Month: June 2023 (Page 1 of 12)

… after failing to ~~bully~~ – I mean lobby – Ottawa, Canada’s parliament this week passed bill C-18, known as the Online News Act. The new law requires tech giants like Google and Meta/Facebook to pay news outlets for their content.

Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, and Google will block local Canadian news from their platforms after the country became the latest jurisdiction to pass a law aimed at forcing tech giants to pay news providers for content.

Behemoth American companies like Facebook and Google have been killing local Canadian media while profiting off their backs for many years now. It’s time to be thinking about alternatives to these giant juggernauts and supporting local media.

National Observer » Silicon mobsters’ chokehold on Canada

BBC | UPI | The Guardian

Documentary » Junk food, salk, sugar, fat and additives » The dark side of the food industry

Africa » UN ends peace keeping mission in Mali

US blames Russia’s Wagner Group

UN | Human Rights Watch | Al Jareeza | BBC

FedEx accused of large odometer rollback fraud with used vans

The Drive »

Communications Security Establishment (CSE) blocked trillions of ‘malicious actions’ against the federal government last year

CTV »

Thursday’s report plainly states that foreign states “are attempting to influence and interfere with Canada’s society and democracy” in a number of ways, including espionage and online disinformation.
While the report doesn’t draw a direct line between China and foreign election interference, as has been a central preoccupation for federal politicians in recent months, CSE does call out China for its diaspora intimidation tactics.

Last Updated on July 1, 2023

Yale psychology professor Laurie Santos recommends a set of practices to be happier

Dr. Laurie Santos‘ set of practices, dubbed “re-wirements,” include prioritizing social connection, being other-oriented, focusing on gratitude and blessings, and incorporating exercise into our daily routine.

Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, and the UK take Iran to International Court of Justice over downing of Flight PS752

CBC »

Honda Monkey motorcycle sets new world record covering 4,183 Km on a single tank

Downhill, both ways?

ADV Pulse »

Everlanders show it’s possible to live comfortably off-gride in Colombia with a solar generator and two (massive) solar panels

National Geographic lays off it’s remaining staff writers

This should not come as a surprise to anyone who first heard NatGeo had been sold to Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox back in 2015, and then to WDC. For these massive corporations, it’s all about profits and shareholder value over everyone and everything else.

WSJ »

On Wednesday, the Washington-based magazine that has surveyed science and the natural world for 135 years reached another difficult passage when it laid off all of its last remaining staff writers.
The cutback — the latest in a series under owner Walt Disney Co. — involves some 19 editorial staffers in all, who were notified in April that these terminations were coming.

War » One hundred thousand people lost their lives in Ethiopia last year » Death toll at highest in 21st century

The study by the Institute for Economics and Peace calculated that war and violence cost the world 12.9 percent of GDP, with total conflict deaths at their highest this century.

DW »

Since the 21st century began, war has never cost humanity so much. The number of conflict deaths almost doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year. And war caused a 13% loss of global GDP, according to the Global Peace Index, released on Wednesday by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).
The major new survey by the global think tank said that the average level of “global peacefulness” had sunk for the ninth year in a row, with conflict deaths topping the previous global peak reached in 2014 during the Syrian Civil War.
The dramatic increase in death rates was mostly driven by the war in Ukraine, where 83,000 people were killed in the past year, though the bloodiest conflict was in Ethiopia, where 100,000 people lost their lives.

Wagner » Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to take control of Wagner Group’s worldwide operations [Updated]

This is not going to go well.

Russian officials have reportedly reached out to leaders of African and Middle Eastern countries – such as Mali and Syria – where Wagner operates, in an attempt to seize control of the group’s operations.

WSJ | Bloomberg

North Africa Post » The first Vice-President of the Central African National Assembly, Evariste Ngamana indicated Wednesday June 28 that ties with Russia will not be affected whether Russian paramilitary company Wagner leaves or not.

Climate » The pace of deforestation increased 10 percent in 2022 » Tropical forest tree losses are up sharply despite pledges to control it

Nearly half of the world’s tropical forest loss last year occurred in Brazil, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Bolivia

NY Times »

Last Updated on June 29, 2023

How Wes Anderson uses miniatures in his films

Vox »

Climate » Unsurprisingly, the conservative UK government has made ‘no progress’ on climate plan, say their own advisers, the Committee on Climate Change.

The Guardian »

Last Updated on June 29, 2023

North America’s first hydrogen passenger train runs from Montmorency Falls in Quebec City to Baie-Saint Paul, and back every day

CBC »

Nigeria raise concerns as Chinese-owned payment apps PalmPay and OPay gain popularity and Huawei dominates installation of 5G equipment in the country

FT »

Nigeria, with about 220mn people, is the continent’s most populous country and its biggest economy. So, when two Chinese-backed fintech companies hatched ambitions to build African versions of Chinese mobile payment giants Alipay or WeChat Pay, they decided to start in Lagos.
…
However, the position that Huawei holds in basic telecoms infrastructure, coupled with the popularity of PalmPay and OPay super apps, has raised concerns among some Nigerian officials over potential future Chinese dominance in digital infrastructure and data.

South Koreans woke up this morning to find that they were a year younger than the day before, and in some cases, up to two years younger

DW »

A shortage of critical lifesaving cancer drugs has reached crisis levels

In the latest episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” oncologist Kristen Rice explains that drug shortages in the U.S. have been happening for several years, but have been progressively worsening in the past few months.

» First Opinion Podcast via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play

STAT » Cancer drug shortages should have patients rioting in the streets

STAT » The cancer drug shortage isn’t new — and neither are the solutions

Four volunteers have locked themselves up for a year in a simulated Mars environment

KCRA » On Sunday – research scientist Kelly Haston, structural engineer Ross Brockwell, emergency medicine physician Nathan Jones, and U.S. Navy microbiologist Anca Selariu – started their 378-day stay at a mock-Mars base in Texas.

CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) is a ground-based mission at the NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The mission is the first of three planned one-year Mars surface simulations, during which crew members will live and work in a 3D-printed, 1,700-square-foot habitat.

Researchers will simulate the challenges of a human mission to Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays, and other environmental stressors.

The results of CHAPEA and the knowledge gained from the analogs could impact future NASA missions including those to the surface of Mars.

Yahoo News | NASA News

NYC drivers will soon pay congestion pricing tolls to drive their vehicles in the most visited parts of Manhattan