Weekly News Recap: June 14, 2024

From left to right: Dave Tidman, patient advocate; Andrew Craig, Director, Sinclair Cancer Research Institute; Jane Philpott, Dean, Queen’s Health Sciences; Murray Sinclair, alumnus and donor; Annette Hay, Senior Investigator, Canadian Cancer Trials Group; Cara Sinclair; Cathy Tidman, patient advocate; Patrick Deane, Principal and Vice-Chancellor; Paul Kubes, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Immunophysiology and Immunotherapy.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. – Warren Buffett

FROM LAST WEEK

• One of our longtime readers pointed out that one of our articles last week, the one pointing to the excellent book about the Fort McMurray wildfire, did not, in fact point to the actual book. Our bad. Here it is: Fire Weather by John Vaillant.

SOME GOOD NEWS

• VIDEO: #TheMoment a 7-year-old boy nailed a transit announcement (CBC) #WayToGo "Nicco Di Mauro recounts the moment his 'dream came true' — giving a perfect announcement while riding the GO Train in Toronto."

• Lifeplus-Wahoo continue Tour of Britain after bikes theft (BBC) I love this sportswomanship. "The UK-based women's team woke [...] to discover all 14 of their Ribble Endurance SLR bikes, worth 'about £55,000' in total according to team manager Tom Varney, had been stolen from their mechanic's van. Lifeplus-Wahoo had made a good start to the competition [...] but their further participation was in doubt after the theft in Shropshire."

• VIDEO: Three boys discovered teenage T. rex fossil in northern US: 'Incredible dinosaur discovery' (Yahoo News) #JuniorDinoHunters "The remains of a juvenile T. rex in North Dakota were stumbled upon not by a group of skilled paleontologists, but rather by three young boys whose goal that day was to simply go for a hike. Sam Fisher, 45, took his sons Jessin, 12; Liam, 9; and their 11-year-old cousin, Kaiden Madsen, on a hike in the North Dakota Badlands in July 2022, according to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science."

• VIDEO: Group of N.S. river rafters help rescue beached whale (CBC) #Heroes "Some people who wanted to ride the tidal bore of a Nova Scotia river got more than they bargained for [...] when they came across a minke whale beached on a sandbar. Crews with Tidal Bore Rafting Resort, a company that takes passengers on river rides, spotted the stranded marine animal while heading out to meet the surging tide on the Shubenacadie River."

• VIDEO: Q&A: Cadence Weapon has dropped a new version of the Connor McDavid song (CBC) #GoOilersGo "A new Edmonton Oilers anthem has dropped from Edmonton-born rapper Rollie Pemberton, best known by his stage name Cadence Weapon. The award-winning musician has penned a Stanley Cup version of his 2017 song Connor McDavid [...]."

• VIDEO: Twins take top spots in University of Saskatchewan graduating law class (CBC) Congrats to both! "Walking across the stage at Saskatoon's Merlis Belsher Place, there were quite a few things twins Caydence and Kennedy Marley had in common: their graduation gowns, their camera-ready smiles — and their academic drive."

• This elderly, 1-eyed wolf keeps going strong and having pups. And she's the leader of her pack (CBC) #Boss "Wolf 907F is a shrewd survivor, a wise elder, a prolific mother — and an absolute boss. The one-eyed alpha female at Yellowstone National Park has blown scientists away by living long past her life expectancy, while continuing to be healthy enough to produce annual litters of pups."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

1. VIDEO: Well-known white grizzly bear found dead in Yoho National Park (Global News) This really broke my heart. "Saundi Stevens with Parks Canada says the death of Bear 178, a popular white grizzly, has devastated the team. Stevens also emphasizes bear safety to avoid these sorts of outcomes."

2. Bank Raised Alarm About Dubious Donation to FAMU (Inside Higher Ed) "Prior to announcing a $237 million donation during a commencement ceremony last month, Florida A&M University officials received notice from the donor’s bank that the gift may not be legitimate, The Myrtle Beach Sun News reported [...]."

3. From funny girl to sexy star, Bridgerton's Penelope shifts how curvy women are shown on screen (CBC) I have a 19-year-old at home so...yes, I am watching B Bridgerton. And I could not be happier to see this plot line play out. "Nicola Coughlan attends the Toronto premiere of Netflix's Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre [...] in Toronto. Coughlan plays Penelope Featherington, who got a promotion this season from introverted observer to sexy leading lady."

4. Jail time for former Elizabeth Fry manager guilty of $240K fraud (CBC) "The former financial manager of the Elizabeth Fry Society in Prince George, B.C., was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs [...] after she was sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year jail term for stealing almost a quarter-million dollars that was supposed to help vulnerable women and girls."

5. VIDEO: William Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut who took Earthrise photo, killed in plane crash (CBC) We were visiting the San Juan Islands when this happened. RIP General Anders. We will not see your like again. "Retired major-general William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic Earthrise photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed [...] when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90."

6. Howard Yanks Diddy’s Honorary Degree, Cancels His Scholarship Program, Returns His Donation (Daily Wire) "Howard University announced [...] that it is revoking the honorary degree that it gave to Sean 'Diddy Combs in 2014 following his admission [...] that he beat up one of his former girlfriends. Combs has faced sexual misconduct allegations from at least six women and one man over the last half a year."

7. VIDEO: When he felt like an outsider, puppets gave Ronnie Burkett a way to understand the world (CBC) Mr. Burkett is truly the master of marionettes. Congrats on this well-deserved award. "Ronnie Burkett found his calling when he was just seven years old. The youngster, who grew up in Medicine Hat, Alta., was flipping through a World Book Encyclopedia, when the page fell open to 'puppets.' It was the same year The Sound of Music came out, he remembers, and there was a photo of the film's puppeteer, Bill Baird, surrounded by his marionettes."

8. VIDEO: Apple is bringing ChatGPT to the iPhone in partnership with OpenAI (CBC) What? Siri was not doing it for you? ;-) All kidding aside, this is long overdue. "Apple unveiled a long-awaited AI strategy [...] integrating Apple Intelligence across its suite of apps, including Siri, and announced a partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to its devices."

9. The Future of Poetry (Sierra Elman) First, this article is written by an 8th grader. Second, it's a really great read. And third, it was shared with me by our recap editor. Thanks Katia! "'Write a poem about a sunrise.' I asked three AI chatbots—OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, Google’s Bard, and Anthropic’s Claude—and myself—an 8th grade human. I then surveyed a panel of 38 AI experts and 39 English experts to judge the results. Is AI smarter than an 8th grader?"

10. 'Give us $600 and also we hate you': WestJet's new UltraBasic fare gets roasted online (CBC) #Sigh "If there's anything people can agree on these days, it's that flying sucks. And between the delays and cancellations, extreme turbulence, and jets literally falling apart in the sky, it seems that some people have had about enough of flying experiences getting ostensibly worse instead of better."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

1. The Easiest Way To Improve Lactate Threshold for Runners (Runner's LIfe) Most of your run training should be slow.

2. 14 Fascinating Psychology Facts You Should Know (Godfrey The Great) #6 is totally me.

3. Don’t start exploring Personal Knowledge Management without reading this first (PKM Journal) I wish I had read this when I was developing mine.

4. 7 “Modes” of Work That Help me Time-Block Out my Day (Katie Lawrence) I love this idea of modes. Are you tinkering, problem solving, or just in maintenance mode?

5. Stop Leaning Forward; The Most Important Training Lesson; Zone In On Your Best Paces (Runner's Life) Not me, I run like a tank.”

6. We Should All Change Our Minds More Often (Mind Cafe) I actively try to practice this.

7. The Fascinating Reason There Are 60 Seconds In a Minute (Grant Piper Writing) Thank you Babylonians! And as seriously, the fact that 60 is easily divisible by 5, 10 15, and 30 makes our life so much better and easier.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

1. $1 Million Donation Completes MRI Funding Project (Muskoka Radio) "The Huntsville Hospital Foundation announced [...] that they have received a game-changing $1 million donation from Dr. George and Carolyn Christodoulou via their G&C Be Kind Foundation for the Focus on Imaging Campaign."

2. $25 million donation to Queen’s will fund world-class cancer research facilities (Queen's Journal) #Wow "Principal Patrick Deane announced the Sinclair’s $25 million donation [...] which will fund a new imaging and biomanufacturing facility at Queen’s, bringing world-class research and treatment to the heart of Kingston. In recognition of their generosity, the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute has been renamed the Cara & Murray Sinclair Cancer Research Institute (SCRI)."

3. Multimillion-dollar gift to Concordia will support nutrition, wellness research (Montreal Gazette) "A longtime supporter of Concordia University is pledging $5 million to fund nutrition and wellness research at the university’s new School of Health. The planned donation [will be made] by Christine Lengvari, who graduated from what was then Loyola College [...]."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

• Take a look inside the now complete BMO Centre expansion (CBC)

• The Making of a Beast: Entering a new world of fire (CBC)

• New SAIT Campus Centre receives $30-million gift from Taylor Family Foundation (Calgary Herald)

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