Lisa Kadonaga
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tapirtrouble.bsky.social
Lisa Kadonaga
@tapirtrouble.bsky.social
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Please circulate -- U of Regina has stepped up to host displaced female Afghan students, with a safe place so they can complete their degrees and not be sent back to Afghanistan from school in Qatar. (Lost funding due to destruction of USAID.)
Hoping to raise $500k.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
'Gives us some hope': Afghan women at risk of deportation due to USAID cuts look to find home at U of R | CBC News
The University of Regina and a Vancouver-based non-profit are looking to raise $500,000 to bring 25 Afghan scholars facing deportation in Qatar to Saskatchewan
www.cbc.ca
I wonder if the Stendhal Syndrome applies to the sciences too
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendha...
November 26, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
OK, we're leaving the asbestos *in* the stuff women put on their faces? And, the powder we put on kids' bums? Check!

Huh, some chick scientist says, “It only takes a single asbestos fiber lodged in the lungs to cause mesothelioma decades later.”

What me, worry?
FDA drops proposed rule on asbestos testing in cosmetics

www.consumeraffairs.com/news/fda-dro...
www.consumeraffairs.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
Doomscrolling break...

Bed bugs retain DNA for 45 days, so could be used to solve crimes
Malaysian scientists recruit bed bugs as crime scene sleuths.

Long-loathed as itchy household pests, blood-sucking bed bugs have revealed a darker, more intriguing potential as Malaysian scientists have discovered they can be turned into unlikely crime-busting allies
November 26, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Gather 'round, fellow planning/governance nerds! Here are the 17 transition committees created by the incoming Mayor of New York
bsky.app/profile/tapi...
November 26, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
If you’re wondering who’s guiding our transition, it’s the best New Yorkers that money can’t buy.
November 25, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Fascinating use of crowdsourced data, and also historical samples.
New clues hint at early signs of domestication in raccoons that feast on urban trash | CNN
Raccoons have easy access to food in the form of human trash. It could be jump-starting physical and behavioral changes in the masked bandits, new research suggests.
www.cnn.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:07 AM
It's bad enough that smartphone manufacturers and social media platforms have resulted in a lot of my students saying they're finding it difficult to sit outside without their phones, and write down observations about a particular location. Now this is on the horizon.
This is why OpenAI is selling so aggressively to education at all levels—they want to create entire generations of users incapable of reading, writing and thinking without ChatGPT to hold their hands

And teachers and professors should call this out for what it actually is
To bear out this rosy projection, HSBC assumes that OpenAI will become "as ubiquitous [...] as Microsoft 365" (345mm users worldwide) while bringing in 10x the number of users (3bn).
November 26, 2025 at 12:37 AM
I'm on my third MacBook Air this century, and they've all been bought secondhand (last 2 from Apple). I'm not in a job where I need the latest features, and I've managed to save money and keep stuff out of the landfill a bit longer.
This will never be me - I bought an M4 Mac Air just before my book tour - but I think the premise of "device hoarding" here is ridiculous. With every major purchase, buy as well as you can and then use that thing until you can't use it any more. That's just sensible.

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/h...
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever and it's costing the economy
Americans are holding onto devices longer than ever before, and while it may be consumer smart, it comes at a cost to work productivity and the U.S. economy.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:31 PM
I know I'm not the only one who's been watching in disgust and horror, for a year or more, as the disaster's unfolded. Some of the White House enablers have been flailing around because they don't know what they're doing, but some do have a plan and have done the readings (Project 2025 etc.)
November 25, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Theme for a rainy grey November afternoon, as sundown approaches.
RIP Lalo Schifrin. The news stations are playing the Mission Impossible theme tonight, but this is my favourite piece of his. I can't imagine a better intro for a noirish true crime show. (The Scales of Justice on CBC Radio, hosted by Edward Greenspan.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKZr...
Bossa Antique by Lalo Schifrin
YouTube video by Lalo Schifrin
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
Canada lost a legend. Colleen Jones was beloved in Nova Scotia and across Canada as a giant in the world of curling.
She represented the best of Canadian sport and the Canadian spirit.
My deepest sympathies to her family and colleagues.
Go to the angels.
November 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
Ethnic frauds stir up so many terrible feelings in Indigenous folks, and I don't think the general public really understands this.

The goal of the ongoing colonial project has been the erasure of Indigenous Peoples, meaning our identity and existence has been undermined from every direction.
November 25, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
Humans are terrible. But also humans are amazing.
this is mesmerizing
November 25, 2025 at 3:19 PM
There are times when *not* getting your name in the paper is even better!
Best reason to go off the record.
November 25, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
U.S. flu rates remain low, but experts are keeping an eye on a new strain that’s been linked to unexpectedly early and severe seasons in several other countries
A New Flu Variant May Make Cold Season Brutal This Year
U.S. flu rates remain low, but experts are keeping an eye on a new strain that’s been linked to unexpectedly early and severe seasons in several other countries
www.scientificamerican.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Here's to honesty. Even a negative result moves the research forward.
November 25, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
The northern lights could appear as far south as northern Iowa and South Dakota, according to NOAA’s view line.
Northern Lights Forecast: Solar Winds Could Make Aurora Visible In Northern U.S.
The northern lights could appear as far south as northern Iowa and South Dakota, according to NOAA’s view line.
www.forbes.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Is UNRWA going to be allowed to operate again? If not ... is anybody doing widespread aid distribution in the area, with winter approaching?
The US-backed GHF is halting operations after more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and foreign contractors in and around its distribution sites, according to UN figures aje.io/7jd82r
US-backed GHF ‘aid mission’ in Gaza ends – a timeline of violence
GHF is halting operations after more than 2,000 Palestinians were killed in and around its distribution sites.
aje.io
November 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
It hits different when they're arresting white women. They signed up to terrorize Black and brown people.
“We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders,” the masked ICE agents told them www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/i...
November 25, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
Every week brings a new story that vindicates my decision to hold on to all my physical media including a nice cookbook collection amassed over 30 years. It's discovering new recipes that is now in question thanks to the AI BS.
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving.

Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
www.bloomberg.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Listening to @billmckibben.bsky.social 's interview on CBC Radio's The Current right now
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.
www.cbc.ca
November 25, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
The very first US Road Map for cars was published in 1904!

Rand, McNally & Co.'s new automobile road map of the country around New York.

Larger version of the map: brilliantmaps.com/rand-mcna...
November 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Lisa Kadonaga
Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw.

The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
November 25, 2025 at 12:57 AM
It's like he's a reverse Midas. This article on what Twitter used to be like feels like eons ago.
www.makeworkbetter.info/p/lovewherey...
November 25, 2025 at 7:42 AM
There's a book and TV series about the Black Loyalists who left.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of...
November 25, 2025 at 7:28 AM