Health Canada has recalled Dollarama's Christmas 50 Miniature Straight Line Indoor Light Sets with the following product codes (located on the tag attached to the wire):
Model number: I-50
CSA file number: 224823
Item number: 09-3039962
UPC: 667888205394
Testing revealed that the light sets may overheat, posing a fire hazard.
While neither Health Canada nor Dollarama has received any reports of incidents or injuries relating to the recalled lights, customers are advised to immediately stop using the lights and return them to a Dollarama store for a full refund.
For further information, customers may visit Dollarama's website or call 1-888-755-1006, extension 1000, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
From October 2014 to October 2015, approximately 338,142 light sets were sold in Canada.
Educator Jessica Lahey has a bone to pick with parents and teachers. A propos of those school projects that seem to beg for parents to roll up their sleeves - and complete.
On one hand, parents are to blame for not knowing when to back off and allow a child to learn from turning in his own sloppy assignments - you know the kind, fancy homemade puppets or overly sophisticated science fair entries.
Parents, teachers aren't fooled; they can smell your "help" a mile off. Not only that, Lahey argues, but other kids see your involvement for what it is - cheating. And what of your own child? She doesn't feel the swell of pride that comes with knowing she did 100% of the work herself.
But don't teachers deserve to take some heat, too? Frankly many of these so-called assignments require an unreasonable amount of hours, dollars, and an above-grade level expertise that are frankly not rooted in realism.
No matter how hard it may be, Lahey suggests that, a few organizational pointers aside, parents step back - waaaay back - and let kids go it alone. Yes, even if the end result is a dismal failure, as was the case with her son Finn's Walt Disney project:
"And all the while, our children know the real score. They know when they have not done their best, and the discomfort and embarrassment they feel when they have to put that subpar work on display for others often spurs them to do better next time."
The path to improvement is paved with mistakes, a ton of mistakes. Just ask any writer.
One commenter had the perfect solution to this niggling problem. Projects assigned for class are to be completed in class. Boom!
We all want to eat well and be healthy but sometimes those good intentions cross the line into obsession. Many vegans lead a lifestyle that is balanced. But that was not the case with author Jordan Younger, whose fixation with clean eating turned dirty.
Known as The Blonde Vegan, Younger became a blogging sensation with some 70K followers. But much like Essena O'Neill, she was forced to come to terms with the appearance versus the reality of her public image. She had built up an entire brand around veganism. Yet in her quest to become extremely healthy, Younger had become extremely unhealthy. She had dropped to 101 pounds, and her family was deeply concerned about her.
"My mom came to New York and the whole trip was miserable because I was so restrictive," Younger recalls. "I had ordered oatmeal in a restaurant and realized it was cooked with milk and not vegan. I freaked out and threw a tantrum. I was such an unhappy person.
Eventually Younger came clean with her fans last year in the post, "Why I'm Transitioning Away from Veganism."
Even as Younger admitted to herself and to fans that she was suffering from a form of disordered eating known as orthorexia - having lost her hair and her period - she lost 1,000 readers.
In the wake of her about-face, some of her followers felt betrayed, lied to. Some even issued threats like "You don't deserve to live."
And many more will scoff now that the The Blonde Vegan has transitioned into The Balanced Blonde, with a memoir, "Breaking Vegan," to go along with her new image. Yet Younger insists veganism itself wasn't the problem; it was the excess food and exercise restrictions she imposed on top of her vegan diet.
"Enthusiasm for healthy eating doesn't become 'orthorexia' until a tipping point is reached and enthusiasm transforms into obsession," says San Francisco-based Dr. Steven Bratman, who coined the term orthorexia in the 1990s.
These days, 25 year-old Younger is all about listening to your body and eating an unrestricted diet.
"If you are not getting enough nourishment, your body will tell you. I was ignoring those signals. And don't compare yourself to others. Our bodies are so different."
Hers is an important voice for women particularly. When you blog, you present a version of yourself you believe to be true at the time, but that self can - and does - change over time. And that change in no way detracts from her story.
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