Colleen Derkatch

Biohacking Isn't Just For Billionaires Anymore - Macleans.ca The fixation on ultra-masculine virility is changing how men understand their health

Everything is on fire but I wrote a fun thing for @macleans.bsky.social. Come for the stool testing and psychedelics, stay for the ball slapping and urine drinking macleans.ca/society/heal... #wellness #biohacking #masculinity

Fourteen years ago this councillor helped Calgary get rid of fluoride. Now he and his city think they were wrong Gian-Carlo Carra’s views have evolved since he was a newbie Calgary city councillor voting to stop putting fluoride into the city’s water supply.

Calgary councillor on backing down from conspiracy thinking about public health: “We have a growing number of people who want very simple answers to very complex problems.”
www.thestar.com/politics/fed...

Putting this on my syllabus

Less impressive but at the time kind of thrilling: I also spoke to him briefly once when he called the house (landline days!) and asked for her. She wasn't home so he said to say "M" had called. Lol what a douchecanoe

Hundo p

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?

That "rhetoric" ≠ bullshit

(and is actually an ancient discipline that studies the production, reception, and circulation of discourse). #teamrhetoric

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.

The Headspace meditation app now includes an "empathetic AI companion." What could go wrong? Well, for a start, it could break the very mind at the centre of meditation.... ⬇️ www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

I will never, ever, ever not be furious that a high ranking research officer at my uni dismissed an important knowledge mobilization project I wanted to propose because “AI could do it.”

I don’t know how I’m gonna break all the news at once

Students are going to learn how to write prompts no matter what, I don’t need to teach them. If they come to my classroom, they’re going to learn that saving time isn’t the only worthy goal.

Diabolus Ex Machina This Is Not An Essay

And second, well, there’s this from @guinz.bsky.social. If we rely on non-sentient tech to do our thinking for us, we’re cooked. open.substack.com/pub/amandagu...

First, the “big terminology” in scholarly writing is there for a reason so students need to be taught how to parse it. It’s university, not middle school. If simplified explanations help someone get the big idea, great, but you can’t stop there.

Some university professors say AI is here to stay, so students should learn how to use it AI is being embraced in postsecondary schools as a study tool or research assistant

I’ve been thinking about this for days: “Sometimes I’ll take the abstract or the methods section, because they’re using all this big terminology, and ask, ‘Can you simplify this as if you’re explaining it to a middle schooler?’ And it saves me so much time” www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/2339ca7...

Just over a year ago, I posted this smug update on the other site. Two days later, I broke my hand dropping into a skatepark bowl, resulting in surgery, a weird PTSD response that put me on medical leave, and months of physical rehab. 100% would do again. Life is for living. Do something fun today.

New data finds Americans are more likely to support labor unions over Big Business than at any time in the past 60 years.

We are witnessing a historic rebirth of worker power. 

If you want a better life for you and your children, join or support a union.

Virtual Emergency Department (ED) Now Available at Sunnybrook Patients with urgent but non life-threatening health concerns can now book a same-day virtual appointment with a Sunnybrook Emergency Department doctor.

sunnybrook.ca/media/item.a...

We didn’t either! We found it by accident while googling info about ER wait times. Terrible PR, excellent service.

We visited one of Toronto's virtual emergency rooms last night and it was BRILLIANT. We had a minor issue that required attention but we would have languished in a physical ER for hours. Instead:
-I booked appt at 7:20pm
-we saw a nurse practitioner at 8
-all was resolved by 8:15
This is smart care.

That was exactly the argument our faculty association made and an arbitrator agreed. Now there are just a few meaningless questions (e.g., "Does the class start on time?"), I guess to preserve the illusion of customer satisfaction.

Geary St, pls. It's Wild West mayhem.

I spend £8,000 a year on self-love – have I got it all wrong? Is booking a facial or a massage really self-love, asks Charlotte Cripps, or a costly activity that keeps us looking outwards, striving for perfection and fueling us to compare and despair?

Me, on self-care: “There is always a new diet or beauty routine to follow, a new supplement to take, or a new practitioner to see,” she says. “And if we fail to become ‘well’ despite our efforts, we simply need to try harder or try something else.” www.the-independent.com/life-style/h...

© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.

Very thoughtful discussion of "AI" in education from @emilymbender.bsky.social starting at 11:36. I will now forever refer to tools such as Chat GPT as "synthetic text-extruding machines." www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Loved hearing your thoughts on this. So smart, nuanced, and carefully considered. I especially love the phrase "synthetic text-extruding machines." Thanks so much!

The life-changing magic of Gen X moms who don’t give a damn Gen X moms are living it up in middle age, and couldn’t care less about the expectations society has for them

Meet my friend Oorbee, aka Aunty Skates. We have little skater mom posse in Toronto. We’ve spent Mother’s Day weekend taking over city skate parks because if you don’t make time for fun, fun won’t make time for you www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article...

Re-upping: What do you think, know, or do about AI in first-year writing courses, #TeamRhetoric and #Writing Studies? Keen on cold takes too.

People who don't create Zoom meetings to start with muted audio and video are chaotic evil

Rich and Telma are the best. They're also super humble—they actually created the group! Legends.

If you ever wonder if it's ever too late to ________, the answer is no. We're all over 40. Many of us started skating *after* turning 40. Yes, we sometimes get hurt (I broke my hand last summer) but we definitely don't need AI-generated friends to fill our days. Go do the scary thing. Find fun.

15 adults and two around the edge of a bowl at a skatepark. Some are wearing helmets and other safety gear or holding skateboards.

A large group of skateboarders dressed in Halloween costumes in a concrete skatepark bowl.Some are holding skateboards.

Get off the internet and get yourself a crew. Everything will be better.

I got shy and deleted my first post about this but it's important: the most unexpected and best benefit of starting skateboarding at 45 is I now spend weekends hanging out in parks across town with other middle aged skateboards. Zuck needs to get out of the house.