BC HEALTH
Saved by @Alex1Powell

1. Some thoughts about picking over the bones of the referendum loss.

TLDR - get over it, move on, and most importantly, find a better strategy.

 2. From an analytical perspective, I don’t think there’s much point in constantly assessing the referendum.
3. The answer is either so simple as to be banal (bad campaign etc) or too complicated (deep rooted societal roots etc) as not to provide any simple lessons. In any case, the result was very close.
4. Rather than dwell on the past, live in the future. Influencing what happens next is much more important than focusing on historic defeat.
5. You don’t see current Brexiteers lamenting the woeful state of their plans do you?
6. For a start, you aren’t remainers any more (and leavers aren’t leavers), you are people who passionately support ongoing close relations with Europe.

You are the Sensibles.
7. Considering the challenge ahead, you might think about it like this.
8. The competition between the intellectual arguments for remain and leave has (so far) been soundly won by the former.

In terms of process and economics it’s no competition.

And in terms of sovereignty, well, you can’t eat sovereignty.
9. But clearly note that Remainers lost every single important domestic political election. You can blame who you want (Jeremy Corbyn, FPTP etc) but the stone cold reality is Remainers got beat at the referendum and trounced in the December 2019 election.
10. On each occasion, Leavers devised and prosecuted a strategy that won.

It is true that those victories were founded on a series of gross untruths
11. But that doesn’t seem to matter in the very narrow but critical sense of who is in power and makes the decisions.
12. Leavers have demonstrated that a political philosophy of by any democratic means necessary is how you win the day.
13. The Sensibles might take a leaf from their book. Be as focused and as calculating, be as determined and be as ruthless.
14. And if you are, as the disaster unfolds, in slow motion or otherwise, you might be surprised by what you achieve.

Brexit isn’t going away and neither are you.

/ends

More from Objective Columnist

Objective Columnist
Objective Columnist
@Sime0nStylites
I tend to agree with this - of course many things can still go wrong...but (certainly on the UK side) as the list of outstanding issues decreases and as the cost of no deal becomes more apparent deal momentum will increase.


I find it most amusing that people invest so much value in public statements, briefings, tabloid headlines, the tweets of obscure backbenchers etc. Cherchez les fundamentals!

There is a deep vein of analytical pessimism in one particular direction, which, whether correct or not, is noteworthy. On the one hand, a firm belief in the fundamentals - gravity exists - but on the other hand those fundamentals are not meaningful to the final decision.

But gravity does exist! Whether one likes it or not. We do not have wings. Or feathers. And the realisation of the fundamentals will impact the political calculation (though timing differences may apply).

You don’t have to invest any particular optimism or see any virtue in the principal players to make this point.
POLITICS
Objective Columnist
Objective Columnist
@Sime0nStylites
Along the way I wrote about considering Johnson’s Brexit decision as a choice between clichéd narratives. What would read / play best? Well...


It is absolutely no surprise to me that he ended up choosing the ending that would most easily portray him as the hero who saved the day.

The tricky part of this narrative is convincing re the ‘not giving in’ part. Hence all the bluster about standing tough and being happy to walk away.

And yet.

I’m old enough to remember when we wouldn’t accept any LPF provisions, any state aid constraints and we wanted all our fish back right now. Otherwise it’s an ‘Australia’ style Brexit.
BREXIT
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Objective Columnist
Objective Columnist
@Sime0nStylites
1. Brexit. Like Christmas with Covid or dunking your head in a bucket of ice cold water or running your toes over with a lawnmower. What fun we did not have. But here we all are. Forced to play the worst ever drunken party game.

THREAD

2. So as we while away our time, whooping it up from lockdown, wondering at the next national crisis, let us ponder this week’s existential question: how can a Brexit deal be so close and yet so far away?

3. Is it close? Is it far away? Are we doomed or saved? And even if we’re saved are we in fact doomed?

It’s all too much. Like playing zenga with no twig things or scrabble with no letters. My head is spinning. Pass me the whisky and egg my nog.

4. To generalize (why not, everyone else does) Brexit commentary tends to fall into two illustrious camps both full of the wisest of sages.

5. The first reflects upon Mr Johnson’s character and political track record, the many hard as you like pronouncements emanating from various government orifices and the most peculiar composition of the Conservative Party, to arrive at an understandably unhappy conclusion.
BREXIT
Objective Columnist
Objective Columnist
@Sime0nStylites
I find it very strange that the same sort of people who look back on the financial crisis and austerity as catalysts for great change now seem to see Brexit and Covid as catalysts for great stability.

Partisanship is one helluva drug. Financial crisis = bad crisis. Brexit = good crisis. Even Covid, unequivocally a bad crisis, is characterised in parts as a good crisis (world beating vaccine etc).

A different reading (which spans Labour, Coalition and Conservative governments) is that 2008-2021 has been one continuous period of crisis punctuated by shorter periods of calm.

Crises aren’t the exception. Scottish independence and the future status of NI look ahead. They are the rule. More specifically, whether the crises are endogenous or exogenous the state has proven woefully ineffective at dealing with them.

We are meant to try to learn from this. And do our best not to apply partisan blinkers. The problems are deeply rooted. And, very obviously, Brexit isn’t the fix. It’s an attempt at a cure but in the same way as a radical therapy that solves some problems but creates others.
FINANCE
Yet Another Columnist
Yet Another Columnist
@Sime0nStylites
One wonders how long Lord Frost will retain his new position. The personnel decisions made by the PM are nothing if not frequent, ruthless and mercurial.

The whole affair is very curious. While I am sure that Lord Frost’s elevation owes much to his relationship with the PM and the perceived success of the Brexit negotiation, it is very curious indeed that allegedly it took a threat to resign to secure this new role.

A role which is needed (although might have been structured differently) but was to a large effect previously undertaken (with reasonable success) by Michael Gove who one might imagine may not be entirely happy with this diminishment of his responsibilities.

What might have happened to have resulted in this dramatic and to some extent destructive move (which appears to have been played out in the context of a wider struggle that saw Oliver Lewis (previously Lord Frost’s (LF) negotiation deputy)?

The original sin, of course, is the agreement to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Who knows who did what to who or thought what about what but my speculation is the PM either did not understand the consequences of the Protocol or was assured they could be successfully addressed.
SOCIETY

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In 2007, the Department of Defense worked with researchers at Purdue University to create SEAS, or the Synthetic Environment for Analysis and Simulations. SEAS uses data from the internet to create realistically detailed models of the world which are used to predict the future.


We’re told SEAS is now capable of running real-time simulations of up to 62 nations and that it’s been used by Fortune 500 companies for strategic planning, or in other words, manipulating the market. Nevertheless, there are plans to turn SEAS into something even more advanced.


Developers say their goal is to turn SEAS into a Sentient World Simulation, or a “continuously running, continually updated mirror model of the real world.” However, some conspiracy theorists claim the SWS is already live and running inside a network of quantum computers.


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Thread:
I'm thinking about Tim Keller's influence.

There is the curious fact that Keller is well-regarded among the culture elite (or at least has not suffered the sort of vilification one might expect given his influence). How can we explain this?

Looking at Prodigal God and other writings, you see that his approach to urban ministry is deeply political in a way that appeals to Democrat-heavy cities. It involves two moves:

1) equalizing sins: elevating the sin of hypocrisy, "moralism," and "religion" (the sins of "conservatives") and equating these with the sins tolerated among liberal (e.g., homosexuality)
&
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Keller effectively downplays the sins that liberals tolerate while elevating the sins of their political enemies, the red state conservatives.

But the greatest appeal to liberals is that critiquing the "self-righteous" vilifies political action, particularly the action of social conservatives (e.g., anti-gay marriage). And the equalization of sins eases concerns over changes in social policy (e.g., gay marriage).
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First Doctor
First Doctor
@firstdoctorr
ECTOPIC PREGNANCY

A woman just lost her life due to ectopic pregnancy!

It's a pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the womb. It can be life-threatening.

But we can save lives by helping educate women on our Timelines with this.

THREAD 🧵


In the human body, a fertilized egg hardly survives outside the womb. If allowed to grow, it may damage nearby organs & cause severe blood loss.

The bulk of ectopic pregnancies occur in/along the Fallopian tubes.

Some in the ovaries, cervix or a random location in the abdomen.


The usual symptoms of ectopic pregnancy a woman may experience esp. in early pregnancy are;

* Abdominal pain
* Vaginal bleeding, &
* Amenorrhea (missing your period)

Other pregnancy symptoms like breast fullness & occasional nausea may be there too.

But the common DANGER SIGNS of ectopic pregnancy that may signify rupture are;

🔴 Rigid abdomen

🔴 Severe abdominal pain

🔴 Shoulder tip pain, &

🔴 Signs of shock such as cold hands & feet.

With these signs, immediate medical attention is needed to save the woman's life!

Your chances of having an ectopic pregnancy are higher if you have;

1. Previous ectopic pregnancy

2. STI's like gonorrhea

3. Fertility treatments like IVF*

4. Fallopian tube surgeries

5. Pregnancy while using an Intrauterine Contraceptive Device

6. Smoking history! 🚭
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Steve Cuss
Steve Cuss
@stevecusswords
Anxiety resides in 4 spaces:

1. The space inside you
2. The space between you and another
3. The space between others
4. The space inside another.

A powerful de escalation tools is to first locate the anxiety. Where is it?

Often the answer is 'all 4.' Yikes!

1/

Anxiety is contagious, we spread it and escalate it unless we know how to manage it.

This was perhaps my biggest lesson as a trauma chaplain - the very hard work of not catching someone's anxiety.

2/

When I caught it, I was no good to them. I no longer saw what was going on, I was now 'infected' by my own triggers, assumptions, the story I tell myself. I was all wrapped up in myself.

But when I managed my anxiety, I was able to be calm, aware and fully present to them.

3/

Even in the very worst moment of their lives, even if they had me by the shoulders screaming, 'how could God allow this to happen?'

4/

Incidentally, early in chaplaincy, I thought this was an actual question. Because I was anxious, I was more infected by my need to answer than I was to simply be calm and present with them in their pain.

5/
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ICYMI, public health officials fear community transmission of B.1.1.7 (the "UK variant") is underway in Ontario.

I'll dissect each piece of worrying news from this story.

1. Simcoe Muskoka has so far reported 3 positive tests in individuals *with no known links* to the massive B.1.1.7 outbreak at Roberta Place LTC.

Two of those are linked to separate outbreaks of their own (a different LTC and a mental health hospital). Testing underway.

2. Of the 225 cases at Roberta Place, 100+ are confirmed or preliminary + for B.1.1.7.

42 household contacts of ppl linked to the outbreak are also COVID+. Public health unit is worried about keeping cases (which are all likely B.1.1.7) from rippling further into the community.

3. A case in Kingston area who tested positive for COVID "several weeks ago" was just discovered to be B.1.1.7. That person travelled to Simcoe Muskoka, but had not travelled internationally, according to the local health unit.

4. Overall, Public Health Ontario counts 47 B.1.1.7 cases as of yesterday -- these are only the ones confirmed thru full genome sequencing. Preliminary screening tests not included (yesterday's 99 in Simcoe Muskoka, for example).

Here's a breakdown by health unit courtesy PHO:
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Take, for example, tobacco smoke enemas, in which 18th Century physicians saw drowning victims and attempted to de-deadify them by blowing tobacco smoke up their rectums with a pipe.


Despite having no medical benefit whatsoever, the practice was popular, and enema kits lined the Thames like lifebelts, ready to be used as one final humiliation for somebody who was crap at swimming.

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