Furious, heartbroken—but not surprised
Hit and Miss #189
Hello!
Well, it’s been quite a few days, hasn’t it? There’s been a lot of gloom. But today my family gathered on Zoom today to wish my Nonna happy birthday (twenty people across ten devices)—that was a highlight, for sure.
Okay, now to the gloom, briefly—if only to note it for our future selves.
Ontario legalized arbitrary police questioning and banned playgrounds (among other outdoor amenities), interventions with little-to-no effect on COVID’s out-of-control spread in the province. It undid the policing changes and reopened playgrounds, while keeping most other outdoor recreation shut down. It didn’t do much to help workers in congregate work settings, and, despite its claims that it’s expanding ICU capacity, it likely won’t have the people to adequately staff those beds. (On those last fronts: it’s never too late to phone or write in favour of protections for the most vulnerable, most essential.)
I’ll save you my COVID anxiety spiral, on ICUs, car crashes, overtaxed contact tracing systems, and so on. Friday, after waves hands at the above, I took a woozy walk with José González’s cover of “This Is How We Walk On The Moon”. It helped, as such walks often do.
A few interesting pieces:
- Justin Ling wrote a sharp piece on Canada’s COVID-19 situation, “How did it come to this?” The numerous links to solid, evidence-backed stories are wonderful.
- Accounting firms are audited for their audits, but the results are confidential?? This makes absolutely no sense, and only increases my 🤨 feeling about accounting and audit firms. (Especially certain big ones.)
- Turns out comical corruption still happens. Replete with stereotypical Italian details, the “Bondfield files” are quite a read.
I also want to share the Black Alert podcast. It’s a knowledgeable, engaged group of Black Trek fans, reviewing episodes and discussing Trek through their own perspectives. Fantastic. (You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, or on Simplecast.)
All the best for the week ahead, friends. Hang in there.
Lucas