The Public Order Emergency Commission report is due this month, but already we have an initial report from the Ottawa People’s Commission — a community initiative set up last June when it looked like official Ottawa just wanted to deep-six the whole m…

I’ve been noticing and collecting a variety of recent posts and tweets about Covid and our situation these days, and the challenges we will be facing in 2023.

Here are six observations on viral evolution and how it may shape our lives in this, the fourth year of the pandemic. 

1. One virus has become many…

2. The new COVID soup is a unique experiment in evolution…

3. What were viral peaks are now a constant rising sea of infections with high and low tides…

4. One pandemic has morphed into regional epidemics…

5. Reinfections rarely happened. Now they are commonplace…

6. We can do more to blunt the evolutionary threat of COVID subvariants…

Finally, an interesting thread on Covid in the workforce:

The merchants of doubt spent a year trying to make the labour shortage seem like a mystery that had nothing to do w the virus. They openly mocked anyone that brought up long covid. It took a year but the media is finally pointing out that millions of workers are dead or disabled.

— Dr. Lisa Iannattone (@lisa_iannattone) January 30, 2023

Most of the media and their go-to pundits avoid addressing any science and data that might cause fear or discomfort for as long as they possibly can. Until it can’t be ignored anymore. When did feeling scared in times of uncertainty become a fate worse than long term disability?

— Dr. Lisa Iannattone (@lisa_iannattone) January 30, 2023

All of the soothing messaging being pushed in the media seems to be designed to dismantle our self-preservation instinct. Meanwhile, you know who’s still big on self-preservation? The Davos class. Hmmm 🤔

We should all be #DavosSafe.

— Dr. Lisa Iannattone (@lisa_iannattone) January 30, 2023

Tern gets the last word:

Which one of these two points do you think will come first?
A) The moment it’s forking obvious that the reason everyone’s unable to work is long covid.
B) Widespread brain decerebration to the extent that no one can understand anything at all anyway

— tern (@1goodtern) January 30, 2023

UPDATE: Just saw this one, about booster shots:

Great thread here about a very pertinent study. Echoes a lot of my thoughts re. COVID-19 boosters.

In practical terms, I’m going to be hunting down either a second Moderna bivalent dose or Novavax in the next 1-2 months. I wish they were updated much more frequently, though. https://t.co/VoCr1ylboO

— Adithya Ramachandran (@AdithyaR_YXE) January 31, 2023

Here are some of the funny tweets and stories I have seen over the last couple of weeks: I am so tired of living like it’s the 1600s. Can I afford eggs at the market? Are my friends gonna die in the plague? Puritans coming for my sinful lifestyle. I wa…

I used to title these posts “From the Substacks” but good commentary is not just Substacks these days, its Medium and Patreon and blogs and opinion pieces from all over. So I will call these posts Today’s Scene – a collection of observations and o…

Was there ever a conspiracy theory more bizarre, more crazy, than believing that Russia was behind Trump’s unexpected 2016 election victory? But just because something sounds crazy doesn’t mean it isn’t true. For years now, I have believed so…

First, a few recent cartoons:

Global distribution of flamingos pic.twitter.com/SfTDLzYfzV

—
Amazing Maps (@amazingmap) January 20, 2023

In 1992, around 29,000 rubber ducks fell off a cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean. This is where they made landfall. pic.twitter.com/DmIKUOBuN4

— Amazing Maps (@amazingmap) December 14, 2022

When you can’t afford a trip to Europe pic.twitter.com/xVtvzwJK7H

— Terrible Maps (@TerribleMaps) January 7, 2023

And in Milan, which is in northern Italy and closer to Central Europe, a great cathedral was commissioned in 1386.

It took centuries to build and mixed countless Gothic styles – from the Perpendicular to the Flamboyant – with Renaissance elements; the result was totally unique. pic.twitter.com/WTuG8w1frb

— The Cultural Tutor (@culturaltutor) January 21, 2023

pic.twitter.com/wN7qpDIf5Y

— Papa Woof und Krampus und Bleaken (@woofknight) January 6, 2023

This is cute art for kids…pic.twitter.com/9ri9KkvHmC

— Figen (@TheFigen_) January 14, 2023

Here’s the full story! pic.twitter.com/dIHmGVMiz4

— WeRateDogs® (@dog_rates) January 18, 2023

AAAAAAAAY back ! https://t.co/qHHsE4ZREX

— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) January 21, 2023

How big is this?

Please answer in jiraffes or half-jiraffes as is proper for asteroids.

— jrenom (@jrenom) January 20, 2023

(If you can’t remember the details about the “half a giraffe” asteroid measurement, its at the end of this post from March – Today’s News: The end of the beginning?)

Triggers 😂 pic.twitter.com/PqDeCcoykB

— James Cameron (@lumin8) January 21, 2023

One of our growth industries these days is baby boomer deaths — today, it was David Crosby:  “If you’re sad today, just remember the world is over 4 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Crosby.”HT: @simonp…

I’m doing a Ukraine update every two or three weeks now – my last one was Dec 28, when I talked about the resilience and courage of the Ukraine people.Tonight’s update covers the recent events in Dnipro, as well as analyst expectations for the future -…

 The question asked by nations around the world in 2016 was “Why is US politics so stupid?” because America’s idiotic Electoral College system allowed Trump to become president even though he did not win the popular vote. Now nations will aga…

 Sad news from all over today: Jeff Beck, Robbie Bachman, Lisa Marie Presley … gone. ☹️Life is fragile folks. pic.twitter.com/XJ7FVj7pJu— Larry Updike (@LarryUpdike) January 13, 2023 In other news, one has to wonder how incredibly stupid will th…

Here are some predictions for 2023 from Visual Capitalist Here’s something else to ponder: Andrew Wyeth, Fence Line ,1967,watercolor on paper21.9 x 30″”I prefer winter & fall,when you feel the bone structure of the landscape-the loneliness of it,t…

And here’s some more neat stuff.  First, some great articles — – From the New York Times, a 2023 Astronomy and Space Calendar that you can add to your Google calendar, plus an article about how the Calendar was developed. Here is the tw…

Yeah, sure. I spent the evening watching the US House of Representatives try to elect a Speaker. Finally, they did. Just barely. A head of lettuce— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) January 7, 2023 And this was  fun moment, wasn’t it: Picture is…

I haven’t posted much about the Covid news lately, but I have been gathering together some of the articles and tweets that seem to summarize the most helpful advice right now. TL,DR: wear a mask, damn it!Above is a New York Times chart that summarizes…

“I had dozens of utterly bizarre experiences that were also Perfectly Normal. This is because the human condition is vast and also Very f*ck*ng Weird.” (cc: @PaulDechene) #PublicTransport https://t.co/evb0ELqgEr— Schmutzie 🦉 (@schmutzie) January 1, 202…

✏️ As drawn by @AnnTelnaes: Hoping for a better year ahead https://t.co/3Rqp9s3sjf pic.twitter.com/DhESNz78dh— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) December 31, 2022 To bring in the new year, I have gathered some of the funnier posts I saw over the…

So one the dude-bros that Musk let back onto Twitter in November was the “social media personality” and wealthy kickboxer Andrew Tate – and it didn’t take long before Tate indulged himself in needless, gratituous, misogynistic insults: Hello @GretaThu…

The resilience and courage of the Ukraine people is one of the most inspirational events our society has ever seen. This New York Times photo essay Ukraine Under Attack: Images from the Russian Invasion shows what Ukrainians have had to …

For millions of people in Canada and in the US, it has been an awful Christmas – terrible weather, monster storms, no power, cancelled flights, people stuck in transit. Dozens of people have died. The only uplifting aspect in this situation is the…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! — or at least, its the time when companies actually put some thought into their television ads, and when ad companies do their best work too. Here are some this year that I liked.John Lewis & Partners is k…

 One of the lasting impacts of the pandemic, I think, will be the destruction of the “downtown office” concept as an organizing principle for cities. Historically, it has always taken wars to get North Americans to travel — the Civil War was…

Three stories tonight seem to have the same theme — that it may be the beginning of the end for Pierre Poilievre, for Elon Musk and for Donald Trump. First, for Pierre Poilievre: Evan Scrimshaw analyzes the Angus Reid poll tonight, comparing…

 The chaos on Twitter continues — but I am now thinking it is forcing us to think about social media in a new way.  I am seeing a number of thoughtful posts lately and here are some good ones. This is a great summary from Ryan Broderi…

This may take you a minute but just wait, you’ll get it soon:We are starting to get into the “end of the year” takes where people are summarizing what happened this year and what it all means. First up, a very useful summary from Timothy Snyder’s …

I think I should post this before all these tweets get deleted. And to begin, can I just say “Christ, what an asshole!” Here is how it started with Elon Musk yesterday: Truth resonates …— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2022 And here …

On October 1st 2022, the Government of Canada removed all COVID-19 border measures such as required proof of vaccination, random testing, and mandatory isolation for high-risk travelers. For the first time since early 2020, the Canadian border is operating under “normal” conditions. For example: Americans interested in visiting Canada no longer need to download the […]

As of April 1st 2022, the Canadian border will no longer require a pre-arrival negative COVID-19 test from fully vaccinated travellers entering or returning to the country. Previously, a rapid antigen test or a PCR test indicating a person does not have COVID was required by border authorities. This rule change should encourage Canadians to […]

After being closed for nearly 19 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on November 8th 2021 the United States land border officially opened to all fully vaccinated Canadians. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced they will be staffing their border at pre-pandemic levels, but warns that wait times may be longer than in […]

On August 9th 2021, Canada opened its border to all fully vaccinated Americans allowing tourists from the United States to visit the country once again. The US border remains closed to Canadians, however, and American authorities recently extended the border closure until September 21st citing COVID-19 transmission rates south of the border as well as […]

Most Canadians are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Consequently, Canadians are starting to think about international travel again, and are beginning to research possible vacation destinations. This leads to the question, which countries can a fully vaccinated Canadian visit? As of July 2021, Canadian citizens who have received two doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, or […]