Weekly News Recap: September 11, 2020

Weekly News Recap: September 11, 2020

The co-founders of WE Charity, Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger, announced Wednesday they are winding down the charity's operations in Canada. (Hannah Yoon/The Canadian Press)

I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine. -- Bruce Lee

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • U Can't Touch This in A Whole New World: Sask. teachers using music parodies to welcome students back (CBC) SASKATCHEWAN STORY These are all great but the Gull Lake one is...really good. "Saskatchewan teachers have been preparing for the back-to-school week by buying masks, preparing desks and more. Some are finding more musical ways to welcome their students back. Regina teachers are dancing, Saskatoon teachers are singing, and Gull Lake teachers and staff are rapping their way into the new semester."

  • Donation Dollar – Royal Australian Mint Creates World’s 1st Dollar Coin Designed to be Donated (CoinWeek) Talk about inspiring philanthropy. This is terrific. "The Mint, as part of its annual release program, intends to distribute millions of these Donation Dollar coins into circulation over the coming years – one for every Australian. Each of these unique coins features a green center with a gold ripple design symbolizing the ongoing impact each donation makes to those who need it most. Australians could start to see the new 'daily reminders to give' appearing in their change from today, as a first run of three million coins has been released into circulation."

  • Orca that carried dead calf for 17 days gives birth to healthy new baby (CBC) So beautiful. "A southern resident killer whale who carried her dead calf for two weeks in 2018 in a heart-wrenching display of mourning has once again given birth. The new calf was spotted swimming alongside its mother in the U.S. waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca [...]."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. WE Charity winding down operations in Canada after student grants scandal (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Tough one. We want our charities to be ethical and entrepreneurial ...but not too entrepreneurial. Successful and businesslike...but not too businesslike. "After months in the political spotlight and pointed questions about its role in a summer student grants contract, WE Charity is winding down its operations in Canada. The move comes as the charity — like many other non-profits in this country — faces a cash crunch as donations dip due to the pandemic."

  2. Calgary's Glenbow museum opens new Porchraits exhibit (CTV) CALGARY STORY Cool! "A new exhibition opens at the Glenbow [...] showcasing images of Calgarians taken during the peak of the pandemic, in socially-distant family portrait sessions. Porchtraits: Calgary Families in Isolation during COVID-19 is co-curated by Glenbow and local photographer Neil Zeller."

  3. Black Lives Matter mural going ahead in Chinatown as privately funded project (CBC) CALGARY STORY "Chinatown will be the new home for a Black Lives Matter mural in Calgary. It comes after a similar proposal earlier this summer for a different location sparked backlash. In August, the Pink Flamingo, a group that works with Black and queer people, received $120,000 in funding for a handful of Black Lives Matter murals."

  4. Skills lost due to COVID-19 school closures will hit economic output for generations: OECD (CBC) Imagine! This impact will be felt for the next 80 years. "Disruption to schooling stemming from the coronavirus pandemic will cause a skill loss that could result in a 1.5 per cent drop in global economic output for the rest of this century, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated. For the United States, that will represent an economic loss of $15.3 trillion US ($20.1 trillion Cdn)."

  5. Office work could be changed forever by COVID-19. Here's why that matters (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Yep, I get it. "Only a fraction of employees who began working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic have returned to full-time office work, and that has ramifications for everything from how workplaces are run to where we live — and whether the small businesses that surround office buildings survive. Nearly three-quarters of the 3.4 million Canadians who began working from home at the start of the crisis were still working remotely in August, according to Labour Force Survey data released by Statistics Canada [...]. And another survey suggests many of those new remote employees would like to continue working from home indefinitely."

  6. The coronavirus might kill the handshake, but the more hygienic fist bump is ready to take its place (ZME Science) Not even sure I would do the fist bump. "The handshake plays an important role in many cultures. It’s a global gesture essentially synonymous with agreement, support, and friendship. But while the message that handshakes sent is positive, there’s also a problem: it can spread germs. The very idea of a handshake is to touch hands in a gesture of trust, but when we’re talking about infectious diseases, touching hands with someone else is not really what you want to do."

  7. Beaded map of Canada creates 'a sense of community' among Indigenous artists amid pandemic (CBC) CANADIAN STORY What a great project! "What started as a response to pandemic boredom has grown into a collaborative mosaic of beadwork that promotes Indigenous artists across Canada and the United States. [Dozens] of Indigenous artists had been taking up a challenge to bead their states and provinces. Their hard work, diversity in beading styles, techniques, and cultural influences can be seen in a final map that was recently unveiled of both countries."

  8. Larry Ellison has abruptly shut down the foundation he spent years setting up (Vox) Well then. "Larry Ellison is abruptly shutting down the work of his charitable foundation, Recode has learned, yet another whiplash moment in the philanthropic history of one of the world’s richest people. Ellison has decided to disband the team and program that worked for his sole philanthropy organization, the Larry Ellison Foundation, as part of an attempt to refocus his giving on combating the [coronavirus]."

  9. The rise of vaccine nationalism – should we be worried? (ABC) Me, I call these efforts inhumane. "Should we be concerned about how the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine is being run? Wealthy countries like Australia are scrambling to secure billions of doses of vaccines that don't even exist yet - or may not end up being the best candidate drugs. Governments are carrying significant commercial risk, and pharmaceutical companies are stitching up deals that may either prove very lucrative or go nowhere. Vaccine development is notoriously risky and rife with failure. But even if a successful COVID-19 vaccine does get across the line, will it stop the pandemic?"

  10. COVID-19 pandemic will have ‘profound’ impact on philanthropy, says Bill Gates (University of Cambridge) More please. "The co-founder of the Gates Foundation said the scale and urgency of the pandemic has prompted philanthropists to engage in more active collaboration, not only with businesses and government but also with each other. As an example, he cited the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator involving the Gates Foundation, Mastercard, Wellcome and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, founded by Priscilla Chan and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. This Unhealthy Behavior Will Make You Miserable (Personal Growth) I actually think this behaviour is at the root of most things that go wrong. I blame this behaviour.

  2. Choosing fonts: to serif or not to serif (UX Design) I have unfriended people on Facebook over to serif or not to serif (Ok, I am kidding but only sort of.)

  3. The Best Runners in the World Train Incredibly Slow (Runner's Life) I am a slow runner naturally. So, this works for me.

  4. Maskne: How to combat the acne breakouts caused by face masks (CBC) CALGARY STORY I have been saying this for months!

  5. How capital letters can save lives (UX Design) I LIKE WRITING IN ALL CAPS. SORRY, AM I BEING TOO LOUD FOR YOU?*

  6. Could your thoughts make you age faster? (Ideas.Ted.Com) I am likely going to die young. Unless I change my ways.

  7. I Drank A Gallon Of Water A Day For Better Skin — & Here’s What Happened (Refinery 29) Me too. Except for the waking up at dawn for yoga. "I’m a fairly healthy person — I do what I can to feel good, while still enjoying my life. I wake up at the crack of dawn for yoga and eat a fairly balanced diet, but I’ll also snag that last slice of pizza if you don’t get to it first. But one thing I’ve been told over and over again is that I don’t drink enough water."

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. Michael Bloomberg to Give $100 Million to Historically Black Medical Schools (New York Times) "In the midst of the pandemic, Michael R. Bloomberg is focusing on a unique way to improve the health of Black communities: by giving money to Black students studying to become doctors."

  2. $5M donation from Merck CEO, wife to support stroke care at Jefferson Health (Becker's Hospital CFO Report) "Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health has received a $5 million gift to support stroke prevention and care in partnership with Temple University in Philadelphia. The gift is from Merck CEO Ken Frazier and his wife Andréa, founder of interior design firm Frazier Designs."

  3. Philanthropy in Ottawa: uOttawa receives the gift of time, talent and treasure (Obj.ca) OTTAWA STORY "As a proud uOttawa alumnus, Nehme generously supports the university in various ways through financial gifts and sharing both his time and talents with students. His support also led to the creation of the Simon Nehme Summer Entrepreneurship School at the university’s Faculty of Engineering in 2018, creating opportunities for hands-on workshops and events delivered by members of the entrepreneurial and academic communities."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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