This is a clever one by Carl Mitsch of Fred Studio: a set of measuring cups shaped like matryoshka (babushka or Russian nesting dolls). They’re cute and functional! And perhaps best of all, they nest inside of one another so they don’t take up much cabinet space. At $11.95 each, they’re the perfect gift for those who love to cook … and who knows, maybe you’ll get dinner out of it, too.
Bicycle maker Gyrobike has invented the “Gyrowheel” — a wheel with a motor-driven gyroscope inside that helps keep it upright. The manufacturer hopes to market it as a replacement for traditional training wheels on kids’ bicycles. Nathan Barry of GeekDad writes:
It aims to replace traditional training wheels or stabilizers and to eradicate the bad habits that they teach kids when learning to ride a bike – leaning away from a turn and constantly putting a foot down at the first sign of a wobble when they’re eventually taken off. The Gyrowheel uses the “gyroscopic precession” of the independently spinning disk inside it to stabilize the bike. The force created when the disk is turned – via a rechargeable battery – is powerful enough to hold a wheel upright at very low speeds (i.e. virtually stopped), and can actually make a bike look like it has a “Ghost Rider” as the videos below show (and there are plenty more on the Gyrobike site).
Tickets for the Battle of the Blades, initially priced at $5, are now being sold for up to $145 each on Canadian and U.S. websites, including a controversial reseller owned by Ticketmaster. The tickets for the popular CBC-TV program were modestly priced to ensure anyone could afford them.
The show's popularity has skyrocketed, however, and tickets are being snapped up by people with the intention of selling them for big profits.
The show, shot before a live audience at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, features former NHLers and accomplished figure skaters competing as pairs.
Cory Monteith, who plays the singing football jock Finn on the Fox series (which airs on Global TV in Canada), has been tapped to appear as a presenter along with Flashpoint star Hugh Dillon and Being Erica star Erin Karpluk.
Monteith is a native of Calgary, where this year's Gemini Awards ceremony will be held on Nov. 14.
Other presenters include Vancouver's Jessica Lucas of Melrose Place, writer Mark McKinney of Less Than Kind, and The Hour host George Stroumboulopoulos.
CTV's Flashpoint and the CBC-TV miniseries Diamonds are among the multiple nominees.
The awards gala will be hosted by comedian Ron James and broadcast on Global and Showcase.
The administration intends to publish a new federal rule next week eliminating the ban by the start of 2010, he said.
"We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat," he said at the White House. "If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."
Obama said that lifting the ban is a "step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment. It's a step that will keep families together, and it's a step that will save lives."
The United States, he said, is one of only a dozen countries that still bar the entry of people with HIV.
Gay and lesbian Olympic athletes from countries consumed with conflict or that have laws against homosexuality will have a safe place to seek refugee status during the 2010 Winter Games, says the creator of Pride House, which will have locations in Vancouver and Whistler.
Pride House creator Dean Nelson said no one will encourage athletes to seek asylum, but he added based on past experience he and other organizers decided to have refugee information readily available.
"It happened during the World AIDS Conference here and in Toronto," he said. "And even during the Commonwealth Games. We have athletes coming from places of conflict and they could ask about seeking asylum. We just want to be prepared."
Both locations of Pride House will have information and support services for queer athletes, but the Whistler venue, which will be located at the Pan Pacific Village Centre, will have more of a celebratory theme. The Vancouver location, housed within Qmunity, formerly known as the Centre, on Bute Street, will be the base for athletes and visitors looking for information about queer services and support, as well as on immigration and seeking asylum in Canada.
