David Waltner-Toews
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doft.bsky.social
David Waltner-Toews
@doft.bsky.social

Founding Pres, Vets without Borders-Canada; Veterinary epidemiologist. Writer >20 books poetry fiction nonfiction On Pandemics,The Origin of Feces. Officer, Order of Canada.
https://davidwaltnertoews.wordpress.com/

David Waltner-Toews is a Canadian epidemiologist, essayist, poet, fiction writer, veterinarian, and a specialist in the epidemiology of food and waterborne diseases, zoonoses and ecosystem health. He is best known for his work on animal and human infectious diseases in relation to complexity. He lives in Kitchener, Ontario. .. more

Public Health 25%
Agriculture 17%
Pinned
Spirit Bear scanning River in Great Bear Rainforest. Photo by my friend & colleague Barry Stemshorn. Presented to me at my OC investiture by Barry & my other friend, Enid Stiles.

But doesn’t apply to pink, orange, tanned, or sunburned people.

Now I need to read Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards, GG winner for fiction. She grew up just across the river from me (we were in North Kildonan, the settler part of North Winnipeg). That’s in my new novel, The Incompleat Communist.

Congratulations to Claire Cameron for GG award for nonfiction. How to Survive a Bear Attack is a brilliant book…not just about bears and people.

Should have been on “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” on CBC. We could tell him it’s a show about trimming wasteful time from every hour.

I’m cheering from Canada.

Not controversial at all. Anyone who understands communication would know this.

lol. should have tried metaphyicists, get right into the details

Not sure Cuomo understands 2025 New Yorker Culture in

In Canada, we’re all vaguely left or middle.

My mother said we wren’t poor. We just didn’t have much money. I was happy to grow up in that ambiguous middle. Had to work extra jobs to pay for uni. But could go to uni. Had fun.

Reuters on the hurricane: "The timing could not be worse for the communist-run Caribbean island. “ This annoys me. For no other country do they say Republican-run or Libertarian-run or corporate-run or Fascist-run…

No baseball crisis here in Toronto🙃

a novel novel, without being self-conscious, inspiring, heart-breaking, funny, slipping in the muck and blood between the writer and their mobile van, their writing and their subjects, rare snails, the delirium of war, carnage and the hopes of crazily decent mail-order brides & grooms, weddings,

@edoloughlin.bsky.social what do you think of Connolly? Some good possible?

I think probably Doritos aren't good for you, but this seems a bit of overkill. Maybe part of RFK's public health program?
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for gun
Baltimore county high schools have gun detection system that alerts police if it sees what it deems suspicious
www.theguardian.com

There is a crack in everything/ that’s how the light gets in

Eyebrow Lake, Saskatchewan

The poet, startled awake
in his tent, scrambles
from the musty pile
of socks & two-day underwear.
Sand Hill Cranes lift,
wing on wing, soft, coughing purrs
against the night.
The poet sits, stunned,
amid the litter of his daily rhyme,
terrified by sudden fleeting joy.

We have a mole in our back yard.

A reminder to all scientists & data viz people 🧪:

It's Spooky Science Time.

Adjust your models to use the paranormal distribution 👻from now until November 1st.

one category of show prep material for TRMS staff is something we've always called "subway reading".

it's something that's not exactly current events or new reporting... but nevertheless relevant food for thought given the news we're in.

today's subway reading:

www.bbc.com/future/artic...
The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.
www.bbc.com

“They are going to ask me, What is God’s name? What am I supposed to say to them? God said the Moses, I am who I am.” Which can also be translated as “I will be who I will be.” Exodus 3: 13-14 (CEB Study Bible).

Adam von Earth. As are we all.

Adamah - the soil , as in humus

When I asked the Japanese translator of my book The Origin of Feces how he handled the humour, the puns and cultural references (eg Turds of Endearment) he was nonplussed. There were puns, jokes & cultural references ?

Adaptation in Bangladesh — duck://player/uErV9XBRb34

Now I need to find out who Zusha is.