new_otters_raft

Health Minister Marjorie Michel says Canada needs to take action on men’s health, as she launched the first step toward a national strategy today.

The federal government is seeking feedback from people across the country, starting March 2.

Michel says the consultations are important to help the government understand the priorities as it looks to tackle the issues that lead men to poor health outcomes.

Data released by Movember Canada last summer shows men are three times more likely than women to die by suicide, and are less likely to ask doctors for help with a range of symptoms.

Movember has called for Canada to launch such a strategy, and is an independent partner in the work.

Michel made today’s announcement along with colleagues from other political parties, and says the issue is a non-partisan one.

Source: https://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/care-about-stuff/

Excerpt:

In a famous Yes, Prime Minister episode Sir Humphrey Appleby once explained to Bernard Woolley how you could get contradictory polling results on the same topic – in this case the reintroduction of national service – by asking a series of leading questions beforehand and asking the key question you want to know about in a certain way. The clip is here.

But what would happen if we asked Sir Humphrey's questions today? To find out we asked 1,000 British adults the first set of questions that were positive about national service and 1,000 British adults the second set that were negative. Below is a comparison of the results. You can see that it is indeed true that you get different results on the level of support for the reintroduction of national service based on the way you ask the question and the questions you ask before it.

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/yes-prime-minister-questionnaire-design-matters

The intro:

Do you know how you prefer to give and receive love? Do you need words of affirmation? Spending quality time? Acts of service? Gifts? Or physical touch?

Figuring out what your “love language” is has become one of the most successful relationship ideas of the past two decades.

Why? Because the idea is simple, flattering and easy to apply.

Introduced by Gary Chapman, an American Baptist pastor, author and marriage counsellor, in his 1992 book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts, the idea is now a dominant framework in modern relationship advice.

While incredibly popular and often used as a “go-to” tool on first dates, recent research suggests that the idea lacks strong scientific evidence for its central claims.

Instead of scientific theory, love languages function like a culturally appealing system that individualizes relational strain, obscures power and substitutes a checklist for the harder work of understanding how relationships actually function over time.

From Tom Scott's newsletter. The photos:

A wind farm near the Heidu Mountain Scenic Area in Qinghai Province. Weimin Chu

A solar farm in the Daliang Mountains, Sichuan Province. Weimin Chu

A solar farm built on a tidal flat in Xiangshan County, Zhejiang Province. Weimin Chu

Wind turbines near the Gahai Wetland Reserve in Qinghai Province. Weimin Chu

Sheep graze among solar panels in the Tala Desert, Qinghai Province. Weimin Chu

A solar plant in Alxa, Inner Mongolia. Weimin Chu

Wind turbines seen beyond the Ming Dynasty Huguo Temple in Guizhou Province. Weimin Chu

Rooftop solar arrays in Binzhou, Shandong Province. Weimin Chu

A thermal power station in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. Weimin Chu

A wind turbine in the karst mountains of Xingyi, Guizhou Province. Weimin Chu

Excerpt:

Nisku, Alberta, is a long way from the ocean, but that hasn’t stopped Confined Space Robotics (CSR) from contributing to Canada’s national shipbuilding strategy, thanks to a partnership with British Columbia’s Seaspan Shipyards.

On Feb. 12, CSR, which rents, sells, leases, and trains semiautonomous robots designed to replace human labour in confined or dangerous areas, was awarded a $1.5-million contract to develop and deploy abrasive blasting and painting systems at Seaspan’s Vancouver shipyard.

The $1.5 million is part of Seaspan’s commitment as a partner with the federal government’s national shipbuilding strategy, a long-term, multi-billion-dollar program to revitalize Canada’s domestic marine industry. Under the partnership, Seaspan has invested more than $35 million to support research and skills development in the marine industry. Seaspan has so far delivered four ships under the national shipbuilding strategy, with plans to deliver 23.

There are a whole lot of different keyboard solutions on Android, and let's be honest: a lot of the offerings aren't great. While many of them have strengths, I initially struggled in my de-googling of my life to find a keyboard that had everything I wanted with regards to layout, swipe typing, and voice input. What follows is the best method I've been able to come up with (credit to the cowboy-hatted individual who clued in me into FUTO voice).

An excerpt from their writeup:

There are a whole lot of different keyboard solutions on Android, and let's be honest: a lot of the offerings aren't great. While many of them have strengths, I initially struggled in my de-googling of my life to find a keyboard that had everything I wanted with regards to layout, swipe typing, and voice input. What follows is the best method I've been able to come up with (credit to the cowboy-hatted individual who clued in me into FUTO voice).

Please skim the article and authors to get an idea of the message of this piece (and ideally also read it)

Authors:

• Ekaterina Rhodes - Associate Professor, School of Public Administration, University of Victoria
• Megan Egler - Postdoctoral Fellow, Public Administration, University of Victoria
• Rowan Hargreaves - Research Associate, Public Administration, University of Victoria
• Samuel Lloyd - PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology, University of Victoria

An excerpt of the intro:

Fossil fuel-dependent communities in Western Canada sit at the centre of Canada’s energy decisions. A just and inclusive clean energy transition will depend on how well governments listen to these communities and how fast they deal with the forces working to slow down energy decarbonization.

When it comes to the energy transition, public discussion tends to focus on emissions targets and policies to achieve them. These are important, but they’re just one aspect of the issue. In the oil- and gas-producing regions of Western Canada, conversations and concerns centre on livelihoods, identity and a nagging doubt: does anyone in power grasp rural realities?

Our ongoing research across the region — based on large citizen surveys, focus groups with municipal leaders and analysis of disinformation — highlights that emotions, narratives and perspectives of communities sit at the heart of Canada’s energy transition politics. As we mark the United Nation’s International Day of Clean Energy today, these voices demand attention before divides deepen further.

Focus groups with municipal staff from 10 oil- and gas-producing communities in British Columbia and Alberta revealed a delicate balancing act. They’re actively pursuing diversification — geothermal projects, hydrogen pilots, tourism expansion, data centres, manufacturing hubs, even rare-earth mineral processing — but most of these efforts build around, rather than beyond, oil and gas.

For many communities, the industry isn’t just jobs. It’s the economic engine funding hospitals, schools, arenas, roads and the very existence of their towns. Abstract talk of an energy transition can feel threatening when it overlooks this.

Source: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ant