Michael Kaufman

Insects are dying: here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them From turning out the lights to letting leaves rot, these small steps can create big changes at home or in the wild

Insects are dying: here are 25 easy and effective ways you can help protect them. Thanks to ‪@tessairini.bsky.social‬ and ‪@pgreenfielduk.bsky.social‬ for this useful article.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

#nature #environment #climatechange #eco #green @theguardian.com

The turning point that wasn't: the way the world talks about Israel's war has changed. Nothing else has | Nesrine Malik An air of complicity has prompted new rhetoric from UK and EU leaders. But it won’t redeem them – or change history’s course, says Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik

As a Jewish man I say we need world leaders to take action against Israel's murderous actions in Gaza and the West Bank. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Not much good news these days, but here is one:
Pakistan sends ‘important signal’ of hope in a gloomy world of pushbacks on women’s rights.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
hashtag#womensrights hashtag#Pakistan

Does everything feel broken but weirdly normal? There’s a word for that Large-scale systems are crumbling, yet daily life continues. The Soviet-era concept of hypernormalization can help when dysfunction is the status quo

We're living in a time of hypernormalization. We "see that governing systems & institutions are broken. [But we] carry on as normal despite systemic dysfunction" but with fear, dread, denial & dissociation.

Really interesting article by Adrienne Matei. www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-...

Talking about violence against women can make many men feel defensive. Yet as Jackson Katz points out and @kaufmanwrites.bsky.social articulated, it is closely connected to men's violence against other men and against ourselves - and we all gain from helping to end it: nowandmen.net/episode/ever...

Scientists use live human brain tissue to speed up hunt for dementia cure Exclusive: British team exposed live cells to toxic proteins to gather rare insight into how dementia develops

This is both very cool and one of those times when you say, "Why didn't anyone try this before?" #health #dementia #research #medicine www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Freedom to Write Index 2024 - PEN America The number of writers jailed reached a new high, with at least 375 behind bars in 40 countries during 2024, compared to 339 in 2023.

Leading countries for jailing writers in this order: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Israel, Russia, Turkey, Belarus, Egypt and Myanmar. And growing concern for writers in the US.
pen.org/report/freed... #writers @penamerica.bsky.social 🖋️📚💙

YouTube video by Alliterative What's the Earliest English Word?

Happy #EnglishLanguageDay! For a look back at the origins of this language, here’s our video on looking for the Earliest English Word: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Qx...

#Etymology #Video #WordNerd #Linguistics #Language #Words #HistoricalLinguistics #LingComm #EnglishLanguage #HistoryOfEnglish

A screenshot from ChatGPT: "Amid the tension that led to the Civil War, Lee was presented with a choice: remain loyal to the to Union, or side with his home state of Virginia and the Confederate cause. His decision to join the South has been interpreted in myriad ways. Some point to his deep ties to Virginia, and his personal conviction that he could not raise arms against his homeland. Others argue it was a reflection of a broader worldview, one that saw slavery as integral to Southern society -- a worldview that Lee never fully rejected despite his many claims of personal discomfort with the institution.

A screenshot of my actual WaPo writing on Lee: "Lee is sometimes defended as a "man of his times," who, by the standards of the day, could not have concluded that slavery was wrong or that he could choose loyalty to the United States over Virginia. The former claim ignores the millions of Black Americans who were able to divine slavery's evil at that time, not to mention White abolitionists and White Southerners such as Cassius Marcellus Clay, James Birney and Elizabeth Van Lew, who inherited enslaved people and freed them. As for the latter claim it is worth noting that other high-ranking military officers from Virginia remained loyal to the United States, among them generals Winfield Scott and George Thomas."

A screenshot of my actual work reading: "And despite what old revisionist history or social media memes claim, Lee owned enslaved people. He drove them hard, and he pursued and punished them when they escaped. He separated families to pay off debts and fought in court to prevent them from being freed."

When I took the history reporter job, I told my editor I would never "both sides" the Civil War, Confederates or slavery. I never did.

But here, ChatGPT (pic 1) has turned my work (pics 2,3) into whitewashed pablum and put MY FUCKING NAME on it.

I am livid, I am shaking. I don't know what to do.

Now is not the time for Canada to walk away from diversity, equity and inclusion Canadians have many pressing concerns, but research shows they have not lost sight of DEI’s importance in society

Diversity, equality and inclusion: still a critical issue in Canada and beyond. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b4db36e... #DEI #canada #business

Canadian mayors push federal leaders for action on climate, not pipelines | CBC News Municipal politicians across Canada have written a letter to the five main federal party leaders calling for climate-related actions they say would improve the country's resilience to environmental ca...

www.cbc.ca/news/politic... #climate #climatecrisis #green #cities

Academic freedom in the US is under threat – universities of the world, unite! | Andrew Graham We cannot be neutral with respect to fake news, misinformation or outright lies, says Andrew Graham, former master of Balliol College, Oxford

Universities as truth-tellers: Good piece: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #universities #columbia #harvard #princeton #freespeech

A midwife says of the aid cuts in Afghanistan: 'No one prioritizes women's lives.' With the abrupt shutdown of USAID funding, many clinics, including those serving women in remote areas, have shuttered. Midwives are reporting that mothers and babies are dying as a result.

With the abrupt shutdown of USAID funding, many clinics, including those serving women in remote areas, have shuttered. Midwives are reporting that mothers and babies are dying as a result.

‘Climate of fear’: Montreal doctor says NYU cancelled her presentation A Montreal doctor says her presentation at NYU was abruptly cancelled and believes the university did so out of fear of being pressured by the Donald Trump administration.

‘Climate of fear’: Montreal doctor says NYU cancelled her presentation www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...

Multiple photos of children riding with adults SAVE OUR BIKE LANES! PROTECT OUR KIDS! Kidical Mass Bike Ride for Kids, Families & Everyone! SAT. APRIL 5TH 2 PM - 4 PM Queen's Park, South Lawn Rain Date SUN. APRIL 13TH if it rains, the event will happen on April 13 instead. What to Expect: • Rally followed by a bike ride around Queen's Park. • CycleTO marshals will be there to support. • Decorate your bike, jazz up your helmet, or wear a costume get creative and have fun! • A slow-paced loop for riders of all ages and abilities.

#IdeasAtWork

Hoping @mayoroliviachow.ca is able to take part.

Kidical Mass Bike Ride for Kids, Families & Everyone!

SAT. APRIL 5TH 2 PM - 4 PM
Queen's Park, South Lawn

h/t @kidicalmassto.bsky.social @greenpeaceca.bsky.social @cycletoronto.bsky.social

#ONpoli #TOpoli #VisionZero #BikeTO

Last decade was Earth’s hottest on record as CO2 levels reach an 800,000-year high, UN report says. #climate #green #climatecrisis

Great piece, I think worth noting though that LGBTQ rights are not a mere wedge issue but have always been on the agenda for patriarchal agitators because the control & overt performative control of sexuality, gender & reproduction & of course women is a key aim; it's method as well as destination.

Democracy’s canary: What anti-LGBTQ politics tell us about our democratic future Policies that target minority rights are typically a sign of greater democratic decay

Must read! "The legal frameworks & civil society institutions that protect sexual & gender minorities also safeguard other fundamental democratic freedoms" by @ayosogunro.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b4db36e... #democracy #LGBTQ #rights

ANALYSIS | The U.S. has covertly destabilized nations. With Canada, it's being done in public | CBC News Former senior Canadian intelligence officials say Canada needs to be on the lookout for campaigns aimed at destabilizing the country amid U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating 51st state threats. T...

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

How ‘positive masculinity’ can bridge gender gaps - and improve men's and women’s lives at work and home Meet The Leader · Episode

Brilliant, hopeful, practical: open.spotify.com/episode/2AO0... #maleally #InternationalWomensDay #IWD #DEI #fatherhood #workplace @equimundo.bsky.social

YouTube video by Rutgers University Press "The High School: Sports, Spirit, and Citizens, 1903-2024" ("John Steinbeck")

Feb 27 is John Steinbeck’s birthday. Steinbeck was student at Salinas High School in 1919 and his story is a thread that runs through Michael Messner’s new book, "The High School".

@whistberry.bsky.social  @johnholland@bsky.social

#Steinbeck #Booksky #History #Sociology

youtu.be/Kvv9dDHlzXI?...

How Cognitive Bias Can Explain Post-Truth Our built-in biases help explain our post-truth era, when “alternative facts” replace actual facts, and feelings have more weight than evidence.

"Our inherent cognitive biases make us ripe for manipulation and exploitation by those who have an agenda to push, especially if they can discredit all other sources of information."

The Kessler Syndrome: The doom scenario worrying scientists "The Kessler Syndrome is going to come true," warned John L. Crassidis, a professor of innovation and space debris expert at the University at Buffalo.

Any country or organization shooting shit into the earths orbit, need to have a recovery plan… and not simply that it falls to earth and burns up. There’s so much shit up there right now, I have an app that shows what’s up there, it just blows my mind.

1/2

m.jpost.com/science/scie...

Thank You, @indianexpress.com
🙏🏾💞🌞🌷💫
#WomensHistoryMonth2025
#WomensDay
Spotlight on:
#ClaraZetkin
#Trailblazer
#Leader
#Thinker-Communicator

Happy International Women's Day! Needed now more than ever. Men, let's stand respectfully by the sides of our sisters in the fight for the rights of women and girls, women's dignity, women's power! #IWD #DEI #equity #women #IWD2025 #women #ally

God I wish we had a head of State who actually did something for people.

Trudeau announces $37B in child care deals with 11 provinces and territories | CBC News Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has signed agreements totalling almost $37 billion over five years with 11 provinces and territories that will extend the federal child care space program un...

Fantastic! Canada's national childcare program: signed, sealed and being delivered. Families will now have $10/day childcare across the country www.cbc.ca/news/politic... #childcare #children #genderequality #trudeau #canada

My grant was one of those terminated. Our team included political and climate scientists using machine learning/language models and a unique corpus of high quality media from developing countries to model the effects of climate change on climate adaptation, political stability, and conflict. (1/2)

Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education The politics of transgender and nonbinary education, research and praxis: Reflecting on questions of epistemic justice. Volume 45, Issue 5-6 of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education

Special Issue: The politics of transgender and nonbinary education, research and praxis: Reflecting on questions of epistemic justice
www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdis20/c...

Support these courageous climate justice activists in their fight against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. This destructive mega-project is an environmental injustice and a carbon bomb that threatens all our futures. Your donation can help support their organizing! #ClimateSky #StopEACOP 🔌💡