For the Americans who need to prep for their thanksgiving dinners with their weird conservative relatives: youtu.be/pJx1Gdv8p3s?...

Remember the "Back to School Act" passed by the UCP that used the not-withstanding clause to trump teacher's rights to collectively bargain? It forced the contract that 89% of the teachers voted AGAINST down their throats for the next 4 YEARS! And they can't strike or bargain for 5 YEARS. Well...

I think the Epstein files are getting to my head. While teaching Neurobiology, explaining BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factors) production, I had a Freudian slip, said “BDSM” instead. I caught, corrected myself and felt my face turn beet red.

Crochet dump: I think I’ll be keeping this as a running thread. Here are the projects completed in the last two month’s for my partner’s four children:

Axonal pathfinding of zebrafish retinal ganglion cells forms the optic nerve. Credit to Dr. Matthew Bostock @houartlab.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Cross posting this wonderful essay across platform: www.facebook.com/share/p/1BTW... It verbalizes perfectly how Conservatives normalized threats and yet consider criticism harassment. The double standard is unbelievable.

Weird, why are Edmonton workers getting less than Calgary? Especially those increases?

Partisans lie significantly more to benefit their in-group than out-group members! Partisans also consistently overestimate out-group dishonesty more than in-group dishonesty, regardless of actual differences in behavior. www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/why-people...

I’m proud of our students for organizing this on our campus!

One of my favourite indie political comedians (brown, accented and 4’11”) made the right decision to return to her beautiful home in India from her awesome stint in NY…I’m hoping she’ll be on one of the US political comedy shows in the future Here she tells us why: youtu.be/LPXVwkLqjwE

We are racing to find antibiotics with AI, but what if we're ignoring the obvious? 🤔 This paper proves basic science is still here. No AI, Just one gene deletion revealed an intermediate 10-100x more potent against MRSA than the final drug. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... @challis-group.bsky.social

Halloween was weird, there was definitely a bunch of proselytizing this year, with a lot of reading material about the Bible and Jesus in the kids’ bags. It’s from the Maple MAGA in our neighborhood (Albertan separatists).

I’ve always been a fan of CBC’s “About That” with Andrew Chang :). But you know that your province is a bit messed up when you make it onto the show. youtu.be/Das8tEOapQI?...

I guess my autistic media interest has finally moved local. I am upset with the use of the notwithstanding clause to force a rejected contract onto the Alberta Teachers. It prevents them from negotiating until the end of the contract (which they voted against), which means any union could be forced

Today’s news story from @kimsiever.bsky.social Strike vote starts tomorrow for 16,000 nursing workers These workers saw a real wage cut of nearly 25% in their last two contracts, and their last contract expired over a year and a half ago. albertaworker.ca/news/strike-...

When Al Jazeera has to fact check American media, you know your nation is in decline, especially when checking a report that mistook “Armenia” for “America” on a chart. What a way to confirm that Americans have low literacy levels. #NotAllAmericanJournalists

Danielle Smith is using the notwithstanding clause to protect herself while crushing individuals' Charter rights. That’s not freedom, that’s cowardice. And Albertans won’t stand for it.

“This isn’t a left-right issue. It’s a constitutional one. The UCP chose to use time allocation & the notwithstanding clause on Bill 2 not because it had no other legal path, but because it wanted to set a precedent: when opposition & rights are inconvenient, it will override them.” #abpoli

This is unacceptable. It’s basically trampling the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Did you know that the “offer” is the SAME POS offer given to EVERY SINGLE public service collective bargaining until AB? Nurses, U of A academic and non-academic staff, etc…? youtu.be/548PJKHK78Q?...

Assembly proceedings are live-streamed. You can watch today's here www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xNv...

Attention on social media depends far more on how you express yourself (49% of variance) than on who you are (10%)! Expressing emotions is more influential than gender, education, family background or personality traits, according to an analysis of 2.1 million posts. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Science-of-the-Gaps Fallacy: When a phrase akin to “science doesn’t have all of the answers” is used to justify unsupported claims. It’s often used to promote pseudoscience and alternative approaches to health that are clearly and scientifically baseless. www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/writ...

I am pro-choice, ESPECIALLY for bodily decisions made BEFORE conception. I’m tired of arguing with trolls who only view women as baby incubators. And worrying about the birth rate? It’s evolutionary process for species to go extinct if they create the environment leading to their own destruction.

Jesus Christ, this exact same POS offer was proposed to EVERY public institution (health, education, etc…) in Alberta at their collective bargaining negotiations with this year… I’m pretty sure that’s pretty indicative of the UCP’s secret mandate….

My student ended up interviewing the mayoral candidate of my preference! youtu.be/aKAIksADAvU It’s a tight race between my choice, and the UCP’s choice.

Timeline cleanse “ish”. When fashion meets reporting.

The superiority complex of some Christian Nationalists will never cease to amaze me. I have a former student (awesome, empathetic guy, but from super small town Saskatchewan) who literally said “the Christians/Catholic church brought morality” to America.

We have Handmaid costumes for sale as well. Come join us!

China accuses US of 'double standards' over tariff threat

Ummmmm. The US started the trade war first…and messed with their own soy farmers. They also accuse China of stealing tech, and yet, the US can’t process their OWN rare earth materials? I’m wondering what makes the US think that they’re entitled to the resources of other countries?

This is a better source. LOL. If people don’t think the USA has an authoritarian ruler, they’re pretty blind to the state of the country. I worry a little. The Maple MAGA cult is growing

Guess who is getting a Qatar military base in one of their towns! Idaho! www.instagram.com/reel/DPosg_J...

You know, a lot of Americans accuse China of stealing tech. But then why can't Americans make their own rare earths processing equipment?

Not sure what to make of this: www.instagram.com/reel/DPgdv9i... Replacing a CEO (who was also the co-founder of the company) because she was a brown woman with a white man. just to to attract capital, rubs me the wrong way. I wonder if @profgalloway.com has any insights?

WTF? My first year Undergraduate students are more qualified to run HHS than this guy.

These people. I have nothing else to say.

This is far from the first fib of this nature that Smith has cooked up. You may recall this incident that Duncan covered back in 2024, in which she twisted the story of an attack on a nurse in Edmonton to justify a crackdown on unhoused people—

Shocker: "Smith spreads false jobs facts to defend UCP's eight year minimum wage freeze" 🙄 tparkin.substack.com/p/smith-spre...

My quote of the day Jane Goodall

This is exactly how the UCP has become a cult. If you take any intro to Psychology course, you’ll notice how the symptoms of groupthink has lead to extreme polarization, and suppression of oppositional voices, in order to maintain a group delusion.

I also took issue with Ezra’s article on the Charlie Kirk assassination and Ta-Nehisi Coates sums up why on this great episode. It was safe and logical to me. But…if you’re looking to be triggered, I would recommend Ezra’s interview with Ben Shapiro.

I just listened to this episode by @davidfrum.bsky.social And I found it informative and exceptional. Even the book analysis of Wuthering Heights at the end. But my favourite part was comparing Charlie Kirk, not to MLK, but to Malcolm X (but for white supremacy). youtu.be/TY23mow1RNk?...

This is a good take on how the future of US-China relations will look, based on how young Chinese people do not have the same inferiority complex as their predecessors. They went from being enthralled with the west to being disillusioned. I wonder why? www.instagram.com/reel/DORSrKl...

LOL. “What is the best model for a product? Made in China, Italian design, French Marketing and American consumption.” This brand marketer says China should learn from France over the USA. www.instagram.com/reel/DPJyKuo...

Today was my son’s birthday party. I finally met my son’s friends for the first time. And of course, they’re all on the spectrum. It’s strange to see my son promptly fall in the middle and the most “neurotypical” boy (lowest on the spectrum) is the social glue who is the centre of the group.

I have approximately zero following on this app, sharing in the hopes it can get in front of the right person. A man I went to college with’s wife was kidnapped by ICE at a green card hearing, and he’s trying to find a reporter who will speak to him about the situation

Today Dr Trevor Hamilton from MacEwan University will be presenting 'Hooked and anxious: Using Zebrafish to study drug addiction-induced withdrawl and heritability of anxiety-like traits' as part of our #PsychSeminarSeries Friday Sep 26th 3-4 pm MST BS P226. Join us!

Here's the link to the official Government of Canada website: recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-rec... I'm glad that Canada is not as stupid as our MAGA neighbors.

It’s been contentious, but one thing it do love about Chinese censorship is the inability for fake news and fake science to go through. That was the whole goal, because while people can be indignant of the truth, the USA has created a whole populace that are indignant about lies.