Bharat’s Pocket Scraps Dec 3
I started using the internet for real in 1997 when I moved to the US, it’s amazing (in case you did not know). It’s also taken me over and changed me in a way that has brought some of my not so great traits out to the fore. So, I’m taking December to disconnect a bit from my devices and reconnect with myself, be more mindfully attentive and present, and all the good stuff. While that means many things, to this scraps project, it means, see you in 2018!
Science is broken
We argue that over the past half-century, the incentives and reward structure of science have changed, creating a hypercompetition among academic researchers. Part-time and adjunct faculty now make up 76 percent of the academic labour force, allowing universities to operate more like businesses, making tenure-track positions much more rare and desirable. Increased reliance on emerging quantitative performance metrics that value numbers of papers, citations and research dollars raised has decreased the emphasis on socially relevant outcomes and quality
I am not in academia, nor at a research-first organization, but I did nod along often.
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Study warns of extreme summers for Greater Victoria
The hottest summers on the record will be the new norm within 20 years, and by 2050 virtually every summer will be hotter than ever experienced before. Those are some of the findings of an academic study, whose co-authors include scientists from the University of Victoria (UVic).
My apartment is not air-conditioned, and is not designed for multiple 30+ degree days, so I already feel this, and oh boy, is it going to get worse!
Read Study warns of extreme summers for Greater Victoria
UBC study finds family-friendly overpasses are needed to help grizzly bears
Researchers have determined how female grizzly bears keep their cubs safe while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.
Awww! I saw many of these on my BC road trips, so needed.
Read UBC study finds family-friendly overpasses are needed to help grizzly bears
Meet the guy who spent 12 months undercover in Europe’s alt-right movement
That’s what Patrik Hermansson, a Swedish graduate student who spent twelve months undercover in the European alt-right movement, told me. Hermansson was part of Hope Not Hate, a UK-based organization established in 2004.
Scary scary stuff.
Read Meet the guy who spent 12 months undercover in Europe’s alt-right movement
‘This water has poison’: In Chennai, thousands of dead fish wash up on shore of Adyar estuary
On Tuesday, a disturbing sight greeted the residents of Urur Olcott Kuppam, a fishing village in South Chennai. Thousands of dead fish lay on the sand at the mouth of the Adyar estuary, where the Adyar river meets the Indian Ocean. But it was not an entirely unfamiliar sight.
Literally in “my” (well, the house we moved to when I was 12 and where my mom lives, and where I take almost daily walks to when I’m back visiting) backyard, sad… The estuary is an urban wetland that needs protection.
Read ‘This water has poison’: In Chennai, thousands of dead fish wash up on shore of Adyar estuary
Is the river male or female? How gendered language shapes the way we see the world
The contrast between the Ganges and the Mississippi demonstrates this to some extent and shows that we do project our sense of self and personal experience on to the way we communicate and that we use gendered words to do this. As a naturally evolving language, English provides freedom for expression beyond the confines of gender rules – not only as a means of communication, but also as a representation of cultural identity.
Are you starting to sense a theme in these scraps? (my pet peeves are very predictable, if you know me even a little bit).
Read Is the river male or female? How gendered language shapes the way we see the world