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Weekly News Recap: August 5, 2022

Vincent Duckworth

Weekly News Recap: August 5, 2022

Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura on TV's Star Trek, has died at 89, her family said on Sunday. (Barry Brecheisen/Invision/The Associated Press)

Science is not a boy's game, it's not a girl's game. It's everyone's game. It's about where we are and where we're going. Space travel benefits us here on Earth. And we ain't stopped yet. There's more exploration to come. -- Nichelle Nichols

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • 7-year-old credited with saving toddler from bottom of swimming pool (Good Morning America) #Hero "A 7-year-old California boy is being heralded as a hero for his quick-thinking actions that helped save a toddler at the bottom of a pool. Massiah Browne, of Sacramento, was swimming with relatives at the apartment complex where he lives with his mom and brother when he said he saw something out of the ordinary. 'I was just playing in the pool and then I saw a boy at the bottom of the pool,' Massiah, a second-grade student, told Good Morning America. 'And I went to go get him.'"

  • All-Women Rowing Team Breaks World Record Crossing the Pacific from San Francisco to Hawaii (People) Crazy! Crazy but cool. "Four women are now in the history books after rowing across the Pacific! On Tuesday morning, Libby Costello, Sophia Denison-Johnston, Brooke Downes and Adrienne Smith arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii just 34 days, 14 hours and 11 minutes after beginning their journey in San Francisco. The women — part of Lat 35 Racing — rowed in two-hour shifts and averaged just 90 minutes of sleep each day as they covered more than 2,400 nautical miles across the ocean."

  • How 80 dogs were saved: ‘We’ve done a lot of rescues ... but never one like this’ (Washington Post) "Lori Carlson arrived for work at the Licking County Humane Society one morning to an alarming phone call from a police officer with the Newark, Ohio, animal control division. A probation officer visited a condemned house on the morning of July 22 looking for somebody who had violated probation, and the officer discovered dozens of small dogs — all Chihuahuas and Shih Tzus — living in squalor with three people."

  • DeepMind uncovers structure of 200m proteins in scientific leap forward (The Guardian) Amazing! "Artificial intelligence has deciphered the structure of virtually every protein known to science, paving the way for the development of new medicines or technologies to tackle global challenges such as famine or pollution. Proteins are the building blocks of life. Formed of chains of amino acids, folded up into complex shapes, their 3D structure largely determines their function. Once you know how a protein folds up, you can start to understand how it works, and how to change its behaviour. Although DNA provides the instructions for making the chain of amino acids, predicting how they interact to form a 3D shape was more tricky and, until recently, scientists had only deciphered a fraction of the 200 million or so proteins known to science."

  • The Street Puppeteer and Old Woman Who Will Make You Smile (John P. Weiss) This is really beautiful. "More importantly, this unlikely pair formed a true friendship, and sometimes even performed together with Ricky’s marionettes in the park. A few of Doris’s friends told Ricky that the puppets were making Doris younger. 'Did I do that?' Ricky says in the video, clearly proud of how his puppets uplifted Doris."

  • Fine Art Becomes Finer (and Hilarious) Action Figures (Gizmodo) These are really great. I love the jazz hands. "Figma: The Table Museum action figure series, where have you been all my life? I am shocked and saddened to learn that I’ve been missing out on these toys based on works of important and/or fine art from the Good Smile Company’s Figma line, but utter delighted to discover their existence. But I’m even more delighted to find out someone at the Figma marketing department is a comedy genius, so I highly recommend checking out this amazing gallery of all of these wonderful figures here. (Warning: NSFW fine art boobs and genitals in plastic form follow.)"

  • Google Maps now offers 3D aerial views of famous landmarks (Engadget) "Google's 3D 'immersive view' isn't completely ready, but you can get a glimpse of it starting today. The company is rolling out updates to Google Maps for Android and iOS that introduce aerial views of close to 100 famous landmarks, including Alcatraz in San Francisco, Big Ben in London and the Empire State Building in New York City. The feature melds AI with billions of images (including satellite and Street View shots) to create realistic 3D views. Google pitches this as a preview tool for tourists, but it's also a handy way to satisfy your curiosity without booking a flight."

  • California Wants to Make Cheap Insulin. Here’s How It Could Work (Wired) As an insulin user, I could not agree more. "[California] governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state would produce its own insulin in an effort to combat rising prices. 'Nothing epitomizes market failures more than the cost of insulin,' he said in a July 7 video posted on Twitter. 'People should not go into debt to get life-saving medication.'"

  • This off-grid toilet uses sand and a conveyor belt to ‘flush’ your business (Fast Company) "You may not think about this when you do your morning business, but over 1.7 billion people still don’t have basic sanitation services, such as private toilets or communal latrines. Almost 500 million people still practice open defecation (yes, that’s pooping out in the open), 92% of whom live in rural areas. That’s why Archie Read, a recent graduate from London’s Brunel University, designed Sandi. The toilet uses a mechanical flush (no electricity), a basic conveyor belt to move the solids away (no water), and a divider inside the bowl that separates the waste streams so they can be used as independent fertilizers. For now, Sandi is just a concept with an accompanying prototype, but if it makes it on the market, it could operate off-grid, making it a viable—and dignified—solution for rural families with no water, septic tanks, or sewage systems."

  • Study sheds light on how dogs recognize their favorite toys (arsTechnica) As the guardian for a collie mix, I have seen this in action. #Brilliant "Specific breeds of dogs, like border collies, can learn the verbal names of their favorite toys, but what is going on in the dog's mind when it's told to fetch a given toy? According to a recent paper published in the journal Animal Cognition, these dogs store key sensory features about their toys—notably what they look like and how they smell—and recall those features when searching for the named toy."

  • The city of San Francisco couldn’t find a good trash can for its streets. So it designed its own (Fast Company) "The perfect garbage can is surprisingly hard to find, and Beth Rubenstein has spent a lot of time looking. As deputy director of policy and communications for the city of San Francisco’s Department of Public Works, she’s been trying to find a good trash can to replace the city’s aging inventory of more than 3,000 sidewalk garbage receptacles. But not just any can will do. To withstand the hard life of a city trash can—vandalism, rummaging, repeated unloading, jammed holes, and rusted hinges—the ideal replacement would need to hit a range of requirements. The ideal replacement, Rubenstein realized, did not exist."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Mother-daughter barrel racers from Tsuut'ina Nation making their mark in rodeo (CBC) TSUUT'INA STORY "Sonya Dodginghorse still remembers the first time she competed in a rodeo. Her entire family travelled to Broadview, Sask., for their hometown event — her father and brothers all seasoned tie-down ropers, her sister a barrel racer. Even at five years old, she knew she wanted to compete. She asked her dad if she could enter the rodeo, too, and he obliged. Not yet properly uniformed, she says she grabbed a pair of black rubber boots, a raggedy old hat and a white and blue-striped blouse. 'It was so fun, and I was hooked since then,' she said."

  2. Notre-Dame cathedral rising from the ashes, slated to reopen in 2024 (CBC) Just thinking about almost losing this treasure still chokes me up. "Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris is on track to reopen to worshippers and the public in 2024, Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak said on Thursday, more than three years after its roof was destroyed in a massive blaze. She said the clean-up phase of the restoration project had ended, allowing rebuilding work to get underway at the end of the summer."

  3. Toronto's Pearson airport has a PR problem: It's known as the worst airport in the world (CBC) TORONTO STORY Eek, time to call in a PR specialist. "Toronto's Pearson International airport — the busiest in Canada — has a PR problem, sparking concerns some people may avoid travelling to the city. Disgruntled travellers passing through Pearson are posting about their bad experiences on social media, complaining about long line-ups, flight disruptions and missing baggage. 'Toronto's Pearson Airport is a special circle of hell. The worst airport experience ever,' tweeted a traveller from Florida last week, along with a photo showing a departures board with more than two dozen delayed flights."

  4. Nichelle Nichols, trail-blazing Star Trek actress, dead at 89 (CBC) RIP Lt. Uhura. Long may your memory prosper. We will not see your like again. "Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek television series, has died. She was 89. Her son Kyle Johnson said Nichols died Saturday in Silver City, N.M 'Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration,' Johnson wrote on his mother's official Facebook page Sunday."

  5. The Humanities’ Scholarly Infrastructure Is in Utter Disarray (Inside Higher Ed) "The lifeblood of humanities scholarship—peer review, scholarly publishing, journal editorship, even the professional meeting—is struggling. This doesn’t bode well for the humanities’ future."

  6. About the nonprofit sector (Imagine Canada) CANADIAN STORY Just in case you missed it, our sector is larger than the retail sector in Canada. "From community summer camps to animal shelters and mental health supports, nonprofits are present in your community, helping you and your neighbours thrive. Even if you haven’t directly accessed our programs and services, charities and nonprofits are working on issues you care about such as climate change, long-term care, education, economic and racial inequalities, food insecurity, poverty and homelessness, to name a few. Our sector is an economic driver; charities and nonprofits contribute $192 billion dollars in economic activity to Canada annually, and accounts for 8.3% of our country’s GDP. Our sector employs 2.4 million people, which is more than the mining, oil and gas sector, or agriculture, transportation and retail. Women make up the majority of the sector’s workforce."

  7. HUMAN RESOURCES | This Trend is Hitting the Nonprofit Sector Harder than "Not Enough Money” (Hilborn Charity e-News) CANADIAN STORY Time to change this message. "How is fear and uncertainty showing up in staff when you're not offering compensation worthy of the heart, soul and commitment they bring to the table? There is a perpetual justification for keeping staff locked into a low wage bracket. The underlying message is 'You as an individual should not profit here.' People need a wage with dignity. If you want people to do the heavy lifting of work for a cause, you have to match it with dollars."

  8. Social networking as we know it is likely on its way out (Fast Company) "Social networking, as we’ve come to know it, is probably on the way out. It was once a big draw for all kinds of people, and at the same time an amazing way to harvest personal data that could be used to target ads. But everything is temporary on the internet. TikTok created an app that’s more addictive than anything else before it. For many people, it’s the funnest thing you can do on a smartphone. And Meta, whose apps have topped the app store charts for years, knows it. So Meta built a TikTok video knockoff called Reels. And it announced last week that it’s changing its flagship Facebook app into something of a video app."

  9. Why Must I Relive My Deepest Trauma to Convince Donors to Fund My Organization? (Maryland Philanthropy Network) "The head of a Baltimore nonprofit implores grant makers to stop asking him to tell his story about the night he was shot and nearly died. When, he asks, will Black nonprofit leaders no longer need to recount their near-death experiences to be deemed worthy of funding?"

  10. After the Great Resignation, where did all the Canadian workers go? (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Restaurants, airlines, schools and nursing homes are at the sharp end of a labour crunch that's afflicted employers all year long. In June,the unemployment rate fell to a record low of 4.9 per cent, tightening the screws on an economy with more positions than it could fill."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. How To Become More Disciplined In Your Everyday Life (Earth Style Blog) Short and useful article. The third headline is the kicker.

  2. The Result of Doing 20 Deep Squats Daily for 61 Days (Better Humans) Easy to do. Hard to do. Sometimes, almost impossible to do.

  3. Every Day I Answer These 4 Questions (Better Humans) What did you learn today? What brought you joy today?

  4. My Experience of Reading Fiction Every Day For 2 Years (50+ Books) — And Why You Should Join Me (Better Humans) Fiction gets a bad rap. And it's totally undeserved.

  5. I Tried Cold Showers. This Is What They Didn’t Tell Me About It (Mind Cafe) Ah, so you don't put your head in at first. Jeepers, I wish someone had told me that.

  6. 10 best fiction books that you must read in your lifetime (Sanyam Gupta) Any list with "The Kite Runner" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" on it is a great list. And this is.

  7. If You Are Looking For Valuable Lessons On Life, Read Biographies (Better Humans) I love biographies for exactly this reason.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. YMCA of the Northwoods receives $1M donation for expansion project (CBS) "RHINELANDER, Wis. (WSAW) - The YMCA of the Northwoods is getting a facelift. A groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of an expansion and renovation project for the facility Staff at the YMCA [...] say the renovations wouldn’t be possible without the help of multiple donors and a generous $1 million-dollar donation. The YMCA Building for the Future Capital Project is a 14,000-square foot, multimillion-dollar expansion, and renovation of the existing building [...] The $1 million-dollar donation from Gale Wilcox of Rhinelander helped to make the expansion possible."

  2. $2-million donation from late Margaret Mary Cook to fund student awards at Cape Breton's NSCC Strait Area Campus (Saltwire) NOVA SCOTIA STORY "The Nova Scotia Community College Foundation hosted a dedication event [...] in honour of the late Margaret Mary Cook, whose estate donated $2 million to fund student awards in perpetuity at the NSCC Strait Area Campus. The foundation held the event at the NSCC Strait Area Campus Learning Commons, which will now be known as the Margaret Mary Cook Learning Commons. The Margaret Cook and Dr. David Cook Bursary will fund a minimum of 35 annual awards worth $2,000 at the Strait Area Campus."

  3. Lift Orlando Lands Million-Dollar Donation From KPMG (CPA Practice Advisor) "KPMG, the tax, audit and advisory firm with a headquarters in Lake Nona, committed a $1 million donation to Lift Orlando Tuesday in hopes of bridging education and healthcare gaps in West Lakes neighborhoods near Camping World Stadium."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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