Factless

It is sad that such a simple and effective strategy to minimize the burden on Canadian provinces' overtaxed health systems as vaccinations are so underutilized by too many Canadians.

It seems like only high risk members of the public (seniors, children, and those with chronic illnesses) and health related worker are the bulk of who bother to get the annual flu shot, which is often free such as in Ontario.

That is to say nothing of other illnesses that were once considered conquered such as TB (Tuberculosis) that is curable with a simple course of antibiotics. Or whooping cough and shingles? Why are they even seen in Canada in this day and age?

Here is a US origin news article, Too many adults skip useful vaccinations that got me started on thinking about this.

I guess what amazes me most is that while traveling during the holidays I read Richard Preston's non-fiction book The Demon In the Freezer which describes the potential of a smallpox virus being used as a biochemical weapon, and looks at the effectiveness of the attack and lack of finding the criminals / terrorists behind the US anthrax killings in October 2001. (Excerpt from The Demon In The Freezer, source The New Yorker magazine).

I guess if we cannot control natural virus / bacterial outbreaks that are not highly contagious, what is the plan to handle an biological attack in Canada? Run and hide? Let the PMO fire the doctors who first report the risks and ask for resources?

And I'm kicking myself for not scheduling a trip to my family doctor to get a shot, after I missed the free public clinics because I had a cold for one, missed another, and another clinic ran out of vaccine by noon. I might as well include a shingles vaccination and whooping cough & tetanus & diphtheria boosters as well.

For pure hyperbole - I wonder if the anti-science fanatics are going to try to raid the public health systems of the few dollars they send on public health (such as these vaccinations) and then act surprised when the increasingly aged population end up needlessly ill or dead.

I'll save talking about what appears to be the rapid broad scale adoption of HPV vaccinations in Canada and the USA for another day.

Posted by mctaylor at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kaden Harris's website Eccentric Genius is the sort of thing I find inspiring, where raw creativity applied to available materials, typically scrap (I mean recycled). I discovered his site from mention in a Globe and Mail article Zen and the art of scrapyard archeology where it describes the small rise in Making in the sense used by O'Reilly's Make magazine.

Fun stuff.

Posted by mctaylor at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore —
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over —
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Posted by mctaylor at 1:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

in Just-
spring     when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles     far     and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far     and     wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and
     the

          goat-footed

balloonMan     whistles
far
and
wee

Posted by mctaylor at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)