I swear!
I swear I haven’t forgotten about this blog. My daily life is impeding my ability to blog 
I’ve probably said before, but I’m quite busy. I did want to briefly share something vaguely intellectual.
B and I made it up to Ottawa for the first time a week and a half ago (sightseeing, not so good, it was rainy and Parliament was closed to the public, but we did see this: 350 protest in Ottawa). I was going up for this: 1st Annual Global Health Research Learning Forum. I’ve been to conferences before (and I’ll be in Toronto for CBIE next week for work) but this was actually the first conference that I’ve been to specifically for my educational pursuits. Aside from learning about new assessment tools and ongoing research projects, it was so refreshing and so inspiring to be around people who were passionate about similar issues! Once I get through the backlog of work/class assignments, I can’t wait to get started on my protocol, research and thesis! God, I’m such a keener…
Use the force, Chippy!
Taking a little break out of reading like a mad woman for my MA. I had a very interesting seminar about epistemology on Monday. I won’t get too philosophical about it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between ‘truths’ and ‘facts’. Its fascinating how we can use words so interchangeably but there are subtle and important differences in meaning. Sometimes I love semantics.
But, thats not what I wanted to share today. I have a huge addiction to cute animal pictures (I check CuteOverload.com religiously) and this gallery was just too cute not to pass along! May the force be with you, Chippy! It begs the question… how on earth did they get the chipmunk to sit still and wear an action figure?
No excuses
I will post more often… I will post more often… I will post more often… Let me keep repeating that mantra and see how well this goes
I do have a bit of exciting news though! I’ve said before that I work at the University I graduated from, well… I will be doing my Master’s degree part time while working. It will be a Master of Arts in Applied Health Sciences. I have my first class tomorrow! Its a thesis based program and I have some vague ideas for a thesis but who really knows how many incarnations I will have before I defend!
On another note, looks like we will be having an election up here this fall. Joy.
Filed under Life, School | Comment (0)Getting to the point
When I first got the idea in my head that I wanted to have a blog, it was because I wanted a forum to babble about issues that interest me. My academic background, as you can see from my profile, is Health. Community Health to be precise. In my undergrad studies I took courses in Health Promotion, History of Medicine/Disease and Development of Healthy Communities. On Monday I turned in the capstone project to the last course of a Certificate in Field Epidemiology (excellent program if you are so inclined: look here). So from now on I am going to try to blog once every day or two about some issue or news article that I am passionate about. Please be forewarned, I have lots of interests, I believe that health is more than simply biological and hereditary and that social, political and environmental issues (a.k.a. social determinants of health) have an important place in the discussion surrounding health (and improving it!).
That all being said… today I read an article about a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. This study looked at the results of other studies (side note: this type of study is called a meta analysis) over the past 50 years which examined the difference in nutritional content between organic and commercially produced foods. Well, the results suggest there is no significant difference! Does this mean that we are wasting money buying organic? Well, perhaps not. This study does not address the issue of pesticides, whose effects on human health in the long term are not fully understood.
If you are concerned about pesticides, and want to get the most “bang for your buck” with organic fruits and veggies, the Environmental Working Group has a list of the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15″. Have a look.
Oh and… don’t use tanning beds.
Filed under Health Issues, School | Comment (0)
