Weekly News Recap: November 17, 2023

Weekly News Recap: November 17, 2023

The Green Space is also meant to be a direct physical response to the need for more social connection, and provides more gathering space for events. Photo courtesy of DIALOG

The world will ask who you are, and if you do not know, the world will tell you -- Carl Yung

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Dog leads owner to cat stuck 100ft down Cornish mine shaft (BBC) #CanineHero "After six days of searching, Mowgli's owner Michele Rose said she had 'almost given up hope' of finding her missing pet. But she said she saw her dog Daisy 1going berserk1, running in and out of woods near their home in Harrowbarrow. Daisy's intervention led to the rescue of her feline friend, Ms Rose said."

  • How Africa’s first heat officer is protecting women in Sierra Leone (BBC) #FinderOfCool "To find solutions, Freetown appointed Eugenia Kargbo as the city's chief heat officer in 2021. Kargbo is the first person in Africa to hold the position, charged with making Freetown a more liveable, greener city and helping its residents cope with rising heat. Her appointment is part of a wider plan to "Transform Freetown", an initiative introduced by Aki-Sawyerr."

  • 'He loves being an artist': Sask. teen teaches horse to paint (CBC) BORDEN STORY #EquineArtiste "Tuff, an off-track Kentucky-born thoroughbred horse, stands with his snout above a half-painted canvas in a stable near Borden, Sask., about 50 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. 'He chooses his colours. I hold it out to him. If he touches it with his nose, I take that as a yes,' said Ella Wall, the 17-year-old holding the canvas. Once Tuff chooses a colour, Wall puts it on the canvas, then covers it with plastic so the horse doesn't try to eat it. She then puts camelina oil, a joint supplement that Tuff likes the taste of, on top of the plastic."

  • VIDEO: #TheMoment Alaskan skaters glide over astonishingly clear ice on an alpine lake (CBC) #Beautiful "Luc Mehl is a certified ice-rescue instructor who has been skating Alaskan lakes for the past 12 years, and he says he has never seen such flawless ice conditions. Looking down into the crystal-clear surface, he and his friends were able to see the lake bottom, as well as fish swimming beneath them."

  • Regina artist puts Treaty 4 spin on tarot cards (CBC) REGINA STORY I want this deck! "A Regina artist has created a unique deck of tarot cards as a tribute to a friend. Ron Ewenin-Wapemoose from Cowessess First Nation made the Treaty 4 tarot deck, which he showed at the Regina Comic Arts Festival last weekend, for his friend Clara Chief who died in 2020. He said Chief taught him about working with acrylic paints."

  • VIDEO: Watch a group of Hot Wheels toy cars zoom down an empty waterslide (Boing Boing) #SoFun "Watching these Hot Wheels toy cars zoom down an empty waterslide made me feel like a kid again for 5 minutes. I love how the video is filmed from the POV of a camera rolling down the slide with the cars, making it feel like as a viewer, you're sitting on top of it."

  • VIDEO: Meet Bruce, the goat who thinks he’s a dog (CBC) BEAVER LAKE CREE NATION STORY Goats are funny. "When nine-year-old Louise May Lewis asked her parents for a pet deer for her birthday, they knew that probably couldn’t happen. But the family, who lives north of Edmonton at the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, ended up adopting a baby goat named Bruce instead."

  • VIDEO: Listen to In Flander Fields read in Secwepemctsin (CBC) KAMLOOPS STORY #Lovely "Secwépemc cultural advisor Ted Gottfriedson recited a translation of the John McRae poem at an Indigenous Veterans Day ceremony in Kamloops, B.C."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Older Canadians increasingly deciding to age in their homes (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Given the housing crisis and the state of seniors housing, I am not surprised. "A new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation sheds light on the behaviours of elderly Calgarians when it comes to buying and selling homes. CMHC says, as the number of senior households in Canada rises in the coming years, more seniors are expected to stay in their existing homes."

  2. 1st batch of newly minted Canadian coins bearing King Charles's image unveiled (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "The first Canadian coins featuring the face of King Charles were unveiled in Winnipeg on Tuesday, the King's 75th birthday. 'Since 1953, the portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth has graced the obverse of Canadian coins. Today, 70 years later, a new chapter in Canadian history begins,' mint president and CEO Marie Lemay said during a news conference at the Royal Canadian Mint plant that produces circulation coins. 'We wish His Majesty a happy birthday and we look forward to soon sending him his very own set of first strike coins.'"

  3. The True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy: How the Taxpayer Subsidizes Stockpiled Wealth (Inside Philanthropy) "The wealth defense industry — the tax attorneys, accountants and wealth managers who enable the ultra-wealthy to create dynasty trusts, shell companies and offshore accounts to avoid taxes — have manipulated the philanthropy sector to their preferred purposes. They now deploy charitable giving vehicles such as private foundations and donor-advised funds, or DAFs, as additional tools in their wealth-sequestering toolbox. For example, a year ago, Bloomberg documented the growing practice of hedge fund managers shifting assets into DAFs and private foundations to take advantage of tax benefits while retaining billions under management."

  4. Mattel walked back pledge to donate millions to UCLA children's hospital, lawsuit claims (CBS) Not cool. For any anyone in this story. "Along with the update to its name, UCLA also began to incorporate Mattel's corporate logo into its signage. Both changes came in the wake of, and hinged on, the company's agreement 'to give $50 million to The Regents, on behalf of UCLA Health, and the UCLA Foundation for the UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital to expand pediatric care and improve care for, and the health of, children across the globe,' according to the suit. But the complaint alleges that Mattel, citing financial issues, later walked back its pledge. Although UCLA Health at first agreed to suspend the company's payments temporarily in 2018, the suit also says Mattel never ended up giving the donations agreed upon in 2017 to the children's hospital — even after it reported a net income of more than $900 million in 2021, according to UCLA Health, and profits skyrocketed with the 'Barbie' movie's record-breaking box office numbers earlier this year."

  5. Family to set up endowment in memory of couple killed by bear in Banff National Park (Toronto Star) ALBERTA STORY "The family of a couple killed by a grizzly bear in Banff National Park is establishing an endowment fund at the University of Lethbridge in their memory. Doug Inglis and Jenny Gusse, both 62, and their dog died in a bear attack during a backpacking trip in the park, west of Calgary, in the fall. Colin Inglis says his nephew and Gusse were highly respected for their scientific research work in addition to being stewards of the environment and experienced outdoor enthusiasts."

  6. DIALOG announces opening of reimagined Vivo facility (Canadian Architect) CALGARY STORY ViTreo is proud to have played a small role in the campaign success for Vivo. Congrats to all. "DIALOG and Vivo have recently announced the opening of the reimagined Vivo for Healthier Generations facility in the northwest community of Country Hills, Calgary. The architectural transformation expands the existing facility to 269,000 square feet and houses a 19,500 square-foot indoor park. It is also slated for LEED Gold certification. Vivo’s original facility was built to serve 80,000 and upon completion, were already at capacity."

  7. Research counters 'confidence gap' stereotype for women entrepreneurs (Phys.Org) "According to one prevalent gender stereotype, women are 'under-confident' in their ability to thrive as entrepreneurs. But like so many gender stereotypes, this one turns out to be false, says Jennifer Jennings, a professor in the Alberta School of Business and Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurship, Gender and Family Business. In an article published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Jennings and co-authors Zahid Rahman and Dianna Dempsey found instead that 'women are as likely as men to possess accurate entrepreneurial confidence' or entrepreneurial self-efficacy."

  8. Conversion of former downtown Calgary office tower nearing finish line (CBC) CALGARY STORY Smart repurposing. "A project to convert an empty downtown office building to residential units is into its final stages [...] Visitors were allowed to walk through fully completed units on the building's third floor. The 10-storey building at the corner of 5th Avenue and 8th Street S.W. is being redone as a 112-unit rental tower."

  9. Architecture teams announced for redesign of Olympic Plaza (CBC) CALGARY STORY "The firms that will design Olympic Plaza's transformation in downtown Calgary were announced [...] Located along Macleod Trail S.E. between Seventh and Eighth avenues, the plaza was constructed for the 1988 Winter Olympics' medal ceremonies. Now, after 35 years, the public space 'is aging and has outgrown its mandate and lifecycle costs,' according to the City of Calgary's web page for the project.."

  10. MacKenzie Scott’s ‘Quiet Giving’: A New Era of Empowering Philanthropy (StupidDope) #TruePhilanthropy "While many chase headlines with vast fortunes, MacKenzie Scott brilliantly shifts the narrative on philanthropic giving. Inheriting an astonishing $38 billion in Amazon shares post-divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019, Scott has since generously redirected over $14 billion of it to causes that resonate deeply. What sets Scott apart is the element of delightful unpredictability. Many beneficiaries have been pleasantly shocked by receiving massive donations, often in the millions, sans complicated application hoops. Take, for example, the jaw-dropping $1.7 billion she gifted to various Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in July 2020, setting records for one of the most substantial single donations to these esteemed institutions."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. Harvard Happiness Expert Warns Against These Top 4 Deadly Habits That Ruin Your Happiness Daily (In Fitness And In Health) Journal more. Spend on experiences. Talk to everyone. Manage your expectations.

  2. How to Delegate Tasks Better and Get Things Done (Dan Silvestre) One of the best and most in depth articles on the subject I have seen.

  3. Human-to-Human — Real Communication Skills That Should Be Taught in Schools (Better Humans) So much more than just words (I say as if I am good at this. I am not.)

  4. The Best of Carl Jung — Condensed Into Tiny Sentences (Illumination) Such a brilliant psychoanalyst.

  5. How to capture your thoughts and ideas (Personal Knowledge Management Journal) Honestly, I thought I knew how to do this pretty well. Turns out, this is even better.

  6. How heat pumps work: A visual guide (CBC) Save the planet, get a heat pump.

  7. The Secret to More Productive Meetings: 3 Game-Changing Tips (Nova Tools) Is your network thriving?

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. New virtual career center for vets boosted by $1M Disney donation (Military Times) "Walt Disney Company on Monday announced a new $1 million donation to Student Veterans of America’s plans for a virtual career center, giving the new transition initiative a substantial boost. The SVA Career Center project, set to debut in early 2024, is designed to supplement campus employment offices by providing veteran-specific advice and resources for students with military backgrounds."

  2. $10 million donation to San Antonio Zoo will create largest gorilla habitat in the country (KSAT) "A $10 million donation will expand the San Antonio Zoo by more than 2 acres, creating the country’s largest gorilla habitat, an event center and a new entryway. This was all made possible by the Ralston Family Charitable Foundation."

  3. Multi-million-dollar donation to Cowichan Public Art Gallery (Galleries West) VANCOUVER ISLAND STORY "Dr. Fred and Ann Wurlitzer have donated their multi-million-dollar Canadian art collection to the Cowichan Public Art Gallery, the gallery team has announced."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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