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Feb 27 2023

Tie game. Lab leaks. Fediverse Fan.

Feb 27, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
Liberal, Conservative supporters ‘gridlocked’ in voting intentions: poll
Liberal and Conservative voters are again freshly deadlocked in their voting intentions in Canada, new polling released Monday appears to show. [Global]

Matt Gurney: In the wake of the Public Order Emergency Commission, we should talk about policing and security in the National Capital Region. [TVO]
Anita Anand says the Canadian Forces will be receiving new tanks to replace the eight fighting machines sent to Ukraine, and they won't necessarily be Leopard 2 battle tanks. [Global]
Senior national security and political voices are backing an independent inquiry into foreign meddling in Canadian politics after reports of Chinese influence operations. [Global]
From the Provinces
Quebec labour tribunal orders nurses’ union to stop threatening mass resignation
The tribunal ordered the union to stop encouraging mass resignation, calling it an "illegal concerted action, prejudicial to a service to which the population is entitled.'' [Global]

The Alberta NDP is moving its campaign headquarters to downtown Calgary ahead of the expected May 29 provincial vote. [Calgary Herald]
Elsewhere
In a one-line decree, Zelenskyy announced the dismissal of Eduard Moskalyov as commander of the joint forces of Ukraine, which are engaged in battles in the Donbas region. [Global]
COVID and Vaccines
How An Early Warning Radar Could Prevent Future Pandemics
A tool called metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but widespread use faces challenges. [Undark]

A new U.S. government assessment that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab leak in China is sure to add fuel to House oversight hearings into the pandemic's origins and have a bearing on future funding for the National Institutes of Health. [Axios]
Vaccination, infection with SARS-CoV-2 infection and a combination of both provide varying degrees of protection against infection. [Nature]
The causes of long COVID, which disables millions, may come together in the brain and nervous system [SciAm]
Media
The sad truth is that Pierre Poilievre may be right about the CBC
Richard Stursberg: Perhaps it’s time to eliminate CBC's English TV. What is the point in maintaining all of its infrastructure, personnel, and unwatched shows if nobody cares? Perhaps it’s time to try something new. [The Hub]
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced on Feb. 19 that it is testing a monthly subscription service called Meta Verified. [Global]

"The publishers’ suit against the Internet Archive’s library must be recognized for what it is: an attack on all libraries, conveniently aimed at a groundbreaking nonprofit that Big Publishing’s highly-paid lobbyists aggressively mischaracterize as a for-profit Big Tech company." [Press release]
Tech
Mark Mayo: Reasons why decentralization won’t work far outweigh the reasons it might work, but I think the Fediverse gets it right by putting the power where it belongs: with passionate communities and developers building stuff because it’s cool, because it makes their community stronger, more connected.

For the geeks among us ... "Python expert David Mertz presents 24 challenging regex puzzles, their traditional human-made solutions, and the fascinating answers given by Copilot and ChatGPT, all while showing you the skills you need to start getting the results YOU want from these tools. Prepare to be amazed!" [Manning Publications]

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