Gab Taillefer McLaren
@gabtm.bsky.social
🍉 environmental historian and PhD student studying settler responses to environmental disease during a pandemic/climate crisis. popcorn enthusiast and frequent crafter. 🍉
Christmas crafting is ongoing but so far, we've got: 2 hats, 2 scarves, 1 headband, two strands of crochet ivy, all the food that the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate, a fish pouch, and a couple of Christmas chicken decorations
December 9, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Christmas crafting is ongoing but so far, we've got: 2 hats, 2 scarves, 1 headband, two strands of crochet ivy, all the food that the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate, a fish pouch, and a couple of Christmas chicken decorations
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
"We're going to create superintelligence" How about making outlook search work first. How about that
October 3, 2025 at 5:18 PM
"We're going to create superintelligence" How about making outlook search work first. How about that
You should read it, some really cool scholars and artists are in it!
Want to learn more about wetlands, check out our 2024 Wetland Wednesday series, edited by @gabtm.bsky.social.
niche-canada.org/tag/wetland-...
#wetlands #envhist #envhum
niche-canada.org/tag/wetland-...
#wetlands #envhist #envhum
August 30, 2025 at 2:13 AM
You should read it, some really cool scholars and artists are in it!
the comps notes are spending the night in a drawer, what a rush
August 30, 2025 at 2:12 AM
the comps notes are spending the night in a drawer, what a rush
I cannot stress how grounding and comforting it is to have a garden to tend and connect to while reading through my environmental history comps list #phdstudent #envhist
June 20, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I cannot stress how grounding and comforting it is to have a garden to tend and connect to while reading through my environmental history comps list #phdstudent #envhist
There were so many thematic parallels between Sunrise on the Reaping and Catching Fire I think Collins will write a sixth Hunger Games book, so that there are three stand-alone books that follow the arc of the original series. I have theories, ideas, topics, and suggestions #hungergames
March 19, 2025 at 7:54 PM
There were so many thematic parallels between Sunrise on the Reaping and Catching Fire I think Collins will write a sixth Hunger Games book, so that there are three stand-alone books that follow the arc of the original series. I have theories, ideas, topics, and suggestions #hungergames
Happy New Hunger Games Book day to all those who celebrate or will need to tolerate me today
March 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Happy New Hunger Games Book day to all those who celebrate or will need to tolerate me today
I had a really interesting conversation with students I TA about what going to high school in Ontario during the Ford years was like. I'm not surprised that the election turned out the way it did, but I'm sad for the next generations of high school students who will be neglected and underprepared
February 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I had a really interesting conversation with students I TA about what going to high school in Ontario during the Ford years was like. I'm not surprised that the election turned out the way it did, but I'm sad for the next generations of high school students who will be neglected and underprepared
🫠
At the same time York University is suspending admissions to 18 programs, including Indigenous Studies, Spanish, and Gender and Women's Studies the university is paying to have their logo on the court for the Raptors broadcast. Tells you what you need to know about York's priorities.
February 26, 2025 at 6:28 PM
🫠
0 days since I called Benedict Anderson 'Benedict Arnold' in seminar 🙃
February 25, 2025 at 9:35 PM
0 days since I called Benedict Anderson 'Benedict Arnold' in seminar 🙃
Community is seven strangers in a café watching a car parked on the streetcar tracks paralyze Queen St
February 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Community is seven strangers in a café watching a car parked on the streetcar tracks paralyze Queen St
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we're spotlighting a fantastic project published in BDJ, which used the power of data to uncover the hidden stories of women in science and publish them as a freely available resource.
blog.pensoft.net/2023/12/06/e...
blog.pensoft.net/2023/12/06/e...
Entangled “her”stories – An open multi-linked dynamic dataset of plant genera named for women
Which plant genera do you know that are named for women? Who were/are they?
blog.pensoft.net
February 11, 2025 at 5:39 PM
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we're spotlighting a fantastic project published in BDJ, which used the power of data to uncover the hidden stories of women in science and publish them as a freely available resource.
blog.pensoft.net/2023/12/06/e...
blog.pensoft.net/2023/12/06/e...
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
Coming up next week (and then two weeks later): Small Things - where we talk about cross stitch (or any stitchery, really) as life writing, as storytelling, as activism - and make projects that we'll release into the world as invitations and provocations!
February 4, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Coming up next week (and then two weeks later): Small Things - where we talk about cross stitch (or any stitchery, really) as life writing, as storytelling, as activism - and make projects that we'll release into the world as invitations and provocations!
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
writer-in-residence day 25: one boy, one mother, one ship (or, more tangling with inconsistencies in archival transcription)
stitchingempire.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/d...
stitchingempire.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/d...
day 25: one boy, one mother, one ship
One boy, one mother, one ship. That’s where this project begins. What might a mother and her young child have talked about during a 3-month voyage took them halfway around the world. What would the…
stitchingempire.wordpress.com
February 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
writer-in-residence day 25: one boy, one mother, one ship (or, more tangling with inconsistencies in archival transcription)
stitchingempire.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/d...
stitchingempire.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/d...
February 6, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
New study finds that frequent use of AI tools encourages offloading cognitive tasks and reduces critical thinking. Higher AI usage correlated with lower critical thinking skills, especially in younger users.
www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15...
www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15...
AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking
The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools has transformed numerous aspects of daily life, yet its impact on critical thinking remains underexplored. This study investigates the relations...
www.mdpi.com
January 6, 2025 at 3:15 PM
New study finds that frequent use of AI tools encourages offloading cognitive tasks and reduces critical thinking. Higher AI usage correlated with lower critical thinking skills, especially in younger users.
www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15...
www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15...
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
Tired of being bombarded by AI propaganda? Concerned about the outrageous & escalating environmental costs of these technologies?
Then register for this online talk by @apasek.bsky.social on Feb. 12 at 12:00 PM EST. #envhum @nichecanada.bsky.social
More info & registration at link below.
Then register for this online talk by @apasek.bsky.social on Feb. 12 at 12:00 PM EST. #envhum @nichecanada.bsky.social
More info & registration at link below.
AI is Trash: The Environmental Externalities of Machine Learning Tools with Dr. Anne Pasek
discuss the environmental costs of machine learning and deep learning technologies.
www.trentu.ca
January 5, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Tired of being bombarded by AI propaganda? Concerned about the outrageous & escalating environmental costs of these technologies?
Then register for this online talk by @apasek.bsky.social on Feb. 12 at 12:00 PM EST. #envhum @nichecanada.bsky.social
More info & registration at link below.
Then register for this online talk by @apasek.bsky.social on Feb. 12 at 12:00 PM EST. #envhum @nichecanada.bsky.social
More info & registration at link below.
the same crunchy little dog who sat on my lap while I wrote term papers from my parents' house is now helping me grade exams. thank goodness!
December 23, 2024 at 5:36 PM
the same crunchy little dog who sat on my lap while I wrote term papers from my parents' house is now helping me grade exams. thank goodness!
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
Happy Winter Solstice
Spend some time with our Winter in Canada series, edited and organized by Blake Butler and @benbradleyca.bsky.social earlier this year.
niche-canada.org/tag/winter-i...
#envhist #winter #cdnhist
Spend some time with our Winter in Canada series, edited and organized by Blake Butler and @benbradleyca.bsky.social earlier this year.
niche-canada.org/tag/winter-i...
#envhist #winter #cdnhist
December 21, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Happy Winter Solstice
Spend some time with our Winter in Canada series, edited and organized by Blake Butler and @benbradleyca.bsky.social earlier this year.
niche-canada.org/tag/winter-i...
#envhist #winter #cdnhist
Spend some time with our Winter in Canada series, edited and organized by Blake Butler and @benbradleyca.bsky.social earlier this year.
niche-canada.org/tag/winter-i...
#envhist #winter #cdnhist
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
And way more: censored, edited, self-censored, unwritten...
Under each document we access in archives, there is a long, invisible, (un)intentional trail of fragmentation of information.
Recognizing these pivots in the path of documents can help us better contextualize why we find what we find.
Recognizing these pivots in the path of documents can help us better contextualize why we find what we find.
December 12, 2024 at 10:01 PM
And way more: censored, edited, self-censored, unwritten...
me (writing an essay) and the cat (doing ??? that involves propelling herself across the floor upstairs) are both fighting our own demons this exam season
December 13, 2024 at 12:48 AM
me (writing an essay) and the cat (doing ??? that involves propelling herself across the floor upstairs) are both fighting our own demons this exam season
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
I spent the last two weeks researching how the top medical official in a Michigan county is using unfounded theories about the health impacts of solar energy to push for new restrictions aimed at killing development
@heatmap.news
heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...
@heatmap.news
heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...
How Bad Information Is Breaking the Energy Transition
Why an attorney for Dominion Voting Systems is now defending renewables companies.
heatmap.news
December 12, 2024 at 7:49 PM
I spent the last two weeks researching how the top medical official in a Michigan county is using unfounded theories about the health impacts of solar energy to push for new restrictions aimed at killing development
@heatmap.news
heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...
@heatmap.news
heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...
Does anyone have a recent literature review on animal history? I'm writing a historiographical review on animals and epidemics as a term paper, and want to see how the literature I pulled intersects with new directions and themes in the field!
December 10, 2024 at 7:35 PM
Does anyone have a recent literature review on animal history? I'm writing a historiographical review on animals and epidemics as a term paper, and want to see how the literature I pulled intersects with new directions and themes in the field!
Reposted by Gab Taillefer McLaren
New essay out today (with @alanlester.bsky.social @adeleperry.bsky.social Omeasoo Wahpasiw) exposing residential school denialism’s transnational network, or how denialism in Canada is being used globally to defend empire and colonialism: activehistory.ca/blog/2024/12...
Exposing Residential School Denialism’s Transnational Network
Residential school denialism may have its origins in Canada, but it is increasingly circulating and being used around the world as part of a wider matrix of imperial apologetics – a transnational n…
activehistory.ca
December 10, 2024 at 4:12 PM
New essay out today (with @alanlester.bsky.social @adeleperry.bsky.social Omeasoo Wahpasiw) exposing residential school denialism’s transnational network, or how denialism in Canada is being used globally to defend empire and colonialism: activehistory.ca/blog/2024/12...