Rant of the Day: Slow drivers on the Queensway

Ottawa blogger Gordon Dewis has a good rant about people who drive slowly on the Queensway. He must have had a bad commute home today or something.

"Are they not comfortable driving at speed?" asks Dewis. "If so, then they have no business being on the highway and they should seriously consider taking some remedial driver’s ed to address these insecurities."

Read the entire post...

Related: Ottawa Driving Guide

Believe it or not, there's a new green bin cleaning service in Ottawa

The other day on OttawaStart's Twitter feed, I linked to BINAces Inc., a new business in Ottawa that specializes in cleaning green bins. It's been interesting to see the ecosystem (pardon the pun) of businesses that have popped up to support the green bin. Every grocery store and hardware store stocks the liners, I've seen composting accessories in several stores, and there's a student at Bell High School who's selling home-made oragami bin liners as a fundraiser.

But a company that cleans your green bin? I was curious about the company so I emailed five questions to Brian Ashe, their VP of Sales. Here's his reply - lightly edited:

1. Where did the idea for a "green bin cleaning" service come from?
Green bin cleaning originated in the UK and is now widespread through the US, Australia, Africa and making its way through all Canadian Provinces.

2. Do you know of any other companies offering similar services -- either in Ottawa or elsewhere?
With the growth of green bin programs, many companies are providing home owners an effective method to safely keep their bins sanitized. Companies such as:

• VIP Bin Cleaning - Toronto, ON
• Bin Doctor - Halifax, NS
• BinBlaster - Maple Ridge, BC
• Lave Bac Bin cleaning - Montreal, QC
• Fresh Bins Canada - Toronto, ON

3. Can you briefly explain how it works?
BinAces Inc uses a state of the art mobile wash unit that cleans green bins or garbage bins onsite the same day the bins are emptied. We use a self contained wash unit and then deodorize the bin leaving it fresh for the next use. Customers can choose to have their bin cleaned weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or as needed with a one time clean.

4. How much does it cost?
Bin Aces Inc offers a variety of pricing options on our website for green bin users to choose from, but the average cost is $10.50 (per cleaning) for the three annual contracts and we do currently offer a 15% discount for a limited time.

5. I'm ok with just using a hose and some soap to clean out my green bin, just like I do for my recycling bins or garbage bins -- why would I pay for this kind of service?

BinAces Inc is helping others to do their part and protecting our environment as well as making the Green Bin Program in the city Successful:

• Households that wash their green bin with a hose usually use a harmful chemical which aid in cleaning, we use only green products.
• Households that wash their green bin and garbage bin in their driveway will use approximately 250 liters of water that becomes contaminated and seeps into our water beds so we’ve used a lot of water and it becomes harmful to our lakes streams and waterways.
• BinAces Inc uses specialized equipment that filters and recycles the water supply on our mobile wash unit and uses 250 liters to clean up to 250 green bins and dumps contaminated water at a municipal treatment site so the water is properly treated so we are sure not to harm our environment.
• From personal experience we say we will simply clean our green bin with a hose but the wives of many husbands will say it just doesn’t happen until maggots appear, a child becomes sick in the household, etc so we are here to make sure it’s done and its done properly leaving no mess.

What do you think? Would you use a green bin cleaning service? How messy is your green bin after a couple of months of use?

Related: Ottawa Services & Utilities Guide

Rant of the Day: Lowertown neighbours complain about sidewalk chalk

Jamine the Yoga Teacher tells the story of some Lowertown neighbours who are upset about chalk drawings her kids made on the sidewalk. Here's an excerpt:

They told me to clean it off. I told them to "fine me." I said, "get the board to fine me. I'm on the board, so let's have a meeting about it and fine me." "It looks like shit," they said. "Children live here," I replied. "We have drug dealers and hookers on the street and you guys are complaining about a child's drawing that will wash away when it rains?" "We don't know when it's going to rain. It's defacing the property." Read the entire post...

Does this kind of thing happen in other cities? Because it seems like it happens a lot in Ottawa. A few years back some neighbours in Barrhaven complained about kids playing ball hockey on their street. And earlier this year a school tried banning balls outside during the winter to prevent injury. Or those "no busking allowed" signs on Canada Day. Ottawa: no fun allowed.

Related: Ottawa Community Guide

Weekly Twitter round-up, March 7

Kind of a slow week ... but here are some recent links & notes from OttawaStart's Twitter feed.

1. March 10 lecture at Nature Museum: "Gardening to Maximize Biodiversity in your Backyard" http://bit.ly/b5ByiX
2. RT @ProfBruce: Any suggestions 4 an Ottawa-Gatineau elder statesperson 2 help judge site competition 4 location of #StanleyCup monument?
3. RT @ottawamortgage: RT @storyline: Auditions for CBC's Dragons Den being held April 17 at Brookstreet hotel in #Kanata 11 am - 6 pm
4. Ottawa Food Bank is auctioning off a plate designed by Feist. Ends tomorrow, no bids yet http://bit.ly/c8ENCT
5. RT @ottguy: ~44k people voted in 2007 general election in Ottawa West Nepean. Tonight's byelection? ~23k with almost all polls reporting.
6. Just finished reading "A Theatre Near You", all about Ottawa's movie theatres, past & present. Recommended. http://bit.ly/aYZdqp 8:43 PM Mar 4th
   
7. Obvious headline of the day RT @ottawasuncom: Ottawa's transit fare hike unpopular with commuters. http://bit.ly/bXSITA 9:06 PM Mar 1st via tweet3

Related: Ottawa Twitter Guide

We've been corrected

Just got an email in relation to this press release recently posted to OttawaStart.

Dear Sirs,

In the article 'Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra on March 15 at the National Arts Centre' published by you on 1 March, you say that 'Rachmaninoff was so astounded by Horowitz’s rendition that he never performed the work [Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto] publicly again]. This is not true. Rachmaninoff played it very often both before and after 1930 (as evidenced by the very detailed memoirs of Sophia Satina, the sister of his wife). Morever, had he been so 'astounded' he would not have recorded his Third ten years later after Horowitz did it, in 1940.

Yours sincerely,

Ivan Sushkov

Related: Ottawa Events Guide

Links and more from Twitter, Feb 28 edition

Some of the links & news posted to OttawaStart's Twitter Feed in the past couple of weeks.

1. RT @dbmcclelland: A game of road hockey has broken out near the Centennial Flame.
2. For fun: Facebook group - Bring Nate's Deli to Bank Street http://bit.ly/aO0dbz
3. Rumours about Bluesfest line-up have already started http://bit.ly/aYGMCB "Stevie Wonder, Keith Urban, Norah Jones, U2" Just rumours so far
4. RT @ctvottawa: Baseball returns to play in Ottawa Stadium http://bit.ly/9g6dsW
5. Added a couple new Ottawa toboggan hills to our Toboggan Guide http://ottawastart.com/toboggan.php Any other suggestions?
6. For Ottawa parents - check out this rundown of kids birthday party ideas http://bit.ly/cCDCbH (via @danigirl)
7. Somebody should organize a new Ottawa Festival - "Rideau River Ice Blasting Festival" http://bit.ly/9oPI4l
8. New Virgin 106.9 morning show: Gonzo (formerly afternoons), Kaz (moving from CHUM Radio London), Jay http://bit.ly/4zVf4i
9. Ottawa headline of the day: Salt Truck Driver Charged with Impaired Driving http://bit.ly/9N37Q2
10. Catching up on Ottawa news after a weekend away. Dropping out of mayoral race b/c of a cow sign? Seriously? http://bit.ly/9sq6FQ
11. Ottawans have composted 2,000 tonnes of organic waste via green bin since start of January http://bit.ly/cC5Y3Z
12. Cool full-screen Ottawa weather map http://www.wunderground.com/auto/wxmap/global/stations/71063.html
13. Nepean Museum looking for your neighbourhood memories http://bit.ly/aeqfpK
14. http://twitpic.com/13p4ko - Finally made some progress on OttawaStart re-design. Framework in place, mostly.
15. Where's the best place to have a pancake in Ottawa? http://bit.ly/9Og6jR
16. Ottawa to host Twilight convention http://bit.ly/aJmfOo
17. Nate's Deli on Rideau to close at the end of May, but will re-open at a new location http://bit.ly/b8E7lx
18. Watawa Life has some nice photos of the Chinese New Year celebrations on Somerset today http://bit.ly/9jYl77
    

Related: Ottawa Twitter Guide

Rant of the Day; Reevely re: Ottawa City Council

David Reevely has a good rant today titled "A council that trusts nobody, including itself". (I'd post an excerpt but there's a hockey game to watch.)

Related: Ottawa Politics Guide

Rant of the Day: XUP on OC Transpo

Here's yet another rant about OC Transpo, this time from XUP, from this post titled "OC Transpo: There are Other Ways to travel"

"They tick me off so much each and every day —- with their high percentage of downright arseholerish drivers and filthy, falling-apart buses; with their outrageous expenses for new garages; and with their overall distain for transit riders (let’s ban people with pets, let’s ban people who want to eat or drink on the bus, let’s ban people with strollers, let’s ban people who don’t know where they’re going and ask us stuff or expect us to call out stops, let’s ban old people who can’t get to their seat fast enough, let’s ban people who can’t squeeze through a jam-packed bus to get to the doors before we slam them shut, let’s ban people who aren’t at their bus stops 10 minutes early in case we decide to show up then, let’s just ban all those nasty, smelly people who can’t drive themselves around). I can’t contain the anger for too much longer without doing myself some internal damage."

Read the entire post...
(thanks to Alison W. for the suggestion!)

Related: Ottawa OC Transpo Guide

Links and more from Twitter this week

Here's a sample of some of the stuff we posted to Twitter in the past week. You can check out our Twitter feed by visiting http://twitter.com/ottawastart/ .... no subscription or sign-up required.

• RT @Ottawa_Tourism: On this day in 1869, Patrick James Whelan, convicted of assassinating D'Arcy McGee, was hanged. http://ow.ly/16p52
  
• Had a reader email last week from someone looking for more info on Ottawa's annual "Winterloo Festival". Avoid the yellow snow.
• Getting LOTS of traffic on our Winterlude page ... ranked 2nd in google for "Winterlude" http://ottawastart.com/winterlude.php
• Preston Street BIA wants to try "bikes only" on Sundays this summer http://bit.ly/aHRkQz
  
• Interesting idea: Bruce Firestone has an idea for chaging Ottawa's welcome signs http://bit.ly/9dQdos
• Really great post from the gang at @apartment613 "Lesser known buildings" of Ottawa: http://bit.ly/8YzkQX

Related: Ottawa Twitter Guide

Fire at CTV Ottawa

Some quick links and pics about today's fire at CTV Ottawa:

• CTV Ottawa: Emergency plan in motion after fire guts CTV Ottawa newsroom
  
• Ottawa Citizen: Fire destroys CTV Ottawa newsroom, decades of history
  
• Ottawa Citizen: Gallery: Early-morning fire ravages CTV Ottawa building
• Ottawa Sun: CTV Ottawa newsroom destroyed by fire
• Globe and Mail (video & article): Crews battle blaze at CTV Ottawa
  
• a peek inside the fishbowl: Sad day for CTV Ottawa
• Also check out Stefan Keyes' Twitter feed. He's a reporter at the station and was one of the first on the scene after the fire broke out.
  

CTV Ottawa's web site has a lot of video as well but I can't find any way to directly link to the vids.

Related: Ottawa Television Guide