Category Archives: International
Take Care by Michael D. Higgins
The President of Ireland is a poet of some acclaim. He published this today on the official Facebook page of his office. Pretty sure this is a first for me, linking to Facebook, but I thought it was worth sharing under the current circumstances.
COVID-19 Information and Resources
A few people who know I like to read have asked me questions related to the current coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), but I’m just some dude on the Internet and I’m not qualified to give any kind of advice. Here are some of the reputable online information sources I’m aware of on the topic.
If you believe you may have come in contact with the 2019 novel coronavirus and are feeling ill, the Ontario Ministry of Health has published an online self-assessment page to help you determine what to do while reducing the stress on the health care system.
I will update this page from time to time if I come across additional useful information.
Most recently updated on March 18, 2020.
Public Health Agency of Canada
Canadian Regional Information
- Toronto Public Health: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Ottawa Public Health: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Ontario Ministry of Health: The 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Province of Nova Scotia: Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- HealthLinkBC: Coronavirus (COVID-19)
- British Columbia Centre for Disease Control: Novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
International Public Health Agencies
Patriarch of Pandemics
I just read this article on Demystifying Science about the 1918 influenza pandemic. It’s an interesting perspective given the current situation with COVID-19.
Tienanmen Square on r/AskHistorians
There’s an interesting thread explaining some of the internal politics that were underneath the deadly Tienanmen Square protests 30 years ago in Beijing.
It’s worth a read, if only to better place what happened in the Chinese context.
NPR Throughline – The Forgotten War
I just listened to the recent NPR Throughline podcast called The Forgotten War (S1:E03).
It’s an excellent summary of North Korea’s geopolitical history and how it relates to today’s news. I don’t think there’s anything that I would call new (if you’re interested in the topic), but it’s an excellent introduction that presents a reasonably serious overview of the topic without being heavy handed or simply propaganda.
I’m going to listen to the other podcasts this week, but so far I’m impressed at their choices of topics and this first episode (for me, third episode overall).
Brazil Is About To Show The World How A Modern Democracy Collapses
I’m at work so I don’t really have the time to comment on this, but I read this article at lunchtime today and it strikes me as a pretty important change that we’re barely aware of in the North.
James Mattis Just Quit
For the first time since this whole saga began, I’m actually kind of worried. As much as I don’t agree with his ilk, I have every reason to think that Mattis is a serious man who thinks deeply and without animus.
The nature of his resignation is something I’ve never seen in my lifetime.
FDT
Aside from their political analysis, I really enjoy FiveThirtyEight’s other coverage. Their roots are in statistical analysis of sports and they tend to cover a lot of obscure topics from a statistical perspective. This article by Allison McCann is a great example of a side project, looking at the relationship between hip-hop and politics from a data perspective.
She includes some cool interactive graphics as well as a searchable database for political references in rap and hip-hop lyrics. Plus the article showcases a pretty cool video which is easily my favourite political song of the 2016 campaign thus far.
Seth Meyers
As a follow-up to: The Atlantic’s Endorsement of Clinton, I thought I’d share the article that drew me to The Atlantic’s website in the first place about the remarkable rise of Seth Meyers to become the foremost progressive comic satirizing this year’s presidential election.
I’ve not been a huge fan of Meyers until now, he’s certainly a good performer but I’ve not been an avid SNL watcher for a long time so I missed most of his heydey. But this year he has really done an incredibly job mocking Trump in his own unique style.
The Atlantic: Why Seth Meyers Can’t Get Enough of Trump — The Late Night host discusses the pleasures of satirizing the presumptive GOP nominee and the rise of topical humor on his show.