Category Archives: Library

Some Covid Updates

Hard to believe that two and a half years into the Covid pandemic, I’m debating whether to make a round-up of recent news and observations a weekly feature on this blog. Why Are Hospitals Overwhelmed (Spoiler: Lots of Reasons) Why are hospitals in Edmonton/Alberta so overwhelmed? I am going to turn to the data for […]

Article Round Up (End of the World Edition)

What You’re Feeling Isn’t A Vibe Shift, It’s A Permanent Change That Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief Mental Health Emerges As Top Concern For Canadian Employers Worried About Workers’ Low Grade Trauma From The Pandemic Uhm, Happy St. Patrick’s Day?

Some Recent Covid-Related Tweets

One of the hardest things about the pandemic is trying to keep up with the latest news/developments/theories (and the fact these are ever-changing gives a lot of fuel to anti-vaxxers which is a different discussion.) Even as a trained librarian who’s pretty obsessively following the latest in Covid news, I’m the first to admit I […]

Secular Sunday – Secular Atheist Train Conductor Wins Wrongful Dismissal Claim After Being Fired For Social Media Post

I’ve been thinking about writing a longer post with some thought about how people’s personal social media (and blog?!?) posts are increasingly having repercussions on their work life. This was especially relevant after the Sask Health Association sent out some fairly chilling messages to staff who were posting thoughts/opinions/information about Covid a few months ago. […]

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – “Trump Trips Up” (~May 1991?)

I was going through some old papers in a box under the stairs recently and came across a folder of articles I’d clipped and saved, long before most articles from popular magazines were available online from databases or from the magazine’s own web site like they are today. Had to chuckle for a couple reasons: […]

Amazon Prime Is An Economy-Distorting Lie

I’m trying as hard as I can to avoid buying from Amazon as I’ve grown to *really* dislike their business practices – from how they treat workers to resellers engaging in fraud to simply the fact that Jeff Bezos does not need one more penny of my money. I mean, Wal-Mart is a shitty employer […]

Friday Fun Link – The Big Library: Books About Basic Income

This idea is growing in awareness and after the rush to create CERB a year ago, more and more people are seeing the benefit of some form of a universal guaranteed income. This is a great list of books to learn more about different aspects of the idea.

Throwback Thursday – #tbt – My Twitter Account From The First Month of Covid (March 2020)

We’re into the same month as when Covid became real and the world shut-down mid-month so I’ll likely be posting a few different retrospective posts, whether it’s “Throwback Thursday” or not over the next few weeks. For example, here’s all my tweets from March 2020. I loved this tweet (but not that I managed a […]

Freedom To Read Week 2021 – Day Five – Throwback Thursday – #tbt – Calgary #FTRW Committee Council Presentation (February 2004)

Through my work with the Writers Guild of Alberta, I became involved with the Calgary Freedom to Read Week Committee.  I can’t find it online now but my memory is that this committee of writers, librarians, publishers and social activists was formed after some MLA held up some book in the Alberta Legislature to denounce […]

@officialRPL ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas… #yqr

RPL’s Marketing Unit has created some great content recently including this timely video featuring a number of well-known Regina names…