If you’re feeling unwell, McMaster is advising you to NOT go to a hospital because they no longer require masks there, and they don’t want people in there spreading their diseased germs around. Wha…?? Some doctors and nurses are excited to ditch their masks, despite the potential harm that could come
Continue readingTag: mental health
wmtc: "can you see the head?" : things i heard at the library: an occasional series, #39
At the Port Hardy library, we serve many marginalized people. They are poor, street-involved, struggling with the intertwined impacts of intergenerational trauma, mental illness, and addiction. The most common impact we see is alcohol addiction. The reasons are no mystery: alcohol is cheap, legal, and readily available. I have no
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – David Wallace-Wells discusses how the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with the real prospect of another pandemic (particularly on top of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which is the subject of a policy of denial). – Peter Frankopan writes that climate is a crucial
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: COVID-19 Pandemic Reflections and The Next Pandemic
Well the pandemic is over, at least according to most governments, science and medicine not so much. So now it is time to look back, and to look forward. Perhaps my biggest reflection is that governments, at least in Canada, did not receive the rational criticism for their failures that
Continue readingwmtc: things i heard at the library: an occasional series: # 37
I have an update on R, the customer who was the subject of the previous two TIHATL posts: #35, a customer who refuses to be helped, and #36, a customer who needs so much more than a library can provide. As a friend said on Facebook, librarians, like teachers, are
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: shuggie bain, brilliant and devastating fiction by douglas stuart
Any novel that wins the Booker Prize will be worth reading. Not all literary prizes reflect quality, but the Booker Prize carries a lot of weight. So when a debut novel wins a Booker, that is a singular achievement. Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart, was the recipient of the 2020 Booker
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Oscar Grenfell discusses how Australia is among the countries which has seen a declining life expectancy due to COVID-19 – with a distinct trend based on when it chose to let the pandemic run rampant. Jonathan Shaw examines the evidence showing greater risks of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Richard Smith highlights how there’s no general connection between the cost of health care and patient incomes across different models of funding and delivery, but an obvious connection between profit motives and increased expenses which don’t produce improved outcomes. – Meanwhile, K.J. Aiello
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Andrew Nikiforuk writes about immunologist Chris Goodnow’s belated recognition that COVID isn’t over only after he was hit with acute myocarditis, while Korin Miller discusses new research showing an elevated risk of blood clots for a year after a COVID infection. And Jessica
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Personal Troubles and Public Issues
“People do not usually define the troubles they endure in terms of historical change and institutional contradiction.” Developing a sociological imagination is necessary so that, “By such means the personal uneasiness of individuals is focused upon explicit troubles and the indifference of publics is transformed into involvement with public issues….To
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Bruce Arthur laments the message being sent by Ontario’s government that there’s no need to care about other people in the face of an ongoing pandemic, while Norm Farrell discusses British Columbia’s sliding back into a neglect phase. Anne Flaherty reports on the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Sara Reardon discusses new research showing that vaccination has only a limited effect on the prevalance of long COVID among people who wind up getting infected, while Cindy Harnett offers a reminder that the best way to limit the likelihood of long-term
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On historical echoes
Ontario’s ongoing provincial election is presenting some interesting echoes from previous campaigns – particularly the 2015 federal election which similarly involved a seemingly vulnerable Conservative majority, an NDP official opposition and a Lib attempt to jump back into default-government status. At the outset, I’ll reiterate my longtime view that contrary
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Peter Smits et al. examine some of the risk factors which tend to produce particularly severe breakthrough cases of COVID-19. The Economist summarizes what we know so far – and still have left to learn – about long COVID. Mark Lieberman discusses
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Helen Collis reports that European governments are only now starting to acknowledge the large number of people – particularly of prime working age – faced with severely reduced functions due to long COVID. And Matt Elliott discusses how a push toward improved ventilation
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Peter Kalmus discusses how climate scientists are increasingly turning to civil disobedience to try to alert people to the need for immediate action. Adam Radwanski discusses how the Libs’ budget falls far short of the needed focus and ambition, while James Wilt
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Ezra Cheung reports on research showing the increasing severity of the Omicron BA.2 variant for children in Hong Kong, while David Axe discusses the similar pattern observed in Europe. And Jesse Feith points out the connection between long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Phil Tank writes that the Saskatchewan Party has only reluctantly held off on eliminating even what little information it still provided the public about ongoing COVID-19 infections in the midst of a new wave, while Laura Sciarpelletti reports the Moe government is ignoring
Continue readingwmtc: 12 reasons bojack horseman is my favourite show of all time (thoughts after re-watch)
Allan and I first watched “BoJack Horseman” in real time, from 2014 to January 2020. We liked it from the start, but as the show deepened in meaning and intensity, we became increasingly invested, amazed, moved, and sometimes awed. At times BH became so emotionally intense, we would be left
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Yasmin Tayag discusses the progress being made in determining how long COVID is caused – though the only point that appears beyond dispute for now is that avoiding infection is the only sure way to escape it. And Theresa Kliem reports on the
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