Each week, BIV staff will share with you some of the interesting stories we have found from around the web
Mark Falkenberg, deputy managing editor:
A wave of climate denial mixed with anti-vaccine disinformation and whackjob conspiracy theories like QAnon is spilling over the border from the U.S. Among other things, this could hurt Canadian efforts to defeat the COVID-19 virus. – National Observer
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/01/05/news/climate-denial-other-disinformation-analysis
Canada isn’t doing nearly enough to stop the spread of COVID-19 through indoor air, experts warn. They’re calling for governments to raise standards for ventilation systems in public and private buildings. – Globe and Mail
Timothy Renshaw, managing editor:
While you are trying to figure out how many numbers it would take today to define the United States in the 21st century, you need only six to define the entire universe. Apparently 42 is not one of them. – Science Focus
https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/the-six-numbers-that-define-the-entire-universe/
More good news for shifting transportation into the electric vehicle lane: wireless charging while you drive. – Energy Live News
Jeremy Hainsworth, reporter:
The Night Fire by Michael Connelly. A further murder thriller from the prolific former crime reporter in which detectives Harry Bosch and Renée Ballard investigate the death of a homeless man burned to death in his tent. Meanwhile, Bosch works through the murder file his mentor kept until his death involving the death of a young man in an alley 30 years earlier. Connelly spins a good yarn.
Glen Korstrom, reporter:
On a recent visit to North Vancouver, I started thinking about how long it has been since we had a new bridge that crosses Burrard Inlet, given that the Ironworkers Second Narrows bridge was completed in 1960, and the Lions Gate Bridge opened in 1938.
That made me ponder what the situation would have been like before the Lions Gate Bridge was built. Essentially there had been an older Second Narrows bridge that was built in 1925. It seems that only passenger ferries and boats were used to cross the inlet before that – even though automobiles started to be produced in the 1890s.
All of this prompted me to read this article on the history of North Vancouver ferries. – Scout Magazine
Given that Bitcoin hit an all-time high today, and cracked US$40,000, here's a fun yarn from mid-December about a reporter, who in 2013 (when Bitcoin was worth US$100) embarked on an experiment to try to live for a week by using only Bitcoin in transactions.
She had some extra Bitcoin left over at the end of the week so she used it to treat a bunch of strangers to a free Japanese dinner. The owner of the Japanese restaurant hung onto the Bitcoin through the years, and the price of the dinner had grown to be $200,000. The article appeared less than a month ago, and Bitcoin's value has more than doubled since then. – New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/style/bitcoin.html
Nelson Bennett, reporter:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has banned U.S. President Donald Trump from Facebook and Instagram. In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg explains why. – Mark Zuckerberg
https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10112681480907401
What will the world look like 100 years from now, in 2121? Will there be colonies on Mars, mining and vacation resorts on the moon? Will we have fusion power and humans living past the age of 200? Back in 1921, some folks mused about what 2021 would look like, and some of their predictions were actually quite perspicacious, as this piece in Entrepreneur details. One engineer predicted the regulation of indoor heating through termonstats and another foresaw something akin to audio books. One big fail was the prediction that Mexico would be the world’s next superpower. – Entrepreneur
