In what some may feel to be an ironic twist, the Chinese social media app TIKTOK has introduced screen time limitations for teens and youth that could limit young people to an hour of screen time a day.

TIKTOK is responding to an American study that pegged the teenage use of the app at over two hours/day in the United States, far more than other apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The announcement comes mere days after Canada’s federal government banned the app from all government-issued smartphones, a move quickly copied by the government of Quebec.  The government move was in response to the huge amount of personal data that the app harvests from its users, deemed a potential national security threat not just here, but in other western countries as well.

For what it’s worth, any teen coming up against the one-hour limit can continue with the app by re-inserting their personal password, so it appears that enforcement of these new provisions is basically the pain in the ass involved in having to re-enter your password.  If you can live with that inconvenience, then I guess you’re good to go.

For the remaining family of Kobe Bryant, Tuesday’s settlement of a prominent lawsuit against Los Angeles County adds some degree of closure to one unfortunate aspect of their tragedy:  the existence of first-responder photographs of a helicopter crash scene and the bodies contained therein.

Two of those bodies were that of NBA Hall-of-Famer Bryant, along with his 13 year-old daughter Gianna.  They were travelling to a youth basketball game with seven others when their helicopter went down during poor visibility in January 2020, killing everyone on board.

Kobe’s wife, Vanessa Bryant, and her three remaining daughters agreed to a $28.5 million settlement that included restorative and punitive damages.  

Continue reading “KOBE BRYANT’S FAMILY AGREES TO $28.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT” →

Well, by God, it’s happened.

After kicking the idea around for awhile, the federal government has announced that the app TIKTOK will no longer be allowed on government-issued phones.

Citing national security issues, the government has declared that the Chinese-based app harvests personal data at a rate that has security agencies concerned.  As well, the Canadian government has formed the opinion that ByteDance, the company controlling the app, has deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, and that the app can be used by nefarious actors – read China – to gather information on Canadians that may in turn be used to cultivate leverage in the area of espionage.

This is the second Chinese company literally accused by the Canadian government of being a front for intelligence-gathering operations.  A couple of years ago it was Huawei, the giant Chinese smartphone manufacturer, that was given the red light in its hopes to become the provider of a 5G internet network in Canada.

Like ByteDance, Huawei has been ruled a potential threat to national security, something that has had the company banned from 5G networks in several western countries already.

Wow!  That was fast!

In mid-February, I took two shots at Town Council for the horrendous condition of Argyle Street, how it’s a vehicular menace, and how something should be done to correct years of neglect.

Renfrew Town Council has responded.  Magnificently.  And very timely, as well.

Continue reading “ARGYLE AND LOCHIEL TO BE RECONSTRUCTED” →

Elvis Francois is one lucky dude.

Adrift on the Caribbean Sea for twenty-four days, Elvis managed to survive by eating what he had on hand, some garlic seasoning, some liquid seasoning, and a bottle of ketchup.  I know some people put ketchup on everything they eat, but Elvis has taken that to a new level.

After having been blown off course, it was two weeks before Elvis was scooped out of the drink by the Colombian Navy.

Heinz, the company that produces the famous ketchup, took note of this and wondered where Elvis had ended up after surviving his ordeal.  They wanted to find him, but couldn’t, so they went to their Instagram account to put out a message in a bottle if you will.

Labelling Francois as the Ketchup Boat Guy, or #theketchupboatguy, Heinz enlisted the help of its followers to track down this Caribbean sailor.  After 4.8 million views, and some 4000 likes, Elvis was found, safe and sound in the Dominican Republic.

Heinz wants to buy him a new boat, and he’s thrilled.  There’s no talk as to what kind of boat or anything, but at least Elvis will once again be able to take to the waters of the Caribbean if he chooses, and he will do so in a new craft, bought by #theketchuppeople.

There’s also no word on whether Heinz will lay in a stock of #57 for any future voyages.  At the way this guy goes through ketchup, that could end up being expensive.

Any objective reading of Eastern European history will show Russian attempts to subjugate the Ukrainian people over the years.

For over 500 years, the indomitable Russians have been making efforts to remove any cultural distinctions that may exist between Russia and Ukraine.  The Kremlin argues strenuously to this day that Ukrainians are Russians. 

Language, religion, education, architecture, arts and other cultural sign-posts have been a battleground for half a millennia, ebbing and flowing, flowing and ebbing.

Today, Russia is engaged in a tragic adventure, invading a neighbour once again. This time, as in other times, it’s to save Russians, or Russian-speakers, from the “Nazis” that have taken up residence in Kiev.

Continue reading “UKRAINE: A LEGACY OF GENOCIDE” →

Oh my God, what happened in Vancouver?

Residents of the verdant and breath-taking capital of Western Canada were jolted recently with a smack of snow and ice and some temperatures that will wreck your golf game.

The forecast is no hell either.  Precipitation of varying sorts, dependant upon the temperatures, dependant upon the wind, dependant upon the current, dependant upon God know’s what else, will fall from the sky.  And I know, in Vancouver, it’s “so what?”  

Still, it’s gonna fall from the sky clear through to next Sunday at least, so that might give them some pause.  Not because of huge accumulations of snow, more because of the inconvenience. 

Life can be a real bitch when you don’t have a snow-scraper and there’s a need in the here and now.

That said, people in Vancouver are as Canadian as they come.  Hell, a lot of them probably come from elsewhere in Canada, so they’ve got an idea about how to lean into winter weather.

In Renfrew, we call this kind of weather Tuesday.  Unless it’s Wednesday.  

Weather’s like that.  Hard to put your finger on.

The war took a nasty turn this week when Ukraine successfully applied to UNESCO to have borsch labelled as an authentic Ukrainian dish.  The beet and meat soup, with its distinctive red colour and a flavour to match, is also a staple in Russia, where it’s known as borscht, which is borsch with a “t” at the end.  A Ukrainian cultural dish, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

The Russians, predictably, are furious.

Continue reading “UKRAINE DESIGNATES BORSCH AS A NATIONAL CULTURAL DISH” →

“It’s not easy being green.”

I think it was Kermit the Frog who delivered the famous line, back when he used to have a singing career. But today, in Renfrew, Ontario, those words have particular meaning. Ask anyone utilizing the intersection of O’Brien Road and Innovation Drive here in Renfrew, and they’ll tell you.

There’s a set of lights at this intersection, appropriate given the volume of traffic that passes by and through this spot. Traffic lights make sense of what would otherwise be mayhem, guiding motorists through a place often travelled.

O’Brien, at this point, runs in a north-east/south-west configuration, but it doesn’t matter much which of those two directions you happen to be going, since it’s damned near impossible to tell whether the light is green, white, or just not working properly.

That’s because the green lights don’t shine green. To be blunt, they don’t shine at all. In either direction.

Is it something I can help with? You know, get a couple of buddies together on a Saturday, a case of beer, and change the bulbs on the green lights? I’ve got some Christmas stuff I haven’t used, as green as all giddy-up. I’ll happily scale a ladder and screw them in so people using this intersection have some certainty as to the right of way.

Maybe we can hire students to hold up signs saying GREEN.

I know, a small-beer solution, which is concerning, because that’s the second beer-related reference I’ve made, and it’s Friday night, and am I giving myself away?

Regardless, I know it’s small-potatoes (better reference perhaps) but still, red is red and green is green, and it makes a difference. And if I, a local with razor-sharp vision can’t make sense of it, what are we to do about the half-blind fellow from Shawville trundling through town?

We proceed through intersections because the light is green, not because it’s not red.

We should do something.

Spring is coming!! Well, sort of..

I know I should be careful saying stuff like that, because I don’t want to offend the winter gods.

Did you ever notice that, when you start cleaning your golf clubs, start prepping the patio furniture, do anything that portends the arrival of spring/summer, that you’re going to get a 30 cm hammering of snow the next day to put you back in your place?

Not my intent.

I just wish to point out that the photo above, taken at 5:45 PM, is surely a harbinger of better things to come. I know this because, not long ago, it was dark before 4:30 PM.

An example of a small thing that makes me happy. I’ll bet I’m not alone.