Here’s a little bit of music psychology. Studies on the power of opinion have found that you are more likely to say that you like a song if you know other people like it. Here’s a sample of one of those studies from Columbia University.
They found 14,000 individual people to sample downloads of 48 unknown songs, tracks no one in the study had ever heard before. And this is important: everyone could see what everyone else was downloading. When all the results were tallied up, there was broad agreement about which songs were best, and it seems that the quality of the music had nothing to do with it. It was all about what other people said they liked as they sought validation for their choices.
It’s a complete bandwagon effect, a herd mentality. Weird, huh? But somehow, deep down inside, you probably knew that.
If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember the old-style non-digital jukebox. They used to be in bars and restaurants everywhere. It was usually a big metal-and-plastic-and-glass box more than half the size of a refrigerator, made by companies with names like Wurlitzer and Seeburg, that was essentially a coin-operated record player.
A typical jukebox could hold (at most) a couple hundred seven-inch singles. A single play of a song used to cost a nickel, then a dime and maybe three for a quarter. They were big, clunky, needed lots of servicing, and really didn’t sound all that good because the speakers tended to be terrible and could only reproduce music in mono. But in the era before personal music devices, they were tremendously popular, responsible for millions of dollars in revenue for operators, record labels and publishers. For example, the first music charts were largely based on the number of jukebox plays a record got.
Now these old machines are highly collectible and often sell for thousands upon thousands of dollars.
The history of consumer electronics is littered with devices that just didn’t make it. This is one of the most obscure ones I’ve ever heard of.
Back in 1964, while the world was just getting into 8-tracks and cassettes, Sanyo came out with something called the Micro-Pack. This was a portable tape machine that used a cartridge featuring a continuous loop of tape that was somewhere between an 8-track and a cassette. It was never meant for music. No pre-recorded music was ever released in this format. Instead, it was marketed as an “audio camera,” something that could be used to capture things like a baby’s first words, speeches and letters that were spoken instead of written.
Unfortunately, audio quality was horrible, and outside of a few units that were sold in Japan, the Sanyo Micro-Pack died a very quick and deserved death.
If you know anything about Josh and the guys in Queens of the Stone Age, you’ll know that they have a quirky sense of humour.
When it came to promoting their Villains album, they decided to enlist some butcher shops. For reasons known only to the band, they printed up their own custom brand of Queens of the Stone Age butcher shop paper—as in the stuff you use to wrap meat. Fans were able to get their steaks, chicken, sausages, fish or whatever wrapped in paper featuring the Queen’s logo and illustrations based on the Villains album artwork. The participating shops were located in Chapel Hill, Nashville, New Orleans, Brooklyn, Washington DC, Denver, Austin and Los Angeles.
We have no idea why, other than it got people talking. In that case, mission accomplished, right?
Travellers are seen at U.S. Departures at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Montreal on Wednesday, March 18, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
A traffic controller was reportedly struck by an aircraft that was backing up on a runway at Montreal’s International Airport.
He is now in a life-threatening condition at the hospital.
Emergency services were reportedly called to the scene around 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
Officers and crime scene investigators are on site to determine the causes of the accident.
The Montreal Police Service confirmed to The Canadian Press that the case will be transferred to the Commission on Standards, Equity, Health, and Safety at Work, as it is a workplace accident.
A Vancouver Island diver can now check-off a bucket-list item after a face-to-face encounter with a giant shark. After the initial shock, Carl Sorensen hit record on his camera. As Kylie Stanton reports, not only did he survive, he has quite the tale to tell.
Vancouver Island diver Carl Sorenson was on the lookout for octopus, a sight he encounters regularly, when he came across something very unexpected.
“This shark was about five feet away and coming at me with its mouth open,” Sorenson told Global News.
“I started screaming in my regulator and then I realized you got to get your camera on, so I hit record right away.”
Sorenson managed to capture a massive bluntnose sixgill shark, getting close enough for it to bounce off his camera gear.
He stayed with the shark for about three minutes before it made its way out to deeper water.
“It wasn’t on my bingo card that day,” he said. “I’ve got about 1,200 dives all around Vancouver Island and I have never seen a sixgill shark.
“It’s just a very rare thing for us to see here and that’s why it’s at the top of every diver’s bucket list.”
The bluntnose sixgill shark is a large deep-water species and while they are not uncommon in B.C. waters, seeing them at a recreational diving depth is.
Sorenson said it may have come into the shallow waters at the Madrona Diving Site near Parksville to mate or to give birth.
He said they also could have come to find octopus, just like he was looking for.
“Because they eat octopus and I was in an area with a lot of octopus, so maybe that was also a part of why it was there as well,” he added.
He was confident the shark wasn’t going to enjoy him as a snack.
“When it came at me with its mouth open, it definitely wasn’t in an aggressive way,” he added.
“It was very slow and gentle and moving methodically.”
Sorenson said the video he posted has received lots of excitement and comments online.
“It’s going to be hard to top that for a while,” he said.
WATCH: After a summer of floods, EPCOR and the City of Edmonton are looking at accelerating storm-water system improvements — part of a 20-year, $1.6-billion flood resilience plan. Joel Gotlib reports.
The summer of 2026 will be remembered for record-breaking rainfalls and multiple storms a week throughout June and July.
Close to a month since the onslaught of extreme weather calmed down, city-owned utility provider EPCOR provided a verbal update to the City of Edmonton’s utility committee about how it managed its response to the series of floods and other issues that emerged during the storms.
“I think the biggest takeaway from today was around communication and transparency,” said Keren Tang, city councillor for Ward Karhiio.
Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack agreed.
“It’s better to over-communicate in situations where you’re getting things like unprecedented weather, than to under-communicate and leave people feeling like they have to try and seek out that information,” Knack said.
On Monday, EPCOR said the July storms were unique and extreme in nature, straining infrastructure with minimal recovery time between storms.
According to Environment Canada, the city received more than 500 mm of rain over June and July — the highest volume in decades.
Multiple storms a week left the groundwater table so saturated that it stopped absorbing, sending more runoff than normal into the storm-water system — which then struggled to keep up.
The weather highlighted weaknesses in Edmonton’s aging storm-water network.
Last month, Knack admitted flood resiliency should have been started decades earlier as what used to be one-in-100-year floods are now more like one-in-10-year floods.
“A lot of our infrastructure held up the way we had envisioned it to,” Knack said on Monday. “Obviously there’s still more work to do.
“Not every area held up the way we wanted it to.”
Scores of homes in the city sustained water damage from sewage backups or overland flooding.
Major roads like Whitemud Drive, Yellowhead Trail, Groat Road and the interchange of Connors Road and the Low Level Bridge also turned into rivers and lakes.
The interchange of Connors Road, Scona Road and 98 Avenue was shut down due to massive flooding from an afternoon storm in Edmonton on Monday, July 27, 2026.
Courtesy: Seth Germsheid
“We’re going to look closely at our infrastructure and those cases, and see how over time we can make improvements to help mitigate those risks,” said Craig Bonneville, vice-president of planning, projects and engineering at EPCOR.
EPCOR and the city are looking at accelerating work on Edmonton’s storm-water system improvements, which is part of a 20-year, $1.6-billion storm-water resilience plan to upgrade infrastructure and minimize the flood risk.
The plan, launched in 2019, is now in its seventh year.
“It doesn’t happen overnight, it does take time to implement,” Tang said. “So if we want to implement all in one go, there’s huge financial, huge community impact that we have to keep in mind.”
The effects of the July storms took a heavy toll on several northwest Edmonton neighbourhoods, where a major road in and out of the area was washed away.
The July rains caused Horseshoe Creek to overflow and erode the banks around its culvert, leading to a stretch of 137 Avenue crumbling into the deep trench created by the floodwaters.
Heavy rainfall in July 2026 caused Horseshoe Creek to overflow in northwest Edmonton, leading to a stretch of 137 Avenue being washed away.
“As a utility ratepayer, you assume Epcor will step up and do the right thing — and in my opinion, they didn’t do that,” said Raf Tenderenda with the Big Lake Community League.
The road remains closed because of the washout, limiting access to the Starling and Hawks Ridge communities.
“Now we’re king of thinking, is the road going to be closed for the whole year? That’s kind of frustrating to see, the lack of action in the last two months — let alone the last two years.”
Bonneville said the nature of the storm events Edmonton experienced were unpredictable — and to a degree, unprecedented — and simply overwhelmed the existing infrastructure in Big Lake.
The city has spent about $350 million so far on flood resiliency projects, including dry ponds and maintenance work on pipes and manholes.
A file photo of a black bear in the grass. Conservation officers are looking for a bear that swiped at a man's leg in North Vancouver on Monday morning.
Danita Delimont / Getty Images
A man was injured by a black bear in North Vancouver on Monday morning, according to the Conservation Officer Service.
Officers are advising the public to avoid the Richard Juryn trail network in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve after a man, walking by himself, encountered a bear along the Richard Juryn Trail around 8 a.m.
The bear followed the man for “some time,” the Conservation Office said, despite his attempts to scare it away.
The bear then swiped at the victim’s leg, officers said and they were called to the area.
No bear has been found at this time.
In coordination with Metro Vancouver Parks, the BCCOS asks the public to avoid the trail network until further notice and signs have been installed in the area.
Officers are continuing their investigation. Bear conflicts can be reported to the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277.
LaSalle College, which has been fined $30 million by the Quebec government for enrolling too many English-speaking students, is seen in Montreal on Friday, July 11, 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
LaSalle College has filed for creditor protection in Quebec Superior Court as it faces nearly $48 million in debt to the Quebec government.
The private Montreal institution says the amount includes more than $29 million in penalties for exceeding quotas on English-language students and nearly $18 million in overpaid subsidies.
The court granted the college a 10-day protection period to allow negotiations with the provincial government.
LaSalle College says the penalties are unfair and excessive, arguing the students were legally admitted with the required government authorizations. The college says the debt threatens its ability to operate and is seeking a new repayment agreement with Quebec.
Students had been scheduled to return to class Thursday, but the college says classes will remain suspended until provincial subsidies, which have been withheld because of the fines, are restored.
A college spokesperson said changes tied to Quebec’s French-language law have reduced the number of English-speaking students the institution can admit, creating a shortfall of roughly 1,000 students. The fines stem from legislation adopted in 2022 that imposed limits on enrolment in English-language college programs.
According to the Higher Education Ministry, LaSalle exceeded its authorized quota by 716 students in 2023-24 and by 1,066 students the following year, resulting in penalties totalling more than $29 million. The ministry says the college knowingly exceeded its quota for two consecutive years. While LaSalle complied with the limits last year, the ministry maintains the rules were clear and that other institutions followed them.
The college is also required to repay $17.9 million in subsidies received last year, bringing its total debt to nearly $48 million.
College director Claude Marchand called the penalties “unfair and unprecedented” and said no company could survive a $30-million fine. He said the institution has presented the government with potential solutions and is asking for a realistic repayment schedule as well as authorization to launch a new science program.
WATCH: The Southern Community Food Security Society in Raymond, Alta., is closing the doors to both its food bank and thrift store, after Alberta Health Services ordered a shutdown earlier this month. Justin Sibbet reports.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) ordered a southern Alberta charity to shut down on Aug. 14 after they say they found several major health concerns.
The Southern Community Food Security Society opened in 2022, operating a food bank and thrift store in Raymond, Alta.
However, following an AHS inspection earlier this month, the charity was closed.
AHS says it found evidence of mouse droppings in the food area, improperly refrigerated eggs, expired toddler formula and the hand-wash sink was inaccessible, among other concerns.
“Incompatible storage practices were observed with food items stored in close proximity to non-food related items.”
The inspection report also says the storage area was disorganized and overcrowded, making the inspection itself a challenge.
“The overhead door was open, allowing pest access to the facility. Additionally, there were three cats who were in the food establishment at various times during the inspection.”
In a public statement on social media, the Southern Community Food Security Society says it will be officially closing its doors to both the food bank and thrift store.
“No food will be distributed through our organization and the thrift store will cease to take donations or selling goods.”
They went on to thank their volunteers for the years of hard work.
“We are so thankful for those in the community that have supported our mission these last 5 years. We are honoured to have helped thousands of families and individuals during that incredible time. We cannot thank our team of loyal and tireless volunteers enough for the countless hours they have poured into these charities; they have truly made a difference in so many lives.”
However, they say they were routinely short-staffed and unable to reopen. as a result.
“We have not made the decision to shut down operations lightly. We have continually fallen short on our need for able bodies to help with the manual labor involved in handling and distributing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of food. While we are indebted to the folks who have shown up routinely, this task has become more than our bodies can continue to allow.”
The group also cited a lack of government support for their shutdown.
“Though there have certainly been members who have done incredible things to support our mission, some have put up major roadblocks to our success in helping relieve food insecurity in rural southern Alberta communities. With the continued lack of supports, we have been left with no choice.”
This loss leaves the small town with limited food security options.
Raymond Mayor Bryce Coppieters told Global News in a statement that he is thankful for the years of service provided by the society, and acknowledges how good the people of the town can be.
“Raymond has always been a community that looks out for its neighbours, and we hope that spirit continues as we look ahead,” said Coppieters.
He says the town is open to new services opening up to help fill the gap.
“We welcome conversations with organizations interested in supporting food security and working alongside our community.”
The Town of Raymond says there are other groups still available to support those in need.
“In the meantime, residents experiencing food insecurity can access the three Little Free Pantry locations throughout Raymond, which provide basic food and hygiene items, and may also contact local leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to learn about available assistance.”
The Southern Community Food Security Society’s statement also says they are now working with other local groups to ensure Raymond is still supported.
“We will be working with local charities to receive our goods, equipment and inventory as we dissolve our operations. We hope to make lasting ripples in other charities with what we have built here. Food security has always been our mission and we aim to benefit charities with like minded missions. Please stay tuned for more information on this.”
Global News reached out to the Southern Community Food Security Society for an interview, but did not hear back.
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