Irwin Toy

Irwin Toy Limited was a Canadian distributor and manufacturer of toys. It was Canada's oldest toy company and remained independent and family owned until 2001.

History

The company began in 1926 as an importer and distributor of dry goods and clothing, located in Sam and Beatrice Irwin's house. Later, the company moved to a warehouse in the west end of Toronto and focused mainly on toys, Sam and Beatrice's sons had taken over management in the years to follow.

Most of Irwin's profits came from distributing other (usually American) companies' toys. Almost all popular toys available in Canada until the 1990s were distributed by Irwin. Major American companies wished to sell their toys in Canada, but did not open Canadian branches because of the lower population and tariffs which would generate less income. Irwin's success came mainly due to their licensing and contract manufacture of American companies Kenner and Parker, where Irwin was the Canadian importer and distributor of their products.

Toy

A toy is an item that can be used for play. Toys are generally played with by children and pets. Playing with toys is an enjoyable means of training young children for life in society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable to all ages. Many items are designed to serve as toys, but goods produced for other purposes can also be used. For instance, a small child may pick up a household item and "fly" it through the air as to pretend that it is an airplane. Another consideration is interactive digital entertainment. Some toys are produced primarily as collector's items and are intended for display only.

The origin of toys is prehistoric; dolls representing infants, animals, and soldiers, as well as representations of tools used by adults are readily found at archaeological sites. The origin of the word "toy" is unknown, but it is believed that it was first used in the 14th century. Toys are mainly made for children.

Playing with toys is important when it comes to growing up and learning about the world around us. Younger children use toys to discover their identity, help their bodies grow strong, learn cause and effect, explore relationships, and practice skills they will need as adults. Adults use toys to form and strengthen social bonds, teach, remember and reinforce lessons from their youth, discover their identity, exercise their minds and bodies, explore relationships, practice skills, and decorate their living spaces.

Toy dog

Toy dog traditionally refers to a very small dog or a grouping of small and very small breeds of dog. A toy dog may be of any of various dog types. Types of dogs referred to as toy dogs may include Spaniels, Pinschers and Terriers that have been bred down in size. Not all toy dogs are lapdogs, although that is an important and ancient type of toy dog. The very smallest toy dogs are sometimes called teacup size, although no major dog registry recognizes that term.

Small dogs

Dogs referred to as toy or teacup dogs, are dogs found in the Toy Group of breed registries, may be of the very ancient lapdog type, or they may be small versions of hunting dogs or working dogs, bred down in size for a particular kind of work or to create a pet of convenient size. In the past, very small dogs not used for hunting were kept as symbols of affluence, as watchdogs, and for the health function of attracting fleas away from their owners.

Breeds

Most major dog clubs in the English-speaking world have a toy group, under one exact name or another, in which they place breeds of dog that the kennel club categorises as toy, based on size and tradition. The Kennel Club (UK), the Canadian Kennel Club, the American Kennel Club, the Australian National Kennel Council, and the New Zealand Kennel Club all have a group named "Toy", all though they may not all categorise the same breeds in this category. The United States has a second major kennel club, the United Kennel Club (UKC, originally formed for hunting and working breeds, though general today), and it does not recognize such a group; instead, small dogs are placed with larger dogs of their type, or into a UKC's "Companion Dog" group.As of September 2008, the American Kennel Club began debating whether or not to change the name of their "Toy" group to "Companion", in order to emphasise that dogs are not playthings, but the name change was resisted by traditionalists.

Toy (Toy album)

TOY is the 2012 eponymous debut album by London-based band TOY.

The album was recorded in early 2012, by music producer Dan Carey at his South London studio. Their album artwork is by artist Leif Podhajsky

Tracklisting

References

Electoral district of Irwin

Irwin was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1890 to 1950.

Based in the state's Mid West agricultural region and centred on the town of Dongara, the district was one of the original 30 seats contested at the 1890 election. The district was renamed Irwin-Moore with the abolition of Moore at the 1930 election.

Irwin-Moore was abolished at the 1950 election and the seat of Moore recreated. Sitting member John Ackland of the Country Party successfully transferred to the new seat.

Members

List of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy characters

This is a list of characters from the American animated television series, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, which was created by Maxwell Atoms, and which originally aired on Cartoon Network from June 13, 2003 to November 9, 2007

Main characters

Grim Reaper

Voiced by Greg Eagles

Grim is over one hundred and thirty-seven thousand years old (as had been born at the time of the Stone Age) and speaks using a Jamaican accent. The continuity of how Grim got his reaper status and tremendously strong and powerful supernatural powers comes up quite a few times and it is unknown which way he really got his supernatural powers (for example, in The Wrath of the Spider Queen movie, he was elected to his position as the Grim Reaper while he was in middle school; however, in A Grim Prophecy, it is shown that he was the Grim Reaper since his childhood with his parents forcing him to be the Reaper, which is further contradicted in a later episode where he is seen stumbling over his scythe to become Grim Reaper). His long scythe is the source of all of his supernatural and magical abilities, and possesses many magical capabilities and qualities; although he is still capable of using some incredibly powerful magic spells without it, though these instances are quite rare.

Irwin (mango)

The 'Irwin' mango is a commercial mango cultivar which was developed in South Florida.

History

The original 'Irwin' tree was a seedling of the 'Lippens' cultivar that was open-cross pollinated with 'Haden', planted on the property of F.D. Irwin in Miami, Florida in 1939. The tree first bore fruit in 1945 and was named and described in 1949. The fruit gained commercial acceptance due to its good production, flavor, relative disease resistance, and attractive color. 'Irwin' has also been sold as a nursery stock tree for home growing in Florida.

Today 'Irwin' is grown on some commercial scale in a number of countries, including Japan, Taiwan, and Australia, where it was introduced in the 1970s.

'Irwin' trees are planted in the collections of the USDA's germplasm repository in Miami, the University of Florida's Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, Florida, and the Miami-Dade Fruit and Spice Park, also in Homestead.

Description

'Irwin' fruit is of ovate shape, with a rounded base and a pointed apex, lacking a beak. The smooth skin develops an eye-catching dark red blush at maturity. The flesh is yellow and has a mild but sweet flavor and a pleasant aroma. It is fiberless and contains a monoembryonic seed. The fruit typically mature from June to July in Florida and is often born in clusters.