Musings

By University of Oxford Image: Shutterstock Technology can transform global health and education systems, but it is no silver bullet – Oxford report. New report offers a blueprint for prudent investments in technology, through which governments can create effective and fair health and education services. More at Phys.org

By Eric Berger This set will certainly pair nicely with the 1,969-piece Saturn V set. Image: LEGO LEGO's new set recreates the Apollo 11 Moon landing. On June 1, the company will release a new set of 1,087 pieces that recreates the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander that touched down in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969. The set includes two astronaut minifigures—presumably Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, although their helmet faceplates are golden. More at Ars Technica

By Dan Goodin Fully developed HiddenWasp gives attackers full control of infected machines. HiddenWasp, as the malware has been dubbed, is a fully developed suite of malware that includes a trojan, rootkit, and initial deployment script, researchers at security firm Intezer reported on Wednesday. At the time Intezer’s post went live, the VirusTotal malware service indicated Hidden Wasp wasn’t detected by any of the 59 antivirus engines it tracks, although some have now begun to flag it. Time stamps in one of the 10 files Intezer analyzed indicated it was created last month. The command and control server that infected computers report to remained operational at the time this article was being prepared. More at Ars Technica

By Jonathan M. Gitlin Slow charging speeds and broken chargers stymied this Lands End-John O' Groats run. Image: Gareth Jones Gareth Jones (L) and Paul Ireson, aka Zog (R), at the start of their adventure in Lands End at the tip of Cornwall. It began on Twitter, when I saw that there was an electric charging station in the parking lot at John O' Groats in Scotland, (almost) the most northern point of the Scottish mainland. The village is about as far from the most south-westerly point in the UK, Lands End in England, as it's possible to get without leaving the mainland: 874 miles (1.407km) to be precise. So, I idly wondered what the fastest journey time was for an electric vehicle. The idea then caught the eye of a TV presenter named Gareth Jones, host of the eponymous podcast Gareth Jones on Speed. More at Ars Technica

By Sophie Armour, University of Sheffield Global garment companies are failing to meet living wage promises to workers, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Sheffield today (30 May 2019). Over the last decade, leading global corporations have made commitments to deliver living wages to the workers who make their clothes. But an investigation by researchers at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) at the University of Sheffield found that many companies do not have concrete, measurable action plans for achieving a living wage in their global supply chains, or benchmarks for calculating living wage rates. More at Phys.org

By University of Chicago Image: Henry Gleitman Above is a depiction of “John and Mary kiss each other,” described as two reciprocal events. The distinction between symmetrical and reciprocal events may be intrinsic to the development of language, a new study finds. If you hear someone say "John and Mary kiss," you'd likely imagine a single symmetrical action. But hear them say "John and Mary kiss each other," and you may construe an entirely different picture—one in which the parties reciprocate with two separate actions, kissing the other's hand. A distinction this subtle might not seem important, yet it appears across nearly all spoken languages. More at Phys.org

By MIKE MCRAE Image: NASA/NICER Based on this recently released snapshot of the night sky captured by NASA's Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), we can safely assume Superman gets no sleep at night. Just look at that thing. More at Science Alert

By Jean-Baptiste Holcroft Technical considerations are not the best way to judge a good translation platform. Image: opensource.com Language translation enables open source software to be used by people all over the world, and it's a great way for non-developers to get involved in their favorite projects. There are many translation tools available that you can evaluate according to how well they handle the main functional areas involved in translations: technical interaction capabilities, teamwork support capabilities, and translation support capabilities. More at Opensource.com

By Sarah Wells Image: Christoph Ruckstuhl (AP) Smells, like the tangy scent of the ocean or the acrid odor of smoke, are powerful cues that shape our memories and warn us of imminent threats. But for approximately 12 percent of Americans over the age of 40, this crucial sense is significantly reduced or absent altogether. While scientists are still working to understand the causes behind this impairment, researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have developed a method for restoring olfaction in mice through the use of stem cells. More at Gizmodo

By MICHELLE STARR Image: Dirk Pons, Flickr, CC BY 2.0 In the crop fields of Argentina, bees have been building nests for their young out of some strange materials. For the first time, scientists have found bee nests made entirely out of plastic waste. More at Science Alert

By Frontiers Livestock farming is destroying our planet. It is a major cause of land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral reef degeneration, deforestation—and of course, climate change. Plant-based diets, insect farming, lab-grown meat and genetically modified animals have all been proposed as potential solutions. Which is best? More at Phys.org

By Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies Image: Arnaud Bouissou/COP Paris/CCO 1.0 Achieving ambitious global temperature goals appears increasingly implausible but the Paris Agreement, agreed in 2015, nevertheless offers hope by promising a more democratic climate politics. Hope was high when the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted 2015. Under the agreement, countries pledged to keep global warming well below two degrees Celsius. Five years later, the situation is sobering: Global emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-relevant gases continue to rise. In an article in Science, Mark Lawrence and Stefan Schäfer of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) argue that the centralized approach to addressing global warming has failed and only greater democratic engagement can reanimate global climate politics. More at Phys.org

By Michael Geist Image: 禁书 网 https://flic.kr/p/2dgik2V (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) 美墨加签署新版自贸协定 汽车关税措施即刻生效 The Canadian government tabled Bill C-100 yesterday, the bill to implement the Canada-US-Mexico Trade Agreement. I will have future post on the key provisions, which include new criminal provisions on trade secrets and tampering with rights management information. The bill also features several provisions related to copyright term but notably does not touch the current general copyright term of life of the author plus an additional 50 years. There are several new terms included in the bill with extensions for anonymous works, performances in sound recordings, sound recordings, and cinematographic works. The bill expressly states that none of the extensions are retroactive which means that the works that are currently in the public domain will remain there even after the new terms are established. More at Michael Geist

By Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem Calls for Israeli authorities to rebuild West Bank structures confiscated by military Image: Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem Prefabricated classrooms, funded by EU aid in Ibziq, in the northern West Bank, were dismantled and confiscated by Israeli authorities. Israel’s defence ministry plans to hold an auction next week to sell two prefabricated classrooms that were donated to Palestinian schoolchildren by the EU. More at The Guardian

By Emma Paling The schedule will make it virtually impossible to sue the government, lawyers say. Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government passed its budget bill Wednesday, a massive piece of legislation that one lawyer called “contrary to our democratic system.” The 194-page Protecting What Matters Most Act enforces the government’s spending plan while amending 199 other laws all at once. MPPs got feedback on it for two days during hearings at the finance committee. The government “corrupted” Ontario’s legislative process by jamming so many amendments into one bill and therefore avoiding debate on specifics, Michael Bryant, executive director and general counsel at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, told HuffPost Canada. More at Huffington Post Opinion: Another illegal act by Ontario PC party. Don't stop where the ink does.

Image: Mike Symington/CBC St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper told a Muslim anti-racism activist from Alberta that he should be "ashamed" of comments he made before a Commons committee this week. When it was his turn to ask Suri and other witnesses questions, Cooper laid into the Alberta anti-racism activist, accusing him of suggesting a link between "conservatism" and violent extremism. More at CBC News

By Laura Clementson · CBC News Juno Beach Centre has sent hundreds of postcards to former homes of soldiers killed on D-Day to honour legacy Image: Juno Beach Centre Association The image that appears on the front of the postcard depicting scenes from the storming of Juno Beach in France on June 6, 1944. The postcards were mailed from Toronto at the beginning of May. The front of each postcard shows a collage of images from the landing. On the back is information about the soldier who used to live at the address, including age, regiment, rank and a few details about the soldier's death on the battlefield in France. More at CBC News

By CBC News Image: Fred Tanneau/Getty Images Scientists argue that, done right, tree-planting works as part of the wider effort to reduce carbon. One advantage? It can be done relatively easily and quickly on a large scale, said Julia Pongratz, a climatologist and earth systems modeller at the University of Munich. "It's working, right? We've been planting forest for 10,000 years." More at CBC News

By Saša Petricic · CBC News Tim Hortons recently opened first location in China Image: Saša Petricic/CBC Counter staff and baristas wear lumberjack uniforms as part of the Canadian theme at the Tim Hortons in Shanghai. Planting a Canadian flag on the streets of Shanghai seems like a cheeky bit of marketing these days, given the seemingly unending war of words between Ottawa and Beijing. Yet here it is: the first Tim Hortons outpost in China. The maple leaf glows bright red, next to a hockey stick door handle and a sign promising "nice people" inside. The greeting at the counter is "ni hao" (Mandarin) and the menu offers a nod to local tastes: green tea matcha doughnuts and salted egg Timbits. But the rest of this place is a blast of Canadiana unseen at any Tim's back home, including baristas dressed as lumberjacks and huge maple leaf quilts on the walls. More at CBC News

By Elizabeth Thompson · CBC News Competition regulators around the world should work together to deal with tech giants, says Matthew Boswell Image: Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS Canada needs tougher penalties for anti-competitive behaviour to adapt to a borderless digital economy, Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell said Thursday. The federal government should boost the penalties for anti-competitive behaviour to more effectively regulate tech giants and the digital economy, says Canada's competition watchdog. More at CBC News

By Matt Novak Image: AP WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on May 1, 2019 Julian Assange failed to appear via video link for an extradition hearing in a London court today after WikiLeaks said that it was “gravely concerned” for Assange’s health. More at Gizmodo Opinion: So, my prediction is correct. As soon as Julian left the embassy, someone tries to kill him. Don't stop where the ink does.

By Kara Irby, Florida State University Image: FSU /Bruce Palmer FSU Assistant Professor Patricia Homan developed a new structural sexism approach to the study of gender inequality and health. A Florida State University researcher has found gender inequality in U.S. states is bad for everybody's health. More at Phys.org

Image: JuralMin via Pixabay. CC0 Hands-on learning with a mentor combined with a strong command of internet search can build the next generation of IT pros. More at Opensource.com

By Erik O'Shaughnessy A gentle introduction to the historical evolution of programming practices. Image: opensource.com In the early days of computing, hardware was expensive and programmers were cheap. In fact, programmers were so cheap they weren't even called "programmers" and were in fact usually mathematicians or electrical engineers. Early computers were used to solve complex mathematical problems quickly, so mathematicians were a natural fit for the job of "programming." More at Opensource.com Opinion: I think the media should make an effort to use virtual system and virtual processor instead of virtual machine for both. Don't stop where the ink does.

By Joey Bernard ParaView started as a joint project between Kitware, Inc., and Los Alamos National Laboratory back in 2000. The first public release was version 0.6, which came out in 2002. Since then, ParaView has become one of the most popular visualization packages for visualizing large data sets. More at Linux Journal

By Marcy Cuttler · CBC News World Health Organization has changed the classification of transgender in its diagnoses Image: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Some gender diversity experts believe transgender issues transcend sexual health. The World Health Organization took what many doctors and advocates believe is a big step this week towards removing the stigma around transgender people. Their health issues will no longer be classified as mental and behavioural disorders in the WHO global manual of diagnoses. Instead, transgender will soon be under a chapter on sexual health. More at Health - CBC

By Elizabeth McMillan · CBC News Canadian Institute for Health Information gathered data from all provinces and territories Image: Shutterstock Across Canada, about 92 per cent of patients who need home care can be discharged on schedule but the rest have extended hospital stays due to delays lining up supports so they can resume living in their own homes. Delays accessing home-care supports are keeping thousands of Canadians in hospital longer than required, which is creating added pressure on a hospital system already under strain from people waiting to get into long-term care facilities. More at CBC News

By George Dvorsky Image: University of Warwick Artist’s impression of the “Forbidden Planet.” An international team of astronomers is reporting the discovery of a Neptune-like planet located some 920 light-years from Earth. Dubbed the “Forbidden Planet” by the researchers, this celestial object is locked in a freakishly close orbit with it host star in a configuration rarely seen. More at Gizmodo

By Kat Kerlin, UC Davis Image: USDA Forest Service Dead and dying trees dot the landscape in the Sierra Nevada during the region's recent drought. Thinning forests and conducting prescribed burns may help preserve trees in future droughts and bark beetle epidemics expected under climate change, suggests a study from the University of California, Davis. More at Phys.org

By Brian Kahn Image: Getty Just look at those glorious freedom flames. Jingoistic nationalism and promoting fossil fuels go hand in hand for the Trump administration. But the Department of Energy took that connection to a new level on Tuesday with a press release touting natural gas as “freedom gas” full of—I feel stupid even typing this—“molecules of U.S. freedom.” Which I guess means we now definitively know the cost of freedom: According to the global market, it’s $2.64 per million BTUs as of Wednesday late morning. More at Earther - Gizmodo Opinion: Americans love to wrap their stupidity in the American flag. Don't stop where the ink does.

By Yessenia Funes Image: AP Solar all day! In Australia, record-breaking rooftop solar installations are helping the country increase its renewable energy generation. By 2030, renewables could make up more than half the electricity generated in the land down under, according to an analysis out Wednesday from a team of researchers. More at Earther - Gizmodo

By SIGNE DEAN Image: Mizumoto et al., Proc Royal Soc B, 2019 For a species as young and puny as humans, every ancient fossil is a most extraordinary gift from our planet's vast history. Even so, this 50-million-year-old bunch of dead fish might just be the coolest fossil we've ever seen. More at Science Alert

By Ernesto Canadian telecoms giant Bell is recommending that the Government should criminalize people who are involved with pirate streaming services, including those who advertise or sell pirate set-top boxes. The proposal is seen as a prime tool to combat online piracy. In the same submission, Bell also revives its call to institutionalize site blocking. More at TorrentFreak

By Michael Geist Image: Mack Male (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/hbkTu1 Shaw Go Wifi Yesterday’s post on the still-secret broadcast and telecommunications review submissions obtained under Access to Information focused on Bell, which proposed extensive new regulations for Netflix that would result in hundreds of millions in payments that could spark a trade battle with the United States. The major Canadian communications companies are not united on this issue, however. While there are similarities on wireless (most oppose mandated MVNOs), the broadcast perspectives differ significantly. This post reveals some of the details in Shaw’s submission to the BTLR, also obtained under ATIP. More at Michael Geist

Recently, we reported on the problems with a proposal from Senators Coons and Tillis to rewrite Section 101 of the Patent Act. Now, those senators have released a draft bill of changes they want to make. It’s not any better. Section 101 prevents monopolies on basic research tools that nobody could have invented. That protects developers, start-ups, and makers of all kinds, especially in software-based fields. The proposal by Tillis and Coons will seriously weaken Section 101, leaving makers vulnerable to patent trolls, and other abusers of the patent system. More at Electronic Frontier Foundation

By Ryan Maloney Monique Pauzé failed to receive unanimous consent. A Bloc Québécois MP’s motion on reproductive rights sparked raucous applause in the House of Commons Wednesday, but not from the Conservative benches. More at Huffington Post

By Samantha Beattie The councillor refuses to delete the Facebook post. An Ontario city councillor facing lawsuits and reprimands remains steadfast in his demand that two Conservative MPs denounce white supremacy and hateful rhetoric. More at Huffington Post

By Greg Rasmussen · CBC News Investigators have new options for matching DNA found at the scene of a Vancouver homicide in 2003 Image: Ben Nelms/CBC Vancouver homicide investigator Sgt. Mike Heard holds a picture of Edgar Leonardo, who was killed in his Vancouver apartment in 2003. Parabon scours public genealogical sites such as GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA, which allow police to access their databanks. Most other well-known DNA testing companies don't co-operate with law enforcement without search warrants. More at CBC News Opinion: Talk about fishing expeditions. Don't stop where the ink does.

By CARLY CASSELLA Image: Yaoqi LAI/Unsplash Workplace 'burn-out' has become such a serious health issue in the modern age, it has now been reclassified by the World Health Organisation. More at Science Alert

By Peter Zimonjic, Katie Simpson · CBC News The tax idea 'was not a part of our healthy eating strategy,' says Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor Image: Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press Minister of Health Ginette Petitpas Taylor says the federal government has no intention of including a tax on sugary drinks in the Liberal Party's fall election platform, despite a call from MPs in her own party to do just that. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has no intention of introducing a tax on sugary beverages to fight obesity, despite calls from within the party to make the initiative part of the Liberal platform. More at CBC News

By Benjamin Shingler, Alison Northcott · CBC News 'They feel alone. They feel depressed. They feel distressed,' advocate says Image: Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press Family members leave the courtroom following the sentencing of Michel Cadotte, found guilty in the death of his ailing wife. The case of a Montreal man sentenced to two years in jail for killing his wife, who had Alzheimer's disease, has laid bare the need for better supports for caregivers, many of whom struggle to cope and often don't know where to turn, advocates say. More at CBC News

By Dale Marshall, National Program Manager Opposition leader Andrew Scheer and his inner circle are having full-day secret meetings with Canada’s main oil and gas lobby group, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP). That’s seriously concerning. More at Environmental Defence

By University of Kansas Image: NASA A new paper from a University of Kansas researcher suggests bipedalism arose when ancient supernovae caused lightning that burned Earth's forests and prompted human ancestors to walk upright. A paper published today in the Journal of Geology makes the case: Supernovae bombarded Earth with cosmic energy starting as many as 8 million years ago, with a peak some 2.6 million years ago, initiating an avalanche of electrons in the lower atmosphere and setting off a chain of events that feasibly ended with bipedal hominins such as homo habilis, dubbed "handy man." The authors believe atmospheric ionization probably triggered an enormous upsurge in cloud-to-ground lightning strikes that ignited forest fires around the globe. These infernos could be one reason ancestors of homo sapiens developed bipedalism—to adapt in savannas that replaced torched forests in northeast Africa. More at Phys.org

By Sonia Fernandez, University of California - Santa Barbara Image: CC0 Public Domain For all the evidence that the benefits of reducing greenhouse gases outweigh the costs of regulation, disturbingly few domestic climate change policies have been enacted around the world so far. More at Phys.org

By Texas A&M University Image: CC0 Public Domain In a comprehensive study, researchers from Texas A&M University have determined that harmful particulate matter in the atmosphere can produce birth defects and even fatalities during pregnancy using the animal model. More at Phys.org

By Alfred Wegener Institute Image: CC0 Public Domain Atmospheric researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) have developed a climate model that can accurately depict the frequently observed winding course of the jet stream, a major air current over the Northern Hemisphere. The breakthrough came when the scientists combined their global climate model with a new machine learning algorithm on ozone chemistry. Using the combined model, they demonstrate that the jet stream's wavelike course in winter and subsequent extreme weather conditions like cold air outbreaks in Central Europe and North America are the direct result of climate change. Their findings were published in Scientific Reports on 28 May 2019. More at Phys.org

By George Dvorsky Image: Julia Fischer West African green monkey in Senegal. Researchers in Senegal recently flew drones in the vicinity of green monkeys to see how the primates might respond. Incredibly, the monkeys produced an instinctual alarm call consistent with an eagle sighting. Kinda makes sense—except for the fact that green monkeys aren’t threatened by eagles. More at Gizmodo

By Michael Geist Image: Jose de Francisco https://flic.kr/p/GJHtQW (CC BY-SA 2.0) The government’s expert panel on broadcast and telecommunications law reform is expected to release its preliminary report on the results of its public consultation next month. The panel has remarkably kept the submissions to the consultation secret, rejecting an open and transparent policy making process that the government insists is essential to good policy development. I filed an Access to Information Act request for some of the more notable submissions (some have been made available and are posted online by the FRPC). An interim release of that request just arrived in my inbox and I’ll have a couple of posts on point over the next few days. More at Michael Geist

Mike Schreiner made the following statement after it was announced the government would be unilaterally cancelling the contract with the Beer Store More at Latest News - Green Party of Ontario