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?
The former Overdose Prevention Society (OPS) manager and Downtown Eastside advocate had planned to paint the late Angel Gates, a prominent community member and longtime resident of the Balmoral Hotel, which was ordered closed by the city of Vancouver in July 2017 due to fire and safety concerns.
The city took ownership of the Balmoral Hotel through an expropriation settlement in 2020, and had plans to upgrade the notorious SRO.
Before he died in April 2025, it was Trey Helten’s dream to transform the wall on the Balmoral site, which is awaiting redevelopment as social housing, into a community mural.
Sarah Blyth
Before he died in April 2025, it was Trey Helten’s dream to transform the wall on the Balmoral site, which is awaiting redevelopment as social housing, into a community mural.
Sarah Blyth
However, due to “decades of underinvestment and mismanagement by the building’s former owners”, the city said the building was no longer safe and a demolition order was issued in February 2022.
The new design for the mural Helten envisioned instead depicts Helten painting Gates, in a tribute to them both.
“The gift of Trey just keeps giving and it’s just so meaningful to me to give back and to have a part of this,” Gouchey told Global News.
Legendary street artist Jamie Hardy, a.k.a. Smokey D, will be painting the bottom of the mural, which is expected to become one of the largest artworks in the city.
“I knew them both (Helten and Gates) very well so it’s pretty heavy,” Smokey D said in an interview. “It’s really big for the whole community, right? You know what I mean, everyone loved them.”
Trey Helten had planned to paint the late Angel Gates, a prominent community member and longtime resident of the Balmoral Hotel, which was ordered closed by the city of Vancouver in July 2017 due to fire and safety concerns.
Dignity Memorial
OPS executive director Sarah Blyth said she and Helten started work on the mural project a few years ago, and as soon as the Balmoral demolition was finished in 2024, they started contacting the city and other stakeholders about using the site.
At one point she said, Helten wanted to jump the fence and just start painting.
“It takes a long time sometimes, bureaucracy, but we’ve been patiently going through the hoops,” Blyth told Global News. “Nothing that comes easy is ever as rewarding as if you have to work hard to make it happen.”
Blyth said her team was also recently approached by city engineering crews to potentially paint alleys in the area.
“In the night or early in the morning, city vehicles sometimes have a hard time seeing what’s in the alleys,” Blyth explained in an interview. “They’ve noticed that when the alleys are painted bright that they are able to see better what’s in the alleys.”
Approximately one dozen artists will contribute to the massive mural, which is expected to take a month to complete.
Since 2025, the Carnegie Community Centre has been managing the Balmoral Hotel site as a temporary community space, in a partnership with the city and BC Housing.
Provincial budget cuts have stalled the Balmoral redevelopment, which was anticipated to be funded through the Community Housing Fund (CHF).
The City of Vancouver said it remains a “priority project” and the province is in the process of identifying alternate funding sources.
Work on a major mural to honour two well-known community members is now underway at the former Balmoral Hotel site in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
U.S. President Donald Trump pledged on Monday to issue an executive order to end the use of mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Trump said that he's going to stop mail-in ballots because they're "corrupt" and "fraud."
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to move ahead with his executive order restricting mail-in voting, though it remains unclear how much his administration can implement before the fast-approaching midterm elections.
The decision appears to leave room for additional court challenges that could further slow Trump’s order. The U.S. Postal Service laid out how it would implement the order last week, but time is running short to impose major changes with some states beginning to send mail ballots to voters in just a few weeks.
Mail balloting has long been a favorite target for Trump, who has claimed that it breeds fraud despite strong evidence to the contrary and his own use of the voting method.
The case could be one of multiple voting-related challenges before the justices. The Justice Department had filed an emergency appeal asking the high court to allow work on implementing the changes before the midterms.
Trump’s executive order, signed in March, calls on his administration to create lists of eligible voters and orders the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on those lists.
Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued to block the order. They argued that the Constitution gives states and Congress the power to run elections, and Trump’s changes could lead to chaos and partisan abuse.
“The consequences of allowing such transformative changes to take effect so close to this fall’s elections would be extreme,” attorneys for the states wrote. Dozens of state and local election officials weighed in, asking the justices to leave the order frozen while election preparations are already underway.
A judge in Massachusetts blocked the plan for the midterm elections in those states. An appeals court upheld her decision. She later granted a second order blocking it nationwide.
The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on procedural grounds in late July, arguing that the states sued too soon. They also pointed to another ruling out of Washington, where a judge allowed Trump’s order to proceed. An appeals court backed that decision, while still leaving room for future court action if the changes are implemented.
Federal attorneys argued that the Massachusetts order “blocks the government’s ability to finalize and implement the President’s proposed policies to promote election integrity for the upcoming federal elections in November.”
A dozen Republican-leaning states supported the federal government in their own appeal before the high court, saying states would have input on the final voter lists.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled against Trump-backed arguments on mail-in ballots, finding in June that states can count ballots that arrive after Election Day. That case was decided after full briefing and arguments, rather than on the court’s emergency docket.
Trump has blamed mail voting — without credible evidence — for his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. He has promoted the proposed changes in his executive order as safeguards to keep non-U.S. citizens from voting.
He’s also repeatedly pressed for the passage of the legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote. Noncitizen voting has been shown to be rare, and is a felony that can be punishable by deportation.
Using mail ballots has become increasingly popular with voters of both parties, with about 30% of all ballots cast that way during the 2024 presidential election, according to federal data. The process also is secure. A 2025 Brookings Institution study found only about four cases of fraud out of every 10 million mail ballots cast.
Police say they believe a fire in October 2023 that destroyed an elementary school in Port Coquitlam was human caused. Fire crews work to put out the fire at Hazel Trembath Elementary School in Port Coquitlam B.C., on Oct. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
EC
Construction has begun on a new Hazel Trembath Elementary School in Port Coquitlam after a fire destroyed the school on Oct. 14, 2023.
In an update provided on Monday, the provincial government announced the replacement school will be delivered in a first-in-B.C. hybrid-construction approach that will speed up the opening. It will include 240 seats and a learning centre for future child care spaces.
It will also include two kindergarten classrooms and eight elementary classrooms.
It is expected to open in December 2027.
An RCMP investigation concluded the fire that destroyed the school was both human-caused and criminal in nature, though no one has been charged.
“Like many of you, I remember when the fire happened, a criminal act of vandalism, if there ever was one, and like the community, just devastated,” MLA Mike Farnworth said.
“Because Hazel Trembath is more than a school, it’s a cornerstone of a community where kids go to learn; they make friends and relationships that often last a lifetime.”
The cost of the project is expected to be nearly $39 million.
Since 2017, the provincial government has invested in 11 capital projects in the Coquitlam School District. Eight of the projects are complete, including the new addition at École Dr. Charles Best Secondary School. The three projects underway are the replacement of Hazel Trembath Elementary, the seismic replacement of Montgomery Middle School and the new Burke Mountain Secondary, set to open in 2027.
Left to right: Michelle Xing, Aphrodite Deng, Anna Huang and Clairey Lin at the CPCK Women's Open in Edmonton in August 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
The 2026 CPKC Women’s Open boded well for the future of Canadian women’s golf.
Four Canadians aged 18 and under made the cut — which was a first in the tournament.
Vancouver’s Anna Huang did more than make the cut after two tries. The 17-year-old was the top Canadian in a tie for fourth at 12-under-par for the tournament.
Calgary’s Aphrodite Deng finished a stroke behind Huang to tie for seventh. The 16-year-old was low amateur in Canada’s LPGA tournament for a second straight year.
Low amateur Aphrodite Deng, of Canada, poses with her medal after the final round of the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament, in Edmonton, on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
Aphrodite Deng, of Canada, watches her tee shot on the fifth hole during the final round at the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament, in Edmonton, on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
Michelle Xing, who turned 18 in July, was a late addition to the field under a sponsor’s exemption. The golfer from Richmond Hill, Ont., also made the cut after two previous attempts to finish at 3 under.
Amateur Clairey Lin of Langley, B.C., made the cut in her tournament debut at age 16 and finished 3 over.
“The young talent coming out of Canada right now is phenomenal,” said Canada’s women’s head coach Salimah Mussani.
“When you have all these girls under the age of 18 doing these things, they are the future. They are the next Brooke Hendersons.
“They are the next 15, 20 years of Canadian women’s golf. And they’re going to be inspiring that next pool that starts to pick up the game.”
Henderson, whose 14 career wins includes two CPKC titles, finished tied for 13th in Edmonton and was looking up the leaderboard at a couple of Canadian teenagers.
“It’s amazing to see so many Maple Leafs at the top of the leaderboard,” Henderson said. “Just amazing scores all week by all of them. It’s really cool to see that and to be a part of it, and I feel like the future is really bright for the next few years.
“The national team has always had a really strong program, but it seems like they’re really doing a great job right now, which is cool to see. The players, I don’t know any of them that well, but what I have seen is that they work extremely diligently, very hard, and they’re very eager to try to be better.”
Anna Huang, of Canada, hits her tee shot on the third hole during the final round at the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament, in Edmonton, on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
Canadian Anna Huang poses with her medal after the final round of the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament, in Edmonton, on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
The 28-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., may not know the Canadian teenagers personally, but they know her.
“Brooke has been someone I looked up to the most,” Huang said. “Ever since I started playing golf she was definitely my idol.
“To play alongside her now in these big events is really special.”
Xing was thrilled that Henderson had a locker near hers at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club.
“She’s a role model for all of us,” Xing said.
Michelle Xing, of Canada, watches her tee shot on the 10th hole during the final round at the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament, in Edmonton, on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
The last time multiple players under 18 from any country made the LPGA cut in Canada was in 2014 — a 16-year-old Henderson and a 17-year-old Lydia Ko from New Zealand.
Deng was the first Canadian to win the U.S. Girls Junior Championship in 2025 and Lin kept the title in Canada this year.
“Everyone’s motivating each other and we see everyone winning these tournaments and we all want to be better,” Deng said.
Added Mussani: “Knowing how to win is a thing. How to close a tournament is a thing. These girls are doing it already.”
Deng and Lin have both committed to Stanford, which this year captured a third NCAA women’s golf title in five years.
Xing was schedule to fly to California on Monday to start her freshman year at UCLA. All three are on Golf Canada’s NextGen women’s team.
Clairey Lin, of Canada, watches her tee shot on the 13th hole during the third round at the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament, in Edmonton, on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
Canada's Clairey Lin, of Langley, B.C., gestures while talking with people after hitting her tee shot on the 18th hole during the pro-am at the LPGA CPKC Canadian Women's Open golf tournament in Edmonton on Wednesday, August 19, 2026.
Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press
“They’re some of my best friends, and they’re my teammates, and they are very talented,” said Lin, who will play in the world junior golf championship Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 in Brampton, Ont.
“When I met them on the team, I just immediately knew that these girls are so hardworking and they have the will to get better.
“I’m getting pushed to get better by them, and in return I hope that I kind of do the same.”
Huang’s four European Tour wins over the last 11 months made her the youngest since Ko to claim a quad on that tour.
“I don’t see anything that’s going to stop her from continuing to win,” Mussani said.
“The things she does in the background, her rest, her recovery, her preparation, her ability to reflect after a round, it’s just all very mature.”
Top-10 results for Huang and Deng in Edmonton gave both entry into the LPGA’s FM Championship starting Thursday at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass.
A police crime scene at night with yellow police tape in the foreground reading 'POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS'
Getty Images
A suspect in a quintuple homicide and the deaths of several animals — whose bodies were discovered in rural Oregon — was found dead in a vehicle in Washington state, police said.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office detectives identified 36-year-old Benjamin Charles Parker as the suspect in the homicide investigation. Authorities believe Parker died by suicide, police said in a statement Sunday.
Officers from the Enumclaw Police Department located Parker’s vehicle and found him deceased inside.
Enumclaw is a small city in Washington state.
The remains of five people were found early Saturday morning when police responded to a call for a fire on a rural Oregon property in Forest Grove, a rural enclave west of Portland, and are still being identified, Washington County Detective Shannon Wilde said at a news conference over the weekend, without providing details on what was on fire or where the remains were located.
The alleged homicides are not believed to be “a random act,” she added.
“We are still working to determine who the people are and what their connection may be,” Wilde also told reporters, adding that information about the identities of the domestic animals was not available.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation with support from the Washington County Major Crimes team and several other teams from numerous agencies, in what Wilde described as a “complex investigation” across a large scene, of which she was unable to provide many details.
“In general, homicide investigations are extremely complex; they consume a lot of resources, and any time you have one person deceased, let alone five, that’s a logistical challenge,” Wilde said, noting that forensics teams, the medical examiner’s office, and animal services were among those involved in the investigation. The FBI are not involved, Wilde added.
A department news release lists 12 participating agencies.
Washington County Sheriff Caprice Massey said during the press conference that in her 22 years as a law enforcement officer, she had not witnessed a scene “quite this complex,” adding that she recognizes the incident is deeply concerning to the community, before inviting people with information to contact investigators through their non-emergency line.
The site of the the investigation was described by Wilde as rural, with lots of land, hills, vegetation and forest. She could not confirm if the victims lived on the property where they were found.
“We are learning more information every minute,” Wilde said, adding that when there is information to release to the public, it will be shared, and there was no reason to believe there were any additional victims.
There is no threat to the public, according to the sheriff’s office, and no arrests have been made.
Forest Grove is about 25 miles west of Portland, Ore., and 190 miles southwest of Enumclaw, Wash., where the suspect was found dead.
Washington County is home to over 600,000 people, according to the U.S Census Bureau.
WATCH: 'I don't respond to a dictator': Ford unloads on Trump, calls him the 'King of Bankruptcy'
Ontario Premier Doug Ford fired a series of insults and threats at United States President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon in a growing war of words between the two leaders.
Moments before the Ontario premier’s press conference began, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, accusing him of “bluster” in trade talks and calling him a “flunky.”
“Lots of ‘bluster’ from Doug Ford, who is the Premier of the Canadian Province of Ontario, but who is better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford,” Trump wrote around 2 p.m. on Monday.
The premier responded throughout his news conference with insults, threats and pledges to try and make sure the Republicans lose crucial midterm elections this fall.
Here is everything Doug Ford said about Donald Trump answering questions from reporters on Monday afternoon:
“I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so (Trump) has a lot of room to kiss my ass. I just do. I’m a big dude. What can I say?
(…)
I don’t respond to a dictator like President Trump, a bully like President Trump. As I said before, he’s the type of guy in school that would take your lunch money one day, take your toque off your head the next day, and then steal your running shoes. But I’m not going to take any advice off a guy that’s the king of bankruptcies. He’s actually tariffing his own people, taxing his own people.
“I’m not going to take lessons off President Trump, he’s the last guy that I would take any lessons off. It’s about Team Canada. We’ll see how this goes but he wants to put pain on Canadians, we’ll leverage every bit of pain we possibly can on Americans. I’ve always said I love the American people. I still stand by that statement because there’s a lot of people in the U.S. that are calling me saying, ‘Way to go, keep going.’
You know your own people, President Trump, don’t even like you. And they’re going to speak loud and clear when it comes to the midterms. And if I was allowed to, I’d be down there door-knocking.
(…)
“I’ve been in this game a lot longer than he has. I got a skin on me like an alligator. And you think an insult from him hurts me? Well, bring it on, buddy. I’m ready. Bring it on. I’ve dealt with guys like you my whole life, and guess what? You all become losers because you’re a loser.
(…)
“We’ll use every tool in our toolbox, then we’ll see if President Trump says, ‘Do I need Canada?’ Watch how he does cartwheels and he shouts and screams when we put the (export electricity) surcharge on. As a matter of fact, I can’t wait — I cannot wait. Let’s be clear: I don’t like the guy. Simple.
(…)
“I’m not going to take the bait. This guy’s a loser, he’s going to be a loser, simple as that. We’re going to fight with everything we have. And, you know something? I have more courage, more brains in my baby toe than he has in his whole body.”
President Donald Trump addresses the crowd as he departs a campaign rally for Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Aug. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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