Toronto Raptors 2019 NBA Champions

The Raptors may be a Toronto NBA team, but they sure got Canadians from coast to coast and around the world behind them. As they embarked on this incredible journey, clawing their way to the top and finally being crowned NBA Champions.

June 13, 2019 will be remembered as the biggest night in Canadian Basketball history as the Raptors became first-time NBA champions since they first joined the league 24 years ago.

It took Game 6 of the finals, which ended up being a nail-biter until the end, as the Raptors were finally able to seal the deal 114-110, against the defending champions Golden State Warriors.

They started as the underdogs, but remained laser-focused and locked-in throughout the season, especially the post-season and as they entered the final stretch.

They all gelled well and played as a close-knit team, but Kawhi Leonard (The Claw) was definitely the difference-make and rightly crowed NBA Finals MVP. He has proved himself to be among the best of the best in the NBA league.

The @Raptors are the 2019 NBA Champions! #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/nooya0x6Db

— NBA (@NBA) June 14, 2019

Below are the full Game 6 Highlights of the Toronto Raptors vs Golden State Warriors. They came oh so close to clinching the NBA championship at home in Game 5, but lost by one point (105-106). But, this heart-breaking loss got the team ever so focused for Game 6.

It was a pretty tight Game 6, with both teams going back and forth. And with just 9 seconds left in the game, a turnover almost brought back Game 5 memories, but the Raptors prevailed 114-110 taking the series 4 to 2 and their first ever NBA championship.

Since joining the NBA league in 1995, the Raptors made the playoffs 11 times and were able to advance to the second round 5 times. 2019 was the first time the Raptors reached the NBA finals and of course, needless to say, their first NBA championship.

The Toronto Raptors fan-base has been tremendous. Canadians from coast to coast rallied behind their Raptors. One particular fan that stands out from the rest is die-hard and true supporter and super-fan of the Toronto Raptors, Nav Bhatia. He has reportedly been to every single Raptors game since the team first joined the league in 1995.

Nav Bhatia, the Indian-born superfan of the @Raptors, speaks all things Raptors basketball. Sound up! 🔊@superfan_nav#WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/dltI7FBj25

— NBAIndia (@NBAIndia) June 13, 2019

And of course, talking about fans, you can't miss one of the most staunched fans and global ambassador for the Toronto Raptors, Rap Superstar Drake. He has been seen as one of the most animated and sometimes controversial fan of the Raptors as he is often seen court-side in Toronto.

As they approached the 20th anniversary of the team, in 2015, Drake was announced as the global ambassador of the Raptors. And as part of the team's re-branding, a new imaging campaign was launched which gave birth to "We The North".

Thank you, Canada! #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/N3VAwI3TOL

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) June 14, 2019

And where will you find most Toronto Raptors fans when they are playing? Well, if you answered "Jurassic Park", you are absolutely right. Public viewings of the Raptors' games began at the Maple Leaf Square, which fans nicknamed "Jurassic Park".


If you're a Toronto Raptors' fan, I'm sure this moment will be etched in your memory forever, as it will be for me. Where were you when this historic moment happened? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by!

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Amazon Prime Video Launches in Canada

After much speculation, Amazon Prime Video, a video-streaming subscription service officially comes to Canada.

Prime Video is a Netflix-like video-streaming subscription service which includes Amazon Original Series like Jeremy Clarkson’s “The Grand Tour”, a popular British motoring television series, and Jill Soloway’s “Transparent”, an American comedy web television series.

Apart from Canada, Amazon has expanded its Amazon Prime video-streaming service to over 200 other countries including India. Amazon Prime Video won’t be available in China because of its stringent regulations and censorship.

Amazon Prime Video members can also download movies and TV shows for offline viewing on mobile devices. Amazon Prime Canada costs CAD79 per year and existing Prime members will get Prime Video at no additional cost. Prime membership comes with many other benefits as mentioned below. If you don’t yet have Amazon Prime, you can take it for a Free 30-day test drive.

With Amazon Prime membership, Canadians can enjoy FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, ad-free Twitch streaming, unlimited photo storage on Amazon Drive, and exclusive Prime Early Access to deals. Prime members in the United States get a lot more bang for the buck and you can watch the video below for a Comparison of Amazon Prime Benefits in US and Canada.

Amazon Prime also makes a great gift, so you can gift it to your friends and family for any occasion. Also, students get special 50% discount on Amazon Prime Membership. Students get a 6-month trial period. and get 2-Day Free Shipping on millions of products sold on Amazon.

Once the trial period ends, students can upgrade to Amazon Prime at 50% off the regular Prime membership cost. There are some restrictions during the trial period and you won't get access to all the benefits available on the regular full membership. You can start your FREE Trial of Amazon Prime membership for 30 days, by clicking the banner below:

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: If you use the affiliate links above to purchase any products, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate. This recommendation and review is based on my firsthand experience using these products myself or based on my personal research.

CREDITS: Amazon Prime and other images, banners, graphics used in this video are used as an Amazon Associate, unless otherwise mentioned | Amazon and the Amazon logo are registered trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Logos and screenshots used with permission from Microsoft | Other company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Amazon Prime Membership Comparison US & Canada

Amazon Prime is a membership subscription service offered by Amazon in the US, Canada and a few other countries like Germany, Japan, UK, France, Italy, and India.

In this article, I will highlight some of the key Benefits of Amazon Prime subscription service in US and Canada.

From this Comparison of Amazon Prime Benefits in the US and Canada, you will notice that there is quite a difference between the services offered in this membership to US members compared to Canadian members.

Before you start reading this article, you can check this short video below to get a quick overview of the benefits offered in the Amazon Prime membership under the US and Canadian membership plans. Also, below you will find an Amazon Prime Benefits Comparison Chart which highlights the benefits in the US and Canadian memberships:

One of the main benefits of Amazon Prime is Free Shipping. Specifically, Free Two-Day shipping which is available in both, US and Canada. However, US members get an added benefit of FREE Same-Day Delivery on over a millions items in select metro areas. Additionally, US members get Free Two-Hour Delivery with Prime Now, on daily essentials and groceries. 

Prime Photos also comes with Prime membership which includes free unlimited photo storage on Amazon’s safe and secure Cloud Drive. You can backup and organize your photos, as well as easily share them with others. You can access your photos on the web via your desktop or laptop computer, or use the free Android or iOS app and access them using your phone. Amazon Prime Photos is available to both, US and Canadian members.

Prime Twitch is a live streaming-video platform and community which also is included with Amazon Prime for US and Canadian members. You get free game content every month, exclusive discounts on new releases, and much more.With Prime Twitch, members also get ad-free viewing and a free monthly Twitch channel subscription which they can use to support their favorite streamer.

Prime membership also includes free access to Amazon Video. It is a video-on-demand service which gives you access to thousands of TV shows & movies, for rental or purchase. However, it is only available under the US membership. At the time of writing this article, there has been buzz in the media that Amazon Video is coming to Canada.

This would mean that Canadian Prime members would get access to this amazing video-on-demand service. However, this news is not confirmed by Amazon, nor is any information available in terms of what content will be included for Canadian members. You also get a free Amazon Video app that allows you to download, and watch videos offline.

Prime Music is another benefit of Amazon Prime membership. You can listen to music from a library of over 2 million songs, ad-free music and on-demand. Prime Music is only available with the US membership, so Canadian members don't have access to this service. With Prime Music you will also get access to curated music playlists, but you can also create your own personalized playlists based on your taste in music. If you have any of the devices that use Amazon Alexa like Amazon Echo, Dot, or Tap, you can play Prime Music with these devices - just ask Alexa.

Yet another benefit of Amazon Prime, is Prime Reading which gives you unlimited access to over a thousand books, magazines, Kindle Singles, and much more. You can access these on your computer and iOS or Android mobile devices. Prime Reading is available for US Prime members only. The membership also includes Prime Listening, giving you access to unlimited listening to original audio series from Audible, including a variety of curated playlists.

As an Amazon Prime member, you also get early access to Amazon Lightning Deals. This gives members access to, these lightning deals, 30 minutes before regular customers. You will find new deals every single day. The above are some of key benefits of the Amazon Prime Membership. Below you can see a comparison chart that gives you a summary of the benefits, for US and Canadian Prime members.

Amazon Prime Benefits are subject to change. Please check the Amazon website for updates.

The annual cost of the Amazon Prime membership is US$99 (for the US membership) and C$79 (for the Canadian membership). The US membership is also available as a monthly subscription for $10.99. Also, if you only wish to get the Amazon Prime Video membership, you can get it for $8.99 a month. You can test-drive Amazon’s Prime membership FREE for 30 days.

The above pricing is subject to change. Please check the Amazon website for latest prices.

Amazon Prime also makes a great gift, so you can gift it to your friends and family for any occasion. Also, students get special 50% discount on Amazon Prime Membership. Students get a 6-month trial period. and get 2-Day Free Shipping on millions of products sold on Amazon.

Once the trial period ends, students can upgrade to Amazon Prime at 50% off the regular Prime membership cost. There are some restrictions during the trial period and you won't get access to all the benefits available on the regular full membership, for example, Prime Music. You can start your FREE Trial of Amazon Prime, by clicking the banner below:

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER: If you use the affiliate links above to purchase any products, I may earn a commission as an Amazon affiliate. This recommendation and review is based on my firsthand experience using these products myself or based on my personal research.

CREDITS: Amazon Prime and other images, banners, graphics used in this video are used as an Amazon Associate, unless otherwise mentioned | Amazon and the Amazon logo are registered trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries | Microsoft, Windows, and the Windows logo are trademarks, or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Logos and screenshots used with permission from Microsoft | Other company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Royal Visit to Canada 2016

Embed from Getty Images

The Royal Visit to Canada has officially begun as Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, touched down in Victoria, BC along with their two beautiful children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The Royal Family was welcomed by Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, along with Christy Clark (Premier of BC) accompanied by her son, Hamish, as well as, Governor-General David Johnston and his wife, Sharon.

This is the second royal tour of Canada for the Duke and Duchess, but their first with their children. The official welcome kicked off with a guard of honour, accompanied with a 21-gun salute. The royals paid their respects at the Cenotaph in Victoria, while pausing in silence and then laying a wreath in honour of Canadians who served and lost their lives for the country. Prince William and Kate also spent some time chatting up with the enthusiastically waiting crowd of people.

One special moment was 14-year old Victoria Foster presenting a bouquet of flowers to Kate. Victoria, who has cystic fibrosis, had this wish granted to her by the charity, The Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada. Apparently, Victoria is a big fan of the Royal Family and has memorized the names of all Kings and Queens of England. That's what I call a super royal fan!

The royals will be in Canada for a 8-day long visit which will include four official events in British Columbia and three in Yukon as listed below:

1. September 24: Legislature in Victoria;
2. September 25: Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver;
3. September 27: UBC Okanagan in Kelowna;
4. September 27: Whitehorse in Yukon;
5. September 28: Main Street in Whitehorse;
6. September 28: Carcross Commons in Yukon;
7. October 1: Official departure (Victoria's Inner Harbour).

You can check the Outline Itinerary of the 2016 Royal Tour at the Government of Canada website. If you’re interested, you can also Send Your Greetings to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Canadian Government Opens Public Consultation on Bill C-51

The Liberal Government of Canada aims at revisiting the controversial Bill C-51 which was introduced by the outgoing Conservative government. Bill C-51, also known as the “Anti-Terrorism Act” received royal assent earlier in June 2015. 

Even before the bill became law, it faced intense scrutiny because it gave law enforcement and CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) sweeping powers.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government believes that this public consultation will help shape this anti-terror legislation in a way that protects Canadians, and at the same time, reflects the rights, values, and freedoms of Canadians. 

As a first step in doing so, the government has opened an Online Public Consultation in hopes of soliciting feedback from Canadians. This is what Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale has to say about this online public consultation: 

“Today’s consultation launch is an important step in the development of our national security framework…”

David Christopher, Communications Manager of the OpenMedia (an Internet Rights group) commented on the above saying that his organization is happy about the launch of the public consultation. However, he has concerns with the wording in the consultation’s backgrounder, sighting that it is biased towards law enforcement, rather than the public.

Watch this CTV News Channel video below, as Public Safety Minister, Ralph Goodale, dsicusses the issues that will be addressed in the public consultations on Bill C-51:

The public consultation is open until December 1, 2016. This is an opportunity for Canadians to have their say on a very important subject that affects all Canadians. I would encourage you to read the background document titled “National Security Green Paper” to get a detailed understanding of the purpose of this public consultation. 

The next step, after reading the above paper would be to head over to the “Online Consultation on National Security” website to provide your written feedback. Additionally, Public Safety Canada and the Department of Justice Canada, plan to organize public events, between now and December 1, 2016, to talk to Canadians on this issue.

Canada 2016 Census: Completed Your Form Yet?

On May 2, 2016, Statistics Canada started mailing out access codes required to complete the Canada 2016 Census. I don’t ever remember seeing so many Canadians excited about completing a government form.

Twitter was buzzing with excitement as Canadians shared their enthusiasm about completing the 2016 Census. So much was the excitement that they crashed the Statistics Canada website.

I have to admit that I was excited to complete the Census form myself. Though, I decided to wait a day before completing and submitting my 2016 Census form. I got the short version of the census form and it took me less than 10 minutes to complete it online.

May 10, 2016  is Census Day, but if you haven’t yet, I would encourage you to complete the Census form as soon as possible. This time around, Statistics Canada restored the 36-page long-form census which is also referred to as the National Household Survey. However, only one in four Canadians will receive the long-form census. Canadians have the option to complete the census online or request a paper census form mailed to them.

The census is conducted by Statistics Canada once every 5 years. Legally speaking, it is mandatory for Canadians to complete the short or long-form census. Information collected from the census form will help communities with the information they need for planning purposes. You can watch the short video below to see How your community benefits from the 2016 Census:

If you complete the census form online, make sure to save your information because if you take more than 20 minutes to complete one page of the questionnaire, it will time out your session, as a security measure.

If you need any help with your 2016 census form or if you have not received your access code, you can get help by calling toll-free 1-855-700-2016 or by TTY (a telecommunications device for people who are deaf) at 1-866-753-7083. The Census Help Line is open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., starting May 2, 2016.

Lynda Online Courses Review

I recently came across Lynda.com via an email that I received from LinkedIn. I am a member of various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others, I’m sure you are too. One of these social networks is LinkedIn, which is similar to other social networks, but more for professionals. Well, lest I digress, I decided to check it out and see what Lynda.com had to offer.

Lynda.com is essentially an online learning website on which you can get paid membership and take various types of online courses. The company was founded way back in 1995 and started offering online courses in 2002. Lynda.com was recently acquired by LinkedIn in May 2015. They have a ton of useful video courses, many of which I am interested in taking myself. At first glance, as I checked out the website, I found it user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Lynda.com offers a range of online video courses from learning various types of software like MS Office and Adobe Photoshop, to Photography, Web Design and Development, to 3D Animation and Visual Effects, to courses on Business like Leadership, Management, Career Development, Project Management, and many other subjects and topics. The courses are delivered via structured video tutorials and can be taken at your own pace.  Once you have a membership, you can take unlimited number of courses and several courses at once. Upon successfully completing a particular course, you will get a Certificate of Completion.

When I received the email from Lynda.com, they offered a 21-day free trial to check out their online learning platform. So I checked the course outline and contents for some course that I was interested in. I decided to take one of the courses “Marketing & Monetizing on YouTube” and successfully completed it. I found the course very useful . Below is the course certificate of completion for the above mentioned course:

There are several membership options to choose from. The basic monthly membership costs $24.99, however, if you pay for this membership on an annual basis, you can get it for $19.99 per month. Their Premium membership costs $34.99 per month and allows members to download project files. You can get the Premium membership for $29.99 per month if you pay annually. They also offer group memberships. You can get a 10-Day Free Trial that gives you free unlimited access to all the courses on Lynda.com.

Lynda.com makes a great educational gift. That’s right, you can give the gift of education to your friends or family. Lynda.com has a variety of gift options like access to courses for one month ($24.99), three months ($74.97), six months ($149.94), and one year ($239.88). These prices are current at the time of writing this review, so bear in mind that they are subject to change and may be different when you check them out. Below you will find an example video tutorial of one of the courses offered at Lynda.com:

If you’re thinking how different it is from searching YouTube tutorials on the subject and learning for free. Well, of course you can do so on YouTube and you will find some great tutorials. However, on YouTube you will have to spend time searching for the right tutorials and be overloaded with advertisements. Also, on YouTube, though you will find some very good tutorials, it may not have a structured approach like you will find in the Lynda.com courses and the learning won't be so seamless.

You can try a Lynda.com membership for free and get a 10-day free access pass and check out any of the thousands of online courses they offer. You don't need to enter any credit card or payment information.

CREDITS:
Lynda.com® is a LinkedIn Company and is a registered trademark. All images, banners, and information used with permission. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

AFFILIATE DISCLAIMER:
If you use the links above to purchase the product/service. I may earn a commission as a Lynda.com affiliate. This recommendation and review is based on my firsthand experience using this service myself.