I just noticed that a lot of comments aren’t displaying. I still have them in the back end, but maybe WordPress 5 has hit a snag.
I have not deleted any comments and will see later about getting them back.
Updates from December, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
We already have some traffic notes for the weekend.
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Kate
The Journal is literally rubbing its hands together at a trivial piece of news giving it the hope of getting a baseball team in Montreal again.
Josh
Sportsnet doing the same, in a piece written by a former Gazette Expos beat writer: https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/rays-stadium-situation-warrants-intrigue-montreal-hopefuls/
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Kate
The STM does not use the word “suicide” when announcing an interruption in metro service nor do the subway systems in Paris or New York, but Toronto’s official Twitter does use it. Question is whether talking about it helps or hurts – nobody really knows.
Frankie
I knew someone who survived an attempt. She mistimed the jump and she was thrown back on the platform after hitting it sideways. She broke most of the bones on the side of her body where she hit the train.
We do need to talk about suicide beyond the annual Let`s Talk campaign. The numbers of successful attempts, never mind the unsuccessful ones that don`t get into the statistics, attest to that. Post PSAs on the platforms if it will help people, with numbers to contact for help. It doesn`t have to be graphic, because when one is suicidal, graphic and nasty probably won`t help, but someone reaching out with kindness might make the difference, even if it just on a poster in the Metro.
I think that is the goal, right? Preventing suicide, not just making sure the Metro runs on time? Why do we need to know when a jumper has stopped the metro? If I am standing on a platform and there is an announcement that the Metro is not running because someone is bleeding to death on the tracks, I am not sure how helpful to me it would be to know this and I would find it very upsetting. And it didn`t prevent the suicide.
Kevin
There are notices from Suicide Action Montreal on the platform at Berri-UQAM, along with the number to call.
Michael Black
The worst thing you want is to attempt suicide and instead of being dead, you survive, but only by doing permanent damage. That just makes things worse.
It’s an awful space to be in. Wanting to be dead isn’t really the issue, the hurt behind it is. People can do damage to themselves without attempting suicide, simply by being hurt enough to not really care. And like the homeless, it’s not going to be fixed by blaming the person involved. The “waste” of somebody in that space isn’t to society, but to themselves.
Michael
Hamza
Those talked about anti-suicide walls should be a start, followed by social workers patrolling the platforms at the main transfer stations. Four to five workers wearing clearly marked uniforms and walking around at both peak and early/late hours would make a heck of a difference. Free phones linked to the usual hotlines would help but a real face ready to listen and intervene are what we should make happen… if we care enough.
EmilyG
At the risk of sounding over-sensitive, I think the mention of suicide might be upsetting to some commuters. Though not as upsetting as seeing it happen, or it happening to someone you know. I know I have nightmares about seeing people killing themselves by jumping in front of the metro, and I haven’t even seen it myself in real life.
And having had many mental health struggles myself, including thoughts of suicide at times, I know how difficult it can be to get much productive help for mental health issues.
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Kate
Sylvain Caron was sworn in Wednesday as new chief of the SPVM, the 40th man to hold the position. The Gazette focuses on Caron’s admission that he doesn’t speak English.
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Kate
An older patient diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2016 has never recovered even though the diagnosis was mistaken. Jeannot Mompoint was in his eighties and gave up exercising and other activities expecting his imminent death. He’d be fine now, although shaken up, except that at his age the sequence of events has dealt a blow to his physical condition. His family are suing the Jewish General.
Kate 12:40 on 2018-12-13 Permalink
This is a test.
Kate 02:30 on 2018-12-14 Permalink
The blog is screwed up. I am doing what I can to get the technical issues fixed.
dhomas 07:21 on 2018-12-14 Permalink
Not sure if this comment will come through. I get this error message when accessing the blog:
“Notice: get_currentuserinfo is deprecated since version 4.5.0! Use wp_get_current_user() instead. in /home/katemcdo/mtlcityweblog.com/wp-includes/functions.php on line 3896”
Some hints on how to fix it: “https://stackoverflow.com/questions/36595038/get-currentuserinfo-is-deprecated-since-version-4-5-use-wp-get-current-user-i”
Not sure if this is the source of the problems, but it’s a start.
Kate 07:49 on 2018-12-14 Permalink
dhomas: thanks. I won’t have time to work on that till the weekend.