Weekly News Recap: January 21, 2022

Weekly News Recap: January 21, 2022

Animal shelters, humane societies, and SPCAs across North America celebrated what would have been Betty White’s 100th birthday as people took part in the #BettyWhiteChallenge, donating cash to an animal charity. (Victoria Humane Society/Facebook)

In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this. --Terry Pratchett.

$500K IN GRANTS AVAILABLE

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • This Ontario cat came back — after 12 years on the lam (CBC) #Amazing #ChipYourPets "On New Year's Day, Christine De Castro got an unexpected call from Vaughan Animal Services saying that one of her pets had been found. At first, De Castro was confused. She did a quick check around her home and counted her pets one by one. 'I have a cat and two dogs ... so I quickly did an inventory of my three animals and they were all there,' De Castro said. But to her disbelief, it was her long lost cat, Loli, who had gone missing more than a decade ago and was discovered in Vaughan, Ont., thanks to her microchip."

  • Dog lost for four months found alive on snowy hillside, reunited with owner (CNN) Love this! "'Pitbulls have a bad reputation, but that is not deserved,' Allen added. She says they were face-to-face the entire journey down, but not once was she worried about him being aggressive. Rodriguez was then tracked down and informed of Russ' whereabouts."

  • 8 must-see stargazing events to watch in 2022 (National Geographic) I am an admitted #starnerd. You're welcome. "In 2022 the night sky promises to be full of cosmic wonders. A pair of total lunar eclipses—nicknamed 'blood moons' for the deep shade of red the moon turns when bathed in Earth’s shadow—will be visible to billions. Brilliant shooting stars will streak across the heavens with no bright moon to drown out the light. And sky-watchers can look out for an eye-catching huddle of five of our brightest neighbouring planets, all visible to the unaided eye. In the right conditions, distant Uranus may even join the five other visible planets, seen as a tiny, greenish point of light in the sky."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Here's what's behind the Wordle c-r-a-z-e (NPR) Two weeks ago, 300,000 people were playing. This week, over 2 million. "A simple word game is the newest social media and pop culture phenomenon: Wordle. The task is to guess a five-letter word. You have six tries. After each guess, the tiles change colors to show which letters are not in the word (gray), which letters are in the word but in the wrong position (yellow) and which ones are correctly in the word and in the right position (green). Some people can win in a few minutes. For some of us, it takes ... longer."

  2. BC SPCA raises more than $400k in Betty White Challenge (Daily Hive) BRITISH COLUMBIA STORY And across the world, hundreds of thousands more. My guess is that, in the final analysis, total gifts made to animal welfare organizations as part of the Betty White Challenge will be in the millions. I made my gift. You still can as well! "The BC SPCA has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of the Betty White Challenge, which aims to honour the late actress. In total, $405,439.00 was donated from around the province."

  3. FIFA recognizes Canada captain Christine Sinclair for record goal-scoring (CBC) CANADIAN STORY This is terrific and well-deserved. "Honoured by FIFA for her goal-scoring exploits Monday, Canada captain Christine Sinclair confirmed she has more to do on and off the soccer pitch. The 38-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., the world's all-time leading scorer, has committed to playing the next two seasons with Portland and Canada leading up to the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand."

  4. Modern philanthropy is challenging the status quo (Toronto Star) CANADIAN CONTENT
    Good read. "The global pandemic, social injustices and the consequences of climate change are reshaping philanthropy in Canada. Today’s donors don’t just want to help those directly in need, they want to make a meaningful contribution in addressing the major issues affecting society, such as systemic discrimination, the legacies of colonialism, and achieving a net-zero future."

  5. Get ready for a new Roaring Twenties (Big Think) I sure hope it doesn't end like the first Roaring Twenties. "Take heart: Mark P. Mills, a physicist, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, faculty fellow at Northwestern University, and a partner in Montrose Lane, an energy-tech venture fund, is out to rekindle our collectively dashed hopes. In his new book, The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and a Roaring 2020s, Mills convincingly argues with verve, vitality, and – most importantly – evidence, that humanity is about to take a great step forward in the coming decade. And unlike the first Roaring Twenties, these won’t need to end with a Great Depression."

  6. More than 1 million fewer students are in college. Here's how that impacts the economy (NPR) This is just one of the generational impacts of the pandemic. More will be coming. "More than 1 million fewer students are enrolled in college now than before the pandemic began. According to new data released Thursday, U.S. colleges and universities saw a drop of nearly 500,000 undergraduate students in the fall of 2021, continuing a historic decline that began the previous fall."

  7. Women’s shelters facing staff shortages amid COVID, high rates of gendered violence (Red Deer Advocate) CANADIAN STORY #Ugh. "Women’s shelter workers are feeling even more pressure as the latest COVID-19 wave hits Canada, fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Lise Martin, executive director of Women’s Shelters Canada, said shelters are overwhelmed in part because of significant staff turnover and shortages due to workers in COVID-19 isolation. Those in the sector were already working under pandemic-era strains, including a spike in demand for shelter and services along with rising rates of gender-based violence across the country, said Martin."

  8. Hospital foundations continue to help Alberta's health-care system. Here's how they work (CBC) ALBERTA STORY A nice little primer on an important partner in the health system. "In Alberta, 69 hospital foundations support AHS hospitals and other facilities. Other foundations do similar work, like the Covenant Foundation that supports Catholic hospitals and facilities operated by Covenant Health. Hospital foundations receive a grant from the provincial government covering rent and paper.

  9. Kensington's historic Plaza Theatre set to reopen after renovation (CBC) CALGARY STORY Can't wait! "The Plaza Theatre, an iconic independent movie theatre in Calgary's Kensington district, will finally reopen to the public [...] after a long hiatus brought on by the pandemic. The Plaza was established more than 85 years ago. In September 2020, the historic theatre went up for lease, its future uncertain as the COVID-19 pandemic thinned audiences worldwide."

  10. Falling Into Fundraising: The Heart of Philanthropy (Vimeo) ALBERTA STORY Danisha and Nafisa, great interview. Thanks for doing this! "In this interview, Nafisa Bowen, CFRE, senior development officer at the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation, talks about how she got her start in fundraising and why she continues to do this work despite challenges she’s experienced as a woman of color in the sector."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. How to Age-Proof Your Brain (elemental+) It is even more important to learn new skills like playing an instrument or learning a language as we age.

  2. I Finally Read This Book — 6 Powerful Life Lessons From Atomic Habits (Data Driven Investor) Honestly, one of the best books out there. On anything. James Clear is #thebomb.

  3. A Note-taking Hack to Help You Retain What You Read (Mark Joseph Aduana) I the use of mind-mapping in this hack.

  4. The Trial-and-Error Method: Learning How to Learn is Like Learning How to Paint (Personal Growth) We need to fail...to succeed.

  5. Physically Fit? My 4 Fitness Pillars (Being Well) More than strength. More than aerobics. We need flexibility, balance, and stability too.

  6. 7 Navy SEAL Quotes That Inspire Greatness (Illumination) OK, if you put Navy Seals and Quotes in a title, it is pretty much link bait catnip to me. And, it also turns out to be an awesome set of quotes.

  7. 38 Ideas For One-Month Self-Experiments (Thoughts and ideas) We can all benefit from these 30-day challenges. So many great ones here including #8, #16, #17, #34, and the list goes on...

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. BLACK CHURCH PRESERVATION PROJECT RECEIVES $20 MILLION DONATION ON MLK DAY (Black Enterprise) I adore the Lilly Endowment. The Lilly Endowment was established in 1937 with a gift of stock valued at $280,000. Today, the Lilly Endowment is valued at just over $15 billion. "An initiative to preserve historic Black churches across the country received a $20 million donation on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The large donation was made by Lilly Endowment Inc. a philanthropic organization supporting religious and educational endeavors, and went toward the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (AACHAF)."

  2. Philanthropy groups provide $20M to ‘supplement’ news in Houston (WRAL TechWire) Nice. I like this trend. "Five philanthropies plan to spend more than $20 million to bolster news coverage in Houston and create what they say will be one of the largest local nonprofit news organizations in the country."

  3. Woman Leaves $10 Million Donation To Music School Of Delaware In Will: ‘She Has Done A Magnanimous Act’ (CBS) Planned giving is such a gift to philanthropy. "The Music School of Delaware is striking a historic note after a whopping $10 million donation is given to the school. 'I can’t hear the name Mary Ellen Northrop without just thinking gratitude,' said Kate Ransom, the president and CEO of the Music School of Delaware. Heartfelt gratitude to Mary Ellen Northrop, who died in June 2021. She had never donated to the Music School before, but she left the biggest gift in the nearly 100-year-old school’s history."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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