Steve Burtch
@stephenburtch.bsky.social
1.8K followers 880 following 16K posts
Trying to not exceed whatever rate limits exist on this app. Hockey. Science. Politics. Education. Other BS. In whatever order occurs to me at the time. Just sharing my opinions.
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stephenburtch.bsky.social
This baseball game is crazy. LoL.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
I find it funny reading expert takes on NHL teams point projections for the Athletic.

The only responses were either "about right" or "too low".

Nobody thinks the model is overly optimistic... Which probably tells us more about the "experts" than the model.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
The Jays score more runs, and allow fewer runs this year without Bichette in the lineup ... It'll be hard for him to argue that he is this massively key component to what they are doing.

This is all impacting his contract I'd suggest.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Governments providing excellent examples of why AI isn't particularly likely to replace human instructors anytime soon.
reportrix.bsky.social
Maren Aukerman, an education professor at the University of Calgary, says the Alberta government's nearly 200-page "tool kit" hops from one topic to another without context and barely aligns with the provincial curriculum.

"It is incoherent." www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/prairies_bc/...
'A big mess': Expert, parents criticize Alberta tool kit for students during strike
EDMONTON - An education expert is criticizing online lessons the Alberta government has curated for students during a provincewide teachers strike as "incoherent."
www.thecanadianpressnews.ca
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Social Media bubbles remain undefeated.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
If they never respond to a FOIA then the process is meaningless and doesn't indicate transparency.

Canadian govts break the FOIA laws incessantly.

The NS government won't even tell the public when it's GOVERNMENT REQUIRED review of the FOI program will be completed.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Justice Department cannot say when access to information review will be complete | CBC News
It remains unclear when a government-ordered review of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act will be complete and what will come of it.
www.cbc.ca
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Yeah, the problem with any comparison index is it is only as good as the data it is based upon.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Your racism is exceedingly obvious.

Everything you are saying is immediately discredited by it.

And the fact you can't just yanno, *read* how the index is devised is beyond parody.

www.transparency.org/en/news/how-...
The ABCs of the CPI: How the Corruption Perceptions Index is…
We answer all frequently asked questions about the Corruption Perceptions Index.
www.transparency.org
stephenburtch.bsky.social
The rankings often include points for things like *having FOI processes/legislation* and then doesn't score countries on whether they obey their own laws.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
You are doing the thing where you treat the US like *everyone else*.

Nobody said the US is transparent.

Being better than a country in obvious democratic collapse and the grips of a kleptocrat... Isn't a comparison worth making.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
If you believe Canada is doing "way better than everyone" you are delusional.

Canada's corruption and transparency rankings have been dropping for years, and are now the lowest they have been in 30 years.

We now rank 15th

www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2024
Corruption Perceptions Index 2024
The Corruption Perceptions Index 2024 ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. Find out the scores and read our analysis.
www.transparency.org
stephenburtch.bsky.social
The thanksgiving PA day has virtually always existed to make it a 4 day weekend.

Historically the early one is before the first day of school.

The reason it's weird this year is the super early Labor day starting the year faster.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
LoL this is probably inaccurate.

The number of PA days in Ontario has been determined by law since 1990.

There are 3 that are required, and up to 4 more in the year at the determination of the board.

It seems unlikely they would be at 3 yet, we are up to 2 today.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
There were fewer teams in MLB for most of their titles.

1901-60: 16 teams (18x - 30.5%)
1961: 18 teams (1x - 100%)
1962-68: 20 teams (3x - 42.9%)
1969-76: 24 teams (0x - 0%)
1977-92: 26 teams (2x - 12.5%)
1993-97: 28 teams (1x - 20%)
1998-Now: 30 teams (4x - 14.3%)

Since '69 they have won 12.5%.
timbhealey.bsky.social
This is the first time in Yankees history that they have won just one World Series in a quarter-century.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Bullpen games have gone 10-4 across the last two post seasons.

Considering normal win%'s are far closer to 50% I'd say it's pretty effective.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
The fact that Red states imagine themselves coming out victorious in some grand civil conflict is rather absurd... But here we are.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
You might think this is because Matthews was buried in the DZ, but you would be wrong in terms of 5v5 Zone Starts.

Matthews had 0 DZ draws at 5v5.

Rielly was on for 3 of them.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Last night for the Leafs:

M Rielly - 5 SOG, 9 shot atts.
A Matthews - 1 SOG, 4 shot atts.

Personally I'd very much rather those numbers were reversed.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
The study in question has recieved criticism for the conclusions people draw from it.

It is describing a correlation, and doesn't prove/determine what causes the correlation.

But nobody is debating the correlation *exists*.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
People deciding this can't be true without reading the study from the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine are basically guilty of the same thing they accuse Trump and RFK Jr. of:

Dismissing things out of hand because they don't *believe* it can be true.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
This is likely based on a 2015 study out of Denmark based on a sample of 342,877 boys born between 1994 and 2003.

The correlation showed a 46% increase in ASD amongst boys circumcised before age 10, and 106% increase if it is done before age 5.

No linkage was made to Tylenol in the study.
justinbaragona.bsky.social
Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."
stephenburtch.bsky.social
At 5v5 last night Rielly played 7:22 with Nylander at 5v5 and 5:01 with Matthews at 5v5.

3 shots came with Nylander/Tavares on, only 1 came with Matthews on (it was Reilly's goal).

I would also vastly prefer Nylander and Tavares taking considerably more shots than Rielly ... Same argument.
stephenburtch.bsky.social
Domi's linemates for most of the night were Joshua and Robertson.

Joshua has a career 16.1% shooting percentage largely to getting shots from down low net front, but he generates very few shots (career high is only 84)

Robertson has a career 12.2% and shoots more often, but they want Domi shooting
stephenburtch.bsky.social
The top line for most of the game was Matthews between Knies and Maccelli.

The reason Domi had more shots was because his line was sheltered defensively.