Internet Versus 4 Million Pixels

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What happens when you hand the internet a blank canvas? What happens when each person can only place one pixel at a time? What happens when there is a 5 minute cooldown between placing them? All of these questions were answered when Reddit reintroduced r/place on 1 April, 2022. r/place was a concept first introduced on April Fools’ Day in 2017 by Josh Wardle, creator of the viral game Wordle, and it was one giant blank canvas where users could place one pixel every 5 minutes. The rules of this canvas eliminated the possibility of constructing a project alone and forced users to work together as communities to create pixel art. During the first year, 2017, over 1 million users placed over 15 million tiles on the canvas. Fast forward to 2022, and over 6 million users placed over 70 million tiles. The growth of popular community-oriented platforms, such as Discord and Twitch, is one of the reasons for this massive skyrocket in popularity. The event ended on 4 April and the final image can be found in the r/place subreddit. [The Washington Post][By Justin Wei] 

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Alberta Places $75 Bounty on Wild Boars

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In the 70s and 80s, wild boars were imported into Alberta to diversify livestock, with the expectation that they would not survive long. On the contrary,in current times, they have been labelled pests by the government as they thrive and menace the province and ecosystem. In an announcement by Agriculture Minister Nate Horner, he stated that “Wild boar at large are a threat to our animals and environment, as well as a vector for diseases like African swine fever.” This has led The Alberta government to put a price on their heads, offering a bounty of $75 per set of ears turned in. Brandon Berry, a Texan farmer who has hunted boar for over 15 years, states that “It’s actually a delicious meat. I eat most of the ones I kill. It’s really tasty.” The trapping and hunting programs are scheduled to end in the March of 2023 and 2024. [CTV][By Iris Ma]

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Ontario Has No Plans to Reinstate Restrictions Amid 6th Wave

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As wastewater surveillance suggests the province is already in the midst of a sixth wave of COVID, Health Minister Christine Elliot insisted that there was no need to reinstate restrictions.

“At this point it doesn’t appear necessary that we need to take any further precautions,” she said. “But we have the capacity in our hospitals now, we have a highly vaccinated population and we do have the antivirals now, which we are receiving more and more of. If we need to take any further measures we will but so far it doesn’t appear that we need to do that.” 

Minister Elliot also pointed out that the recent rise in cases and hospitalizations was “not unexpected” given the lifting of almost all pandemic restrictions.

The people of Ontario will just have to wait and see where this sixth wave takes us. [CP24][Joshua Zhuang]

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Raptors Legend,7, Kyle Lowry, Returns to Toronto

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When Lowry left Toronto last summer, Raptors fans were devastated, it was inevitable, but nevertheless saddening. The “greatest raptor ever” heading to the south beach marked the end of an era, a decade of Toronto playoff basketball. However, the respect of Toronto basketball fans will forever stay with the legendary point guard, and this return was needless to say one to be remembered for the ages. Lowry was showered with love upon his entry; his tribute video was not only enlightening but also nostalgic, and even though the Raptors lost the competitive shoot out(114 – 109, during which Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet both stepped up with 29), no one left without a smile overwhelmed with gratitude. This will definitely be the first return of many many more. With regards to the playoff picture, the Raptors have now secured a spot in the 2021-2022 postseason. [CTV News][By Sam Li]