Akuchimoya

Librarians go to school to learn how to manage information, whether it is in book format or otherwise. (We tend to think of libraries as places with books because, for so much of human history, that's how information was stored.)

They are not supposed to have more information in their heads, they are supposed to know how to find (source) information, catalogue and categorize it, identify good information from bad information, good information sources from bad ones, and teach others how to do so as well.

I had to tell a bunch of librarians that LLMs are literally language models made to mimic language patterns, and are not made to be factually correct. They understood it when I put it that way, but librarians are supposed to be "information professionals". If they, as a slightly better trained subset of the general public, don't know that, the general public has no hope of knowing that.

I never really got into tea because I always found the flavour disappointing compared to its aroma. But I recently tried yerba maté, which isn't a tea but definition, but is similar. It's made from the leaves and stems of Holly and has a strong, bitter flavour that definitely does not disappoint. It's enjoyed in places like Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil. Now I start my day with a mug of coffee, then sip on maté the rest of the day.

This is insanity. I'm glad she's safe here in Canada and edit: HOPE she will be granted status to stay and complete her PhD that she's almost done. It sounds like Srinivasan is the kind of person we want to welcome here: intelligent, hard working, slides with justice.

I hope Canada will continue to be a safe place for people who work hard for a better life not just for themselves, but others also.

Personally, I'm not sure we can assume there will be an election in four years. Or if there is one, that it won't be an "election", like in Russia.

(Likewise, if the US ever did take over Canada by force, I'm sure we would be a territory like Puerto Rico and not have a vote.)

Dogs taking away jobs from humans? What a disgrace! Surely dogs are DEI hires, if I ever saw one. They're not even people!

There are very many normal human sounds that are not speech, including, but not limited to: laughter, crying, yelling/screaming/yelping (in surprise, pain, fear), groaning, moaning, yawning, sneezing, coughing, vomiting, singing, whistling.

What constitutes human speech? There are languages that have sounds that don't exist in other languages (said as someone still trying to get a hold on rolling my Rs).

In any case, we should all learn some sign language. Seriously, it's useful to be able to communicate silently or just visually (e.g. Across a noisy room), plus it makes life way more inclusive for Deaf people.

Wow, the Russian (probably) movement went hard on that one.

My respect to you for going back and checking it out.

Honestly, I'm not surprised. Was their main target in-store shoppers? Their location is too far for, I suspect, most people when a L&M (or even other small, independent stores) is much closer.

This is the first I've heard of it. Can you share your source, please? I want to see it myself whether it's reputable before I form an opinion.

Zarqa, the funniest thing I've ever watched. A spiteful, middle-aged, Pakistani Muslim divorcee in Regina tries to manage/rehab her reputation and ego... With disastrously hilarious results. It's a short mini-series that can be watched in about two hours.

I just stumbled upon Gangnam Project. It's about two biracial Korean-Canadian teens who go to S. Korea to connect with their roots and get all caught up in the K-Pop making machine. It's meant for the tween market, but it's just so different than anything I've seen (maybe I haven't seen much) that I find it interesting. Plus who doesn't live an eternally optimistic lead when the real world is crazy times? Obviously it's dramatized, but I am kind of peripherally aware that idol-culture is a very serious deal in Asia, esp Korea. (Last year some K-Pop star publicly apologized for having a boyfriend?!) I wonder how much of it is based in reality and how much is just made up.

DEI can still be achieved without using that terminology directly.

I agree that not longer having a policy or metrics around diversity doesn't mean that the people in a company won't still value it. I'm a part-time student and the school's director recently did an AMA. He said an upcoming event was renamed to avoid the threats that are being directed at "DEI", but the event itself is still about cultural diversity. I forget what the new name was, something about the stories of our people or something like that.