Morning Coffee – By Aaron Hall
Weather forecast for Monday, September 18, 2017
Today – Mainly cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers and risk of a thunderstorm. High 26. Humidex 31. UV index 5 or moderate.
Tonight – Clearing this evening. Fog patches developing overnight. Low 15.
Funeral homes donate to Foundation of CKHA
The Foundation of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) is pleased to announce that five local funeral homes have made a very generous donation of $10,000 to the $6.9 million CKHA Diagnostic Imaging Equipment Renewal Campaign.
Representatives from McKinlay Funeral Homes (Chatham, Blenheim and Ridgetown), Badder Funeral Home (Thamesville, Bothwell, Dresden), Dennings of Chatham, Nichols Funeral Home (Wallaceburg) and Haycock-Cavanagh Funeral Home (Wallaceburg), along with a representative from Southwest Crematoriums Limited, presented the cheque to the Foundation earlier this week.
The five local funeral homes are partners with the Southwest Crematoriums Limited.
“As the Chatham-Kent partners of the Southwest Crematoriums, we represent almost every community in the Municipality,” stated Kevin Cavanagh, Haycock-Cavanagh Funeral Home in Wallaceburg.
“The equipment being supported by the Foundation of CKHA’s campaign has the potential to benefit every person in Chatham-Kent, and we are proud to support this initiative.”
“Our funeral homes care for families in our communities, and giving back to those communities is important to us” added Scott Burritt, Nichols Funeral Home.
“By providing support our local hospitals, we are strengthening our community and the families that we value.”
“As the Chatham-Kent partners of the Southwest Crematoriums, we represent almost every community in the Municipality,” added Jason Badder, Badder Funeral Homes of Thamesville, Bothwell and Dresden.
“The equipment being supported by the Foundation of CKHA’s campaign has the potential to benefit every person in Chatham-Kent, and we are proud to support this initiative.”
Since 2014, Southwest Crematorium has been serving funeral homes and their families with a dignified cremation process, that upholds a high level of operating and environmental standards.
About the CKHA Diagnostic Imaging Equipment Renewal Campaign
Launched in late 2014, the $6.9 million Diagnostic Imaging Equipment Renewal Campaign will support CKHA in the purchase of 18 new pieces of equipment for the Diagnostic Imaging Department, including an urgently needed replacement of the dated CT Scan. To date, more than $4.6 million has been raised.
About the Foundation of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance
The Foundation of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) exists to enhance the quality of healthcare available to the citizens of Chatham-Kent by raising funds and providing other resources to support CKHA. It accomplishes this through annual campaigns, capital campaigns, major gifts, memorial giving, special events and planned giving. To date, the Foundation of CKHA has raised over $42 million.
Farm Tour in Dresden
A tour will take place today at the Van Arkel Farm in Dresden.
Here are the details:
Facebook facility opening in Montreal
From smartphone applications that can understand human speech to self-driving cars, artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way that people interact with each other and their environment.
AI and deep learning help create jobs, improve our quality of life, and generate new opportunities for the middle class and those working hard to join it, Canadian government officials stated.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, took part in Facebook’s announcement last week that they will open a new AI lab in Montréal – the company’s first intelligence lab in Canada, and only its second outside of the United States. By next year, the lab is expected to employ a team of twenty researchers headed by McGill University’s Dr. Joelle Pineau, a leading AI researcher.
“When tech giants like Facebook decide to invest in our cities, that is not only a testament to the world-class talent of our people, but also to Canada’s enormous potential as an innovation and tech hub,” Trudeau stated.
“Facebook’s new lab in Montréal will underline Canada’s status as a global AI powerhouse, and a leader in the economy of the future — and encourage other leading tech companies to set up shop here and create good, middle class jobs for Canadians.”
The researchers will develop new ways of teaching machines the complex relationship between actions and results, known as reinforcement learning, government officials say.
They will also develop dialog systems for machines and computers that enable them to speak with users in a natural and easily understandable way.
Canadian officials say this new lab will help grow a stronger Canadian technology ecosystem. It will create good jobs and help Canada continue to retain and recruit high quality talent in this important area of research and economic growth. It will mean a stronger economy for our country, as professionals and students choose to stay here rather than look abroad for jobs and opportunities in the technology sector.
More details:
– Montréal is a natural fit for this new lab, as many of the early AI pioneers come from the city and several important advancements have been made here.
– In addition to this new lab, Facebook will invest $7 million in the broader Montréal-based AI community through partnerships with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms.
– Canada is a world leader when it comes to investing in research at post-secondary institutions, ranking first among G7 nations and eighth among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development nations.
– In order to help new, innovative initiatives in Canada, Budget 2017 included an Innovation and Skills Plan to make it easier for Canadian entrepreneurs and innovators to turn their ideas into thriving businesses.
– To retain and attract top academic talent, and to increase the number of post-graduate trainees and researchers studying artificial intelligence and deep learning, Budget 2017 also proposed $125 million to launch a Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy for research and talent.
Photos of the day – Tartan Tour
Organizers of Wallaceburg District Secondary School Grade 9 orientation event ‘Tartan Tour’ said the event was a great success once again.
Nancy Schinkelshoek, a teacher at WDSS and the event organizer, said they had perfect weather and everyone had a great time.
Here are some photos submitted from the event:
World news
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Wayne Rooney pleads guilty to drink driving charge
Trudeau attends funeral for Allan J. MacEachen
Four US tourists attacked with acid at Marseille train station
McMaster says administration is ‘looking at’ a new travel ban
UK threat level lowered to severe
Second arrest made over London Tube attack
Four people killed in rifle attack in Chicago’s Brighton Park
U2 cancels St Louis concert citing safety concerns
If you have a suggestion, story idea, column idea, or if you want to say hello… drop me an e-mail at aaron@sydenhamcurrent.ca.
