Musings

By Jorge Barrera · CBC News · Renovation and construction dot Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, much of it fuelled by marijuana Jorge Barrera/CBC The Pot Shoppe advertising its THC-laced slushies, gummies and hash in Tyendinaga. Driving down Highway 401 in southern Ontario, with the FM dial tuned to 87.9, the 1990s-era rap music fades into an ad, offering a free joint with every purchase over $20 between midnight and 4:20 a.m. at the Pot Shoppe. More at CBC News

By British Medical Journal CC0 Public Domain Nations with strong women's rights are more likely to have better health and faster growth than those who don't promote and protect these values, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open. More at Phys.org

By Zach Dubinsky, Lisa Mayor · CBC News · CAFE's backers have included a notorious counterfeiter and a Lamborghini-driving ex-wrestling champ CBC One of the storefronts of the Toronto-based CAFE, a chain of unlicensed cannabis dispensaries, was raided and shut down last week — a regular occurrence for the business. It reopened within hours. These are no ordinary renegade weed stores. They are branches of Cannabis and Fine Edibles, or CAFE, a chain of sleek coffee shops that double as marijuana dispensaries. Collectively, they have been raided and shut down at least a dozen times since Canada legalized cannabis last October — only to bounce back each time, usually reopening within hours. More at CBC News

By Emma Davie · CBC News · Fewer than 30 inmates held in the region's four long-term youth jails during first week of July Emma Davie/CBC The Waterville youth centre in Nova Scotia, along with the rest of the corrections facilities for young offenders in Atlantic Canada, has seen a dramatic decline in the number of inmates. More at CBC News

By Colin Willis In open organizations with cultures of adaptability, learning should be continuous—and won't always happen in a formal setting. Do we really understand how it works? Pexels, via Pixabay. CC0. Continuous learning refers to the ongoing, career-driven, intentional learning process people undertake to develop themselves. For people who consider themselves continuous learners, learning never stops—and these people see learning opportunities in everyday experiences. Engaging with one's colleagues in debate, reflecting on feedback, scouring the internet for a solution to a frustrating problem, trying something new, or taking a risk are all examples of the informal learning activities one can perform on the job. More at Opensource.com

By Crime and Justice Research Alliance CC0 Public Domain About 3.5 million students are suspended each year, and school punishment has been tied to a variety of negative outcomes. A new study took a longitudinal look at how school suspensions are related to offending behaviors that include assault, stealing, and selling drugs. It found that rather than decreasing subsequent offending, school suspensions increase this behavior. More at Phys.org

By Adam Dachis Google—the internet’s largest search destination—can legally profit from fraud on its platform and has little incentive to fix it. But this isn’t a problem easily solved by ethics or legal amendments because current circumstances make changing the status quo extremely difficult. Nevertheless, there’s still more that we all can do to mitigate fraud on the internet. More at ExtremeTech

By Marius Nestor The Debian Edu team announced the release and general availability of the Debian Edu / Skolelinux 10 "Buster" operating system based on the Debian GNU/Linux 10 "Buster" series. Debian Edu 10 "Buster" released Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Debian-based GNU/Linux distribution designed to provide a complete solution for schools and other educational environments. It comes out-of-the-box with all the tools needed to quickly set up a completely configured school network in minutes, allowing users and machines to be easily added via the GOsa² web interface. Debian Edu features the Xfce desktop environment by default and it's perfect for older computers. More

By Morgan Modjeski · CBC News · Provincial and territorial leaders across Canada are in Saskatoon this week Morgan Modjeski/CBC News A banner asking people what they wish they learned in sex ed was on display and could be signed by anyone at an event outside of the Delta Bessborough calling on premiers to invest in better sex education in Canada on Wednesday. Sex education saves lives. That's the message advocates outside of the Council of Confederation tried to deliver to provincial and territorial leaders in Saskatoon on Wednesday. Launched by Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, the #SexEdSavesLives campaign calls on all levels of government to take urgent action, as the group argues sex ed in Canada is "sub-standard, inconsistent, and poorly implemented." More at CBC News

By Ed Cara patchattack (Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)) Many older cats suffer from health problems caused by a hyperactive thyroid, and while there’s no single cause of the condition, hormone-disturbing chemicals in the environment are thought to be an important factor. A new study involving some furry volunteers suggests that these chemicals include fire retardants commonly found in homes. More at Gizmodo

By Pete Evans · CBC News · Gap between legal and illegal varieties as wide as $4.72 per gram, on average Chris Wattie/Reuters A man is shown exiting a store that sells cannabis in St. John's last October, the first day the drug became legal in Canada. Statistics Canada's quarterly report on cannabis prices suggests the cost chasm between legal and illegal versions of the drug is wide, and getting wider. More at CBC News

By Jolanta Burke, The Conversation Shutterstock The going gets tougher. Across the world, schools are introducing programmes aimed at enhancing the well-being of students and helping them flourish. Such programmes aim to teach students how to cultivate positive emotions and relationships, find meaning and feel a sense of achievement in their work—as well as look after their physical and mental health. More at Phys.org

By Hannah Thibedeau · CBC News · Liberal government says it's 'committed to doing everything within its jurisdiction' to stop the practice Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a Pride flag-raising ceremony alongside MP Randy Boissonnault on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 20, 2018. The federal government is reviewing possible reforms to the Criminal Code to address conversion therapy. The federal government is calling on all provincial governments to stop conversion therapy while it considers changes to the Criminal Code to block the practice. More at CBC News

By Simon Dubé, Dave Anctil Shutterstock Advances in sex robots and technologies have applications in health care, education and research. Science fiction films such as Blade Runner (1982), Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Her (2013) explore the advent of human-machine relationships. And in recent years, reality has met fiction. More at The Conversation

By Jessica Deer · CBC News · Environmentally friendly changes made at Kahnawake and Listuguj powwows Jessica Deer/CBC The Echoes of a Proud Nation Pow Wow will sell reusable cutlery to curb the use of single-use plastics. Norton said by the end of the weekend, two dumpsters capable of holding 40 cubic yards of debris each are overflowing. That's about 240 13-gallon trash bags, mostly waste from hungry powwow attendees buying food. More at CBC News

By Yessenia Funes AP ‘Murica! The world has a trash problem, and a new report out Tuesday reminds us just how much Americans contribute. Turns out that while we create the most waste in the world, we’re one of the worst countries at recycling it. More at Earther - Gizmodo

By Kate Cox You don't have to have as many followers as David Beckham to be influential. getty | Thomas Barwick Some voices shout more loudly into the abyss of the Internet than others. Enlarge / Some voices shout more loudly into the abyss of the Internet than others. One of the stranger questions of our modern era: when does being "Internet famous" translate into being, well, actually famous? According to a UK regulator, the magic number is 30,000 followers. More at Ars Technica

By Sylvain Charlebois, Janet Music Shutterstock Don’t shun processed or ultra-processed foods entirely. Not only do they save families time and money, many processed foods have been unfairly maligned and can be nutritious as well as economical and convenient. Ultra-processed foods, a label coined in research by a Brazilian pediatrician, have been targeted as a menace to society for quite some time, mostly by environmental advocates and health professionals. More at The Conversation

By Evan Fraser James Wheeler/Unsplash A double rainbow is seen over blueberry fields in Pitt Meadows, B.C. Canada’s new national food policy is a hopeful step into the future for the country’s agri-food sector. Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada’s agriculture and agrifood minister, recently announced that, after years of consultations, Canada finally has a national food policy. More at The Conversation

By Kaleigh Rogers · CBC News · Developed by researchers in the U.K., Bad News encourages players to create and share propaganda Screengrab/Bad News Bad News players use different tactics, such as stoking fears or playing on polarization, to build credibility and attract more followers, which earns them badges. An online game that tasks players with crafting and distributing propaganda helps them to better detect disinformation after 15 minutes of play, a new study found. More at CBC News