Julia M. Wright
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juliamwright.bsky.social
Julia M. Wright
@juliamwright.bsky.social
1.9K followers 2K following 970 posts
FRSC Professor in Halifax🍁. Member of @dalfaculty.bsky.social . Locked out for 30 days in 2025. Views here mine only. Rebleats≠agreement.

"it is not Air / That from a thousand Lungs reeks back to thine" (Armstrong 1744). Silence=Spread🦠 #COVIDisAirborne
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juliamwright.bsky.social
Your semi-regular reminder that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein is subtitled “Or, The Modern Prometheus.”

These guys like sf but seem to skip all the bits about morality, social responsibility, and unintended consequences. 📚
NYT headline “Jeff Bezos creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive” with “Called Project Prometheus, the company is focusing on artificial intelligence” below.
November 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Some cool light effects out at Lawrencetown a few weeks ago (from the trail that goes along the coast and then up the big hill).
Lawrencetown beach, with a blue and partially cloudy sky above and the sun behind a cloud: it caused a refraction effect, so there are triangles of light emanating from the cloud and nearly perpendicular to the ground. Lawrencetown beach, with the sun behind a puffy cloud in a mostly blue sky, creating a soft, diffused lighting effect.
November 6, 2025 at 12:13 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Modern security: we need sophisticated ID, scanners, cameras, motion detectors, facial recognition software, multi-factor authentication…

Thieves: we have a ladder.
Image of the Louvre with a ladder propped against it, giving access to the second floor.
October 19, 2025 at 12:19 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
The sky looked really cool the other morning when I was walking to work.
A mottled cloud pattern over the King’s campus, with a large tree in the left third of the frame.
October 19, 2025 at 2:19 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard “post-pandemic” since the WHO ended the emergency phase… I hope there are, or soon will be, studies of how that 2023 WHO statement got so quickly and widely mangled so public health can better guard against inadvertently feeding misinformation.
From https://www.who.int/europe/emergencies/situations/covid-19: “ On 5 May 2023, more than three years into the pandemic, the WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19 recommended to the Director-General, who accepted the recommendation, that given the disease was by now well established and ongoing, it no longer fit the definition of a PHEIC. This does not mean the pandemic itself is over, but the global emergency it caused is – for now.”
October 5, 2025 at 2:09 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Another pic in the irregular series, “Halifax Drivers Who Think the Sidewalk is an Extra Lane.”
A picture of a stopped car, half on the sidewalk.
October 4, 2025 at 2:17 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Catching up on lockout e-mails, I'm *delighted* to finally announce that this was made public in August: www.k-saa.org/distinguishe... . It's an honour to join such a distinguished group of award winners, especially Professor Sha.
screenshot of the webpage announcing that the 2026 recipients of the Distinguished Scholar Award of the Keats-Shelley Assoc of America are Professor Richard C. Sha and myself (also pictured via headshots).
September 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
The dog in a burning room meme: the lefthand panel says "Gosh it's hot in here"; the righthand panel has a speech balloon for the dog, "If I say 'this is fine,' it'll lower the temperature"--a reference to the attached image in which a network exec suggests that Kimmel "lower the temperature"
September 19, 2025 at 9:38 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
This is today, starting in a couple of hours. Raise your voices for a full and fair deal so we can end the administration’s lockout of DFA faculty, librarians, and counselors—the admin has banned us from our classrooms, our research, and our work supporting students. #LetUsIn #KeepDalStrong
Poster for a solidarity march at Dalhousie from 11am to 1pm TODAY. Meeting at the Killam library Halifax, marching down University Ave to Robie, then doubling back and walking up to Hicks and the university quad.
September 12, 2025 at 11:41 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Amazing work by @dalhousie.bsky.social students! Were it not for the administration’s damaging and pointless lockout, they’d be bringing that energy, drive, and creativity to all of their classes. #KeepDalStrong
An aerial shot of the Dalhousie quad, with dozens of pavement squares covered in chalk messages to the senior administration that locked out Dal faculty, librarians, and counselors.
September 11, 2025 at 2:13 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
My lockout sweater (alas, I will always call it that…) is finished, but not the lockout. But at least now the Other Side has agreed to return to the table! 🤞

#KeepDalStrong
A blue knitted sweater that’s completely finished—it even has its buttons sewed on.
September 7, 2025 at 11:42 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Absolutely we’re “standing strong.” #KeepDalStrong

Image from video at www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/nov....
Image of students, faculty, and union allies at the Dalhousie rally with the caption “Standing Strong”
September 5, 2025 at 11:47 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
We have amazing, thoughtful students who understand very well what a university should be. #WeAreDal #KeepDalStrong
Instagram post from the Dal Student Union: dalstudentunion “Last night, the DSU council voted to affirm its support for DFA members, reflecting that the strength of the university community depends on the well-being of both students and faculty. We are strongly calling for the Board to return to the bargaining table and engage in good faith to reach a fair deal with faculty. Students, faculty, and staff are essential to the functioning of Dalhousie, and decisions that destabilize this community threaten the quality of education and well-being of students. We, as students, know that an injury to our faculty is an injury to us all. Their fight is our fight, and we proudly stand in solidarity with the DFA. Stay tuned for more DSU-led advocacy efforts and action-items!”
September 3, 2025 at 12:25 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
I didn’t get to teach today because the @dalhousie.bsky.social admin have locked us out, but walking to campus at an unusual time of day had an unexpected bonus: I saw a deer about 3m from the sidewalk and got to show fellow picketers this pic. #KeepDalStrong
A deer with mid-sized horns nibbling on some foliage near Connrose park
September 2, 2025 at 7:41 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
But no information on vaccines until late September… What if NS vaccinated BEFORE the Fall surge typically begins?
Covid wastewater for Halifax up to August 17 showing an uptick—now higher than it has been in weeks, though still not as high as a year ago.
August 31, 2025 at 11:25 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
This is a really important point. I'll add Senate can't be called back before or even soon after Pres. Brooks ends the lockout, not least because DFA members on Senate *don't have access to e-mail until she ends the lockout and IT reinstates logins*. Senate will need a week or so?

#KeepDalStrong
A snip from the DFA president's Ask Me Anything on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Dalhousie/comments/1n1k8pj/im_dave_westwood_president_of_the_dfa_ask_me/): I'm replying to you but also to u/universalstargazer below. Lots to unpack but I'll address what I can. A day or two is not realistic. Moreover, the administration does not have the sole authority to decide when work will resume. It's the subject of a negotiation, which will have to acknowledge the lost time for preparation and address necessary adjustments/accommodations (exam schedules, deadlines for assignments, etc.). This will take time. I should also note that the Senate will be involved in many of these conversations. I can't speak for all professors or the SAC, but faculty are definitely concerned about accessibility and accommodations and worry about the challenges this will pose. Again, I can't speak for everyone, but I know this is an ongoing conversation and priority. Not to keep pointing the finger, but we warned the administration of doing this at this time for exactly this reason. This is a direct consequence of them initiating a lockout when they did.
August 30, 2025 at 3:36 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
I started knitting a sweater when the @dalhousie.bsky.social president locked us out on August 20. It’s about 2/3 done now—I’m working on the sleeves. I’d rather be prepping for class and getting other work done. Instead, I knit and wonder when the admin will return to bargaining... #KeepDalStrong
A half-finished sleeve on a round knitting needle (the pattern called for straight needles, but I don’t do seams if I don’t have to!).
August 29, 2025 at 12:17 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
I wrote this over two decades ago… #cdnpse. #KeepDalStrong #AirCanada #CUPE3912 ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/es...
‘the stimulative effects of crisis motivate a particular kind of seepage across this boundary: uncompensated labour, long instrumental to the opera-tion of the domestic sphere, is now solicited in the workplace. Thus, in the recession, employees were asked to work for less pay in order to keep their employers afloat, and now we have the more subtle extension of this strategy in increasing workloads as benefits and salaries barely keep pace with the rising cost of living and the steeply escalating cost of education. Institutions “work all the better the more they break down” because they become even more cost-effective by invoking a sense of crisis that motivates personal sacrifice to corporate need’
August 19, 2025 at 12:36 AM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Spotted on Coburg. @dalfaculty.bsky.social #KeepDalStrong
August 11, 2025 at 5:03 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
August 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
The image looks blanked for some reason…? Trying again:
"Statement of Revenues, Expenses, and Changes in Operating Surplus" showing that tuition fees dropped by about $1.6m, but Investment Income increased by nearly $2.5m. "Excess of revenue over expenses" is nearly unchanged from last year, at $54.945 million.
August 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
The Audited Financial Statements are in this file: cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/...

This page in particular raises questions. (NO page numbers on this key part of the document, which is super-annoying...)
"Statement of Revenues, Expenses, and Changes in Operating Surplus" showing that tuition fees dropped by about $1.6m, but Investment Income increased by nearly $2.5m. "Excess of revenue over expenses" is nearly unchanged from last year, at $54.945 million.
August 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
Siri, please give me a cautionary tale that illustrates why, five years into a global pandemic, we’re still failing to protect healthcare workers and patients from airborne pathogens with simple technologies. 💨😷🪟
From the BBC: OceanGate's safety cultural and operational practices were "critically flawed" - with "glaring disparities between their written safety protocols and their actual practices" OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush misrepresented Titan as indestructible, which provided "a false sense of safety" for passengers The company's senior leadership enabled a culture allowing financial shortfalls and customer expectations to be prioritised over responsibilities A lack of comprehensive regulations for the oversight of manned submersibles
August 5, 2025 at 12:42 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
<stares in popular 1980s series>
Part of the IMDb page for the 1985-1989 series The Equalizer.
July 25, 2025 at 10:15 PM
juliamwright.bsky.social
New reason for universities not to fall for hyped AI marking tools just dropped.

www.insidehighered.com/news/tech-in...
indirect prompt injection, which involves inserting hidden white text or other manipulated fonts that tell AI tools to give a research paper favorable reviews. The prompts are only visible to machines, and preliminary research has found that the strategy can be highly effective for inflating AI-generated review scores. “The reason this technique has any purchase is because people are completely stressed,” said Ramin Zabih, a computer science professor at Cornell University and faculty director at the open access arXiv academic research platform, which publishes preprints of papers and recently discovered numerous papers that contained hidden prompts. “When that happens, some of the checks and balances in the peer review process begin to break down.”
July 21, 2025 at 8:32 AM