Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web.
Kirk LaPointe, publisher/editor-in-chief:
This special report looks at the policies of home ownership, characterizes them as the biggest mistake in the Western world, and examines the options ahead. A summary of its work sets out the problems. – The Economist
As if privacy was something we might keep, this company has pretty much ensured we never have it again. Dystopia lurks. – The New York Times
Here’s a headline you never thought you’d see: How Britain Could Be The Canada of Europe. Seriously, it makes a case. – The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/britain-brexit-canada-model-europe/605224/
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
The City of Vancouver is recommending what it calls the ‘West Side Plus’ option to refurbish the Granville Street bridge, which includes two pedestrian paths and a bike lane. That wailing you hear in the distance is an echo of the epidemic boo-hoo that met the first rollout of bike lanes in Vancouver back in 2009. – Global News
https://globalnews.ca/news/6438311/granville-bridge-upgrade-design/
Catastrophes like Australia’s bush fires are among climate change’s scariest calling cards, but there are subtler manifestations of human-caused global warming. In Wisconsin, some southerly bird species have moved to the state; others that used to live throughout the state’s northern regions have winged it north into Canada, depleting their U.S. numbers. It’s a pattern that is being seen across the continent and around the world. – Audubon.org
https://www.audubon.org/news/some-wisconsin-birds-are-already-moving-canada-due-climate-change
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
Hazards ahead for China-U.S. trade deal Phase 1: informed insights. – Peterson Institute For International Economics
Currently in the running for technical glitch of the year in the category of Botched Translation-World Leaders. – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jan/18/facebook-xi-jinping-mr-shithole
Investment portfolio risk management insights/lessons based on a model structured around when and why hockey coaches pull their goalies and when and why they don't do it enough. Who knew hockey could be so instructive outside the rink? – SSRN
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3132563
Glen Korstrom, reporter:
Interesting investigation into dairy mogul Lino Saputo, his ties with the mob and his attempts to cover them up. – CBC
The curious stance by the U.S. National Archives to blur anti-Trump protest signs in recent rallies so as not to seem to be political is examined in this opinion piece. – Washington Post
I’m still a night owl and I doubt that will ever change. Nonetheless, I read this piece on how to shift into being a morning person. I’ll file this away as an idea for something to do at some point in the future. – New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/smarter-living/night-owl-sleep-guide.html
I don’t fully agree with this opinion piece but it stayed with me as something to reflect on through the week. The Sri Lankan author is very angry at the scarcity of countries he can visit visa-free. He contrasts that with how many countries Canadians can visit, and concludes that global tourism regulations are racist.
He does not include any reference to China, and how its citizens are starting to be the top incoming tourist source for many countries in southeast Asia. – Medium
https://medium.com/@indica/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-tourism-c6ea653b32dc
Nelson Bennett, reporter:
Ignore the climate deniers and alarmists – there is a middle way. So says Ted Nordhaus, who puts forward an ecomodernist view of the climate debate, and argues that prosperity and technology, not degrowth, is the best way to make the transition that is needed to avoid the worst impacts of a warming planet. – Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ignore-the-fake-climate-debate-11579795816
An update to the Montreal Protocol was expected to result in a decrease in hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) – a greenhouse gas that has 3,000 times the global warming potential of CO2. But scientists have found a mysterious spike in HFCs, and they suspect that someone – China or India – could be fudging some numbers when they report on efforts to eliminate HFCs. – Sciencealert
