September 25 - October 15, 2023 | |
In this issue...
• Walmart appears to copy trademarked t-shirt design by Calgary clothing company
• Coca-Cola's slight change in packaging hopes to divert plastic from landfills to recyclers
• By the numbers X 10 + 1
• Cyberattack causes shortage of popular Clorox products
• Fortnite in-game purchases weren't obvious enough to players, so company fined millions
• Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Trivia Night returns on Monday, September 25
• Thanksgiving is on its way in Canada! Get out the stretchy pants!
• Acadistuff: Acadian mugs with family names - dozens of options!
• Before you go: 7 things you may have missed last week!
... and trivia, quotes, community events and more!
| |
Please be advised that this newsletter will not be published on October 2 and October 9 due to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Thanksgiving Day holidays. The next issue will be published on October 16. | |
Walmart appears to copy trademarked t-shirt design by Calgary clothing company
I really hate reading stories like this. It's hard to believe that this is an innocent "mistake" by Walmart. I mean, c'mon!
Article excerpt: "It’s been nearly a decade since Connor Curran and Dustin Paisley set out to create a clothing brand that felt uniquely Calgary. Chances are, you’ve seen their stuff around town.
'We were proud to be from Calgary and we were proud to be YYC,' Paisley explained. 'But even more so, we were proud to be Canadian and it spurred the inspiration to create a design like this.'
They say they also felt they had done everything right when it came to protecting their designs.
'Registering a trademark is actually very difficult and it’s very costly,' Curran said, 'especially as a small business.'
Curran also sits on the Calgary Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
'This was a major financial decision for us at the time and it’s still a major decision anytime we go to trademark new designs."
'It takes many years, we had the lawyers involved, and it’s thousands of dollars.'
So when a customer contacted Local Laundry in March of 2023 saying they saw an alarmingly similar T-shirt being sold at Walmart, the pair checked it out for themselves.
The designs both feature two simple crossed lines and the letters C, A, N, but where Local Laundry features a maple leaf, Walmart has a moose.
'I was disappointed,' Paisley said. 'I was pretty sad and I was a little mad to see that they were using a confusingly similar mark.'
'We have spent a lot of time and energy on our designs, on building our brand.'"
This is pretty blatant.
Read: Calgary clothing company "disappointed" after Walmart sells shirts with similar design.
| |
Coca-Cola's slight change in packaging hopes to divert plastic from landfills to recyclers
Plastic bottle caps can be recycled - many people know that - but they're often lost or discarded before they hit the recycling bin. Coca-Cola in Europe is trying to change this by literally attaching the cap to the bottle so that there's a better chance that it will be kept out of the landfill.
Article excerpt: "Sometimes small changes can make a huge difference, and a recent design shift in the packaging of Coca-Cola bottles has the potential to do just that.
In European countries like the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and more, plastic Coca-Cola bottles are sold with the bottle caps attached, ensuring every part of the bottle can be recycled.
According to the North Sea Foundation, plastic bottle caps are among the top five most deadly forms of ocean trash. The organization’s Bottle Cap Report also revealed that 20 million bottle caps were found in beach cleaning activities in the past 30 years.
Bottle caps are sometimes consumed by sea birds or other marine mammals, and ingesting caps could have potentially fatal consequences.
While there are myriad problems with recycling and a high number of recyclable products like soda bottles are thrown away anyway, attaching the cap to the bottle should reduce the rate at which even the caps of unrecycled bottles end up polluting the ocean."
So simple - yet brilliant.
Read: Coca-Cola just announced a big change to its iconic soda bottles: "It’s one of many steps."
|  | |
Cyberattack causes shortage of popular Clorox products
Uh oh! With the uptick in COVID-19 cases and the upcoming flu season, now is not the time for a shortage of products made by Clorox. A recent cyberattack has left the manufacturer temporarily unable to fulfil its orders.
Article excerpt: "A cyberattack at Clorox is causing wide-scale disruption of the company’s operations, hampering its ability to make its cleaning materials, Clorox said Monday.
Clorox said some of its products are now in short supply as it has struggled to meet consumer demand during the disruption. Clorox didn’t specify which of its products are affected.
The company on Monday revealed in a regulatory filing that it detected unauthorized activity in some of its information technology systems in August. Clorox said it immediately took action to stop the attack, including reducing its operations. It now believes the attack has been contained.
Still, Clorox has not been able to get its manufacturing operations back up to full speed. The company said it is fulfilling and processing orders manually. The company doesn’t expect to begin the process of returning to normal operations until next week."
If you see people in the store with a few extra packages of Clorox Wipes in their shopping basket, this is probably why!
Read: Clorox products in short supply after cyberattack.
| |
Fortnite in-game purchases weren't obvious enough to players, so company fined millions
If you have kids who enjoy gaming, this will interest you, especially if you've found some unexplained charges on your credit card because Junior decided to buy a few lives, characters, weapons or whatever you buy through these games. (Can you tell I'm not a gamer?) Sure, some kids would ask first, but I've read a few stories about kids racking up huge credit card bills by accidentally spending a lot of money because some games are designed to not make it look very clear that money is being spent.
The company behind Fortnite, one of the world's most popular video games, is now paying out millions of dollars ($330.5 million CAD) to claimants as part of a class action suit. The company did not make in-game purchases obvious enough, leading many players to not even realize they were spending real money while playing some aspects of the game.
Article excerpt: "Parents in the US whose children purchased items in the popular game Fortnite without their permission will be able to claim a refund from today.
The US regulator accused the game of tricking players into making unintended purchases and breaching privacy.
Fortnite developer Epic Games agreed to pay $245m (£198m) in refunds in 2022.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now begun the process of contacting 37 million people to alert them to the compensation.
Fortnite is one of the most popular video games in the world, with more than 400 million players. It is a free-to-play video game - meaning while there's no upfront cost, it makes its money through players making in-game purchases.
The FTC said Epic Games duped players with 'deceptive interfaces' that could trigger purchases while the game loaded, and accused it of having default settings that breached people's privacy.
In total, it agreed to a settlement of $520m with Epic Games over the concerns.
This includes a $275m fine relating to how Fortnite collects data on its users, including those aged under 13, without informing parents.
It is the largest fine ever levied by the FTC for breaking a rule.
The rest of the settlement will be paid out as refunds."
With all this said, it wasn't just kids being duped. It was all players. If you're busy playing a game and are distracted, you may not even realize you're spending money. Video game manufacturers have been sent a warning that purchases must be much more obvious from now on.
Read: Fortnite: Parents in U.S. offered refunds for game purchases
| |
Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Trivia Night returns on Monday, September 25
The next Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club Trivia Night will be held at St. Louis Bar & Grill, 1405 Mountain Road, in Moncton on Monday, September 25, beginning at 6:30 p.m. $10 per person (cash only). Click here for the Facebook event listing.
Participants may play as teams or individuals. The winning team gets 50% of the door receipts as their prize.
It is strongly suggested that participants arrive by 5:15-5:30 p.m. for a seat. Trivia begins at 6:30-6:45 p.m. Everyone welcome!
Please note that restaurant reservations are NOT available for this event. First come, first served. Limited seating of approximately 50 guests.
Participants may bring an optional non-perishable food item (box of granola bars, Kraft Dinner, cereal, etc.) for distribution at Krista Richard's Community Sports Program events, of which the Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club is a sponsor. Any donations will be gratefully received and provided to Krista for distribution to her program participants (school-aged children from Moncton-area schools).
Since Rotary Trivia Nights began in 2016, the Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club has donated nearly $20,000 to Hospice SENB, Atlantic Wellness, Karing Kitchen, Ray of Hope Kitchen, Salvus Clinic, The Humanity Project, BGC Moncton (Moncton Boys & Girls Club), Junior Achievement New Brunswick, Project Linus - Moncton Chapter, and Krista Richard's Community Sports Program, among others. During the last Rotary Trivia Nights season (September 2022 to May 2023), more than $6,000 was raised.
The Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club gratefully acknowledges the kind and generous sponsorship of its restaurant partner, St. Louis Bar & Grill.
See you on September 25! Click here for a larger version of the event poster shown above.
|
Acadistuff: Acadian mugs with family names - dozens of options!
New from Acadistuff: Acadian flag mugs with family names. Dozens of options available! Shipping is included in all prices. Tax extra.
• 11-oz. mug: Click here
• 15-oz. mug: Click here
Don't see your family name there? Contact me via email to have it added.
These mugs have been shipped all over North America!
|
Trivia: Did you know?
Many people know that Charlie Brown's family acquired Snoopy from the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, but did you know that Snoopy had a previous owner?
Snoopy's first owner was actually a little girl who had to return him to Daisy Hill because dogs weren’t allowed in her apartment building.
Poor little girl, but lucky Charlie Brown!
| |
Quotes of note
• 1. "'Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.”
- Alice Walker, author (see photo)
• 2. "I just wish people would realize that anything's possible if you try; dreams are made possible if you try."
- Terry Fox
• 3. "Quality is not an act. It is a habit."
- Aristotle
• 4. "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."
- Warren Buffett
• 5. "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."
- Marcus Aurelius
• 6. "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
- Mark Twain
• 7. "All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea."
- Napoleon Hill
• 8. "I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practise, practise, practise. If you don't love something, then don't do it."
- Ray Bradbury
• 9. "I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance: waiting for the bathroom.”
- Bob Hope
• 10. "People say, ‘But Betty, Facebook is a great way to connect with old friends.’ Well, at my age, if I want to connect with old friends I need a Ouija board."
- Betty White
| |
Greater Moncton Walking Group
In September, the group walks along the Petitcodiac River trail in Dieppe, meeting in the parking lot directly across from Église Saint-Anselme (church), 1014 Amirault Street.
In October, the group moves to Centennial Park, meeting in the parking lot on St. George Boulevard.
The group meets for walks every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. New participants are always welcome! For more information, please contact Wayne Harrigan at 506-386-2187 or via email.
| |
|
About this newsletter
Brian Cormier's Weekly Update is distributed weekly from September to June via email to more than 500 subscribers in addition to many others who access it online. If you're reading this newsletter online and want to subscribe, please email me, fill out the subscription form on my website, or subscribe via the "Join Our Email List" button at the top of the newsletter (if you're viewing this in a browser.) This newsletter is not published in the months of July and August and on holidays.
| | | | |
