Trouble Brewing in East Asia

"The more preparations we make, the less likely there will be rash attempts of aggression."

"The more united we are, the stronger and safer Taiwan would become."

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-won

"We [United States] will continue to assist Taiwan in maintaining a sufficient self defence capability in line with our long-standing commitments and consistent with our one China policy."

White House National Security Council

Aircraft of the Eastern Theater Command during a prior drill near Taiwan in August. Pic: Xinhua /AP

The entire region of East Asia shows indication of an uneasy peace slowly unravelling. North Korea sent drones  across its heavily fortified border with South Korea, with the South responding by scrambling fighter jets, flying surveillance and firing warning shots in deterrence. For the first time in five years a fresh escalation of tensions has erupted of an intensity that strikes concern, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

Attack helicopters were dispatched along with fighter jets to shoot down the drones. Several days earlier two short-range ballistic missiles were fired at the South. This is North Korea's method of protesting its displeasure at joint air drills carried out betwen South Korea and the United States; a rehearsal for an invasion, interpreted by North Korea. "Our military will thoroughly and resolutely respond to this kind of North Korea provation", director of operations Major General Lee Seung-o of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff stated emphatically.

"[U.S. officials are] consulting closely with the [Republic of Korea] about the nature of this incursion. We recoggnize the need of the ROK to protect its territorial integrity", noted an unnamed White House National Security official. Taiwan, South Korea nervous of the intentions of China and North Korea. Joining them is Japan, edgily watching what is happening in its neighbourhood and fearing that it too is in North Korea's and China's crosshairs.

Tokyo is considering the possibility of a nuclear attack to match the growing fears of a potentially full-on conflict with either North Korea or China. Japan, the only nation on Earth that has ever suffered a nuclear attack, saw its cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki both devastated in the wake of the Second World War when nuclear devices were unleashed on an unsuspecting, still war-defiant nation. Suddenly a soaring business has taken off of nuclear shelter sales in Japan.

In Taiwan, in a 24-hour-period, 71 Chinese military aircraft. among them fighter jets and drones, entered Taiwan's air defence zone, to date the largest reported incursion. The Taiwan Straits saw 43 aircraft cross the median line, the unofficial buffer separating the two sides. Throughout the steady increase of aggressive intimidation that Beijing tqrgets Taipei with, this is yet the most emphatic. According to Beijing these were 'strike drills'.

Beijing was merely responding to 'provocations' from Taiwan and the United States. The latter intervening in territory not its own, the former spurning Beijing's wish for reunifiction, to take independent sovereign Taiwan back under its wing. The drills saw the Chinese air force dispatch warplanes from several locales across the country for simulated attacks on Taiwanese and U.S. warships. 

The situation has compelled Taiwan to change the service tenure of its compulsory military service from the current four months to a year, to deal with rising tensions linked to Beijing's military pressure. Taiwan's southern air defence identification zone saw Chinese electronic-warfare and antisubmarine aircraft incursions along with drones. Repeated missions by the Chinese air force of the last two years has given Taipei reason for vigilance. In response to the latest incursion, Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn off the Chinese planes, with missile systems monitoring their flight.

Beijing Withdrew Its Finger From the COVID Dike

"The peak of COVID infection is approaching … infection numbers are increasing at an accelerating rate in Dongguan [city]."

"Our health system and health workers are facing an unprecedented challenge and immense pressure."

Dongguan City Health Authority, 10 million population 

 

"China has a population that is very large and there’s limited immunity. And that seems to be the setting in which we may see an explosion of a new variant."

"When we’ve seen big waves of infection, it’s often followed by new variants being generated."

"Much of the mildness we’ve experienced over the past six to 12 months in many parts of the world has been due to accumulated immunity either through vaccination or infection, not because the virus has changed [in severity]."

Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, infectious disease expert, Johns Hopkins University

"[It remains to be seen if the virus will follow the same pattern of evolution in China as it has in the rest of the world after vaccines came out]."

"Or, will the pattern of evolution be completely different?"

 Dr. Gagandeep Kang, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India

Health workers transport a patient into the emergency room of a hospital in Shanghai on Friday, December 23.  Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images

 

On a single day last week close to 37 million people were assumed to ave been infected with COVID019, given estimates from China's top health authority. A staggering number of outbreaks that identify China's most recent coronavirus outbreak as the worlds largest by a huge margin. Up to 248 million people representing close to 18 percent of the vast population of 1.4 billion, are assumed to have contracted the virus in the first twenty days of December; figures released from an internal meeting of
China's National Health Commission.

Although the numbers are incomprehensibly huge, they should come as no surprise. It was widely assumed by epidemiologist outside China that taking into account Beijing's firm lockdown mandates, its failure to completely inoculate the most vulnerable demographic in its population -- the elderly -- and the government's insistence on using the country's own COVID vaccines rather than import the highly successful mRNA vaccines from the West, the greater population would be immediately vulnerable to infection as soon as Beijing's stern 'no COVID' policy was lifted.

The highly communicable Omicron variant in wide circulation internationally had its foothold in China as well, to ensure widespread infection would follow. This was COVID-zero coming home to roost in a population known to have low levels of natural immunity as well as a low measure of circulating antibodies resulting form a successful vaccination plan. China's vaccines are known to have a fairly low efficacy rate. 

 

Over 50 percent of residents of Sichuan province and the capital Beijing have been infected. People in China are making home use of rapid antigen tests with no obligation to report positive results, a far cry from the previous rigid demands of a government determined to vanquish the SARS-CoV-2 virus from Chinese soil. As well, Beijing no longer publishes the daily number of asymptomatic cases. Ma Xiaowei, head of the National Health Commission of China , acknowledged deaths will inevitably occur with the viral spread.

 

Beijing was the first city to be hit and is now beginning to see severe and critical cases peak at the same time that its overall infection rate is diminishing. The outbreak is now in the process of spreading from urban centres to China's vast rural geography, where medical resources can be somewhat sparse. 

50 of the 130 omicron versions detected in China had resulted in outbreaks. 

"[The country is creating a national genetic database] to monitor in real time [how different strains were evolving and the potential implications for public health]."

"[At this point, however, there’s limited information about genetic viral sequencing coming out of China]. We don’t know all of what’s going on [but clearly], the pandemic is not over."

Jeremy Luban, virologist, University of Massachusetts Medical School

 

"The numbers look plausible, but I have no other sources of data to compare [them] with."

"If the estimated infection numbers mentioned here are accurate, it means the nationwide peak will occur within the next week."

Ben Cowling, professor of epidemiology, University of Hong Kong

Medical staff wait to assist a patient at a fever clinic treating Covid-19 patients in Beijing on December 21, 2022.   Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Canadian Hudson Bay Western Arctic's Diminishing Polar Bear Population

"The actual decline is a lot larger than I would have expected."

"It certainly raises issues about the ongoing viability [of the area to provide food for struggling female bears to enable them to nurse and rear offspring]."

"That is the reproductive engine of the population."

Andrew Derocher, biology professor, University of Alberta

"Those are the types of bears we've always predicted would be affected by changes in the environment."

"[The capacity for polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay to reproduce will diminish] because you simply have fewer young bears that survive and become adults."

Stephen Atkinson, polar bear specialist, lead author, government polar bear survey

Polar bears are the most studied specimens in the world   Reuters

Western Hudson Bay in the Canadian Arctic on its southern edge are dying in large numbers according to a newly released government survey. In particular the survey points out, female bears and their cubs are experiencing a particularly difficult time. Churchill in Western Hudson Bay, called the Polar Bear Capital of the World, is the locale where a 2021 air survey was undertaken, leading to an estimation of 618 bears in comparison to the 842 found in the 2016 survey.

Biology Professor Andrew Derocher has studied the polar bears at Hudson Bay for close on to four decades and he is alarmed by these revelations. The number of bears in the region since the 1980s fell by close to 50 percent, according to the authors of the study, of which Dr. Derocheer was not a part. The issue comes down to the disappearance of the Polar ice essential to the survival of polar bears reliant on Arctic sea ice -- frozen ocean water -- which in the summer with warmer temperatures, shrinks, to form again in the next long winter.

 

A polar bear near Churchill on the western coast of Hudson Bay, where sea ice has been disappearing at an alarming rate. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images

 

The ice enables polar bears to hunt, as they perch astride holes in the thick ice to spot seals coming up for air. The bears are carnivores, seals their favorite food. The Arctic, however, has warmed twice as quickly as the rest of the world, as a result of climate change. And sea ice is cracking earlier while taking longer to freeze back in the fall, leaving many polar bears living across the Arctic with less ice where they can live, hunt and reproduce.

It is the death in numbers of young bears and females in Western Hudson Bay that is most alarming to the future of the species according to the researchers.  The problem centres around the fact that young bears require energy to enable them to grow. They cannot survive long periods in the absence of enough food. In the same token, female bears face a difficult struggle in their expenditure of massive amounts of energy that it takes to nurse and rear their offspring. The future appears drear for the species.

A mother polar bear and cub near Churchill, Man. (Elisha Dacey/CBC)

Rising Inflation, Staff Shortages, Surging Food Theft

"There is a correlation between the two, absolutely. Theft is an ongoing issue. But the intensity actually does increase when food prices go up."

"If you see both food prices go up and ... the economy slows down, jointly that is when you basically see even more stuff [thefts]."

"Theft will cost everyone more because someone has to pay for that [stolen] food. You and I pay for theft."

Sylvain Charlebois, senior director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University, Halifax

"Retail crime, including theft and arson, is sadly  higher than it historically has been at Walmart Canada and across the entire retail industry."

"This is very concerning for our business, our associates, our customers and the industry."

Felicia Fefer, corporate affairs manager, Walmart Canada

"There is great concern among Canadian businesses right now about crime, and crime in Canadian workplaces."

"Shoplifting is definitely being felt more, especially as we've come out of lockdown and restrictions."

"If you have fewer people on the storefront, if you know if you have one person deep in the business at the back cash desk, it does lead to the business being a bit of a robbery target."

"Fewer people on the floor ... makes shoplifters feel a little less intimidated to go in and take something [Employees and customers alike feel more] intimidated and nervous [walking into the stores]."

Dan Kelly, president, Canadian Federation of Independent Business

“Thefts from grocery stores appear to be on the rise. With food inflation these days, that was to be expected; and the worst is yet to come. “

According to food industry insiders incidents of shoplifting from food stores has surged to unprecedented levels across the country, coinciding with inflation and shortages of labour, considered major factors leading to an increase in theft. Canadian retailers are recognizing this uptick with great concern. This, at a time that rising food prices helps cushion the bottom lines for food retailers. All of whom have posted record profits, at the same time.

Back in October groceries were priced 11 percent higher than the year before; rising food prices continue and are not expected to stabilize in the near future. For a family of four in Canada, the total cost of groceries is expected to be $1,065 more than the year before, reflecting the conclusion of the most recent edition of Canada's Food Price Report.

In Canada, grocery theft is increasing as a result of rising prices.  NDTV

 

Food price inflation is recognized as one of the major drivers inspiring greater numbers of people to begin stealing food, according to Sylvain Charlebois, senior direct of Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab. Meat and dairy products, he observes, appear to be the top two food items that tend to be stolen. The possibility as some economists suggest, that the economy will slow next year, will only exacerbate the problem, he fears.

Inflation, advises Mr. Charlebois, and grocery theft, affect one another; when prices go up, shoplifting tends to surge. To offset the loss, businesses are faced with little option but to further increase prices. Walnart, on the other hand, according to its corporate affairs manager, is implementing measures to prevent and reduce theft with the intention of keeping prices low and to ensure its employees and customers are safe.

The issue of labour shortages -- too many jobs going unfilled because too many people are no longer feeling compelled to join the active workplace -- is also a contributing factor in the shoplifting epidemic, according to the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Some grocers are struggling to recruit new staff. When a business cannot hire enough employees to perform physical monitoring, this places businesses in a vulnerable position.

This has resulted in retail stores turning to hiring security guards which may include off-duty police officers. Other steps such as retrofitting to ensure clearer sightlines to aid in monitoring events within the business are other steps being taken with the use of more electronic monitoring technology and limiting the number of people in the store in hopes of providing one-to-one service.

"[The council isn't collecting data on whether there is any connection between inflation and shoplifting, but] theft tends to spike during economic downturns." 

"We also know that break-ins, armed robberies, and physical and especially violent incidents are higher than they have been in previous years."

Michelle Wasylyshen, spokesperson, Retail Council of Canada

Produce vegetables are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Aylmer, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

A Political, Cubersecurity Aspect to TikTok?

"If anybody has any doubts about whether [China] would collect the data from TikTok, they have to have been living under a rock."

"Canada has to really wake up to where it is in the world and the threats it faces."

"It is not as if the West is doing this to be aggressive and try to bully China. It's a response to what China does."

Dennis Molinaro, foreign interference analyst

 

"The Americans are right to be very concerned about it."

"The Canadian position is always, 'We're too nice to be a target anyway ..."

"We'll probably end up going along with what the Americans do, but reluctantly and very slowly."

David Skillicorn, computing professor specializing in cybersecurity, Queen's University

 

A German newspaper early in 2022 reported asterixes had been superimposed by TikTok in place of subtitles for terms such as "re-education camp" and "internment camp" in a video focusing on the plight of Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province. Another hint that just possibly there is reason for concern given emerging evidence that the app is not solely focused on diverting entertainment, but an element of focus to becoming a preferred news destination. 

 

The United Kingdom's Office of Communications stated that TikTok is now the fastest-growing news source among young adults and for teenagers aged 12 to 15, the most popular. Toronto Metropolitan Social Media Lab concluded that over fifty percent of Canadian TikTok users claiming they depend on the app for news of the war in Ukraine. 

 

Entering keywords "Xinjiang Uyghur" into the TikTok search field will get you several videos critical of China's position and manipulation of Uyghur life. The majority by far of references came out of travelogue-type depictions of joyful Uyghurs with clips meant to debunk media reports critical of China, along with images of President Xi Jinping receiving a warm reception on a Xinjiang visit.

 

To anyone concerned with privacy rights and social media, it comes as no surprise that U.S.-based social media platforms siphon up great masses of personal data, engage in disinformation and act as ideological echo chambers themselves. According to a TikTok spokesperson the app stores Canadian user data in its own servers in the U.S. and Singapore and has never allowed that information to the Chinese government.

"Canadians can rest assured that their law enforcement and national security agencies are committed to detecting, deterring and disrupting all cyber threats and hostile states, including the People's Republic of China."

Audrey Champoux, press secretary, Public Safety Ministry

According to a survey conducted by Toronto Metropolitan University's Social Media Lab, over one in four Canadian adults maintain accounts with TikTok; where rival platforms have lost users, TikTok has gained. Data-privacy scandals gripped Facebook and other U.S.-based apps and TikTok capitalized on the issue, posing as more innocent and lighthearted, as an alternative.

 

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a private Chinese company, subject to laws requiring all businesses operating in China to share data and work with Chinese government authorities.

TikTok refers doubters to a report issued last year by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab concluding no evidence exists of data sent to China or of Beijing placing pressure on ByteDance to  make data available to Chinese authorities. Another issue raised by experts is that TikTok could use hidden software tools meant to pry into other apps on a user's mobile device to uncover information.

"It's hard to criticize TikTok when other social media platforms are doing the same thing", observed Anatolly Grozd, Canada Research Chair  in social media data stewardship at University of Toronto. Yet the app's control by a foreign country like China, he feels, merits vigilance.

TikTok, the Chinese-owned online video app, is seen by some critics as a an unnerving black box that could be sharing information with the Chinese government and facilitating espionage. (AP)

What Demons Motivated Them?

"[The man] wasn't bothering a soul [when the girls] attacked this guy like a bunch of wild animals."

"He tried to fight them off and they just kept coming back."

"The most they're going to get is around three years ... maybe."

"But the most chilling thing about all this is that he meant nothing to them."

Unidentified police detective

"I wouldn't describe them as a gang at this point, but what is alleged to have occurred that evening would be consistent with what we traditionally call a swarming."

"We don't know how or why they met on that evening, or why the destination was downtown Toronto."

"We have information to believe that this same group of eight young women were involved in an altercation earlier, before becoming involved in this altercation."

"If you were a victim or had contact with these individuals, we'd like to hear from you."

"I think they would be easily identifiable because these two interactions involved what would be described as criminal behaviour."

"He does have a very supportive family in the area, so I would not necessarily call him homeless, maybe just recently on some hard luck." 

"I can't recall a situation where eight females have been involved in something like this."

"All eight were together. All eight were involved. I won't say what each one individually did, but all eight were together and participating in this event, which is disturbing."

Det.Sgt. Terry Browne, Toronto Police

An alleged "swarming" attack in Toronto that left a 59-year-old man dead has heightened concerns for those who are homeless as police reveal more details about the night of the attack. Eight teen girls are facing second-degree murder charges.

Frankly, it might just be more accurate to mention that there were onlookers who described what had occurred from their perspetive. And the most chilling thing is that no one appears to have intervened in the assault that saw eight girls ... it's gilding the lily somewhat to speak of them as women ... three aged 13, three of 14 years of age, and two who were 16 who assembled themselves as a violent threat to the life of a man who was a complete stranger to them, but accessible because he was on the street. 

The 'altercation' appears to have begun when one of the girls attempted to grab a bottle of alcohol from a young woman who was sharing the bottle with the man. Anyone's natural instinct would be to hold on to what is theirs, and he undoubtedly, taken by surprise, told the girl to leave them alone, resisted, firmly holding back the bottle of alcohol. Alcohol is a comfort blanket, someone down on their luck and using the influence of alcohol on brain and mind to drown a mental state of ruin looking for oblivion.

Little would he have known that his situation was about to get a whole lot worse. The single approach of one girl to snatch alcohol from a stranger quickly escalated to all eight girls descending on him, as the man's companion made herself scarce. They set about pummeling, pounding, kicking, shoving, smacking -- and knifing the man. Who attempted to defend himself to the point of temporary retreat followed by fresh onslaughts. This much was reported to responding police by witnesses.

 

The deadly attack happened near the corner of York Street and University Avenue in Toronto. (CBC)

The down-on-his-luck man was 59, and the situation he found himself in accelerated to the point where he would never see his 60th birthday. Stabbed to death in downtown Toronto on a Sunday night after the witching hour at a plaza not far from Union Station, at York and University Avenue. When, shortly after the attack emergency services arrived flagged down by bystanders, the badly injured man was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead..

Dead, at the flailing, pounding, knifing hands of three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, and two 16-year-old girls out on the town looking for some excitement. A mob of bored girls out to prove something to themselves. All eight were rounded up not far from the scene of the incident that left a man dead by furious Valkyries. Inf act, when they wee apprehended they had initiated another 'incident'. They are all juveniles and as such their identities protected under Canadian law. Taken into custody they have been charged singly with second-degree murder.

Minors they may be all, but three of them had had previous contact with police. The eight girls came from different parts of the city. They had 'met' on the Internet. It is assumed that this occasion when they met in person at an assigned spot in Toronto was the first time they had physically been in one another's company. During their arrest, police confiscated weapons in their possession. The man whose life they took was a Toronto resident who had been living in emergency shelters of late.

The following morning, Sunday, saw the girls' first appearance in court when they were remanded into custody as protected minors who had just viciously committed manslaughter. This had not been their first encounter of their evening out. There had been an earlier incident involving someone else whom they intimidated and victimized but not yet committed themselves to the ultimate human act of criminal malfeasance. The mind wanders to questions about these girls' parents and their life circumstances...

 

The swarming incident took place steps away from Union Station in downtown Toronto. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)

The issue of public 'swarmings' has recently arisen as a social problem and warnings by police have gone out generally for people to be aware. A "significant volume of swarming-style robberies" had convinced police to warn the public. "In all of these incidents, victims reported being swarmed and robbed by a large group of young people in the evening hours", police in nearby Vaughan had reported. Is it too damning to suggest that society has failed in its nurturing of the young, in not instilling in them respect for society in general, and above all, for human life?

All The Little Hoodlum Understudies

"The student voice was all that mattered, and basically they silenced the teachers' voices. We were always questioned, we were always undermined, we were always told [the bad behaviour] must be our bias, or our classroom management, or it must be because we're not listening to the students."

"We were telling the kids, 'Go into the class, this is a secure school. And [they said] 'No, we don't have to."

"They had so much control, the kids then wouldn't listen to the vice-principal and principal, that's how bad it was."

"Some of our neediest kids who we were working with and we were keeping them in the class. But then they started being oppositional with us and started hanging out in the hall, too."

"Our students thrive on rules and routines, structure and clear guidelines. And they had none of that."

"The board's stated mission is 'creating a culture of innovation, sharing and social responsibility/. Our school did not uphold any of those pillars. It's outrageous that there was so much chaos, that the school was totally unsafe and that the kids were not learning."

Michael Sterrberg, Grade 5 and 6 teacher, Pinecrest Public School, Ottawa

Teacher Michael Sternberg stands outside Pinecrest Public School with a homemade sign in September 2022.  Photo by ERROL MCGIHON /POSTMEDIA

"[There] appears to be a poisoned working and learning environment at Pinecrest. [We are examining] interactions and conduct throughout Pinecrest amongst and between staff, students and families."

"[Staff were invited to speak confidentially to investigators and directed to] refrain from yelling or raising voices at students and each other [and to] continue to stop, interrupt and appropriately address the use of slurs and hate-related incidents."

"[There will be] communication with the school community [when the investigation is completed]."

"As that investigation is active, it is not appropriate to comment on specific details."

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Office of the Human Rights and Equity Advisor

"[Investigation-solicited comments were] red flags that something is seriously wrong and it's not being dealt with."

"[Some of the older students] would just wander the school all day. We're talking about defiant: 'I'm not going to class, I'm going to sit here on my phone, I'm going to do whatever I want, and I don't have to listen to any adult in this building'."

"[We stopped imposing much discipline for fear of] being accused by administrators of targeting [a child and being sent home to be investigated]. It's self-preservation."

Pinecrest teacher, unauthorized to speak

Disruptions in elementary school classes of a type and duration never before experienced in Canada. A country which historically built its population on a tradition of immigration. Where immigrants stemmed mostly from Europe and those coming into the country made an effort to understand the prevailing culture, the nation's laws and its values, to commit themselves to following them to successfully integrate into the prevailing social system.

On average, Canada's intake of immigrants and refugees are well over 350,000 a year. People coming into the country whose heritage, languages, ethnicities, religions and cultural values do not always mesh with that of native Canadians or Canadians from immigrant backgrounds who have adjusted to Canadian society. And they make no effort to integrate. Along with the fact that many bring cultural baggage inimical to Canadian values of equality and human rights with them. Inclusive of tribal and religious animosities.

This elementary school is a living laboratory of what can gp wrong in a growing atmosphere of cosmopolitan liberal progressivism that has been labelled 'woke'. This 'relaxed' attitude of non-judgemental conditioning views the still, but barely majority 'white' population as guilty of privileged and colonialist attitudes, while people of colour, Blacks and Indigenous and LGBTQ-2 communities now have rights denied to the white-privileged who must expiate the sins of their ancestors committed against the culturally and societally 'underprivileged'.

Teacher Michael Sternberg sent an email to all staff at the school he was teaching in; Pinecrest Public School; the subject line read: "Students reporting they don't feel safe!" In the email he explained that a number of students informed him they felt unsafe at the school. "I am not making this up! Please help! Someone!", he wrote.  Other teaching staff, taking care to withhold their names, validated the statements made by Mr. Sternberg.

Some older students at the school had taken to roaming the halls at class time, bullying other students, intimidating staff and ignoring requests to follow basic rules such as not using cellphones. At the same time, teachers found themselves thwarted in efforts to deal with the situation under an administration that insisted on giving students a voice. What was born out of that sentiment, carried too far, was disruptive, disrespectful and dangerous behaviour.

Physical violence broke out among students. There was a "swarming" attack. Several students brought knives to school with them, and some made racial and antisemitic slurs against both other students and teaching staff. A number of teachers at the school were taken out of their classrooms and ordered to remain at home while they were being 'investigated'. A succession of replacement teachers were brought in to take their place. Which led to several staff teachers suddenly leaving, others replacing them.

Students were increasingly unruly, speaking loudly in class, arguing with teachers, throwing around food and paper, and playing with balls in their classrooms. When journalists heard of the problems, they sought answers from the school board which refused to comment on any of the issues claiming it must protect the privacy of staff and students, along with the confidentiality of an internal investigation into the school's problems. 

The neighbourhood surrounding Pinecrest School is home to many new immigrants. Students are bused in from two community housing developments. 40 languages are spoken at the homes of these students, many of whom are 'racialized'. "They are beautiful kids and they want to learn", said Mr. Sternberg. Among a handful of students, teachers try to deal with behaviour problems while the majority are anxious to be taught. Yet th edisruptive students were essentially permitted to control the school teaching environment.

Students in grades 5 to 8 are where the problematical behaviour is erupting. The school principal asked teaching staff to submit comments to a digital message board: "Jamboard". Resulting posts made mention of students congregating in hallways using cellphones, bullying, intimidation, attacks and weapons were also issues raised by commenting teachers:

• "I am worried about my safety and the safety of students I teach when a student brings in a weapon and there is no consequence [this is a repeat offender]";
• "Students are verbally abusive to staff and students daily. These students do whatever they want with no repercussion to their actions. How is this a safe learning and working environment?";
• "Students are being physically assaulted and sexually harassed in the bathroom. Students report that they don't feel safe going to the bathroom at school.";
• Student safety is at risk, because students are gathering in the bathrooms, recording fights and posting videos of other children online without permission from those children's parents.";
• "Students in my class are getting into physical fights and aren't having consequences. How is anyone supposed to feel safe?"

According to one teacher, what was occurring was patently unfair to the majority of the students who wanted to be in school and felt that the teaching staff were concerned about their welfare. The children, like their teachers, were left feeling frustrated, watching this kind of commotion to their school days happen continually, leaving them feeling unhappy and insecure. 

 

Several teachers said they had never experienced situations like this at any other school. "You could send them to the office, nothing was done. Last year, the kids were running the school. When kids don't have a structure and guidelines to follow that's how they're going to behave. I'm not blaming the kids."

 

And then the teachers stopped trying to impose punishment for misbehaviour, fearing they would be accused and 'investigated' and sent home to stew. The school board issued a statement that Pinecrest has "made changes both big and small". Staff now stand in hallways to "greet students warmly", and teachers engage in connection-building activities, celebrating the diversity of students' backgrounds listening to name histories and pronunciations.

Community 'partners' are now being brought in to the school to speak with students; representatives from the Somali Centre and a Black male mentor group, for example. "We want kids to see excellence in the community they can relate to", said the school principal. After a student brought a knife to school Pinecrest was locked down while police investigated. Some teachers reacting to a directive to act out a "Third Path" by not asserting power and authority in the classroom, responded it was unclear to them how the principles translated to life in the classroom.

Misbehaviour, they pointed out, escalated as students understood there would be no consequences for acting out. Some of the students picked up the educational terminology in The Third Path: "They would actually use the term, 'Are you policing us'?", pointed out Mr. Sternberg. One teacher, referring to the sudden disappearance from class of a teacher sent home remarked: "How do we squash the shock and concern for our colleague, put on a brave smile and do our best with our students coming to us in a few minutes? How do we respond when the students ask where their teacher has gone?"

As for teacher Sternberg, the superintendent responsible for the school, after reading his original emailed message, concluded he had contributed to a poisoned work environment. Sternberg was told to leave and not inform anyone why it was that he was leaving. He was on "home assignment", he was told, but was given no work to do except complete his report cards. 23 years in the classroom as a teacher, his experience at this school led  him to retire from teaching.

 

"We're dealing with human beings who come to school with many experiences, and trauma, that impact how they're going to be showing themselves at school."

"Kids are kids. And I think the way we speak to them, and we respond to them, is very important to de-escalate students and how they're responding back to us. What we  do, too, if kids don't feel heard, or seen with their actions, and if they feel triggered, they'll show them with their actions and their words."

"They're telling us something then they're walking out of the room [to roam the school hallways]. Are they engaged? Are they looking for something? Is the work too hard? Is the work too easy? Did they have breakfast this morning? Was there a huge fight in their home this morning or last night? Did their sibling run away?"

"Or were there gunshots in the night before? I hear kids talk about, 'Did you hear the gunshots?' when they're getting on the bus, right? They live in communities where kids carry a lot with them when they come to school. And they show us that with their actions."

"We are in service of children. We are not in this work to police children or to approach situations from a place of distrust and assumptions."

"If students feel that we do not trust them, they will show us that through escalated dysregulated behaviours."

Naya Markanastasakis, principal, Pinecrest School, Ottawa, Canada's Capital City

Teen Tik-Tok Brain

"The dopamine rush of endless short videos [makes it hard for young viewers to switch their focus to slower-moving, teacher-guided activities'."

"We've made kids live in a candy store."

Wall Street Journal feature story 

"In the wake of massive pandemic school disruptions, classrooms have been turned upside down. Millions of today's teenagers are more codependent than ever upon smart phones, totally consumed by
TikTok, tuning out their parents, and driving many classroom teachers crazy."

"Successive years of educational disruptions, shutdowns, home isolation, and massive experiments in remote teaching have radically altered the terms of engagement."

"Most teachers and a good many parents are trying to reach a whole generation of kids hooked on cellphones and exhibiting all the signs of a new clinical condition -- TikTok Brain."

Paul. W. Bennett, Ed.D. director, Schoolhouse Institute, Adjunct Professor of Education, Saint Mary's University

The creator of the "Bimbo Manifesto," Fiona Fairbairn, 19, poses for a portrait at her home in Thornhill, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022. "I'm sick of perceiving. I'm sick of being observational. I'm sick of being self-aware," Fairbairn told her 8,000 TikTok followers on Dec. 23. "Just let me be dumb, because people with no critical thinking skills be happy as hell." Chris Young/The Canadian Press.

 

A 2018 survey conducted by the OECD under the Program of International Assessment, concluded that one in five 15-year-old Canadian students reported noise, distractions and disorder impacted on their ability to learn in a classroom, to the extent that their classroom experience was considerably less effective. Canada has a poor record with respect to this issue, ranking 60th out of 77 participating nations and educational districts in the OECD 2018 index of disciplinary climate.

The disciplinary climate index is itself based on an international survey of 600,000 15-year-old students who expressed their personal opinions of the state of student discipline in their classrooms. According to a fairly high proportion of students in Canada, teachers are not heeded, the result is that it takes a prolonged period for the class to settle down. Additionally, students regularly skip school, and report in late to class.

The problem has been compounded by the proliferation of cellphones used by students in the classroom. Constant connectivity has had the problematical effect of de-coupling students from the learning environment. TikTok access has had a profoundly education-disabling effect on students. The normalization of the concept of multi-tasking has created additional side effects to impair students' capabilities of concentration. The adverse affect is seen in their abysmal lack of reading prowess.

Little wonder; both concentration and comprehension have been compromised by distraction. It is simply not possible for students to learn or to read in the midst of constant undisciplined classroom sound, of watching their phones to scroll for videos, along with continual interruptions even as they make an effort to pay attention to their teachers.

New evidence-based research emerges connecting the proliferation of advanced cellphones with distractability in workplaces and schools alike, leading to the commission of errors, to higher stress levels, to reduced cognitive ability and lower productivity. Teachers face an uphill struggle to reclaim attention of their students of the pandemic generation.

Recently, a Common Sense Media study discovered children's daily entertainment use of screens accelerated by 17 percent from 2019 to 2021. Daily entertainment screen use in 2021 increased to 5.5 hours for tweens aged eight to 12 and again to over 8.5 hours among teens aged 13 to 18. The situation becomes more prominent among students from low-income families.

The socio-emotional distress students are experiencing is as much a product of the cellphone epidemic as it is of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to American education researcher Doug Lemov as noted in the fall 2022 edition of Education Next. The reported mental health concerns of teens have grown; 47 percent of students report feeling connected to the adults and their peers at school. While 44 percent of high school students report feelings of persistent hopelessness.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, students who felt 'connected to adults and peers' were less inclined to report feeling sad or hopeless.

"Creating a culture of mutual respect and purposeful learning free of constant and unrelenting disruptions will not come easily. It may require a complete change in pedagogical approach with a renewed focus on 'teaching-centred learning'."

"In time, we will see the critical need for a whole new set of student behaviour guidelines geared to building more positive, consistent and calmer learning environments."

Paul W. Bennett, Ed.D., author: The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada's Schools

Diet, Calories, Weight Gain, Research

"The calorie counts on food labels today are all wrong."

"More than 120 years on, these 'Atwater factors' are still the basis for how calorie counts on all food packaging are derived."

"Humans, however, are not bomb calorimeters. We are only able to extract a proportion of the calories locked up in any given food ... protein actually has a caloric availability of 70 percent, meaning for every 100 calories of protein that makes it into the bloodstream, we are only ever able to use 70 calories."

"By comparison, fat has a caloric availability of 98 percent. As for carbs, it depends on whether we are talking about complex [90 percent available], or refined [95 percent available]."

Giles Yeo, molecular geneticist, Cambridge University

 

"We can't blame our metabolism for the weight we gain in middle age."

"The calories we burn each day are incredibly stable all through adulthood, from our 20s up until we hit about 60."

Herman Pontzer, author, Burn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism

 

Calories represent the basic units of measurement indicating the amount of energy in food. 2,500 calorie-intake daily suffices the average adult male, while 2,000 a day represents what the average woman should consume for good health. In theory, most people believe that a piece of chocolate cake with 500 calories is exchangeable with a 500-calorie helping of chicken on the dinner plate. Sounds reasonable, a calorie is a calorie, after all. 

Researchers at the University of Toronto last year reached a conclusion through their studies that 20 percent of calories in almonds tend to remain unavailable to our bodies leaving principle investigator John Sievenpiper to declare, "a calorie labelled may not be a calorie absorbed". In the late 1880s Wilbur Atwater, an American chemist, studied the effect of food on the human body. He measured the combustion heat of feces with use of a "bomb calorimeter".

And even though his findings, taking it for granted that a calorie is a calorie irrespective of the source has been in general agreement ever since, more current research concludes otherwise. And although it is now accepted that calories from various foods impact on us differently, the food industry is complacent with its comfortable love affair with treating all calories as having an equal impact on the human digestive system and the ability of the body to fully absorb all the calories in any given food product.

A research team at Duke University published a paper last year that debunked the theory that advancing age creates weight gain, that the human body metabolizes its food intake differently, slows down considerably as the body ages. The researchers studied the average daily calories burned by 6,400 people from newborns to age 95 going about their daily lives. From age 60s onward metabolism does slow but at a negligible rate of .07 percent annually.

How many calories are in each macronutrient?

Macronutrient	Heat of combustion	Percent available	Available energy
Protein	5.65 calories/gram	92%	4.0 calories/gram
Fat	9.40 calories/gram	95%	8.9 calories/gram
Carbohydrate	4.1 calories/gram	97%	4.0 calories/gram

 

The largest ongoing scientific nutrition study of its kind led by an international team of scientists in 2019, including researchers from King's College London, concluded that individual responses to similar foods are unique to the individual. Measuring how blood levels markers; sugar, insulin and fat; change in response to specific meals the researchers measured and tracked data on activity, sleep, hunger and gut bacteria in thousands of study participants.

Results revealed a wide variation in blood responses to the same meals; personal differences in metabolism caused by factors like gut microbiome and exercise are equally important to health and waistbands as the nutritional composition of the foods we eat. "It depends on who you are, of course, and it is not 50/50 exactly, but both aspects play a substantial role", explained Dr. Yeo.

"The time of day at which people ate the bulk of their calories made no difference at all to their weight loss or metabolism", Alexandra Johnstone, professor of appetite research at University of Aberdeen stated. Published in the journal Cell Metabolism, a study looked at the time of day people ate and whether it had any impact on metabolism. "What  consumers assume is that when something's labelled low-fat, it will be low calorie, but that's often not the case. Just because it's low fat doesn't mean it's low calorie, that food product will need to contain other macronutients".

 

Food provides more than calories. Ridofranz/iStock via Getty Images

A survey published in the British Journal of Health Psychology in July revealed  the results of a study where six thousand young adults were questioned about their self esteem and body-mass index. Three eating styles were compared by the researches; intuitive (eating when you feel hungry), emotional (or 'eating your feelings'), and restrained (restricting calories to lose or maintain weight). Those who ate intuitively as it turned out, tended to have higher self esteem, along with a lower weight.

"The problem with 'weight-control strategies', or dieting, is that they typically require you to ignore your physical cues of hunger and anxiety."

"This isn't a good long-term strategy. Those cues are there for a reason -- to keep you alive!"

"This doesn't mean that people should just eat anything at any time or all the time. But being hungry is miserable and not sustainable."

Dr.Charlotte Markey, Rutgers University, New Jersey

In 2005 Australian researchers suggested dietary protein might represent a key to the obesity epidemic. Witu less than 14 percent protein in a diet, one tends to consume more calories in the form of fat and carbs to make up for a protein deficit. If more protein is eaten, it follows that less fat and carbs (leading to fewer calories) are consumed.

And then there is the bugbear of addictive, highly processed food. Such food tends to be low in fibre and protein, explaining in part why they can contribute to weight gain. In the final analysis, a balanced diet is the best assurance of remaining healthy and avoiding hunger pangs.

Nutrition Facts food labels contain much more than just calorie counts – for good reason. Imagesbybarbara/E+ via Getty Images

The Holy Grail of Fusion Energy

"Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun."

"This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society."

"[Fusiin ignition is] one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century that] will go down in the history books."

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

"It's almost like it's a starting gun going off."

"We should be pushing toward making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security."

Professor Dennis Whyte, director, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

An experiment at the National Ignition Facility put researchers at the threshold of fusion ignition, achieving a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules — an 8X improvement over experiments conducted in spring 2021 and a 25X increase over NIF’s 2018 record yield. Credit: John Jett, LLNL.

Unbelievable force is required to produce fusion; pressing hydrogen atoms against themselves to the extent that they are forced to combine into helium, the process releasing enormous bursts of energy and heat, with no radioactive waste resulting. Now, for the first time, earlier in the week scientists announced success in producing more energy in a fusion reaction than was used for ignition, representing a major breakthrough in the long search to harness the very process that powers the sun. 

Net energy gain has been horrendously difficult to produce simply because fusion occurs at an impossibly high temperature and pressure, creating control difficulties of incredible proportion. This announced breakthrough in the process is expected to usher the world toward new advancements and the future of clean power.

 

 Livermore Lab

 

This first by researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California where the result was achieved is ground-breaking in the world's search for a new, clean and powerful energy source. There are "very significant hurdles" on the way to achieving commercial use of fusion technology, cautioned Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab. Advances in the technology most recently however, signifies that it may be "a few decades" rather than the previously anticipated 50 or 60 years to achieve.

Decades of research and billions have been invested into fusion to produce these exhilarating results. It took a total of 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the centre of the sun to create an extremely brief fusion reaction that resulted in success by researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Livermore that held the laboratory where the experiment succeeded and where the lasers focused enormous heat on a metal can resulting in a superheated environment where fusion could occur.

Professor Riccardo Betti of University of Rochester, an expert in laser fusion, warned of a long journey before net energy gain can lead to sustainable electricity, likening the breakthrough to the era when it was first realized that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion. "You still don't have the engine, and you still don't have the tires", he said. "You can't say that you have a car."

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