Way back in 2011 we took at a new app that helps to identify the world around, back then it was to help the California redwoods. That app is iNaturalist and it’s had a great decade plus of identifying all sorts of plants and animals. The app, which has a
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Accidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Julia Doubleday writes that we shouldn’t accept spin from any party which attempts to minimize the unacceptable dangers of exposing children to a virus known to cause lasting damage to people’s immune systems, while Terry Pender reports on the growing recognition that COVID-19 does just
Continue readingScripturient: Are Secular Nations Happier?
Are less-religious or more secular nations happier than religious ones? Studies suggest yes. Personally, I would certainly be happier in a more secular nation if it meant fewer angry, nasty, fanatic believers like the Westboro Baptist congregation (see picture, right), or the faux-faith anti-mask/anti-vaccine, pro-disease protestors,* or any of the
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Media Analysis & Research 101: Assessing Sources
“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” – the Buddha ~ * ~ People need to learn how to evaluate sources. For example, the New England
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: AGAINST ALL ODDS – Blending Research and Disability Parenting
It is my pleasure to host this guest post today from Queen’s University doctoral candidate, Lorraine (Read more…). I was amazed by Lorraine’s story of perseverance and her research question about how we as parents of adult children with disabilities use social media for support. This is an international study,
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: Using Your Lived Experience to Influence Health Research
I am a parent partner in disability health research. Caregiver partners in research use their lived experience to influence WHAT is researched and HOW it’s researched. We have the opportunity to ease the path of care for other families and improve opportunities for our own loved ones by increasing our
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: A New Year’s Resolution That’s Actually Fun!
I am so pleased to host this guest post by writer, Karen Weeks. Karen perfectly captures why the arts are so important to us all – at any age! I’ve witnessed the healing power of music in my own life and in the lives of everyone I love. So why
Continue readingThings Are Good: Parkinson’s Research Using Massive Data Collected from 23andMe
23andMe hopes to find a cure for Parkinson’s through data mining. Parkinson’s is a degenerative neurological disorder that affects millions of people, and a cure is hard to find. The company collects gene samples from people who want to know their genetic lineage, which it then stores and uses for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Is that Mainstreet or Elm Street?
Having started out as a young man writing scripts for telephone co-incidental research, we are not about to easily buy into Interactive Voice Response (IVR) polling. This is mentioned in that some recent political polls in Alberta and B.C. have the politicos excited. The polls were done with IVR by
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: GO ON, SAY ‘YES’ TO RESEARCH – I DID!
1990 was a desperate year in our family. Our son Nicholas was two years old and in great distress with pain and vomiting. A few months earlier, we’d opted for a surgical procedure to treat severe gastro reflux which unleashed a storm of terrible symptoms. Our doctor recorded Nick’s condition
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM A Blog by Donna Thomson: GO ON, SAY ‘YES’ TO RESEARCH – I DID!
1990 was a desperate year in our family. Our son Nicholas was two years old and in great distress with pain and vomiting. A few months earlier, we’d opted for a surgical procedure to treat severe gastro reflux which unleashed a storm of terrible symptoms. Our doctor recorded Nick’s condition
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think – Scientific American
The great divide between our beliefs, our ideals, and reality Source: Economic Inequality: It’s Far Worse Than You Think – Scientific American I don’t normally post anything on my blog other than my own original articles and essays…
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Cancer Treatments and Cures – Natural and Conventional: An Overview
Here’s a thorny, delicate, controversial subject – but then again, when have I ever been known to shy away from such things? Peoples’ lives and well-being are at stake. We cannot afford to be tepid, mousey or weak-minded. Accor…
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Space Race Approach to Fighting Climate Change
Here’s a neat idea: save the planet using the research and development practices used during the space race. The state-lead push for advanced science led to really fun things like cellphones and laser eye surgery. Imagine what we as a species could create if we had the same push into sustainability like we did during […]
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Continue readingThings Are Good: Support The Experimental Lakes Area
The Experimental Lakes Area has suffered greatly from the Canadian government’s anti-science funding policies and has luckily been saved by the International Institute for Sustainable Development. To ensure that further damage can’t come from the ideologically-driven and anti-environment Conservative Party the ELA has turned to crowd funding to survive. Last
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Occupying Homelessness?
Homelessness isn’t a policy thing regarding random people. It’s a thing for actual people. It’s not abstract, it’s in our face, yet we live in denial. Clearly, I’m no brain surgeon. But if there are homeless people, a civilized culture would find a way to use a progressive tax system
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Getting drunk will get you raped = How you should NOT interpret this data
… Now, I know a lot of people are going to interpret this data wrongly. You are going to be tempted to think, “Well, more reason to act like a proper lady and not get drunk at bars. If you don’t get drunk, you won’t be taken advantage of.” This
Continue readingThings Are Good: Decrease Blood Pressure By Simply Changing Your Diet
I love knowledge and it’s exciting that a meta-analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine has concluded that a vegetarian diet is perfect for decreasing blood pressure!Meta-analysis of research data is the assessment of a multiple research papers related to the same issue and sometimes the meta-analysis can disprove existing assumptions, in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Play a Game and Help Cure Cancer
This month Cancer Research UK released a game that helped scientists find a cure for cancer. It takes the obscure data that needs to be analyzed and translates that into a fun little game which can be played on Android or Apple devices. The aggregate data of players help scientists
Continue readingThings Are Good: Using Drones For Studying Ecologies
Drones are popularly associated with American air strikes on civilians and thus have a negative reputation. The technology underlying the drones can be used for good though. One example of a good use of drones is for aerial surveillance of plants and animals in hard to access/expensive areas. What are
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