Drive-by birthday parades and glow-in-the-dark trees
This is the sixth column in a series: “10 Good Things That Happened This Week, at Home and Around the World.” Some of these things relate to the coronavirus and some don’t. But none will make you feel worse than you already do. 1. Champions of common sense rejoice: One space is finally better than two. News emerged recently that Microsoft Word has begun flagging the use of two spaces after a period as an error, officially validating sane people who use only one space.
The two-space-at-the-end-ofa-sentence convention hails from the typewriter era, when extra space was required after a period to indicate to the reader that a sentence had come to an end. On a computer though, one space suffices, which is presumably why Microsoft is rolling out an update to the old convention.
However, if you’re a twospace pedant, don’t worry. According to a Microsoft spokesperson quoted by the technology site, the Verge, “As the crux of the great spacing debate, we know this is a stylistic choice that may not be the preference for all writers, which is why we continue to test with users and enable these suggestions to be easily accepted, ignored, or flat out dismissed in Editor.”
2. They haven’t developed a viable COVID-19 vaccine yet, but here’s a consolation prize: Scientists have found a way to grow plants that glow in the dark. They did this by injecting the DNA of bioluminescent mushrooms into tobacco plants, enabling the plants to glow as the mushrooms do. Not only is this cool, it’s potentially useful. According to the BBC, scientists say, “the new discovery could be used to make renewable glowing trees to replace electric street lights.”
3. Remember the Kenya Ice Lions? The Nairobi-based hockey team whose appearance alongside Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon in a Tim Hortons ad went viral two years ago? According to William Douglas writing in the Color of Hockey (an NHL.com blog that tells the stories of “people of colour in the game”), the Ice Lions are officially “in the process of forming the Kenya Federation of Ice Sports, a body that would be recognized by the Kenyan government to develop hockey, speed skating and figure skating.”
Maybe in better times, we’ll see some Ice Lions at the Olympics.
4. If you were one of many Canadians shocked and saddened to learn that ice dancing duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are not a romantic item, you can take comfort in the news that Virtue is cosying up in quarantine to another elite skater: Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. Virtue and Rielly appeared this week on “Canada’s Great Kitchen Party: Home Edition,” drinking red wine and eating takeout sushi together at home in Vancouver.
5. Axel Scheffler, the man who illustrated the classic children’s picture book, “The Gruffalo,” recently illustrated a new picture book about COVID-19 that aims to help kids understand and cope with life under the virus. “Coronavirus: a Book for Children” is available for free online, in 45 languages. Spoiler alert — it ends on an uplifting note with an illustration of kids playing together beneath the caption: “One day, this strange time will be over.”
6. It already is over, in a sense, for more than one million people around the world who have recovered from the virus, according to data released by Johns Hopkins University.
7. Thanks in no small part to a series of early, decisive measures, New Zealand believes it has nearly eliminated COVID-19 within its borders. Now its prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, hopes to revive the country’s economy, she told reporters this week, “with unity, with fast support, by looking after each other.”
8. A group of firefighters in Charlottetown, P.E.I., surprised residents of a local home for adults with intellectual disabilities with a drive-by birthday parade. Three residents at the home were unable to celebrate their birthdays with friends and family this month because of physical distancing measures. The fire department stepped in to wish them a happy birthday from the safe distance of a decorated fire truck.
“It’s kind of part of the firefighters thing,’ ” Daniel Birt, a member of the fire department, told the CBC. “We’re always looking out for the community.”
9. Several animal welfare organizations across the continent are volunteering to help pet and livestock owners struggling in the COVID-19 economy to pay for supplies like pet food and animal feed. “We know when people are suffering, so are their animals,” Alberta’s SPCA website reads this week. The organization recently launched a program to help Albertans feed their animals. If people can feed their pets, they are far less likely to surrender them to shelters.
10. If you’re at home all the time (and possibly out of a job), you might as well get paid to pleasure yourself. This seems to be the ethos behind a new promotion from U.K. sex toy company, Ricky.
The company is now seeking “Sex Toy Testers” to review its arsenal of vibrators. Testers will get paid 100 pounds ($176 Canadian) to use the vibrators at home and report back to Ricky about the experience. For example, does the toy “deliver targeted stimulation,” and more importantly, is it “ergonomic.” Job benefits include “unlimited orgasms, and flexible working. Do it any time, day or night!” Finally: a coronavirus-era story with a definitive happy ending.