Pushed to the brink by mounting debt, compassion fatigue and social media attacks from angry pet owners, veterinarians are committing suicide at rates higher than the general population, often killing themselves with drugs meant for their patients.
On a brisk fall evening in Elizabeth City, N.C., Robin Stamey sat in her bed and prepared to take her own life.
To her side lay a stack of goodbye letters Stamey had written to her loved ones, including her parents who lived hundreds of miles away. Gripping a catheter loaded with a deadly dose of Beuthanasia-D and Telazol, euthanizing agents the 46-year-old veterinarian had brought home from her nearby practice, she exhaled slowly and began to bid the world goodbye. But as she turned to look at Gracie, her apricot toy poodle, Stamey started to sob.
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Veterinarian Robin Stamey and Gracie, her toy poodle. “The only person I couldn’t explain my suicide to was my dog,” Stamey says. Recent findings reveal the suicide rate among veterinarians is higher than the national average. They also suggest that women in the field are more likely to take their own lives. (Charlotte Kesl for The Washington Post)
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Maybe it’s the Viking heritage. There is an icy open-air pool in the waters of Copenhagen’s harbour, and although it is mid-winter Danes still jump in every day. On the front cover of the city’s health plan, a lean older man is pictured climbing out, dripping, his mouth open in a shout that could be horror or pleasure. “Enjoy life, Copenhageners,” urges the caption.
It’s not every Copenhagener who wants to take strenuous exercise in cold water either for fun or to get fit. But the packed bike lanes of the Danish capital, even at this sometimes subzero time of year, are testimony to the success of a city that is aspiring to be one of the healthiest in the world. Copenhagen consistently sits at the very top of the UN’s happiness index and is one of the star performers in the Healthy Cities initiative of the World Health Organisation, which, almost unknown and unsung, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The initiative was the idea of a group of individuals inspired by the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, which was about elevating the status of primary care and public health in a world where everybody equated healthcare with hospital treatment after you got ill.
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Nyhavn is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants.
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“Some mode of displacing an unfit magistrate is rendered indispensable by the fallibility of those who choose, as well as the corruptibility of the man chosen.” — George Mason, Constitutional Convention, June 1787
“We’re going to go in there. We’re going to impeach the motherf—er.” — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jan. 3
The contrast between these two statements reveals everything about the challenge of exercising Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution and attempting to remove President Trump from office. By now, the “unfit” condition of this magistrate is clear, as is his disdain for the principles and traditions of American public life. But the fitness of Congress, the sole branch empowered to impeach and convict the president, also bears scrutiny.
Is the least-trusted institution in America — rated lower than big banks, the news media and the presidency itself — ready to investigate and try a president in a way that conveys legitimacy and inspires broad confidence? And could the American public, already so divided and cynical, regard whatever outcome emerges from that process as nonpartisan and fair?
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What it would take
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President Donald Trump lashed out at the media again Sunday night.
Only this time, Trump directed his unhappiness at Fox News, singling out a pair of reporters from his seemingly favorite news outlet for their coverage of the border wall and recent partial government shutdown, assessing that John Roberts and Gillian Turner have “less understanding” than “fake news” reporters from other media organizations.
“Never thought I’d say this but I think @johnrobertsFox and @GillianHTurner @FoxNews have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC!” Trump tweeted.
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Traditionally, Americans could look forward to a comfortable retirement.After four decades in an office or a factory, sometime in their 60s they would lay down their burdens and enjoy a final couple of decades with time to relax, spend time with family and friends, and reflect on their life. But since the financial crisis, older Americans have been increasingly staying in the workplace
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Remember when you were a kid and you used to say, “Mom, I’m booored,” and she’d tell you to go entertain yourself? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you weren’t as whiny as me. Or maybe you were born sometime in the last two decades(ish), and had a childhood that perpetually involved a screen. But there was a time before the iPhone (and after the Industrial Revolution, which, really, gave birth to leisure time) when we humans desperately tried to avoid the dark embrace of boredom. Having nothing to do meant spending time alone with your own thoughts. Which: Ew.
Then? Phones got smart, and so did we, with easy access to more information and entertainment than we’d ever had before. Now, every moment you spend being bored—while riding an elevator, or waiting at the doctor’s office, or biding time until your date returns from the restroom—is a moment you don’t spend reading a book, skimming the news, or catching up on social media. Basically, being bored in 2018 is a slap in the face of technology. Never again will we have nothing to do. This is a good thing… right?
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Believe it or not, sometimes not doing anything at all is the most productive thing you can do.
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With the too-frequently conflicting pressures of career and home eating up most hours of the day for working parents, having a job while raising a family can feel like a long, lonely endeavor carried out at a continuously frantic pace—especially in the United States, which consistently ranks lowest among OECD countries in terms of work-life balance for families. The stress can be isolating, whether you’re doing it all on your own or are part of a two-career household.
But parents doing the daily juggling act are hardly alone. In 2017, 33.6 million US families included children under age 18, and in 90.2% of these households, at least one parent was employed. That’s more than 30 million families with kids with at least one working parent. And in nearly half (46%) of US households, both parents work full-time.
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Natasha Dzhola for Quartz
It all hangs in the balance.
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On October 19, 2017, astronomers at the University of Hawaii spotted a strange object travelling through our solar system, which they later described as “a red and extremely elongated asteroid.” It was the first interstellar object to be detected within our solar system; the scientists named it ‘Oumuamua, the Hawaiian word for a scout or messenger. The following October, Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, co-wrote a paper (with a Harvard postdoctoral fellow, Shmuel Bialy) that examined ‘Oumuamua’s “peculiar acceleration” and suggested that the object “may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth’s vicinity by an alien civilization.” Loeb has long been interested in the search for extraterrestrial life, and he recently made further headlines by suggesting that we might communicate with the civilization that sent the probe. “If these beings are peaceful, we could learn a lot from them,” he told Der Spiegel.
I recently spoke by phone with Loeb, who was frustrated that scientists saw ‘Oumuamua too late in its journey to photograph the object. “My motivation for writing the paper is to alert the community to pay a lot more attention to the next visitor,” he told me. During our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed why Loeb thinks we need to consider the possibility that ‘Oumuamua was sent by aliens, the dangers of unscientific speculation, and what belief in an advanced extraterrestrial civilization has in common with faith in God.
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Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s astronomy department, believes that the peculiar nature of the interstellar object called ‘Oumuamua raises questions about its possible origins.
Courtesy ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser
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According to the Mayo Clinic, Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease that destroys brain cells, called neurons. It was first described in 1906 by a German doctor named Alois Alzheimer.
Alzheimer’s, an illness that mostly affects older people, continues to gain ground. The Alzheimer Society of Canada reports that over 700,000 Canadians are afflicted with the disease. This number is expected to double to 1.4 million by 2031.
While a cure for this form of dementia has not yet been found, being aware of certain early signs is important. Several treatments, developed to mitigate these symptoms, are more likely to work if the disease is diagnosed early.
If you are worried about your health, don’t wait to make an appointment with your doctor.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Veterinarian Robin Stamey and Gracie, her toy poodle. “The only person I couldn’t explain my suicide to was my dog,” Stamey says. Recent findings reveal the suicide rate among veterinarians is higher than the national average. They also suggest that women in the field are more likely to take their own lives. (Charlotte Kesl for The Washington Post)
Nyhavn is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants.
What it would take
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Believe it or not, sometimes not doing anything at all is the most productive thing you can do.
Fascism
![Deskundigen beweren dat de ziekte van Alzheimer binnen enkele decennia epidemische vormen zal aannemen. Volgens de Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie (WHO) hebben wereldwijd 46 miljoen mensen dementie en naar verwachting zullen dat er in 2050 130 miljoen zijn.]({"default":{"load":"default","w":"80","h":"52","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBMIjb8.img?h=516&w=799&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=818&y=409"},"size3column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"40","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBMIjb8.img?h=403&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=818&y=409"},"size2column":{"load":"default","w":"62","h":"40","src":"//img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBMIjb8.img?h=403&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=818&y=409"}})
James' World 2 