Tea with: Mom’s Cake Cafe in Oak Bay | Oak Bay News

Tea with: Mom’s Cake Cafe in Oak Bay | Oak Bay News

Tea with: Mom’s Cake Cafe in Oak Bay Published 5:45 am Sunday, March 22, 2026  By Sam Duerksen    1/2 Jeraldine Reyes and close friend Jellica Ann Lasat own Mom’s Cake Cafe in Oak Bay. (Don Denton/Tweed)    For Tweed’s spring issue themed ‘Sweet’, we thought, who better to have tea with than the owners of one of the sweetest cafes in Oak Bay? Mom’s Cake Cafe has only been in the neighbourhood for one year, but it’s already a daily ritual for nearby residents. Beyond the draw of the delicious and carefully designed baked goods, the warm coffee, the bright patio and the cheery interior, it’s the hospitality of owners Jellica Ann Lasat and close friend Jeraldine Reyes that make it a truly special spot. Jellica and Jeraldine sat down with Tweed to tell us their story, which includes a family-like friendship, a love for their Philippines homeland and the joys of motherhood.

Read more at: https://oakbaynews.com/2026/03/22/tea-with-moms-cake-cafe-in-oak-bay/

 

 Giving up on giving

Morning Brew Design

The year was 2010: A peplum top was standard going-out attire, Justin Bieber had just released “Baby,” and billionaires were signing onto the Giving Pledge—an effort backed by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates that asked the ultrawealthy to commit more than half their money to nonprofits. But much like the BlackBerry as the go-to tech for busy business people, the pledge has significantly dipped in popularity since then. The New York Times reports: In the pledge’s first five years, from 2010–2015, 113 people signed. Over the next five years, 72 signed one. And the next five garnered just 43 new signatories, with only four new sign-ons in 2024. Last year, 14 people signed. In the past two years, Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong unsigned, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison said he was amending his (nonbinding) pledge to enable giving to more for-profits. But despite growing backlash from the billionaires it’s aimed at amid a very different political climate (and critics from the left, who assert signers aren’t giving away enough money), backers say the pledge helped establish a new norm of giving among the wealthiest.

 

Reporter says Polymarket bettors threatened him

Mateusz Slodkowski/Getty Images

Sometimes the danger for conflict correspondents comes from gamblers. The Times of Israel war reporter Emanuel Fabian revealed in an article yesterday that people tried to intimidate him into changing a story about a recent Iranian missile strike so they could win a bet on the prediction market Polymarket. After the journalist broke the news of an Iranian ballistic missile hitting an open area near the Israeli town Beit Shemesh on March 10, he began receiving threats from bettors accusing him of misreporting the incident. The DM mob claimed an interceptor missile fragment caused the explosion captured on video. Polyracket attempt Fabian, who stands by his reporting, realized that the people attempting to cow him into issuing a correction had skin in the game beyond worrying about media accuracy: He discovered the threats (and bribe offers) were coming from people who bet on Polymarket that an Iranian projectile wouldn’t strike Israel on March 10 without being intercepted—a market with over $14 million in trades. After Fabian reported the harassment to the police and to Polymarket, the platform said it banned the accounts of those involved for violating its rules. It’s just the latest allegation…of prediction market foul play. An Israel Defense Forces reservist was recently indicted for using classified information to place Polymarket bets, as the prediction market and its rival Kalshi work to crack down on insider trading.

 

 Hot dog!

Nick Iluzada

If you like your dogs with tiny legs and elongated torsos, you’re not alone: Dachshunds made it onto the list of the most popular dogs in the US for the first time in more than two decades this year. According to the American Kennel Club’s rankings, which are based on its registry—which doesn’t account for mixed-breed dogs (even designer doodle types): The French bulldog remains top dog, a spot the breed has occupied since 2003. But the smoosh-nosed pups’ moment at the apex of the dogpile may be ending: ~54,000 Frenchies were registered last year, which is half as many as the year they first topped the list. Longtime most-popular Labrador retrievers maintained the No. 2 slot, followed by golden retrievers, German shepherds, and the dachshund. Whatever the breed (or species), Americans are spending big on their pets. Spending on pet care was expected to be $157 billion last year, according to the American Pet Products Association. Lucky for the pooches, that buys a lot of treats.

 

WNBA stars just got *paid*

Steph Chambers/Getty Images

After more than a year of tense negotiations, the WNBA and its players union verbally agreed yesterday to a new collective bargaining agreement that’s expected to achieve much of what the shirts shown above called for—including boosting some salaries beyond $1 million for the first time ever. Details still need to be finalized and formally approved, but sources told ESPN that: Average salaries will quintuple to ~$600,000 (from $120,000), while minimum pay will surpass $300,000 (from ~$66,000). Salary caps (each team’s maximum cumulative pay) will start at $7 million, up from $1.5 million. Supermax salaries (extension contracts for elite players) will start at $1.4 million, up from ~$250,000. Players will share in nearly 20% of league revenue on average, up from 9.3% (a 50/50 split is customary in men’s sports, for context). Under the new deal, WNBA players won’t feel “a sense of lack,” union president Nneka Ogwumike told reporters around 3am, following 100+ hours of negotiations over the previous eight days. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called it “a fair win-win for all.” Crunch time: More than 80% of WNBA players are currently free agents, meaning teams only have weeks to negotiate new contracts before the season starts on May 8.

 

Beauty brands turn celebs into billionaires

Illustration: Morning Brew Design, Photos: Getty Images

For celebrities, hawking tinted creams and lip plumping oil aren’t just side projects. Celeb beauty brands are helping your favorite singer/actor/nepo baby evolve into a full-on business mogul. Last year, Elf Beauty bought Hailey Bieber’s Rhode for $1 billion. Founded just four years ago, the brand’s sleekly packaged goos seem to go viral every time a new one drops. Rare Beauty, the brand Selena Gomez launched during the pandemic, is reportedly hovering around a $2.7 billion valuation, with its blush accounting for over 26% of all category sales at Sephora, per YipItData. Kylie Jenner, meanwhile, sold a majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics to CoverGirl owner Coty in 2019 for $600 million, but reportedly explored buying back the brand in 2023. (Nothing materialized.) Rihanna is a businesswoman first. The hardest pivot came when pop superstar Rihanna revolutionized the beauty industry by launching Fenty Beauty in 2017. She released 40 shades of foundation (compared to the industry standard of ~20 to match lighter skintones) and brought in $100 million in global revenue in the first two months. Her 50% stake in Fenty Beauty is now worth around $700 million.

 

AI deepfakes are stealing beauty influencers’ glow

AI-generated images: Two examples of AI-generated images created to mimic Rhode models. Screenshots via @julia.psychologies and @lounestexieroff, Instagram

The influencer popping up in your feed to recommend an anti-aging cream that applies like a dream might actually not have a real face to test it on. Social media is filled with shady AI deepfakes peddling beauty products through affiliate links that tread on the turf of the $32 billion global human influencer industry. Scammers are exploiting the cachet of influencers with large followings and prominent beauty professionals by using AI versions of their likenesses to promote products they never endorsed. Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Cohen—whose AI avatar was used to recommend supplements—told The Business of Fashion he’s worried this undermines his trustworthiness and endangers people’s health by convincing them to put dubious products into their bodies. Some fraudulent accounts hawk wares by inventing entirely new AI personas with elaborate backstories. For instance, the TikTok account “Holistic Health Finds” features an AI deepfake claiming to be the wife of South Korea’s highest-paid plastic surgeon and a Victoria’s Secret model who swears by a batana oil product for hair growth. Social media platforms are trying to weed out the hucksters. For instance, YouTube recently launched an experimental tool that allows creators to scan the platform for deepfakes impersonating them. It’s not always a scam While a recent survey showed most brands are averse to hiring AI influencers, some brands don’t mind replacing a living ring-light corps with AI avatars that can cheaply promote their products. Aitana Lopez, an AI influencer developed by talent agency The Clueless, has almost 400,000 Instagram followers and collaborations with the haircare brand Olaplex on her résumé. The practice has drawn backlash from beauty gurus worried that their livelihoods are getting automated. Sometimes, AI brand content has grassroots beginnings. A recent viral trend had users flooding feeds with AI-generated images of themselves copying the distinctive aesthetic of Hailey Bieber’s cosmetics brand Rhode, causing confusion among some of its fans. In addition to the financial fallout for influencers…some observers are concerned that avatars with bespoke, unblemished faces are exacerbating an age-old beauty industry issue: unrealistic standards. Some plastic surgeons said that their clients are making requests for their faces to resemble AI-altered ones, Vogue reported.

This should get lots of attention

 

This should get lots of attention

by Bill Springer, Forbes
Do you want to know just how opulent the never-seen-before-in-the-media interior of the 344-foot-long sailing superyacht Black Pearl really is? Well, you should ask my brother. He’ll be the first to admit that he does not follow superyachts the way I do. And, frankly, he’d never really heard of the Black Pearl except when speaking about Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

But…as I just found out, he now knows ALL about the iconic three-masted sailing superyacht Black Pearl since he just happened to come across the 30-minute video about Black Pearl that’s getting lots of YouTube attention. And it should get lots of attention because this video does something that most, umm… virtually all…superyacht owners never, ever, allow a well-produced 30-minute video to be published that shows the interior of one of the most iconic (and until recently, secretive) sailing superyachts ever built. – Full report

Half the teens use AI for schoolwork

 

 54% of teens use AI for schoolwork

Getty Images

The days of cramming a SparkNotes summary of A Midsummer Night’s Dream 10 minutes before an in-class essay appear to be over. Instead, high schoolers are turning to chatbots for help. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey: More than half of US teens (54%) use AI chatbots to get help with schoolwork. Even more students (59%) think that using AI to cheat happens regularly at their school. They find it useful: More than a quarter of teens said chatbots are “extremely” helpful with schoolwork, while just 3% said AI is of no help at all. When reached for comment, your former history teacher just kind of stared into the distance without saying anything, before walking away.

Canadian passport holders can travel to China visa-free starting this week | CBC News

Canadian passport holders can travel to China visa-free starting this week | CBC News

Canadian passport holders can travel to China visa-free starting this week
Policy will be in effect until Dec. 31, according to China's Foreign Affairs Ministry


Benjamin Lopez Steven · CBC News · Posted: Feb 15, 2026 10:34 AM PST | Last Updated: February 15


Listen to this article
Estimated 2 minutes

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing on Jan. 16. (Sean Kilpatrick/Pool/Reuters)

Canadian passport holders can travel to China visa-free starting Tuesday until the end of 2026, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Sunday — marking another step in Canada's thawing relationship with the Chinese government.

In a statement posted to the Chinese ministry's website, the spokesperson said Canadian passport holders will be "exempted from visa to enter China and stay for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family/friends visit, exchange and transit purposes."

"The policy will be effective until December 31, 2026," the spokesperson said. The policy also applies to U.K. passport holders.


Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand confirmed the policy on social media and said the change is making "travel easier, supporting business exchanges, and strengthening people-to-people ties between our countries."

The idea of Canadian visa-free travel to China was first mentioned in January after Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Beijing and met President Xi Jinping.
WATCH | PM Mark Carney meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing:




Carney meets Xi Jinping, hails progress in resetting trade with China
January 15|
Duration2:04After years of strained relations, Prime Minister Mark Carney has met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Carney hailed a tentative agreement with China to co-operate more on clean and conventional energy, but the Canada-China tariff dispute remains unresolved.

A statement from Carney's office at the time mentioned that the prime minister "welcomed [the president's] commitment to introducing visa-free access for Canadians travelling to China."

That visit ultimately led to Canada striking a deal with the Chinese government to allow tens of thousands of Chinese electric vehicles into Canada in exchange for a break on tariffs for Canadian agricultural products, such as canola seeds.

For most Canadian tourists, entering China currently requires a lengthy application process and roughly $140 in fees. China has dropped visa requirements for other Western nations in recent years as it tries to boost tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beijing maintained a visa for Canadians and restricted how many Chinese tourism groups could visit Canada during a years-long diplomatic spat.