From an owner thereof.

From the CBC

P.E.I. Health Minister Carolyn Bertram said safety isn’t being compromised at the emergency department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

From the Guardian

The Island’s largest referral hospital has launched a full investigation after a woman was forced to experience a miscarriage in the hospital’s packed emergency department waiting room.

More from the Guardian, “…waited more than three hours, blood seeping out of her jeans, not knowing whether she may be losing her first baby or whether something more serious was happening”

Perhaps Minister Betram would reconsider her words and how safety might be viewed by the family that just lost their child.

Practice reopening

**UPDATE**
The practice is reopening today (Monday) at 1pm.
Apologies to any patients for any disruption.
__________________________
The practice staff have received a telephone call from a known offender which could be construed as posing a threat of serious violence involving the use of a firearm.
As a result the medical practice is currently locked down. Police officers are in attendance at this time.
Patients are advised not to attend the practice which will remain closed at least until Monday afternoon.
We will update this site with more details as they become available.

Come play on our Island.  The Gentle Island.

Perhaps as Sandy visits with one of his previous lives he will be told that it is really bad manners to spam your old ITAP contacts with advertising E-mail.  Bad Karma!

Sounds like great credentials for a Deputy Minister Position or at least a senior role with the Liquor Commission.

Firstly, I would be supportive of graduated displacement licensing (as many European counties have) for new license applicants. This would not be for (only) young operators but would extend to anyone getting a license for the first time. They would be required to start their motorcycle road experience on a small displacement motorcycle for a specific period of time. Perhaps 250 CC and under for a period of one year with the ability to move up in displacement each year of accident free operation. While I loathe the thought of more regulation in an activity I am passionate about, I don’t think someone with a brand new license should be able to purchase a vehicle that can easily exceed 250 KPH.

I find it interesting that it is not the SQUIDs riding their sport bikes in shorts and flip flops that worry me the most. I think they are stupid but there is no law against stupidity. The ones that are the most dangerous are the 40+ riders that just got their license and are wobbling down the road on their cruisers. …and wobbling it is. Traveling in groups of cruisers from hell, they wander over the double line, often come close to hitting the bike in front or beside them, drag their feet like outriggers as they approach a stop and generally are very insecure and unstable on their machines. This type of rider is, to me, the most dangerous.

The question is would mandatory training help this group? The training program that is available is very good. I know many who have taken the training and have come away as better riders. Most of us, including me, would benefit from instruction and correction. However, training on a 125 CC bike will only carry all of the benefit if the new rider is riding a similar size bike on the road. That is seldom the case. A training program will never teach the basic skills needed to stay alive on a motorcycle. Only time, experience and having the crap scared out of you a dozen times will teach that. Learning to view every single car as being there to try to kill you takes time – usually after a few try to kill you, learning brake, release, avoid, brake without thinking will only come in time and with experience. All of the little things that experienced riders do without thinking take time and kilometres in the saddle. They cannot be taught.  Even then, the most experienced riders are capable of lapses of judgement and concentration. 

Thus, after typing this I am inclined to agree with Highway Safety. Encourage the training by all means – just don’t mandate it. As to graduated displacement limitations – I would be supportive.

If the public is funding this convention centre project to the tune of $17.5 million, what exactly is the public getting out of it especially in relation to other things government might have spent the money on and also in relation to what the public lands might better have been used for?

Along with some other interesting thoughts.

Artist’s conception of convention centre on Charlottetown waterfront

From the CBC

Willow Garage, a California company, has invented PR2, a robot that can recognize your face and fetch your specific beer brand from a fridge.

Source