In this issue...
• Happy Easter!
• Taking the X out of Halifax
• What do you do for work, sir? "Me? Oh, I design new styles of urinals so men don't get splashback."
• By the numbers X 10 + 1
• CBC Radio's Under the Influence: A funny thing happened on the way to the commercial
• Young moviegoers causing issues in cinemas during A Minecraft Movie viewings due to viral TikTok trend
• New release: The Hump Day Collection - Volume 1
• Buy them now! Acadian Recipes and More - Volumes 1, 2 & 3, and Forgotten Recipes - Volume 1
• The next Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Trivia Night will be held on Monday, May 5
• Easter arrives on Sunday, April 20!
• Before you go: 7 things you may have missed in the news
• Enjoy the outdoors this winter with the Greater Moncton Walking Group
... and trivia, quotes and more!
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Happy Easter!
Due to the Easter holiday, there will be no newsletter published on Monday, April 21. The next issue will be published on Monday, April 28.
Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful Easter!
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Taking the X out of Halifax
The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in Nova Scotia is joining a growing list of municipal governments leaving Twitter/X for kinder and more relevant social media networks. Recently, the Town of Riverview in New Brunswick also announced a similar move.
Article excerpt: "Halifax council has voted to phase out X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts officially used by the municipality, citing concerns over perceived toxicity on the site and the owner’s close relationship with the United States president.
In February, Councillor Laura White brought forward a motion asking for a staff report looking into the feasibility of discontinuing official municipality X accounts. That motion passed 13-to-three.
'It’s less informative, less useful,' White said in February. 'You can no longer look at the posts on this site without logging in. It’s less accessible.'
Council recently received the completed report, which recommended discontinuing all eight active X accounts by July 15 and transitioning to Bluesky, a social media platform that started as a research project at Twitter in 2019, but became independent in 2021.
Halifax’s corporate communications accounts have a total of 243,545 followers.
Council voted 16-1 in favour of the motion on Tuesday, with Councillor David Hendsbee being the sole dissenting vote.
'I don’t like censorship of any sort,' he said. 'Even though X might have some revolting opinions from time to time, I’d like to maintain use of it because it has a broader penetration with the marketplace.'"
Twitter/X is a bastion of bad actors. Take the worst of social media and multiply it by 100, and that's one of Twitter/X's more nicer and compassionate days. It may have uses for news and commentary, but for governmental engagement with citizens, it's useless compared to other platforms.
Read: Halifax to phase out use of X as official social media platform.
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What do you do for work, sir? "Me? Oh, I design new styles of urinals so men don't get splashback."
I'm not sure whose dream job this would ever be, but I guess if you're into functional design, this would be a great challenge. How do you stop "backsplash" (ewwwww!) from men's urinals? Inquiring minds want to know! The University of Waterloo in Ontario is currently looking at new designs for the everyday urinal.
Article excerpt: "But after 108 years, 'La Fontaine' may finally receive scientifically optimized design upgrades to reduce splashback and improve overall public health. Created by an international team including researchers and undergraduate students at Canada’s University of Waterloo, two new urinal builds dubbed the 'Cornucopia' and the 'Nautilus' leverage fluid dynamics to reduce pee splashback down to a fraction of what’s produced from contemporary commercial urinals. The designs are highlighted in a study published on April 8 in the journal PNAS Nexus.
'This urinal design project is the best teaching tool I can think of, as it is a daily-life problem that covers numerous topics - including fluid mechanics, sustainability, differential equations, manufacturing and prototyping, art, industrial design, human factors, bio-mechanics and testing,' Zhao Pan, a University of Waterloo mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor and study lead author, said in a statement."
There's always a way to build a better mousetrap. Wait... maybe mousetrap and urinal shouldn't be used in the same sentence. Ouch!
Read: New urinal designs use physics to prevent pee splashback.
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Young moviegoers causing issues in cinemas during A Minecraft Movie viewings due to viral TikTok trend
Youth moviegoers around the globe are causing a bit of chaos at screenings of A Minecraft Movie, especially during a scene where star Jack Black utters the words "chicken jockey", causing many of those in attendance to rise up, cheer and throw popcorn around. The viral trend is causing disruption and making cleanup a lot more difficult.
Article excerpt: "Cinemas have warned audience members they will be ejected if they join in with a TikTok trend encouraging filmgoers to disrupt screenings of the hit Minecraft film.
Footage has emerged on social media of audiences cheering, throwing popcorn and shouting out during the film, particularly during a scene where one of the stars, Jack Black, calls out 'Chicken jockey!' at the appearance of a baby zombie riding a chicken.
The 'chicken jockey' trend has gone viral on TikTok and has resulted in a number of cinemas across the globe taking measures to deal with disruptive behaviour at showings of the video game adaptation.
A number of cinemas in the UK, including Cineworld in Witney, the Radway in Sidmouth and the Reel cinemas in Fareham and Rochdale, have posted notices warning audience members against disrupting screenings of A Minecraft Movie, while the Regent Cinema in Newtown, Wales said it would adopt a 'zero-tolerance approach' of stopping screenings if audiences go too far.
One cinemagoer in Newtown told the Powys County Times: 'Quite honestly I’ve seen monkeys at Chester Zoo behave more civilised than those at the 1:45 p.m. showing on Saturday.'"
It's all fun until someone pokes their eye out with popcorn, eh?
Read: Cinemas threaten Minecraft Movie audiences over "chicken jockey" TikTok trend. Read: "Chicken jockey" stunts at Minecraft Movie screenings create chaos, new rules at theatres.
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CBC Radio's Under the Influence: A funny thing happened on the way to the commercial
This week's episode of CBC Radio's Under the Influence series with host Terry O'Reilly looked at some of the funny things that happen when making commercials.
• April 10, 2025 - Commercial Outtakes. Synopsis: "This week, we have some fun and listen to commercial outtakes. Just like the movies, there are multiple takes, lots of pressure, and mistakes happen. Sometimes actors get the words all mixed up to hilarious results. Sometimes celebrities have meltdowns. And sometimes professional actors just break down in a fit of the giggles." Click here to listen to the episode. Click here for the episode's website post.
Click here to hear legendary announcer Gary Owens lose it when trying to get through a Christmas ad for Preparation H.
Click here for the show's website and here for the show's podcast archive.
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New release: The Hump Day Collection - Volume 1
I'm thrilled to announce that The Hump Day Collection - Volume 1 is now available for purchase through Amazon in ebook or paperback (300+ pages) format. The book contains 75 updated and revised Hump Day stories that ran for many years in a local newspaper. I've been asked many times to put these in book format, so I'm hoping you'll like it! For ebook lovers, the book is part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription-based program from Amazon. To purchase today:
• Chapters (Dieppe NB location)
• Amazon Canada: amzn.to/4gckiQX
• Amazon USA: amzn.to/3CnKfiF
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Buy them now! Acadian Recipes and More - Volumes 1, 2 & 3, and Forgotten Recipes - Volume 1
My three volumes of Acadian recipe books (English and French) and Forgotten Recipes - Volume 1 are out now and make a great addition to your recipe book library or a gift for someone else! They are available on Amazon Canada, Amazon USA and in some local retail outlets in Southeastern New Brunswick:
• Chapters (Dieppe) (Volumes 1-3, Forgotten Recipes)
• Le P'tit Coin Acadien Poutine Râpée (Bouctouche) (Volumes 1-3)
• Jean Coutu Pharmacy (Champlain Street, Dieppe) (Volumes 1-3)
• Monument-Lefebvre (Memramcook) (Volumes 1-2)
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The next Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Trivia Night will be held on Monday, May 5
The next Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club Trivia Night of the 2024-2025 season will be held at St. Louis Bar & Grill, 1405 Mountain Road, Moncton, on Monday, May 5, beginning at 6:30 p.m. $10 per person (cash only). Facebook event listing: bit.ly/3Eb41yL.
Participants may play as teams or individuals. The winning team gets 50% of the door receipts as their prize.
It is strongly suggested that participants arrive by 5:15-5:30 p.m. for a seat. Trivia begins at 6:30 p.m. sharp and is usually over by 8 p.m. Everyone welcome!
Please note that restaurant reservations are NOT available for this event. First come, first served. Limited seating of approximately 50 guests.
Participants may bring an optional non-perishable food item (box of granola bars, Kraft Dinner, cereal, etc.) for distribution at Krista Richard's Community Sports Program events, of which the Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club is a sponsor. Any donations will be gratefully received and provided to Krista for distribution to her program participants (school-aged children from Moncton-area schools).
Since Rotary Trivia Nights began in 2016, the Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club has donated more than $20,000 to Atlantic Wellness, Karing Kitchen, Ray of Hope Kitchen, Salvus Clinic, The Humanity Project, BGC Moncton (Moncton Boys & Girls Club), Junior Achievement New Brunswick, Project Linus - Moncton Chapter, Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement New Brunswick, Children's Wish Canada and Krista Richard's Community Sports Program, among others.
The Greater Moncton Sunrise Rotary Club gratefully acknowledges the kind and generous sponsorship of our restaurant partner, St. Louis Bar & Grill.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a no telephone rule at these events. The answers cannot be researched except among discussion with your team members.
The remaining Trivia Night schedule for 2024-2025 is as follows:
• Monday, May 26
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Trivia: Did you know?
Beloved Peanuts beagle Snoopy was part of a litter of eight puppies. His seven siblings' names are Spike, Belle, Marbles, Olaf, Andy, Molly and Rover.
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Quotes of note
• 1. "In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you."
- Deepak Chopra (1946- ), Indian-American author (shown in photo)
• 2. "Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence."
- Buddha
• 3. "Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."
- Leo Buscaglia
• 4. "If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave."
- Mo Willems, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
• 5. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."
- Jackie Robinson
• 6. "Everything yields to diligence."
- Antiphanes
• 7. "Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart, don't know how to laugh either."
- Golda Meir
• 8. "I was raised right. I talk about people behind their backs. It's called manners."
- Kathy Griffin
• 9. "I'm killing time while I wait for life to shower me with meaning and happiness."
- Bill Watterson
• 10. "Good sex is like good bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand."
- Mae West
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Enjoy the outdoors this winter with the Greater Moncton Walking Group
In April, the group is walking in Rotary Park, Dieppe, with meet-up in the Rotary Lodge parking lot located at 505 Melanson Road.
In May, the group moves to the Dobson Trail in Riverview with meet-up in the parking lot on Quinn Court.
The group meets for walks every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. New participants are always welcome! For more information, please contact Wayne Harrigan at 506-386-2187 or via email.
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About this newsletter
Brian Cormier's Weekly Update is distributed weekly from September to June. If you're reading this newsletter online and want to subscribe, please email me, fill out the subscription form on my website, or subscribe via the "Join Our Email List" button at the top of the newsletter (if you're viewing this in a browser.) This newsletter is not published in July and August and on holidays.
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