the meal plus a little extra to upsize the drink. But individually? $1.39 for the Sausage McMuffin, $1.29 for the hash brown, and $1 for any sized drink this summer brings the total cost to $3.68. See? Cheaper. Now try explaining this to the person on the other side of the counter.
While problems like this aren’t likely well-spread, it’s certainly a reminder that everything on the menu isn’t always what it seems. Next time you visit your local fast food joint, do some basic math before you place your order.
I was in my local Staples a few weeks back to get a little faxing done, and couldn’t believe what I saw in their copy centre. They’re selling empty paper boxes for $1.49. These are the boxes that the copy centre empty as they use up paper during the course of their daily work. And while I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to give these boxes a good home rather than adding to the mountain of recycling out there, it’s amazing that they actually have the audacity to ask you to pay for their garbage.
Why not just give the boxes away? Grocery store do it. Liquor stores do it. Can you imagine running into an LCBO to grab a few boxes for moving day and being told “that’ll be $1 a box please”? IT’S THEIR TRASH. I can’t state this enough.
Gah.. There should be a law about this sort of thing. A+ for ingenuity, but a big fat F for greed.
