otter

If you want more marine mammal content but from the PNW side of things, !marinemammalrescue@lemmy.ca

I've heard good things from others so far, anything to be concerned about with them?

From their about page:

It began on Kits Beach in Vancouver, Canada. Three friends launched a mission to create a better way to help people see.

We've served over 1 million customers since 2018, proving that premium eyecare can be convenient, fast, and affordable.

KITS offers a rich selection of premium eyecare products: our own KITS brand as well as a large, curated portfolio of designer frames and contacts.

We prioritize our customers above all else. We are obsessed with the quality of our products and your KITS experience.

KITS is vertically integrated, lean and local. This enables us to make premium eyecare affordable, convenient, and fast.

KITS is proudly Canadian - owned and operated. Our modern optical lab in Vancouver is where we craft our lenses and tailor glasses to customer's prescription.

Disclaimer: The newsletters are put out by an investment management company. I'm sharing as the content may be helpful, but note the potential bias. More links:

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealthsimple
• Newsletter homepage: https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/learn/tldr-newsletter-signup

Author: Mark Winfield, Professor, Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has justified his early election call on the need to respond to United States President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports.

While the threat of tariffs on all Canadian imports has been paused — although Trump has since slapped levies on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. — Ontario voters need to reflect more than ever on the province’s circumstances and the performance of its government as they prepare to head to the polls next week.

The Ford government’s approach to the environment and climate change, as well as its policies on a range of other issues like housing, health care and education, is best understood in the context of its overall “market populist” approach to governance.

Several defining features of this model have emerged over the past six and a half years under Ford’s rule.

Authors:

• Rosanna Carver, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Victoria
• Natache Iilonga, Researcher, School of Environmental Science, University of Victoria

In September 2025, Namibia will host the Global African Hydrogen Summit. The Namibian government has ambitions to turn the country into a leading producer of green hydrogen for export to markets in Europe and elsewhere. However, the lands and waters now regarded as being essential to Europe’s energy transition are tied to traumatic memories of colonial violence; especially the ocean, which is the final resting place for thousands of Namibians.

As countries around the world transition to renewable energy, an inconspicuous peninsula in Namibia known as Shark Island is positioned to play a key role in the production of so-called “green” hydrogen, which is a proposed alternative to fossil fuels.

However, the peninsula and its waters are at risk of being compromised by proposed port expansions to support the transportation of green hydrogen. Shark Island, near the town of Lüderitz, is now a campsite for tourists.

But Shark Island is also called Death Island, and it was a concentration camp and a site of genocide during German colonial rule from 1884 to 1915. The concentration camp has since been destroyed, leaving little evidence of the violence that occurred there. However, recent international investigations highlight what many Namibians have known and worked on for generations.

Authors:

• Marshia Akbar, Director of the BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab and Research Lead on Labour Migration at the CERC Migration and Integration Program at TMU, Toronto Metropolitan University
• Anna Triandafyllidou, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration, Toronto Metropolitan University

Recent immigration reforms in Canada have cut international student and temporary resident numbers, restricted work permits for them and their spouses and aim to reduce permanent resident admissions by 21 per cent in 2025, with further cuts ahead.

Such changes are aimed to avoid competition with local unemployed Canadians at a time of rising unemployment. However, these changes may eventually intensify dysfunctions in the Canadian labour market.

With an overall unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent and a youth unemployment rate of 13.6 per cent alongside a worsening housing crisis, these policies reflect growing pressures.

However, blaming newcomers — particularly international students and their spouses — for job shortages overlooks deeper structural issues in the labour market. Canada’s labour market struggles are not caused by the number of newcomers, but by systemic issues such as underemployment and skills-job mismatches.

A chart:

While rising unemployment is affecting everyone, newcomers have been hit especially hard. In 2024, the unemployment rate for immigrants hit 11 per cent — more than double the 5.6 per cent rate for Canadian-born workers.

Author: Jörg Broschek, Professor and Laurier Research Chair, Political Science, Wilfrid Laurier University

As United States President Donald Trump continues to threaten Canada’s economic and political sovereignty, some observers have floated the idea of Canada becoming a member of the European Union.

Since there is no feasible pathway to EU membership in the short term, current efforts rightly focus on strengthening Canada’s existing trade relationships, most notably through the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

But something else is often overlooked: Canada should also learn from the EU how to cope with the monumental challenges ahead. Europe is not only less vulnerable than Canada due to its geographic position and economic power, it’s also more resilient.

from newsletter:

Have you ever found your mind wandering while watching a show or a movie as you become distracted once again by your smartphone? I confess it happens to me too often, requiring me to rewind to figure out what I missed — when what I should do is simply turn off my phone.

But Netflix apparently knows that most of us find it impossible to pay close attention when our phones are nearby. So the streaming giant is creating what are known as second-screen shows with distracted viewers in mind.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Daphne Rena Idiz of the University of Toronto delves into research she’s conducted on how Netflix shapes screen production in Europe, a region where the streaming giant has invested billions in original content. And, astonishingly, producers there have been told by Netflix executives to make shows that the audience can follow without looking at the screen.

She concludes: “The next time you’re watching a Netflix show and feel the urge to scroll during another repetitive voice-over, the question is: Are some shows written like this because the audience is disengaged, or is the audience disengaged because shows are written like this?”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/38021492

via https://mastodon.nl/users/Jigsaw_You/statuses/114018619621784503

Obligatory BAN X in Europe!