Welcome to Monday, August 13 2012’s Clicks of the Day!
Clicks of the Day is a daily round up of news posted Sunday through Thursday with quantity and quality of content differing depending on how busy Linda’s day is.
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Edmonton/Alberta/Canada
- Downtown shooting
- Motorcyclist charged with distracted driving
- Taxi strike begins, with little effect to service
- Thousands of Alberta Court of Appeal records accidentally destroyed
- Benefits to big number of bugs
- Journal to outsource printing to new St. Albert facility starting next summer
- Calgary’s food truck owners struggle to go green
- 45% of Canadians unprepared for emergency spending
- 3 dead, including officer, in shooting near Texas university
- Kids pick nutritional Happy Meal when no toy offered with less healthy option: study
- ‘Wealth equals health,’ two new studies suggest
- Study links healthier weight in children with strict laws on school snacks
- Canadians are fatter than they’ll admit: study
- Egg yolks almost as unhealthy as cigarettes: Study
- Google’s doodles: Who’s behind them?
- More iPhone price cuts ahead of new model’s launch
- Huffington Post begins an online TV network
- Yahoo to launch ‘#Hashout’ social talk show
- Tweeting the beat
- Four high-level Facebook officials resign in the past week
- Google to cut 4,000 jobs at Motorola
- Even in this uncertain economy, pets are worth the cost
- Why the cat’s purr is one of zoology’s greatest mysteries
- ‘Severe abnormalities’ found in Fukushima butterflies
- Lost Egyptian pyramids found?
- A new energy source: Major advance made in generating electricity from wastewater
- [VIdeo]: Gotye creates epic new single from YouTube covers
- Last words of Texas death row inmates: a kind of gallows poetry
- [Video]: Cute kitten goes crazy for milk bottle
“Police and Emergency Medical Services personnel are on the scene of a shooting in the downtown area Monday afternoon. Emergency crews were called to the area of 102 Avenue and 113 Street after 4 p.m. CTV News has learned a male had to be treated by paramedics in a parking lot on 113 Street; it’s believed he was shot multiple times. Police have blocked off a half-block area around the scene, and are interviewing multiple witnesses.”
Yikes… Daylight shooting. (I find news really breaks when I’m on days off).
“Police have charged a man in his 40s, after he was caught by officers while texting and driving his motorcycle – before crashing into another vehicle.”
Seriously? Come on. Don’t even attempt that on a motorcycle!!!
“About two dozen unionized taxi drivers parked their cabs, and started up picket lines Monday morning – over expenses imposed by their employer, including a several-thousand dollar collision fine. Teamsters Local 987, the union that represents drivers for Yellow Cab, Barrel Taxi, Checker and Prestige Cabs served notice over the weekend – meaning nearly 800 drivers could eventually go on strike.
However, on Monday morning, most taxi drivers remained on city streets. Union officials said the number of drivers on the picket lines will grow in the coming days.”
Most people unaffected I believe… but I do feel bad for the cabbies – that’s a pretty big fine.
“More than 2,000 Alberta Court of Appeal records were accidentally shredded last year, says a provincial spokeswoman. Boxes containing statements of fact and notice of motions were being transported to the Provincial Archives in Edmonton by Service Alberta when they were destroyed in July 2011, said Michelle Davio, spokeswoman for Alberta Justice. The 2,100 destroyed records were from criminal and civil cases from 1993 to 1995.”
“Whoops.”
“Insect season is in full bloom, but according to experts there are benefits to the big number of bugs. “The vast majority of bugs are either beneficial to us or kind of neutral. The number that are pests are actually amazingly low for their overall populations, but those are the ones we tend to notice,” said Mike Jenkins, biological sciences technician and resident bug expert with the City of Edmonton.”
That may be so but I still hate them/am terrified of them. And I have about 11 mosquito bites (huge welts) on my legs.
“The Journal will outsource the printing of its newspaper starting in 2013, publisher John Connolly announced Sunday. Starting next summer, the print edition of the Journal will be printed at new facilities being built by Great West Newspapers, publisher of the St. Albert Gazette, in St. Albert. The change will provide the Journal with better reproduction, more colour and greater size flexibility for the print edition. It will also result in the closing of the Journal’s Eastgate printing plant and the loss of about 70 full-time jobs.”
My parents have a friend who works at the printing facility. Sad.
“Thousands of Calgarians came to the East Village Aug. 10 for Taste the Trucks, a one-year anniversary celebration of the Food Trucks Pilot Program in Calgary. Twenty different food trucks lined the RiverWalk, filling the air with the tantalizing scents of their specialty fare. But the afternoon was a little less appetizing if you were to go around to the back of the trucks, or along their sides, where gas, propane, or diesel generators vented their emissions. Back there, you’d could catch a medium to massive whiff of exhaust fumes. “It is what it is, I don’t have any other options,” says Aman Adatia, owner of The Naaco Truck, of his propane-powered generator.”
Totally interesting angle to the food truck craze.
“A new poll for one of Canada’s biggest banks reveals many Canadians don’t have a reserve fund set aside to cover unexpected emergency expenses. According to the poll conducted for CIBC, 45 per cent of Canadians have no emergency savings. And if they were to encounter an unplanned expense they would likely have to dip into retirement savings or take on debt in order to cover the shortfall.”
I hear that! (Though I think Mike and I are building a healthy savings. Though a lot of our savings is also going to the wedding, lol)
World
“Three people are dead — a police officer, a male civilian and the suspected gunman — after a shooting near the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, police said Monday afternoon.”
Ugh. Senseless shootings. Stop.
Health
“Children are far more likely to pick a healthier fast-food meal when promotional toys are offered only with those menu options and not with less nutritional fare like burgers, fries and a pop, a study has found.”
As easy as that, eh!
“Two new studies released Monday suggest that the path to optimal health begins with a healthy paycheque. The first study conducted by the Canadian Medical Association found that Canadians who have lower incomes report inferior health status compared to wealthier individuals. The second study found that younger, poorer diabetes patients in Ontario run a higher risk of dying than their richer counterparts, though universal prescription drug coverage may help close the gap.”
More reasons why money can buy you happiness… lol (contribute to your happiness).
“Adolescents in states with strict laws regulating the sale of snacks and sugary drinks in public schools gained less weight over a three-year period than those living in states with no such laws, a new study has found.”
Logical!
“Only one-third of Canadians will admit to being “very” or “somewhat” overweight, despite national statistics that indicate the true proportion of overweight Canadians is approaching double that. In addition, nearly six out of 10 Canadian adults polled think they’re of “average” weight, according to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association. But average weight has been going up in Canada. Experts say the survey highlights how society’s view of what’s considered “normal” body weight is changing. We think a bigger weight is normal, said Dr. Sean Wharton, an internal medicine specialist. “Average probably means to them that they feel that they’re not in the overweight or obese category, but clearly most people are,” Wharton said.”
Oh dear.
“Yolk or smoke — the first is almost as bad for you as the second, London researchers have found. But the egg lobby very much disagrees. When it comes to raising your risk of heart attacks and strokes, eating egg yolks is nearly as bad as smoking, the Western University researchers found. “If you are at risk of heart attack and stroke, you shouldn’t eat egg yolks,” said Dr. David Spence, a Robarts Research Institute scientist.”
:O
Technology/Social Media/Internet
“The occasional artistic “doodles” that replace the Google logo are seen by hundreds of millions of people. But who are the brains behind them? There have been more than 1,000 doodles. They depict both the famous and the less well-known, they feature anniversaries and some more idiosyncratic tributes, and are increasingly becoming interactive and shareable.”
Love the doodles – and how they’re getting more interactive!!
“Various models of Apple’s iPhone continue to see sporadic discounts at retailers, ahead of what is expected to be the announcement of a new model next month. Target is offering the Verizon and AT&T flavors of the iPhone 4S for $179, while Best Buy has shaved $50 off the eight gigabyte iPhone 4, selling that model for just $49. Those price drops join a promotion from Sprint, which is currently selling the iPhone 4S for $149, $50 less than its usual price. Apple stores are also quietly matching prices from these and other retailers, according to a Wall Street Journal story.”
I can’t wait for the new one!! :D
Business/Work/Economy/Media
“The Huffington Post on Monday began what it hopes will be a never-ending news talk show on the Internet, HuffPost Live. The online network is one of the most ambitious attempts yet to rethink what television should look and feel like when streamed over the Internet. Accordingly, a chat box took up the same amount of space as the live video, and a bright red button labeled “join this segment” let viewers sign up to participate through their own webcams. The segments themselves, at least initially, did not stray much from a TV script. The first hour, from 10 to 11 a.m. Eastern time, was dominated by talk about the presidential race and about the actress Jennifer Aniston’s engagement to the actor Justin Theroux. But the people talking were a mixture of paid hosts and unpaid viewers at home. “Continue commenting!” a host encouraged chatters at the end of the first hour. “We love it, love it, love it.””
It’s really, really interesting.
“Yahoo unveiled plans for an upcoming web-streamed talk show Monday that will feature a high profile cast of panelists. Dubbed “#HashOut,” the program — which bills itself as the first talk show to be conducted over social media — will go live later this month, according to its homepage.”
Sounds a lot like Huffington Post Live, lol. This is TV on the web, people. It’s happening!
“Yesterday was a relatively quiet day in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, judging from the calls that came over the police radio scanner. A man fell out of a car at a Target and began twitching. A kid pulled a fire alarm at Washington School. Another man had a choking episode in a restaurant. All these were posted by the Twitter account @SheboyganScan, which since 2009 has been tirelessly documenting police radio chatter in the Eastern Wisconsin town of about 50,000 people. The New Inquiry caught up with the anonymous Sheboygan citizen who tracks the seedy side of their town in 140-character bulletins.”
Fascinating!
“Facebook has confirmed that four high-ranking managers are moving on from the company, news that will fuel speculation that the social networking giant may suffer a talent drain in the wake of its IPO.”
Hmmmm.
“Google is cutting about 4,000 jobs at its Motorola Mobility cellphone business and will close or consolidate about one-third of its 90 locations.”
Sigh, job loss. :(
“According to a new survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the number of dogs kept as pets in the U.S. has fallen by 2 million since 2006, the last time the survey was done; the number of pet cats has fallen even more sharply, by 7.6 million. Americans aren’t abandoning the pets they already own; they’re just not as quick to adopt new pets when their old ones die. Karen Felsted, the Texas vet who reported the results of the survey at the group’s annual meeting, says the problem is “clearly the economy,” according to USA Today.”
My Thor and Loki are worth every penny!
Environment/Space/Animals/Science
“It’s probably one of the most comforting sounds in the world if you like cats. A purr feels like the essence of contentment, but it also sounds downright weird. How do cats make this perfect vibration sound for minutes on end? After decades of study, nobody knows for sure. But there are a few things we do know about purring.”
So interesting. I love when Thor & Loki Purrrrr!
“Exposure to radioactive material released into the environment has caused mutations in butterflies found in Japan, a study suggests. Scientists found an increase in leg, antennae and wing shape mutations among butterflies collected following the 2011 Fukushima accident. By comparing mutations found on the butterflies collected from the different sites, the team found that areas with greater amounts of radiation in the environment were home to butterflies with much smaller wings and irregularly developed eyes.”
This makes me so sad.
“Two possible pyramid complexes might have been found in Egypt, according to a Google Earth satellite imagery survey. Located about 90 miles apart, the sites contain unusual grouping of mounds with intriguing features and orientations, said satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol of Maiden, N.C.”
Way cool!
“Engineers at Oregon State University have made a breakthrough in the performance of microbial fuel cells that can produce electricity directly from wastewater, opening the door to a future in which waste treatment plants not only will power themselves, but will sell excess electricity.”
Interesting!
Entertainment
“Gotye calls it “Somebodies,” and it’s just as annoyingly awesome as the original. He’s one of the first artists to take covers of their own song, and create new music. Talk about crowd-sourcing talent.”
Love it!!!
Weird News, Other News, Good News & Fluff
““Y’all do understand that I came here a sinner and leaving a saint,” he said. “Take me home, Jesus, take me home, Lord, take me home, Lord. I ain’t left yet, must be a miracle. I am a miracle. I see you, Rich. Don’t cry, son, don’t cry, baby. I love y’all. I’m ready.” Then Wilson was dead, the seventh inmate executed in the state this year and the latest in a long line of convicts whose last words have been preserved for posterity by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.”
Really interesting/sad read.
“In this adorable YouTube video, a little kitten goes “ballistic” when its introduced to a bottle full of milk.”
Sooooo cute!
Thor (and/or Loki) Photo of the Day:
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Linda
