Paulina (they/them)

@wheelimm

Immunology PhD and multidisciplinary artist. Queer, non-binary, multiply disabled person living in unceded Treaty 13 territory (Tkaronto).

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Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· 24d

So glad the feds showed some sense - they've listened to the 87K survey respondents on the Billy Bishop Airport expansion to not expand the airport, citing the overwhelmingly negative responses to the plan. Here's hoping they take the same tack with the use of AI.

July 24, 2026
“The Government of Canada is moving with speed and ambition to build the ports, rail, transit, and other infrastructure that will connect Canada and Canadians to the world.
In the Greater Toronto Area, this is part of an integrated strategy that includes the expansion of Toronto Pearson Airport, the construction of Canda's first high-speed rail network, and other major investments in our municipal and regional transit systems.
Billy Bishop Airport is a critical part of Canada's air transportation network located in the heart of Toronto's waterfront community. As we ensure its future as a vital transportation, economic, and tourism hub for Toronto, it is important that we do it with and for Canadians.
For instance, the airport recently opened a state-of-the-art customs pre-clearance facility, supported by a $30 million federal investment.
At this stage, I can confirm that our focus lies exclusively on the approved safety enhancements, which are currently taking place, and are required to maintain safe operations at the airport. They are expected to be completed in mid-2027. Toronto voices will shape any future plans for Billy Bishop Airport. Through this public consultation, we have listened to feedback on a range of issues, including transportation, economics, environmental protection, noise, housing, and quality of life.
We will always work collaboratively with our partners in studying the region's connectivity needs and protecting the interests of local residents. However, we will not pursue any plans that infringe on treasured public spaces like Little Norway Park or Hanlan's Point Beach, result in elevated noise, have significant environmental impacts, or hinder Toronto's ability to build much-needed housing.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Apr 10

What an adorable tiny demon child. Our terrier terror is also very cute, and she had a vet ER visit immediately prior to this photo, hence the intense gaze, as there is a hamburger patty with her name on it behind the camera. She's healing well, despite her sock Houdini tendencies.

A potcake with strong terrier and lab phenotype, stands on a grey duvet, wearing a purple collar. She has a patch shaved on her right foreleg, and is wearing a coban bandage on her right back paw. She's looking at the camera with intrigue, as there is a hamburger patty with her name on it, for being a good girl at the vet ER.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Jun 4

Do you access virtual healthcare for persisting symptoms after a COVID infection? Researchers (I'm a patient partner on the Steering Committee) from Long COVID Web are interested in hearing from you. Self-paced survey is available in 5 languages! Fill out by July 1. #LongCOVID bit.ly/longcovid2025

Four posters for the survey in French, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified) and Punjabi (Gurmukhi script)

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Apr 9

This sums up my mood for the last half decade or so as a trans, non-binary, multiply disabled, Ukrainian Canadian. Though wow has the тяжко жити, шкода вмерти rapidly intensified since the last provincial election.

Tumblr post by hooveringthemotherland, first in a series of three reads:
One of the biggest issues of moving to England as a person who is Ukrainian AND neurodivergent is not knowing how to answer the small talk question of "how are you", but today I was reminded that Ukrainian blessed me with the phrase that roughly translates as "living is hard but dying would be a pity" and can we please naturalise it so I can use it all day every day

Second post reads:Okay so this post breached containment I think so I feel the need to clarify, because the vibes in the notes seem to suggest that people see this as an inspirational quote bestowed onto someone to help them soldier on. That's not how Ukrainians do it. Rather, imagine a person that looks like they haven't slept in three days and also hiked up a mountain. They are asked "Hey how you doing buddy", and in response they let out the deepest, most done with this shit sigh you can imagine, mutter their favourite curse word and THEN they say the phrase (which, by the way, is four words in Ukrainian - тяжко жити, шкода вмерти/tyazhko zhyty, shkoda vmerty). It's said as if they're trying to convince themselves that dying would, indeed, he a pity. The other person looks at them, their eyes full of understanding, sigh also and then say "well at least we're not russians".

Third post starts with a photo of a mug with the phrase 《тяжко жити, шкода вмерти》 in pastel rainbow comic sans on a white mug with smiling flowers surrounding it.
The post then reads:
Okay so uh this double breached containment and I'm really really scared because this was my second post on Tumblr dot com out of the two I made in total and now it has like 650 notes so I hope it'll make you guys happy to see my flatmate's mug that has The Phrase on it.
Bonus: the other side that says "what did I do to deserve this".
The next photo is the back of the mug, with a frog with a very resigned face, riding a rocking horse with 《за шо мені це все》 written in tiny comic sans above the horse's head.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Mar 31

The US is still at "take normal precautions" wrt to travel advisories, even with the rampant disappearing of non-US citizens, I doubt most Canadians care about the Safe Third Party agreement, let alone are interested in allowing immigrants, despite how most of us got here in the first place. Sigh.

Screen shot from the Canadian government page for Travel advice and advisories for travel to the US. The title is a semicircular dial beside Risk level, with a line, and then a large green check on the left, and United States - Take normal security precautions in bold, followed by Take normal security precautions [as a hyperlink] in the United States.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Mar 17

Curing pancreatic cancer, which is lethal and none of the current therapies come anywhere close. This is glaringly obvious, in the first figure of the relevant paper they look at the recurrence free survival and overall survival between responders and non-responders and it is a huge difference.

Figure 1 from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08508-4, where 1a is the biomarker-evaluable cohort, where responders (top line, red) do not have median because that point was not reached for either recurrence free or overall survival, in contrast to non-responders who reached RFS at 13.4 months, and OS not reached. The bottom two graphs are from the safety-evaluable cohort, where RFS is 18.0 months, and median OS not reached. All four charts have a table of the number of people at risk at each year mark, with the biomarker-evaluable cohort having 8 people each per responder and non-responders, and the safety-evaulable cohort having 19.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Mar 5

Though I understand using Trump's Russified term "Fentanyl Czar" to a degree in news releases, like today's by Health Canada: www.canada.ca/en/health-ca..., as a Ukrainian Canadian, it rubs me the wrong way, because my ancestors immigrated to here to in search of democracy, not czars.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Dec 5

First snow last night. After three winters with Lou, we have finally found the compromise that works with her "must be barefoot at all times" sensibilities.

Lou, a potcake (predominantly terrier/Labrador retriever cross), who is light tan in colour, stands in fresh snow, looking right. For weather reasons (-1C, -7C with windchill), she is wearing a pyjama with a dark blue ground with white stars and multicolour planets and light blue cuffs, under a teal fleece coat, and teal fuzzy leg warmers, one of which has scrunched down on her right foreleg. She is also wearing a teal harness, to which an orange leash is clipped.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Nov 24

This was not part of my Sunday plans. I'm safe, but still no word about getting my powerchair out. 🙃

The glass door of a lift based on a forklift, with a black powerchair (Permobil M3 Corpus) stuck inside.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· May 10

Such a mood, I have to go out without this goblin (affectionate) in a few hours and it is a much harder decision than many would anticipate.

A potcake (primarily terrier and lab cross), wearing a plaid yellow and black hoodie, and a teal harness, stares into the camera with brown eyes, beseeching you for snugs or treats.

Paulina (they/them)@wheelimm· Apr 25

Also, the influenza data: