For the discerning Valentine giver
Okay, so it's Valentine's Day on Saturday and you're planning on getting the love of your life a dozen red roses and taking her out to dinner.
Nice, but it's not particularly original, now, is it?
If you really cared, you could put a bit of thought into it and get her something different, something that she'll remember and mention for years to come. The possibilities are endless, and that's why Disclosures is offering up a few suggestions for your consideration.
For those looking for the unusual, but practical, why not consider a junk-removal service? It may not be typically romantic, but Toronto's 1-800-RID-OF-IT explains the top 10 reasons you should give them a call. Among them: "a thorough cleanup lasts longer than flowers"; "decluttering will reduce house work by 30 to 40 per cent," and the heart-warming sentiment that "she should be at the top of the pile, not your junk." Now if your home is already pretty ship-shape, LIMRA (Life Insurance and Market Research Association), would like to draw your attention to the gift of life insurance.
With people expected to spend an average of $142.31 on gifts for Valentine's Day in 2015, LIMRA points out in one example that a $250,000 term life policy could be had for as little as $150 a year. Hard to believe, but LIMRA`'s 2015 Insure Your Love explains it all.
Baby product maker rethinks name
At least one of the names of suppliers fighting to get back unsold inventory from insolvent Target Canada must have raised a few eyebrows.
ISSI Inc., a Montreal-area maker of baby products, appeared last month in the creditor's list, but under a different name – ISIS, the change being made "for obvious reasons," the company's law firm said in a court filing this week.
Millennial moms get smart
Millennial moms are answering the call – and calls – on their smartphones more than ever as ownership reaches new highs and surpasses laptop and PC ownership for the first time.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and BabyCenter on Tuesday released 2015 State of Modern Motherhood: Mobile and Media in the Lives of Moms, a research report that compares the tech habits of mothers aged 18 to 32 in the United States, Brazil, Canada, China and the United Kingdom.
Among the findings, the study shows that millennial moms are spending 35 per cent more time online on their smartphones than through laptop or desktop computers.
At the forefront of the trend are Canadian mothers, the leading users of smartphones in the Western nations surveyed. Canada's mothers chalked up a 94-per-cent rate, compared with 59 per cent in 2012.
That beat the young mothers of the U.S. (90 per cent, up from 65 per cent), the U.K. (93 per cent, up from 73 per cent), and Brazil, which made the biggest gain (76 per cent, up from 25 per cent).
Only China's moms topped Canada's, with a slightly higher rate of 95 per cent (compared with 62 per cent in 2012).
Don't cry for her, cry for Argentina
You'll probably have guessed by now that Disclosures has a bit of a thing for Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. No – not that kind of a thing, but rather a fondness for her colourful way with words and unique perspectives on geopolitics. Both have been on display recently, in addition to her facility for comic and tragic theatre.
By far the most significant event for the President is the uproar at home over the mysterious death of the country's chief prosecutor. Alberto Nisman was found dead in his hotel room last month just two hours before he was said to be presenting evidence implicating Mr. Fernandez in a cover-up of a bombing incident at a Buenos Aires Jewish centre in 1994 that killed 85 people.
At first, the government claimed it to be suicide, but since Ms. Fernandez herself appeared to be the only person to believe that explanation, she quickly turned on her heels and announced a probe.
Last week, in a possible bid to distract over the issue, she travelled to Beijing to drum up support for investment in her country. There, as the New Yorker put it, she may have set "a new record in racially offensive efficiency" with a single Tweet, written in a cod-Chinese-accent referring to trade in "lice and petloleum."
After the ensuing media uproar, she sent out another Tweet (for the love of Mike, get off Twitter Cristina!): "Sorry. You know what? It's just that things are so excessively ridiculous and absurd. They can only be digested with humour. …"
Let go of our Lego
The reinvigorated Danish toymaker Lego AS has been gaining even more traction of late as it expands out of its traditional market targeted at boys. An internal company survey found that before its new line, Lego Friends, a piddling 9 per cent of the toy's primary users were girls.
And it`s Lego Friends that's causing the headaches at the building blocks maker, as Bloomberg reports. The company has accused three rivals of making knock-offs of the line and filed a complaint last Thursday with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington.
Lego`s more than a bit miffed because it invested four years of research and $40-million (U.S.) in marketing the franchise.
The product line includes girls in settings such as a shopping mall, beach house and pet salon. (Choices such as a beauty parlour, fashion show or Tupperware party may have been considered too sexist.)
In its complaint, Lego is asking that imports be blocked of what it calls copycat products from Canada's Mega Brands Inc. (maker of "My Life As" toys), and three U.S. toy makers.
Mega Brands has already done this dance with Lego in the past, and emerged the victor. It will be interesting to see if Lego's protestations that rivals are "preying on the vulnerability of Lego's youthful consuming population" will strike a chord with judges this time.