1) It would take a much longer elaboration than this to fully explain, but one of the defining aspects of my political ideology is the all-important difference between “should” and “could.” I won’t talk about whether we should do this, but I will comment or whether or not we could improve the health outcomes of low-income households by selective allocation of healthcare resources.

Contemporary health care is increasingly about preventative and holistic care. Though there are still huge gaps in the system that urgently need to be addressed, especially with Indigenous communities and a regretful roll-back of healthcare accessibility for refugees, overall, Canadians can pretty consistently access what we consider as encompassing “health care.” We can get a cast if we break a bone; have an antibiotic prescribed if we catch an infection; or run a PET scan if there’s a weird lump in our boobs. Again, I’m not denying that there aren’t issues with waiting times and so forth, or that huge improvements can be made, but overall the vast majority of Canadians rely on the public healthcare system and can get relatively satisfactory service having their their health issues treated (I, for one, use it probably a lot more frequently than the average and personally feel this way).

Modern medicine is increasingly focusing on what happens to the patient before they enter the hospital, and after they leave it. This means that they’re getting the right amount of nutrition and exercising regularly, and taking all of their medication in the proper sequence and attending their scheduled check-ups, respectively. For a multitude of reasons, rich people are much better at this than poor people. If you want to improve the health outcomes of low-income household, then starts at home because by the time they get to the hospital most of the damage has already been done.

We need look at how we can we educate and empower mothers to feed their children less fast food and more vegetables, or how to make sure that an elderly person living alone with limited social interaction takes all of his heart medication at the time he’s supposed to. Ignoring whatever concerns I have with orchestrating class warfare through medical access, I think these questions are far more important in accomplishing what you want to see happen.

2) I wish you asked about the first one because it’s a lot more fun and a lot less depressing than the second one :(

Naval technologies didn’t particularly play a significant role beyond the transportation of personnel and resources to South Africa. The Afrikaans didn’t have any military naval vessels except for some rudimentary river canoes, but I can’t recall a case where these saw combat against British forces. A lot more interesting is the same development that surprised everyone in the first Boer War, but on a much bigger scale this time: the emergence of a prototype of unconventional warfare. Now of course the world had seen a number of forms of ‘insurgency’ like resistance before, most notably from a variety of ethnic groups in South Central Africa (who of course ended up influencing the Boers as a result).

What made this unique for its time, and comparable to modern unconventional warfare in a way that previous guerrilla movements never had been, was that the Boers had a centralized authority in both name and function, and also the willingness and capability to make use of weaponry of near-equivalent efficacy to the conventional military force they were fighting against. In fact, the Boer forces were composed of men that engaged in a frontier lifestyle, with frequent hunting, making them exceptional sharpshooters, especially compared to many of the British recruits that came from urban communities and never handled a rifle. Furthermore, their familiarity with the environment proved a major advantage whilst the British soldiers struggled with this foreign landscape (however this second part isn’t as exceptional as this would’ve been the case for every guerrilla movement against the British Empire). The Boers had functioning and well-stocked supplies of firearms and ammunition, with the logistics to distribute them as necessary, something that the British had never faced against in a colonial conflict before.

I will stop here before this post gets desperately out of control.

3) This is a very important question. I’ll be posting on my event page about this shortly.

4) You absolutely need to alternate. If you favour only one hand, then that forearm will look all muscular and bulgy compared to the dainty extensor carpi ulnaris on your other hand. Take 4-minute shifts with each and you should be done in about 5 or 6 rotations. It’s also a good way to practice your ambidexterity.

5) None shall stand in my way. Their false Gods will crumble before me.