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Welcome to Tuesday, January 24 2012′s Clicks of the Day!

• More ambulances and staff on its way

“After a Global exclusive on the state of Edmonton’s ambulance system, the province has responded with the announcement of more than a dozen new staff. Minister Fred Horne told Global News Tuesday morning, that effective immediately there will be 2 more ambulances on the road. The province will also hire 17 new staff, including 5 paramedics and 12 Emergency Medical Technicians, (EMTs).”

Excellent news.

• U of A Business Students’ Association alleges student embezzled thousands of dollars

“A University of Alberta student allegedly embezzled more than $27,000 from an undergraduate student association, says an email sent Monday to students in the university’s Faculty of Business.”

Wow that’s bad.

• Megaupload Shutdown Unlikely To Deter Piracy, Analysts Say

“The crackdown on file-sharing site Megaupload is expected to do little to reduce overall piracy of music, software and Hollywood movies, while potentially stifling emerging means of distributing content online.”

Sigh.

• Tokyo sees high quake probability, scientists warn

“Tokyo faces the possibility of being hit by a massive earthquake within the next four years, according to Japanese researchers. The University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute predicts there is a 70% probability that the capital’s metropolitan area will experience a magnitude-7 quake within four years and a 98% probability within the next 30 years.”

That’s really unfortunate. But I’m sure a lot of those kind of disasters are true for many areas of the Earth in the coming years. Lol not to be depressing or anything.

• Earth’s next ice age could be delayed by global warming, research finds

“Carbon emissions being pumped into the atmosphere by humans could delay the world’s next ice age by around 500,000, scientists claim.”

Among many things carbon emissions is affecting.

• Early Success in a Human Embryonic Stem Cell Trial to Treat Blindness

“On July 12, 2011, the scientists injected retinal cells derived from embryonic stem cells into the eyes of two patients suffering from progressive blindness, and the results announced Monday suggest that the treatment has changed their lives… the patients who received the therapy are doing well, showing no signs of adverse effects from the treatment and even reporting small improvements in their vision.”

Fantastic.

• Male sex drive to blame for world wars: scientists

“The male sex drive is to blame for most of the world’s conflicts from football hooliganism to religious disputes and, even, world wars, according to scientists. The “male warrior” instinct means that men are programed to be aggressive towards any-one they view as an outsider, a study says. In evolutionary terms, an instinct for violence against others helped early men improve their status and gain more access to mates, but in modern terms this can trans-late into large-scale wars.”

So the men are to blame… :P

• Extreme picky eaters may join list of mentally ill

“Could picky eaters actually be suffering from a mental illness? “Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder,” or ARFID, is being recommended as a new eating disorder for the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, an influential book used daily by doctors worldwide. ARFID is being defined as an “eating or feeding disturbance” that includes avoiding foods of a particular taste, texture or colour.”

Another reason why Mike should stop being so picky about eating his vegetables!!!

• Apple releases record earnings

“Apple blew away already-high expectations with its first-quarter earnings results, buoyed by strong sales of the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2. In the first full fiscal quarter the company faced without its late co-founder, Steve Jobs, Apple posted a quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and announced it had sold 37 million iPhones and 15 million iPads. Analysts had predicted iPhone sales of around 30 million and iPad sales at a more conservative 13 million.”

Very impressive, Apple!!

• Google wants ability to ‘combine’ your user data

“Google is planning to rewrite its privacy policy to grant it explicit rights to “combine personal information” across multiple products and services, the company said today… It’s unclear exactly what Google can do with user data that it couldn’t do before. Google already can do some of this cross-pollination.”

More and more our privacy is invaded. But we obviously don’t care that much because we’ll still go on using Google and our accounts and the Internet as we do, lol.

• 60 hours of video uploaded a minute, 4bln daily views on YouTube

“Google’s YouTube announced in a blog post that 60 hours of video is uploaded per minute, which is one hour for each second. Also, the video-sharing website receives more than four billion daily views. According to the latest studies, Canadian Internet users are hooked on YouTube. Data from comScore Inc. suggested that 88 percent of Canadians who use the Internet viewed a video online in one month. In that one month, Canadians viewed 3.1 billion videos.”

I actually am not on YouTube very much.

• Pinterest Is Growing Like Gangbusters

“Pinterest is one of the hottest websites around right now… Pinterest was the 60th most-visited website in the US last week, with total visits growing from 10 million to 17 million since the start of the year.”

It is an addicting site to be on. Have you checked mine out? I only have one board right now – wedding ideas!!

• 2012’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries

“A look back at the most memorable events and products from 1987.”

Including Star Trek The Next Generation sets off, RoboCop debuts, Apple registers its “Apple.com”, disposable contact lenses and more!

• New York Shoves Its Way to Top of ‘Rudest Cities’ List

“In the magazine’s America’s Rudest cities poll, New York pushed its way to the top of the 35 cities in the running… New York City, with all its rushed inhabitants, bullied its way to the top of list without so much as a friendly wave to those cities it passed along the way.”

• The list of 84th annual Academy Award nominations

“The nominees for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have been announced, with Martin Scorsese’s Paris adventure “Hugo” leading the pack with 11 nominations.”

Ah the Academy Awards. The list of nominees always makes me feel the urge to watch all of these movies (but I rarely do, lol). Although I may watch Hugo. After all, that is also my nephew’s name! ;)

• [Video]: Cat vs. Alligator

Lol! This cat defends its chicken from an alligator. Very brave!! Haha.

• [Video]: Meowing Munchkin Kitten

Sooooooo cuuuuute!!!!!

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Linda

Welcome to Monday, January 23 2012′s Clicks of the Day!

• Calgary woman in a coma after ‘brutal’ attack while vacationing in Mexico

“A Calgary woman badly beaten in Mexico remains in a coma in a Mazatlan hospital, her family says… At some point in the night, Nabb emerged from her hotel room at the Hotel Riu and went to an elevator, said her uncle, Robert Prosser, from his Kingston, N.S. home. “She was brutally attacked. They found her in the elevator, laying there beaten quite bad. She was unconscious,” Prosser said… Medical staff put her in an induced coma. Bones in her face were shattered, her uncle said.”

Wow. Very scary.

• Media outlets scrambled to report false claim of Paterno’s death

“Hours before legendary football coach Joe Paterno died, some media outlets pounced on an early, inaccurate report and announced that he was dead. The incident highlighted the crucial clash in today’s hyper-competitive news environment: getting it fast versus getting it right.”

Really good, interesting read. False reports can (and do) spread like wildfire nowadays. Gotta verify your sources.

• Facebook’s New… Newsrooms?

“On Sunday, Facebook quietly registered a series of “Facebook Newsroom” domains–a move that seems to signal that Facebook’s entering the media content game in a new way. Three domains were registered, according to Fusible, facebook-newsroom.com, facebook-newsroom.org, and facebook-newsroom.net.”

Intriguing!!!!

• When Newspaper Staffers Don’t Read The Paper

“What would you do if you ran a newspaper and half of your employees didn’t bother to read your product?”

Great discussion. I always tried to read whatever paper I worked for basically front to back (minus the sports and business section, lol. And by “read” typically it would be read the first couple of pages thoroughly and then skim the rest (skim headlines) unless the story intrigues me in some way). Same goes for the TV station. I always try and watch the casts on my days off and if I can get home in time after work. I like seeing the end result of a day’s work no matter how much or how little involvement I had in it. It’s good to know the style of the organization you work for too.

• Chicago Sun Times: Why we will no longer endorse in elections

“What we will not do is endorse candidates. We have come to doubt the value of candidate endorsements by this newspaper or any newspaper, especially in a day when a multitude of information sources allow even a casual voter to be better informed than ever before.”

I never liked that news organizations endorsed candidates in the first place. Completely kicks the whole being unbiased thing in the butt, lol.

• RIM CEOs to step down as BlackBerry maker struggles

“The shake-up comes after Balsillie and Lazaridis showed little sign of being able to stop Silicon Valley powerhouses Apple and Google from gaining ground in remaking the mobile-computing market with devices such as the iPhone and iPad and the Android operating system.”

We’ll see if it helps, lol.

• I see you think I’m not very interesting

  “Would it kill you to leave your cell alone for 30 seconds while we’re together? perhaps you have heard of a new gimmick meant to restore actual human eye contact to meals. Upon arriving at a restaurant, all those who are dining together must place their phones in the middle of the table: the first person to reach for his or her device is obliged to pick up the entire dinner tab.”

  Lol. This would be an interesting social experiment. I think we should be allowed to use our phones to take photos of our food though – at least.

• Bill Would Create School Holiday for Lunar New Year

“In New York, State Senator Daniel L. Squadron and Assemblywoman Grace Meng are calling on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to declare the Lunar New Year a school holiday. The two, both Democrats, said the day was ‘the Asian community’s most important and greatest holiday.’”

I wholeheartedly am behind Lunar New Year being a school holiday! I’m also very happy that the New York Times is referring to the new year as Lunar – as it should be. Thank you NYT!! :)

• Air Canada caught in a ‘cat-22′ over feline passengers

“Air travellers who need to fly with an “emotional support animal” make it impossible for Air Canada to comply fully with a Canadian Transportation Agency ruling to ban cats in the cabin in some aircraft to accommodate customers with severe cat allergies, Canada’s largest airline says. In a recent submission to the government agency overseeing traveller complaints, Air Canada characterizes the situation as one of ‘conflicting ‘disabilities’ between a person with a disability by reason of their allergy to cats and a person with a disability having a cat as an emotional support animal.’

Interesting situation! (But more importantly, how cute is the photo of the cat in the travel bag?! lol).

• Sun hurls geomagnetic storm toward Earth

“The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than six years was forecast to hit Earth’s magnetic field on Tuesday, and it could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said.”

Oo.

• Media Monday Edmonton: Global Edmonton’s Tim Spelliscy on local news ratings

“Still, as far as as news is concerned it was a strong result for Global Edmonton.”

Goooo Global!!!!

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Linda

Welcome to the three-day roundup …

Weekend Edition (January 20, 21, 22) of Clicks of the Day!

(I only do one Clicks of the Day post for the weekends so that I can actually have a weekend, lol. And amount of content will fluctuate depending on how much of a weekend I actually have!)

• Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno dies

“Paterno, a sainted figure at Penn State for almost half a century but scarred forever by the child sex abuse scandal that brought his career to a stunning end, died Sunday at age 85.”

A very sad year for him.

• Mayor continues salary freeze, Leibovici opts for 3.5-per-cent hike, Krushell and Iveson donate $2,500 to donate-a-ride

“Three Edmonton city councillors and the mayor have opted to take a lower raise than allowed for 2012. That’s down from 2011, when eight out of the 13 council members declined some, or all, of the increase. ”

See whenever councillors/the Mayor reject a raise, to me that’s not very impressive because they make so much money already…

• How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work

“Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. ‘The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,’ the executive said. ‘There’s no American plant that can match that.’ … Privately, Apple executives say the world is now such a changed place that it is a mistake to measure a company’s contribution simply by tallying its employees. They say Apple’s success has benefited the economy by empowering entrepreneurs and creating jobs at companies like cellular providers and businesses shipping Apple products. And, ultimately, they say curing unemployment is not their job. ‘We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries,’ a current Apple executive said. ‘We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.’”

Really, really great read.

• RIM Replaces CEOs as it Struggles to Answer Apple

“Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) shook up its top management, replacing co-Chief Executive Officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who guided the BlackBerry maker for two decades and struggled to compete against Apple Inc.”

Probably about time, given how poorly RIM has been performing.

• Could the Internet Ever Be Destroyed?

“The raging battle over SOPA and PIPA, the proposed anti-piracy laws, is looking more and more likely to end in favor of Internet freedom — but it won’t be the last battle of its kind. Although, ethereal as it is, the Internet seems destined to survive in some form or another, experts warn that there are many threats to its status quo existence.”

Leave the Internet alone

• New Definition of Autism Will Exclude Many, Study Suggests

“Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and might make it harder for many people who would no longer meet the criteria to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests… For years, many experts have privately contended that the vagueness of the current criteria for autism and related disorders like Asperger syndrome was contributing to the increase in the rate of diagnoses — which has ballooned to one child in 100, according to some estimates.”

Interesting.

• Obese teen girls more likely to be bullies, says Canadian study

“Obese teens not only make easy targets for bullies, in the case of girls, they’re more likely to turn into bullies themselves, according to the findings of a Canadian study on the social fallout of being overweight.”

Kids and teenagers can be so mean.

• Mapping The Link Between Obesity And Car Driving

“What are you doing when you’re driving? Not exercising, that’s for sure. And in the parts of the country where people drive the most, they also pack on the most pounds.”

Would be interesting to see the Canada map equivalent to this!

• Will Apple’s iBooks Experiment Lower the Price of College Textbooks?

“Will Apple’s expansion into college textbooks help lower prices for cash-strapped students? … The average e-textbook costs 48 percent of a new hard copy and is more expensive than renting or buying used copies, so digital versions aren’t always a deal for students. On the other hand, Allen says, the iAuthor app could become a promising resource for the open-source textbook market… Bringing more players into the marketplace will result in more competition—and that, Allen says, will be ‘the key to driving down prices long-term.’”

I’m sure a lot of people could get behind that! :)

• Work/Life Balance Is A Myth; Here’s What You Can Do About It

“Work-life balance is a myth. That myth compels many of us to view an ideal life as a set of perfectly level scales. On the tray on one side is your personal life. On the other side is your work life. With heroic efforts, you can keep both trays exactly level. If one starts to tip too far, you make some kind of nifty move that balances them again. In reality, that perfect balance almost never occurs, except for those rare, fleeting moments when the trays pass each other on the way up or down–and we’re too frazzled to appreciate that brief moment of self-actualization anyway.”

That work at home ideal does seem like a nice one – good read. Though I think I’m too young to feel overworked and super stressed at this point. I feel my balance is pretty good right now.

• [Video]: Year of the Dragon

“What does the dragon mean for the year ahead in the Chinese zodiac? Aaron McArthur reports.”

Do you know how hard it is to find a story about the new year that doesn’t say Chinese New Year?! Very. So I’m pleased to say this report from Global BC refers to it properly – as the Lunar New Year – and also provides cool insight to what the year is expected to bring and the fact that more families are hoping to give birth during this year because the dragon is the most powerful sign! ;)

• ‘Extinct’ monkeys found in remote Borneo rainforest

“Scientists have discovered a species of monkey that were previously believed to have been extinct.”

Gotta love species who continue to survive :)

• Fuhgeddaboutit: New York accent may be dying out

“The traditional New York accent – where residents pronounce coffee “cawfee” among other things – could be on the wane, it has been claimed.”

Due to negative connections people have with New York accents – thinking they are negative and unfriendly, lol. Funny.

• The best wedding bash for less cash

“There are more options now than ever to have something “different” for the budget conscious, including a smaller restaurant wedding, a unique location or a “weddingmoon” (destination wedding)… But just how little can you get away with spending? “You can pull off a great wedding with as little as $5,000 but you would need to compromise on quite a few things.”

Right now ours is looking to be minimum $20,000 (I mean, food alone is over $10,000…!!)

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Linda

Welcome to Thursday, January 19 2012′s Clicks of the Day!

• Anonymous strikes back after feds shut piracy hub Megaupload

“Anonymous on Thursday took credit for taking down U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and entertainment company websites, following arrests in one of the federal government’s largest anti-piracy crackdowns. Federal agents earlier in the day arrested the leaders of Megaupload.com and shut down the popular hub for illegal media downloads.”

Hm. This tweet from Anonymous sums it up: “Megaupload was taken down w/out SOPA being law. Now imagine what will happen if it passes. The Internet as we know it will end. FIGHT BACK.” :( They government’s not even waiting for SOPA/PIPA to become law. Sheesh. And speaking of SOPA…

• What SOPA means for Canada

“The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261, would have the power to work in Canada, shut-ting down websites for copyright infringement even if they aren’t running afoul of Canadian laws. ‘The goal in many ways of SOPA is to reach beyond the borders of the United States,’ Geist said. ‘It’s Canadian sites and sites around the world that would find themselves a target for these kinds of actions.’”

Blegh. Just bad news all around.

• Cinnamon challenge: dare or dangerous?

“It’s called the “Cinnamon Challenge,” and it’s a task some teens are daring each other to do… Dr. Dan O’Connell says he hasn’t heard any established cases of people dying from the cinnamon challenge, but it can cause you to choke, cough, and vomit. When that happens, the cinnamon can get into your lungs, which is especially dangerous for people with asthma – or for kids.”

Pretty stupid thing for kids and teens to do. Sigh. I hope my kids are never this stupid.

• Renderings released of Edmonton’s proposed downtown arena

“Preliminary interior sketches for Edmonton’s proposed downtown arena were released Thursday afternoon… ICON has collected ideas from other arenas they believe could also be used in Edmonton, such as fan experience zones and historical tribute areas.”

Well I suppose the reduced bowl concert configuration sketch looks pretty cool.

• Google Comes Up Short in Q4 Earnings

“Google has just released its Q4 2011 results, and they didn’t live up to Wall Street’s expectations. Wall Street’s consensus for the quarter was $10.49 in non-GAAP earnings per share and $8.40 billion in revenue. Google missed on both counts, with EPS of $9.50 and net revenue of $8.13 billion. Google shares are down around 10% in after-hours trading.”

Meh. I’m not too worried about Google, lol.

• Kodak files for long-expected Chapter 11 bankruptcy

“Eastman Kodak Co.’s grand days as a vanguard American company, responsible for the millions of photos stuffed in family albums and shoe boxes across the country, seemed far away when the company finally filed for a long-expected bankruptcy. But although many knew that Chapter 11 restructuring was coming for the storied brand — long buckling under competitive and technological pressures and liquidity woes — the announcement still left many in a somber mood.”

It is sad.

• Public wants more news about the economy, but it’s getting more election news instead

“The public’s interest in news about the economy far outreaches media coverage of it for the second week in a row this year, with 20 percent of people surveyed saying it was the story they were following most closely… So why is journalism providing less economic news and more political news than people want?”

Yeah I care more about economic news than political news but I’d say it’s related. We need to be informed about the people who will eventually be leading us, making decisions, investing money in such and such, creating laws, etc. that would (you would think) influence how our economy runs. But of course everyone cares about different kinds of news! That’s what makes the Internet such a great source to find news on topics we know we’re interested in. :)

• Meet the 20,000 new species we discovered in a single year

“Science, discovering a staggering 19,232 species in just one year, including nearly 10,000 new types of insects… Still, it wasn’t all just little stuff. 41 new mammals were discovered in 2009 alone, about half of which were bats and another third were rodents. There were also 133 new frogs, 38 lizards, 31 snakes, and two new turtles.”

Very cool! :) I love hearing about newly discovered species. (That’s the positive side. Then the negative is…) I hope we aren’t responsible for their extinction.

• Federal government puts $1.5 million toward anti-concussion programs

“The federal government on Thursday announced $1.5 million in funding for programs to reduce the frequency and severity of concussions and other brain injuries among children and youth playing sports.”

That’s good. Concussions in sports has been so prevalent in the news this past year, better to invest in preventative measures!

• Kids’ questions parents fear most

“Kids bombard their parents with questions every day on all manner of subjects and now a survey has found the10 most feared by the grown-ups. Top of the list: Why is the moon sometimes out in the day? Others include: will we ever discover aliens? and how do airplanes stay in the air?”

Solid questions. Smart kids :) And yes, we will discover aliens. (Er – they’ll discover us).

• How you’re seen more important than who you are for happy marriage: Study

“A groundbreaking study of long-wed couples finds the personality traits spouses perceive in each other are actually better predictors of marital satisfaction than the ones they perceive in themselves. In other words, it’s not necessarily that you’re conscientious and agreeable but that your partner sees you as such. ‘Perceiving your spouse relatively more positively, and being perceived more positively than you see yourself, are both features of more happily married couples’”

So even if you don’t actually agree with your partner or are totally happy with him/her… as long as he/she thinks you do/are, then it’s all good? lol.

• Study suggests ancient Peruvians ‘ate popcorn’

“A new study suggests that people living along the coast of northern Peru were eating popcorn 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.”

Fun! I wonder what movies they watched too! :)

• Man Marries Dead Girlfriend In Joint Funeral And Wedding Ceremony In Thailand

“A man recently married his deceased girlfriend in a combination funeral and wedding ceremony… The couple had planned to get married in the future, but Yingyuen wanted to focus on his studies before tying the knot… Unfortunately, Kamsook unexpectedly died in an accident before the couple could set a date.”

It’s very sad that she died before they could be married but um, it’s kind of creepy that he married her even though she was dead. Placing a ring on a corpse?! That is weird.

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Linda