There’s nothing like having the window open or the top down on a great day with tunes blasting from the car stereo. Chances are you’ve got your favourite driving song, if not a series of driving playlists. Is it your imagination, or do some songs sound better while driving?
It has to do with the brain’s sweet spot when it comes to rhythm. The background noise of a car—the engine, the road noise, the vibrations—is pretty consistent. But when you combine that with the slightly less consistent rhythm of a song, your brain shifts into a space where it’s more likely to enhance the novelty of the music.
Driving fast (which adds a sense of danger) while knowing you’re in control (which inspires confidence), combined with a great song (which makes you want to move), results in a little extra adrenaline that just makes everything sound better.
The Black Keys have come a long, long way since that first gig in Akron, Ohio, sometime in early 2002. They played a show in front of just ten paying customers. The total take for the night was five dollars for guitarist Dan Auerbach and five dollars for drummer Patrick Carney.
Things improved slowly. Their first album was recorded in the basement of Pat’s family’s house. The third album was recorded in an abandoned tire factory. But with each new album, life got a little better–for an indie band, anyway. There was a lot of critical acclaim and much hipster love, but it wasn’t until their 2008 album, Attack & Release, that the rest of the world began to figure out what the Black Keys were all about. And, of course, things blew up real good with their 2010 album, Brothers.
And where did the band get their name, anyway? Pat’s father used the phrase “black key” as something that wasn’t quite right. I wonder what he thinks of his son’s job?
Be honest: When you are faced with a dialogue box that wants you to read the terms and conditions of whatever software or service you’re using, you just click “agree” or “okay” and move on. No one reads these end-user license agreements.
A Manchester company called Purple tried a social experiment. In an offer for free Wi-Fi, they buried a “community service clause” deep in the license agreement. They were prepared to offer a prize to anyone who found it. By blindly clicking “agree,” users agreed to community service activities such as cleaning porta-potties at music festivals.
Some 22,000 people signed up, and only one person read the whole thing.
Purple won’t hold anyone to the clause in their contract, but they did make their point, didn’t they?
There are two roads you can take as a rock star. You can be responsible, keep the partying to a minimum, stay away from drugs, and just generally look after yourself. Or you can be like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
In any other universe, Keith would be long gone, destroyed by any number of misadventures with drugs, alcohol, and the law. Yet he is still with us, something that defies logic and explanation.
Between the formation of the Rolling Stones in 1962 and the end of 1978, he was arrested in multiple countries, jailed, and otherwise found himself in trouble with the law, all while drinking, drugging, and being in the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band.
A big turning point should have come with his arrest in Toronto and his near-miss with being sent to jail on charges of trafficking heroin. He dodged that cannonball. But did things change? Not really. Keef just kept on being Keef.
He lived through a period when rock was at its most excessive. What originally looked like legal disasters turned into myth and legend. And somehow, Keef came out on the other side to perform and record into his 80s.
This is Episode 66 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry.” We’re going to pick up the story from where we left things off with Keef last time, in 1978. This is Part Two of “The Times and Crimes of Keith Richards.”
In addition to the podcasts, you can hear Uncharted on these Corus radio stations (all times local):
When the Foo Fighters were wrapping up their Your Favourite Toy album, Dave Grohl thought he had the perfect title. It came from a line in the title track that goes “Get back, hear that boy/Someone threw away your favourite toy for good.” “For Good” was the original name of the song, too. Those two words stuck in his head because they seemed to encapsulate many of the themes throughout the record.
So it was settled: The song would be called “For Good,” and the album would also be entitled For Good. But then, a problem.
The second Wicked movie came out on November 24, and it was called Wicked: For Good. That was annoying. Dave realized that there couldn’t be two things called For Good in the market at the same time, so that’s how both the song and the album ended up being called Your Favourite Toy.
The future of a free fitness program for seniors run by a non-profit is in jeopardy after the province cut its funding. The non-profit is warning participants won't be able to take part if they have to pay. As Kristen Robinson reports, it could impact the health and well-being of those seniors.
Delta Gymnastics says the future of a free fitness program it offers to seniors is uncertain after a provincial funding cut.
The non-profit society’s Seniors Can Move program provided over 300 free spots to people between the ages of 65 and 97 last year.
Program coordinator Richard Woo said he worked with a geriatric nurse to develop Seniors Can Move, which is focused on fall prevention and fall recovery, major issues older adults experience.
Classes officially launched in 2018, Woo said, with strong feedback from participants.
“I stepped on a ping pong ball and I didn’t fall this time or I went on vacation because I felt confident doing so,” Woo told Global News in an interview. “It’s the little things like that that tell us that were giving seniors confidence to go out and do things that they might not have been able to do or felt confident doing before.”
When the federal start-up grant funding ran out, the provincial government stepped in to back the program in 2019.
Delta Gymnastics said Seniors Can Move was receiving a substantial annual grant of between $80,000 to $100,000, before funding was denied for the upcoming year.
“If seniors are falling, that’s a huge cost on society,” said Seniors Can Move participant Pat Rogers. “Doing this is kind of helping people be more stable.”
Linda Scabar, who survived a stroke in 2016, said the one-hour, once-a-week class has been life-changing for her mobility.
“I used my walker on this floor for almost a year, then I graduated to the cane,” Scabar said. “If it wasn’t for this (Seniors Can Move), I wouldn’t be as good as I am today.”
Delta Gymnastics said many of the participants live on fixed or limited incomes and may not be able to continue if the non-profit started charging for the program.
“Our fear is that seniors won’t be able to afford it,” said Delta Gymnastics Society executive director Jenn Watts. “Then they’ll be losing out on a program that has been so crucial to their overall health and wellbeing and yeah, we really don’t want the program to fold.”
Global News requested an interview with B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne for an explanation on why funding was cut for a program Delta Gymnastics said has become a vital community resource.
Osborne’s ministry did not respond to the interview request and instead sent a statement saying it appreciates and values the work provided by Delta Gymnastics.
“Government is facing a challenging fiscal climate and it is not possible to provide funding to all the many worthy organizations seeking support from the Province,” the emailed statement read.
The health ministry added that the province, through its partnership with United Way BC,
funds over 170 non-profit agencies to provide a range of community-based seniors’ services that help older adults remain physically active, socially connected, resilient and as independent as possible.
Delta Gymnastics has been working to try and obtain a new grant to help seniors continue to participate for free, but said it’s been hard to source new funding on short notice.
“As much as we would love to keep running the program for free, it’s not viable for us as a non-profit without a grant or sponsor,” said Watts.
Do you have a lot of unwanted jewelry? Tune into Talk To The Experts this Saturday, when Aaron McDermand from Aaron Buys Gold discusses why now is the best time to sell those gold and silver pieces. From jewelry to coins, he’ll go over their gold buying service and why it may be beneficial for you. For more info, head to AaronBuysGold.com. Don’t miss Aaron Buys Gold this Saturday on Talk To The Experts, only on 880 CHED!
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Australia was the first country to ban social media for kids under 16 years old and now Greece is looking to do the same. Here at home, it appears Canadians would support a similar law. Caryn Lieberman reports.
The federal government plans to propose a ban on social media use for children under the age of 16 as part of its highly anticipated online harms bill that will be introduced Wednesday, Global News has learned.
A government source confirmed the plans Monday ahead of the bill’s formal introduction. The source requested anonymity to publicly discuss the bill.
The Globe and Mail first reported on the forthcoming online harms bill earlier Monday.
The adoption of the motion prompted Culture Minister Marc Miller, who is set to introduce the bill Wednesday, to say the government was “very seriously” considering a ban.
In April, Manitoba became the first province to announce it would move to enact a social media ban for kids. Other provinces, including Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick, have said they are considering doing the same.
Experts have told Global News that enforcing such a ban would be difficult and have questioned the effectiveness of the measure on children’s online literacy and safety.
The company behind a spaceport in Canso, N.S., is defending the project after images of the site sparked criticism shortly after Maritime Launch Services signed a multi-million dollar lease with the federal government. Heidi Petracek reports.
The company behind a spaceport in Canso, N.S., is defending the project after images of the site sparked criticism shortly after Maritime Launch Services signed a multi-million dollar lease with the federal government.
Maritime Launch Services’ spaceport has been in development for years on the outskirts of the small rural fishing community.
The company leases the land from the province of Nova Scotia.
The Department of National Defence signed a $200 million, 10-year lease with Maritime Launch in March to secure the location as a sovereign launch site.
Soon after, images of the site, which currently consists of a long gravel road, a concrete pad and a storage container, sparked criticism.
Photo taken in April of the site of the Maritime Launch Services spaceport in Canso, N.S.
Courtesy: Marie Lumsden
Conservative MP Vincent Ho called on the parliamentary Science and Research committee in May to study the deal, which he described as a “procurement disaster.”
The CEO of Maritime Launch Services, Steve Matier, defends the project.
“Frankly, it’s right where it should be,” he says. “As you’re building anything, you’ve got to start with roads, grounds, and then start working on the structures that come after that.”
Five years ago, the company released detailed architectural drawings of its plan for the site, which included a launch control facility and visitor centre.
Matier insists design work for the site is taking place behind the scenes.
“We’ve done initial construction, initial roads. We’ve got design teams that have been working all winter on the buildings and utility hubs,” he explains.
Canso residents have waited years for the spaceport to become a reality and bring promised jobs and economic spinoffs.
Resident John Cook, who owns two businesses in town, says he’d like to see more progress.
“If it doesn’t happen, you’re going to see we’re going to lose our hospital. The school will end up moving to Guysborough,” says Cook. “It’s just going to be a spinoff of losing. And that’s what this town has dealt with for the last 25 years.”
The warden of the District of the Municipality of Guysborough, which includes Canso, says the area needs an economic boost.
“Anytime there’s any perspective of project development, they’re going to need a big backing, big reason for doing it. And having the Department of National Defence on board certainly gets credibility to that project,” he says.
Some residents raise doubts, concerns
But some residents would rather the spaceport never happen at all.
“This is going to be a testing ground for this company,” worries Bernie Steger, who, along with his wife Pat, moved to Canso from Ontario 10 years ago.
“We’re only three plus kilometres away from the launch pad,” says Pat. “I can’t see how we could possibly be here during a launch.”
Maritime Launch often calls itself “a fully licensed launch site,” but there is no such thing in Canada. Ottawa’s formal regulations for commercial space operations are still in the works.
Transport Canada imposes safety requirements on launches on a case-by-case basis and says it wouldn’t approve any rocket launch that could put lives at risk.
That means safety setbacks are determined based on an individual launch, depending on the type and size of rocket used.
Global News asked the department for the launch requirements for a suborbital rocket launch conducted by the company last fall, but Transport Canada would not provide the information, referring Global News back to the company itself.
Resident Marie Lumsden’s home is less than three kilometres from the launch site.
She questions how construction can happen without a formal regulatory system and argues for the need for greater transparency.
“This entire thing has been sort of a cart before the horse on so many levels,” she says. “It’s all well and good to say we have an exclusion zone of three kilometres, I don’t know if that’s an arbitrary number, but what that means is that there shouldn’t be anybody in that area.”
Marie Lumsden sits at her kitchen table, which is 2.9 kilometres away from the spaceport launch pad in Canso, N.S.
Heidi Petracek/Global News
When asked by Global News about the distance of residents from the launch pad, Matier says the setback is now closer to four kilometres after he says the company “adjusted its layout.”
Lumsden is among a group of residents who have banded together to oppose the spaceport.
Documents obtained by the group and viewed by Global News indicate the provincial government is still waiting for Maritime Launch to complete all the conditions required under environmental assessment to operate as a spaceport. It has fulfilled the requirements necessary for construction.
“We have concerns about how consultation happened here, there’s a lot of people who don’t want this project, and it’s being forced, it feels like it’s been forced upon us,” says Lumsden.
“We are fully permitted for construction. The handover is once we go operational. And that’s where Transport Canada comes in,” says Matier.
He insists the company’s plans follow widely accepted industry safety standards and that Transport Canada has reviewed its safety calculations.
“Dealing with rocket fuels … and all the things that go into that, laying out the facilities. That’s in my resume and it’s being modelled after how they’ve been doing it in the U.S.”
“We have to demonstrate that they’re safe to a level of one times 10 to the minus six, meaning less than one million chance that anybody on the ground is going to have anything that’s going to affect them,” he adds.
Sovereign-built rocket lacking
Global News asked Dr. George Nield to review the focus report outlining safety setbacks and hazard mitigation prepared by Maritime Launch in 2019 for Nova Scotia’s environment department.
Nield is chair of the Global Spaceport Alliance, was a former associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration and also worked as manager of the Flight Integration Office for the Space Shuttle Program at the NASA Johnson Space Centre.
The MLS focus report’s calculations are based on the Ukrainian-built Cyclone-4M rocket, which is no longer on the table.
Nield says the distance setbacks being discussed seem reasonable.
“Based on the reading that I’ve done, the rockets that have been proposed both in the past and going forward now look like they probably would be compatible with that kind of population density,” he says.
Nield says it’s common practice in the United States to give residents who live close to launch sites advance notice of a launch date so they can either leave home for the day or watch from a VIP site.
He agrees that transparency is important.
“Once a licence is granted, that information is posted on the FAA’s website in terms of, yes, there’s a launch licence to SpaceX or this kind of rocket in this location under these conditions,” he explains.
Long-time space industry journalist Eric Berger of Ars Technica adds the project does face challenges.
“I think Canada’s made a good-sized investment in this. But I have questions of whether Maritime Launch Services is capable of delivering on it,” he says.
“No offence to Canada, but there’s not a lot of experience in building and launching orbital rockets from Canada,” Berger explains. “If you want to send up a small sounding rocket, so that’s like a couple metres’ tall rocket that’s not going to orbit … you can theoretically truck everything in and launch it from that concrete pad. If you’re talking about a meaningful orbital launch with a rocket of one ton capacity or greater, then that’s probably years away.”
Berger cautions achieving sovereign orbital launch in Canada is “going to take longer than anyone expects.”
No Canadian-built rocket capable of orbital launch exists yet, although several companies have rockets in development with hopes to launch in 2028.
Maritime Launch’s agreement with the Department of Defence stipulates the company must provide a dedicated launch pad and associated services by the end of 2026.
A spokesperson for the department told Global News those “associated services” include access to water, power, fibre connections, site security, and payload integration.
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