Weekly News Recap: February 21, 2020

Weekly News Recap: February 21, 2020

Lesley Cormack comes to UBCO from the University of Alberta. (University of British Columbia)

Geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it. -- Terry Pratchet

This week's highlights

Last week's most popular stories

In honour

  • VIDEO: The United States Army Band "Pershing's Own" (Youtube) This is lovely, really lovely. Not least because it is the American Army honouring a Canadian band. "On January 7, 2020, the music industry lost a giant. Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist for the band RUSH, lost a three and and a half year battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer. Neil will forever be one of the most influential rock drummers of all time. Over RUSH’s 40 year career, his drumming and thoughtful lyrics have been part of the soundtrack to millions of lives around the globe, and his passing has created a huge void." 2/13/20

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News

  • 'We're only getting started,' Calgary company says after big Tokyo nanotech win (CBC) CALGARY STORY BTW, not only were they the only Canadian company to win an award, they were the only non-Japanese company to do so. Woot! "Calgary is home to headquarters for some of the world's top energy companies, but soon it might also be known for nanotech. Calgary company Nanalysis won the award for 'best new analytical product' at the Nanotech Exhibition and Conference in Japan, the company announced [recently]." 2/19/20

  • Apple doubles donation to fight spread of COVID-19 coronavirus (Cult of Mac) Good on ya Apple. "Apple has doubled its donation to support efforts to battle the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Tim Cook revealed the increase in donation in an email to Apple employees, describing the impact coronavirus is having on the company." 2/18/20

  • Grande Prairie Regional Hospital 85 per cent complete, province says (CBC) GRANDE PRAIRIE STORY Woot! "Construction on the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital is now 85 per cent complete and will wrap up this summer, the province says. In a written statement [...] Alberta Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda said the province is "focused on getting this project across the finish line" and will soon hand the keys to Alberta Health Services." 2/17/20

  • UBCO announces new top boss for Okanagan campus (Salmon Arm Observer) KELOWNA STORY I had a chance to meet with Dr. Cormack (most recently the dean of Arts at the University of Alberta) in an informal setting as we bid farewell to her amazing fundraiser, Jane Potentier. Leslie never shared a word of this news. Congrats Dr. Cormack! "UBC’s Okanagan campus has a new deputy vice-chancellor and principal. Lesley Cormack will start as the campus’ top boss on July 1." 2/17/20*

  • Bombardier sells train-making division to French multinational Alstom (CBC) QUEBEC STORY Bittersweet story. "Bombardier Inc. has reached a deal to sell its rail-building unit to French train giant Alstom SA, which executives say will bring an end to a frantic period that saw the Quebec company sell off several key assets in order to deal with crippling debt. [Alstom] announced it signed a memorandum of understanding with Bombardier and major shareholder Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Quebec's pension fund manager, to acquire Bombardier Transportation for between $8.4 billion and $9 billion." 2/17/20*

  • The coronavirus crisis is driving a sudden thaw in Canada-China relations (CBC) It is interesting to see what can happen when you extend a hand of care. "Canada's response to the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak is winning unusual praise in China — a development that federal government sources here say is part of a broader re-engagement strategy aimed at repairing strained relations between the two countries. News reports in Chinese state-run media, official government statements and messages posted by Chinese citizens online all suggest a warming trend in the Canada-China relationship — a relationship that's been very tense since the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver in 2018. [Chinese] Foreign Minister Wang Yi applauded Canada for responding to China's request for medical equipment, such as face masks and protective gear." 2/15/20

  • Funded Program Building Foundation for Careers in Cooking (NorQuest) EDMONTON STORY "With Edmonton’s unemployment rate now among the highest in Canada, NorQuest College is looking to offer new careers to learners at no cost. NorQuest College is offering the Foundations of Cooking program, a 20-week culinary training program taught by industry professionals starting in March, 2020. Upon completion of the program fully funded by the Government of Alberta, graduates can expect to find fast-paced employment in the food service industry." 2/14/20

  • Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia honoured by Basketball Hall of Fame (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Nice! A fitting honour! "Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia has been honoured by the Basketball Hall of Fame, ahead of National Basketball Association's all-star festivities [...]. [Recently] he became one of the first honourees of a new superfan gallery, along with the late actor and director Penny Marshall." 2/14/20

  • Young Saskatchewan cancer patients get help from CIBC donation (Global News) SASKATCHEWAN STORY Nice work CIBC. "[CIBC has] donated $250,000 to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation to create the CIBC pediatric oncology family comfort fund, a fund to help families of young cancer patients like Weston cover non-medical expenses." 2/13/20

  • First-year course at U of T explores U.S. history through the lens of Hamilton (UToronto) How fun. And interesting. And appropriate. "With 11 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the smash hit musical Hamilton is a juggernaut that’s introducing early American history to new audiences in a unique way – and historians at the University of Toronto are taking note." 2/13/20

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Books to read

  • The secret savior of the US and Canada’s shared waters (Great Lakes Echo) Added to my list! "The book covers the history of the countries’ border waters, the IJC’s shift from an emphasis on water flow to ecosystem conservation and the history of the relationship between the U.S. and Canada." 2/17/20

  • 50 States, 50 Love Stories (New York Times) A lovely list (pun intended). And New York! OMG! New York! "From sea to shining sea, here’s a tour of unforgettable fiction that explores matters of the heart." 2/10/20

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Seven life and career hacks -- one for each day of the week

  1. Up to 70 per cent of us feel like a fraud, says University of Alberta psychologist (Mirage News) CANADIAN CONTENT Been there. "Ever felt like you don’t belong, like you faked it to get where you are or it’s only a matter of time before you’re unmasked as a fraud? You may suffer from impostor syndrome, according to Becky Ponting,a registered psychologist with the University of Alberta’s Counselling and Clinical Services. She said research shows up to 70 per cent of people experience the syndrome at least once in their lifetime." 2/19/20

  2. . Exercise Is the Answer for All That Ails You (elemental+) Yes. Unequivocally. Yes. 1/8/20

  3. Networked Reading: How to Think Like a Polymath (Personal Growth) *Jump around. Enjoy reading for reading's sake. 2/10/20

  4. We’re thinking about calories all wrong. (Food) Intuitively, I knew it. Now, we have evidence. 1/23/20

  5. 8 Meta-Habits to Make 2020 Your Breakthrough Year (Mind Cafe) #4. Did I mention #4? 1/15/20

  6. 4 Japanese Concepts to Transform Your State of Mind (Mindfulness and Meditation) *I love Japan. These are cool. Japan is cool. 1/12/20

  7. Dale Carnegie’s Positive Thinking Habits That Will Help You Out (Self) I am a huge Dale Carnegie fan. I have not read this book but his "How to Win Friends and Influence People" was seminal reading for me when I was a younger person. 9/17/18

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Philanthropic personalities

  • Saskatchewan boy, philanthropist, international art dealer: Meet Frederick Mulder (CBC) SASKATCHEWAN STORY I love this guy! "Like many who grew up in rural Saskatchewan during the 1950s, Frederick Mulder curled, played hockey and golfed in people's backyards. Looking back now on his childhood in the tiny town of Eston, there was just one indication of the unconventional career he had waiting." 2/17/20

  • The Gates look back at 20 years of philanthropy (The Reporter) Arguably, the world's most significant living philanthropists. "Billionaire philanthropists, Bill and Melinda Gates in their 2020 Annual Letter, a review of the foundation’s activities every year, which they have released this week, has celebrated the progress made over the past two decades in alleviating poverty and tackling health issues across the world, where Ethiopia was cited as most progressive, The Reporter has learnt. " 2/19/20

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Philanthropic controversy

  • In a Deluge of Sex-Abuse Claims, Bankruptcy May Not Save the Boy Scouts (New York Times) This makes me sad. "Hoping to contain a growing deluge of sexual-abuse lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America took shelter in bankruptcy court [...] filing for Chapter 11 protection that will let it keep operating while it grapples with questions about the future of the century-old Scouting movement. " 2/18/20

  • He started a GoFundMe campaign to bring his father's body back from Cuba. Then the U.S. froze the funds (CBC) CALGARY STORY This idea that a foreign State can reach into a Canadian fundraiser bugged me so much that I wrote a blog post about it. "When David Carbery's father, Bill, died unexpectedly while travelling Cuba, he knew he had to find a way to get his body back to B.C. Carbery set up an online fundraiser through GoFundMe so family and friends could donate money to help with the repatriation costs. But a week into the fundraiser, Carbery could tell something was off, as his account was flagged for a possible violation of U.S.-Cuban sanction regulations. Now, almost a year later, Carbery says he has been sent on a wild goose chase with GoFundMe and its online payment processor, WePay, while the donations remain frozen by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)." 2/17/20

  • ‘No one is being bad about this’: Celeste Barber calls in lawyers over $52m RFS donation (News.com.au) This. Is. Ridiculous. "Lawyers for Celeste Barber and the NSW Rural Fire Service are in discussions to find a way to unlock and distribute more than $50 million raised by the comedian’s bushfire appeal. None of the $51.2 million has been spent due to RFS rules that state donations directed to the trustee of the service must be spent on firefighting equipment and training, not on families or charities, the Sunday Telegraph reports." 2/16/20

  • Edmonton library board member forced to resign following tweets (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "A former Edmonton Public Library board member says she was asked to resign after calling out the library's CEO last fall for posting an article she believed was 'quite transphobic' [...]. The chain of events that led to the resignation began in late October, when library CEO Pilar Martinez posted a National Post opinion column on her personal Twitter account." 2/16/20

  • $60M baseball stadium donation receives negative student response (Pipe Dream) "In our recap from last week, Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger announced that an anonymous donor family contributed a record-breaking $60 million toward the construction of a state-of-the-art baseball complex. However, the news wasn’t met with excitement by all, and some students have mixed opinions on the matter [...]. Craig Specht, a senior double-majoring in history and philosophy, politics and law, said he is happy to see donors willing to donate to BU but feels that the funds could have been allocated elsewhere [...]. 'Students have been asking for better mental health facilities for years, which has been ignored by the administration. Just last semester, [the] administration expressed interest in renovating the Fine Arts Building and possibly introducing a School of Fine Arts for the University. Additionally, just yesterday it was announced that the 20:1 program would be eliminated from orientation. I believe that the money would be much better spent in these areas, as there has been a lot of student interest in improving these areas.'" 2/13/20

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Trends and shifts

  • This Line of Camouflage Apparel Illustrates How We Hide Mental Health Problems (Muse by Clio) CANADIAN STORY Brilliant! "Camouflage patterns are enjoying a vogue in the fashion world, so it's no big stretch when yet another clothing line deploys the motif. But if you look closely at the military-style designs that decorate the T-shirts below, you'll notice something unusual. Stylized human forms appear amid the abstract shapes. These figures seem lost, anxious, bedeviled—even out of control." 2/18/20

  • From Algorithms to Altruithms: The Fourth Social Purpose Revolution (The Philanthropist) Thanks to Andrea McManus for sharing this article. "While popular culture is awash in dystopian applications of AI, from Terminator to Black Mirror, we are also seeing many socially-beneficial applications of AI emerge, including in health care diagnosis, analyzing and summarizing research, soil and water conservation, and even in helping produce artistic works. As we have argued in our paper In Search of the Altruithm, “AI can be made to be generative, beautiful and not merely ethical, but rationally compassionate and just, enriching our lives beyond what we can currently imagine.” But, in order for that to happen, we have some catching up to do." 2/17/20

  • Edmonton diner adds carbon footprint info to menu — and red meat is the worst offender (CBC) EDMONTON STORY I loves my red meat but even I have to admit, not so great for the planet. "If you walk into Edmonton's Highlevel Diner with a craving for a meal with the lowest carbon footprint, Debbie Parker will likely recommend the Thai Coconut Green Curry. Or, you could just look on their menu. The restaurant has teamed up with an Edmonton non-profit to launch a menu that includes the total estimated carbon footprint of each meal." 2/17/20

  • 6 Ideas Whose Time Has Come (Inside Higher Ed) CANADIAN CONTENT "Some educational ideas have, quite deservedly, come and gone: programmed learning, iPads in the classroom, zero tolerance, learning styles. Here today, gone tomorrow. Others, like the quarter system, are slowly disappearing, not because they are necessarily wrong but for other reasons. Still other ideas stick, like learning objectives, iPASS (integrated planning and advising for student success), experiential learning or universal design for learning. Then there ideas whose status and future prospects remain unclear: gamification, authentic assessment, social-emotional learning and 21st-century literacies." 2/10/20

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Stats and facts

  • Charitable donations by Albertans (The Owl) "New data from Statistics Canada show the percentage of Alberta tax filers who made a charitable donation decreased slightly in 2018, down to 19.2 per cent from 19.8 per cent in 2017. Nationally, the share of donors went from 20.0 per cent to 19.4 per cent." 2/18/20

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Large gifts

  • Jeff Bezos launches climate change fund with $10bn donation (City A.M.) Holy S**! This actually made me tear up. Nice move Mr. Bezos! "Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos has revealed he will be committing $10bn to the cause of fighting climate change, with the launch of the Bezos Earth Fund. The billionaire said in an Instagram post the fund would be used to provide grants to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), scientists and activists — or “any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world”." 2/17/20

  • Another $5 Million Donation to NMAAHC (Afro.com) "Walmart announced [...] a $5 million grant to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. Walmart’s support of NMAAHC is a part of the company’s continued commitment to advance causes that promote diversity and inclusion." 2/14/20

  • Helen DeVos Children's Hospital gets $15 million donation to open innovation center (Crain's Detroit) "A $15 million donation will establish a center for child health innovation at Spectrum Health's Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. The funding was pledged by Acrisure LLC, a Grand Rapids-based global insurance broker, to create the Acrisure Center for Innovation in Children's Health, a virtual center to advance programs and services for children at Helen DeVos, a 190-bed children's hospital." 2/14/20

  • $10 Million Donation Will Bring Outdoor Art To Blanton Museum, UT Campus (KUT 90.5) "An Austin-based foundation is giving UT Austin $10 million to bring new pieces of art to outdoor spaces on campus. The money from the Still Water Foundation will be split between the Blanton Museum of Art and the university’s College of Fine Arts program, Landmarks." 2/12/20

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