9,195 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2019
    1. Mr. Fairweather, what I would like to do from looking at materials that you have provided earlier, is take you to your concern of Section I of the proposed resolution. At the bottom of your presentation as well as in the accompanying documents you stress your concern about Section l. I would like to ask you from your perspective if the clause remains essentially in the form it now appears what are the technical consequences of that clause in relation to the protection of rights and freedoms? Mr. Fairweather: They are so serious that I could not imagine this Committee letting Section l go unamended, That section as drafted would challenge, in my opinion, the rest of the charter, and I suspect somebody is going to be getting an amendment. It is, as I said, turning our backs on the international and national jurisprudence, and it is very broadly drafted. Why we do not use the language that is well accepted now and has been ratified by Canada, for the life of me I have no idea. This is a strong statement but I have strong feelings. I am absolutely committed to the entrenchment and the patriation and the goals. They are wonderful goals for this country at last but why not go for something better. Mr. Epp: From your experience as a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission, could you give us examples of if this proposed resolution had in fact been in effect with the prohibitions in Section 1, can you give us some specific examples of the restrictions it would have given or caused both to rights and freedoms and also to the Commission? Mr. Fairweather: Yes. One was given last night, if I know correctly, by the Minister of Justice for Canada. It might be that generally accepted standards in this country for mandatory retirement, the anti-discrimination part having to do with age, could be challenged and rendered meaningless as a reform mechanism, because the generally accepted standards now are quite illiberal, if I may use that word in this place. [Page 12] The generally accepted standards for Canada are to push people out at certain ages, I greeted this charter with excitement when I saw that the Government of Canada had included age, but when I see the language of Section 1, I wonder. Another message that surely cannot be forgotten is that the generally accepted standards in Canada in 1940 and 1941 were to take Canadians whose offence was that they were of Japanese origin. In the Wellington Street Archives last night while you were doing something else I went to the festival of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese in Canada. They came to build the railway and I am as shocked as I know senators and members are to remember that people who are enshrined and rightly, in our history were perpetrators of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Chinese $50 a head tax act. The Chinese people in this country were not allowed to vote in a province I think until after the Second World War. It was Mr. Diefenbaker who gave the Native peoples the right to vote in the late 1950s. I am not saying that a government that follows this one would, but it could, because those were I guess until reform came the accepted standards. This document is to be entrenched, enshrined, as a statement to the people who have their loyalty to Canada. Mr. Epp: Do I understand you correctly, sir, that if the document before us were to be enshrined, entrenched, that an incident like Canadians of Japanese origin and the removal of these people from various parts of Canada, their prohibition of freedoms at that time, that in fact that kind of action would still be possible under the charter in its present form. Mr. Fairweather: I think, Mr. Epp, my duty is to warn you, and I have given some examples, age and these other offensive matters could be put in jeopardy. I am not saying they will but they could. I think most of this charter is really a superb piece of work, but I cannot see why Canada wants to turn its back on accepted international standards and language that has been adjudicated. That is why I am being a bit fussy. It clouds the rest of a noble document.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), pp. 89-90.

    1. are the limits mentioned in Section 1 whatever may be the individual linguistic rights mentioned elsewhere in the Charter, embarrassing for you as Commissioner of Official Languages. Mr. Yalden: Mr. Chairman, broadly speaking this part of the first section embarrasses me a little, not necessarily as Commissioner of Languages, but as a citizen reading the text, I do not understand it very well. I find it so broad that whatever it says does not represent in my view a requirement for a legislature who should guide the courts very clearly, very explicitly. If it is the case, it seems to me that this section should be more specific, not stricter than it is. I have followed the discussion here in the Committee, and I said several times tonight I am not a lawyer, consequently, I cannot really express a categorical opinion. It is embarrassing for me for very broad reasons. As for the linguistic aspect, would the linguistic rights mentioned in Sections 16 to 23 be affected by this short paragraph? I really could not give you an answer, precisely, because I find these words: subject only to such reasonable limits as are generally accepted in a free democratic society with a parliamentary system of government so vague that I do not know what they mean. If I knew, I would answer you.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), p. 88.

    1. Section I should not govern either Section 14 or Section 15. It is our view that there should be no circumstances where the right to an interpreter, which a deaf, blind or just a deaf person may require in court, should ever be taken away. Why is it either in war or emergency that a deaf-blind person on trial should be denied an interpreter to know what the case is against them. It is too basic and a denial of natural justice. Moreover when should unwarranted discrimination be permitted? At wartime? At peacetime? In the case of an emergency? It is hard to imagine a situation where it is justifiable, and therefore we have recommended, as have other groups, that Section 14 and Section 15 be absolute rights, rights not subject to Section 1. Alternatively, if that point of view is not acceptable to the Committee, it is our submission that the wording in Section I is far, far too broad. You have heard all the arguments before, we can only reiterate them, that Section 1—labelled by some as the Mack truck provision—will in fact make the rest of the Charter of Rights a virtually worthless and impotent means of protecting civil liberties, In particular, the generally accepted view of the public with respect to handicapped persons is that they are often not capable of taking care of themselves, not capable of maintaining a job, not capable of self-sufficiency, and therefore the kinds of laws that I have discussed previously that are discriminatory would be under Section I generally accepted in a free and democratic society, passed by these kinds of Parliaments. And accordingly, if Section 1 remains, and if Section 15 is still subject to it, it is our view that Section 1 must be very narrowly constrained to protect minority rights and in particular, handicapped rights.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), pp. 87-88.

    1. Our next item deals with Section I which we call the Mack Truck clause because a person could drive one right through it. We do not intend to dwell at length on this section which creates such loopholes in the legislation. Suffice it to say that we join with the continents of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and other groups in condemning Section 1. I would just like to summarize a few of our objections. There are two main points. First, Section I applies at all times, it is not limited to emergency situations. Secondly, the standards of reasonable limits that are generally accepted in a democratic society appears to us to allow virtually any legislation passed by a majority in Parliament or a legislature. Apart from concerns regarding the basic rights and freedoms which we share with other groups, we are concerned that this clause may have the effect of completely negating the protection provided by Section 15 on equality of rights.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), pp. 86-87.

    1. We surmise that Section 1, at least in part, was included to give Parliament the chance to limit our civil liberties when it is necessary in times of war. apprehended insurrection or other civil emergencies and we suggest that it is in keeping with the democratic traditions of the western world if the limitations that can be placed on our liberties are explicitly spelled out in the charter of rights and not left to something like Section 1. We suggest that Section 1 be reduced to a simple preamble explaining what the charter of rights is intended to accomplish and that Section 29 include a limitation that will come into effect only in times of war or other times of public emergency and that this section ensure a number of aspects. In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation so that it is a serious emergency and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, Parliament may authorize that temporary restriction of certain rights and freedoms to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation but in a manner that the other rights and freedoms set out in this charter will be preserved. We also stipulate that there are some freedoms and rights set out in the charter that need never be interfered with no matter how grave the emergency. We recommend that the non-discrimination rights never be tampered with and that there never be any derogation from freedom of conscience and religion, the right to vote and hold office, because there are already protections allowing for the suspension of elections which are found in Section 4. The right to life, liberty and security of the person except when denied by a law duly enacted; the right to being safe from cruel and unusual treatment and punishment; the right to a translator in judicial proceedings should in our view never be suspended because of war or apprehended insurrection, and all the language rights in Sections 16 to 23 need in our view never be suspended because of any kind of civil or martial disability.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), p. 86.

    1. I want to ask the Minister in particular about clause one of this proposed Charter of Rights and Freedoms because I suggest that in its present wording it is a gaping hole in the Charter which really makes the alleged rights and freedoms which are supposed to be protected completely illusory; and in fact if this section one is permitted in its present form that in many ways we will be in a worse position in this ggttntry than had this particular Charter not been implement- Mr. Minister, first of all with respect to clause one I would like to ask you who would determine what is generally accepted as a limitation on these rights and freedoms, and what test would they apply? Would it be a numerical test? Mr. Chrétien: It will be the court who will decide. The way I understand the courts to operate, the precedents will determine the next move. It will be the court because we are not giving them other tests than these. Mr. Robinson: How will it be determined what is generally accepted? Will that be in terms of numbers, if the majority of Canadians accept particular limitations? Would this be your understanding of that provision? Mr. Chrétien: I do not want to pass judgment for what the court will say but I do think there is some, as I explained earlier, there is some historical situation, trends in society, that they can measure; whether it be in terms of numbers and so on. Of course, we are putting a charter there for one reason, to protect the minorities against the abuses of the majority. We have improved fantastically over the past 50 or 75 years in Canada in terms of tolerance in our society and so on and they will have the test of what is reasonable in their minds in [Page 28] relation to those rights that are there. I do not see them turning back the clock; it will be in terms of progress and in terms of protection.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), p. 85.

    2. we have a Charter of Rights but this text is a limit; it is an indication to the court how to interpret the charter in relation to the different legislation because if you do not put those words there it could lead to all sorts of change by the courts that will not give them any limits of interpretation. As said by my Deputy Minister there is some legislation that has been well established in the Canadian society that are recognized, and we have to make sure that the courts do not destroy all the previous work of the evolution of our society. Otherwise we will be in great legal difficulty, so they will have to apply the test of reasonableness in their decisions. I do think the Charter of Rights has its own limits, as you will find out when you are studying it, section by section.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), p. 85.

    3. Mr. Roger Tassé (Q.C., Deputy Minister): In effect, Mr. Chairman, that Section 1 is meant to bring forward the concept that these rights that are spelled out in the Charter, [Page 15] those you have mentioned and the others, Mr. McGrath, are not absolute rights. If you just take, for example, the freedom of expression, there are limits to the freedom of expression that already are spelled out in the Criminal Code and that will continue and should continue when a Charter of Rights like this is entrenched. What the Section is meant to do is to bring that concept not only to the legislatures but also to the judges because in effect the judges when they are faced with cases where government action or parliamentary action, legislative action is being tested and being challenged, in effect they have to decide whether limits, restrictions, that may have been imposed, because again these rights are not absolute, are reasonable ones. That is only what Section 1 is intended to do, that in effect the judges, when there are challenges brought before them, wherein effect people would claim that their rights have been unfairly or unreasonably restricted that in coming to a conclusion when they are so challenged that in effect the courts will have to take for granted that there are some limitations that may well be reasonable and legitimate in the kind of society in which we live.

      §1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Referenced in Adam Dodek, The Charter Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018), p. 84.

    1. Orientation Handbook

      Dear all, Please provide us with some feedback on the Orientation Session and this resource by leaving a few annotations for:

      • 1-2 things that you found interesting
      • 1-2 general remarks on any items discussed today
      • 1 question that you still need answered
      • any suggestions relating to the workshop and/ or the Handbook resource

      Thank you very much for your time! We look forward to working with you in the future! Joerdis (and the TC team)

    1. Back at Wood’s home, his granddaughter hopes to own a house someday, likely a year after her baby is born. Wood says he and his wife would help her look for places and pitch in on the down payment if needed. Such family support might be the only way out of doubling up for many in Utah

      Many are not able to afford a house without family support, that is if family support is an option.

    2. but Salt Lake City’s cost of living is 16 percent lower than in Denver, 37 percent lower than Seattle’s and 48 percent under San Francisco’s, according to PayScale. The state — often led personally by Governor Gary Herbert — pitches its advantages well to firms considering relocation, says Joe Vranich, whose consulting firm helps small businesses looking to move. “They will roll out the carpet for you and treat you like a king.” The approach is working. Utah’s “Silicon Slopes”

      Utah's low cost of living attracts tech companies to operate in Utah. This will make more outsiders to relocate to Utah for jobs which can further aggravate the burden of housing shortage and pricing.

    1. It seems to me that in considering the purpose of a subset of the entire series of transactions, Justice Paris had in mind the correct test. As this Court said in MacKay v. Canada, 2008 FCA 105 (CanLII) at paragraph 25: The existence of a bona fide non-tax purpose for a series of transactions does not exclude the possibility that the primary purpose of one or more transactions within the series is to obtain a tax benefit.

      Existence of a bona fide non-tax purpose for a series of transactions does not exclude possibility that the primary purpose of one of the transactions in the series is to obtain a tax benefit.

  2. Jun 2019
    1. “I felt like it wasn’t taken care of and it didn’t feel any safer to me and it didn’t feel any safer to (my son),”

      In most cases, many parents in this situation can understand all too well with the safety of their child. According to the school, the case is resolved with a slap on the wrist for the offender. Amy and her son still feels unsafe. Jacob would have to go to school everyday with fear waiting for the next bad thing to happen. Aside from that, parents must also fear the risk of suicide and the mental well being of their child? The result of a case being "resolved."

    1. Search does not merely present pages but structures knowledge, and the results retrieved in a commercial search engine create their own particular material reality. Ranking is itself information that also reflects the political, social, and cultural values of the society that search engine companies operate within, a notion that is often obscured in traditional information science studies. Noble said that Google representatives usually say either that it’s the computer’s fault or that it’s an anomaly they can’t control.

    1. Search does not merely present pages but structures knowledge, and the results retrieved in a commercial search engine create their own particular material reality. Ranking is itself information that also reflects the political, social, and cultural values of the society that search engine companies operate within, a notion that is often obscured in traditional information science studies. Noble said that Google representatives usually say either that it’s the computer’s fault or that it’s an anomaly they can’t control.

    2. Search does not merely present pages but structures knowledge, and the results retrieved in a commercial search engine create their own particular material reality. Ranking is itself information that also reflects the political, social, and cultural values of the society that search engine companies operate within, a notion that is often obscured in traditional information science studies. Noble said that Google representatives usually say either that it’s the computer’s fault or that it’s an anomaly they can’t control.

    3. Search does not merely present pages but structures knowledge, and the results retrieved in a commercial search engine create their own particular material reality. Ranking is itself information that also reflects the political, social, and cultural values of the society that search engine companies operate within, a notion that is often obscured in traditional information science studies. Noble said that Google representatives usually say either that it’s the computer’s fault or that it’s an anomaly they can’t control.

    1. So many people today – and even professional scientists – seem to me like somebody who has seen thousands of trees but has never seen a forest. A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering.

      a nice way to put it

    1. The decision did not favour his financial interests and has been misreported by the journalist. In fact, Mr Petch was pressuring an inexperienced General Manager to attend to an entitlement affecting multiple councillors. The entitlement - reimbursement of legal expenses incurred in legal action initiated by council - is not discretionary, but must be extended to councillors incurring costs in carrying out their civic duties in good faith. The entitlement is explicitly coded in the NSW Local Government Act and NSW Office of Local Government expenses guidelines for serving councillors and Mayor's. No evidence was submitted that the affected councillors had acted in a manner other than "good faith". Therefore the only logical conclusion that could be drawn for delaying the reimbursement

  3. May 2019
    1. And that's not all. In 'The Last of the Starks' alone, the writers stuck two fingers up at Brienne after using her to service Jaime's internal struggle regarding his twisted devotion to Cersei. Then there was Sansa Stark's conversation with The Hound about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Ramsay Bolton, Littlefinger, and Joffrey, and the way in her suffering was, in the words of actor Jessica Chastain, used as "a tool to make a character stronger".
    1. The writing staff on Game of Thrones has always been male-dominated, with only four episodes in the show’s history being credited to female writers. Season eight is written and directed entirely by men (only one woman, Michelle MacLaren, has ever directed Thrones), although there has been at least one woman in the writer’s room, Gursimran Sandhu, this time around.

      These statistics are saddening. Fess up, HBO!

    2. I forgave the show for its cruel treatment of Sansa a season ago, when it became clear that her story was one of survival rather than victimhood. But Thrones rarely passes up an opportunity to remind us of her rapes. It undermines a character who has refused to be beaten or defined by her suffering, especially when, in the latest episode, she credits her abuse for transforming her from a ‘little bird’ into what she is now. As Jessica Chastain pointed out on Twitter, it was Sansa and Sansa alone who transformed herself into the strong and savvy leader she is – not the men who abused and manipulated her. If the writers don’t understand that, how can we trust them to tell Sansa’s story properly?

      Why did people let this go live?

      Because sexism is rampant, and more "allowed" than nazism, I reckon.

  4. Apr 2019
    1. Marx’s research for Capital included careful study of Justus von Liebig’s work on agricultural chemistry, which he described as “more important for this matter than all the economists put together.”

      Marx was reading Liebig and conceived a "matabolic rift" between capitalist society and nature.

    1. It hardly needs to be added that these new conditions also established the foundation for new and more effective forms of colonial expansion and imperialism, as well as new needs for such expansion, in search of new markets and resources.

      Again, connection between emerging capitalism and imperialism.

    2. This pattern signifies more than is apparent at first glance. It testifies, among other things, to the transformation of social property relations in the heartland of agrarian capitalism, the south and southeast, and the dispossession of small producers, a displaced and migrant population whose destination would typically be London. The growth of London also represents the growing unification not only of the English state but of a national market. That huge city was the hub of English commerce—not only as a major transit point for national and international trade but as a huge consumer of English products, not least its agricultural produce. The growth of London, in other words, in all kinds of ways stands for England’s emerging capitalism, its integrated market—increasingly, a single, unified, and competitive market; its productive agriculture; and its dispossessed population.

      We see this repeated in 18th c. Scotland, but with the dual poles of Edinburgh for finance and Glasgow for trade.

    3. New conceptions of property were also being theorized more systematically, most famously in John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. Chapter 5 of that work is the classic statement of a theory of property based on the principles of improvement.

      This ties into both Malthus and Kames.

    4. It meant, even more fundamentally, new forms and conceptions of property. “Improved” farming, for the enterprising landlord and his prosperous capitalist tenant, ideally required enlarged and concentrated landholdings. It also—and perhaps even more—demanded the elimination of old customs and practices that interfered with the most productive use of land.

      changes in tenancy

    5. Improvement was also a major preoccupation of the Royal Society, which brought together some of England’s most prominent scientists (Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle were both members of the Society) with some of the more forward-looking members of England’s ruling classes—like the philosopher John Locke and his mentor, the first Earl of Shaftesbury, both of whom were keenly interested in agricultural improvement.

      Science and agricultural improvement

    6. so that, for example, some radical thinkers in the nineteenth century might embrace “improvement” in the sense of scientific farming, without its connotation of commercial profit

      I wouldn't be so sure about this separation of science from profit motive.

    7. The word “improve” itself, in its original meaning, did not mean just “making better” in a general sense but literally (based on the old French for “into,” en, and “profit,” pros, or its oblique case, preu) doing something for monetary profit, and especially cultivating land for profit. By the seventeenth century, the word “improver” was firmly fixed in the language to refer to someone who rendered land productive and profitable, especially by enclosing or reclaiming waste. Agricultural “improvement” was by then a well established practice, and in the eighteenth century, in the golden age of agrarian capitalism, “improvement,” in word and deed, came truly into its own.

      Improving for profit

    8. The result was an agrarian sector more productive than any other in history. Landlords and tenants alike became preoccupied with what they called “improvement,” the enhancement of the land’s productivity for profit.

      Again, Scots in the 18th. century were explicitly adopting this language.

    9. This pattern would be reproduced in the colonies, and indeed in post-Independence America, where the independent small farmers who were supposed to be the backbone of a free republic faced, from the beginning, the stark choice of agrarian capitalism: at best, intense self-exploitation, and at worst, dispossession and displacement by larger, more productive enterprises.

      This goes to the question of the relationship between the rise of agrarian capitalism and imperialism.

    10. To meet economic rents in a situation where other potential tenants were competing for the same leases, tenants were compelled to produce cost-effectively, on penalty of dispossession.

      For 18th c. Scots, rather than simply being a member of the same clan and being able to rely on those bonds, tenants now had to be outbid even the members of other clans in order to maintain their access to the land.

    11. The effect of the system of property relations was that many agricultural producers (including prosperous “yeomen”) were market-dependent, not just in the sense that they were obliged to sell produce on the market but in the more fundamental sense that their access to land itself, to the means of production, was mediated by the market.
    12. Landlords had a strong incentive, then, to encourage—and, wherever possible, to compel—their tenants to find ways of increasing their output. In this respect, they were fundamentally different from rentier aristocrats who throughout history have depended for their wealth on squeezing surpluses out of peasants by means of simple coercion, enhancing their powers of surplus extraction not by increasing the productivity of the direct producers but rather by improving their own coercive powers—military, judicial, and political.

      I think we see the same thing in 18th c. Scotland. Landlords are trying to encourage their tenants to maximize yields in order to justify increasing rents. The landlords look to chemists and agriculturalists to help in this effort.

    1. From an economic point of view, this must be one of the oddest projects in the world.. No net gain in floor space for a billion dollar plus privately funded project. This projects exists in one of the most individual economic circumstances in the world. That the CIty of Sydney was unwilling to bend their ridiculous morning Solar Access Plane into Macquarie Park and allow a new tower on Loftus St, leading to this ridiculous FSR swap and wasteful construction... Madness. City of Sydney is the *definition* of champagne socialists. They are too rich, and have too much control over *our* CBD, for a Sydney of 5 million people, not their 250,000 inner city residents.

      Naughty naughty.

    1. Being a teenager is hard; there are constant social and emotional pressures that have just been introduced into the life of a middle or high schooler, which combines with puberty to create a ticking time bomb. By looking at the constant exposure to unreasonable expectations smartphones and social media create, we can see that smartphones are leading to an increased level of depression and anxiety in teenagers, an important issue because we need to find a safe way to use smartphones for the furture generations that are growing up with them. Social media is a large part of a majority of young adults life, whether it includes Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, or some combination of these platforms, most kids have some sort of presence online. Sites like Facebook and Instagram provide friends with a snapshot of an event that happened in your life, and people tend to share the positive events online, but this creates a dangerous impact on the person scrolling.​ When teens spend hours scrolling through excluisvely happy posts, it creates an unrealistic expectation for how real life should be. Without context, teenagers often feel as if their own life is not measuring up to all of their happy friends, but real-life will never measure up to the perfect ones expressed online. Picture Picture Furthermore, social media sites create a way for teenagers to seek external validation from likes and comments, but when the reactions online are not perceived as enough it dramatically alters a young adults self-confidence. This leads to the issue of cyberbullying. There are no restrictions on what you can say online, sometimes even annonimously, so often people choose to send negative messages online. Bullying is not a new concept, but with online bullying, there is little to no escape as a smartphone can be with a teenager everywhere, and wherever the smartphone goes the bullying follows.This makes cyberbullying a very effective way to decrease a youth's mental health, in fact, cyberbullying triples the risk of suicide in adolescents, which is already the third leading cause of death for this age group.

  5. Mar 2019
    1. Perhaps, he realized, these viruses don’t actually need to unite their segments in the same host cell. “If theory was saying that this is impossible, maybe the viruses just don’t do it,” he says. “And once we had this stupid idea, testing it was very easy.”

      This is different from the theory of evolution or the theory of electromagnetism. It's a smaller things, like an assumption. Evolution, also in biology, is a more encompassing set of ideas. So the theoretical framework has a hierarchy. Perhaps at the top is a Kuhnian paradigm or a Lakatosian research program.

      Does this hierarchy different between sciences, though? Like, how hard is it to take a new assumption and grow it into a fully-fledged theory? Biology is more complex than physics, with more "facts" and forms to understand. Evolution is different from electromagnetism because it doesn't limit as much. EM clearly prescribes what's possible and what isn't, whereas evolution doesn't make the distinction so clearly.

    1. train and develop your staff with mobile apps I am not sure why the first two components of this page are included, but there is a bulleted list of contexts or applications of mobile apps for e-learning, such as leadership training, onboarding, and integrating interns who are part of the organization. This is interesting but I do not yet know how essential it is.

    1. 'You can always tell a person by their shopping,' was one of her mother's favourite maxims. She looked into her shopping basket: individual fruit pies, small salad cream, yoghurt, tomatoes, cat food and a chicken quarter.The cashier suddenly said, 'Make it out to J. Sainsbury PLC.' She was addressing a man who had been poised and waiting to write out a cheque for a few moments. His wife was loading what looked like a gross offish fingers into a cardboard box marked "Whiskas". It was called a division of labour.Jean looked again at her basket and began to feel the familiar feeling of regret that visited her from time to time. Hemmed in be­tween family-size cartons of cornflakes and giant packets of wash­ing-powder, her individual yoghurt seemed to say it all. She looked up towards a plastic bookstand which stood beside the till. A slim glossy hardback caught her eye. The words Cooking for One screamed out from the front cover. Think of all the oriental foods you can get into, her friend had said. He was so traditional after all. Nodding in agreement with her thoughts Jean found herself eye to eye with the blonde woman, who gave her a blank, hard look and handed her what looked like a black plastic ruler with the words "Next customer please" printed on it in bold letters. She turned back to her friend. Jean put the ruler down on the conveyor belt.
    1. This is Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive objectives. I selected this page because it explains both the old and new versions of the taxonomy. When writing instructional objectives for adult learning and training, one should identify the level of learning in Blooms that is needed. This is not the most attractive presentation but it is one of the more thorough ones. rating 4/5

    1. This link is to a three-page PDF that describes Gagne's nine events of instruction, largely in in the form of a graphic. Text is minimized and descriptive text is color coded so it is easy to find underneath the graphic at the top. The layout is simple and easy to follow. A general description of Gagne's work is not part of this page. While this particular presentation does not have personal appeal to me, it is included here due to the quality of the page and because the presentation is more user friendly than most. Rating 4/5

    1. This page is a simply presented list of many learning theories, both popular and less well known. The layout is clean. The pages to which the listed items link are somewhat minimal in nature so this would give a basic tour or overview of the models and would allow viewers to review the names of some of the learning theories. This page does not prioritize learning theories or identify and establish those theories that are the most prominent.

    1. such as scope, simplicity, fruitfulness, accuracy

      Theories can be measured according to multiple metrics. The current default appears to be predictive accuracy, but this lists others, such as scope. If theory A predicts better but narrower and theory B predicts worse (in A's domain) but much more broadly, which is a better theory?

      Others might be related to simplicity and whatnot. For example, if a theory is numerical but not explanatory (such as scaling laws or the results of statistical fitting) this theory might be useful but not satisfying.

    2. Like in evolution, the process does not change toward some fixed goal according to some fixed rules, methods or standards, but rather it changes away from the pressures exerted by anomalies on the reigning theory (Kuhn 1962, 170–173). The process of scientific change is eliminative and permissive rather than instructive.

      This is similar to evolution: not guided, but not random. Does this view contradict the idea of progression?

      It also suggests a complex dynamic system that possess path dependence and environmental interaction.

    1. Crucial to understanding the workings of power is an understandingof the nature of power in the fullness of its materiality. To restrict power’sproductivity to the limited domain of the “social,” for example, or tofigure matter as merely an end product rather than an active factor infurther materializations, is to cheat matter out of the fullness of its capacity.

      The nature of power is material as well as social.

  6. Feb 2019
    1. Any local, state or national government, or any political machine, in order to live, must give the people assurance that they can express their will freely and that their votes will be counted. The most powerful machine cannot exist without the support of the people. Political bosses and political machinery can be good, but the minute they cease to express the will of the people, their days are numbered.

      A very powerful sentiment aligned with the US Declaration of Independence.

    1. Writers who continue to support an outmoded concept of the lone writer dissociated from the various niche communities at their disposal will eventually lose touch with the nanosecond speed at which the movement-chemistry wanders and will find their own work and its individually-isolated movement decelerating into turtle-like oblivion
    1. We refer to a way of life

      I view that through the lens of mindsets; I get there by learning that, when confronted with a life-threatening diagnosis, taking full ownership of the dx can save lives. I map that to strategies for preventing life-threatening diagnoses (think: all the complex, urgent issues about which Douglas Engelbart spoke).

    1. supported the aristocracy, from whom she benefited

      This bothers our modern sensibilities, yet the hirearchy of needs dictates that we don't dismantle social structures that help us survive. Ironically, it's the people who can survive without regard for those structures (i.e., the wealthy and powerful) who often do the dismantling. Or, as my father would say, "don't sh*t where you eat." Unless, of course, you can eat somewhere else...

    2. ou please your selves.

      A phrase that echoes Cavendish, who ponders her inability "Please All" (1), the desire for which kmurphy1 pointed out "hinders the progression of knowledge. Making this realization in the first sentence is remarkably important, for it immediately opens the door to discovery." For Astell and Astell's reader, the focus isn't on pleasing others but the self, and in doing so a woman can see ingeniousness not as an anomaly but as something within her grasp, if she takes the step toward discovery.

    3. communicating

      See Locke's second function of language: "for the communicating of our thoughts to others" (817). Although Locke is skeptical as to language's ability to accurately communicate these thoughts, apart from civic discourse. But Astell is referring here to meaning related to "those Truths."

    1. “In spite of the high cost of rescuing the banks and the rising inequality across society revealed by the recession, the shrinking of the state has continued, led by the vain hope that markets will find a way of bringing a miraculous revival if left to themselves. History has shown that this is the wrong moment for that. Yet the current economic orthodoxy, incapable of explaining the crashes, holds on to an interpretation of how the economy functions that ignores the role of technology and the accumulated learning of the other social sciences. It has taken refuge in increasingly complex mathematical models, as if economics were more closely akin to physics. Worse still, these economists and many of their critics are still waging the ideological battles of the 1960s and 1980s, without realising that we are now in a completely different context—one that has more in common with the 1930s … If the advanced world governments stay on the current austerity path, they will wait forever for the market to do the right thing for growth and social well-being …

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    1. ಅನಾದಿಯಾಗಿ ಪಶು ಪಾಶ ಮಲ ಮಯಾಕರ್ಮಗಳುಂಟಾದರೆ,ಈ ಜಗವನೊಬ್ಬರೂ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಮಾಡಿದ ಕರ್ತುವಲ್ಲ.ಎಂದೆಂದೂ ಜಗವಿದ್ದಿತ್ತು ನಿತ್ಯವೆನ್ನು.ಎಂದೆಂದೂ ಜಗವಿದ್ದಿತ್ತೆಂಬೆಯಾದರೆ,ಶಿವನ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ, ಸ್ಥಿತಿ, ಸಂಹಾರ, ಸ್ಥಿರೋಭಾವ, ಅನುಗ್ರಹವೆಂಬಪಂಚಕೃತ್ಯಗಳು ಹುಸಿಯೆಂದೆನ್ನು.ಶಿವನಿಗೆ ಸೃಷ್ಟಿ ಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಸಂಹಾರಾರ್ಥವುಂಟಾದರೆ,ಈ ಜಗತ್ತೆಲ್ಲವೂ ಶಿವನ ನೆನಹು ಮಾತ್ರದಿಂದ ಹುಟ್ಟಿತ್ತಲ್ಲದೆ,ಎಂದೆಂದೂ ಉಂಟೆಂಬುದು ಶೈವ ಪಶುಮತವಲ್ಲದೆ,ವೀರಶೈವರ ಮತವಲ್ಲ.ವೀರಶೈವರ ಮತವೆಂತೆಂದಡೆ:ಘನ ಗಂಬ್ಥೀರ ವಾರಿದ್ಥಿಯೊಳಗೆ ಫೇನತರಂಗಬುದ್ಬುದ ಶೀಕರಾದಿಗಳು ತೋರಿದಡೆ,ಆ ಸಾಗರ ಹೊರಗಾಗಿ ತೋರಬಲ್ಲವೇ?ಆ ಪರಶಿವಸಾಗರದಲ್ಲಿ ತೃಣಾದಿ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಾಂತವಾದ ದೇಹಿಗಳುಉತ್ಪತ್ತಿಯಾಗಿ ಮತ್ತಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ಅಡಗುತ್ತಿಪ್ಪರು ನೋಡಾ.ಇದು ಕಾರಣ, ಲಿಂಗನಿರ್ಮಿತದಿಂದ ಜಗತ್ತಾಯಿತೆಂದೆ ಕಾಣಾ,ಮಹಾಲಿಂಗಗುರು ಶಿವಸಿದ್ಧೇಶ್ವರ ಪ್ರಭುವೇ.
    1. ಆವ ಜಾತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದವನಾದಡಾಗಲಿ,ಶ್ರೀಮಹಾದೇವನ ನೆನೆವಾತನದ್ಥಿಕ ನೋಡಾ.ಆತನಿಂದದ್ಥಿಕ ಕಂಗಳು ತುಂಬಿ ನೋಡುವಾತ.ಆತನಿಂದದ್ಥಿಕ ಕೈಮುಟ್ಟಿ ಪೂಜಿಸುವಾತ.ಅದೆಂತೆಂದಡೆ, ಶಿವಧರ್ಮೇ-``ಲಿಂಗಸ್ಯ ದರ್ಶನಂ ಪುಣ್ಯಂ ದರ್ಶನಾತ್ ಸ್ಪರ್ಶನಂ ಶುಭಂ |ಶಿವಲಿಂಗಂ ಮಹಾಪುಣ್ಯಂ ಸರ್ವದೇವ ನಮಸ್ಕøತಂ |ಯಃ ಸ್ಪøಶೇದಪಿ ಪಾಣಿಭ್ಯಾಂ ನ ಸ ಪಾಪೈಃ ಪರಿಲಿಪ್ಯತೇ ||''ಎಂದುದಾಗಿ,ಅಂತಪ್ಪ ಶಿವಲಿಂಗವನು ಹೆರೆಹಿಂಗದೆ ಅಂಗದ ಮೇಲೆನಿರಂತರ ಧರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿಪ್ಪಾತನೆ ಎಲ್ಲರಿಂದದ್ಥಿಕ ನೋಡಾಅಖಂಡೇಶ್ವರಾ.
    1. t must be allowed, that there are certain qualities in objects, which arc fitted by nature to produce those particular feelings.

      The companion piece to the idea that beauty is in the mind of the observer (above): "Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty" (832). Beauty has roots in the object that then evokes the feeling of beauty in the mind.

    2. By this means, his sentiments are perverted; nor have the same beauties and blemishes the same influence upon him, as if he had imposed a proper violence on his imagination, and had for­gotten himself for a moment. So far his taste evi­dently departs from the true standard; and of con­sequence loses all credit and authority

      This is stuffed to the gills with assumptions. And while there is a good deal of boilerplate Enlightenment business going on, Hume also seems to be planting the seeds later authors will reap.

      Hume is requiring of the listener/taster/receiver, which is not new. "You think rap is good because you don't understand 'art' " is a common refrain. The elites have always used exposure to canonical works and forms as a method of discrediting those outside the circle, and have dismissed emerging works and forms as "lowbrow."

      What strikes me about Hume, and perhaps posthumanism (along with Foucault) would find this noteworthy, is that this "violence on" a person is not done by the community, but by the person themself.

    1. Speech and thought arc inseparable, in Vico'., view: They evolve together.

      True and not true. I cannot speak a thought to someone else unless I have a word for it. However, I do have thoughts that as yet do not have words. Do we get stuck on thoughts, however, unable to progress onto a successive thought, if the current thought has no name? I don't know, but I think it's an interesting concept to mull over. And, once again, calls to mind the movie Arrival.

    2. \·e11.m.\· c·o1111111111i

      Oxford reference: "Not common sense in its ordinary meaning, but in Aristotle (De Anima, II, 1–2) and following him Aquinas and others, a central cognitive function that integrates and monitors the delivery of the other distinct senses, as when a shape is both seen and felt."

      Kant discusses this concept extensively, but his definition is closer to "common sense" than Aristotle's.

    1. He that has complex ideas, without particular names for them, would be in no better case than a bookseller, who had in his warehouse volumes that lay there unbound, and without titles, which he could therefore make known to others only by showing the loose sheets, and communicate them only by tale.

      Part of demonstrating knowledge has to do with the organization of thoughts. What good does it do if one's thoughts remain undeveloped and in disarray? The goal should be to not only generate knowledge, but to translate this knowledge in an organized and accessible form.

    2. Vico, Sheridan, and Campbell, as well as a number of philosophers, pursued Locke's suggestive but incomplete account of the relation-ship of language and knowledge, though never far enough to link rhetoric explicitly with the process of creating "true" knowledge. T

      We stand on the shoulders of academics who have come before us. Although Locke's work may have been "incomplete" or a starting point, his work initiated this pursuit and paved the way for future scholars.

  7. Jan 2019
    1. My argument is that today the critical posthumanities are emergingas post-disciplinary discursive fronts not only around the edges ofthe classical disciplines but also as o

      What if we view the posthumanities as it's own evolutionary process? Much like the "Dawn of Humanity" film explained with human evolution, the posthumanities could be seen as evolving as a braided stream alongside the classical disciplines.

  8. www.at-the-intersection.com www.at-the-intersection.com
    1. no, and I was talking to her at the meetup and find it very useful to see all my accounts on these three exchanges on one screen. I don't want to have to log in to each one separately and keep track of how much coins I have on each. I would rather see this on one screen every morning. I pull up the screen easy to see. I don't necessarily need to trade from that screen, but I can just an idea of what holdings I have because I'm constantly rebalancing.
    1. Beware lest ye contend with anyone, nay, strive to make him aware of the truth with kindly manner and most convincing exhortation. If your hearer respond, he will have responded to his own behoof, and if not, turn ye away from him, and set your faces towards God’s sacred Court, the seat of resplendent holiness.
    1. We must have an agency of the federal government to pMtett it.

      Is a federal government, and a federal government alone, enough to do such a thing? I mean, look at what happened to the Library of Alexandria. I still get pissed off thinking about that. And is it even a good idea in the first place to let them have that responsibility? I can't help but think of all of the instances in which governments have been directly responsible for mass destructions of literature. There's an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to historical book burning events, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_book-burning_incidents, and a large majority of these noteworthy burnings were done at the will of the government. What would happen if we were to give them too much agency in this matter? Is it a good idea for governments to have the final say in the well-being of our literature? How can we trust them to decide what is and isn't worth protecting?

    2. o one, or almost no one, fads to beheve 1n climate chan~Je out of sincere ignorance. Ttiey •choose-to d1sbeheve either for material gain or 1ust to be dicks.

      "If people were more aware of x, then they would realize they're wrong about y, and they would do z" is a line that is constantly repeated in my WGST classes, and I always look like an asshole when I argue that that's not how things work.

    3. To doubt Blum was to doubt the traditional edu-cational system and therefore the entire society. Nobody wanted to do it.

      This is the politics of ignorance at play. If you acknowledge that there is a problem, you must then address that problem. You must do something about that problem. If you don't want to do something, then you will choose not to acknowledge that there is a problem.

    1. f to do thatis human, if that's what it tak§, tnen I am a human being after all. 'Fully, freely, gladly, for tneficst time.

      This brings us back to the point that the definition of human is similar to the definition of rhetoric. The more you try to define either, the more confusing and exclusionary each can get. Just like rhetoric, there is no one way to define human, but instead you stack all definitions on top of each other, without one superseding the others. The definitions are also situational, like Le Guin being human by this definition, but not by the previous one about killing.

    2. The society, the civilization they were talking about, these theoreti-cians, was evidently theirs; they owned it, they liked it; they were human, fully human, bashing, sticking, thrusting, killing. Wanting to be human too, I sought for evidence that I was; but if that's what it took, to make a weapon and kill with it, then evidently I was either extremely defective as a human being, or not human at all. That's right, they said. What you are is a woman. Possibly not human at all, certainly defective. Now be quiet while we go on telling the Story of the Ascent of Man the Hero

      Le Guin gives a definition of what it means to be human; the idea of theorists that humans must kill. Then, she makes it clear that this isn't the only definition of human, considering she's human and wouldn't/couldn't act in such a way. Then there's this awesome and gross little paragraph about women possibly not being human, but rather, defective and unworthy of having a say. Ouch.

    1. UTILITARIANISM

      Via Stanford Encyclopedia - History of Utilitarianism: "Though there are many varieties of the view discussed, utilitarianism is generally held to be the view that the morally right action is the action that produces the most good. There are many ways to spell out this general claim. One thing to note is that the theory is a form of consequentialism: the right action is understood entirely in terms of consequences produced. What distinguishes utilitarianism from egoism has to do with the scope of the relevant consequences. On the utilitarian view one ought to maximize the overall good — that is, consider the good of others as well as one's own good."

    1. Access to gender-responsive substance use disorder treatment services, especially for pregnant women

      Stigma is particularly high for this group, along with the felt shame that pregnant women bear, which serve as barriers to accessing high quality drug addiction support. Because group therapy is one common form of treatment, retention is lower because the group majority is male. Women who do seek out help do not always feel psychologically safe in these treatment settings. Additionally, they may not appropriately address the unique needs of mothers and expecting mothers. I wonder about regional differences, SES, race/ethnicity...

    1. Overall, recovery studies suggest that subcategories of the recovery process exist. However, different units of analysis (e.g., individual versus group) or different types of groups (e.g., based on ethnicity or social class) may experience the phases of recovery at differing rates. Thus, patterns, phrases or cycles of recovery are not linear.

      Strong statement on how the unit of analysis can influence disaster research beyond theoretical frameworks and the need to look at temporality differently.

  9. Dec 2018
    1. my proceedings in my days

      The Egyptian Book of the Dead as it is most commonly called today was and is also known as the Book of Breathings or the Book of Coming Forth by Day. In this last title it is strongly implied that, besides being a funerary text the book should be understood and read as a type of dreaming journal too. This very aptly applies to what we are reading here with regards Lehi's writings of the "many things" which he saw in "visions and dreams" and which he "prophesied and spake" (breathings) unto his children.

      The combination of "learning of the Jews" with "language of the Egyptians" should be kept in mind throughout a reading of the BOM and will be especially plain at certain parts.

    1. Our under-standing of the gap is driven by technological exploration through artifact cre-ation and deployment, but HCI and CSCW systems need to have at their corea fundamental understanding of how people really work and live in groups, or-ganizations, communities, and other forms of collective life. Otherwise, wewill produce unusable systems, badly mechanizing and distorting collabora-tion and other social activity.

      The risk of CSCW not driving toward a more scientific pursuit of social theory, understanding, and ethnomethodology and instead simply building "cool toys"

    2. Nonetheless, several guiding questions are required based on thesocial–technical gap and its role in any CSCW science of the artificial:• When can a computational system successfully ignore the need fornuance and context?• When can a computational system augment human activity withcomputer technologies suitably to make up for the loss in nuance andcontext, as argued in the approximation section earlier?• Can these benefits be systematized so that we know when we are add-ing benefit rather than creating loss?• What types of future research will solve some of the gaps betweentechnical capabilities and what people expect in their full range of so-cial and collaborative activities?

      Questions to consider in moving CSCW toward a science of the artificial

    3. First-order approximations, to adopt a metaphor from fluid dynamics, aretractable solutions that partially solve specific problems with knowntrade-offs.

      Definition of first-order approximations.

      Ackerman argues that CSCW needs a set of approximations that drive the development of initial work-arounds for the socio-technical gaps.

      Essentially, how to satisfy some social requirements and then approximate the trade-offs. Doesn't consider the product a solution in full but something to iterate and improve

      This may have been new/radical thinking 20 years ago but seems to have been largely adopted by the CSCW community

    4. CSCW’s science, however, must centralize the necessary gap between whatwe would prefer to construct and what we can construct. To do this as a practi-cal program of action requires several steps—palliatives to ameliorate the cur-rent social conditions, first-order approximations to explore the design space,and fundamental lines of inquiry to create the science. These steps should de-velop into a new science of the artificial. In any case, the steps are necessary tomove forward intellectually within CSCW, given the nature of the social–tech-nical gap.

      Ackerman sets up the steps necessary for CSCW to become a science of the artificial and to try to resolve the socio-technical gap:

      Palliatives to ameliorate social conditions

      Approximations to explore the design space

      Lines of scientific inquiry

    5. Simon’s (1969/1981) book does not address the inevitable gaps betweenthe desired outcome and the means of producing that outcome for anylarge-scale design process, but CSCW researchers see these gaps as unavoid-able. The social–technical gap should not have been ignored by Simon.Yet, CSCW is exactly the type of science Simon envisioned, and CSCW couldserve as a reconstruction and renewal of Simon’s viewpoint, suitably revised. Asmuch as was AI, CSCW is inherently a science of the artificial,

      How Ackerman sees CSCW as a science of the artificial:

      "CSCW is at once an engineering discipline attempting to construct suitable systems for groups, organizations, and other collectivities, and at the same time, CSCW is a social science attempting to understand the basis for that construction in the social world (or everyday experience)."

    6. At a simple level,CSCW’s intellectual context is framed by social constructionism andethnomethodology (e.g., Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Garfinkel, 1967), systemstheories (e.g., Hutchins, 1995a), and many large-scale system experiences (e.g.,American urban renewal, nuclear power, and Vietnam). All of these pointed tothe complexities underlying any social activity, even those felt to be straightfor-ward.

      Succinct description of CSCW as social constructionism, ethnomethodlogy, system theory and large-scale system implementation.

    7. Yet,The Sciences of the Artificialbecame an an-them call for artificial intelligence and computer science. In the book he ar-gued for a path between the idea for a new science (such as economics orartificial intelligence) and the construction of that new science (perhaps withsome backtracking in the creation process). This argument was both charac-teristically logical and psychologically appealing for the time.

      Simon defines "Sciences of the Artificial" as new sciences/disciplines that synthesize knowledge that is technically or socially constructed or "created and maintained through human design and agency" as opposed to the natural sciences

    8. The HCI and CSCW research communitiesneed to ask what one might do to ameliorate the effects of the gap and to fur-ther understand the gap. I believe an answer—and a future HCI challenge—is toreconceptualize CSCW as a science of the artificial. This echoes Simon (1981)but properly updates his work for CSCW’s time and intellectual task.2

      Ackerman describes "CSCW as a science of the artificial" as a potential approach to reduce the socio-technical gap

    1. Whereas I say, that things as objects of our senses existing outside us are given, but we know nothing of what they may be in themselves, knowing only their appearances, i. e., the representations which they cause in us by affecting our senses. Consequently I grant by all means that there are bodies without us, that is, things which, though quite unknown to us as to what they are in themselves, we yet know by the representations which their influence on our sensibility procures us, and which we call bodies, a term signifying merely the appearance of the thing which is unknown to us, but not therefore less actual. Can this be termed idealism? It is the very contrary.

      Original text avaiable here https://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/18Jh/Kant/kan_pr04.html

    1. The specter of upcoming departure influenced behavior in a way that removed one from reality — academics in Lyon mattered less at home, new friends would return to their countries of origin and communication would lapse, and why invest for comfort when somewhere so briefly?

      This sentence is 44 words!!!

  10. Nov 2018
    1. Canada is the first case of the expansion of hospital medicine beyond the United States, and as of 2008, Canada had more than 100 hospital medicine programs.7 Currently, the estimated number of hospitalists in Canada has increased to ~3,000 (Colleen Savage, Administrator, Canadian SHM, personal communication, December 6, 2017). Yousef and Maslowski describe several drivers for the development of the hospitalist model, which are related to physicians, patients, and systems. Work–life balance and the desire for non-hospital work among primary care providers (PCPs) were leading physician factors. Two major patient-related factors were the increasing age and complexity of patients and the increasing number of “unattached” patients. Unattached patients are those who either do not have a PCP or their PCP does not have admitting hospital privileges. System drivers included PCP shortages, reduction in resident duty hours, higher need for health system efficiency, and cost reduction. Further, increasing health system complexity led to PCPs withdrawing from hospital care.7
    1. Davis and col-leagues (3) provide useful new data that enhance our un-derstanding of the effects of hospitalists on health sys-tems. In their study of a voluntary hospitalist system at alarge rural nonteaching hospital in Mississippi, theyfound that patients cared for by hospitalists had adjustedhospital stays that were 25% shorter, and costs that were12% less, than patients cared for by nonhospitalist inter-nists. For patients in the highest severity group, these sav-ings were even greater. Annualized, the authors extrapo-late that the hospitalists would have saved $2.5 millionhad they cared for all of the internists’ patients. As withprior studies that found similar reductions in resourceuse (4 –7), these substantial savings were achieved with-out diminishing quality or patient satisfaction. Nor wasthere evidence of cost shifting: hospitalists’ patients wereno less likely to be discharged to home (instead of anotherinstitution such as a skilled nursing facility) than werepatients of primary care internists. We can now state withconsiderable confidence that hospitalists markedly de-crease inpatient costs and lengths of stay with no compro-mise in quality or patient satisfaction.
    1. Hospitalists need to continue to take C-suite positions at hospitals and policy roles at think tanks and governmental agencies. They need to continue to master technology, clinical care, and the ever-growing importance of where those two intersect. Most of all, the field can’t get lazy. Otherwise, the “better mousetrap” of HM might one day be replaced by the next group of physicians willing to work harder to implement their great idea. “If we continue to be the vanguard of innovation, the vanguard of making the system work better than it ever has before,” Dr. Wachter says, “the field that creates new models of care, that integrates technology in new ways, and that has this can-do attitude and optimism, then the sky is the limit.”
    2. At a time of once-in-a-generation reform to healthcare in this country, the leaders of HM can’t afford to rest on their laurels, says Dr. Goldman. Three years ago, he wrote a paper for the Journal of Hospital Medicine titled “An Intellectual Agenda for Hospitalists.” In short, Dr. Goldman would like to see hospitalists move more into advancing science themselves rather than implementing the scientific discoveries of others. He cautions anyone against taking that as criticism of the field. “If hospitalists are going to be the people who implement what other people have found, they run the risk of being the ones who make sure everybody gets perioperative beta-blockers even if they don’t really work,” he says. “If you want to take it to the illogical extreme, you could have people who were experts in how most efficiently to do bloodletting. “The future for hospitalists, if they’re going to get to the next level—I think they can and will—is that they have to be in the discovery zone as well as the implementation zone.” Dr. Wachter says it’s about staying ahead of the curve. For 20 years, the field has been on the cutting edge of how hospitals treat patients. To grow even more, it will be crucial to keep that focus.

      Hospitalists can learn these skills through residency and fellowship training. In addition, through mentorship models that create evergrowing

    3. Dr. Gandhi, who was finishing her second year of residency at Duke Medical Center in Raleigh, N.C., when the NEJM paper was published, sees the acuity of patients getting worse in the coming years as America rapidly ages. Baby boomers will start turning 80 in the next decade, and longer life spans translate to increasing medical problems that will often require hospitalization.
    4. So what now? For all the talk of SHM’s success, HM’s positive impacts, and the specialty’s rocket growth trajectory, the work isn’t done, industry leaders say. Hospitalists are not just working toward a more valuable delivery of care, they’re also increasingly viewed as leaders of projects all around the hospital because, well, they are always there, according to Dr. Gandhi. “Hospitalists really are a leader in the hospital around quality and safety issues because they are there on the wards all the time,” she says. “They really have an interest in being the physician champions around various initiatives, so [in my hospital tenures] I partnered with many of my hospitalist colleagues on ways to improve care, such as test-result management, medication reconciliation, and similar efforts. We often would establish multidisciplinary committees to work on things, and almost always there was a hospitalist who was chairing or co-chairing or participating very actively in that group.”
    5. By 2007, SHM had launched Project BOOST (Better Outcomes by Optimizing Safe Transitions), an award-winning mentored-implementation program to reduce LOS, adverse events, and unnecessary 30-day readmissions. Other mentored-implementation programs followed. The Glycemic Control Mentored Implementation (GCMI) program focuses on preventing hypoglycemia, while the Venous Thromboembolism Prevention Collaborative (VTE PC) seeks to give practical assistance on how to reduce blood clots via a VTE prevention program

      Other SHM Mentored Implementation programs -

      • Atul Gawande
      • I-PASS
      • PFC I-PASS Link this to
      • Dissemination and implementation of research findings
      • Twenty years since to err is human
    6. In 2012, SHM earned the 2011 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the National Level, thanks to its mentored-implementation programs. SHM was the first professional society to earn the award, bestowed by the National Quality Forum (NQF) and The Joint Commission.