By now probably everyone has heard the same standard information on preventing the spread of COVID-19/Coronavirus/"The Lastest Big Fear", but in keeping with the trend of repeating information, here is what Health Canada is saying:
"Canadians should continue to think ahead about the actions that they can take to stay healthy and prevent the spread of any illness, especially respiratory infections.
Now and always during cold and flu season, stay home if you are sick. Encourage those you know a...
Yet another update on my surgery for those who are interested.
As many of you know, I had emergency surgery in April 2019, and the treatment that I agreed to involved two surgeries to take place six months apart. The first took place in April, with the second scheduled for September or October. Then there was a mix-up, my surgeon was replaced with a different one at the last minute who didn't know what I had consented to, and he was unaware of the six month deadline.
I have had a few people inquire about my status, so I thought I should give a few more updates on my condition and progress.
First off, you shouldn't read too much into my lack of a New Year's wish this year - my computer was down again that week and by the time it was restored it was a bit late. Sorry about that :)
Now on to the medical stuff...
I had my imaging done two weeks ago at the hospital, and it was good news. They didn't find anymore perforations, and everything has healed as it was s... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Wednesday, December 25, 2019,
In :
Holidays
Dear Family, Friends, and Followers,
Another year has passed, and we are back at the holiday season again. And as some of you already are aware, this has been a particularly interesting year for me.
The big news for me this year was all medical related. Back in April I had a sudden medical issue - I won't go into details but it was an issue that was supposed to be dealt with twenty years ago, and that my father knew about at the time, but chose to hide it from me for purely selfish reasons. S... Continue reading ...
In the last week, several people have contacted me to let me know that my mobile website has gone down. I have been investigating this failure, but so far no cause and no solution. I have contacted the company that hosts this website (I have a separate host for my other websites) but so far they haven't been able to identify the cause either.
I am not sure if the problems are connected, but at about the same time my cell phone suffered a cyber attack, my dedicated rendering server has become p... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Sunday, October 13, 2019,
In :
Holidays
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends and family. Today is a day when we should all remember and by thankful that we live in one of the greatest countries in the world, in one of the best eras in history. And that is even more true for those who are fortunate enough to be in good health, with good lives and careers, and surrounded by their loved ones this year (or at least with their families :) ).
There truly is much for all of us to be thankful for this year - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
This is an article that I originally wrote during the 2015 Federal election in Canada, but I think that it is just as applicable today in 2019.
I am really tired of this election. Not because of the politicians and the attack ads and the infestation of signs and the deluge of phone calls and the constant negativity in the news, but because it is causing non-stop fighting on social media. For the past two months I have had some family and friends constantly forwarding attack ads from the left...
Once again, let me thank everyone for their continued kindness and support. I appreciate every message of encouragement, even if I don't always respond to them all.
I am still waiting for my surgery, but I did finally get to talk with the surgeon a couple of weeks ago. I still don't know why the surgery date got mixed up, but I have been assured that it is still going to happen in the coming months. Originally it was supposed to be in September, but it looks like they won't have an opening unt... Continue reading ...
So, I haven't written any updates in a while and some people are starting to wonder if I am still alive.
I assure you that I am. I am still alive and still doing well. And I am still waiting.
As I wrote in my last set of updates, I have to had a second surgery to finish up the work of the first surgery that I suffered in April. The surgeons had assured me that it would be sometime between July and September inclusive, but I still don't have a firm date.
I have had a few people inquiring about my health and recovery lately, so I thought I would post a general update for everyone.
Right now, I am basically completely recovered from my surgery in April. I have been living my normal life, eating normally, and doing everything I was doing before the surgery. I am doing great.
However the nature of my original surgery means that I need to have a second one at the three to six month mark. We knew that before the first surgery, and it was planned all... Continue reading ...
A reminder to everyone that today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, when we should all take time to check on the elderly members of our families and our communities.
As many of you know, this is an issue that is important to me because of members of my own family who were not only abused, but who could not get assistance from any form of government authority or healthcare program because elder abuse is still not taken seriously. Many victims are too scared and too embarrassed to report it. ... Continue reading ...
Today's article is going to be very different from my usual writing, in that it does not contain scientific or mathematics news, but rather news of a more personal nature. Ordinarily I would keep my private life private, but enough of my loyal readers have been asking about my recent absence that I feel it is worth giving a few updates.
For those who have not heard, on April 13th I was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. I had been having abdominal pains for a few days before, but early ... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Tuesday, January 1, 2019,
In :
Holidays
May you all have a happy and healthy 2019, full of enjoyment and prosperity. And may we all still be together again when the year ends and 2020 begins.
Posted by on Tuesday, December 25, 2018,
In :
Holidays
It's Christmas Day!
Another year has passed, and it has been an especially productive year for me. I do apologize in advance if this sounds like boasting, but this has been my best year in a long time and I am just so happy that the dark times are starting to be over now.
As I reported last year, I have been building up my visualization and rendering business over the past twelve months in addition to my work as a physicist and research scientist. Early in the year I was kept busy developing s... Continue reading ...
A couple of my friends from the physics and mathematics community have launched a new online science series, and have asked me to promote it through my website. It is called The Edge Of Reality, and will be using professional scientists and mathematicians to present some very modern and exotic scientific theories to a general audience. The goal is to make modern physics and mathematics exciting and understandable, and perhaps even inspire a new generation of researchers to begin their own car... Continue reading ...
A reminder to those who live in British Columbia (and elsewhere in Canada) that today is the municipal elections, so try to get out and vote. And even more important, please take the time to learn a little about each candidate so that you know who you are voting for!
As one lovely lady in the line up was saying, if you don't vote you don't get to complain. This is the one chance in four years to have a real say in how our communities are operated, and every resident should take advantage of t... Continue reading ...
Let me start by saying that this is going to be a very odd entry. The reason is, this article is about people I knew in the past and various incidents that happened, and my recent thoughts on the same. However I do not feel that it is appropriate to name people that I used to know or discuss incidents that were meant to be private. Therefore I will be being quite cryptic in my writing this time (some would say that this is no different from most of my articles :) ). Those who this article is ... Continue reading ...
Some loyal readers will recognize this entry as a repeat from the last three years. Each year it gets a good response, and kudos from my readers, and so as before I must appease my loyal followers...
To all the students starting University, enjoy this time of your life. Long ago when I started, a prof told me that this is the start of your real education. Now you get to choose your own courses and your own field of study. It is entirely up to you to decide what to do with this chance.
I am feeling a bit unsettled tonight, and I would like to share the reasons with everyone. Although I am going to try my best not to speculate in this article, it is still going to come off sounding more than a little paranoid. I apologize in advance for that, but certain recent events need to be shared.
What prompted this was a strange pair of event today. I was driving off to run errands this afternoon, and as I was in my driveway one of the other residents on the street came over to chat f... Continue reading ...
Today's article will be a departure from my usual varied fare, and is a copy of an article that I recently wrote for a futurist website that I also contribute to. This is more of an editorial than my usual writings, and some users may wish to skip over it.
This has been a bad week for Facebook. By now I suspect most people are aware of the latest scandal, in which the user data of tens of millions of users was harvested by a British company that then used the information to influence voters in... Continue reading ...
With the news this week that the Canadian government has officially altered the lyrics of the national anthem, this clip from fifteen years ago seems very appropriate again...
Posted by on Monday, January 1, 2018,
In :
Holidays
May you all have a happy and healthy 2018, full of enjoyment and prosperity. And may we all still be together again when the year ends and 2019 begins.
Posted by on Monday, December 25, 2017,
In :
Holidays
Dear Friends & Family,
Here we are once more at the holiday season, looking back on a very wild year (both for me personally and for the world at large). The yard is lit, the tree is up and decorated, and the gifts are bought and wrapped. It is Christmas Eve and the house smells of all the traditional Christmas baking. It is time to relax and enjoy some time off.
For me this has been a year of obstacles, all of which have been overcome. It started with a month long snowstorm - which for most pe... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Monday, October 9, 2017,
In :
Holidays
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends and family. Today is a day when we should all remember and by thankful that we live in one of the greatest countries in the world, in one of the best eras in history. And that is even more true for those who are fortunate enough to be in good health, with good lives and careers, and surrounded by their loved ones this year (or at least with their families :) ).
There truly is much for all of us to be thankful for this year - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Some loyal readers will recognize this entry as a repeat from the last three years. Each year it gets a good response, and kudos from my readers, and so as before I must appease my loyal followers...
To all the students starting University, enjoy this time of your life. Long ago when I started, a prof told me that this is the start of your real education. Now you get to choose your own courses and your own field of study. It is entirely up to you to decide what to do with this chance.
In the local newspaper today there was an article by a prominent local lawyer detailing his experiences in sitting with a client and friend of his who was in hospital dying. In this article he described the kindness and compassion of the emergency room staff who he dealt with, and how caring they were for both the dying patient and for him as a witness to the final moments of his friend's life. He paints a very rosy picture of hospital staff.
Posted by on Saturday, July 1, 2017,
In :
Holidays
Happy 150th Anniversary Canada!
In 1867 a group of visionaries got together and united a diverse collection of British colonies into a single country. The new nation was connected by a single railway, and little else. It was a country of Irish immigrants on the east coast, an entire province of French immigrants and cities that feel more European than anything one would expect in North America, prairie provinces with entire communities of Scottish, Ukrainian, and Romanian settlers who kept the... Continue reading ...
I didn't think I would be writing again so soon, but unfortunately this has been a bad month for deaths.
As I was writing the previous article about the tenth anniversary of my father's death, and making preparations to attend the funeral of my father's oldest friend later this week, I received the sad news that my favourite uncle and one of the nicest and most supportive people I have known passed away early this morning (April 22). He was always there for his family and friends, and he was a... Continue reading ...
It seems that lately all of my articles are on anniversaries of bad things happening, and I am afraid that today's entry is not going to change that. In truth though my life is not nearly as depressing as the last few entries suggest, and I actually have some exciting new projects and events planned for the coming months that I cannot wait to share with all of you! But back to the topic of today's article...
I know I comment often on the failings of the local hospital system (or some would rightly say complain), but I do find it therapeutic to rant sometimes. And I always have the hope that someone in a similar situation will read my story, learn from my mistakes, and not suffer the same proverbial slings and arrows as I did. For the rest of you, feel free to skip this article.
Eighteen years ago today my father was sent home from the hospital, with promises from the hospital staff that we coul... Continue reading ...
In my ongoing efforts to move my websites to a more secure host, I have now setup a couple of separate websites to host my family history work and my work in computer graphics & renderings. It will take a while to get everything setup, but the new addresses are http://family.drchrisbird.net and http://artwork.drchrisbird.net Continue reading ...
It is true, I am capable of reading a
calendar and I am aware that Christmas and New Year's Day were over a
week ago. I could bluff and argue that since my grandmother was
Ukrainian I am celebrating the orthodox Christmas instead, but the
real answer is far more boring.
For reasons that I still haven't been
able to ascertain, the company that hosts my blog on this site and
one of my other websites suddenly closed down their blogging program
on Christmas Eve. Because of the holidays I haven't... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Monday, January 2, 2017,
In :
Holidays
Its that time of year again – time to
overeat, overdecorate, and generally overindulge in everything. The
year is over, and it is time to relax and prepare for the new year.
This year has not been a great one for
many people worldwide, and while I have had no major problems this
year it hasn't been filled with great leaps forward either. But it
has been a generally enjoyable year, and one filled with minor
accomplishments.
As always I have been taking
interesting courses online through the y... Continue reading ...
I am cursed with a first world problem - my name. Because my name is so common - at one point there were 5000 people on Facebook who share my name - I am frequently getting confused with other people. For that reason, I sometimes like to post a few quick notes on who I am and who I am not - and given the number of emails I have received lately I thought it was time to do another one. So here goes...
Posted by on Sunday, October 9, 2016,
In :
Holidays
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends and family. We live in one of the greatest countries in the world, in one of the best eras in history. Even more so for those who are surrounded by their loved ones this year, or at least their families.
There truly is much for all of us to be thankful for this year!
Posted by on Monday, September 12, 2016,
In :
Family
For those who have been wanting updated information on the family history, I have finally gotten around to building a new dedicated family history website and posting it online.
Some of you may remember that in the early 2000s I posted a large family tree to the Rootsweb site. It was very popular, and that ended up being its downfall. While being a fulltime graduate student, and a fulltime employee of the university, and a fulltime caregiver for my disabled parents, I was also getting bombarde... Continue reading ...
Some loyal readers will recognize this entry as a repeat from the last three years. Each year it gets a good response, and kudos from my readers, and so as before I must appease my loyal followers...
To all the students starting University, enjoy this time of your life. Long ago when I started, a prof told me that this is the start of your real education. Now you get to choose your own courses and your own field of study. It is entirely up to you to decide what to do with this chance.
A day to celebrate the greatest country in the world, where citizens are able to enjoy so many freedoms and comforts - especially this year when the country is under new management! We often take our country for granted, but on this one day of the year we really should take a moment to appreciate how truly wonderful this land of ours is!
With news today that the Canadian government is going to change the lyrics of the national anthem, this clip from fifteen years ago seemed very appropriate...
I was slightly disturbed this week, after someone I know mentioned that there was some slanderous material online about my mother. And even more disturbing, based on some of the information contained in those posting it is clear who the author was, and what there true reasons were for this abuse.
Personally I am used to abusive material on the internet. Because I have a certain level of success and notoriety due to my physics research, books and assorted projects, I am understandably a target... Continue reading ...
Today is National Caregiver's Day in Canada, a day to celebrate and acknowledge the hard work of countless people across the country and the world who sacrifice their time, money, and sometimes even their families and careers to look after the elderly and the disabled.
As many of you already know, this is an issue that I feel quite strongly about and have been very vocal about. When I was 21 years old my father had a stroke, and between nine years of looking after him and then several more ye... Continue reading ...
With the beginning of the New Year comes the beginning of many other challenges and opportunities, and I will be sharing these throughout the year as plans become finalized. However my first big change is the creation of a new website, and the start of the end of several old ones.
As some of my longtime followers know, I setup my first personal webpage twenty years ago when I was just a first year student at the University of Victoria. In keeping with the technology of the time, it was a rathe... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Friday, January 1, 2016,
In :
Holidays
May you all have a happy and healthy 2016, full of enjoyment and prosperity. And may we all still be together again when the year ends and 2017 begins.
Posted by on Thursday, December 24, 2015,
In :
Holidays
Merry Christmas Everyone!!
This has been such a busy year that I cannot believe we are already back at Christmas Day. Time seems to fly by faster than I can keep track of it lately!
I am still keeping busy with my variety of projects, and as always feeling driven to be doing even more! Never one to miss an opportunity for further education, I spent most of the Spring months taking some online courses in graduate level robotics and artificial intelligence, and in the summer I continued my studie... Continue reading ...
Posted by Chris Bird on Tuesday, December 1, 2015,
In :
Security
In a trend that is becoming far too common lately, I have been the victim of another security breach due to an online service provider.
Sometime yesterday, an e-mail account that I had retired about five years ago became reactivated by someone telling the company that they were me and had forgotten the password as well as the answers to the security questions. In such cases, e-mail providers are supposed to refuse to re-activate the account.
Posted by on Wednesday, November 11, 2015,
In :
Holidays
As Remembrance day arrives again, and people around the world (or at least the Commonwealth) take time to remember the sacrifices of so many young men and women in too many wars, peacekeeping missions, and 'police actions', it is also a good time for individuals to look back on their own family members and extended family members who served. Whether they were killed, injured, or simply gave years of their lives for the common good, it is worth remembering what they did for all of us.
Posted by on Monday, October 12, 2015,
In :
Holidays
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends and family. We live in one of the greatest countries in the world, in one of the best eras in history. There truly is much for all of us to be thankful for this year! Continue reading ...
A very good message to all of the Canadian voters. Whichever party you support, get out and vote and have your voice heard!
One of the best explanations for the importance of voting that I've ever heard. And I would have given kudos to Harper or Mulcair had they said it too.
I am really tired of this election. Not because of the politicians and the attack ads and the infestation of signs and the deluge of phone calls and the constant negativity in the news, but because it is causing non-stop fighting on social media. For the past two months I have had some family and friends constantly forwarding attack ads from left, and then others counter with attack ads from the right. Then someone will send a biased quiz so someone else starts a hate filled meme. And if you ...
I don't normally post links to news items, but this article just needed to be commented on. It is about a mother who was a fulltime caregiver for her autistic son, and how she begged and pleaded with every branch of the government for some support or help of any form and was denied.
As someone who has been through a similar experience, being a fulltime unpaid caregiver for two or three mentally ill patients for seventeen years now, I can really empathize with her. I had hospital staff orderi... Continue reading ...
Some loyal readers will recognize this entry as a repeat from the last three years. Each year it gets a good response, and kudos from my readers, and so as before I must appease my loyal followers...
To all the students starting University, enjoy this time of your life. Long ago when I started, a prof told me that this is the start of your real education. Now you get to choose your own courses and your own field of study. It is entirely up to you to decide what to do with this chance.
With the arrival of September, students around the world will be returning to classes this week. And for those who are starting out at college or university, one of the most important considerations is how to live on a budget. These are the years when one has little or no income, but must bear the expenses of living independently for the first time. While giving advice on living on a budget is far too expansive to cover in this blog, I can tackle one small aspect of student life by providing ... Continue reading ...
Apparently over the last few days there have been some connection problems with my dictionary website, The Grandiloquent Dictionary. I suspect it is a problem with the webhost and unrelated to the site itself, however there have been a growing number of issues related to the fact that this website was written seventeen years ago. Obviously since then the internet has evolved and changed, it is past time to rewrite it.
As such I have decided to build a mirror site using more modern HTML standar... Continue reading ...
According to my calendar, this last June marked twenty years since my peers and I graduated from Esquimalt Secondary School. As yet I haven't heard that anyone is going to be organizing anything to celebrate this auspicious (and in some cases suspicious occasion) and so I thought that I might.
If any of my former classmates are interested, let me know through my Contact page, via direct e-mail if you have my address (dr.chris.birdATgmx.com), or by Facebook. I am quite happy to organize some f... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Wednesday, July 1, 2015,
In :
Holidays
Happy Canada Day!!
A day to celebrate the greatest country in the world, where citizens are able to enjoy so many freedoms and comforts. We often take our country for granted, but on this one day of the year we remember and respect how wonderful this land of ours truly is!
Happy Father's Day to all of the great fathers and grandfathers out there who are so important to a child's life (or even an adult's life). Continue reading ...
In the past month I have had a couple of old classmates tell me they couldn't find my Facebook page amidst the thousands of people who share my name. Unfortunately my name is very common, and with Facebook eliminating their refine search feature a while ago it is harder than ever to find my account among the background noise.
It is 2:00am and I am looking at a minimum of another five hours of work to remove a nasty computer virus. That will teach me to be fully awake before hitting OK on a software update notification, and to carefully check its authenticity first. I need coffee...
There is also a very small chance that it could send e-mails out from my account. I am confident that I caught it in time, and I am certain that my address book was not compromised (it is on another system entirely) but just in case one ... Continue reading ...
A quick reminder for my fellow Esquimalt High School alumni that there is a centenary celebration and reunion on Friday and Saturday this week (or May 15 & May 16 for those who use calendars). It is a celebration of the school's 100th anniversary this year, and former students are welcome to attend. More information on the event and ticket purchases can be found here. Continue reading ...
Probably most of you already know of what happened in Nepal recently, but for those who have been in a cave, there has been a devastating earthquake that has destroyed villages and killed many. I have many friends who have visited this beautiful country over the years, and I have always dreamed of making the trek myself someday. It is a tragedy that they have been hit like this.
Today marks National Caregiver's Day, when we recognize the hard work of the over six million people who are forced to balance their fulltime employment or education with the constant demands of looking after someone who is disabled in some way. I know from painful personal experience how difficult and damaging it can be, and I hope that this day will raise awareness of this under-appreciated role that many people are forced into.
In my own case, my father had a stroke during the final year of... Continue reading ...
Just a quick reminder this morning that this is also the start of the Ape-ril fundraising campaign, encouraging people to unleash their inner ape to raise money for orangutan rescue and habitat.
It is a fun way to raise money for a good cause, and I encourage all of you to join in. Save the Apes! Continue reading ...
Happy Easter to all of my friends and family, both immediate and extended. It is a great time to enjoy the coming of Spring (or maybe that only happens in sunny Victoria) and to revel in the joy of sugar-fueled children hunting for treats!
Posted by on Monday, March 23, 2015,
In :
Security
Apparently some security software has been warning people that my webpage has been reported for phishing. For those of you not familiar with the term, phishing is a scam in which people are fooled into submitting personal information or private banking information to a fake website. Sometimes these websites claim to be a bank or credit card company, or sometimes they are fake businesses.
However, as frequent visitors to my website are aware there is nothing here that requests information. Ever... Continue reading ...
Posted by on Saturday, March 21, 2015,
In :
Security
I must say that I am sorry to have to write this article, because it involves the darkest of personalities and people who are too cowardly to confront their foes. These are the sort of people that some in the psychiatry field refer to as "evil". And unfortunately, I seem to be their target.
As such I feel that an explanation is in order, to give those who are interested in truth the testimony they need to make their own judgements of other things that have been said or written in the past.
Posted by on Sunday, January 18, 2015,
In :
Family
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the death of my grandmother. I never got the chance to know her - I wouldn't be born for more than a decade yet - but everyone I know who knew her spoke well of her. I wish I had gotten the chance to meet her and get to know her.
Posted by on Thursday, January 1, 2015,
In :
Holidays
May you all have a happy and healthy 2015, full of enjoyment and prosperity. And may we all still be together again when the year ends and 2016 begins.
As 2014 comes to an end, my new blog is beginning.
I have already outlined my reasons for starting a new blog in the last post of my old blog, so I won't rehash it here.
I will say though that this blog is the start of a new life and a new year for me, and I look forward to sharing many interesting and exciting new adventures with all of you in the years to come.
I am a theoretical physicist and mathematician, as well as an unpaid caregiver. In the past I have also been a computer programmer, roboticist, author, web designer, and countless other titles too numerous to list.
I am a theoretical physicist and mathematician, as well as an unpaid caregiver. In the past I have also been a computer programmer, roboticist, author, web designer, and countless other titles too numerous to list.