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
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Accidental 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: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Katherine Wu writes about the much-needed update to COVID-19 vaccines coming this fall – and the challenge getting people to receive them after months of false messaging about the pandemic being over. – Steven Lewis discusses how the privatization of health care
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Adeel Hassan reports on the dominance of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains in the U.S. Phil Tank reminds us of the folly of the Moe government’s admonition that people should assess their own risk even while actively suppressing the data which could
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ed Yong writes about the need for people to keep caring for and protecting each other to make up for being abandoned by business-driven politicians in the middle of a deadly and debilitating pandemic. Olivia Bowden discusses the considerations surrounding booster vaccine
Continue readingThings Are Good: Game Workers Uniting for Better Workplaces
In creative industries labour exploitation can happen because employers can get away with leaning into the passion creative workers bring to their field. The video game industry may be a young industry, but the tricks of getting free labour from workers are old ones. As a result, movements like Game
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Geoff Thompson reports on new research showing that the cognitive decline caused by COVID-19 is worse than previously known, while the European Academy of Neurology finds a greater risk of neurodegenerative disorders. And the Economist reports on findings that the vaccine development and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Mary Ziegler and Scott Lemieux both warn of the many other rights in imminent danger due to both the fact of the elimination of abortion rights by the Republican-dominated U.S. Supreme Court, and the excuses made for it. – Dylan Scott discusses how the decision will lead
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Danielle Hitch, Aryati Yashadhana and Evelyne de Leeuw write that long COVID is following the path of acute COVID-19 in having a disproportionate effect on disadvantaged communities. Catherine Gewertz discusses the need for schools to plan for a large number of students afflicted
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Thomas Walkom points out that most Canadians have far more reason to fear an austerity-fuelled recession than any foreseeable level of inflation. J.W. Mason points out that the U.S. Fed is similarly looking to squeeze workers over inflation that has nothing to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Dianna Chang et al. examine the correlation between social and political factors and COVID-19 spread and mortality. And Crawford Kilian discusses how Canadian society has failed the basic test of looking out for each other’s well-being, while Teresa Wright reports on the imminent
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Devi Sridhar writes that a responsible plan for the impending COVID wave would involve masking, improved ventilation, booster shots and a plan for the growing scourge of long COVID – even as most Canadian provinces range from uninterested to hostile toward anything of
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: SocialCoin – The Socially Responsible Alternative to Bitcoin
I am placing this concept in the public domain for anyone with the necessary technical skills to create the structures and necessary algorithms to implement it. Wikipedia provides an extensive section on Bitcoin and in particular Bitcoin mining. Essentially Bitcoin is created by an energy wasting computer process they call
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Olivia Bowden and May Warren discuss the importance of continuing to wear masks even when it’s no longer mandated. And Lisa Schick reports on the recognition (if sorely lacking in Saskatchewan’s political class) that long COVID is itself developing into a severe public
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Ryan Tumulty reports on Theresa Tam’s warning that Canada may be headed for another COVID wave this fall. CBC News reports on the warning from Fahad Razakthat the province shouldn’t have lifted mask mandates this week, while Jennifer Lee points out that Alberta
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Gloria Oladipo reports on the spread of two new Omicron subvariants (BA.4 and BA.5) across the U.S., while Rahul Suryawanshi et al. find that Omicron infection doesn’t provide substantial immunity against other variants of COVID-19 (particularly among the unvaccinated). And Tanya Lewis
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: animal, vegetable, junk: a history of food, from sustainable to suicidal, by mark bittman
Mark Bittman’s Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, from Sustainable to Suicidal is a fascinating, readable, and wide-ranging nonfiction. With clear and simple language, Bittman unpacks the many threads that have determined, throughout history, how we humans feed ourselves. As an alternate subtitle, I might suggest “How Imperialism and Capitalism
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jennifer Hulme discusses how long COVID is causing devastating long-term effects on women in particular, with little apparent prospect of treatment to improve matters. And Linda Gaudino’s report on the prevalence of long COVID offers an important reminder that the damage is both
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
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