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What are we reading? June 21, 2018

Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web. Kirk LaPointe, editor-in-chief, vice-president of Glacier Media: There are logistic marvels in overnight shipping. Really - Quartz https://qz.
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Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.

Kirk LaPointe, editor-in-chief, vice-president of Glacier Media:

There are logistic marvels in overnight shipping. Really - Quartz
https://qz.com/email/quartz-obsession/1310101/

We’d like to think we have plenty of workplace friendships. But face it, some of them are complicated. A guide to make them less so – The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/smarter-living/why-office-friendships-can-feel-so-awkward.html

Improvisational comedy is often anything but funny, and almost never better than the scripted version, but it’s not all awful -  Reason

http://reason.com/archives/2018/06/09/improv-isnt-totally-terrible/print

For thousands of our readers with tickets to their show later this year, a critical understanding of the surprise Beyonce/Jay-Z album – Pitchfork

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-carters-everything-is-love/

Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:

Forecasting the fate of Facebook’s first print magazine: Grow: cannabis horticultural magazine - FIPP

https://www.fipp.com/news/features/facebook-first-print-magazine-grow

Report: Alaska National Wildlife Refuge might not be a refuge much longer - U.S. Energy Information Administration

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36472&src

Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:

Donald Trump’s nascent trade misadventure with China summons this assessment from British political economist Philippe Legrain: “For all his bragging about his negotiating skills, Trump is a bungling amateur. He has opted for a solo fight against a smarter, more patient, and more resilient adversary.” – Foreign Policy

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/13/why-china-will-win-the-trade-war/

U.S. writer Mark Sumner riffs on the Foreign Policy story – Daily Kos

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/6/20/1773805/--Bungling-amateur-Trump-has-started-a-trade-war-without-understating-trade-or-war-or-China

 

Glen Korstrom, reporter:

The B.C. government contracted lawyer Mark Hicken last year to provide recommendations on how the government should reform liquor policy in the province. He filed the report on April 30 but the government only released the report on June 21

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/employment-business-and-economic-development/business-management/liquor-regulation-licensing/documents/business_technical_advisory_panel_report_recommendations.pdf

Longer feature on Canadian luxury retailer Holt Renfrew and its newly announced $400 million plan to expand and upgrade its stores - Retail Insider

https://www.retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2018/6/holt-renfrew-400-million-investment-canada-expansion-renovation

Interesting feature, told largely as an infographic, showing 10 banknotes from around the world and their security features - Visual Capitalist

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/10-banknotes-around-world-security-features/

 

Emma Crawford Hampel, online editor:

The World Health Organization has classified gaming disorder as a mental health condition. “Though behavioural addictions like gaming, gambling or sex can be less physically debilitating than similar addictions to drugs or alcohol, their impact can be no less severe.” This piece by Emily Reynolds looks at a treatment centre in the U.K. that has seen a jump in the number of patients looking to be treated for gaming addiction - The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/jun/18/truth-gaming-addiction-world-health-organization-disorder-games

Sounds like a bad TV movie: A man from Paraguay returned home from a few days away to find his family holding a wake -- for him - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44532466

Nelson Bennett, reporter:

Germany on track to miss its 2020 climate targets by a wide margin – Clean Energy Wire

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-track-widely-miss-2020-climate-target-government

Americans think 39% of what they read in mainstream media is misinformation, 65% for social media - Poynter

https://www.poynter.org/news/americans-believe-two-thirds-news-social-media-misinformation

Air India – the Canadian conspiracy theory that just won’t die – National Post

http://nationalpost.com/opinion/terry-glavin-on-the-anniversary-of-our-worst-terror-attack-a-conspiracy-theory-that-wont-die

Carrie Schmidt, editorial researcher:

“No one can say if baobabs have died off in this way in centuries past; these trees decay very quickly, and leave few traces behind. ‘But when around 70 per cent of your 1,500 to 2,000-year-old trees died within 12 years, it certainly is not normal’” – The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/

Albert Van Santvoort, reporter:

Starting off with something very light, here are some fun facts about everyone’s favorite semi-Canadian childhood author, Robert Munsch - CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/books/70-amazing-facts-about-robert-munsch-1.4093534

In a new column series the economists is looking at the shortcomings of economists. This edition looks at how little economists know about growth and the few facts they have about its causes – The Economist

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/04/12/economists-understand-little-about-the-causes-of-growth?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/economistsunderstandlittleaboutthecausesofgrowthfreeexchangerootandbranch

Non-compete clauses are prevalent throughout the corporate world, yet they don’t conform to the principles of open markets that businesses champion. In this piece, the economists looks at the negative implications of the non-compete clause and explore what it’s demise would mean for the economy – The Economist

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/05/19/the-case-against-non-compete-clauses