This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Yasmine Ghania reports on the wastewater analyses showing that Saskatchewan is facing a new COVID-19 wave. Ed Yong discusses how the BA.5 wave looks to be the first one dominated by reinfections. Elliot Aronson and Carol Tavris highlight the cognitive dissonance which has
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The Disaffected Lib Mk. II: 2 Tn (USD). That’s Real Money.
The US has caused roughly two trillion dollars in greenhouse gas emissions related damages since 1990. The huge volume of planet-heating gases pumped out by the US, the largest historical emitter, has caused such harm to other, mostly poor, countries through heatwaves, crop failures and other consequences that the US
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Hello, It’s Me, the Invisible Hand of the Marketplace.
Last Friday’s fiasco with Rogers network sure caused a ruckus for the cashless society. Merchants posted makeshift cardboard signs on their front doors warning customers they better have a valid credit card or cash or else. The plebs weren’t able to hit the ATM to get a few bucks for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Is it just me?
Okay, does this guy look like a Bond villain?
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Farah Hancock offers an informative look at the circumstances where people are most likely to share air in ways that results in COVID transmission. And Nam Kiwanuka highlights the need for messaging about the ongoing pandemic which is both internally consistent, and paired
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Anocracy and Other Perils. America and the Next Civil War.
Is America on the verge of another civil war? A professor who studies such things contends it’s too close to tell. UC San Diego professor, Barbara Walter, is interviewed in the latest Washington Post magazine. Since WaPo is often under an airtight firewall, I will generously excerpt the article.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – The Economist reports on new research estimating that COVID-19 vaccines saved 20 million lives in their first year of availability – though that reality makes it all the more galling that there’s been so little progress both in ensuring greater availability of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder discusses the imminent prospect of a majority of Americans suffering from long COVID as more and more dangerous variants are allowed to run rampant. And Courtney Greenberg reports on a new finding that half of Canada’s population was infected over a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Musical interlude
Lost Synths – Don’t Mind
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Benjamin Mazer writes that of all the other public health analogies, COVID-19 may prove most similar to smoking in the systematic failure of governments to take readily-available steps to prevent widespread harm. Beth Mole reports on research showing that COVID was the leading
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Running On Empty
We can’t go on living this way. That’s the warning from Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief science officer. The relationship between humans and nature is under intense and increasing strain. The report released today by Ipbes, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (akin to the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: BoJo Bids Adieu
Boris Johnson’s experiment in premiership is drawing to a close. It was a matter of one gaffe upon another until his cabinet finally took away the keys to No. 10. With that the big oaf took to the airwaves to announce his retirement. In other news, it looks like Spaceship
Continue readingA Canadian Lefty in Occupied Land: Review: The Twittering Machine
[Richard Seymour. The Twittering Machine. London: The Indigo Press, 2019.]There is practically an entire industry devoted to churning out think-pieces, studies, books, and articles expressing concern about the impacts of social media and the broader spectrum of information technology of which it is a part on our lives and our
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Is This the Final Showdown?
Sorry Developments on the climate crisis have not been encouraging. Greenhouse gas emissions that are supposed to be plunging are heading in the wrong direction. Chris Hedges put it this way: It is hard to be sanguine about the future. The breakdown of the ecosystem is well documented. So
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Chas Danner writes about the arrival of the BA.5 COVID-19 surge in the U.S. Nora Loreto writes about the thousands of Canadians who died of COVID acquired in hospitals – and the many people who continue to get sick from it. Kenyon Wallace and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Eric Topol discusses the ominous rise of the Omicron BA.5 COVID-19 subvariant. Katelyn Thomas reports that Quebec has joined the jurisdictions demanding that people manage their own risk while depriving them of the information needed to properly evaluate it. Nick Natale, John Lukens
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Andrew Nikiforuk writes that the decision to stop doing anything to limit the spread of COVID-19 is opening the door for a forever plague. Olivia Bowden and Kenyon Wallace report on the start of a summer COVID-19 wave in Ontario, while Cindy Harnett
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jim Stanford laments the likelihood that we’re headed for a self-inflicted recession in the name of an arbitrary inflation target. – Acey Rowe talks to about the Craig Desson about the mechanisms used to perpetuate old wealth. And Rupert Neate writes about
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