Charlie has decided he loves to jump into the tub. I guess that’s better than having a dog that hates water but definitely makes our baths…interesting.
I knew his story already (likely from his own #RPLStory) but had a lengthy conversation with City Councillor and RPL Board Member, John Findura, recently and it was amazing to hear firsthand about the role the library has played in the success he enjoys today – from a new Canadian who literally knew no English to discovering the library as a life-changing sanctuary and on to become a long-serving City Councillor.
? Occasionally a new bit of SARS-CoV-2 research just smashes through the door. This is one of them. It's jaw dropping. It's about Covid persisting after the initial infection and the ongoing damage that causes. ?????https://t.co/Oxt2jY9rGdpic.twitter.com/RF2VqeBEfN
Huge numbers of Covid survivors are out of the workforce. One reason – cognitive impairment – e.g. problems following directions, sustaining attention, remembering details, prioritizing tasks, grasping concepts etc. How has cognitive impairment impacted your work? @CIBScenter
And many people (including myself!) talk about their “brain fog” after having had Covid but the reality is this is a name that softens the effect. The real name for what is happening/has happened to people is “brain damage”:
Calling #LongCovid Brain Damage as "Brain Fog" was one of the worst decisions some researchers and PHO's did.
It minimizes & trivializes the harm of Covid causing people to take it less seriously
There is still no effective treatment for Long Covid and less than 10% of survivors are recovering after two years, no matter what type of treatment is attempted:
Study looking at #LongCovid 2 years after infection:
Despite exercise, respiratory & olfactory rehab, cognition/speech therapy & psychological support, the main symptoms (fatigue, neurocognition, muscle) did not resolve.
Fifty papers have said that, unlike HIV which can take 8-10 years to cause immune-dysfunction, Covid can cause immune dysfunction even during the initial infection:
With HIV, the immune deficiency (AIDS) doesn't become significant for 8-10 years. With COVID infections, studies show some immune dysfunction can start even during the initial acute infection.
Attached is a thread written in Nov pointing to 25 papers. By now there are about 50. https://t.co/8LHAOUPUfT
And finally, a new study shows the places where (and how) you are most likely to catch Covid. (Of course, I’ll never know for sure but I’m 97% sure I caught mine at work during a crowded special event where I stupidly chose not to mask consistently because I was running around doing a lot of physical effort *and* having a lot of conversations with people – including one person who happily shared she had Covid at the event!) 😮
My brain hurts that this is one of the “leaders” of the United States…
Speaking on the end times, Lauren Boebert said she believes Jesus will return because Satan will beg him to because Christians are out in such “a great force” not because they are “hiding in caves” due to “a government lockdown.” pic.twitter.com/74ApxDWeaM
I’ve always followed sports and played a lot of different ones in my younger days (not so much these days as Shea said she’d divorce me if I started keeping hockey equipment in the house ever again!) but I don’t think I’ve ever been fanatical in following sports to an unhealthy degree.
With that said, I’ve definitely let myself be overly attached and emotional or even moderately obsessive about certain sports/teams/players/championship runs at different times – the NHL in general and Islanders specfically when I was a kid, the Flames’ run in 2004 when we were living in Calgary a few blocks from the Red Mile, the Blue Jays’ Two World Series wins, the Riders on the rare occasions they’re good, etc.
I was going to do a post about the most memorable moments (good and bad!) at the various RPL Staff Development Days/Staff Conferences I’ve attended over the years (including five years on the planning committee and three years as Chair) but I don’t really have the energy for it because as I type this, it’s actually Friday evening after our first Staff Development Day in three years and there were two things today that would likely be contenders for both the best and worst moments ever which I’m still processing.
So anyhow, here’s a pic from the stage before I facilitated a panel on “Fake News” at the RPL Staff Day back in 2017 that would likely make my list of “Most Memorable Moments” more for the conversation that happened after the session than anything said during it.
