Michael Roberts

Henry Petrie, and engineer who built a massive equipment Emporium we should all wish we could go visit, served on a grand jury in a fortune-telling case in March, 1901. Does this have great historical significance? No. Do I find it amusing? YES.

Sharing without Comment from the Daily Expositor (Brantford) Feb 19, 1874: 🗃️ CanHist

One of the key figures in my dissertation was a bit of a joker... to update his language here, we could translate "chair business" to a similarly colloquial "sitting on your ass." Its just a bit hard to work this stuff into a Serious Historical Narrative(tm) and that makes me sad

Apparently, this is for colic. Which makes sense but is still a bit... alarming. 🗃️

I don't recall the last time a world leader gave a speech at Davos that was this consequential. There is so much to unpack in @MarkJCarney's remarkably honest remarks. It should, of course, be noted that while it is very welcome that he calls out the "fiction" of the rules-based order, he is also indirectly admitting that Canada and other Western states happily went along with the fiction as long as the conduct of the US primarily affected other countries. It is only now when Western states are on the receiving end of American heavy-handedness, that this fiction is abandoned. Still, Carney pointing out that middle powers have significant influence within the system if they choose to stop the pretense is essential as it calls the bluff that the major powers can order the system without buy-in from the rest. As I see it, it lies in the US interest to retain a reformed UN-centric multilateral system, rather than destroying or seeking to replace it with a Board of Peace. It also lies in the interest of the US to use a reformed UN system as an instrument of burdenshifting, rather than adopt even greater defense obligations through the creation of a new, US-led system. Here are the last paragraphs of Carney's speech. "We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy. But we believe that from the fracture, we can build something bigger. Better. Stronger. More just. This is the task of the middle powers. The countries that have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and the most to gain from genuine cooperation. The powerful have their power. We have something too. The capacity to stop pretending. To name reality. To build our strength at home and to act together. That is Canada's path. We choose it openly, confidently, and it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us."

This is probably the most interesting and funniest paper you’ll read today: In 2009, neuroscientists put a dead salmon into an fMRI scanner. The salmon was shown photographs of humans in social situations and was asked to infer the emotion experienced by the person in each image. The results? Several brain regions of the salmon showed statistically significant activation. Does this provide evidence of post-mortem interspecies perspective-taking? Not quite. What it does show is something more important, although somewhat more boring: When data are sufficiently complex, it becomes incredibly easy to find significant results, unless statistical controls and multiple comparisons are handled with extreme care. Paper in the first reply:

@timruss2 (thanks for saying something)

@timruss2 I happened to read this tweet with Voyager on in the background (trying to get myself back to sleep), and Tuvok was giving Neelix military advice at that moment, so I read it in Tuvok's very slow, careful tone. It made for a pretty intense delivery.

Oh… and “no more endless wars” Trump apparently just bombed Venezuela and captured Maduro and his wife. As usual, where is Congress? Where is the UN? Where is any fucking body??? I’m pretty sure that’s an international crime? But as usual nobody will say or do anything.

@tracybeanz Myocarditis does heal, though.

Myocarditis doesn’t HEAL. A very small price to pay?!?! This man isn’t well. He’s evil.

@SNL_Atlanta @DavidAstinWalsh Once, mid-transition, I gave a paper. About half the aud read me as male and half as female. The ones who read me as male were visibly uncomfortable with the way the others were behaving towards me. How should I have projected more authentically to only half the room?

Then those women need to learn how to exude confidence and leadership in an authentic way, without having to point to a title. Knowing how to command a room is a critical leadership skill, and women should learn how to project personal power as effectively as successful men do. (I’m speaking from personal experience because it was difficult for me to learn how to do it and I would personally have benefitted from some instruction about it).

The argument is that students tend to be more deferential to the authority of male instructors in the classroom and insisting on the earned title is a way for female instructors to establish their own authority.

@JusticeAndPeace @DuaneBratt Where did you get this insane idea? Autistic folks tend to have a more consistent sense of identity that is less susceptible to suggestion than others. I was certainly pretty quick on the uptake, lol. No regrets

@DuaneBratt Autistic people’s sense of identity, sexual and not, matures later, in mid twenties, so the left woke criminals are basically causing irreparable damage to them, instead of allowing them to grow up and evolve naturally.

I knew that this day was coming. The UCP had been warning for months that they were going to take away the rights of transgender people (not just children but adults too). I thought I was prepared. But I am still very angry that it has happened.

@JusticeAndPeace @DuaneBratt You do not represent us. Do not speak for autists.

@DuaneBratt As an autistic adult I am very happy they’re putting boundaries and protective measures against the criminal ‘self-affirming’ nonsense which has been the cause for so many vulnerable children being mutilated and irreparably hurt.

@Steve562404918 @DuaneBratt Yeah, our problem is that you want us to kill ourselves. Saying the quiet part out loud isn't helping your case. Yikes

@DuaneBratt MAID is an option right, I assume you support that if you support mutilation of kids and adults.

@Koniq93 @DuaneBratt You know we're in the "room," right? And a hell of a lot saner than you. If you've gotta "establish absolutes," they weren't already there. We have words for that: "lying," and "controling." Get a grip

Perhaps you should search the corners of your dark soul and realize these people are often deeply troubled and have extremely high rates of suicidal ideation. Entering into their fantastical reality isn't empathy; it makes you just as delusional. Real care establishes absolutes, the first being: "What are you?" Remember, kids: girls don't have penises, and vice versa.

@robynoaks @DuaneBratt Being anti-woman is not actually a good excuse for whatever prize you didn't win. "Women are good at things, actually" should not be debatable :/

@DuaneBratt There just making it fair in sports. Even the olympics has made this a new rule, people born male have a stronger natural ability over those born female.

Don’t Waste Buildings — Don’t Waste Stong House and Other Buildings on York’s Campus c.org/RcR5q9LkwX

Not every portable engine was destined for greatness...... from George Page, Machinst, Inventor & Manufacturer's 1850 Catalogue. 🗃️

@dieworkwear 3421, and 2. Wild guess

Here are four overcoats. — Which do you think is the most expensive? — Which do you think is the least expensive? — Which do you think provides the best value? Answer below. Tomorrow, I will show you what you get as you climb up the price ladder for overcoats.

Eventually sequencing will be cheaper, databases will be more complete, and this kind of study will be routine (maybe 5-10 years). Meanwhile, keep pooping, we take this shit seriously. Thanks to our collaborators/funders: Inkfish naobservatory.org/casper/ @SecureBio 22/22