This and that for your Thursday reading. – Tess Finch Lee writes about the importance of doing everything we can to protect children (and indeed the general population) from COVID-19. But Thomas Piggott laments that instead of taking a lesson in interdependence and the need for social care, we’ve been
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A Puff of Absurdity: We See What We Want to See
Lots of people still don’t quite understand how Covid spreads or how serious it is, causing mass disabilities and continuing to cause significantly more deaths that traffic collisions, although traffic collisions plus drug overdoses and other accidents have edged their way into third place. However, the accuracy of that is questionable
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Targeted Protection
If we can figure out that most accidents involve, say, red cars, then instead of everybody wearing a seatbelt, we could just get those people who are vulnerable to traffic accidents to wear seatbelts. Then the rest of us can be free to drive unharnessed. Imagine being able to lean forward
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Hanwen Zhang highlights yet another rise in COVID cases – albeit paired with obviously-unwarranted minimizing of the risks involved. – Jessica Wildfire pushes back against the establishment demand that people somehow evolve to become cacti in order to survive a climate breakdown,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why saying Alberta Health Services’ original mandate was only running acute care hospitals is dangerous and false
A dangerously misleading statement appeared in an op-ed story under Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s byline Thursday in the Calgary Herald. To wit, “that Alberta Health Services has evolved beyond its original acute-care hospital system mandate.” Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange (Photo: Facebook/Adriana LaGrange). Everyone makes mistakes and most politicians spin
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Sometimes, Québec Does it Better
Québec is banning most private health agencies. Why is Ontario going in the opposite direction on this? Here’s a tiktok explaining it (link because embedding is still so weird). @frankdomenic Quebec is banning private health agencies, this is HUGE. Let’s compare that to what’s happening in Doug Fords Ontario. #ontario
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Maté: Part Depth Psychology, but Part Questionable Quick Fix
He received the Order of Canada, profoundly helped many people with addiction on the streets of Vancouver, and is much loved and admired, but some of Dr. Gabor Maté’s claims feel like they don’t hold water. And some claims might actually be dangerous if blindly accepted. I’ve encountered Maté in
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Not So Different from the US
Crutches_and_Spice, an American, has some hard truths for Canadians. She responded to this comment: “23 years old and I’ve never lived through a school shooting in my country, I get surgery for free, as a queer person I’m a protected class. Here’s her response (link): “For now! I would estimate
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Homelessness in New York City
I recently helped organize a homelessness study tour of New York City. Our group consisted of 30 Canadians from the non-profit sector, government, law enforcement and academia. We toured six sites over a three-day period. Here’s my ‘top 10’ overview of the tour: https://nickfalvo.ca/ten-things-to-know-about-homelessness-in-new-york-city/
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Role of Public Health under Neoliberalism
The air quality is bad again today, but public health hasn’t issued any warnings, and it’s not on the Weather Network website. A few people were commenting on their eyes burning and asthma being triggered. Sure enough, the air particulate numbers are up. So, it looks like we’re on our
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Sabina Vohra-Miller discusses the ample body of research showing how COVID-19 vaccinations produce superior health outcomes in the course of a pregnancy. And Nature examines the limited effectiveness of rapid tests in identifying asymptomatic cases (which are responsible for half of COVID transmission). –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Emma Goldberg et al. study how the end of COVID-19 protections in China predictably gave rise to a swift and extensive outbreak. And Michelle Gamage reports on the push to ensure kids in British Columbia schools aren’t avoidably exposed this fall, while Mark
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Jessica Wong et al. study the risk of hospitalization and death from the Omicron strain of COVID-19, and conclude (contrary to the spin of denialist governments) that it was just as severe as the original version. And Lindsey Wang et al. find (PDF)
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Richard Murphy points out the stark contrast between the UK Cons’ attempt to pretend that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, and the tens of thousands of excess deaths still resulting from it. Mary Van Beusekom discusses a new study showing that Ontario’s infection levels
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Eyal Press writes about the problems with the U.S.’ health care system which forces medical workers to subordinate the health of their patients to the demands of corporate investors. And Andre Picard points out that the largest problems with Canada’s health care system
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Alexander Haro reports on the scientific recognition that 2023 stands to be by far the hottest year in recorded human history (even compared to the elevated temperatures of other recent years). And Kate Aronoff wonders when the general public will start waking up
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Scott Dance reports on the scientific recognition that the Earth’s oceans are warming far faster than previously feared, while Sid Perkins discusses the particularly large temperature increases in parts of the north Atlantic. And the American Geophysical Union points out that humanity’s unanticipated
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Track for Privatization
A couple weeks ago, Texas came very close to passing a bill defunding public education: a “school choice” bill that would provide vouchers for parents to be able to “use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition.” It passed in the Senate, but then died in the house. They’ll
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kelly MacNamara writes about the slowing of Antarctic ocean circulation as a calamitous consequence of climate change which is happening far sooner than predicted. And Alex Cooke reports on the state of emergency in Nova Scotia reflecting the immediate impact of extreme weather
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Pandemic Historic Ties to Fascism
I’m very concerned with the public largely ignoring Covid despite a growing shift to get kids to replace workers who are lost to Covid deaths or disability after convincing us that everything’s back to normal. If it’s no longer an emergency, then governments no longer have to do anything, or –
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