Western New York’s congressman was excited enough about the U.S.-Canada land border reopening in November to fully vaccinated travellers that he spread the news before Homeland Security. On the other side, Ontario restaurants have continued to complain about capacity limits, even threatening “civil disobedience.”
The blasting of Blue Origin
Blue Origin blasted off over a desert in West Texas and returned from the edge of space just over 10 minutes later. “This is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before,” said passenger William Shatner after exiting New Shepard-18. The spaceflight company owned by Jeff Bezos was recently criticized for having an “authoritarian bro culture.”
“Boardroom intrigue builds at Rogers with its share price trailing rivals.” Bloomberg’s headline follows the Globe and Mail story about how telecom scion Edward Rogers tried to oust CEO Joe Natale to replace him with CFO Tony Staffieri. A power struggle with the board of directors ended with Staffieri leaving Rogers and Natale staying.
A tale of old teammates on TV
NHL hockey telecasts finally have a dedicated studio at Rogers HQ for this season, rather than being stationed at the CBC. The return of hockey to ESPN has also raised enthusiasm for stateside audiences, with Mark Messier as studio analyst. A parallel role for Wayne Gretzky on TNT comes in tandem with moving to live with the 100-year-old mother of wife Janet Jones:
High school principal facing cancellation for loving Iron Maiden hung on to her job. Sharon Burns from St. Catharines, Ontario, was the subject of a parent petition accusing her of Satanic practices due to digital enthusiasm for the British band. Her supporters seemed to prevail, although Burns deleted some posts from Instagram.
Finally, afterlife of a dancing GIF
The Hampsterdance originated with a website created in 1998 by Deidre LaCarte, a martial arts instructor and art student from Nanaimo, B.C. Soon enough, it inspired “The Hampsterdance Song,” produced by Toronto dance music act the Boomtang Boys. A new piece ponders its relevance to the present: