Sarcasm boosts creativity in the workplace

Sarcasm boosts creativity at the office (like that’s gonna happen) - thestar.com

While both anger and sarcasm improved an observer’s attention to
detail, focus and speed in solving simple analytic problems, being
exposed to anger limited their ability to deal with more complex
problems that involved mental creativity, the team found. Sarcasm on the
other hand boosted their creative juices.

“When they were exposed to anger, it created ‘prevention motivation,’
or the motivation to avoid unpleasant situations or pain,”
Miron-Spektor told the Star. “It demonstrated that if you are
exposed to your boss yelling at your colleague, you will try to avoid
similar situations by working harder.”

Prevention motivation forces the brain to narrow the scope of its
attention, focusing only on relevant information and exclude unrelated
and distracting issues, according to the paper.

Because of its humorous tone, sarcasm elicits less fear in listeners
while stimulating the brain by forcing it to decipher the literal
meaning of what the speaker is saying along with the underlying
hostility of the message.

“I would like to stress that (the positive creative result) is
compared to anger. It is not that sarcasm is a good thing, period. It is
good compared to anger, but too much sarcasm and can be problematic,”
Miron-Spektor told the Star.

Measles and Mumps rear their ugly heads in Ontario

Doctors warn that measles, mumps going around - Healthzone.ca
I'm guessing that this is at least in part thanks to the ignorance spread by the anti-vaxxers.
If you aren't already immune, please get your shots to help protect yourself, your friends and family, and the public in general.

Excerpt:
If in doubt of your immunization status, get another needle, King advised. A blood test will also tell you if you’re protected.

“There is never any harm in receiving another dose of measles, mumps
and rubella vaccine if you simply do not know,” King said. Extra doses
are generally not considered harmful, she said.

Later this year the province is rolling out an integrated infectious
disease and immunization registry, called Panorama, which will compile
existing data and create a vaccination database accessible by health
professionals and, one day, the public. The project is expected to take
years, and eventually link to other provincial systems.

King called Panorama, related to the broader eHealth program, a
“really important advancement” in public health and emergency
preparedness.

To be fully vaccinated requires two doses of the measles, mumps and
rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is publicly funded and delivered for free
to Ontario residents. The province provides 14 vaccines against 17
illnesses. Those born before 1970 probably became immune to those
illnesses by exposure.

Measles is highly contagious, spread by contact, coughing and
sneezing. Symptoms of measles include rash, high fever and watery eyes.

Mumps, a viral infection of the salivary glands, is rare. Symptoms of
the mumps include swelling and pain in the side of the jaw, fever,
headache, fatigue, and loss of appetite.

To find more information on publicly available vaccines, visit the health ministry’s fact sheet online.