Since the last update, over two months ago, so much has happened.
On the domestic front, it seems that I ran out of karma points because a series of unfortunate events kept happening to me, including frustratingly bad customer service experiences: I had trouble getting my bag of weekly flyers delivered, after eight long months the contractor finally came to finish the landscaping work in the backyard so I could work (hard) to set up the garden, and then the water heater broke down! Everything was just a big pain in the ass! I ended up so stressed and distressed by the whole ordeal that I forgot to do the accounting and pay the bills! This had never happened to me in fifteen years!
Out of energy !
However, that was not the end of it. Work is usually a real nut house where we have to run around like crazy, doing absurd stuff. Under normal circumstances it is already demoralizing and exhausting. But we had to go at it during a heat wave, for a whole week! We had a few days of respite and then, the air conditioning broke down—for another week! We were working at temperature between 27° C and 30° C, with relative humidity of 50-55% ! If you calculate the humidity factor (the way that it’s normally done on weather channels) it felt like working at temperature between 35° C and nearly 40° C ! (Of course, according to the charts used by management, it was barely over 33° C and we shouldn’t even brake a sweat! For them it was just uncomfortable conditions!). Damn it, we are working in a library, not a sweat shop! Management brought huge fans, but if you move hot air, it is still just hot air — in a very noisy environment.
If it was just working at a desk with a fan in the face it would probably be tolerable, but we are standing up and moving around a lot to serve customers (lending, shelving and processing books, etc.) — contrary to what most people believe it is a very physical work. At my age and with my health I cannot work in such conditions for a long duration. One day, I was tired and feeling dizzy (the head-librarian had already left and a couple of colleagues were not feeling well either) so I decided to also leave work early. We were threatened of “consequences” (disciplinary measures) by management for doing so. We endured for the rest of the week, but, in the end, I couldn’t take it anymore, I was exhausted (completely out of energy), having sore throat, migraine and ear ache, so I took a day off. I just don’t get it: why’s this obstinacy to force employees to work in unbearable conditions? Where is decency and respect of the workers? That’s what upsets me the most: absurd decisions and disrespect… I get it that there is nothing in the labor law (health & security) that prevent work in extreme heat conditions, but it is just common sense and thoughtfulness not to subject your employees to such suffering! Then again, why should I be surprised of such contempt for the workers?
At the same time, I had to deal with some garden theft which became “the sunflowers’ affair” and evolved into a real saga. Finally, as I was ready to blow a gasket, my blood pressure medication was recalled due to contamination with a potential carcinogen (the generic version is made in China, no wonder)! I had trouble at first to get the pharmacy to replace it for free, but now there is a class-action lawsuit being organized…
My mind elsewhere !
Thankfully, there was a few positive events to brighten my mood, like an occasional trip to the botanical garden or the park, Apple announcing their incoming new operating systems (iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 Mojave) or finally being able to finish watching the latest seasons of Poldark and McMafia. Strangely, as I handled all the bad karma with relatively great zen, I managed to write comments on quite a bunch of stuff (books, TV series and movies): The Dark Tower, The Terror, Crapule, American Made, Victoria & Abdul, Un simple monde, Le chat du louvre 1-2, Black Panther, Isabella Bird: femme exploratrice 1-2, Alien Resurrection & Alien: Covenant, Pline 5, Ad Astra 4-5, Justice League, Batman v Superman, Jumanji, Giacomo Foscari 1, Nos yeux fermés, Your name., In this corner of the world, and The Mummy. Fortunately, reading (or alternatively watching TV) and writing (comments, rants or even poetry) is a great help to bring my mind elsewhere!
On the world stage, we saw the usual fires, floods, volcanoes, storms, kids trapped in a cave, a couple of summits (G7 & North Korea), the World Cup, water was found on Mars and each day kept bringing more Trump insanities. If I wouldn’t know better I could think that Trump is the antechrist and that the end of the world is near! But, no, it’s just our daily lives in the 21st century… I just don’t understand: in 1953 the Rosenberg were tried and executed simply for spying for the Soviets; now, some politicians conspired with the Russians to interfere in the U.S. elections, make their own businesses profits, as well as contribute to undermine western democracies and absolutely NO uproar is being made about it? Delirant isti americani !
Through all this I did my best to stay (sane?) acquainted with the affairs of the world and gathered over two hundreds notable news & links — which I now share with you (in both french or english, slightly categorized, but in no particular order — note that, to save on coding time, the links will NOT open in a new window beyond this point), after the jump.
[ Traduire ]
Apple Stuff
- How to Delete Suggested Email Contacts in Mail on iPhone (iPhone Life)
- iPhone might soon offer handwriting recognition (Cult of Mac)
- Turner Classic Movies Launches ‘Watch TCM’ on Apple TV (MacTrast)
- Apple reportedly working on noise-canceling AirPods for 2019 release (The Verge)
- ‘A cellphone taped to someone’s wrist:’ Woman looking at Apple Watch found guilty of distracted driving (National Post) !
- Turner Classic Movies Launches ‘Watch TCM’ tvOS App With Thousands of Classic Films on Demand (MacRumors)
- Apple’s AirPower charging mat rumored to ship in September following ‘technical hurdles’ (The Verge)
- Apple Watch Series 4: Rumored specs, price, release date (CNET)
- Why Apple’s AirPower Wireless Charger Is Taking So Long to Make (Bloomberg)
- iOS 12 beta 2 includes references to new Apple Watch models (9 to 5 Mac)
- New iPhone Leak Reveals Apple’s Nasty Surprise (Forbes)
- Apple’s TV App Gains Live Sports and News in Canada as FIFA World Cup Begins (MacRumors)
- Five of my favorite watchOS 5 features (9 to 5 Mac)
- Apple previews the Apple Books app replacing iBooks on iOS this fall (TechCrunch)
- watchOS 5: Competitions, Workout detection and Siri face heart data push fitness tracking (9 to 5 Mac)
- Get rid of junk hiding in your Mac with just a single click (Mashable)
- WatchOS 5 makes those pricey $10,000 Apple Watch Editions obsolete (Cult of Mac)
- What’s new in macOS 10.13.5: Messages in iCloud (Apple Insider)
- Woman found guilty of distracted driving despite claiming she was checking the time on her Apple Watch (9 to 5 Mac)
- Philips Hue Sync now available for Mac, app syncs lighting to games, videos, and music (9 to 5 Mac)
- Apple hits $1 trillion market cap (CNBC)
- What you need to know about these Apple Watch skin irritation complaints (Wearable, Google)
Books, Culture & Library
- Lecture by Alberto Manguel “Sherlock Holmes in Buenos Aires: Borges & the detective story” (YouTube)
- Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name stripped from book award because of racist themes (CNN)
- Book award drops Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name over her lack of ‘inclusiveness’ (LifeSite)
- Award Drops Wilder’s Name (The Gazette via PressReader)
- ‘Little Women’ resonates 150 years later (The Gazette / The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Why public libraries are still essential in 2018 (Vox)
- Réforme orthographique : 2400 mots changent dès la rentrée scolaire, et adieu l’accent circonflexe (Bescherelletamere.fr)
- Hong Kong rule new Haruki Murakami’s novel ‘indecent’ (Deutsche Welle)
- Drawn & Quarterly’s 2019 Catalog Includes Lynda Barry, Yoshiharu Tsuge, Eleanor Davis, and More (ICv2)
- Comment parler des violences faites aux femmes en littérature? (Le Devoir)
- À la recherche du titre de livre idéal (La Presse)
- The Alternative Nobel: vote opens for a surprising new literature prize (The Guardian)
- The comic book artists that fuelled a century of science innovation (Quartz)
- RIP Harlan Ellison (ICv2)
- La bibliothèque publique comme troisième lieu: vers la démocratisation de la culture? (La Presse / Le Soleil)
- Finland pays tribute to the public library at Venice Biennale 2018 (CNN)
- The borrowers: why Finland’s cities are havens for library lovers (The Guardian)
- Follow Finland’s lead and make libraries the place to be again (The Gazette via PressReader)
- Manga Classics Spun Off from Udon (ICv2) [Reminder: it’s not really a manga if the writer/artist is NOT Japanese!!]
- Revue Les Libraires / #107 Été 2018: Intéressant dossier sur la science-fiction (Link)
- Bonne sieste à la bibliothèque (Le Monde diplomatique, juin 2018)
- Montreal Children’s Library Appeals for Funds (Montreal Times)
- Original Tintin Art Nets Sizable Sum at Auction (ICv2)
- Extension du domaine de la médiation et des heures d’ouverture dans les bibliothèques danoises (Bibliomancienne)
Entertainments & pop culture (geeky stuff)
- RIP Anthony Bourdain (ICv2)
- HBO Orders Pilot for First ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff (ICv2)
- New ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Trailer (ICv2)
- Une généreuse bande-annonce pour le film live Gunnm (Animeland)
- Black Panther’s Shuri is getting a new comic book series (CNN)
- Comic-Con 2018: watch all the must-see movie and TV trailers (Vox)
- Full ‘Doctor Who’ Series 11 Trailer (ICv2)
- ‘Doctor Who: Series 11’ Teaser (ICv2)
- Casting: Dune may have found its Muad’lead, Walking Dead adds a Tony nominee, Westeros vet joins Rim of the World (Syfy)
- A beginner’s guide to Korea’s addictive TV dramas (CNET)
- The 25 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2018 (Esquire)
- That’s a wrap: The 12 best series finales of TV’s current golden age (Chicago Tribune)
- The Netflix Binge Factory (Vulture)
- RIP Anthony Bourdain (ICv2)
- CNN’s Anthony Bourdain dead at 61 (CNN)
- ‘Robotech: The Role Playing Game – The Macross Saga’ (ICv2)
- Common Sense offers the largest independent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for most media (link) !!!
Film Festivals
- Le fisc réclame 499 000$ au Festival des films du monde (Journal de Montreal)
- Ultimatum pour le Festival des films du monde (La Presse)
- Un sursis pour le Festival des films du monde (Le Devoir)
- Revenue Quebec wants Montreal World Film Festival to pay up or shut down (The Gazette)
- Quebec Revenue Department targets Montreal World Film Festival for unpaid taxes (News 1130)
- Montreal film festival faces closure if owner doesn’t pay $500000 in back taxes (CTV)
- FFM sur La Presse (link)
- FFM sur Le Devoir (link)
- MWFF at The Gazette (link)
- Sept fantaisies japonaises au festival Fantasia 2018 (Shomingeki)
- Le FFM peut aller de l’avant, malgré ses dettes (Le Devoir)
- Les sceptiques confondus (Le Devoir)
Health & Environment
- The brain may clean out Alzheimer’s plaques during sleep (Science News)
- How to make your Apple Watch heart rate recordings more accurate (CNET)
- Rappel de plusieurs médicaments contenant du valsartan en raison d’une contamination potentiellement cancérogène (Santé Canada)
- Rappel d’un médicament contre l’hypertension potentiellement cancérigène (TVA, CNN)
- Bull’s-eye rash, swollen knee joints among common symptoms (The Gazette via PressReader)
- Lyme disease cases jump, but infection risk low here (The Gazette via PressReader)
- Carnet santé Québec (Link)
- Parasite that breeds in cats ‘could affect human behaviour when it infects people’ (The Independent)
- Le secret des gens débordés mas pas stressés (La Presse+)
- Coming Tuesday in Quebec: Your digital health file at your fingertips (Montreal Gazette)
- Fitness: Blood, sweat and years – a look at genes, exercise and longevity (Montreal Gazette)
- Make Meditation Part of Your Routine with the Headspace App (iPhone Life)
- Seitan (セイタン) is a wheat gluten; an alternative to soybean-based tofu as meat substitute (Wikipedia)
- Un médicament contaminé prescrit à des millions de Canadiens (Le Devoir)
- While We Sleep, Our Mind Goes on an Amazing Journey (National Geographic)
- Apple Watch detected blood clots, says writer, and now helping him beat diabetes (9 to 5 Mac)
- The psychological effects of a heatwave (The Telegraph)
- Class-action request against drug companies over the drug valsartan (link 1, link 2, RCI, Newswire, The Gazette, CTV)
History & Sciences
- Crown From The Crowd (Link)
- Un rare regard sur l’occupation autochtone de L’Ancienne-Lorette (Le Devoir)
- Underground Lake Found on Mars? Get the Facts (National Geographic)
- Suivez la plus longue éclipse totale de la Lune (Radio-Canada)
- Un grand lac découvert sous la surface de Mars (Le Devoir)
- Scientists Discover Evidence of the First Large Body of Liquid Water on Mars (Wired)
- Un village autochtone découvert sous le centre-ville (La Presse)
- L’homme de Néandertal savait allumer le feu, selon une étude (La Presse)
- Archaeologists opened a mysterious Egyptian sarcophagus. Here’s what they found (USA Today)
- ‘Black Panther’ meets history, and things get complicated (Washington Post)
- The history of a city, as told through its trash (Fast company, Below the surface, catalog)
- The epic story of the map that gave America its name (BBC)
- NASA astronaut Ellison Onizuka’s soccer ball that survived the Challenger explosion (ESPN)
- First confirmed image of the birth of a planet (CNN)
- Archaeologists Find What Could be the Oldest Written Record of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ (Time)
- Rare Coin Sheds Light on Doomed Jewish Rebels (Daily Beast)
- How Easter Island’s statues got their hats: New theory explains a centuries-old mystery (National Post)
- Panama Monkeys Have Begun Using Rocks as Tools (Fortune)
- Hayabusa2 reaches destination asteroid (NHK World)
- Where did Maya culture come from? Archaeologists dig into tangled roots (NBC)
- Cave divers uncover new humanlike species in South Africa (PBS)
- Why the seductress Jezebel, one of the Bible’s greatest villains, talks like a man (National Post)
- Skeleton of Man Crushed by Stone Block Uncovered in Pompeii (Smithsonian)
- Pompeii victim crushed by boulder while fleeing eruption (BBC)
- Skeleton of man fleeing Vesuvius is uncovered by archaeologists at Pompeii site (CNN)
- Weapons reveal how this 5,300-year-old ice mummy lived… and died (CNN)
- Engraved rock could unlock America’s oldest mystery (NY Post)
- Horses Found in Pompeii May Have Been Harnessed to Flee Eruption (National Geographic)
- Headless Pompeii Victim Wasn’t Crushed to Death, After All (National Geographic)
- Communicating science news can be challenging (The Gazette via PressReader)
- Montreal company pioneers carbon-negative concrete (Montreal Gazette)
- Apple Backs a New Joint Venture for Zero-Carbon Aluminum Smelting (Greentech Media, PressReader)
- NASA Mars rover discovers ‘building blocks’ for life: 3-billion-year-old organic matter (USA Today)
- Something Weird Happened to Men 7,000 Years Ago, And We Finally Know Why (Science Alert)
- Cats: Valley of the Ragdolls (Topic)
- Iceman’s last meal was high-fat, high-calorie feast (BBC, Google)
Humour
“a good cartoon is either a great gag or wordplay, or one that I can identify well with…” — me
- Between friends, by Sandra Bell-Lundy, 2018/02/23
- Dilbert, by Scott Adams, 2018/02/23
- Between Friends, by Sandra Bell-Lundy, 2018/02/24
- Rhymes with Orange, by Hilary Price, 2018/02/24
- Foxtrot, by Bill Amend, 2018/02/25
- Non Sequitur, by Wiley, 2018/03/05
- Pearls Before Swine, by Stephan Pastis, 2018/03/18
- Stone Soup, by Jan Eliot, 2018/03/18
- The Other Coast, by Adrian Raeside, 2018/03/24
- Dilbert, by Scott Adams, 2018/03/28
- Non Sequitur, by Wiley, 2018/03/28
- The Other Coast, by Adrian Raeside, 2018/04/05
- Stone Soup, by Jan Eliot, 2018/04/22
- Boris editorial cartoon for The Gazette July 13, 2018
Japan & Japanese popular culture (anime & manga)
- Le Sommet des Dieux (Jirô Taniguchi) adapté en film d’animation (Animeland)
- SDCC Manga Round-Up: It’s Old But It’s Good (ICv2)
- Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke Confirmed for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Verite’ (Variety)
- Netflix Gets ‘Ultraman’ Anime (ICv2)
- Live-Action ‘Gundam’ (ICv2)
- Why ‘Shoplifters’ Director Hirokazu Kore-eda is Cannes’ Favorite (Variety)
- Kurokawa officialise le manga Les Héros de la Galaxie pour juillet (Animeland)
- New Ghost in the Shell Anime Will Have 2 Seasons (ANN)
- Top 10 Manga Franchises: Spring 2018 (ICv2)
- L’éditeur Futuropolis dévoile Le signe des rêves de Naoki Urasawa (Animeland)
- “odaiji ni” (お大事に / おだいじに) means “get well” or “take care” (Wiktionary)
- eManga is Digital Manga, Inc.’s (DMI) own one stop online shop for manga, both digital and physical (formerly Akadot) (link)
Local News
- Plainte de harcèlement contre la mairesse de Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc Extension (La Presse)
- La mairesse de Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension soupçonnée de harcèlement (Radio-Canada)
- La plainte à l’endroit de la mairesse de Villeray abandonnée (TVA)
- La mairesse de Villeray présente ses excuses (JDM)
- « On a peur pour nos enfants » – Coyotes dans Ahuntsic-Cartierville (La Presse+)
- Des BIXI électriques dans les rues de Montréal dès le mois d’août (Le Devoir)
- Un facteur pris la main dans le sac! (iheartradio)
- Un employé de Postes Canada volait les tomates de ses clients (JDM)
- Travailler à la chaleur… attention! (CNESST)
- Info SST: Contraintes thermiques & coup de chaleur (RH VM)
- Guide de réunion sur le risque de coup de chaleur & contrainte thermique (RH VM)
- Le facteur humidex, une surenchère canadienne? (Le Devoir)
- The wrong stuff: Recycling mistakes hurt Montreal’s recuperation rates (Montreal Gazette)
- Lil Tay has disappeared from Instagram and YouTube (The Verge)
- Lil Tay returns, despite ‘troubles,’ with a docuseries (The Verge)
- Frantz Benjamin to run for Liberals in 2018 Quebec election (Globalnews, CTV, The Gazette, La Presse)
- C’est le début d’un nouvel Aéroplan (lien, FAQ)
- Relations de travail: une mairesse d’arrondissement exclue de Projet Montréal (La Presse, HufPost, Le Devoir)
- Borough mayor Giuliana Fumagalli sidelined as Plante orders inquiry (The Gazette, CTV, CBC)
- Irregular or illegal? The fight over what to call the thousands of migrants streaming into Canada (National Post)
- STM struggles to fill bus seats (The Gazette via PressReader) [depending on how they calculate ridership, maybe if they were doing more checks to prevent people from getting in by the rear doors without proper paid fair they would have better stats ?]
- La modulation des tarifs: le nouveau piège d’Hydro-Québec (Le Devoir)
Photo / videography
- Top 7 birdwatching spots in Montreal, chosen by an award-winning photographer (Montreal Gazette)
- Camera+ 2 for iOS Brings New Interface, Photo Library Integration, Raw and Depth Editing, and More (MacRumors)
Politics, Economy & Society (and Trump Insanities!)
- Wipeout! Facebook sheds $100 billion in market value on fears about user growth (USA Today)
- Maria Butina, explained: accused Russian spy tried to sway US politics through NRA (Vox)
- Top Republicans in Congress break with Trump over Putin comments (CNN)
- Thai cave rescue: how the 12 boys finally escaped the cave (Vox)
- U.S. Opposition to Breast-Feeding Resolution Stuns World Health Officials (NYT)
- US threatened nations over breastfeeding resolution (CNN)
- Thailand cave: ‘Zero risks’ to be taken in rescue of boys (BBC)
- I’m Starting to Have Serious Doubts About Amazon Prime (Gizmodo)
- Outraged over Trump’s attack on Trudeau, Canadians call for a U.S. consumer boycott (Global)
- The hemp revival: why marijuana’s cousin could soon be big business |(The Guardian)
- Paul Manafort trial (CNN)
- Trump administration to freeze fuel-efficiency requirements in move likely to spur legal battle with states (Washington Post)
