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Weekly News Recap: September 23, 2022

Vincent Duckworth

Weekly News Recap: September 23, 2022

The undisputed champion of the Slurpee world is none other than Winnipeg. (Image via Slurpee Canada's Facebook page)

It can't be pretty without being ugly first. -- Kambri Crews

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • Canadian Food Fact: Winnipeg is the Slurpee capital of the world (Eat North) WINNIPEG STORY Ah, this explains so much. #IAdoreWinnipeg "Earlier this week, Canadians across the country took part in 7-Eleven’s Name Your Price Day by purchasing Slurpees to support and raise funds for Food Banks Canada. Since so many Canadians were sipping on the convenience store chain’s signature summer beverage on September 14, we decided to do some digging into which Canadian city consumes the most on an annual basis. As it turns out, Winnipeggers drink the most Slurpees each year of any city—not just in Canada, but in the entire world. And not just this year either; in fact, Winnipeg has been crowned the Slurpee capital of the world by 7-Eleven for an astounding 22 years in a row."

  • You can explore Calgary's Bow River in a dreamy glowing kayak this fall (Curiocity) CALGARY STORY Better hurray. The wee boats are beautiful. "Fall is nearly here, which means it won’t be long until the Bow gets frozen over. While we wait on pins and needles for the snow to drop, however – there are still a ton of ways that we can get out on the river – our favourite being, Illuminated Escapes, which now has a new launch bay! Relocated to Waterfront Park in the NW, those looking to explore, lounge, and experience something new can do so to the soundtrack of their choosing, from behind the paddle of a glowing kayak."

  • ‘I’ve Played More Games Than Barry Bonds’: Meet Home Run Hunter ‘McCovey Cove Dave’ (San Francisco Standard) Kind of cool. "On a summer afternoon in July, throngs of baseball fans made their way along the Embarcadero towards Oracle Park. One of those fans, however, wasn’t destined for a reserved seat in the stadium—instead, he headed straight for the salty waters of McCovey Cove. Dave Edlund, better known as 'McCovey Cove Dave,' attends Giants games perched on top of his kayak in the waters of his namesake, located directly behind the right field wall of the park."

  • 5 Russian Bullets Dashed an Opera Singer’s Dreams. Then He Reclaimed His Voice. (New York Times) My heart sings hearing this. "It was the most pivotal performance of his 29 years. There were no costumes, no stage, no orchestra pit. Instead, a lone pianist hunched expectantly over her instrument. For an audience, a handful of doctors and nurses watched from a cool white hospital lobby. Sergiy Ivanchuk — his face patched with bandages, legs trembling beneath his trousers — began hesitantly. But as his deep baritone held, confidence grew. By the time he finished with a Ukrainian folk tune, his song soared with the passion of a man brought back from the dead, a man reveling in a voice reclaimed."

  • A teen ordered to pay $150,000 to the family of her rapist is flooded with donations (npr) I. Can't. Even. "A fundraiser for an Iowa teen who was a victim of human trafficking and convicted of killing her rapist, has easily surpassed the $150,000 restitution fee she was ordered to pay his family. As of Friday morning, a GoFundMe account set up on behalf of Pieper Lewis has collected nearly $450,000 from people who say they're disgusted by the court-enforced restitution order."

  • 8.5 Miles Per Hour, on a Road With No Limits (Sports Illustrated) #Resilience "Mackay drives his sip-and-puff-powered chair with a straw that extends from above his right armrest: A hard puff starts him forward, a soft puff turns him to the right and a soft sip sends him left. On top of the challenge of executing these maneuvers while fatigued, Mackay can no longer regulate his body heat. If his temperature falls too far or climbs too high, it could be fatal. And then there’s the risk of spasms, sores or infections from the long ride. (Since his incident, he hasn’t sat for more than 12 consecutive hours.)"

  • Scientists hail autoimmune disease therapy breakthrough (The Guardian) More please. "Five people with severe autoimmune disease have become the first in the world to receive a groundbreaking therapy that uses genetically altered cells to drive the illness into remission. The four women and one man, aged 18 to 24, received transfusions of modified immune cells to treat severe lupus, an autoimmune disease that can cause life-threatening damage to the heart, lungs, brain and kidneys."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Roger Federer says he's retiring from tennis after upcoming Laver Cup (CBC) We will miss you Fed. Thank you! "Roger Federer is retiring from professional tennis at age 41 after a series of knee operations, closing a career in which he won 20 Grand Slam titles, finished five seasons ranked No. 1 and helped create a golden era of men's tennis with rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Federer posted what he called a 'bittersweet decision' via both a written statement and an audio clip on Thursday, less than two weeks after 23-time major champion Serena Williams played what is expected to be the last match of her career. Combined, the exits by two of the greatest athletes in their sport's history represent a significant turning of the page."

  2. More than half of Sask. crop in the bin, says province (CBC) SASKATCHEWAN STORY Wow! How great is this! "The drought last summer created a lot of challenges for farmers and ranchers in Saskatchewan. For Barry Reisner, it was hard to see his efforts going down the drain, as he said in 2021. However, one year later, things are looking up at his farm in southern Saskatchewan near the village of Limerick. 'We finished [harvest] earlier this week, and it was considerably better than last year,' said Reisner. 'We did have more rain this year, but still not as much as we normally would expect.' As of Monday, farmers have harvested 64 per cent of the crop in Saskatchewan compared to the five-year average of 57 per cent at this time of year, according to the province's most recent crop report."

  3. Third Academy Opens New East Campus (Airdrie Today) CALGARY STORY Congrats to Third Academy. ViTreo has been working with Third Academy for the last few years on their fundraising campaign for this amazing new campus. Note: This is an active campaign and donations are welcome. "Recently, Third Academy expanded to a new East campus. Sunil Mattu, Head of Schools, explains: 'We stared to look for expansion possibilities in 2020. By spring 2021 we had found our new home and we moved into the new Third Academy East Campus on August 7 of this year. The campus is located at 400 Prince of Peace Way, just off the TransCanada East and the Stoney Trail. This expansion means that we have created 50 new seats for students with special education needs, Grades 1-12, who otherwise would not have access to a program that they desperately need.' The first day of classes took place on the 6th of September, a day Mattu calls 'very exciting.' New students continue to register every day."

  4. Treading water: Edmonton swim clubs struggle to find pool time amid closures (CBC) EDMONTON STORY Eeek! "Edmonton swim clubs are struggling to find time for their athletes to train after the closures of four major pool facilities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Olympian Swim Club, one of Edmonton's largest competitive swimming clubs, has lost all four of its main training pools. Club president Jared Buhler said it's put the whole club in a tricky position. 'It's been crisis after crisis after crisis paired with COVID,' Buhler said. The first to go was the pool at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in July of 2020. Citing financial pressures and low usage, NAIT announced the pool would be closed permanently."

  5. High rate of domestic violence in Calgary remains a major concern as resources are tight (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY "High rate of domestic violence in Calgary remains a major concern as resources are tight. Between January and July this year, Calgary police responded to 1,863 reports of domestic violence and nearly 9,500 domestic reporting calls. Rates of domestic violence remain high in Calgary, as temporary resources for women’s shelters and support services dry up. Referred to as the 'shadow pandemic,' the sharp increase in domestic violence recorded during pandemic-related restrictions and isolation has not tapered off. The demand for shelter space and support remains high and resources are strained, said Kim Ruse, CEO of Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter."

  6. Indigenous population hits 1.8M, growing at twice rate of non-Indigenous Canadians: 2021 census (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "The number of people identifying as Indigenous in Canada grew almost twice as fast as the non-Indigenous population and now stands at 1.8 million — about five per cent of the population — according to newly released census data. From 2016 to 2021, the number of people in Canada identifying as Indigenous grew by 9.4 per cent. The non-Indigenous population grew by just 5.3 per cent over the same period. While that growth rate is high, it's almost half the growth rate for the population that identified as Indigenous between 2011 and 2016, which was 18.9 per cent."

  7. Sacheen Littlefeather receives apology at Academy event 49 years after Marlon Brando's Oscars protest (CBC) I was seven or eight years old. I remember her speech live. It was my first 'woke' moment. "Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American activist who endured decades of harassment after declining Marlon Brando's best actor prize at the 1973 Oscars ceremony, received a formal apology from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at an event on Saturday. Nearly 50 years ago, Littlefeather stood onstage after Brando was awarded for his performance in The Godfather. Speaking on his behalf, she declined the statuette and instead gave a 60-second speech to bring awareness to Native American issues."

  8. The Hobbit King (The Atlantic) Very interesting analysis and opinion. Curious to hear feedback from our readers. "In burying its longest-serving monarch, Britain buries a part of itself too: the country it once was but is no more. And this is how it should be. When the Queen’s father, King George VI, was laid to rest in 1952, Britain said goodbye to its last imperial monarch, the man who had been the emperor of India. With his death—followed 13 years later by Winston Churchill’s—passed the imperial age. Elizabeth’s inheritance in 1952—despite much of the U.S. commentary over the past week—was the first postimperial crown in British history. Elizabeth was the monarch not of an empire but of a loose, global commonwealth sitting awkwardly in a distinctly American imperium. And yet hers was still a global role. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen, was a totem of this global Britain, erected at the very moment that the tide of British power began its long turn toward the shore."

  9. Dr. Janaka Ruwanpura reflects on his recent award and new Chair of Indian Studies (The Gauntlet) CALGARY STORY This is an important Chair position. Can't wait to see who is chosen. "On June 29, it was announced that the Department of History within the Faculty of Arts will receive a Chair of Indian Studies. The purpose of this program is to create history courses that will help students learn about 20th-century India and to better understand relations between India and Canada. The faculty is currently waiting for representatives in India to nominate a professor for the position of Chair and teach two undergraduate courses or one graduate course per semester. This addition is to better support cultural diversity within the Department of History."

  10. Rowan House Society gets board chair back (High River Online) HIGH RIVER STORY Welcome back Chris! And, thank you! "The Rowan House Society has a new, old chairman. Chris Tulloch is back after a short sabbatical and is happy to see the society continuing to go beyond just being a shelter. 'I am a big believer in making sure people understand that there's things we can do, there's help available. Rowan House is not just an emergency shelter, this is something that we grew into during my last chairmanship where we really focused on getting into the schools, getting into the community and teaching people about coping skills instead of violence,' Tulloch says. 'This is not a women's problem, this is a man's problem and this is one of the reasons why it's important to have at least one man on the board.' He's very interested in seeing more growth and diversity on the board. Executive director Linette Soldan says she's thrilled to have Tulloch back."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. Move over, Siri and Alexa: Here’s a wildly ambitious new AI assistant (Fast Company) It is and remains an interesting world. I wrote that myself. For now.

  2. Understanding Great Signage #1: Floor plans, choice points and research validity (Kolja Bluemer) Ha! A nerdy article on signage. As a naming professional, this comes up in my work. A lot. You're welcome

  3. How to Beat the Bitter Calendar Bloat (Better Humans) It has never been truer. Control your calendar or it will control you. #OperationalRythms

  4. The 3-Step Backward Technique for Getting More Done in Less Time (Better Humans) Non-intuitive but I can tell you, it works.

  5. You’re Using The 80/20 Rule Wrong, And You Need To Stop It (Stephen Timoney) #Layers

  6. Finally, You Can Stop Waking Up Groggy (Randy Masters) Excellent sleep calculator tool.

  7. Cheatsheet of a Superdoer 🦸 Having More Daily Impact (Adrian M. Nenu) There are seven great tips her but the best, for me is #6.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. Lululemon founder Chip Wilson donates $100M to B.C. Parks Foundation (Global News) BRITISH COLUMBIA STORY #Tremendous "Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder and billionaire Chip Wilson is donating $100 million to the B.C. Parks Foundation to help protect and enhance natural spaces in the province. The donation, which was announced at an event in Vancouver’s Stanley Park on Thursday, will be made through the Wilson 5 Foundation."

  2. LDS Church makes its biggest one-time charitable donation ever (The Salt Lake Tribune) Wow! I would love to see this happen with other churches. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $32 million to the United Nations’ World Food Program on Wednesday, representing the Utah-based faith’s largest-ever one-time contribution to a humanitarian organization."

  3. Donation of $106 Million to Hoag is Largest Single Gift in Its History (Newport Beach Independent) #PlannedGivingRocks "Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian has received the largest gift in its nearly 70-year history: $106 million from the estate of Audrey Steele Burnand. Hoag officials said the unprecedented gift will be used to significantly expand the hospital’s world-class health care research and treatment capabilities as it steadily climbs into the ranks of America’s top medical institutions."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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