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:
A chatbot within a story quizzes you on whether you should take a genetic test. - Quartz
https://qz.com/1571801/should-you-take-a-23andme-genetic-test/
Put your phone down long enough to read Jia Tolentino’s prescriptive piece on how to put your phone away, if you can stand the anxious break from your anxiety. - The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/what-it-takes-to-put-your-phone-away
An insightful dive into the art world to examine how a chance $1,000 art auction discovery became a $450-million object of attention. - Vulture
https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/salvator-mundi-leonardo-da-vinci.html
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
Research by federal scientists, who collected and analyzed air samples over four major oilsands operations in Alberta in 2013, suggests that companies could be significantly underreporting how much carbon they’re putting into the atmosphere. It’s noted, however, that the difference is likely due not to any dishonesty on the part of oil companies, but to differences in the way the emissions are measured. - CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/oilsands-carbon-emissions-study-1.5106809
It’s not exactly news that Canada’s aging baby boomers are putting an outsized strain on Canada’s social safety net. But this piece is interesting in the way it highlights the burden the problem places on the country’s youngest adults. It quotes University of British Columbia professor Paul Kershaw as arguing that the generational imbalance goes against our national values: “Governments are investing in later life stages at a faster rate than early life stages and doing so on behalf of a group of people who enjoyed more affluence compared to both the old people that preceded them and young people today. That doesn’t fit with the Canadian sense of fairness, and it’s not the kind of legacy my mom wants to leave for her kids and grandkids.” - The Walrus
https://thewalrus.ca/will-the-boomers-cause-a-financial-bust/
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Interesting insights on how increasing regulation of Facebook could affect traditional media companies. - FIPP World
https://www.fipp.com/news/features/facebook-regulation-news-traditional-media-industry
The world's refurbished fleet of marine cargo carriers will be largely sailing on a sea of liquefied natural gas. - Safety4Sea
https://safety4sea.com/60-3-of-the-global-ship-orders-to-be-lng-fueled-vessels-by-2025/
More evidence that major economic slowdowns and trade skirmishes are slowing global trade. - Transport Intelligence Ltd.
How Japan’s First Abdication in 202 Years Will Work … the patriarchy still dominating Japan seems mind-blowing. Royal succession plans for Canada's own monarchy have only caught up to the 21st century very recently. - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-24/japan-emperor-abdication?srnd=politics-vp
One of the most beautiful meditations on aging, the mind and closure I've read, and it all circles back to perhaps the roughest, most vulgar and simultaneously poetic TV series ever produced: HBO's Deadwood. - Vulture
https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/david-milch-deadwood-movie.html
Hayley Woodin, reporter:
The World Economic Forum offers five reasons why infrastructure projects fail and suggests what countries ought to do about it. The report focuses strictly on developing countries, but critics of Canada’s infrastructure management will no doubt find familiar talking points in the WEF’s analysis. - World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/fixing-the-development-finance-funding-gap/
Why the ‘Sell Canada’ story may be wrong. Chief and senior economists at TD discuss the flaws in using FDI data as proof that Canada’s economic competitiveness is deteriorating. The bottom line: governments aren’t necessarily failing to “sell Canada” – net outflows of capital might signal the strength of Canadian investment abroad. - TD Economics
https://economics.td.com/breaking-down-FDI
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change”... Can the ‘Serenity Prayer’ be adapted for business leadership? Hootsuite CEO Ryan Holmes thinks so. Even in an age of AI-powered decision making, Holmes argues embracing a 2,000-year-old expression has value in the 21st century. - LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-adapt-serenity-prayer-business-decision-making-ryan-holmes/
