Robert’s Newsletter for August 11, 2019
Traveller
Robert’s Newsletter for August 11, 2019
Robert’s Newsletter for August 4, 2019
‘Never seen it this late in June’: Five centimetre of snow fell in some parts of Newfoundland. One man woke up to more than 10 centimetres of snow at his cabin at Peter Strides Pond in central Newfoundland.
Canada’s population has reached 37 million, according to new data released this morning by Statistics Canada. It took just two years and two months to add one million people, which stood at 37,067,011 as of April 1.
50 years ago today, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston bid farewell to his parents and began an incredible 312 day journey which cemented him in the history books as the winner of the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, making him the first person to sail solo, non-stop around the world.
NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity has survived 5,161 days longer than expected — but a massive storm threatens to end its mission
A new study looking at 25 years of data came to the conclusion that the Antarctic ice sheet is melting about three times faster than earlier thought. The Antarctic ice sheet covers about 24 million square kilometres and holds about 60 per cent of all fresh water on Earth. If it were to melt completely, it would raise sea levels by 58 metres.
Facts Matter: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland addressing an audience that had just presented her an award in Washington, D.C. offered a rebuke of U.S. President’s tariffs plan, without saying his name, calling for truth, facts, open trade, and rules-based order.
Chrystia Freeland’s speech:
A group of U.S. Republican senators is siding with Canada on tariffs (paywall)
The Stanford Prison Experiment, the most famous psychology study of all time, was a sham.
The State of New York sues U.S. President’s foundation, alleging ‘extensive’ lawbreaking. New York’s attorney general sued the U.S. President, three of his children and his ‘non-profit’ foundation. Barbara Underwood alleges “persistent illegal conduct” at the foundation, including support for the U.S. President’s 2016 presidential campaign. She asked the court to dissolve the non-profit, and impose bans on the U.S. President, his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, and his daughter Ivanka from holding leadership roles in New York charities. The suit states: The U.S. President “ran the Foundation according to his whim, rather than the law.” Money raised under the guise of helping veterans was being used to help elect the U.S. President to office.
June 14
1872: Labour unions are legalized in Canada.
1900: Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
1928: Che Guevara is born in Rosario, Argentina.
2017: A massive fire at the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in London kills 72 people. It’s Britain’s deadliest fire on domestic premises since the Second World War.
Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High high school shooting are not taking a summer vacation. They have planned a campaign, aimed at the four million Americans turning 18 this year, for stricter gun laws, with a plan for a 60-day, 20-state bus tour to rally the youth vote ahead of November’s U.S. midterm elections. The March for Our Lives: Road to Change tour will start on June 15 in Chicago with a peace march.
Antarctica’s first Pride celebration – Earther
Microsoft is buying Github for $7.5 billion
At least 25 people are dead after the Volcan de Fuego erupted in Guatemala – Globe & Mail, CBC
Facebook wants your naked photos – CBC
Facebook gave over 60 device makers, including Apple, Amazon, and Samsung, deep access to users’ personal info – NY Times, BBC, Telegraph, Bloomberg, The Hill, Fortune
Bayer to retire Monsanto name, but not it’s products – Reuters
No-one answers the phone anymore – The Atlantic
Alcohol should be banned on flights – WSJ
The U.S.A.’s National Security Agency (NSA) posters from the 50s and 60s [pdf] – Government Attic
New York’s last remaining independent bookshops – The Guardian
Ted Dabney, a founder of Atari and a creator of Pong, dies at 81 – NY Times
Stratechery’s Ben Thompson: Facebook’s Instagram acquisition was the greatest regulatory failure of the past decade – Recode
Comedies Make the Best Binge-Watching – Vulture
Affluence, not willpower, is why some kids are better at the Marshmallow Test – The Atlantic
Here’s why CarMax makes more money on used cars than anyone else – Jalopnik
“The primary reason for this is simple—most people are overpaying.”
Social networks are being used to illegally sell prescription medications – BuzzFeed
China boasted that their healthy life expectancy is now better than in the US — and they’re right – Insider
June 3
1799: The Island of Saint John changed it’s name to Prince Edward Island.
The perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich!
Worth experiencing: Interactive: Roxham – National Film Board of Canada
In early 2017, the number of asylum seekers arriving at Roxham Road sharply increased. This quiet and practically unknown road between the United States and Canada became the location with the largest number of irregular border crossings in the country.
Canon has sold it’s last film camera – PetaPixel
Mamoudou Gassama: Travelling is a rite of passage for many Malians – BBC
What if all guns suddenly disappeared? – BBC
More than 20 years ago, Vancouver doctors started noticing Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin was being abused, and yet the drug company continued to promoted it as being less addictive – NY Times // Is that enough to show criminal intent?
Teens dump Facebook for YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat – TechCrunch
In Canada and the U.S. Reddit is now more popular than Facebook. Globally, Facebook is still #3 behind Google.com and YouTube – Alexa
Trees have legal rights. Because nature. – Globe and Mail
Higher temperatures make it harder for students to learn and leads to lower test scores. The economic case for installing air conditioning in every school – Quartz
High-protein diets are linked to heightened risk for heart disease, even for vegetarians – Quartz
Canada’s best phone deals are in Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Double-data mobile offers spark questions over why only some provinces get the best phone deals. – CBC
2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest – The Atlantic has photos
Google’s Toronto city built ‘from the internet up’ – BBC
Ben Page, the man who cycled across the Canadian Arctic
Vermont will pay you $10,000 to move there and work remotely – Quartz
Mary Meeker’s 2018 internet trends report – Quartz
Some highlights:
Today our American friends honour the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives for the United States. Happy Memorial Day.
Mamoudou Gassama became an instant hero when he scaled the outside of a building to save a dangling child. He is now being offered citizenship by French president – CBC
California looking at stronger data privacy measures – NPR
A middle-aged journalist, Andrew Smith, learns to code and app – 1843 Magazine
The 5 best summer fruits, according to the NY Times
World’s oldest known message in a bottle found near Perth, Australia – CBC
All the books Bill Gates has recommended over the last eight years – Quartz
FBI advises router users to reboot now to kill malware infecting 500,000 devices – ArsTechnica
Alan Bean, 4th Person to Walk on the Moon, Dies at 86 – NY Times
More than 1,000 Canada Revenue Agency employees have been disciplined for misconduct over past 4 years. That comes out to an average of one person every working day. Failuring to protect the agency’s information was the reason in about 40 per cent of cases. – CBC
In some provinces, Bell, Rogers, and Telus, are all offering mobile plans with extra data, in response to Shaw‘s promotion. But Canadians still pay some of the highest prices in the industrialized world for cellular data.
May 28
1927: The House of Commons approved the old-age pension plan.
1934: Annette, Cecile, Yvonne, Marie, and Émilie – The Dionne quintuplets – are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne in Callander, Ontario. They were the first quintuplets to survive for more than a few days.
1995: Jacques Villeneuve becomes the first Canadian to win the Indianapolis 500.
2003: Patrick Roy, one of the NHL’s premier goalies, retired after 18 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche. He won 551 games during the regular season and 151 in playoffs.
2005: Justin Trudeau marries Sophie Grégoire in Montreal, Quebec.
2016: Canada’s federal Conservative Party ends it’s opposition to same-sex marriage. At their party convention in Vancouver, members voted to end the party’s opposition to gay marriage. Same-sex marriage has been legal across Canada since the Civil Marriage Act was passed in 2005.
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May 27
1893: The Ontario government created Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada’s first provincial park.
1911: Vincent Price was born.
1968: Montreal is awarded a baseball franchise. The Montreal Expos were the first Major League Baseball franchise located outside the United States.
1999: Canadian astronaut Julie Payette flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery from May 27 to June 6, as part of the crew of STS-96. She would later be appointed Governor General of Canada.
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May 26
1603: Samuel de Champlain, reaches Tadoussac, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, and sets foot in New France for the first time.
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