At a conference in Netherlands in June an expat from Australia remarked that the first time he got really angry to be slowed down in NL by cyclists, he passed them agressively and then realized these little kids were in front and he was the problem. Car culture really doesn't encourage empathy.

When the "idea" for bus lanes is just doing the same tired thing that people have been doing since the 50s which got us into this mess.

Not for any particular reason. Just that if you own a Toyota Rav 4, then there is literally no scenario in which you can envision yourself using the crosstown. That's why it should be underground away from you, and that's why all transit investment is a waste of money to you.

Not a new thought probably but realizing a lot of transit decisions in TO boil down to the fundamental belief that car drivers will never be anything else. The crosstown wasn't built to be enticing to Forest Hill residents, but as an option to shuttle poor and homeless through to downtown.

They need to have more philosophers on autocorrect development teams!

...the mandatory "Christian Ethics" classes were such a waste of time is that a teacher with a general B-Ed is not a theologian or an ethicist. Wondering if it would be helpful to have an expert engage in the challenging material in either case. Would that mitigate any of these testimonies?

This is super interesting! And I think important to consider as a broader, evidence-based response to the "Everyone could use therapy" ethos.
One question: Is part of the issue that teachers aren't qualified to teach mindfulness? Thinking back to my catholic school days that part of why...

These are things we can offer as instructors. So the question becomes: How can we fill that gap? My hypothesis is if I am approachable, open to discussion, clear with my feedback, and genuinely curious and interested in my students, then they might choose me sometimes over a chatbot.

At one point I just asked how my students were using chatGPT, and almost everyone listed things that didn't replace their thinking, but their relationship with an instructor. They use it for essay feedback, counterarguments, understanding concepts better.

Also, as someone born and raised prairie who now lives out East, don’t confuse a general hatred of everything Toronto with a desire to be American. I’d venture to say many Sask folk would sooner call themselves REAL Canadians before they’d give up the country for the US.