Weekly News Recap: July 14, 2023

Weekly News Recap: July 14, 2023

The cheque presentation occurred during the first quarter with (L-R): Shaun Semple, Brandt CEO; Christall Beaudry, CNIB’s vice-president of Western Canada; John M. Rafferty, president and CEO of CNIB; and Gavin Semple, Brandt’s chairman, participating along with the CNIB support team. (Photo: Supplied)

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. -- Helen Keller

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter mark 77th wedding anniversary at home in Plains, Georgia (NBC) Congratulations. We love you both. "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are marking their 77th wedding anniversary with a quiet Friday at their south Georgia home, extending their record as the longest-married first couple ever as both nonagenarians face significant health challenges."

  • My tank and spirits were filled at a gas station on a lonely stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway (CBC) ONTARIO STORY A great Canadian feel-good story. "Sometimes the best things about people don't fit neatly into labels. Somewhere between Winnipeg and Regina, a day after my stop at his station, it crossed my mind to write this story down. I reached out to Deepak, the owner, to ensure I had his permission. He agreed, but again in the humblest terms he added that he was just doing his job."

  • VIDEO: #TheMoment a mystery critter baffled everyone — including the experts (CBC) SASKATOON STORY Hmm...hairless gophers. "This mystery critter was recently spotted near Saskatoon. Even the experts had never seen anything quite like it."

  • VIDEO: See the Beachcombers as animated characters in new series (CBC) CANADIAN STORY This would be AWESOME! #Relic "The Beachcombers ran on CBC for 19 seasons. Now Blair Peters and Josh Mepham are working to bring it back as an animated series."

  • Calgary Zoo welcomes Humboldt penguin chick (CBC) CALGARY STORY #SoCute "A Humboldt penguin chick is the latest addition to the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo. The penguin chick hatched on June 5, according to the zoo, to parents Inca and Enrique. Both parents were also born at the zoo, in 2017. Colleen Baird, interim associate director of animal care at the zoo, says the chick has caused quite some excitement at the Penguin Plunge exhibit. 'This little chick is just this wonderful, cute addition to the whole colony. And it's just such an enriching moment,' she said."

  • VIDEO: 2 bears hit a trampoline near Vancouver — but get the bounce from owner (CBC) Aww, c'mon, we just want to have some fun... "A CBC News host was surprised to find two unlikely trampoliners in her backyard Wednesday night. Sarah Galashan has lived in the area for years and is no stranger to bear encounters on her property, but she says finding them on her kids' play structure was a first. 'We live right on a greenbelt ... so it's not to be unexpected,' she said an interview. 'But we have never … that trampoline gets left open all the time and we have never seen bears climb in.'"

  • How a N.S. woman got a new pancreas, a new kidney and was cured of diabetes (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Hmmm...maybe I should try this... "A Nova Scotia woman took her health into her own hands after growing frustrated with the province's health-care system. She flew to Toronto to undergo a kidney and pancreas transplant in May."

  • Alberta pup heads to Ukraine to help with war effort by sniffing out explosives (CBC) ALBERTA STORY #Hero "An Alberta canine is putting his nose to good use. Torch is a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois and a professionally trained explosives detection dog. In the fall, he will head to Ukraine to locate landmines and unexploded ordinances — explosives that did not go off or function as intended — in the conflict zone. Torch was trained by Alberta K9, a Gull Lake, Alta., company that specializes in preparing dogs for roles in policing, personal protection and private security."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Beach at 5, rodeo at 9: Coastal cowgirl trend comes to Calgary (CBC) CALGARY STORY #StampedeLife "Sorting through a sea of online content, there's one hashtag you're bound to see: #CoastalCowgirl. With the original tag being used more than 137-million times on TikTok, it's variations like #CoastalCowgirlOutfit, #CoastalCowgirlAesthetic, #CoastalCowgirlspring, are no less popular and have been used millions and tens of millions of times. Coastal cowgirl can be defined a few ways. It's a fashion trend (think linen dresses, knits and florals, paired with cowboy boots), a design sensibility and sometimes it's even referenced as a way of life."

  2. 'I finally did it': Ottawa's Michael Woods wins 9th stage of Tour de France (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Way to go Michael! "Canadian Michael Woods delivered an impressive solo effort to claim the biggest success of his career at the top of a legendary Tour de France climb on Sunday as two-time champion Tadej Pogacar further reduced the gap with overall leader Jonas Vingegaard. 'I've never won a stage of the Tour. It's something I've talked about doing and wanting to do, but have never been able to achieve and I finally did it,' Woods said. 'I am still having a pinch-myself moment. I can't believe I did it. I am really proud of myself, really proud of my team. It's special.'"

  3. Parks Foundation Calgary unveils Alberta’s first public mental health park (Livewire Calgary) CALGARY STORY #LoveThis "A milestone in mental health support has been achieved in Calgary with the official opening of the Brawn Family Foundation Rotary Park, Alberta’s first-ever public mental health park. Located a few steps away from The Summit: Marian & Jim Sinneave Centre for Youth Resilience, the park is a sanctuary dedicated to fostering community, family, and youth wellness. This park was made possible through a partnership between the Parks Foundation and the City of Calgary, along with various donors, including the Brawn Family Foundation, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation."

  4. VIDEO: After repeated bylaw visits about basketball nets, this mom put up a sign (CBC) OTTAWA STORY "Rosalind Paciga describes the bright pink banner standing in front of her basketball net as an open letter of sorts. It begins with a big, white heart and the words 'Dear neighbour.' The rest of the nearly six-foot tall sign at the end of her Ottawa driveway reads more like a plea from a parent at her wit's end. 'The kids of Beech, Lynwood, Oakvale and Fern are BEGGING you to cut us some slack with our basketball nets,' it continues. It's a message written to an unknown recipient. Paciga says for more than a year, someone in the Civic Hospital neighbourhood near the core has been calling the city to report portable basketball nets — first for hoops that were on the road, then to report that they hadn't been pulled back far enough from the street."

  5. Remains of so-called 'Ivory Man' in ornate Spanish tomb turn out to be female (CBC) "About 5,000 years ago in Spain, there was a woman who was so important to her people that when she died, they filled her tomb with incredible riches and honoured her memory for generations to come, archeologists say. She's now known as 'The Ivory Lady' due to the lavish ivory contents of her tomb. But when her remains were first unearthed 15 years ago, archaeologists incorrectly classified them as 'likely male.' Now — thanks to an analysis of her teeth — they know she was, in fact, female."

  6. VIDEO: Canada's Crawford Lake chosen as 'golden spike' to mark proposed new epoch (CBC) ONTARIO STORY "Scientists have picked the bottom of Crawford Lake in Ontario as the "golden spike" to mark the start of a new proposed geological epoch — the Anthropocene. The announcement was made at a media conference in Berlin Tuesday by a group of scientists called the Anthropocene Working Group [...] scientists began proposing that the start of the Anthropocene should be marked by evidence of nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s, such as radioactive plutonium, which is detectable worldwide [...] But it also coincides with increased burning of fossil fuels, use of industrial fertilizers and other human impacts that leave a clear scientific signal — together called 'The Great Acceleration' by environmental historian John McNeill. And so radioactive plutonium has been chosen as the marker for the start of the Anthropocene in the Crawford Lake sediment core."

  7. Calgary office space is slowly bouncing back (The Globe and Mail) CALGARY STORY #GoodNews "When the story is really bad, any reversal in trend is a win, however small. And that’s what’s happening in Calgary’s downtown office space these days. Greg Kwong once worried about the vacancy rate hitting 40 per cent. Now, the CBRE Group Inc. managing director – who knows the downtown market in Alberta’s biggest city inside and out – is less concerned; he says it’s like a major bleed has just been stopped.'We’ve covered up the arteries and there’s a bandage on it. But now we’ve got to heal,' he said."

  8. These are the nine coolest neighbourhoods to live in Edmonton (Daily Hive) EDMONTON STORY "Although Edmonton is a pretty cool city already, there are a few parts of town that stand out among the rest. There’s a handful of communities that are bustling with diverse shops, restaurants, theatres, markets, festivals, and more, making them pretty cool places to live in our opinion. Here is our list of the nine coolest neighbourhoods in Edmonton."

  9. Alberta's population expected to hit 5 million later this decade, possibly as early as 2025 (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Wow! "Alberta's population is expected to surpass the five-million mark later this decade — possibly as early as 2025 — according to the latest projections from the provincial government. The projections, released this week, include three scenarios: high growth, medium growth and low growth. Alberta's current population was estimated to be 4.7 million people, as of April 1. Under the medium growth scenario, the population is projected to reach 5.06 million by 2027. The province's report describes that as 'the most likely' scenario."

  10. She says her Zoom layoff was short and cruel. Why virtual layoffs still lack etiquette (CBC) TORONTO STORY "Terry Compton's 24 years at a Toronto university's English-as-a-second-language program ended with a four-minute Zoom call in March 2020. She said her director's camera was off and a 'second-in-command' informed her and her colleagues that they had been permanently laid off because of the impact of COVID-19. 'It felt inhuman and cruel,' she told Cross Country Checkup."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. The Ultimate Review and Planning Checklist for the Next 6 Months of 2023 — Mid-year reset (This is Ananya) I am bad at reflection. Turns out, it's pretty important.

  2. 5 mental models that will make you smarter. (Theo Seeds) I really like first principles thinking.

  3. 3 Reasons Men Over 40 Need to Quit Training Like Teenagers (In Fitness And In Health) This is so smart, especially for older men.

  4. How to Prepare for Strategy (Roger Martin) Very interesting approach to strategic planning.

  5. How do you solicit and incorporate feedback from your collaborators or beneficiaries? (LinkedIn) A critical skill.

  6. Mary Spencer: Everyone benefits from matching corporate gifts | COMMENTARY (Capital Gazette) A nice reminder about how to double and treble your gifts.

  7. How Well Do You Understand the Five Fundamental Steps of Design Thinking? (Kubo) This is a great primer.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. UEA RECEIVES DONATION OF $1M FOR THE CREATION OF THE SIR ANTHONY HABGOOD PROFESSOR OF COASTAL SYSTEM DYNAMICS (University of East Alglia) "The investment will support UEA’s world-leading research on climate change and rising sea-levels through the appointment of a new Professor in Coastal System Dynamics, who will study the impact of climate change on the East Anglian coast and beyond."

  2. Brandt Group makes record-breaking donation to CNIB (trucknews.com) Nice work Brandt. "The Brandt Group made a record-breaking donation to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) at a CFL game this week between the Edmonton Elk and Saskatchewan Roughriders. During the game, Brandt CEO Shaun Semple and chairman Gavin Semple delivered a $2 million cheque to CNIB’s vice-president of Western Canada, Christall Beaudry, and John M. Rafferty, CNIB president and CEO."

  3. Seven-figure donation from Fulton woman is largest single gift in Callaway County Public Library history (Eagle 93.9) "The Daniel Boone Regional Library Foundation says a 'substantial seven-figure gift' from the estate of a lifelong Fulton resident is the largest single gift in the history of the Callaway County Public Library and the Daniel Boone Regional Library Foundation. While we don’t know the exact amount, we know the gift is at least $1-million. It comes from the estate of 88-year-old Helen Janet Forsee, who died in August at a Fulton nursing home. Ms. Forsee was a homemaker who worked at the International Shoe Company and enjoyed reading, gardening and fishing. Her obituary from Debo Funeral Home says she loved to read and was a regular library patron in Fulton."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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