The Pros and Cons of AI Companions: An Exploration of the Hidden Value and Drawbacks

 Artificial intelligence (AI) girlfriend applications are becoming increasingly popular around the world, with more than 144,000 monthly searches for the term, highlights Tools for Humans. As the technology has evolved and progressed, AI-powered companions are now available in various forms, from a chatbot to a realistic online personality that can be customized

SalvageData Canada: Your Digital Guardian Angel in the Face of Data Loss

 In today's digital age, our lives revolve around data. From irreplaceable family photos to critical business documents, our dependence on this information is undeniable. However, data loss can occur unexpectedly, leaving us feeling panicked and helpless. Whether it's accidental deletion, hardware failure, or a malicious attack, data loss can be

Advanced Directives for Assisted-Dying a Dangerous Step

 The moment we are born, our lives take flight; and the longer we are airborne, the greater the chance of encountering turbulence along the way. While every flight is destined to land, some landings are harder to contemplate than others. The parliamentary committee tasked with advising the federal government on

Albertans Must Get Inventive in Healthcare as Price of Oil Slides Further

 As world oil prices and the Canadian dollar slide perilously, Albertans must become more inventive and rigorous in managing our costs – and our expectations – especially in high-cost areas like infrastructure, education and health care. Health care is the biggest challenge. We cannot turn off the population’s health care

It’s Time to End Canada’s Opioid Epidemic – An Open Letter to Canada’s New Minister of Health

 Dear Minister Philpott, Congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Health. As an experienced physician, you bring valuable perspective to the post. While there are many contentious matters before you, including a new health accord, physician-assisted dying and marijuana legalization, few could be more pressing than the prescription opioid epidemic,

NHL Developments: A Quick Recap of Pre-Season News

 Photo courtesy of Falling Heavens. As you know, the 2015-16 season gets under way on October 7th, which is just two months away. There has been a lot developing in pre-season, including some controversy for the league as a whole. The NHL is placed under legal scrutiny Concussion and head

How to Make the Social Determinants of Health Matter

 An Interview with Sir Michael Marmot Recently, I was fortunate to attend the Global Symposium on the Role of Physicians and National Medical Associations in Addressing Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health held in London, England. The meeting was organized by the Canadian, British and World Medical Associations

Wage Equality: Lessons from the public sector

 By Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union As a general rule, women get paid less than men do. It doesn’t matter how you measure it. If you go by the average annual pay of all women in Ontario, women make 69 cents for every dollar

Women, Wages & The Workplace

 The year is 2015. Do women still make less money than men? Generally, yes, although the discrepancies are no longer the huge yawning gaps of the 1960s. A recent paper by Richard Shillington of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has analyzed public sector v. private sector wages. Shillington found

Why Canadian Employers Waste $5 Billion a Year on Inefficient Drug Coverage

 There is certainly a lot of waste in health systems, but one area that seems to have escaped close scrutiny is the waste in private drug plans in Canada.  Estimated at over $5 billion a year, this represents over half of the annual prescription drug bill paid by private insurers

An Era of Restraint in Health Care Spending in Canada

 The question is whether the current decline represents a permanent bending of the health care cost curve or a temporary pause In the wake of new health expenditure data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), the evidence continues to mount that Canadian public health expenditure growth is moderating.

Not Malevolence but Massive Mind Numbing Incompetence by City Hall Civil Servants

 Kirkpatrick or the Council--One of Them or BOTH Have to Go Ottawa city Manager Kent Kirkpatrick is (over) paid at $330,000 per year. That he has no shame and has yet to submit his resignation in light of yet another complete debacle under his guidance as the top city civil

Taking the Private Out of Privacy

 “It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information,” Oscar Wilde, A Few Maxims for the Instruction of the Over-Educated By reading this blog post you have created a marketable product. If you use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flikr, Google+, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, Foursquare or even

To the Editor of Ottawa Life

 Re: Report Card on Wait Times in Canada Omits Important Developments (published on July 3, 2014) Doctors Don Dick and Linda Woodhouse quite rightly note the great work Alberta has been undertaking to improve the standardization, collection and utilization of access and other health system performance related data. However, I

New Website to Provide Neighbourhood Data to Ottawa Residents and Local Groups

 On September 12, the award-winning Ottawa Neighbourhood Study (ONS) will launch its new and interactive website and smartphone app. The ONS, the first of its kind in the world, is a comprehensive database that profiles Ottawa’s 108 neighbourhoods using more than 100 indicators to map the health and well-being of