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ICYMI: A weekly round-up of the latest local news, from food and entertainment to current affairs and more.

A cold history without warm memories

City streets littered with trees and wires, hundreds of thousands without power, carbon monoxide poisoning, and death: The Wikipedia article may only just be getting written about the 2023 ice storm, but that doesn't mean it won't be something to be remembered for a long time. (Journal de Montréal)

The trickle-down economics of disasters

From melted ice cream to spoiled bread and meat, restaurants were right up there alongside grocery stores losing big to the fallout of the ice storm over the weekend—except grocery stores don't have reservations to lose. (La Presse)

Pluie et verglas au Québec | Nouveau coup dur pour les restaurateurs

Le manque prolongé d’électricité a donné bien des maux de tête aux commerçants et restaurateurs de Montréal, qui enregistrent des pertes pouvant s’élever à des milliers de dollars.

La PresseLila Dussault

Proclaiming the perils of AI before it was cool

The world's richest people and most famous scientists have signed a now-famous open letter on the dangers of AI, including Montreal professor Yoshua Bengio—a "godfather of artificial intelligence"—who helped spearhead the caution as far back as 2017. (Financial Post)

A Canadian godfather of AI calls for a ‘pause’ on the technology he helped create

Yoshua Bengio is warning that powerful AI tools can have negative uses, and society isn’t ready for the consequences. Find out more.

Financial PostMarisa Coulton

Caves below the city running back 15,000 years

Back in 2017, cavers Daniel Caron and Luc Le Blanc found out the Saint-Léonard cavern underneath Parc Pie-XII went even deeper than first thought. Today, we still don't know hope deep it goes. (CBC Montreal)

Explore the huge secret cave that lay hidden under Montreal | CBC News

Two cavers recently discovered a huge secret cave formed by a glacier, a new chamber off an existing cave buried underneath a Montreal park. Here’s a closer look at the amazing sights underground.

CBCAndrea Bellemare

To bake, or to get baked

We've come a long way from baking special brownies: From appetizers to deserts, the cannabis food experiences of these local chefs are a far cry from the SQDC's beef jerky and dried vegetables. Here's a look at how any normie or square can learn how to cook just like them. (Urbania)

Du trip de bouffe à la fine cuisine – Micromag 35 - Micromag URBANIA

Quand le cannabis s’invite dans les ingrédients du Chef

MicromagUrbania

Putting skin in the game

Montreal's the backdrop for Money Shot: The Pornhub Story, a deep dive into the successes and scandals of the household platform for sexual obscenities, and this here's the inside scoop on the doc from Martin Patriquin, a local journalist in the film who talks up breaking the original scandal. (Time Out Montreal)

Inside the controversial Netflix documentary The Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

Behind the scenes with Martin Patriquin, the Montreal journalist featured in the film who broke the story in 2020

Time OutLaura Osborne

Eating the island: More than smoked meat & bagels

Montreal's been making a lot of efforts to distinguish itself as a capital of sustainable gastronomy in recent years, and now it's begun to bear fruit since the city was named the most sustainable destination in North America—and the third in the world—back in 2022. This here's some of the reasons why. (Le Devoir)

Montréal, pôle de la gastronomie durable

Une destination touristique où la gastronomie brille tout autant par sa créativité que par son côté durable.

Le DevoirSophie Ginoux

Getting fined for singing in your own car

It's one of the weirder things we've found diving around the internet this week: In 2017, a local man was fined $149 for singing along to C+C Music Factory’s Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) in his car. Police said he was 'screaming'. (Montreal Gazette)

Not music to cops’ ears: Singing driver ticketed for screaming

Taoufik Moalla, 38, says Montreal police have no business punishing him for doing nothing more than singing along to one of his favourite songs — in his own…

Montreal GazetteMontreal Gazette

As if Westmount couldn't be more Westmount

Inside the Braemar House you'll find seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a powder room, six fireplaces, a chef’s kitchen, and a history dating back to 1847 and a time when it was once the home of a Queen of England in waiting. (Global News)

The story behind a piece of Quebec anglophone history, and its $25M price tag - Montreal | Globalnews.ca

The real estate listing for Braemar House in Quebec suggests one of the early owners was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. The storied heritage home dates back to 1847.

Global NewsAnnabelle Olivier

The benefits of a polyglot city

What do Arabic, Creole, Spanish, Chinese, and English all have in common? These are all languages that, at a time when protecting the French language is a topic that's risen to the top of the charts, continues to inform the slang of young Montrealers and open them up to other cultures. Here's why. (Montréal Campus)

Montréal, le carrefour de la diversité linguistique

Entre l’arabe et le créole haïtien en passant par l’espagnol ou le mandarin, la métropole québécoise brille par sa richesse linguistique. Mais au nom de la protection du français, plusieurs tentent d’aplanir cette diversité. Je ne nie pas l’importance de protéger la langue française au Québec, bien…

Montréal CampusMalika Alaoui

Posts of the Week

The best local moments this week from socials:

That wraps up this week's edition. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

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