JoeyColeman.ca

The COVID long-haul: 2021 Cancellations Begin. Time to Cancel my March Birthday Party?

It's odd to think that exactly six months ago I had an email conversation to reschedule cancelled March/April meetings into September. It was a Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day in fact, and I was consumed with responding to the COVID crisis as a UofT Fellow-at-Large. The Provincial State of Emergency was declared, we were moving students out, classes were online,

Interesting Listen: Boston NPR station interview on preparation for COVID vaccine distribution

Our public health leaders are preparing us for the long-term reality of living during a pandemic, with discussions of lengthy time periods for the development of an effective vaccine, the production of these vaccine, and the distribution of the vaccine. There may not be enough COVID vaccine for everyone until 2024, the world's biggest producer of vaccines stated to media

Fighting Adjectival Bloat

John McIntyre of The Baltimore Sun writes on how journalists use language. Primarily, he focuses upon grammar and style. As one of those journalists whose grammar is ruinous, I read McIntyre's writing wondering what it be like to work in journalism thirty years ago when there were copy editors. [Putting aside that as a Crown Ward, my socio-economic class of

Bill 156: The Ag Gag Law

A good piece on J-Source explaining how Ontario's "Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act" is a threat to good journalism. On June 10, the Canadian Association of Journalists released a statement condemning Bill 156 and highlighting a number of concerning consequences. According to the statement, the new law does not allow protections for whistleblowers, would criminalize undercover investigators

Good for a Laugh

Enjoyed the parody "A Message from Your University's Vice President for Magical Thinking" especially the following passage: After measuring classrooms and examining our antiquated ventilation systems, our staff (those who haven’t been furloughed) reports that there’s absolutely no way our already scheduled and enrolled classes can safely fit in those spaces. But our university has always valued creative

FOI Ruling in Niagara With an Interesting Twist

The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake fought against releasing the "minutes of a particular meeting between four named individuals" which involved the town's chief administrative officer and mayor meeting with two undisclosed individuals. The Town tried to claim solicitor client privilege. The IPC ruled against the town's claim of privilege over this meeting, and here's the twist the town's solicitor was providing

Humour and COVID: Not Sure How They Mix

Today I intent was to be light-hearted, but it definitely did not work. A person I like walks into a small shop, I joke that he is one too many people, the person in front of him in his group tries to leave. I quickly explained I was engaging in banter, and the misunderstanding was quickly understood. Nonetheless, I'm going

Coleman's Notes: Public Transit Capacity, Ridership, and Costs during Social Distancing

Transit costs are directly tied to the public health objective of physical distancing, and the resulting deficits will challenge municipal finances.

Apollo 13: 50th Anniversary

I listened intently to the National Geographic vinyl record of the Apollo 11 as a child in the late 1980s; space was a frontier humanity was going to colonize by 2020. I was memorized by the story of Apollo 11, only to later learn of Apollo 13; the "successful failure" as it has become known. I've come to view Apollo

Is Hamilton's Physical Distancing By-law Ultra Vires?

Good laws are clear, concise, and limited to serving the purpose of their enactment. Here is how Hamilton's proposed physical distancing by-law fails this test.

Delivering a Five Minute Lecture on Zoom

The talk, "The Lower Great Lakes Climate, Water, Flooding, and Political Implications" discussed the challenges facing civil engineers in designing for lake breeze convergence fronts which cause significant short bursts of rainfall in very short periods of time.

Updating my Flickr Photos

I'm making use of podcast listening time to process, edit, and upload my photo collection to my Flickr account. Take a visit over at https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeycoleman_ca/ Setup working on the counter at The Seedworks during Summer 2017

Advertising Drop on Radio

There were basically no ads, no discussion from the host, and nobody making celebratory requests during today's Classic Country Saturday Night radio show. I listen to KMDL out of Louisiana most Saturday nights, it's a ritual. Usually, the show contains a sufficient amount of advertising from the entertainment and food sectors. Today, I don't recall any advertisements. A portion of