Our ancestors were viciously ravaged by a rat that killed an estimated 60% of Europe’s population during the 1300s. This also spread to the Middle East, killing about 40% of Egypt’s population, and causing the Great Plague of London, in which 1 in 5 residents perished.
Category: Archived
Virtual Humanity
“Picture this: you come home, plug yourself into a virtual world through your wearable tech gear, and take control of your avatar in a virtual world. The avatar can be very different from you: an artificial person powered, in part, by artificial intelligence to the point that they behave just like a real person. What’s more is the avatar is actually autonomous.”
Rivers: Oh Boy!
“This question really bothered me for a long time, and I was too lazy to google the answer. So naturally, I went to Robarts Library to see if I could find some old documents and maps that could explain this design. To my surprise, there were indeed only two rivers flowing through Toronto.”
Sunny Days Ahead in Hockeytown
“The rebuild was obviously helped by the luck of the draft ping-pong balls — Matthews had an 80% shot of wearing another jersey before the hockey gods blessed Toronto. However, the shrewd moves made by the front office pushed the Leafs to the cusp of Stanley Cup contender status, and separate Toronto’s rebuild from less successful attempts by other teams (cough, Buffalo, cough).”
The 6ix: Poised for Playoff Success?
“This year, Canada’s team is finally forcing America to pay attention, as the Dinos clinched top spot in the Eastern Conference, set a new team record for wins in a regular season, and look like legitimate title contenders. How did the team with the biggest chip on its shoulder go from perennial basement dwellers and league laughing stock to clinching a fifth consecutive playoff spot?”
How March Madness Turned into March Sadness
“Up to the final four, the rest of the tournament was relatively uneventful with the exception of one outlier: the University of Loyola Ramblers. The 11-seed Ramblers somehow kept knocking off formidable foe after formidable foe, including the likes of 6-seed Miami and 3-seed Tennessee.”
A Euro Half-Step in the Right Direction
“Although the All-Star Weekend officially began with the celebrity game on Friday evening, I’m going to pretend it started with the Rising Stars Game that night since only so much analysis can be devoted to Jamie Foxx’s antics and watching out-of-shape ex-NBA players get their yearly workouts in.”
Lewandowski Leaving the Bundesliga?
“A key element to this current success is in the club’s leading goal scorer, Robert Lewandowski. The 29-year-old striker has been named the all-time top scorer for Poland, been ranked as the fifth-best footballer on the planet by the Guardian in 2015, and been a regular contender for the Ballon d’Or in recent years.”
Innovation, Invention, and Industry
“Navdeep Bains, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development of Canada, recently revealed a $950 million budget to fund two superclusters in downtown Toronto in collaboration with the University of Toronto (U of T).”
Outer Space: Closer Than It Seems?
“Even though these private spaceflight companies are currently quite small when compared with governmental agencies such as NASA, big things are in store in their future. In fact, the successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket proved that private space companies can also achieve great things in the field of space exploration, and they can do it in a more cost-effective way.”