2021: Year of the Jab

Table of Contents

• Ringing in a New Year
• The Second Wave
• The Vaccine Games
• Lockdown Road Trip
• Surfing the Third Wave
• Taking the Piss out of the Pandemic
• Everybody: A Book About Freedom, by Olivia Laing
• Toronto Anti-Mask March Sounds Anti-Asian Notes
• Dig Them Up
• Follow Up to Ryerson’s Downfall
• The Vaccine Games II
• More Bullshit
• Canada’s Federal Election
• On Edge About Anxiety
• Cop26 In Glasgow
• Victoria
• Boosted!
• How Will We Remember?

Ringing in a New Year

Note: Contagion (2011) directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan, and Marion Cotillard.

Note: “‘V-Day’: First COVID-19 vaccines administered in Canada” – CTV News (Dec. 14, 2020).

Note: 2020: Journal of a Plague Year, see notes on nouspique.com

Note: The Diary of Samuel Pepys, public domain, Project Gutenberg

The Second Wave

Note: 4,249 new cases on January 7^th, 2021 – see Public Health Ontario’s archive.

Note: “Stay at Home order begins January 14^th” – Toronto Star (January 12^th, 2021).

Note: “Adamson Barbecue owner says he’s shutting down all locations over vaccine passport rules” – Toronto Star (October 10^th, 2021).

Note: “Ontario will let more businesses reopen, gradually lift stay-at-home orders” – CBC (Feb. 08, 2021).

Note: “Ontario details plan for 3 paid sick days after a year of mounting pressure” – CBC (Apr. 28, 2021).

Note: “Ontario’s COVID-19 paid sick days to extend into 2022” – CBC (Dec. 7th, 2021).

Note: Public Health Ontario offers an overview of when the various waves of Covid-19 were active in Ontario. It officially marks March 1^st, 2021 as the beginning of the 3^rd wave.

The Vaccine Games

Note: “Ontario Launching Provincial Booking System for COVID-19 Vaccines” – Province of Ontario News Release (March 14^th, 2021).

Note: “Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine booking system ready to launch for those eligible, Doug Ford says” – Global News (March 14^th, 2021).

Note: “Toronto, Peel region ask to move to COVID-19 grey zone, caution against ‘chasing normal too quickly'” – CBC (March 3rd, 2021).

Note: “COVID-19 restrictions in Grey Zone of the Province of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework” – City of Toronto.

Note: “Understanding How COVID-19 Vaccines Work” – CDC (Updated May 12^th, 2023).

Note: “Single-dose Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine followed
by a 12-week booster” – Lancet, Vol. 397 (March 6^th, 2021).

Note: “Trudeau, wife Sophie receive 1st dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine” – Global News (April 23^rd, 2021).

Note: “Eric Clapton claims people who have had the Covid vaccine are victims of ‘mass formation hypnosis'” – Daily Mail (Jan. 24^th, 2022).

Lockdown Road Trip

Note: “Ford government hitting ’emergency brake’ to put all Ontario in lockdown: sources” – CBC (March 31^st, 2021).

Note: “The story of a famous pianist who liked to hang out in Wawa” – SooToday (Nov. 14^th, 2021).

Surfing the Third Wave

Note: “These ‘hot spots’ getting vaccine priority are less hard-hit by COVID-19 than Ontario average” – CBC (Apr. 12^th, 2021).

Note: “Ivanka Trump Gets COVID-19 Vaccine” – Huffpost (Apr. 14^th, 2021).

Note: “Ford announces new restrictions as COVID-19 cases threaten to remain high all summer” – CBC (Apr. 16^th, 2021).

Note: “Ontario walks back new policing powers following pushback” – CBC (Apr. 17^th, 2021).

Note: “Ford apologizes after public backlash to enhanced police powers, playground closures” – CBC (Apr. 22^nd, 2021).

Taking the Piss out of the Pandemic

Note: Black Spring, by Henry Miller (New York: Grove Press Inc., 1963) at 43.

Everybody: A Book About Freedom, by Olivia Laing

Note: Everybody: A Book About Freedom, by Olivia Laing (New York: W. W. Norton, 2021).

Note: “Amazon’s mental health kiosk mocked on social media as a ‘Despair Closet’” – The Guardian (May 28^th, 2021).

Toronto Anti-Mask March Sounds Anti-Asian Notes

Note: “Anti-maskers, lockdown protests have links to far right ideology: Jagmeet Singh” – National Post (May 10^th, 2021).

Note: “An anti-masker bit a cop in downtown Toronto this weekend” – BlogTO (May 18^th, 2021).

Dig Them Up

Note: “Statue of Egerton Ryerson, toppled after Toronto rally, ‘will not be restored or replaced'” – CBC (June 6^th, 2021).

Note: “Thousands rally in Toronto after death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet” – Global News – (May 30^th, 2020).

Note: “Remains of 215 children found buried at former B.C. residential school, First Nation says” – CBC (May 28^th, 2021).

Note: National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Note: “Why every single statue should come down” – The Guardian (June 1^st, 2021).

Note: “The Golden Record” – Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech.

Note: “Pioneer Plaque” – Wikipedia.

Note: Image of Sprinters (Valeri Borzov of the U.S.S.R. in lead)

Note: Cambodia: A book for people who find television too slow, by Brian Fawcett (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1986) – discussed in nouspique.com.

Note: See/Saw: Looking at Photographs, by Geoff Dyer (Edinburgh: Canongate, 2021) – see Geoff Dyer’s personal web site.

Follow-Up to Ryerson’s Downfall

Note: “Lynn McDonald: The historical record vindicates Egerton Ryerson” – Financial Post (Sep. 9^th, 2021).

Note: “Opinion: Egerton Ryerson has been falsely accused of trying to erase Indigenous culture” – National Post (Apr. 6^th, 2021).

Note: “Financial Post – Bias and Credibility” – Media Bias/Fact Check.

Note: “Now That We Know” by Lila Pine, in Indigenous Toronto: Stories That Carry This Place, eds. Denise Bolduc, Mnawaate Gordon-Corbiere, Rebeka Tabobondung, & Brian Wright-McLeod (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2021).

Note: Grasett Park, Canada Ireland Foundation

Note: Within The Folds (Dialogue 1), Thomas J Price personal web site.

Note: “The problem with Marc Quinn’s Black Lives Matter sculpture” – The Art Newspaper (July 16^th, 2020).

Note: Indigenous Placemaking, Facility Management and Development, Toronto Metropolitan University.

Note: Toronto Metropolitan University Land Acknowledgment, Two Row Architect.

The Vaccine Games II

Note: “Ontario will no longer give AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as 1st dose due to blood clot risk” – CBC (May 11^th, 2021).

Note: “Texas man sues Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop after his ‘vagina-scented’ candles explodes in flames” – National Post (May 19^th, 2021).

Note: “Ontario to Move to Step One of Roadmap to Reopen on June 11” – Government of Ontario News Release (June 7^th, 2021).

Note: “Ontario shortens wait between AstraZeneca doses from 12 to 8 weeks” – CBC (June 12^th, 2021).

Note: “Burn in the U.S.A.: Canadians who got the AstraZeneca vaccine can’t see ‘Springsteen on Broadway’” – Toronto Star (June 16^th, 2021).

Note: “Broadway changes its tune on AstraZeneca. Canadians who got that vaccine can now attend Springsteen show” – Toronto Star (June 19^th, 2021).

Note: “Vaccine committee says provinces should give AstraZeneca recipients a different vaccine for second dose” – CBC (June 17^th, 2021).

Note: “Italian man tries to dodge Covid vaccine wearing fake arm” – The Guardian (Dec. 3^rd, 2021).

Note: “COVID-19: ‘Toronto Vaccine Day’ clinic sets record of nearly 27,000 shots in a day, officials say” – Global News (June 27^th, 2021).

More Bullshit

Note: “When is ivermectin safe for humans and other questions about anti-parasitic drug not recommended for COVID-19” – CBC (Sep. 2^nd, 2021).

Note: “WHO advises that ivermectin only be used to treat COVID-19 within clinical trials” – WHO (March 31^st, 2021).

Note: “Large Ivermectin Study Retracted” – MedPage Today (July 20^th, 2021).

Note: “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020” – United States Census Bureau (Sep. 21^st, 2021).

Note: “Joe Rogan says he ‘feels great’ after using ‘all kinds of meds’ to treat COVID-19” – Washington Examiner (Sep. 1^st, 2021).

Note: “Justice Centre suing Ontario government over vaccine passport” – The Post Millennial (Oct 19^th, 2021). Media Bias/Fact Check rates The Post Millennial as right biased with mixed factual reporting and medium credibility.

Note: “Ontario’s vaccine passport system begins and this is what you need to know” – CTV News (Sep. 19^th, 2021).

Note: “Barack Obama just said something *very* interesting about UFOs” – CNN (May 19^th, 2021).

Note: “US intelligence community releases long-awaited UFO report” – CNN (June 25^th, 2021).

Note: “Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” – Office of the Director of National Intelligence (June 25^th, 2021).

Note: “Defense officials announce new UFO task force” – New York Post (Nov. 23^rd, 2021).

Note: The Men Who Stare At Goats, by Jon Ronson (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004). This novel was inspired by the non-fiction book, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies, by Jim Schnabel (New York: Dell, 1997).

Canada’s Federal Election

Note: “Proclamation Issuing Election Writs: SI/2021-61” – Canada Gazette (Aug. 16^th, 2021).

Note: “How Russia’s attack on Freeland got traction in Canada” – MacLean‘s (March 14^th, 2017).

Note: “‘No doubt’ Canada now in 4th wave of COVID-19 as cases spike across much of the country” – CBC (Aug. 11^th, 2021).

Note: “Justin Trudeau and the Politics of Spectacle” – Current Affairs (Nov. 6^th, 2017). Luke Savage develops the concerns of this article more fully in his book, The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History (New York: OR Books, 2022).

Note: “Reconciliation: The False Promise of Trudeau’s Sunny Ways” – The Walrus (March 24^th, 2022).

Note: “Liberals to buy Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5B to ensure expansion is built” – CBC (May 29^th, 2018).

Note: “Car ‘splatometer’ tests reveal huge decline in number of insects” – The Guardian (Feb. 12^th, 2020).

Note: “Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts” – PNAS (Jan. 11^th, 2021).

Note: “The Insect Apocalypse That Never Was” – Quillette (July 25^th, 2021). Note that Media Bias/Fact Check lists Quillette as right biased with low credibility, relying on pseudoscience, poor sourcing, and failed fact checks.

Note: “The sad decline of the Green Party” – Toronto Star (Oct 12^th, 2022).

Note: “Homicide in Canada, 2021” – Statistics Canada

Note: “Homicides, by census metropolitan area, 2020 and 2021” – Statistics Canada

Note: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – The film, The Big Short, attributes this aphorism to Mark Twain. However, Quote Investigator finds no instance of this in his or anyone else’s writings. It remains anonymous.

Note: “Map of the Canadian federal election 2021, with the 338 ridings represented by the colour of the winning party.” – Wikipedia

Note: “The Real Reason Cities Lean Democratic” – Bloomberg (Nov. 15^th, 2012).

Note: “Trudeau hit by gravel as protesters surround campaign bus in London, Ont.” – CBC (Sep. 6^th, 2021).

On Edge About Anxiety

Note: Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan (New York: Vintage, 1997).

Note: “Rudy Giuliani Whines About Fox News Ban to Steve Bannon: ‘It’s Outrageous’” – Rolling Stone (Sep. 24^th, 2021).

Note: “Man arrested after police detonate package with ‘loud bang’ on Bloor Street” – CBC (Sep. 28^th, 2021).

COP26 In Glasgow

Note: “Delivering the Glasgow Climate Pact” – The National Archives (archived April 1^st, 2023).

Note: COP26 Outcomes – The National Archives (archived April 1^st, 2023).

Note: “Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)” – IPCC

Note: “US auctions off oil and gas drilling leases in Gulf of Mexico after climate talks” – The Guardian (Nov. 17^th, 2021).

Victoria

Note: “Atmospheric River” – Wikipedia

Note: “Provincial state of emergency declared” – British Columbia News Release (Nov. 17^th, 2021).

Note: “Florida man kicked off flight after trying to wear women’s underwear as a face mask” – CTV News (Dec. 19^th, 2021).

Note: “Ottawa restricting travel from seven African countries amid fears of COVID-19’s Omicron variant” – Toronto Star (Nov. 26^th, 2021).

Note: “Canada’s first cases of the omicron coronavirus variant confirmed in Ottawa” – CBC (Nov. 28^th, 2021).

Boosted!

Note: The Last Man, by Mary Shelley, public domain, available for download from Project Gutenberg.

Note: “Ontario Accelerating Booster Eligibility to Adults Aged 50+” – Government of Ontario News Release (Dec. 2^nd, 2021).

Note: “Ontario opens up booster shots for 18 and up starting Monday, announces new capacity limits” – CBC (Dec. 15^th, 2021).

Note: “Ontario cuts indoor gathering limits, restaurant hours as Omicron drives new COVID-19 infections” – Toronto Star (Dec. 17^th, 2021).

Note: “Toronto’s Porter Airlines plans new restart date of Sept. 8” – Global News (July 5^th, 2021).

Note: Don’t Look Up (2021), written and directed by Adam McKay, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Himesh Patel, Melanie Lynskey, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep.

Note: “Ontario’s COVID-19 testing and isolation rules have changed: Here’s what you need to know” – CBC (Dec. 30^th, 2021).

How Will We Remember?

Note: Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World, by Laura Spinney (London: Vintage, 2017).

Note: “Communicative and Cultural Memory“, by Jan Assmann, in Cultural Memories: The Geographical Point of View (Knowledge and Space, vol. 4), eds. Peter Meusburger, Michael Heffernan, Edgar Wunder, 2011.

Note: The Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2020).