Weekly News Recap: December 10, 2021

Weekly News Recap: December 10, 2021

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell attends the 44th Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. (Samuel Corum/AFP/Getty Images)

I've looked at love from both sides now; From give and take, and still somehow; It's love's illusions I recall; I really don't know love at all -- Joni Mitchell

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Vintage Photos of Venus & Serena Playing Tennis as Kids (1991) (Kottke.org) Amazing. Inspiring. "The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is home to a collection of photographs taken by Rod Lyons in 1991 of Venus and Serena Williams practicing tennis at the ages of 12 and 10 on a tennis court near their home in Compton."

  • Olympic diver and knitter Tom Daley launches his own online knitting shop (NPR) #KnittingIsCool "British diver Tom Daley won fans for his habit of knitting between events at the Tokyo Olympics. Now he's converted that hobby into a business, launching a website that sells knitting kits for sweaters, blankets, accessories and even a pink flamingo named Elvis."

  • Father-daughter team provides RVs to people who lost homes in California wildfires (CBS) #ThereIsGoodAllAroundUs "Woody Faircloth and his 9-year-old daughter Luna are getting used to life on the road. For the last three years, they've been taking special trips from Colorado to deliver RVs to families who've lost homes in California's wildfires."

  • Student who sews sanitary pads for refugees now leads 1,000 volunteers (Independent) I heart this. "A student who began sewing reusable sanitary products for refugees during lockdown is now running a global network of 1,000 volunteers. University of Bristol student Ella Lambert, 21, learned to stitch using YouTube videos during the first national lockdown, and has since launched the Pachamama Project, which aims to end period poverty."

  • Thanksgiving surprise: RI man finally meets Florida woman who's been calling him for years (Yahoo News) Beautiful story of human connection. "More than 20 years ago, Mike Moffitt started getting a lot of calls from a Florida phone number. The older woman on the other end of the line was trying to reach her daughter, who lives in Maryland. But she kept dialing area code 401, instead of 410 — and getting Moffitt instead."

  • Santas are everywhere — not just in sleighs but on motorcycles, ski hills and paddleboards (CBC) CANADIAN CONTENT Santa is coming. Better be good. "With his big day fast approaching, Santa is already hard at work"

  • An Ontario lab is helping to make medals from a sunken Pearl Harbor battleship (CBC) HAMILTON STORY Brilliant. "A Hamilton laboratory is helping mark the 80th anniversary of the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in a project it says will bring its work 'full circle.' The laboratory, operated by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), is unique in North America — one of the few places that can roll steel from the USS Arizona, one of the battleships that sank during the 1941 attack on the island of Oahu, and help turn it into a USS Arizona Medal of Freedom."

  • WestJet Christmas Miracle: A Wish Come True (WestJet) ALBERTA STORY Every year I wonder, will they make me cry? Well, they are on a streak. "Real people. Real stories. From lockdowns, porch visits and postponed reunions to missing holiday traditions, Christmas 2020 created distance for everyone. As a company built on care and connection, we wanted to help Canadians make up for lost time by granting the Christmas wishes that matter most: connecting you to your loved ones."

  • N.B. whale researcher's stunning drone photos are turning heads (CBC) NEW BRUNSWICK STORY Gorgeous. "Gina Lonati's first brush with marine life came early. When she was five years old, her family took her to Sea World in California, where she came face to face with a dolphin — and knew immediately that she had just glimpsed her future."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Global energy transition could be a $61B opportunity for Alberta, new study finds (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Now this. This is a trend I want to hear much more about. "The global energy transition could create 170,000 jobs in Alberta and contribute $61 billion to the province's GDP by 2050, according to a new study released Tuesday by provincial economic development groups. The report — commissioned by Calgary Economic Development and Global Edmonton — suggests the global pursuit of climate goals and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 could be a major boon for the province that still ranks traditional oil and gas as its No. 1 industry."

  2. Cree model Ashley Callingbull is helping inspire a new generation of Indigenous stars (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "A decade after participating in her first pageant, Enoch Cree First Nation's Ashley Callingbull is now sharing her wisdom and experience with the next generation of Indigenous pageant girls. And she is doing it while also making big moves in her own career, most recently, by signing with one of the top international modelling agencies in the country, Next Models Canada."

  3. How Calgary charities are faring during second holiday season amid a global pandemic (CBC) CALGARY STORY This is what we are seeing as well. It is tough out there. "Since the pandemic was declared 21 months ago, more people than ever are seeking services through non-profit and charitable organizations in Calgary. The United Way says those delivering the services are feeling the pinch, trying to help as many people as possible with often limited resources.'The organizations themselves, two Christmases in, there's a lot of stress … individual and organizational stress, both in the people who need the services and in the people who provide the services,' said Beth Gignac, chief impact officer for the United Way of Calgary and Area."

  4. Canada's Joni Mitchell, Lorne Michaels among those celebrated at Kennedy Center Honors (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Go Joni. Go Lorne. Congrats to you both. "U.S. President Joe Biden celebrated artists — including Canada's Joni Mitchell and Lorne Michaels — [...] at the Kennedy Center Honors, bringing back presidential participation in the annual ceremony skipped by Republican Donald Trump. Motown founder Berry Gordy and singers Bette Midler and Justino Díaz rounded out the group of artists selected by the Kennedy Center for top honours this year at a show that had been upended by politics and the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic."

  5. Second Quarter 2021 Shows Continued Confidence In Charitable Fundraising (AFP Global) (Arlington, VA) "Fundraisers continue to feel very confident about charitable giving in the current environment, with a majority expecting to reach their goals in 2021 and raise more money than last year, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ (AFP) 2021 2nd Quarter Fundraising Confidence Survey."

  6. David Attenborough’s Unending Mission to Save Our Planet (Wired) A living saint. "In 2018, he was voted the most popular person in the UK in a YouGov poll. So many Chinese viewers downloaded Blue Planet II “that it temporarily slowed down the country’s internet,” according to the Sunday Times. In 2019, Attenborough’s series Our Planet became Netflix’s most-watched original documentary, viewed by 33 million people in its first month, and the NME reported that his appearance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage where he thanked the crowd for accepting the festival’s no-single-use-plastic policy attracted the weekend’s third-largest crowd after Stormzy and The Killers."

  7. Why employers may need to bend toward a more flexible future to stay competitive (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "The long-term provision of more flexible work will remain a key draw for employees in Canada's future economy and also for organizations looking to retain their services, employers and experts say. It's already the case in a COVID-altered work world that millions of Canadians are used to doing things differently and don't necessarily want to go back to the way things were."

  8. Alberta bound? Only half of Canadians say they'd feel comfortable making the move (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Alberta, we need to do better. "Cowboys, nodding oil pumpjacks on the prairie landscape, conservative politics — you could fill a Ford F-150 pickup truck with stereotypes about Alberta. But a new national poll suggests Canadians' views of Alberta are a lot more complex than the clichés. The survey of 1,500 people suggests many Canadians think Alberta is a good place to raise a family or for a young person to pursue a career. But only half of Canadians who reside outside the province say they'd actually feel comfortable living in Alberta. And a slight majority of those same Canadians (53 per cent) don't think Albertans care enough about climate change."

  9. MacKenzie Scott is giving away more money, faster, than anyone has before (Economist) More MacKenzie Scott please. "In june 2020, Jorge Valencia of the Point Foundation started receiving calls and emails from consultants doing due diligence on his organisation, which helps lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (lgbtq) students into higher education. They wanted financial statements and asked questions about how the group was responding to the pandemic. For a non-profit organisation that relies on donations, it was nothing out of the ordinary. What came next, however, was. Just a few weeks later they received another call, this time with news that MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon, wanted to make a large gift. There were no restrictions on how the money was to be spent or plans to monitor the group’s work beyond a short annual report—just a request to keep quiet about the source of the donation for a few weeks."

  10. Banff Gondola offers immersive 'Nightrise' experience showcasing Stoney Nakoda stories (CBC) BANFF STORY Can't wait. "The Banff Gondola has a new nighttime experience atop Sulphur Mountain that pays tribute to the stories and history of Stoney Nakoda Nation — something that hasn't always been at the forefront in the Alberta resort town. The multimedia, immersive presentation, dubbed Nightrise, was unveiled Wednesday evening. It features vibrant lighting, video projections and soundscapes inside and outside the summit complex, with the experience starting with the gondola ride."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. You Should Do 2 Pushups Every Day for 2 Weeks (Adam Washburn) This I can do. And I will.

  2. You Can’t Force Focus. You Need To Train It, Like a Muscle. (Charlotte Grysolle) How about taking a break from focus?

  3. 9 NAVY Seal Quotes That Are More Than Just Quotes (Illumination) Yes, I am a NAVY Seal fanboy but, even with that, these quotes are awesome.

  4. 5 Lessons I Learned From Meditating for 800 Days in a Row (Forge) This is a turning point post for me.

  5. 12 Books That Will Improve Your Self-Knowledge (Ayoug Mouhachtt) From Peter Drucker to Brené Brown to Ryan Holiday to Ray Kroc to Haruki Murakami. A great list no matter where you start.

  6. 8 Things Every Person Should Do Before 8 A.M. (Benjamin Hardy) I love-hate this guy. He is right. Damn it.

  7. 13 Ways Of Looking at a Post-It Note (Forge) I love Post-it notes.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY RECEIVES $10 MILLION DONATION TO HONOR HARRY CHRISTOPHERS H+H NAMES CHRISTOPHERS CONDUCTOR LAUREATE (Handel and Haydn Society) Wow! "The Handel and Haydn Society has just received a transformative gift of $10 million in honor of Artistic Director Harry Christophers. The money was donated outright and anonymously and will help create the Harry Christophers Fund for Artistic Excellence. H+H announced the donation before Friday’s performance of Handel’s Messiah at Boston’s Symphony Hall."

  2. $1 Million Estate Gift Supports Indigenous Graduate Student Scholarship at Trent University (Nation Talk) TRENT STORY More please. "Opportunities for Indigenous graduate student scholarship at Trent are being bolstered with the largest gift of its kind in the University’s history: a generous $1 million estate gift from philanthropist Bill Reid. The gift will help endow the William B. Reid Scholarship, first established at Trent in 2016, providing more than $30,000 in annual funding to support Indigenous graduate students at Trent. The scholarship will fund research expenses of Trent graduate students in Canada or abroad, hands-on training opportunities related to the thesis or major research project, and opportunities to engage with specialists in the field, through attending international conferences."

  3. $13 million in gifts will help transform McGill’s Leacock Building, support Indigenous research and knowledge (McGill) MONTREAL STORY This is so great. "Donations totalling $13 million from McGill alumnus Gerald Rimer and the Rimer family will support a major renovation of the University’s Leacock Building and build the foundation for a future Institute for Indigenous Research and Knowledges (IIRK) at McGill."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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