10 interesting news stories that don't involve covid-19
After more than a year of living in a coronavirus-consumed world, I think we're all sick and tired of news about COVID-19 and vaccine rollout plans.
With world media being constantly bombarded with news related to COVID-19, I thought it would be nice to shed light on a few different news stories that have happened recently. Think of this article as a time capsule of world news in 2021, if you will.
1. Tim’s For Good
Although more than likely a clever PR tactic, Canadian-founded mass restaurant chain Tim Hortons announced their “Tim’s For Good” campaign in April 2021. In a nutshell, the campaign promises that the company will transition to paper straws, 100% recyclable take-away bags and napkins, wooden sticks, and so on. In addition, the campaign vows to develop ‘more sustainable' methods for food sourcing and food waste.
With over 4,000 locations, just in Canada, it’s about time this Canadian mega-corporation got onto the go-green bandwagon.
2. Charles River Acquires Distributed Bio
In January 2021, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. announced the acquisition of a California-based “next-generation antibody discovery company,” Distributed Bio, co-founded by Dr. Jacob Glanville, PhD.
According to Distributed Bio’s website, this acquisition allowed Dr. Glanville to step away from the company in order to focus his research time on “universal vaccines, therapeutic antibodies against COVID-19, and other infectious diseases” at Centivax, a computational engineering research facility also based in California.
According to Centivax’s website, their mission is as follows “Centivax is a therapeutics company founded to create treatments and cures to reduce and eradicate the remaining complex pathogens of the 21st century.”
3. The Top Ten Occupations That Employ the Most People in All of Quebec
1. Retail salespersons
2. Early childhood educators and assistants
3. Administrative assistants
4. Cashiers
5. Retail and wholesale trade managers
6. Light duty cleaners
7. Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations
8. Administrative officers
9. Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses
10. Transport truck drivers
4. Industry Projections for the Future of Quebec's Job Marketing
According to the Government of Quebec, the three industries that they foresee needing the largest amount of workers in the near future are the following:
Health
Construction
Information Technology
5. Wage Changes not the Same for All Young People
In an article published by Statistics Canada in 2013, it was found that younger people are being paid less than they were in 1981, regardless of inflation."[...] in 2012, the median hourly wages of men and women age 17 to 24 were 13% and 8% lower, respectively, than their counterparts in 1981."
6. The Gates Have Closed
Despite appearing to be a seemingly inseparable couple in Netflix's 2019 documentary series, "Inside Bill's Brain," after 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda Gates, of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, publicly announce their filing for divorce.
According to the BBC, the philanthropic Foundation, of which they are both still heavily involved with, will remain operational and will continue towards its global education, health, and climate change initiatives.
7. You Can Now Fly into Space... If You're Rich Enough
What do Elon Musk (Tesla) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) have in common, you ask? Well, they both made a ton of money and privatized space travel. Bezos' company, Blue Origin, is offering one lucky individual the opportunity to climb aboard "New Shepard" (name of one of the spacecraft created by Blue Origin) and fly up into space like an astronaut. The seat available comes at a price: the highest bidder, which basically means, a lot of money! The live auction happens June 12, 2021, so get your credit cards out!
8. Need Assistance? Too bad. Amazon Go Grocery and The A.I. Future of Retail
Amazon, the online superstore, has already opened up two "Amazon Go Grocery" stores in the US, both in the experiment state of Washington.
What makes these grocery stores so special? There are no employees, at all. You pick up the items you need, and the advanced artificial intelligence tech, which is built into the store, identifies the item(s). When you're done, you walk out of the store, and the items are charged automatically to your credit or debit card via the Amazon Go app.
I'm sure there are probably a few employees to help people who are confused with the new technology, however, this could be a window into the future of retail.
9. Battle of The Brands: Second Cup or Starbs?
Second Cup, the lesser-known, direct, Canadian competitor to Starbucks, was recently acquired by Quebec-based brand, Foodtastic.
According to YahooFinance, Foodtastic has plans to expand the Second Cup brand, aggressively, like 130 locations in 36 months, aggressive. Will Second Cup's new parent company create a problem for the social media-friendly Starbucks? I guess we'll see!
10. TAV College Opens its 2nd Campus
This time next year, TAV will have operated out of two buildings for the first time ever. In the spirit of a time capsule, I couldn't help but make the College a piece of this news article! The future is bright for TAV.
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