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Yes, its about time
Posted May 2, 2020 by Anonymous
I was computerless for the last week+ so I didn’t post, but here I am again.
And I am so glad that Trudeau is banning assault rifles in Canada. I agree with @Dred_Tory:
Dear people who are pissed that AR-15s are set to be banned:No one gives a shit.#ar15
— Sir Francis (@Dred_Tory) April 30, 2020
Here’s some funny stuff to end the week:
I must’ve watched this 50 times and I’ll probably watch it 50 more. pic.twitter.com/S7GjgMlH7j— ѕυzу (@suzy_swears) April 28, 2020
Seals are just dogs of the sea pic.twitter.com/PcSz3mJQKe— What’s Underwater (@UnderwaterVids) April 26, 2020
This is the best weather forecast in the history of television news pic.twitter.com/LhmoJDCkbZ— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) April 30, 2020
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) May 1, 2020
And a little Jann Arden to finish things off:
This could be the most Canadian-COVID19 tweet ever. 🇨🇦 https://t.co/t64WghKHCi— Jeffrey Luscombe (@JeffreyLuscombe) April 27, 2020
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Sports will be back, sort of
Posted June 25, 2020 by Anonymous
I think the realities of getting back to sports are becoming clearer as we begin to understand that Corona Virus is not going away any time soon.
Yes, we are going to be able to play and watch sports again!
But no, we won’t actually be able to watch the games in person — though maybe eventually we can as long as absolutely everyone wears a mask absolutely all the time. And no shouting!
Hmm — would that even work?
Or would the silence just be too creepy, like those bizarre photos of a chamber orchestra playing to a theatre full of plants?
I’ve been watching the Ultimate Tennis Showdown and its fun to see a newer, quicker version of tennis, though its a little odd to hear the fake crowd noises after each shot.
Likely when sports do get going again, each sport will have to deal with continual interruptions as individual athletes come down with COVID-19 and stop playing until they are well again.
There is one thing about the sports shutdown that I will miss — the #LifeCommentaries on twitter, when sports announcers kept themselves busy by posting videos narrating ordinary life as sporting events:
Dogging.#LifeCommentary #LiveCommentary pic.twitter.com/05A64OcSKP
— Twittbr3 (@Twittbr3) June 18, 2020
1500mm Heat#LifeCommentary #LiveCommentary pic.twitter.com/fmsIWfcfAK
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) April 14, 2020
Sooty looking for a clean sweep in the Regional Common Gymnastics pic.twitter.com/ycInWuMVTH
— Ladbrokes (@Ladbrokes) June 15, 2020
Commentators have been turning their hands (and socks) to absolutely anything lately! pic.twitter.com/xj86k27LUI
— Ladbrokes (@Ladbrokes) June 14, 2020
Some sports are slower. More about the strategy. pic.twitter.com/JMBaGJ1tSd
— Andrew Cotter (@MrAndrewCotter) April 9, 2020
International 4×4 Pushchair Formation Final. Live. #LifeCommentary #LiveCommentary pic.twitter.com/BGGh01m1k1
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) March 17, 2020
LIVE SPORT!
Today’s episode is based largely on me chasing our dog Yogi round the garden. Enjoy! 😂
Chin up people; hope you have a good weekend. 🐶😊#lifecommentary #goodboy #youbaddog pic.twitter.com/kvcgoYSr3N
— Andrew Coley (@Andrew_Coley) March 20, 2020
It was an honour to be asked to appear on this year’s unique USA @ESPYS show on @espn.
Among some incredibly poignant films, I helped provide a spot of levity as @mPinoe introduced my take on the likes of @rogerfederer @serenawilliams @lindseyvonn and @SebToots in lockdown. 🎙 pic.twitter.com/Jo1bptLV5z
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) June 23, 2020
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Saturday Stories: Some Of This Week’s Most Important #COVID19 Reads
Posted March 28, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Jennifer Yang, in The Toronto Star, speaks with 3 of Toronto’s health care heroes.
Adam Rogers, in Wired, explains what convalescent plasma is and how it might help treat COVID19.
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, being Ed Yong and writing an incredible piece on how this pandemic might end.
David Enrich, Rachel Abrams and Steven Kurutz, in The New York Time, on the sewing army rising up to help.
Helen Branswell, in STAT, summarizing all the we’ve learned to date about the SARS-CoV2 virus.
Daniela J. Lamas, in The New York Times, writing as a critical care physician in Boston on the unfathomable reality she’s facing there.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, in The New Yorker, on how the coronavirus behaves inside of our bodies.
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Thinking about the future of Canadian food
Posted May 23, 2020 by Anonymous
CNN has a big story tonight about the future of the US food supply – with more questions than answers:
“We don’t know what the food-service sector will look like,” said Jaime Chamberlain, a fresh-produce importer based in Nogales, Arizona. When the pandemic largely shut down the US in mid-March, “I lost about 96 percent of my food-service contracts from one day to the next. That is an incredible hit to my business.”
Now, Chamberlain asks, “Are people going to go back to cruise lines? Will they go to a restaurant that seats 100 people? Will that restaurant be able to operate with the same amount of seating? Maybe there’ll be no more conventions for 1,000 people… I think people are going to be very reluctant.”
Burkett, speaking by phone from his Mississippi farm, shares those and other worries, and not just on his own account.“As a farmer, the dilemma I’ve got right now, is we don’t have a market. I’ve got crops going to be there to harvest, and I don’t know if we’ll have someone to sell to or not.” In a few weeks, Burkett said he will have more than 120,000 ears of sweet corn to harvest — all meant to go to restaurants that may or may not need them. “My biggest fear is the fear of how long this is going to last. I have to decide now what I’m going to plant in the fall. I’ve got to order seeds, get the ground ready,” Burkett said. He’s decided, for example, to go ahead and plant seedless watermelons, so they’ll be ready to sell this fall to the New Orleans school system — and he’ll have to hope the schools are open.
Canada is going to be having similar problems, because nobody knows what is going to happen.
COVID19 has upended the world, and given Trump’s mismanagement in America, which will bleed over into Canada too, we are going to be on our own for a long time, I think.
For us here in the west, the main issue I think is going to be food — growing it, and importing it. The food production and distribution and processing chains are in shambles and its going to get worse.
Yes, we are planting a garden this spring after years of not bothering. And yes, we have arranged for weekly vegetable deliveries from the local market garden. And yes, I am hoarding jars so I can freeze and can vegetables and fruit for the first time in a long time. And yes, we know a guy who knows a guy who can get us a side of beef the next time they are culling their herd.
But its not going to be enough.
Especially if the meat plants keep on having to close down because the virus is running rampant through their facilities. Wait till it gets into the fish plants, and into the fruit and vegetable processing lines.
Has anybody yet figured out the safest ways to seed, fertilize, harvest, and process our Canadian crops this summer? Will we also have to figure out how to get our Saskatchewan grain to flour mills in Ontario, and move BC apples to the food processors in Quebec, instead of following the usual north-south shipping lanes, selling our food south while eating food imported from the US?
And hey, funny thing, hoocouldanoode? – but maybe it would have been a good thing to keep the Canadian Wheat Board around for just such an emergency, because the Canadian government could tell them what to do and they sorta had to do it – unlike the grain companies who will happily make a pile of money shipping all our grain production to China or wherever even if Canadians need the bread.
Our remaining other marketing boards might well turn out to be useful for the next few years, too – we will need the eggs, and the milk.
Basically, in the long term, I think Canada will have to get more self-sufficient, both in terms of what we produce, and how we sell it. It won’t be as “efficient” as the globalized food production and distribution system our food producers have spent the last 50 years developing. But at least in a Canada-focused national system, Canadians would be the first in line.
But its going to be a painful time while we sort it out.
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FirstEnergy Scandal is Latest Example of Utility Corruption, Deceit
Posted July 26, 2020 by guest
Read time: 13 mins
By Matt Kasper, originally published at Energy and Policy Institute
Federal agents arrested Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder, along with several lobbyists, on July 21 on charges that the group used $60 million of funds provided by the monopoly utility FirstEnergy Corp. in exchange for passing a law that bailed out that company’s nuclear and coal plants.
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Saturday Stories: Some Anti-Racism Resources #BlackLivesMatter
Posted June 6, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
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| May his memory be a blessing |
Corrine Shutak, in Medium, with 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice.
A non-bylined Google Doc of anti-racism resources for white people.
Quakelabs’ collection of Canadian specific anti-racist resource.
Farrah Penn, in Buzzfeed, with 23 Phenomenal Young Adult Books By Black Authors From The First Half Of 2020
The University of Toronto’s Office of Inclusion and Diversity with their collection of recent stories and resources on anti-racism.
@antisocialbritt, on Twitter, with her thread of children’s books that discuss racism.
@bronze_bae, on Twitter, with her thread of young adult books that discuss racism.
Photo By Lorie Shaull – https://www.flickr.com/photos/number7cloud/49959004213/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
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Global Push for LNG Creates ‘Gas Bubble’ That Could Bust
Posted July 13, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 8 mins
Earlier this year, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway pulled out of a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Saguenay, Quebec. The project developer cited the “current Canadian political context” as the reason why Berkshire Hathaway bailed on them, including recent rail blockades led by hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia.
The rail blockades targeted an entirely separate fossil fuel project — TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, which would cross unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. The protests rapidly spread around the country, with students, environmental groups, and other First Nations joining the rail blockades in solidarity.
While far from British Columbia, the actions spooked investors in Energie Saguenay LNG. Without Berkshire Hathaway’s promised $4 billion investment, the project has stalled.
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Energy Transfer Launches Appeals Following Court Order to Shut Down Dakota Access Pipeline
Posted July 9, 2020 by Sharon Kelly
Read time: 8 mins
On Monday, July 6, a federal judge ordered the shutdown of the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) by August 5. The move follows a March judgment that ordered the pipeline to undergo a more thorough environmental review.
However, Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s parent company, later revealed that the company was continuing to offer deals to oil companies to ship their product on DAPL during times when the pipeline is slated to be shut down. Today, the legal battle moved towards the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, after the judge denied a request to freeze the shutdown order.
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Mainstream News Prioritises Big Business and Opponents of Climate Action – Study
Posted July 29, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 3 minsStatements from large business associations and opponents of climate action are twice as likely to be included in climate change coverage by national newspapers than pro-climate action messaging, according to a new study.Tags: cli…
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Following Lawsuit, Formosa Agrees to Hold Major Construction on One of Largest Planned US Plastics Plants Until 2021
Posted July 24, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 6 mins
Back in late March, Formosa Plastics broke ground on its $9.4 billion plastics and petrochemical project in St. James, Louisiana, which the company has dubbed the “Sunshine Project.”
Today, the company agreed to limit its construction activities until early next year, under a legal agreement reached with several community and environmental organizations who had filed a lawsuit last week. Major construction activities at the site will not move forward until February 2021 under the terms of today’s agreement, with the company required to provide monthly status reports including photographs of work underway and completed.
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Laugh and the world laughs with you
Posted April 18, 2020 by Anonymous
Joe Biden could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot Donald Trump and I would still vote for him— doug wiser (@MyBigRedTruck) April 18, 2020
If you could pick one person to curse Donald Trump out on live television in that press room for one minute straight, right to his face, who would it be? I think I would go with Samuel L. Jackson.— Jason Overstreet (@JasonOverstreet) April 8, 2020
What do ya bet if trump ever used an interpreter for the deaf they’d fuck up and get him a mime?— George Carlin’s Ghost (@OldFuckGCG) April 16, 2020
My best friend sent me this. I can’t stop laughing. It’s spot on 😂 pic.twitter.com/ecTo5MtcaV— Emmet Kelly (@EmmetSeanKelly) April 11, 2020
Americans dumbest criminal. pic.twitter.com/T39kWEomxw— Only in America (@Crazzyintheusa) April 15, 2020
Most pointless colouring picture ever. pic.twitter.com/OFcQzoVUab— You Have One Job, Stay Indoors (@_youhadonejob1) April 15, 2020
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Friday Funfest
Posted April 3, 2020 by Anonymous
The COVID-19 news is so depressing, beaten only by the economic news, which is absolutely awful. So here’s something a little more lighter-hearted, on a cold Friday.
This is Toby he is now working from home… pic.twitter.com/RB6na9bUsT— Stuart Antony (@STU_ACTOR) March 31, 2020
A true friend is someone who helps you in good & bad times, no matter what. pic.twitter.com/6UW6JNEhl1— Land of cuteness (@landpsychology) April 3, 2020
How the livestock keep warm in Russia. pic.twitter.com/qlh8s8JuUB— 🇷🇺Only In Russia 🇷🇺 (@CrazyinRussia) April 3, 2020
Math magic pic.twitter.com/eeAsHp6tpr— Engineering (@engineeringvids) April 2, 2020
Sandra the orangutang started washing her hands because she saw all the zookeepers doing it repeatedly during the COVID-19 crisis.Wash your hands.
Be more like Sandra.🌎❤️🧼🌎 pic.twitter.com/t8TTizDGeD— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 1, 2020
Grizzly bear casually fixing a fallen safety cone as they walk down the road pic.twitter.com/c4klDbdGOJ— Nature is Lit🔥 (@NaturelsLit) April 1, 2020
Smooth recovery pic.twitter.com/z0eZmz2AIF— Animal Life (@animalIife) March 14, 2020
And this thread wins the award for the funniest tweet of the week:
I think I just got a group of goats in Llandudno arrested.Let me explain… first, I saw this from inside a dark pub (the one I live in currently). I thought I was seeing things. So I took some video: pic.twitter.com/RtxYG6htLC
— Andrew Stuart (@AndrewStuart) March 27, 2020
So maybe next week will be better — well, we can always hope!
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Stages of Grief
Posted April 18, 2020 by Anonymous
Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance.
These are the stages of grief and I’ve been through them all since the COVID19 lockdown began. I think everyone else has going through them too.
Denial – how can this be happening? WTF is this? Isn’t there some easier way?
Anger – don’t they realize what they are doing to us and to the economy? Its so terrible for so many people.
Bargaining – well, maybe it won’t last too long if everybody acts the right way.
Depression – how awful this is, and its going on FOREVER!!!
Acceptance – it is what it is. Nothing we can do except to get through it.
Though I must admit, I still feel anger:
What shocks me about #COVID19 is the economic disaster. I never realized we might have no way to control a disease except to close everything down, worldwide, and keep it closed for weeks or months. People starving, businesses bankrupt, economies ruined, lives devastated.— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 (@CathieCanada) April 14, 2020
The economic hit from this is going to be so hard, and last so long, and hurt so many innocent blameless people.
But every time I start to feel sorry for myself and for all of us, I remember that whatever I am going through, it is nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to what others are dealing with.
I don’t think our society will ever be able to repay doctors and nurses for what they are doing for all of us, risking death every day to save as many as they can.
There was one tweet in particular, from a pediatric surgical fellow and single mother in New York, that made me just cry.
My babies are too young to read this now. And they’d barely recognize me in my gear. But if they lose me to COVID I want them to know Mommy tried really hard to do her job. #GetMePPE #NYC pic.twitter.com/OMew5G7mjK— Cornelia Griggs (@CorneliaLG) March 29, 2020
I hope she will be OK.
I hope someday her children will be able to honour her for what she is doing.
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As Pandemic Toll Rises, Science Deniers in Louisiana Shun Masks, Comparing Health Measures to Nazi Germany
Posted July 10, 2020 by Julie Dermansky
Read time: 10 mins
Science denial in America didn’t begin with the Trump administration, but under the leadership of President Trump, it has blossomed. From the climate crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic, this rejection of scientific authority has become a hallmark of and cultural signal among many in conservative circles. This phenomenon has been on recent display in Louisiana, where a clear anti-mask sentiment has emerged in the streets and online even as COVID-19 cases rise.
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Saturday Stories: Still Just Coronavirus Links – Guessing It Might Be This Way For A Little While At Least
Posted March 21, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Gretchen Reynolds, in The New York Times, answers questions as to the safety of exercising in the face of COVID-19
Cornelia Griggs, in The New York Times, a critical care physician in New York, explains why she needs you to know that the sky is falling.
Yascha Mounk, in The Atlantic, tries to explain why people aren’t staying home despite incredible risks and ramifications of not doing so.
Ashleigh Tuite and David Fisman, in The Globe and Mail, both infectious disease epidemiologists, with their thoughts on how we might slow the burn of the COVID-19 forest fire.
Aaron E. Carroll and Ashish Jha, in The Atlantic, with their thoughts on how we can beat this coronavirus.
Pam Belluck, in The New York Times, needs you to know that though children uniformly have much milder cases of COVID-19 than adults, some will become seriously ill.
Manny Fernandez, in The New York Times, with a sobering read on how the coronavirus will impact the already impoverished.
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Funny stuff
Posted June 21, 2020 by Anonymous
OK, here’s some funny stuff I collected over the last while — particularly enjoyed the last one:
My spouse is “attending” a virtual conference for the next few days. To help simulate the real thing, I’ll set out a picked-over tray of mini-muffins, soggy cut fruit, and some weak coffee, and then whisk them away just as he approaches the table.
— Erin Conwell (@erconwell) June 19, 2020
Had a bit more #LifeCommentary fun with my friend’s dog, Sooty. He’s fabulously bonkers. https://t.co/iLwRCv76xZ
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) June 15, 2020
This talented pupper doing an amazing obstacle run pic.twitter.com/3l4bYkgp0e
— Back To Nature (@backt0nature) June 20, 2020
Even bears have their Felix Ungers. https://t.co/36E68JPeMJ
— Neil (@NPSusa) June 20, 2020
— Fátima Ma. Alvarado.💙💛🇻🇦🇳🇮📿 (@Falvarado1974) June 19, 2020
This is quite possibly the greatest commercial I’ve ever seen… pic.twitter.com/t3oxiJrUr3
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 17, 2020
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August funny
Posted August 2, 2020 by Anonymous
OK, its been one of those weeks, so here’s some funny stuff:
My son is wearing a MAGMA cap and a Vote Trump 2020 button. He’s been spat on, punched and verbally abused. I hate to think what will happen when he leaves the house.
— Humanist. (@kennuck) August 1, 2020
I sunburn easily. https://t.co/k9APKRxFn9
— Brent Butt (@BrentButt) August 2, 2020
Republican politician Louie Gohmert, who claims to have caught COVID-19 from wearing a mask, is now claiming he got pregnant after several people told him to go fuck himself.
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) July 30, 2020
If you are not wearing a mask because you are afraid your brain won’t get enough oxygen, I’m sorry to tell you, that ship has sailed.
— Chip Franklin (@chipfranklin) July 29, 2020
“Jesus Christ, what’s Trump done NOW?” https://t.co/5ZhOGjnKWr
— Harry Turtledove (@HNTurtledove) July 24, 2020
#MeanwhileInCanada pic.twitter.com/tY1gFbE1f6
— Meanwhile in Canada (@MeanwhileinCana) July 30, 2020
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Cast your bread upon the waters
Posted May 10, 2020 by Anonymous
Ecclesiastes 11 1
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.
150 years ago, the Choctaw people collected what was then a grand sum of $170 to send to the people of Ireland, who were starving because of the Potato Famine. CNN reports that the Choctaw understood starvation because they had experienced it themselves on the Trail of Tears.
Now Irish Times reporter Naomi O’Leary is returning the favour:
Native Americans raised a huge amount in famine relief for Ireland at a time when they had very little. It’s time for is to come through for them now. https://t.co/ONl9UXmwdH— Naomi O’Leary (@NaomiOhReally) May 2, 2020
Half a million dollars has been raised in Ireland. This isn’t the only time that Ireland and the American indigenous people have connected.
The act of kindness was never forgotten, and the solidarity between the Irish and Native Americans has continued over the years.
In 1992, 22 Irish men and women walked the Trail of Tears to raise money for famine relief efforts in Somalia, according to Bunbury. They raised $170,000 — $1,000 for each dollar the Choctaw gave in 1847. A Choctaw citizen reciprocated by leading a famine walk in Ireland seven years later.
In 2017, the town of Midleton in Ireland unveiled a sculpture commemorating the Choctaw’s 1847 gift. In 2018, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced a scholarship program for Choctaw people to study in Ireland while he was visiting the tribal nation in Oklahoma.
The GoFundMe donations are just the latest example of the longstanding relationship. As one Irish donor on the fundraising page wrote:
“You helped us in our darkest hour. Honoured to return the kindness. Ireland remembers, with thanks.”
It reminded me of the Nova Scotia Christmas Tree that is send each year to Boston in gratitude for the help that came from Boston after the Halifax explosion:
100 years ago today, the Halifax Explosion occurred in Halifax, Nova Scotia killing 1000 people. Boston immediately sent doctors & medical supplies to assist in relief efforts – this is why Nova Scotia sends Boston a Christmas tree every year. https://t.co/HYHi6xbqm3 pic.twitter.com/MdhQa3r4Zg— BostonTweet (@BostonTweet) December 6, 2017
People will never forget those who helped when they needed it the most.
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Fossil Fuel Industry Engaging in ‘Pervasive Fraud’ that Threatens Global Economy, Report Warns
Posted July 31, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 5 mins
Warning of an impending financial implosion driven largely by fossil fuel industry deception, a recent report calls on fossil fuel insiders and other potential whistleblowers to help expose and prosecute this fraud.
According to this new report from the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) published July 23, fossil fuel executives’ deception on the financial risks of climate change—to their business and the economy at large—is widespread and is likely actionable fraud, meaning that further securities fraud lawsuits against companies like ExxonMobil should be expected particularly if whistleblowers come forward to work with financial regulators and prosecutors.
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Saturday Stories: No Heroes In Science, Selflessness, School Reopening, And Vaccine Developments
Posted July 4, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Stuart Richie, in Unherd, reminds us why there should be no such thing as science heroes.
Wency Leung, in The Globe and Mail, discusses her decision to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger and reflects on selflessness in the time of COVID
Carl Zimmer, in The New York Times, on the phenomenon of COVID19 super spreaders.
Hilda Bastian, in her blog Absolutely Maybe, brings us up to date on all the developments in the race to the first COVID19 vaccine.
Sarah Cohodes, on Twitter (and you don’t need an account to read), with a terrific thread on considerations around school reopening.
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Saving lives
Posted April 25, 2020 by Anonymous
Once we recognise that this is a major event in human history, it can actually help gain some perspective. And as Cuomo said “What we have done has saved lives” pic.twitter.com/cZFbE9HTlX— Helen Jenkins (@jenkinshelen) April 25, 2020
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Trump is unwell
Posted June 14, 2020 by Anonymous
After yesterday’s West Point debacle – the water glass, the inability to say “McArthur”, the ramp, the tweet ABOUT the ramp – #TrumpIsUnwell is trending this morning on twitter.
Along with all the jokes, there is this:
The media’s failure to meaningfully cover Trump’s cognitive and physical decline after obsessing about Hillary’s health is evidence of open misogyny at this point.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) June 14, 2020
Personally, I believe that Trump has a minor stroke last November – remember the fast and unscheduled “tour” of Walter Reed? – and he still has impairments on his right side.
On a lighter note, #ObamaDay is also trending twitter:
You’d think Republicans would be more worried about protecting the Constitution.
It’s the only thing preventing Barack Obama from being president again.#ObamaDayJune14th
— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot) June 14, 2020
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Saturday Stories: The COVID Roundup
Posted May 9, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
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| Dr. Bredy Pierre-Louis, Family Physician, Brooklyn, Died From COVID19. May his memory be a blessing |
Caitlin Flanagan, in The Atlantic, on having stage IV colon cancer during the time of COVID19 (if you only read one piece this week, make it this one)
Orac, in Respectful Insolence, discusses Plandemic.
Tomas Pueyo, in Medium, on testing and contact tracing.
Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, covers whether or not we should be currently worried about coronavirus mutations
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Saturday Stories: Vaccine Reality Check, Early Warning Failure, And Maybe We Should Talk About Ventilation
Posted August 1, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, with a vaccine reality check.
Grant Robertson, in The Globe and Mail, on how Canada’s pandemic early warning system failed with COVID19.
Zeynep Tufecki, in The Atlantic, wonders why we’re not talking more about ventilation
Related Stories
- Saturday Stories: COVID Orphans, A Must Read Piece, The Currency of Risk, And COVID19 Vaccine Side Effects
- Saturday Stories: Herd Immunity Is Up To Us, #SchoolsBeforeBars, Another Pandemic, And The American Dumpster Fire
- Saturday Stories: Is It Airborne?, Exhausted Experts, Sweden, Cancer During COVID, And Schools
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TikTok Is All About Fat Shaming These Days
Posted March 9, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
I was driving with my 13 year old daughter on Saturday and we were just chatting. I asked her what was trending these days on her TikTok stream (in the past she’d been served up antisemitism)? Apparently it’s fat shaming Lizzo.
I asked her to share some videos with me.
She sent over 10 in less than a minute.
Some representative examples to follow, but all this to say, TikTok, while hugely entertaining, is a cesspool of hate and bullying, and if your children use it, probably worth asking them every once in a while what’s trending on their streams so that you can take the time at least to talk about it.
@noahswitzer98
@nickring4 When you lose Lizzo while your whale watching 😂 ##greenscreen ##lizzo ##meme ##xyzbca ##xyzcba ##joke ##fyp ##memes ##tiktokmemes ##comedy ##comedicgenius
@yaboyg35
Related Stories
- Australian Food Industry Launches World’s Least Aggressive New Voluntary Self-Regulatory Effort
- Study Published Stating The Daily Mile Doesn’t Improve Childhood Obesity Speaks To Risks Of Tying Weight To Exercise
- Canadian Donut Chain Launches Donut Flavoured Cereal And People Are Angry. Why I Think There Are Better Things (And Worse Cereals) To Be Angry About.
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Report: Push for Renewable Natural Gas Is More Gas Industry ‘Greenwashing’
Posted July 14, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 9 mins
“Renewable natural gas,” or RNG, is an alternative gas fuel that comes from landfills, manure, or synthetic processes. That’s opposed to the fossil gas that drillers traditionally pump out of underground reserves in oil and gas fields.
With “renewable” in the name, it may sound like a promising alternative to the fossil-based “natural” gas commonly used for heating and cooking in buildings. According to a new report from Earthjustice and Sierra Club, however, these fuels pitched as “renewable ” and environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil gas amount to a PR campaign meant to distract from efforts to convert the building sector to all electric power.
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Saturday Stories: This Week’s COVID Selections
Posted May 30, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
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| Dr. Earline Austin, 63 yo NYC Physician, died on 4/3. Originally from Guyana, she lived in Fresh Meadows and was affiliated with Staten Island University Hospital. Attended Ross University for Medical School. May her memory be a blessing |
Emily Chung, in the CBC, with everything you need to know to understand R-naught values.
Andy Larsen, in the Salt Lake City Tribune, with a breakdown of different locations and events and what we know of their risks in terms of spreading COVID.
Kimberly A. Prather, Chia C. Wang, and Robert T. Schooley, in Science, on how if you want life to return to some remote semblance of before’s normal, if you’re not already doing so, you need to start wearing a damn mask
Clayton Dalton, in The New Yorker, on what we lose when we become numb to mass death.
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Celebrate
Posted July 5, 2020 by Anonymous
Trudeau’s uplifting message on Canada Day:
Canada is an amazing place to call home, and its people make it even better. We’re always there for each other – in good times and bad – and we always will be. And that’s worth celebrating. Happy Canada Day, everyone! https://t.co/SDC41cWOY0 pic.twitter.com/2OKNyxGEqe
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) July 1, 2020
Biden’s inspiring message on Independence Day:
Our nation was founded on a simple idea: We’re all created equal. We’ve never lived up to it — but we’ve never stopped trying. This Independence Day, let’s not just celebrate those words, let’s commit to finally fulfill them. Happy #FourthOfJuly! pic.twitter.com/1WrATlx8Xl
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 4, 2020
Here’s another good one, from Arnold Schwarzenegger:
Happy birthday, America. Thank you for letting me live the American Dream. We must fight every day to make sure that dream is as true for a Black child born in Minneapolis as it was for a white bodybuilder born in Austria. via @attn pic.twitter.com/rM95vb3twC
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) July 4, 2020
And nothing in either of Trump’s speeches is worth repeating. But here’s a summary, in case you missed them both:
As Frederick Douglass delivered a swiff and swippy victory in Operation Desert Storm in Vietnam, protected against the oranges of totalittotalitotarianism, with super duper missiles and stock rocket records. God bless the United Schates and rid us of Obamanacare.#TrumpIsUnwell
— Trent Capelli 🇨🇦 (@TrentCapelli) July 5, 2020
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Unplugged: How the Gas Industry Is Fighting Efforts to Electrify Buildings
Posted July 28, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 21 mins
Just over a year ago, the city of Berkeley, California, passed into law a first-in-the-nation ordinance prohibiting natural gas hookups in new buildings, a move that alarmed the gas industry. This alarm has since boiled over into a full-fledged opposition campaign to counter the rising tide of similar measures meant to restrict gas in favor of constructing all-electric buildings and cutting carbon pollution.
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Saturday Stories: Elizabeth Warren, Enabling Antisemites, Marathon Cheats, and COVID19
Posted March 7, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Elie Mysal, in The Nation, with the depressing truth behind why Elizabeth Warren won’t be America’s next president.
Sharon Otterman, in The New York Times, with an absolutely shocking story of enabled antisemitism from New Jersey (and I don’t shock easily)
Derek Murphy, in Wired, on marathon cheaters and their investigators
[And if you don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook, here’s the segment I did yesterday on CTV’s The Social where we chatted about many things COVID19 (if geoblocked outside of a Canada, a VPN spoofing a Canadian server ought to work]
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Big Oil Knew Climate Change Could Be ‘Catastrophic.’ Study Shows Heat Could Become Deadlier Than Infectious Diseases
Posted August 4, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 6 mins
More than a half century ago, the oil industry’s top lobbyist warned his peers of the potentially “catastrophic consequences” of burning fossil fuels, consequences that are already starting to unfold as historic heat scorches Siberia and bakes the Middle East this summer. Extreme heat is among the deadliest consequences of global warming, and a new study tallies just how deadly it could become if climate pollution continues unabated.
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Report: Global Climate Lawsuits Against Governments and Polluters on the Rise
Posted July 7, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 6 mins
Climate litigation is not going away any time soon.
Lawsuits demanding accountability and action on the existential threat of climate change continue to take hold across the world with some significant new developments and new cases emerging over the past year, according to a new report on trends in global climate change litigation.
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Listen to the Drilled Podcast on Climate Denial
Posted August 7, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 1 min
You thought you knew the story of climate denial, but what about its connection to cigarette filter tips or public broadcasting? Listen to the Drilled podcast and you’ll learn fascinating new details about the propaganda campaign of the century: the creation of climate denial.
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How I spent my summer vacation
Posted April 10, 2020 by Anonymous
Here’s the tweet of the week month:
Today is 3 wks in quarantine w/o sugar. Walking 3 miles a day, no meat, dairy or flour! I feel great! No alcohol & vegan diet! A 2 hr home workout everyday. Lost 14 lbs & gained muscle mass! I have no idea whose tweet this is but I’m proud of them so I decided to copy & paste it!— Alison 🇨🇦🇿🇦 (@AckAlison) April 10, 2020
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MOTHER NATURE
Posted March 18, 2020 by Polar Bear
The year 2000 sure has been a wonderful this year. Whatever riled her up we will never know but the daily events have been nothing less than specular. Record low temperatures and record high temperatures. Record snowfalls and record everything. I…
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Historic Supreme Court Verdict Means Ireland’s Government Must Increase Climate Ambition
Posted July 31, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 4 mins
The Supreme Court of Ireland has ruled in favour of an environmental group challenging the Irish government’s climate plans, finding its policies did not meet legal requirements for detailing how the country will meet emissions-reduction targets.
The decision is only the second time a country’s highest court has required a national government to reform its climate policy in order to meet legal obligations.
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Bankers and Investors Finding Fracking Industry’s Underlying Models Prove Overly Optimistic
Posted July 17, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 15 mins
Warren Buffet has a famous quote about investing: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”
When it comes to his $10 billion investment in Occidental Petroleum, Buffett will need to take that one to heart now that other investors have sued Occidental for the merger financed in part by Buffet’s stake, alleging that the amount of debt required for Occidental to merge with Anadarko left the company “precariously exposed” if oil prices went lower. They cited the billions that Buffett invested in the deal as compounding this risk.
The fracking industry doesn’t care that you’re a world-famous investment sage: It destroys all capital.
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Oil Industry and Allies Look to Pump Brakes on Democrats’ Plans to Move Transportation Off Petroleum
Posted July 2, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 8 mins
This week Congressional Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives put forward policies, including passing a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill on July 1, aimed at cleaning up the number one source of carbon pollution in America — the transportation sector. The oil and gas industry and its supporters quickly weighed in, framing “the critical role” of the industry in addressing climate pollution and in some cases outright attacking these plans’ efforts to move away from petroleum-powered transport.
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Take off, eh!
Posted May 30, 2020 by Anonymous
Dear Bob and Doug,Please take off, eh!
— Canadian Forces in 🇺🇸 (@CAFinUS) May 30, 2020
Not sure if anyone in the States will appreciate this but it’s AWESOME the #LaunchAmerica astronauts are BOB & DOUG 👊🤘#CanadaIcons in Canada from SCTV fame !! 🇨🇦🌏🪐🌙🚀🛰@Astro_Doug #Nasa #SpaceX
Take Off !! Eh. #LiftOff #TakeOff pic.twitter.com/nyZc6i39yi
— Kevin Smith (@Global_Smith) May 28, 2020
Dear SpaceX,Can you launch Trump into space instead?
Asking for America.
Thanks!#LaunchAmerica #SpaceLaunchLIVE #SpaceX Cape Canaveral International Space Station #LaunchDay #TrumpMeltdown #HadEnough #TwitterFactCheck #spacexlaunch #CarolynGombell Bob & Doug Challenger pic.twitter.com/3aPDEbN0TP
— Steve Rustad (@SteveRustad1) May 27, 2020
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Court Rules Bayou Bridge Pipeline ‘Trampled’ Rights of Louisiana Landowners
Posted July 17, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 4 mins
A Louisiana state appeals court has ruled that the Bayou Bridge Pipeline Company illegally “trampled” on the rights of landowners by starting pipeline construction without the landowners’ permission. The pipeline company must pay the landowners $10,000 each plus attorneys fees.
“This is a victory not only for us but for all landowners,” said Theda Larson Wright, one of the three Louisiana landowners who sued Bayou Bridge Pipeline Company (BBP) in September 2018. “All over the country, pipeline companies have destroyed people’s land, often without even attempting to get permission, and dared the landowners to speak up. Well, we did. I hope this victory will encourage many others to as well.”
