Partnering with capitalism

I have relatives who like to divide the world into right and left, into conservatives and liberals. They get all agitated at the idea of progressives. Me? I like to go with what works.

When the vaccines for COVID-19 were announced, the drugstore chains in Canada stepped up and said that they could do a first-rate job of delivering the vaccine to the public. Many of the drugstores in Canada already offer the annual flu shot.

My wife and I got our first shot of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine at an Ontario government run clinic held in a large building at the fairgrounds back in mid April. We had no complaints but we needed an appointment and there was a substantial wait time for many people. The wait time for the second dose seemed downright unreasonable. We were not slated for our second dose until early August. A wait of almost four months!

Enter capitalism and our Canadian, privately run drugstores. Granted the amount of vaccine has increased greatly and that is a big part of why wait times are down but it does not explain away all the delays. No matter which government run operation we called, whether in London or a nearby town, my wife and I could not get a shot before July.

Then we heard from a friend who simply walked into a drugstore, inquired about getting vaccinated and was vaccinated before she left the drugstore. Wow!

My wife called a neighbourhood drugstore. The first place, a Shoppers Drug Mart, was giving out the Moderna vaccine. My wife and I were given the Pfizer for our first shot. No problem, we were told. The other Shoppers Drug Mart in our area had the Pfizer. We were given the telephone number, we called and less than 48 hours later both my wife and I had our second shot. It is not even the middle of June. Not bad.

The immediate cost of the vaccinations, nothing. Our provincial health care system is covering all costs. Whether one gets the shot at a government run clinic or a privately run drugstore, the cost is covered. The successful partnering between governments and businesses to quickly deliver vaccine in Canada is an example of doing what is best, doing what is most efficient and not worrying about the political optics. 

The last figures that I saw showed Canada almost tied with Israel for the highest number of vaccinations per 100 residents. Canada was just ahead of the United Kingdom but was well ahead of the United States.

Thousands walk to protest Islamophobia

A speeding vehicle used as a lethal weapon left four members of a London Muslim family dead and the nine-year-old son in the hospital with serious injuries.

A memorial at the family's mosque attracted more than ten thousand Londoners rallying to show support for the local Muslim community. A walk Friday night attracted thousands stretching more than a kilometre down the route of the walk. Many of the walkers wore covid-19 masks as they walked. 

One goal of the night was to raise money to fight Islamophobia in London and to give financial aid to the boy left injured. At this time, the donations are already nearing the million dollar mark.

Is Jennifer Johnston right? Think Consequences

Jennifer Johnston, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Western New Mexico University, raises some important issues with her paper titled Mass Shooting and the Media Contagion Effect. Johnson recommends that the media refrain from publishing photos, writings, personal likes and dislikes, family, work, and school history of the suspect in mass killings. Doing this would save lives according to Johnston.

One reader responded to one of the paper's tweets promoting their coverage by showing a picture of the accused and asking: Does LFP have the courage . . . to stop posting happy, smiling images of a known terrorist alongside garbage sympathy pieces? No, because they’re hacks.

Another reader thanked the above Twitter poster and tweeted: I've been trying to say the same on Facebook but they've been closing comment threads on related articles instead of accepting any responsibility for their sympathy pieces.

I worked in the media for more than three decades. Since retiring I have been amazed and saddened at the lack of responsibility shown by reporters who make obvious errors in judgment or get important facts wrong.

In a Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC) article discussing media coverage and of acts of terrorism, the author writes that journalists wish to introduce a fresh new dimension to their stories, as if these stories were not dramatic enough. What is required is accountability: thinking about the consequences of reporting.

The young girl left a her mark on the city

A London Muslim family was struck Sunday by a speeding truck. The father, mother, grandmother and 15-year-old daughter were all killed. The nine year old son is in the hospital with serious but reportedly non life threatening injuries. The police have the driver in custody and are treating the incident as a hate crime.

While the teenage daughter was attending elementary school, she painted a mural in the basement of the London Islamic School. the young girl designed, sketched the preliminary art and painted the mural. It will now be a part of her legacy, said a school official.

Principal Asad Choudhary said after the girl finished the artwork, he thanked her. She responded saying, "I need to thank you, because you're giving me an opportunity to leave a legacy for a place I love so much."

The names of the victims are not in this sad post as the remaining family members have requested that the victim names not be published. And no photo is being run of the memorials that have sprung up at the corner where the family was run down as I do not want to give too much attention to the deed. For the same reason the coward who drove the truck will remain unnamed in this post.

Is this from the Nut House?

 

At one time in London there was a shop that sold nuts, salted nuts, chocolate coated nuts, candied nuts. The nuts came in bags and boxes. There were peanuts, almonds, Brazil, pistachio, cashew . . . 

And there were customers. Lots and lots of customers. Why a place like the Nut House disappears is a puzzle. Did the owners move away? Did they die and the estate closed the shop? But the big question today is this: Is the Nut House sign, enamel on steel, possibly the last remnant, the last solid memory, of that wonderful, delightful, place that was for so many Londoners more of a destination than a shop

Chipmunks: not wild wild animals

The chipmunks in the cities are quite naturally tame. The little rodents know people pose little danger to them. but the question I have is do chipmunks pose a danger to humans, to us, to my granddaughters?

The chipmunks scurrying about our yard seem very healthy. Hey, they eat well. They find lots of seeds under the backyard bird feeder. But looks can be deceiving. They might not be as healthy as they look.

The Ontario government warns that feeding chipmunks right out of one's hand may expose one to lyme disease ticks or salmonella bacteria or even some once-unheard-of-in-this-area kinds of parasites.

If the kids want to try this again, it may be best if they wear a pair of gardening gloves. My wife insists that we wear gardening gloves when working in our gardens in the soil. Now that I know about the parasites that chipmunks and other wild animals can spread in their feces, I'm not arguing with her. She's right. Gardening gloves are important.

Siting is important

 

How a building is sited in a city is important. This apartment building in the western part of London absolutely dominates the view when heading east on one of the city's main traffic arteries. It appears to be foreboding, massive hulk of a building towering over the green forest canopy.

It is a pity this building isn't prettier. Sadly, it is just plain, big and plain. It doesn't even have the dramatic look of yesterday's in look -- brutalism.

Brutalist buildings are characterized by a massive, monolithic and 'blocky' appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of poured concrete. This apartment building answers many of the demands but come up short when it comes to style. This building is not stylish.

Both the French and the Brits experimented with brutalist apartment buildings decades ago back in the last century. Some have been demolished using the implosion technique. Some are still in use. But some are being updated and upgraded and flipped to the upscale side of life. Brutalist apartment building were originally designed to house the proletariat.

Many brutalist apartment buildings have been used to represent the future gone sadly awry. Think of the Hunger Games. A major set in that film is a brutalist apartment complex on the outskirts of Paris. No films crews are to be found outside the brutally plain London, Ontario, apartment building.

The Huffington Post did a feature on the apartment complex featured in the Hunger Games.