Personal note: I attended the book event for Jack Austin’s memoir, Unlikely Insider: A West Coast Advocate in Ottawa. Austin is a former senator who served in the federal cabinet minister and chief of staff to Prime Minister Trudeau.
His bio is quite impressive. He was a key player in the 1970s. He was appointed to the Senate in 1975 and remained there until 2007. He is now age 91. During today’s talk, he retains a quick intellect and insightful perspectives. Many of the audience questions were on Canada’s relationship with China and the future of the world economy. Austin believes we must improve our relationship with China, focusing upon commerce, separate from political differences and values.
He made a good argument from his viewpoint. [I wasn’t taking notes and thus do not have direct quotations.]
Fox News Settles With Dominion
Plenty will be written on the settlement. Two takes from writers I frequent.
The Post’s Jeremy Barr reported that the network will not have to air any retractions or apologies pursuant to the settlement agreement. Which is to say, the resolution requires a great deal of something that Fox News has in wheelbarrows (money) and very little of something it has in teaspoons (editorial integrity).
– Erik Wemple, Washington Post columnist
The now-settled lawsuit filed by Dominion is unlikely to alter the nature of Fox News, as the network has escaped the legal, moral, and financial punishment of a judicial verdict. We probably shouldn’t be surprised by this outcome: One terrible limb of American capitalism was always unlikely to save us from another terrible limb.
Peter Maass, The Intercept
World’s first solid-state speakers
Techradar reports on how a solid-state speakers may transform earbuds.
“By employing that thin film piezo technology as the speaker actuator instead of a coil and magnet, and using silicon instead of a paper or plastic speaker cone, xMEMS has built a better sound trap. The speakers are 40% smaller than ordinary drivers, 90% lighter, and with no moving parts, they’re far more durable.”