28Feb
2025
Raywat   /    academia, blog, COVID-19, epidemiology   /    0 comment

Resist the Randomized Controlled Trials Fetish

The article below has been published in the Canadian Medical Education Journal (CMEJ). But it’s not written in very technical language, so I thought I’d amplify its reach by reproducing it here, as well.  I think it’s pretty important and timely, given the amount of noise in public discourse about the sacrosanct nature of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and how much that noise impacts public perception of public health policies.

If you want to cite his article, though, please use the CMEJ citation:

Deonandan R. Resist the Randomized Controlled Trials fetish: different questions require different pyramids of evidence. Can. Med. Ed. J [Internet]. 2025 Feb. 24 [cited 2025 Feb. 28];16(1):126-7.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.80355

(more…)

18Feb
2025
Raywat   /    art, blog   /    0 comment

The Art of Alison Friend

I recently stumbled upon a series of Facebook pages on which were posted the most delightful images of anthropomorphic animal portraits by an artist named Alison Friend.

I don’t know Ms Friend, and I have not (yet) purchased one of her prints. But I’m sharing many of the images downloaded from those Facebook pages I mentioned.

Of course, I don’t own the rights to any of these images. If you like them, I encourage you to purchase a print from the artist herself, who can be found at AlisonFriend.com. (more…)

15Feb
2025
Raywat   /    blog, nonsense   /    0 comment

My Wordle Strategy

Today’s topic is something literally no one cares about.  Not so long ago, many people –myself included– would share their Wordle scores on social media, and derive something resembling social capital and boasting rights from a quick completion.

But no one cares anymore. Personally, I’ve moved on to “Connections” as my preferred morning mental challenge. But I still do the Wordle as a reflexive bit of warm-up labour. And I no longer care whether I get it in 2, 3, 4, or 5 guesses. I just want to get it done and move on to another game.

I’ve developed a strategy that almost always results in a correct result in exactly four guesses. And I’m going to share that strategy with you today. (more…)

05Feb
2025
Raywat   /    blog   /    0 comment

2025

About 35 years ago, give or take, I was in between degrees and needed money. So I took a year long position as a bilingual receptionist at an office of the government of Ontario in Toronto. I think it was the Ontario Training and Adjustment Board, which no longer exists. I really enjoyed that job, as it afforded me a lot of free time to write and think, while just answering the phone and greeting random bureaucrats. (more…)

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