Things I learned lately 17 Jun

• In Canadian law, store employees are not allowed to physically stop you from leaving or search your belongings unless they actually witness you commit an offence. You are free to walk past a receipt check, out the store. The exception is a retailer such as Costco, which can enforce receipt checks because people (probably unknowingly) agree to them when they sign up for the required store membership.
• Instant Brands, the company behind Instant Pot, has filed for bankruptcy. 
• Canada has around 106 water bomber planes that are considered airworthy and able to fly.
• Calgary has more millionaires per capita than any other Canadian city.
• One of the reasons AI art generating tools don’t draw hands very well is that they don’t have a lot of examples of pictures of hands to train from, unlike faces, for which there are a lot.
• Steamboats, once a common mode of river transport, were quite dangerous. Between 1816 and 1848, boiler explosions alone killed more than 1,800 passengers and crew and injured another 1,000. The sinking of the steamboat Sultana in 1865, also the result of a boiler explosion, claimed as many as 1,800 lives, still the worst maritime disaster in US history.
• Parrots normally live in flocks, so maybe video calls might help them feel less lonely. That was the subject of an experiment at the University of Glasgow. The researchers studied 18 pet parrots who were taught to use a tablet. They learned really quickly. The parrots would ring a bell when they wanted to make a call, and then select a bird to call. The birds made 147 calls during the study, and engaged in social behaviors while on calls. The birds that made the most calls ended up being the most popular, and were chosen by other birds more often! The action starts at 3:27  
• There is a list of fictional brand names used in movies, TV and games. You can find it here.