TagNew York Post
Free Speech Report at Harvard: Professors Afraid to Speak Up
The elite college still fails to promote free speechPerhaps no sphere of society has become more vulnerable to “groupthink” than the modern American university. Concerns about free speech rights have long circled the discourse over the last couple of years, with cancel culture coming for everyone who even hints at heterodox viewpoints. Rikki Schlott, a writer for the New York Post, recently wrote a report on how some professors at Harvard University, the most prestigious academic institution in the United States, feel hemmed in by the prevailing campus consensus. At a place where the quest for truth is engraved on its founding banner, academics no longer feel comfortable doing just that: professing what they take to be different reflections on what counts as the truth. Schlott writes, Harvard Read More ›
Ozempic: Weight Loss Drug or Supermodel Shortcut?
Social media fuels impossible body standards. So, Gen Z flocks to weight loss drugs.Ozempic, the weight loss medication that diminishes one’s sense of hunger, has been used as a simple and yet effective treatment for obesity. There is debate on whether the use of drugs to combat weight gain is healthy, or should be pushed back against by simply eating better and engaging in regular exercise. Now, though, a certain brand of Ozempic users is complicating the discussion. People, particularly the young, are starting to use Ozempic to carve out the ideal beach bod. But the risks to this aren’t benign, according to a report by the New York Post. Using Ozempic or other weight loss drugs without a proper prescription can be dangerous. Per the Post: “Drugs including Ozempic and Wegovy should Read More ›
The Benefits of Ditching Social Media
Tech writer Cal Newport explains why boredom is actually a good thingCal Newport ascended into the limelight upon his viral Ted Talk in which he called people to ditch social media. In this video from last year, Newport rehashes some of the main benefits of not having social media. Boredom is on the list, interestingly; Newport notes that most people no longer have moments of boredom, and as a consequence, don’t have any space in their lives to reflect, think, and work through their emotions. Andrew McDiarmid, a contributor at Mind Matters, has written on this in the past. He notes, Mind wandering, or stream of consciousness thought, gives us several mental gains, including the ability to consider obstacles to future goals, generate novel, creative thoughts, and place our experiences in meaningful Read More ›
Just in Case You Were Wondering, Aliens Exist (Allegedly)
The whistleblower report is out: aliens are real! At least, that's the rumor.The whistleblower report is out: aliens are real! At least, that’s the rumor. And the government has been hiding it for decades, apparently. If you needed another bizarre headline in your feed, we’ve got you covered. Although to be fair, the extraterrestrials have been in the news pretty often over the last couple of years. In 2021, the Pentagon confirmed that images of an unidentified flying object were taken by Navy personnel. Even earlier photos of similar “UFO” looking aircraft surfaced, going against strong winds and having all the appearance of highly advanced technology. Now, the whistleblower, Air Force veteran David Grusch, says that the US government recovered an alien spacecraft and has been hiding the fact for years, even Read More ›
Twitter Twitted Over Clumsy Political Censorship
Getting the algorithm to censor users can backfire and sometimes the results are funnyI once wrote an online forum system called Areopagus. It had a simple “bad words” (profanities, etc.) filter. It looked for common bad words and common variations of those words and automatically prevented any post containing those words or their variations from being posted. This is called “mechanical censorship” and, on its own, it is nothing new. Some users came up with cleverer variations of the bad words than the filter was set for and then moderators had to spot and remove the posts. During the recent presidential election campaign, Twitter has taken mechanical censorship to new levels. Instead of censoring ways of speaking, Twitter has decided to censor specific ideas and thoughts. Automatic censorship of ideas is a problematic Read More ›