Welcome to Clicks of the Week: November 12 to 19, 2012 Edition!
Clicks of the Week is a weekly round up of news. It used to be Clicks of the Day, but Linda’s life got busy so now it’s a weekly thing. Number of Clicks will be dependent again on the busyness of life that week.
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Edmonton/Alberta/Canada
- Harper warns of consequences if U.S. fails to avoid fiscal cliff
- Formerly homeless Edmontonians getting married, shelter seeks donations
- Keystone XL pipeline concerns resurrected, protesters call on Obama to reject project
- Call to help dozens of pets answered
- Traffic circles proposed as way to deter speeding
- Civilian death toll climbs in Israel-Gaza crisis as world leaders urge ceasefire
- Dolphins shot, mutilated, stabbed along Gulf Coast
- The Petraeus scandal: What we know
- What the hell is China building here?
- Remembering Neft Dashlari, Stalin’s utopian ocean city made from oil and steel
- Can you move it and work it on a treadmill desk?
- Real-life sleeping beauty slept 64 days in a row
- Recruiters post 1.7 million jobs on new Facebook jobs board
- Facebook ‘couples’ pages spark anger and praise
- Nintendo Wii U consoles sold out, alraedy selling for over $500 on eBay
- RIM will pull the covers off its BB10 devices January 30
- Retailers try to keep consumers at home as Black Friday deals come to Canada
- Nose cell transplant enables paralysed dogs to walk
- It’s been nearly 28 years since we have had a colder-than-average month
- ‘Rogue planet’ spotted 100 light-years away
- Belly button bacteria oligarchs dominate our navel’s ecosystem
- Lucasfilm wants to make ‘two or three’ movies a year. That’s a lot of Star Wars.
- The top places to survive the end of the world
- 31 kids who are too clever for their own good
- 34 insanely simple two-ingredient recipes
- Ecuador officials deny donkey the chance to run for office
- A harbor for Akutan, but no road to it
- [Video]: Little girl dresses liker her cat
- [Video]: Cat and doberman bffs
- [Video]: Kittens and ducklings playing together
- [Video]: Red Panda gets surprised
(okay this section is really weak this time around, it’ll be stronger next week).
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper says if President Barack Obama and U.S. lawmakers can’t find a solution to the looming fiscal cliff it could spark other unforeseen economic woes.”
Indeed.
“A year ago they were homeless, sleeping in a parking garage, and preparing for a baby. Today, they have a five-month old child and an apartment of their own. And, they’re planning a wedding. For the first time ever, Youth Empowerment and Support Services (YESS) is hosting a wedding for two clients.”
I LOVE THIS STORY!
“Thousands of environmentalists marched outside the White House on Sunday, armed with banners and signs, chanting and voicing their opposition against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.”
While I worry about the environmental impact, I recognize we need this for, well, basically the world to function.
“Mere moments after the story of Dan Lapotac, and the dozens of pets he had been looking after went to air, Janice Dodd’s phone started ringing, and it hasn’t stopped. “The calls started literally one minute after it went to air, one minute,” Dodds said. Dodds is an animal advocate who took up Lapotac’s cause after hearing about his living conditions. Lapotac has been living in a makeshift tent on the Enoch Cree Nation for four years – while he started with only four cats, the number of pets in his home has grown steadily. Recently, two litters of kittens and another litter of puppies were born, adding up to nearly 50 cats, and eight dogs.”
Local animal story of the week, for sure. I am so happy the Edmonton Emergency Vet Clinic offered to spay/neuter these cats for free and that there’s been a bunch of people calling, hoping to help & adopt. I hope every animal finds their forever home!!
“The city is considering modifying five neighbourhood roads, including adding traffic circles, as a way to discourage speeding and address safety concerns… Plans include adding modified traffic circles, raised crosswalks, curb extension intersections, medians, speed tables and curb extension mid-blocks.”
Way too expensive.
World
“More Palestinian civilians were caught in the line of fire Monday as Israel expanded the scope of its campaign in the Gaza Strip, hitting densely packed areas of the territory with airstrikes. Israel began targeting the Gaza homes of Hamas activists and suspected military commanders over the weekend, bolstering its efforts to stop Hamas rocket fire on the state. The new approach, however, has led to an increased number of civilian casualties as airstrikes devastate more crowded areas of Gaza.”
This violence needs to stop.
“Over the past several months, dolphins have washed ashore along the northern Gulf Coast with bullet wounds, missing jaws and hacked off fins, and federal officials said they are looking into the mysterious deaths. The most recent case was of a dolphin found dead off the coast of Mississippi, its lower jaw missing. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday they’re asking everyone from beachgoers to fishermen to wildlife agents to be on the lookout for injured or dead dolphins — and any unusual interaction between the mammals and people.”
This makes me so sick. If someone is doing this to the dolphins I honestly wish only the very worst things on them. Horrifying.
What a scandal.
“What the hell is this 157m high metal structure in the the city of Fushun, in northeast China’s Liaoning province? It’s made of an astounding 3000 tons of steel and it will glow at night — decorated with 12,000 LED lights. According to Fushun Municipal Government’s officials, this titanic structure does absolutely nothing except serve as an elevated sighting position. They claim it is pretty “landscape architecture” — like the Eiffel Tower. It uses four elevators to take people to the top.”
Hmmmmmm. It definitely does look like an interdimensional portal, lol.
“Shortly after the Second World War, the Soviet Union constructed a massive industrial city-complex in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan. Home to over 5,000 workers, it was an intricate maze of oil platforms linked by hundreds of miles of roads and featuring a park, cinema, and apartment blocks. Called Neft Dashlari, the ocean city is still in use today, but it’ll be only a matter of time before the sea completely consumes it.”
Fascinating!
Health
“As we’ve reported, there’s a backlash brewing to sedentary office life as more people realize how sitting all day can do a body wrong… Take Salo, a financial consulting firm based in Minneapolis. The company has 12 treadmill desks, and encourages walking meetings and a mini-breakaway game — a mixture of pingpong, tennis and a bit of squash. Throughout the day, employees rotate on and off the available treadmill desks.”
Love this… and other ideas to get people moving at the workplace (‘walk and talk meetings’). There should be a push to have these initiatives put in place at al workplaces!!
“This 17-year-old teenager from North Fayette, Pa., has a rare condition called Kleine-Levin Syndrome — or “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome” — that makes her sleep 18 to 19 hours a day. And when she does wake up, she is often so tuckered out that she is in a sleepwalking state and doesn’t remember doing basic things like eating, according to KDKA-TV.”
Wow! Weird.
Technology/Social Media/Internet
“Facebook launched a job-board application, featuring 1.7 million listings from five different recruiting organizations. The new application, a product of the Social Jobs Partnership that Facebook started last year with several public agencies, aggregates jobs that are already available through the separate organizations to give job seekers a central location to look for work. This initial slew of jobs — sorted by industry, location, and skills — comes from BranchOut, DirectEmployers Association, Work4Labs, Jobvite, and Monster.com.”
Oo! That’s interesting.
“The global behemoth of social media has introduced an automatic “couples” page that has triggered the same instant revulsion and joy of its past changes… Facebook introduced the “couples” page last Thursday as “a new look for the Friendship page.” If you and someone you are in a relationship with both list that by name on your status, Facebook has already created a page just for the two of you. To see it, go to www.facebook.com/us. The page collects all of your joint tagged pictures, lists your mutual friends and tracks your shared posts.”
This is stupid.
“One reason some people waited in long lines to be the first to get the new Nintendo Wii U console has nothing to do with the games. With Wii U devices all but guaranteed to be sold out at retailers around the world this Christmas, some buyers immediately put their new consoles on Ebay. Wii Us are already selling for over $500 on the site. There were well over 2,500 consoles listed on the world’s largest auction site just hours after it went on sale on November 18 at the Nintendo World store in New York City and around the globe.”
Some people are evil and greedy!
Business/Work/Economy/Media
“RIM’s BB10 has been a hell of a long time coming. But the company has finally pinned down a launch date for the new OS: it will officially enter into the world on January 30th next year. The new software is pretty much make-or-break for RIM, whose fortunes have been failing of recent time. CEO Thorsten Heins, however, promises great things.”
It will be sad when this fails and then RIM fails.
Bring on the deals!
Environment/Space/Animals/Science
“Scientists have reversed paralysis in dogs after injecting them with cells grown from the lining of their nose. The pets had all suffered spinal injuries which prevented them from using their back legs. The Cambridge University team is cautiously optimistic the technique could eventually have a role in the treatment of human patients.”
That’s fantastic.
“This is the 332nd consecutive month with an above-average temperature.”
#endoftheworldclimate
“Astronomers have spotted a “rogue planet” – wandering the cosmos without a star to orbit – 100 light-years away… One tricky part is determining if rogue planet candidates are as massive as the “failed stars” known as brown dwarfs, further along in stellar evolution but without enough mass to spark the nuclear fusion that causes starlight.”
What a badass planet! ;)
“The Belly Button Biodiversity Project, which explores the bacterial ecosystems living in its participants’ navels, has discovered that a small number of bacterial phylotypes (or “species”) dominate the micro-landscape. The biologists’ results show a “jungle of microbial diversity” with over 2,300 species of bacteria present and only eight of those recurring frequently — a similar diversity distribution to that of tree species in tropical rainforests.”
Something to think about next time you pick your belly button, lol.
Entertainment
“Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Lucas’ anointed successor, Kathleen Kennedy, says that the company wants to produce “two or three films a year”, which aside from the odd Indiana Jones flick certainly suggests we can expect all kinds of Star Wars output over the next decade.”
That’s a lot…
Weird News, Other News, Good News and/or Fluff
Interesting! I wonder how Mike & I (and family & friends) will do when the apocalypse arrives.
“Meet your future statesmen, poets, inventors, and pioneers. Also, scoundrels.”
This is a MUST read!!!! So funny. Brings me much laughter and joy.
“Cooking doesn’t get much easier than this. BTW, these are mostly desserts. I hope you’re OK with that.”
I’m not big on desserts but this is a list worth checking out!
“The demand of dozens of citizens has been denied in the Ecuadorean city of Guayaquil: There will be no jackass running for the legislature. At least 40 people paraded their candidate through the city’s streets to the electoral council offices. Mr. Burro even wore a tie. But officials refused to even let them in the door on Thursday.”
Lol. What’s with people pushing for animals to run for office everywhere?
“Akutan, the Aleutians community with a brand new but so-far unused airport on another island, also has a new harbor but no road connecting it to the town 2 miles away. KUCB reports the harbor was begun by the Army Corps of Engineers with $29 million in federal stimulus money even though the connecting road was likely years in the future.”
#poorplanning
Sooooooooooooooooo precious.
Besties!!!
This is a cute-xplosion.
Poor panda!!!
Thor (and/or Loki) Photo of the Week:
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Linda
