A New York Times piece discusses, again, learning loss from the lockdowns of 2020, but a new study shows the lockdowns actually improved some skills. The Editorial Board of the NY Times wrote about the “Startling Evidence on Learning Loss” insisting that school closures “may prove to be the most
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Dead Wild Roses: University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Centre – #Me too Except if you are Jew.
The University of Alberta is my alma mater. What the actual fuck is going on at this institution? The University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Centre signed a letter that denies the rape and sexual violence against Israeli women on October 7th, 2023 – the day when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Frustrating Run-Around on Filtration Units in Schools
This is a long but very informative video about what happened when people tried to improve air quality in schools. This is a very loose collection of things said that resonated with me in this meeting between Robert Bean and Adam Muggleton of Edifice Complex Podcast and Amanda Hu, a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: How It Began
When it all started, I immediately started reading news from China and Italy, figuring that what was happening there could easily happen here, and we should be prepared. Esther Hopkins did the same thing. She wrote an excellent thread about it, which I’m saving here. She’s in the UK, where
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Consumption is Back in Vogue
Tuberculosis is making a comeback! (Mass-consumerism never left.) About 2 million people die worldwide from TB, but not here, right!?! Now there’s a case in the University of Victoria and an outbreak at Boston University of over 30 cases. The immune deficiency created by Covid’s attack on T cells is urging TB out of hibernation.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Rachel Hewitt – Young Women’s Experiences in Public Spaces
“Right, I’ve been doing some reading (and writing) about young women’s experiences in public space, and it’s made me so angry and upset that I have to share a digest with you all. Globally, during adolescence, ‘girls’ worlds shrink, while boys’ expand’. One study finds that the map of 14-yo
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The UCP AGM – A Common Sense Response to Gender Activism in Schools
“Alberta’s premier leads a party whose most active members almost unanimously want the province to refuse to house trans women in women’s prisons, and require schools to tell parents if their children want to secretly change their pronouns, as New Brunswick and Saskatchewan have controversially done. United Conservative Party members
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith Addresses the UCP/TBA AGM
I watched Danielle Smith’s speech to her supporters at the UCP AGM and all I could think of was Salvador Dali’s painting of the clocks. Time was melting, the landscape was warped. Going backwards Smith told the crowd that in the next Legislative session the Smith government will
Continue readingThe Maple Monarchists - Blog: Of What Use is Alternate History to a Monarchist?
Wishful Thinking or Useful Tool? Alternative History is a popular sub-genre of historical fiction that asked ‘what if‘ some key event had gone differently. This can be a lot of fun as you imagine history unfolding in new, and probably strange, directions. While the entertainment value of alternative history is well understood, does it
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Inaccessible Accessibility
Why is remote learning suddenly so difficult to access when we have all the tech we need to pull it off? When I was in grade 12, I started to just show up to classes I needed to go to. I had high 90s, so I just went for clarification when
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Destruction of a College Campus Through “Anti-Racism & Equity”
How did we get to where we are? This is an example of how it happens.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Grievance Studies Affair – Why it’s important.
“What do we hope will happen? Our recommendation begins by calling upon all major universities to begin a thorough review of these areas of study (gender studies, critical race theory, postcolonial theory, and other “theory”-based fields in the humanities and reaching into the social sciences, especially including sociology and anthropology),
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The West is in Trouble – Gad Saad and Bret Weinstein
Two views on the current state of the West. Both share a fairly grim tone. We need to as nations of the West turn things around. The classical liberal* principles that our societies were founded on need to be restored and refreshed in their primacy of how we exist as
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: SaskPower On The Future of Net Zero
Balance he says. pic.twitter.com/elGKwknjSg — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) October 17, 2023 SaskPower gave a lecture at the university about transmission and generation planning.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Reality missing from the Oppressor/Oppressed Narrative – Canadian Universities
Violence is violence. Calling terrorism ‘decolonizing’ does not change the terror event into a positive. Post colonial theory should not be the only lens that is used when viewing events in our world. From Jonah Davids on the Hub: “So why do Canadian universities find the murdering of innocent Israelis
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: A woman’s world
Some years ago I wrote a book based on the theme that women are better designed for the modern world than men. (Visit this page for a free copy.) Men were well-suited for the hunter-gatherer societies we evolved into, but then civilization appeared and we have come a long way
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Sameer Elsayed offers a primer on what people need to know about current COVID-19 risks. Mary Van Beusekom discusses the likelihood that long COVID is being underdiagnosed in children who may not have either the same symptoms as adults, or the vocabulary to
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Parental Rights Coalition of Canada – The September Declaration
These principles seem to be formed on the objective material we all share. They are a step in the right direction. Statement of Principles – The September Declaration This document is intended to be a minimal set of principles that are commonly agreed to by all individuals and organizations participating
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