Featured Links - February 28, 2022

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

We Canadians Are Hardy Sorts

• ADL Finds 1,100 People Donated to Both Canada Freedom Convoy and Jan. 6 Demonstration. I am not surprised. Canada is in the sights of the US right wing.
• A supernova could light up the Milky Way at any time. Astronomers will be watching. "When a star from our Galactic neighbourhood explodes, it could outshine the Moon. Researchers are racing to get ready for the fireworks."
• Janis Ian continues making profound statements on final album, ‘The Light at the End of the Line’. "Janis Ian penned her first hit at age 14 with “Society’s Child,” a song about racial injustice, and has been creating poetic, well-crafted songs for more than five decades since then. In and out of the limelight, her creative spark has endured. And now she has shared her truths at 70 in her latest and, she says, last solo studio album, the bold and nuanced The Light at the End of the Line."
• Environmental consequences of nuclear war. "A regional war involving 100 Hiroshima-sized weapons would pose a worldwide threat due to ozone destruction and climate change. A superpower confrontation with a few thousand weapons would be catastrophic." Just a reminder.
• Spawn of Wordle: five of the best riffs on the hit word game. "Josh Wardle’s viral puzzle game has inspired a horde of imitators, based on anything from geography to Taylor Swift fandom."
• The Russian invasion of Ukraine will have myriad impacts on spaceflight. "If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an unguided de-orbit?"
• Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick's Abbey Road track-by-track interview: "For the first time, John and Paul knew that George had risen to their level". "A classic 2014 interview with the band's late chief engineer – The musical telepathy between them was mind-boggling."

Photo of the Week - February 27, 2022

Trees on the east spit silhouetted against the late afternoon sky. 

Fujifilm X-S10 with 16-80 mm. F4 at  47 mm., F8, 1/480 second, ISO 400, Velvia film simulation

 

Saturday Sounds - Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring

It's not quite spring yet here in the Great White North (we seem to be in the grip of a winter that doesn't want to end), but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy some spring-like music. Earlier in the month, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto streamed a concert by the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, with the first item on the program being the symphonic version of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. The other two pieces were Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, and Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 7 in D Minor. 

I'm not familiar with the latter two pieces, but Appalachian Spring is one of my favourite pieces of classical music. Although I prefer the chamber orchestra version, which I've been able to see performed live a couple of times, the symphonic version does have its merits. I saw Copland conduct it in Hamilton in the 1970s along with his other well-known ballet scores, Billy the Kid and Rodeo.

It doesn't seem possible to embed the video of the concert, so you will have to be content with this link. Program notes are here.

Photography Links - February 25, 2022

Here are some articles about photography that I found interesting or useful.

Fujifilm X-S10 with 16-80 mm. F4 at 34 mm., F8, 1/850 second, ISO 1600, Tri-X film simulation

• Ansel Adams: rare photographs in stunning hi-definition. "Rare photos taken by Ansel Adams from the collection of David H Arrington, a passionate collector of Adams’ photographs from the beginning, will be offered for sale from 17 February at midday in Sotheby’s New York." I saw an exhibition of Adams' photos a few years ago and they were remarkable in their depth and tonality. 
• The Sony Camera That Tumbled Down an Olympic Ski Slope Survived. This happens occasionally during winter sports events; sometimes the photographer goes with the camera.
• Photography cheat sheet: camera metering modes at a glance. "Get your exposure spot on every time with our metering modes cheat sheet."
• Guide to Using Aperture Shutter Speed and ISO for the Best Results. "Kingsley Singleton speaks to three pro photographers about how they handle aperture, shutter speed and ISO to achieve the best results." 
• Manual Exposure For Beginners. "Once again, this is a post to complement one of my workshops, this one about Manual Exposure. Obviously! Although it’s a companion reading material to the workshop, you can certainly use it as a complete lesson in itself. It’s an easy reading and an ideal starting point to explore the wonderful world of manual exposure!"
• Focus peaking sucks, rangefinders rule, and progress doesn't always move forward. "So, I’m holding a Leica M11 which has live view focus peaking and an old-school optical rangefinder. Which is working best?" I can only dream of ever owning a Leica. 
• A Quick Crash Course on Photography Composition for Beginners. "If you're a beginner to photography or are looking to add some theory to improve your work, this video might be perfect for you. While brief, it gives you a great overview of the important basics of composition."

Editing Footnotes and Endnotes in Microsoft Word

I used Microsoft Word daily for much of my career as a technical writer. Fortunately, most of the documents I had to work with in Word were fairly straightforward, but occasionally I'd run into one where the author had used footnotes. Sometimes things went well, but just as often they didn't. 

Here's a good article from the Editing in Word website that offers some good tips on using footnotes and endnotes in Word. It's worth reading if you use them, especially if you are using a more recent version of Word than the now ancient Word 2013 that I still use at home. 

The footnote function is one of the great features of Word: it will automatically change numbering, place them in order at the bottom of the page, shift them as pages grow and shrink, and renumber when they are moved around. The endnote function is similarly great. And even better, you can use both in one document!

However, editing footnotes and endnotes poses some challenges. Sure, Word will track changes you make to the words in the note, but it doesn’t handle other edits quite so smoothly, as shown in the demo video below.

Free SF Stories from Analog and Asimov's

Each year, Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine publish online the top stories from their monthly readers' polls so readers can pick the best of the year. This means that there are now about 30 stories online that you can read for free.

I've had a quick skim through the entries and there are many stories that I want to read, including those by:

• Elizabeth Bear
• Greg Egan
• Robert Reed
• Will McIntosh
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Adam Troy Castro
• Harry Turtledove
• Suzanne Palmer

And if you really like what you've seen here, support the magazines and buy a copy (yes, you can still find them if you look in the right places) or subscribe.

A Look At Some Troubling Political Futures

Recently, I've been seeing more articles proffering warnings about the possible collapse of democracy in the United States and what it might mean for Canada and the rest of the world. All of the articles below are worth reading and thinking about, and then working to make sure that the catastrophes described don't happen.

• Canada should be preparing for the end of American democracy. "As Canada’s closest neighbour fractures at the seams and slides toward dangerous forms of authoritarianism, we should be deeply worried. As someone whose research has tried to explain how and why democracy works, I am deeply worried."
• Opinion: What would a 2024 Trump coup look like? A new paper offers a worrying answer. "As lawmakers debate how to “Trump proof” our elections against a rerun of 2020, a difficult question has emerged as pivotal to these efforts: What strategy might be most likely to succeed in subverting a future presidential election where Donald Trump’s corrupt scheme failed?"
• What a Collapsing America Means for Canada (And the World). "The Siege of Canada is Just the Beginning of What America’s Far Right Wants for the World."
• The Seeds of Political Violence Are Being Sown in Church. "The new insurrection is being organized, in a sanctuary near you." Of all the articles here, this one is the one that worries me the most. 
• The Coming Coup: How Republicans Are Laying the Groundwork to Steal Future Elections. "Democrats are nearly out of time to stop them." 
• How did conservatives come to be so attracted to extremism? The article primarily is about members of the Conservative party in Canada, but it applies equally well to conservatives in the United States and other countries.

Why Are So Many Pedestrians Dying?

Updated 2/21 - See the end of the post.

The other day, I got out of our car next to a Dodge Ram and realized that the hood of pickup was as high as my chest. It was rather intimidating. And it would likely be fatal to any pedestrians it hit, even in a slow speed collision. 

Pedestrian deaths have been increasing over the last several years. As this article points out, the cause is the increasing number of large vehicles on the road; in other words, SUVs and pickup trucks. Some North American car makers are no longer manufacturing sedans. People want big vehicles because it makes them feel safer, but they're killing more and more pedestrians.  

The year that Daniels was injured was the beginning of an escalation in pedestrian deaths. Between 2009 and 2019, total driving miles increased by 10 percent while pedestrian deaths in the U.S. jumped by 50 percent. It’s since only grown worse, with more pedestrians dying in 2020 than 2019 despite a decline in vehicle miles driven. But even before the pandemic-related surge in reckless driving, American roads have been getting more dangerous for non-drivers in part because of the very vehicle type that struck Daniels down.

Portland also saw an alarming spike in pedestrian deaths in 2021, disproportionately affecting homeless people.

Numerous studies and investigations have shown that SUVs and other light trucks are far deadlier for those outside the vehicle than sedans. This isn’t a novel finding: Almost 20 years ago, researchers showed that SUVs were more than twice as likely to kill pedestrians as a normal sedan.

For decades, American vehicles have been growing heavier and taller, but the trend has accelerated over the last decade. In 2016, Fiat Chrysler announced they would abandon the sedan market, while in 2020 Ford decided to no longer sell them in the U.S. either. SUVs and trucks have outsold normal passenger vehicles every year since 2018.

As Vice News recently showed, American cars are getting almost as big as World War II tanks.

Personally, I'd like to see larger vehicles heavily taxed. Pedestrian safety isn't the only problem with them; they use way more fuel than smaller vehicles, directly contributing to climate change.  

Update: This Twitter thread shows the truly obscene size of some new pickup trucks and SUVs. These vehicles should be banned, or at the very least require a commercial license to own. Make sure you watch the video that shows the invisible Corvette in front of the truck.

Featured Links - February 21, 2022

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

• An Ancient Geometry Problem Falls to New Mathematical Techniques. Three mathematicians show, for the first time, how to form a square with the same area as a circle by cutting them into interchangeable pieces that can be visualized.
• Turns Out, There's A Snowmobile Race With Better Hats Than The Kentucky Derby. "Every year, thousands flock from around the world to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, for the I-500 — the international 500-mile snowmobile endurance race." This is just across the river from my birthplace. Northerners know how to own the winter.
• Winter sieges of North American capitals. "The worrying new model of politics in American and Canadian insurrections." I should have included this in my post from last Thursday because it's one of the more perceptive articles on the subject. 
• Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported. "Second Sight left users of its retinal implants in the dark." This article is like something out of dystopian science fiction novel. 
• Devastating NOAA Report Warns Sea Levels Along U.S. Coasts Will Rise a Foot by 2050. "Coastal flooding will become more common and more severe as ocean levels rise."
• Should You Still Wear a Mask? "Experts weigh in on where, and when, you can safely take one off." As for me, I will be wearing a mask indoors for quite a while yet. 
• Explosive NASA images show volcano's eruption reached incredible heights. It reached a height of 36 miles (58 km.)!

Photo of the Week - February 20, 2022

One of our neighbour's trees covered in snow and lit by the late afternoon sun. 

Fujifilm X-S10 with 16-80 mm. F4 at 26 mm., F8, 1/640 second, ISO 400, Velvia film simulation

Saturday Sounds - The Genius of Thelonious Monk

Today's post celebrates Thelonious Monk, the great and eccentric jazz pianist, who died 40 years ago yesterday. 

In The Genius of Monk, David Katznelson contacted several musicians, producers, and journalists to get their picks for their favourite of Monk's recordings. Like the musician himself, it's an eclectic list. Most of the picks are linked to Spotify so you can listen and judge for yourself. 

Just at random, I picked this one which is a pretty representative sample of Monk's genius.

Some Articles About COVID-19

Here are links to some articles I've read recently about COVID-19 that I thought were worth sharing.

• Coronavirus.es are ‘clever’: Evolutionary scenarios for the future of SARS-CoV-2. "Some experts believe that the pandemic appears to be on an evolutionary slide toward becoming endemic, a “new normal” in which humans and the virus co-exist, as we currently do with influenza. But coronaviruses are clever. While an endemic resolution may be in sight, SARS-CoV-2 could still shock the human species with a devastating evolutionary leap."
• Is Our Pandemic the Ghost of the 1889 Russian Flu? "The ‘dreaded disease’ that claimed 1.5 million looks a lot like COVID-19, including the long-term threat posed by ‘viral promiscuity.’" This is probably the most interesting article that I've read all week and it's also quite worrisome.
• Why Covid-19 vaccines are a freaking miracle. We are very lucky that the vaccines have been developed so quickly and that they work as well as they do. This article gives a good sense of why their development is so remarkable.
• Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore. "Influenza, polio and more have shown that infections can change lives even decades later. Why the complacency over possible long-term effects of COVID-19?"
• COVID Long Haulers Are Calling Attention to Chronic Illnesses. "But society is not prepared for the growing crisis of long COVID." Read the article above about the 'Russian flu'; long-term aftereffects from pandemics have been a problem in the past. 

Articles About the Canadian Truck Protests

I've been watching the Canadian truck protests with more than a little disquiet. I'm not directly affected (although I did notice some bare shelves in the supermarket earlier this week), I think there are some wider implications that make them more important than might be evident on the surface. 

For my US and overseas readers, you should be aware that these protests have been noticed by many and various groups who are likely to use the same tactics to promote their causes. Even if you haven't seen much about them in your media, you should be paying attention. 

Here are a few articles about the protests that are worth reading.  

• In Ottawa Protests, a Pressing Question: Where Were the Police? "They were vastly outnumbered, experts say, and unprepared for the sophisticated tactics, discipline and logistical abilities of the protesters."
• Dispatch from the Coutts Front: God, guns, Jenga and Bob Seger. "The RCMP officer was clear: he could not guarantee my safety beyond his checkpoint. He wanted me back in one hour."
• Coutts blockaders discussed blocking airport cargo terminals: private threat assessment. "A covert operation conducted by an Edmonton security firm determined some protesters occupying the Coutts border had become so emboldened by the blockade’s success they discussed blocking cargo terminals at airports across the country in an ongoing attempt to force a change of government in Ottawa."
• The Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ is backed by a Bangladeshi marketing firm and right-wing fringe groups. "As American politicians call for stateside convoys, a Grid investigation finds signs that foreign actors, QAnon and hate pervade the movement’s support."
• The hacked account and suspicious donations behind the Canadian trucker protests. "The jumble of misinformation, online fundraising groups and amplification from right-wing political figures suggests there’s more to these protests than meets the eye."
• Two members of military counter-terrorism unit under investigation for allegedly taking part in convoy protests. “The Canadian Special Operations Forces Command does not condone its members supporting and/or actively taking part in causes that jeopardize the apolitical imperative associated with their functions."
• Dispatch from the Ottawa Front: Sloly is telling you all he's in trouble. Who's listening? It's clear from this article that there is a significant, well-organized, right-wing faction as part of the Ottawa occupation.
• Update: Here's an analysis by historian Heather Cox Richardson, who is always worth reading.

Some Useful Android Tips

Here are a few articles I came across recently that have some useful tips and advice for Android users. Some, but not all, are specific to Google's Pixel phones. 

• You Can Now Copy and Paste Between Android and Windows. You will need Windows 10 or 11 on your PC and Microsoft's Swiftkey keyboard (which I use and like) on your phone for this to work. 
• Pixel power! 42 advanced Assistant actions for Google's Pixel phones. "Pixel owners, listen up: You've got exclusive access to some of Android's most advanced Assistant time-savers — but it's up to you to figure out how to use 'em."
• You'll like your Android phone better if you change these settings. Set up dark mode, control the Do Not Disturb setting, and set up Find My Phone (that is important!).
• 6 secret settings for better browsing in Chrome on Android. "Supercharge your smartphone browsing experience with these powerful yet completely concealed options." The option to force websites to respect your dark mode setting is wonderful. 

Featured Links - February 14. 2022

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about. 

• Microsoft’s Small Step to Disable Macros Is a Huge Win for Security. "Word and Excel files you download from the internet just got a whole lot safer."
• Enjoy this engineering analysis and speculation about San Francisco's ever more leaning Millennium Tower. "The analysis is presented in a very straightforward and easy-to-understand manner. The mistakes in judgment are believable."
• Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheric methane. "As global methane concentrations soar over 1,900 parts per billion, some researchers fear that global warming itself is behind the rapid rise."
• The Best British Crime Drama Series. British crime dramas are our favourite TV shows.
• What's the Best Wordle Starting Word. If you are addicted to Wordle, you need to read this.
• Another launch tower built for the SLS rocket has “encountered some challenges”. "NASA has issued a "second letter of concern" to Bechtel."
• S.F.’s Hyde Street Studios, where the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane made rock history, granted legacy status. Some of my favourite music was recorded there. 
• Why Musk’s biggest space gamble is freaking out his competitors. "Starship is threatening NASA’s moon contractors, which are watching its progress with a mix of awe and horror." My reaction was awe and hope.

Photo of the Week - February 13, 2022

We've had some very pretty sunsets this winter, and this was one of the best. 

Fujifilm X-S10 with 16-80 mm. F4 at 31 mm., F4, 1/100 second, ISO 400, Velvia film simulation

Saturday Sounds - Phil and Phriends - April 17, 1999

There have been many incarnations of Phil and Friends over the years, but his one, featuring Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell from Phish (informally known as Phil and Phriends) is my favourite of all the Dead's bassist's bands. With Trey Anastasio riffing off of Steve Kimock's brilliant leads and the band powered by the rhythm section of Lesh and John Molo, there's a lot of musical magic here.

This show is the last of a three-night run at San Francisco's The Warfield. It was professionally recorded with, I have read, the intent to release a live album, but that never came to be. The video quality is OK for 1999, but that hardly matters here. The other two nights are also available on YouTube if you want more, and why wouldn't you?

Tor's 2021 Anthology Is Out Now

Every year, Tor.com, the pre-eminent publisher of science fiction and fantasy releases an anthology of the best of the stories originally published on their website. Some of the Best from Tor.com 2021 is now available as a free ebook download.

This year's anthology contains 22 stories from both new and established writers. These are a few of the people that I'm familiar with.

• Elizabeth Bear
• Sam J. Miller
• Annalee Newitz
• Sarah Pinsker
• Lavie Tidhar
• Catherynne M. Valente
• E. Lily Yu

Even if you only like a couple of stories, the book is free, and you may find a few new authors to follow. 

In Appreciation of Colin Linden

You may not be familiar with the music of Colin Linden, but you should be. He's a Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer now living in Nashville. If you listen to much blues or folk music, you've probably heard him playing, especially if you've heard anything by Blackie and Rodeo Kings, a band that he founded with Stephen Fearing and Tom Wilson as a tribute to the music of the late Canadian singer-songwriter, Willie P. Bennett; and which went on to become Canadian superstars and record 11 albums. 

I first met Colin in 1971 when I hitched a ride to Toronto with his brother Jay (a singer-songwriter in his own right). Even at the age of 11, it was obvious that he was born to be a musician and was going to be a good one. Since then, I've lost track of the number of times I've seen him perform, either solo, with his band, with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, or backing up other musicians like Bruce Cockburn. 

The last time I saw Colin perform was with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and they finished with the Everly Brothers song, The Price of Love. It was one of the most energetic performances I've seen. Here's a video of them doing Willie P.'s Driftin' Snow into The Price of Love. 

What prompted me to write this post was a long article about him in Premier Guitar. It covers his entire career, both as a musician and producer, and has a lot of tasty info for the gearheads out there. 

Some guitar heroes explode across the stage or erupt from recordings. Think Hendrix or Jimmy Page. Others, like Colin Linden, have a quieter brilliance. They play to support fellow musicians and their own songs with a perfection that extends beyond service into art, dancing a characterful line between the sacred and the profane, the beguiling and the dramatic. They have a visionary approach, distilled from years of surveying their craft and shaping what they’ve learned into diamonds. And with those jewels they can refract complex emotions or simply cut like the patient, intuitive, and exacting badasses they are.

Linden, who has a wonderfully raucous and spacious new album called Blow, is a crucial ingredient in the glue of Nashville’s—and, therefore, the world’s—roots music scene. And while the ability to write songs that turn life into an open book, create sounds that wallow in the dirt or glide toward heaven, or illuminate the wisdom and heart in the work of those he supports or produces seems part of his DNA, it all traces back to a magical encounter with a giant.

Finally, here's his latest album, bLOW.

The Atkinson Hyperlegible Font

The choice of font can make a big difference in legibility, especially for readers like myself with low vision. I recently discovered a new font that's specifically designed to improve readability for people with low vision. It's called Atkinson Hyperlegible and it's free to download and install. 

Atkinson Hyperlegible font is named after Braille Institute founder, J. Robert Atkinson.  What makes it different from traditional typography design is that it focuses on letterform distinction to increase character recognition, ultimately improving readability.  We are making it free for anyone to use!

I've installed it as the default font in Chrome and I do find it much easier to read than any other font that I've seen. I've also installed it on my Kindle. I had been using Amazon Ember, which is a very readable font, but Atkinson Hyperlegible is better. Note that to install it on your Kindle, you should remove the "-102" suffix in the font name before copying it to your Kindle. 

If you're interested in finding out more about the font, there will be a free webinar with the designer on February 24th. 

Featured Links - February 7, 2022

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

• What We Can Learn From How the 1918 Pandemic Ended. Unfortunately, it seems we are repeating the same mistakes made a hundred years ago.
• Here are the salts you need in your kitchen and why. I am not convinced any of this matters very much. 
• The Year in Review 2021 by Gary K. Wolfe. A look back at the science fiction and fantasy of 2021 from one the field's top reviewers. 
• Google Search on the desktop may soon integrate Lens. This will make it even more useful.
• M-19 “Gurkolyot”: Grab the Problem by the Throat, Not the Tail. A Soviet-era plan for a nuclear-powered SSTO spaceplane. 
• THE JACKPOT: How London Became A Concierge for Kleptocrats. "Novelist Cory Doctorow tracks Britain’s domestic scandals back to the capital’s reliance on laundered money from overseas, and the feasting of so many professions on the proceeds."
• Does the human lifespan have a limit? "Super-centenarians offer clues as demographers and scientists lock horns over one of the world’s oldest research questions."

Photo of the Week - February 6, 2022

This has been a more severe winter than normal here, but it's still possible to find beauty in the cold. We haven't taken down our Christmas lights and the slight thaw we had a couple of days ago has left us with some pretty icicles.

 

Fujifilm X-S10 with 16-80 mm. F4 at 63 mm., F4, 1/340 second, ISO 400, Provia film simulation

Saturday Sounds - Dream Master by Bill Hughes

Today's Saturday Sounds is an album that I am sure that very few readers of this blog have heard of: Dream Master by Bill Hughes, released in 1979. Hughes was originally a member of the Christian folk group, Lazarus, who recorded two very pleasant albums in the early 1970s and had a couple of minor hits before breaking up. He went on to a solo career and I saw him perform several times in Hamilton later in the 70s. 

After getting a major label contract, he recorded Dream Master. I have never understood why he was not a huge star on the order of Chris Cross, but it never happened, and his musical career took other paths. He died, if memory serves, sometime in the 1990s, much too young. 

Dream Master is a very listenable album and still has a place in my heart after more than 40 years. I particularly recommend "Only Your Heart Can Say" and "Only Love", which I guarantee you be humming a week after hearing it. 

How Hospitals Are Coping With COVID-19

The pandemic has been going on for more than two years now, and hospitals are stretched to the limit. Here are a couple of articles, one from the United States and one from Canada, that describe the experiences of two hospitals. 

First up is Ed Yong's article from The Atlantic about Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago.  

To see as many patients as quickly as possible, the hospital’s exhausted staff brought intensive care into the emergency room, using portable oxygen tanks sourced from a local company. They brought emergency services into the waiting room, installing catheters and ordering medical tests for people who couldn’t yet be given a bed. They resuscitated a patient who had had a heart attack while still in an ambulance, because there wasn’t anywhere for them to be off-loaded. But between staff shortages that had been getting steadily worse throughout the pandemic and the sheer deluge of sick people, the team simply couldn’t see everyone quickly enough.

The second article, from the Globe and Mail, describes what things are like in the emergency room at Humber River Hospital, one of the busiest in Ontario.

The Omicron variant has led to more complex medical cases, which in turn leads to longer hospital stays, Casey says.

“If you come in with COVID and all these other concerns and you need to be admitted upstairs, you just stay longer,” Casey says. “You’re often here longer just because it takes longer to care for you.”

Despite the ER being full, the overall number of patients they’re seeing during the fifth wave is actually down, Casey says.

Lavagueur says that is due to fewer patients coming into the emergency department with minor injuries like cut and sprains.

“I think we’ve seen a lot less of those patients because people are afraid to go to emergency, and rightfully so,” he says. “There’s lots of patients with COVID – the present variant is very contagious.”

It’s not just beds that are hard to come by, it’s people to staff them, too.

I am more worried about developing a condition or having an injury that requires a hospital visit than I am about getting COVID-19.  

Still Fighting About Fluoride

Fluoride started being introduced into drinking water when I was a child, and the number of children with cavities began dropping almost immediately. But it's still a controversial subject, as evidenced by the recent vote by Calgary, Alberta city council to reintroduce fluoride into the city's water system. 

Now in California there's an attempt to sue the Environmental Protection Agency to have fluoride removed immediately. Nature has a good article about the subject and why fluoride is still controversial. It seems like the evidence for the benefits of water fluoridation isn't as clear-cut as many people assumed, myself included.

It is difficult to ignore the importance of equity in these arguments. On the one hand, dentists think that fluoridated water most benefits those who lack access to dental services, oral-health education, or a steady supply of fluoridated toothpaste — the very people who are most susceptible to poor oral health and who experience the greatest financial hardship when dental problems strike. On the other hand, toxicologists worry about any impact of fluoridated water on IQ, especially in populations that are already vulnerable because of exposure to high rates of air pollution and elevated poverty rates, for example. And even if such populations are aware of the potential risks of fluoridation, they are least likely to be able to afford bottled water to use when formula-feeding infants, for instance.

“A couple of cavities and a couple of IQ points are both serious when you think about a population. If you’re in a place of privilege, and luck and environment is with you, and you have a child testing in the high percentile, a few IQ points may not be of great impact. But for others, in different conditions, it can be.” And, she says, “At a population level, it’s a big shift. Being in a disadvantaged position cuts across domains — health, economics, education, exposure. The most vulnerable populations are most vulnerable to a lot of things, not just dental caries and neurotoxicants.”

Locus 2021 Recommended Reading List and Poll

Every year Locus, the newsmagazine of the science fiction and fantasy field, publishes a recommended reading list for the previous year's publications. The 2021 list is now out and there's a lot of there to peruse. 

Here are a few books from the science fiction novels section that I've either bought or plan to read based on reviews and my previous experience with the authors.

• Leviathan Falls, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr (Scribner; Fourth Estate)
• A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
• Inhibitor Phase, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Orbit US)
• Purgatory Mount, Adam Roberts (Gollancz)
• Invisible Sun, Charles Stross (Tor; Tor UK) - I am reading this now.
• Shards of Earth, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US)

Note that the list includes novels in several categories as well as short fiction and non-fiction. Most entries are linked to online bookstores or the original online publication in the case of some of the short fiction.

Locus has also opened its annual poll for voting on the annual Locus Awards.

Movie and TV Reviews - January 2022

Here are some short reviews of things I watched in January. 

Movies

• Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Not a reboot but a direct sequel set about 35 years after the original. I liked it, although it did get a bit mawkish at the end. The young actors are very good. 
• Don't Look Up: See my review. 
• The Eternals: Another flashy, pointless, Marvel epic. I fell asleep halfway through. 
• The Protegé: A good Saturday night flick with decent performances by Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, and Maggie Q. Good pacing and enough action help to keep you from thinking about how silly it is. 

TV Shows

• Inspector Lewis: This is a sequel to Endeavour and Inspector Morse, following Morse's sergeant, Lewis, who is now an inspector. It's very well done with good acting, twisty plots, and deep characterization. Who knew that there was so much crime and depravity in the quiet university town of Oxford? (PBS Masterpiece)
• War of the Worlds (Season 2): The first season did little for me and the second season isn't much better. (CBC Gem)
• A Discovery of Witches (Season 2-3): I liked this show more as it developed. I think they could have done more with the premise of witches, vampires, and demons living among us, but what's there is good.
• The Expanse (Season 6): The "final" season (scare quotes because there are rumours it will continue after all) continues straight on from the end of season 5, but begins to introduce the Laconia plot from the last three books in the trilogy. This is about as good as SF TV shows get. (Amazon Prime)
• Doom Patrol (Season 1): I ratefy like superhero movies or TV shows, but I am enjoying this one, primarily because it is so twisted and strange. There is enough going on in any one episode to fill a season of the average show. It's a credit to the producers that I am often lost as far as following the plot but still enjoying it.
• Queens of Mystery (Season 2): Another light, frothy mystery show. The only reason I watch it is because my wife likes it.