I’ve been thinking about my old students today as I read the news. I taught about the Israeli occupation in Palestine for a good 20 years, under the media bias and propaganda curriculum section of my course. I had been reading about genocidal types of activity since my professor told
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A Puff of Absurdity: Teaching with Covid in Class
Is there a better way to do school during an ongoing, quite possibly never-ending pandemic AND with climate crisis coming home to roost? Christina Virgil, on TikTok discussed the problem with schools making attendance their highest priority, and highlighted the sentiments of Jim the Hermit: “Thing is, education does matter, but
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Daycare Years
Many of our ideas of virus transmission haven’t changed in decades, for better and worse. Almost 30 years ago, I ran a daycare out of my home for a little over three years. I wanted to have more time with my kids while they were small, but I also financially needed to
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Questionable Wisdom of Institutions of Higher Learning
Trying to convince universities to allow remote learning in maskless in-person classes and maybe to allow mini-HEPAs on the desk during exams appears to be futile despite the current risk level. Higher learning, my eye! Why Universities Should Lead the Way Last July, two grad students from the University of
Continue readingmark a. rayner: Earth’s Gravity, But Not the Kind You Think
If you’re not already familiar with Earth, by David Brin, then in a weird way, I envy you. You have got some great science fiction… The post Earth’s Gravity, But Not the Kind You Think appeared first on mark a. rayner.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Improving Air Quality for Children Act
Our children are mandated to be in school. It should also be mandated that the building have clean air for children to breathe! Chandra Pasma, MPP for Ottawa-West and Nepean, David Fisman, UofT epidemiology professor, Joey Fox, engineer, and Heather Hanwell and Mary Jo Nabuurs from Ontario School Safety (OSS), introduced
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: If It Can’t Possibly be Both, then Either Give us Masks OR Accommodations
If masks are a choice, then shouldn’t being protected from a virus also be a choice?? The freedom to go maskless is butting up against the freedom from getting infected, in the worst way. AVOIDING INFECTION IN UNIVERSITIES Earlier this year, I raised some concerns with Covid as we removed mask
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Faulty Wiring
We’re hard-wired for immediate survival, so we need reminders to help us persevere longterm. Short-Term Wiring For decades I taught a course, the Challenge of Change in Society, which used the lens of social sciences to try to understand world issues and explore how we ended up with our current
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Helping Professions
Should mental health professionals be more concerned about the spread of a brain-invasive virus that affects mental health by doing a number on the brain?? Amanda Hu wrote “I feel like therapists and counselors as an entire profession (save a few individuals) not understanding how serious Covid is, thinking it’s
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Children Risk More Illnesses after Covid
What every pediatrician in the world needs to read – from tern: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a really bad thing, isn’t it? I wonder what the percentage is after the 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 12th infection? Here’s a really really interesting point in the study: Only
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Fraud Fest in Waterloo Region
Catherine Fife and Debbie Chapman speaking to protesters. It feels like we turned a dark corner in Ontario. In my hometown in particular. Doug Ford came to K-W to be greeted by tons of protesters including overt representation from ETFO, OSSTF, OECTA, CUPE, OBSCU, Liberals, Greens, and, of course, the
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Strike While the Fire’s Hot
Happy Labour Day! I’m sitting at a comfortable distance from Ontario school contract negotiations this time out, and I don’t know all the ins and outs of the various union positions, but even if I were in the building, I think I’d still lean towards turning down the arbitration option
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Success with CR Boxes and CO2 Monitors in Classrooms!
About a year and a half ago, I presented to the local school board about the benefits of masks to filter air before it hits our lungs and of using Corsi-Rosenthal boxes to clean the air in classrooms: They’re cheaper and much quieter than HEPAs, and we can make them
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Parental Rights
It’s not a thing. Well, legally it’s not. There are no “parental rights” section of the charter to defend. It’s a thing as in it’s a dogwhistle to see how many are on board with discrimination and preventing kids from growing up to be who they are, in a method
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Student Absences
I’ve been thinking about the concern with kids not going to school for reasons beyond the rampant illnesses caused by letting a highly-infectious virus run wild. The Fortune article suggests that schools are less welcoming now. “Everyone seemed less tolerant, more angry.” They mention a host of reasons for absences including
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: A Bit about Poetry
I’ve finally completely aged into poetry. I’m still not able to stomach country music, my friend’s marker of getting up in years, ready for a rocking chair and blanket on the front porch, but I was more metal than she was to begin with. But I used to hate poems unless
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Problem with Asymptomatic Cases
“The World Health Organization (WHO) weekly update on the global Covid-19 pandemic found that in the last four weeks, there was an 80% rise in infections.” This article, published yesterday, also points out that the numbers being tracked are likely quite a bit lower than reality – as much as 8
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Cleaning Air
When the air quality was particularly bad from the smoke from so many fires, my son decided it would be a great time to fry up some burgers on the stove top. I don’t have a BBQ because I mainly don’t eat meat, so we fry burgers. But he heated
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Bill 98: Better Schools and Student Outcomes?
Bill 98 got Royal Assent a couple months ago, on June 8. At the time ETFO commented, “The level of authority that Bill 98 grants the government, with regard to the new provincial priorities framework, is unprecedented and could all but eliminate the ability of school boards to respond to the specific
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