Cathie from Canada: Sunday Funday: Some good posts and some funny posts, plus Carney Hat Trick, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers, and Commonwealth Games Update


First, some good posts

Clearest image ever taken of Venus. (Infrared)

By Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft 🔥

– Curiosity

Read on Substack

Which way do you read this image?

People whose native language runs from left to right on the page – English, eg – tend to see, in Hokusai’s iconic image, an enormous rolling wave. The dominant feeling is the relentlessness of nature.

But if your language runs from right to left – like Japanese – you might focus on the human drama: a handful of people afloat in narrow, flimsy boats, at imminent risk of being overwhelmed.

– Christopher Harding

Read on Substack

Fairy Tales Teach Adults What Facts Alone Cannot

Chesterton famously observed:

“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.”

Most people think fairy tales exist to entertain children.

G.K. Chesterton believed they exist to educate adults.

In The Ethics of Elfland, one of the greatest chapters in Orthodoxy, Chesterton makes a surprising claim. Fairy tales prepare us to understand reality better than many modern philosophies because they begin with wonder instead of explanation.

Children don’t wake up expecting the sun to rise. They delight that it does.

Adults often do the opposite. We become so accustomed to the world that we stop noticing how extraordinary it is. The sunrise becomes routine. A tree becomes ordinary. The changing seasons become background noise. We explain everything and appreciate very little.

Chesterton thought this was a profound mistake.

Science can describe why leaves change color or how gravity works. Those explanations are valuable. But they do not answer a deeper question: why should a universe capable of beauty, order, and life exist at all?

That question begins with wonder.

Chesterton argues that we confuse consistency with necessity. The sun has risen every morning of our lives, but that does not make it less remarkable. Habit slowly convinces us that the world’s greatest miracles are simply normal.

Fairy tales resist that temptation.

In them, the world is full of rules, meaning, danger, and possibility. A promise matters, courage matters, and choices have consequences. The hero succeeds because he lives within an order greater than himself.

Reality works much the same way.

Music requires harmony just like language requires grammar. Friendships require trust. Freedom flourishes within limits.

Perhaps that is why fairy tales endure long after childhood. They remind us that the world deserves gratitude before it demands explanation.

Chesterton believed philosophy begins with the same question that fills a child with awe.

Why is there something instead of nothing?

The people who never stop asking that question never truly outgrow wonder.

– Culture Explorer

Read on Substack

If you see a spider in your home, it usually means your place is clean and dry, not dirty.

Spiders are quiet roommates — no buzzing, no smells, no mess.

Spiders play a huge role in keeping ecosystems balanced, helping forests, gardens, and even cities stay healthy.

Spiders have been around for hundreds of millions of years, quietly coexisting with life on Earth.

Spiders aren’t monsters — they’re just tiny roommates doing their thing.

Do you now see spiders a bit cuter or still scary creatures?

Subscribe for more science and daily facts.🤓 Enjoy the rest of your day.😇

– Science Is Fun

Read on Substack

This is an amazing story:

Let me and a food scientist sample the abandoned fish sauce terrorizing a small Canadian town:

[image or embed]

— Defector (@defector.com) July 30, 2026 at 11:21 AM

No, everyone’s opinions are NOT equally valid:

If you’re not an expert and your uninformed personal opinion disagrees with expert consensus on a technical topic:

Please consider that “the experts who’ve spent years studying this know something I don’t” is far more likely than “I alone discovered something that all the world’s experts missed.”

— David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 (@whysharksmatter.bsky.social) July 30, 2026 at 8:25 AM

If you have time to check out some incredible science-type stories, here’s a list in an email from Mike at Everything is Amazing:

…my biggest personal wow-moments in writing this newsletter have been:
learning how modern maps are not necessarily the “right” way round…
finding out why upside-down Adele works…
discover this eerie optical effect that only happens when it’s incredibly cold…
the colossal geological wonder of the world lying at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean…
the white paint that could partly replace aircon…
…and how hundreds of thousands of years ago, the UK had its own megaflood (although it’s not on the scale of the one that filled the Mediterranean)!

Some good posts relating to energy and climate change:

#Spain combination of high solar irradiance, large available land, and aggressive #renewable auction programs has made it one of Europe’s fastest-growing solar markets. #Solar regularly sets the marginal price in Spain’s electricity market — meaning that when the sun shines, prices fall toward zero.

[image or embed]

— alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social (@alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social) July 30, 2026 at 10:51 AM

One of Nova Scotia’s largest rooftop solar installations ever was completed a few weeks ago at the Sackville Community Arena. It will reduce energy costs in the building by 85%

This is the kind of project I think we need more of in Nova Scotia.

1,060 solar panels.

Lower power bills, more money can go back into the facility. That’s good for the community. And a practical way to make public buildings less expensive to operate over the long term.

A good example for other schools, community centres, businesses, and warehouses across Canada. If more buildings can generate some of their own power, it helps reduce demand on the grid and makes communities a little more resilient when energy prices rise.

Am I alone in being excited to see this? https://www.reddit.com/r/NovaScotiaTimes/comments/1v8hi1a/one_of_nova_scotias_largest_rooftop_solar/

– Canadian Returnee

Read on Substack

Africa is smashing all the solar records. The continent installed more grid-connected solar in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2025, and with projects under construction the year could finish at triple the previous record.

That’s just official figures too – they don’t account for all the panels going up on roofs, mines and farms.

Source: https://energiafrica.com/article/africas-2026-on-grid-solar-additions-already-surpass-2025-as-costs-fall-and-storage-deals-multiply2026 bar capacity in construction and slated for commissioning this year. Official grid-connected figures exclude most rooftop, mine and community solar. Chart rebuilt at http://fixthenews.com

– Angus Hervey

Read on Substack

Next, some Funny posts


This is ridiculous, isn’t it

Polite math is the worst.

– Andrew Heard

Read on Substack

– Phil O’Reilly (aka Qntmchckn)

Read on Substack

I’ve officially found the best line in any play ever written:

– Rebekah King

Read on Substack

Carney Hat Trick – posts about our PM

TrumpWatch– post about the world’s most anticipated event
hot pink

and random insults too

Animal Crackers

A fascinating article here:
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/0a09d80…

[image or embed]

— Cathie from Canada🍁 (@cathiecanada.bsky.social) August 2, 2026 at 2:40 AM

#caturday #cats

[image or embed]

— Irrefutable proof cats are evil (@cats-are-evil.bsky.social) July 10, 2026 at 11:25 PM

We don’t deserve dogs 🐶 🥲♥️

Good morning friends!

[image or embed]

— Martha Acuna (@marthaacuna.bsky.social) July 26, 2026 at 6:19 AM

Here are the top 5 dogs of the week!

[image or embed]

— WeRateDogs (@weratedogs.com) July 31, 2026 at 8:52 AM

Commonwealth Games Update

2026 Commonwealth Games – Glasgow (Final Standings | 2 Aug 2026)
Australia — 62🥇 | 40🥈 | 51🥉 | 153
England — 26🥇 | 41🥈 | 34🥉 | 101
Canada — 18🥇20🥈21🥉59
🇮🇳 India — 13🥇17🥈9🥉39
Scotland — 13🥇8🥈17🥉38
Nigeria — 10🥇7🥈6🥉23
Jamaica — 10🥇3🥈5🥉18
New Zealand — 8🥇11🥈9🥉28
Wales — 8🥇10🥈12🥉30
Malaysia — 8🥇3🥈3🥉14

[image or embed]

— geniux.bsky.social (@geniux.bsky.social) August 1, 2026 at 6:44 PM

Laurence Biron Gold Women’s –63 kg Judo

Guillaume Gaulin Silver Men’s -90 kg Judo

Silver (reinstated!) Men’s 4X100 Meter Relay
– Duan Asemota, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse

Silver Women’s 4X100 Meter Relay
– Sade McCreath, Marie-Éloïse Leclair, Frédérique Chiasson and Audrey Leduc

Scarlett Delgado Silver Women’s 54 kg Boxing

Marie Al-Ahmadieh Silver Women’s 60kg Boxing


And Team Canada is donating surplus team apparel, information technology equipment and operational supplies used during the Games to Kindness Homeless Street Team Glasgow and Simon Community Scotland, two organizations dedicated to supporting vulnerable individuals and helping people transition to safe, stable housing.



Source link

  • Related Posts

    Minister Anand meets with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio

    November 12, 2025 – Niagara Region, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada The Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today met with Marco Rubio, the United States Secretary of State,…

    Brazen Unapologetic Corruption – David Graham

    It continues to confound me the degree to which the American people are under-reacting to what is happening to their country. Yesterday, we learned that Donald Trump-owned Truth Social is…

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    You Missed

    Saskatchewan senator, farmer Todd Lewis dies at 65

    Saskatchewan senator, farmer Todd Lewis dies at 65

    “I sense immense expectations”: Final Fantasy 7 Revelation’s director on ending the remake trilogy and DLC

    “I sense immense expectations”: Final Fantasy 7 Revelation’s director on ending the remake trilogy and DLC

    Flood warnings issued in Toronto with heavy rain, thunderstorms in the forecast

    Flood warnings issued in Toronto with heavy rain, thunderstorms in the forecast

    On the Acemoglu-Autor et.al. fertility result

    On the Acemoglu-Autor et.al. fertility result

    8 Sheer Foundations for a “Your Skin But Better” Finish

    8 Sheer Foundations for a “Your Skin But Better” Finish

    House prices slide across Australia as Middle East conflict and tax changes begin to bite | Housing

    House prices slide across Australia as Middle East conflict and tax changes begin to bite | Housing