Articles by Dave Webb
Trump and Greenland: Key war fighting base for Arctic control
Trump and Greenland: Key war fighting base for Arctic control April 04, 2026, By Dr. Dave Webb , https://space4peace.blogspot.com/2026/04/trump-and-greenland-key-war-fighting.html At time of writing, the biennial NATO military exercise ‘Cold Response 26’ is taking place from March 9 to 19. It is being led from the Norwegian-US headquarters in Reitan, near Bodø, Norway. About 32,500 personnel are participating, including around 11,800 in Norway and 7,500 in Finland.
How to get your car ready for winter and avoid road emergencies
QUICK TAKEAWAYS Install winter tires to improve safety, traction, and control in cold weather while extending the life of your all-season tires. Prepare a winter emergency kit with essentials like blankets, food, water, a shovel, and road flares to handle unexpected situations. Winterize your car with a tune-up, battery check, fluid top-ups, and new wipers to ensure it’s ready for harsh conditions.
Eric Macfarlane obituary
My friend and colleague, Eric Macfarlane, who has died aged 93, was an inspiring and influential educationist. His own experience of school had sometimes been frustrating and difficult; reflecting on those years, he concluded that the purported excellence of some grammar school teaching had left far too many with a sense of inadequacy. When Eric, aged 35, was appointed head of Letchworth grammar school, Hertfordshire, he wanted to encourage radical curricular alternatives.
What is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)? VPN Security Explained
A VPN provides a secure channel for users to send and retrieve sensitive data using public infrastructure – the Internet. This avoids the cost of leasing dedicated secure lines between branch offices and allows employees the flexibility to work anywhere with an Internet connection. They are also valuable for communicating with suppliers and customers in your extranet. VPNs are not an all-in-one solution but an important layer in your overall security strategy.
How to Use A Password Manager: Setup, Benefits & Best Practices in 2024
We need secure and unique passwords to use business applications, access e-mail, and social media securely, and even watch movies on a streaming service. Password managers take some strain from generating, associating, and remembering those passwords. In this article, we’ll explain how password managers work, how to use a password manager, and how to choose the right one for your purposes.
How to Get a VPN on Any Device (+ Installation Tips)
A virtual private network (VPN) is a must for any internet user connecting to business systems. It provides a secure tunnel protecting user identity, encrypts data in transit, and extends the identity and security of the home network to remote users. Use this guide to learn how to get a VPN provider, set it up, and connect your devices for a more secure and safe connection.
6 VPN Security Best Practices for Secure Connection
Every network connection, every device, every userâwell-meaning or notâexposes a network to risk. But you canât do business in an unconnected silo. Online commerce drives the velocity of business from front-end to back-end. Types of devices using network access have proliferated. This has made businesses more responsive, more agileâand more vulnerable. According to available data, more than 4,600 common IT vulnerabilities were discovered in 2010. In 2023, that number reached more than 29,000.
Why life insurance should be part of estate planning for new parents
From decorating a nursery to baby-proofing a home, becoming a new parent comes with a long checklist of to-dos. It’s a significant life change and it can impact everything in your life. While it’s not the most fun to think about, one part of being a new parent that is commonly overlooked is end-of-life planning. Whether you’re expecting or recently became a parent, here’s why you should put life insurance and estate planning at the top of your list.
A Mass Grave Filled With Mutilated Remains Was Just Found In An Ancient Roman Burial Site In England
The burial sites at Knobb's Farm indicate that the Romans turned to harsh punishments to keep their British subjects in line in the third century. Dave Webb/Cambridge Archaeological Unit One of the decapitated skeletons found at Knobb’s Farm. Ancient Romans left a mark on present-day Britain. Crumbling stone walls across the island speak to their once-vast empire. But a cemetery uncovered in Cambridgeshire highlights another legacy of Roman rule — its brutality.
Will a Life Insurance Policy Cover Death Due to COVID-19?
As I write this, Canada has recorded more than 1 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 23,000 deaths as a result. The spread of the virus, and its variants, is not slowing. On April 14, Canada reported 8,596 new cases of the virus and 53 deaths. Hopefully, by the time you read this, the daily numbers will have decreased, but at the moment, that doesn’t look likely. As deaths mount, so do life insurance claims.
New to Canada? Here's How to Get Car Insurance
Dave Webb March 18, 2021 Table of Contents Car insurance varies by province Getting a Canadian driver’s licence Finding the best car insurance premium If you’re a new to Canada, welcome home! As the mayor of Dawson City, Yukon, once said, “Canadians are born all over the world, it just sometimes takes them a bit of time to get here.” I emigrated to Canada when I was very young and received my citizenship in 1974.
Telus and UHN deliver services to the marginalized
Telus’s Health for Good program has launched the latest of its specially equipped vans to provide medical services to the homeless and underserved, this time to the population of Toronto’s west end. The project relies not only on the hardware and software – the vans and technology – but on the care delivered by trained and socially sensitive medical professionals.
AI solutions making their way through DI departments
In the 1950 Stanley Cup playoffs, then-22-year-old Gordie Howe mistimed a check and fell headfirst into the boards. Removed unconscious on a stretcher before a hushed crowd, he was rushed to hospital. With Howe’s life on the line, doctors determined that intracranial pressure from a brain bleed would kill him.
Tech allows community care nurses to make rounds remotely
OSHAWA, ONT. – The “virtual ward” project at the Central East Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) was pushed ahead of schedule by an unlikely force: the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s been an organizational goal for quite some time,” said Dr. Ilan Lenga, a nephrologist and chief information officer for Lakeridge Health, part of the Central East network. But COVID-19 was “a major impetus” to accelerate things.
Auto infotainment systems are making driving more dangerous
This article has been updated from a previous version. Back in the day, you had a car radio. It was the model of simplicity: Press one of the five preprogrammed rectangular buttons and you’re rewarded with a satisfying mechanical clunk and a change of stations. You might even have had an eight-track or cassette player. Again, minimal interplay with the device, but now you’re in stereo. Fast forward to the auto infotainment systems of today.
What is pay-as-you-go car insurance?
This article has been updated from a previous version. Car insurance is not an inconsiderable expense. Of course, more inexperienced drivers and those with spotty driving records will pay more than experienced drivers with clean records. That is a strong disincentive to urbanites who use public transit to get to work and want a car for evening and weekend outings only.
How to Avoid a Fatal Auto Accident
Fatal car accidents happen. There are many consequences of a fatal car crash. The most significant is the death of a fellow human being. Every other consequence pales in comparison. But there are other consequences too. The second most significant is survivor’s guilt. This is an article about auto insurance. We’ll get to that later because the psychological health of survivors is paramount.
Feature: The promise of software-defined networking
Back in June at a user conference in Orlando, Cisco Systems Inc. executives faced a roomful of media with a promise of frank answers in a wide-open Q&A session. A question arose about software defined networking: While every networking vendor, Cisco included, had trumpeted an SDN strategy, where were the enterprise users? “I think the construct of software defined networking is a very appealing concept,” said Robert Lloyd, Cisco’s president of development and sales.
ITWC annual salary survey: A move to performance-based compensation
Whether it’s the lingering effects of the economic crash of 2008, economic turmoil in Europe, political instability in the Middle East, or other worldwide phenomena, there’s a pall being cast on IT salaries. The IT professionals we surveyed reported an average base salary of about $88,510. That’s barely half a per cent more than they reported for last year’s base salary ($88,065), and not enough to keep up with Canada’s meager inflation rate, reported at 1.2 per cent in June 2013.
Wisdom and Analytics
Dave Webb, CIO, Nebraska Public Power District Dave Webb, CIO, Nebraska Public Power District When someone asks you to share wisdom, rest assured you’re probably not young anymore. I’ve learned to be OK with that. I have enjoyed a long and satisfying career in various leadership roles in Engineering and IT.
MHI automates vital sign collection in ICU, integrates with EHR
A renowned Quebec cardiac hospital has implemented an automated, electronic solution to collect vital signs data from ventilators in its intensive care unit. It’s another step towards Montreal Heart Institute’s vision of a “Digital Hospital,” says Leila El-Fehri, biomedical engineer with MHI.
Wisdom and Analytics
By Dave Webb, CIO, Nebraska Public Power District Dave Webb, CIO, Nebraska Public Power District When someone asks you to share wisdom, rest assured you’re probably not young anymore. I’ve learned to be OK with that. I have enjoyed a long and satisfying career in various leadership roles in Engineering and IT.
What Not to Do Before a Life Insurance Medical Exam
A history of eating greasy burgers every day or chain-smoking. These are things you can't hide in your system (heart, lungs) before a life insurance medical exam. But what about a beer the day before, salty chips, Red Bulls and espresso shots? These you might be able to temporarily hide. And, why should you? So you don’t skew your test results. The night before a medical exam for your life insurance is important and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Innovation teams at CAMH make their cases to 'Dragons'
Don Tapscott is in. At a recent pitch session for innovation projects at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) – modeled after popular CBC TV series Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs compete for investment cash from financiers – Tapscott the Dragon offered up his own cash for one proposal. “Don’t the Dragons get to buy in (on the TV show)? I’ll give you $10,000,” Tapscott told a group of presenters during the afternoon session of CAMH’s Innovation Expo in February.
SAS 'Safe Roads' big data competition identifies baby boomers at highest risk in Toronto
In the end, it was the team that went the extra mile—literally—that won the SAS Institute Safe Roads Competition. After poring over aggregate accident data from the Toronto Police Service and fleet telematics company Geotab Inc., Corinne Blanchett and Farid Rasi put the results of their analytics assessment in context by visiting the sites of a number of fatal pedestrian accidents from 2018, either online or in person.
Focused ultrasound gaining proponents as breakthroughs are made
TORONTO – The blood-brain barrier – a selectively permeable capillary wall that bars circulating blood and extracellular fluid from entering the central nervous system – performs a critical function in preventing blood-borne pathogens from entering the central nervous system. But it also effectively resists the delivery of lifesaving drug therapies to the brain, requiring higher doses of dangerous chemotherapy drugs, for example, to treat conditions such as brain tumours.
MedChart enables easier retrieval of health records
NEWMARKET, ONT. – Southlake Regional Health Centre has partnered with Toronto-based startup MedChart Inc. to allow patients and authorized third parties to easily request and quickly obtain medical records online, day or night. Southlake – a 426-bed hospital and cancer-care centre located north of Toronto – was the first hospital to join the MedChart network, in a pilot project funded partly by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).
Saint Elizabeth Health Care's chatbot offers enhanced family support
Family caregivers, meet Elizzbot. She’s your sounding board, your resource, someone to vent to, and a source of constructive solutions when you’re burned out. She is, in her way, a daughter and a granddaughter, tracing her family tree to the first chatbots. But the project of Elizz, the online brand of home-care provider Saint Elizabeth Health Care, is very much her own bot.
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute's improvement project reaches Phase 3
The expansion of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute gives the facility some of the most advanced surgical technology available, but a focus on a state-of-the-art working environment is almost as important. Inaugurated in the Spring, the Life Support Tower – “The Tower,” to its staff – marks the completion of Phase 3 of the planned hospital improvement project, says Dr. Tim Zakutney, Vice-President, Medical Equipment and Chief Medical Technology Officer.
Omni-present and non-judgmental, 'chatbots' allow patients to open up
TORONTO – Dr. John Reeves opened the HealthBot 2018 conference with a question: How many in the audience had been at HealthBot 2017? No one raised a hand. But interest in chatbots – software that simulates human conversation through the use of AI technologies like natural language processing, big data management and pattern recognition – is growing rapidly.
April snow brings slick roads in NEPA
Slick conditions on roads in Northeast Pa. this morning as a spring snowstorm moves through the region . The National Weather Service says 3-6 inches are expected in the area, with most accumulations south of Interstates 380 and 84. Here's the winter weather advisory from the NWS Binghamton.
Physicians partner with game developers to create VR for healthcare
David Wyand’s introduction to bringing lifelike, immersive reality to the medical field came through a chance meeting. In the fall of 2016, at a virtual reality meetup, the lead-developer with Toronto-based Quantum Capture encountered Dr. Clyde Matava and Dr. Fahad Alam, two Toronto-based anesthesiologists.
Value of Analytics in Practical Work Life
Dave Webb, CIO, Nebraska Public Power District Dave Webb, CIO, Nebraska Public Power District Last month, I talked about some of the lessons I’ve learned over the years and how they apply to my company’s analytics journey. You’ll see a theme continue as I wrap it up this month. None of my lessons are about technology. As I said, technology is easy; it is people that are complicated.
Should Australia have a Modern Slavery Act?
There has been a flurry of activity recently in relation to establishing a Modern Slavery Act in Australia. This has included a parliamentary inquiry and Labor’s recent policy release on the topic. First, there is no doubt that activities associated with modern slavery, such as human trafficking, servitude and forced labour, are grave human rights issues, requiring a dedicated and co-ordinated response. Governments cannot solve the problem on their own.
Nunavut Now Officially Connected to the Great Trail
Trans Canada Trail (TCT) is thrilled to announce the official inclusion of Nunavut's Itijjagiaq Trail as part of The Great Trail. This makes Nunavut Canada's sixth province or territory - after Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Yukon, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick - to celebrate its connection to The Great Trail's countrywide network.
Your Essential Guide to Winter Fun
Winter Adventures in Tofino, BC Experience a different take on winter recreation in the snow-free environs of Tofino, British Columbia. Read More > Canada's Coldest Adventures Layer up! These are the hottest ways to experience Canada's biting cold temperatures.
Third Annual Paddle & Surf Championships Return to Tofino, BC
The mini-grom beat the grom as sibling rivalry returned to the Third annual Tofino Paddle & Surf Championships, October 21 to 23. A 13-year-old Finn Spencer beat out his 15-year-old older brother Jeffery to win the men's Pro Stand Up Paddle surf division, claiming the national title. And for the first time, prize money—$200. A new national champion was crowned in the women's division, as well, with Genna Flinkman claiming the title and $200 in prize money in the process.
Ontario Parks' Heated Cabins and Yurts Available Throughout Winter
Now is a good time to book an overnight getaway at Ontario Parks. Mid-week rentals have been readily available since Thanksgiving. Try a fully equipped cottage, farmhouse or if you’re feeling adventurous, a heated camp cabin or yurt. Here's what is open across Ontario for fall and winter: Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County is closed for the season, but its farmhouse and cottage are open all year. That’s good news for county food-lovers.
Catching Up With Will Gadd
Will Gadd is one of our most popular columnists, and one of Canada's top adventure athletes. Are you caught up with his columns? Read on for the past 10 instalments of "Gadd's Truth." And catch the next one in the Winter 2016 issue of explore, out December 1. Gadd's Truth: The Comfort Test Will Gadd talks about "comfort" — and how to learn to listen to your inner alarm. It evolved for a reason.
What you need to know about the Internet of Things
There used to be this thing called the World Wide Web. It was an application built on top of the infrastructure of the Internet, itself built on an American defense project to link high-powered computers for emergency communications and redundancy. Back in the early 90s, the WWW was dismissed by many as a fad.
Election 2015 Tech Watch: Website helps guide voter decisions
Having just been launched into possibly the longest federal election in living memory, those of us with a shorter attention span might become frustrated with months of attack ads and media coverage of campaign minutiae. But our civic duty is our civic duty. So how can we make an informed decision without the election dominating our lives for almost three months?
Biggest breaches of 2013: Lessons we haven’t learned
SC Magazine – sponsors of the popular SC Congress series of conferences – released it list of the Top 8 Security Breaches of 2013 recently, and the dispiriting thing is, the themes are sounding awfully familiar. Apparently, some shops have learned nothing from previous fiascos – hands up, anybody who remembers Heartland and TJX – and continue to ignore best practices we’ve known about for years. What lessons have we forgotten? * No excuse for no encryption.
7 security suites for Android
Webroot Security and Antivirus Webroot Inc. Automatically scans for viruses, trojans and spyware, blocks malware before installation, and alerts users to insecure settings. Scans URLs for malicious URLs and phishing links and blocks unwanted calls and text messages. An App Inspector alerts you to apps that access contact information, drain your device battery, track your location or access private data. Free; Premier version has additional functionality. Rated 4.4 out of 5 on Google Play.
A time to make promises and a time to deliver
Greg Reed, CEO of eHealth Ontario, paints this scenario: It's delivery day, 2015. We're gathered outside the low-slung bunker of a data centre. Someone ceremoniously flips the Frankenstein switch. Millions of disks spin to life. Lights across the province momentarily dim as its long-planned health network comes alive. It's not gonna work that way, Reed told the Economic Club of Canada at an event on Wednesday.
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