Feeling berry good

Chocolate milk was the holy grail when you were a kid, but when you wanted to mix things up, Strawberry Quik was a solid choice. Rich, thick, and delicious, one sip was enough to tickle you pink 😂

Although you might not get as excited about the prospect of strawberry milk these days, today would be a great day for some strawberries. After all, it’s National Pick Strawberries Day, so get out there and pick some!

Or not—nothing to get hung about ;)

(Love nostalgia? Play today’s trivia below for a chance to win a $25 Tim Hortons eGift Card!)

IN THE NEWS

Canada’s housing trajectory as summer approaches

While Canada’s housing market saw a 10% sales decline in April according to the Canadian Real Estate Association, when adjusting for seasonality, there were actually very few changes between March and April after several months of real declines.

In that sense, some real estate analysts and economists are suggesting the summer market may be starting to heat up, albeit much slower than usual.

The market’s trajectory heading into summer will really be made more clear once the Bank of Canada makes its next policy decision on June 4. Despite its cautious tone of late and hesitancy to lower or raise its overnight rate during a period of uncertainty regarding tariffs, some say Governor Tiff Macklem may opt to make a 0.25% cut as the economy continues to teeter.

“Mitigating the effects of the trade war, that’s still front of mind for the Bank of Canada. So that would make them more likely to cut,” says mortgage expert Clay Jarvis at NerdWallet. “Unemployment is rising right now. That might make them want to cut. There aren’t really too many positive signals in the economy that would have the Bank of Canada holding off.“

Should the BoC make its first cut in several meetings, the sidelined buyers may jump into the mix and send the housing market back into its typical summer groove.

GOVERNMENT

Canada Post workers issue strike notice

It’s back to the drawing board for Canada Post as the short-term tentative agreement that ended their strike is about to expire, and the union representing 55,000 workers announced it’s once again in legal strike position.

Union leadership notified its membership that they should be prepared to hit the picket line if a deal isn’t struck by Thursday at midnight.

Canada Post is in financial dire straits, with some reports coming out over the last week that the Crown corporation is nearly bankrupt.

Senior leadership responded to the strike notice by saying another strike would deepen the ‘grave financial strain” the corporation is already suffering.

One report published last week recommended Canada Post retire its daily door-to-door mail delivery service, opting for less frequent delivery in order to survive its financial hardship.

Over two billion letters and around 300 million parcels are delivered to and from businesses and consumers on an annual basis.

AI

Companion chatbots cross the line

Most are familiar with chatbots that are designed to be a source of information, complementary to a search engine. However, there are others growing rapidly in popularity that are designed to be friends, companions, romantic partners, or even therapists.

Also growing rapidly, however, is the database that these chatbots acquire their knowledge from, leading to the development of inappropriate advances and even sexual harassment, according to a study conducted by researchers at Drexel University’s College of Computing and Informatics.

“In my initial conversation, during the (seventh) message, I received a prompt to view blurred lingerie images because my AI ‘missed me’ (despite us having met only [six] messages earlier) … lol,” the study cited one reviewer as saying after interacting with “judgement-free virtual friend” chatbot, Replika.

Over 700 complaints were made in Google Play reviews of Replika alone, including for harassment or sexual inappropriateness, and even for pushing too hard to convince users to set up premium accounts.

TRAVEL TUESDAYS

Airbnb takes it up a notch

Sometimes when travelling you want to make sure you’ve got access to a gym or have dinner plans sorted out in advance. With Airbnb, guests can now take it to another level by booking a personal chef or personal trainer.

These features fall in line with what Airbnb’s original intended purpose was: to be a full-service travel platform. Instead of just booking a place to stay, you’ll be able to book tons of services to be brought to that very place. Need a massage? Consult the app; need an excellently-cooked meal, made on site? The app awaits; and of course, if you need someone to whip you into shape rather than a meal, a personal trainer can be ordered.

“One of the reasons why people don’t always want to stay with Airbnb (is) because we didn’t necessarily have all these other activities that you could do around the stay that maybe some more traditional hospitality has,” Airbnb Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson told CNN.

“We’ve been talking about expanding beyond the core for a long time. We now finally get to show it,” he said.

In fact, these features don’t necessarily need to be tied to an Airbnb rental; users can make use of them even when they’re just going about their regular business—a development made as a way to keep people in the app even when they aren’t on vacation.

MEDICINE

Are diabetes and Alzheimer’s connected?

A new study looked into this very question, specifically zooming in on anterior cingulate cortex, which is a region of the brain that essentially dabbles in everything, including memory and cognitive function.

The researchers treated hyperglycemic rats with drugs that impaired their pancreas in order to stimulate chronically high blood sugar, and did nothing to a separate group of rats. They then placed treats throughout the area where the rats were being evaluated and observed their behaviour.

The hyperglycemic rats appeared not to respond to the reward when they received a treat. They simply ate it and moved on to the next one, whereas the healthy rats recognized they’d been rewarded and stopped to savour and enjoy it.

“The ACC calculates the likelihood of getting a certain reward for a certain action,” says lead study author James M. Hyman, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, who noted the failure of the hyperglycemic rats to notice the reward suggested their ultra-high blood sugar was messing with their ACC.

“Bombarding your ACC with high glucose over many years alters the nature of the information carried by cells in the ACC,” explains Hyman. “This in turn not only throws off your judgment of reward and decision-making but also affects memory by altering interactions with the hippocampus. Communication between the ACC and hippocampus is important for high level tasks and is compromised early in Alzheimer’s progression.”

CURIOSITIES

What do we Like?

While various iterations of it popped in and out of the digital universe for years just after the turn of the millennium, it was really when Facebook adopted the Like button on Feb. 9, 2009 that the world was officially changed forever.

The dopamine delivery system and emotional superweapon has impacted billions of people in positive and negative ways over the last 16 years, and is the subject of a new book, Like: The Button That Changed The World.

It chronicles the history of the psychology behind the Like button and how it found its final form in the simple but infinitely powerful symbol of the “thumbs up,” dating back to gladiators aiming to impress audiences in the Roman Colosseum all the way to average social media users posting compelling content in search of recognition from friends and strangers alike.

The book speculates about the data Facebook (now Meta) has logged from the Like button alone, mostly because the platform has never publicly disclosed the actual number. PayPal co-founder and contributor to the book, Max Levchin says it’s probably in the trillions.

“What content is liked by humans...is probably one of the singularly most valuable things on the internet,” he wrote.

ODDITIES

Cleats on streets? It’s a vibe

As the kids are saying these days, the trend of wearing soccer cleats on asphalt, tile, or carpet—as opposed to the soccer pitch where they normally belong—is a “pure vibe.”

The trend started out on TikTok and Instagram, being referred to as #BootsOnlySummer, in which the youth decided there’s no reason soccer shoes can’t be as mainstream popular as basketball sneakers.

Aside from the likely discomfort of wearing such kicks on really hard surfaces, the kids appear to be succeeding in making soccer shoes a staple in the regular lineup.

Don’t believe us? Spanish singer Rosalia was spotted at the Met Gala a few weeks ago wearing a formal floor-length skirt, but just beneath it on camera were New Balance 442 Pro FG V2s cleats, lending major credence to this pretty much hilarious trend.

If something debuts at the Met Gala, it’s usually already one of the hottest trends on earth. And in this case, there they were—soccer cleats, taking centre stage just over a year out from North America’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup.

STAKE TRIVIA

Something for everyone

From music, to comedy, dancing and more, there’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned variety TV show 😎 

There’s also no denying that the ‘70s were the golden age for variety shows, and we’ll be quizzing you on the classics with today’s trivia! Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 Tim Hortons eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified tomorrow afternoon—keep an eye on your inbox!*

Have a great day ahead Staker!

Today’s issue written by Michael Cowan, Joey Cowan, and Maureen Norman.


*SEE FULL STAKE TRIVIA CONTEST RULES HERE.