Mastodawn

💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 📝📊 The #SAT was first administered to 8,000 students in June 1926, born from #WorldWarI #military I.Q. tests designed by #Princeton psychologist and eugenicist Carl Brigham.

Now taken by two million #students annually, fewer than 10% of U.S. #colleges require it for fall 2026 admissions, a shift accelerated by the #Covid #pandemic and long standing debates about what the test actually measures. The article traces the test’s #evolution from a tool that helped break into the old boys’ network of elite colleges to an #exam whose scores strongly correlate with family #income.

👉 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/100-years-ago-students-across-the-us-took-the-first-sat-today-relatively-few-colleges-require-the-test-where-is-it-headed-180988997/

#history #education #equity #meritocracy #publicschool #highschool #academics #policy #learning #criticalthinking #teaching

100 Years Ago, Students Across the U.S. Took the First SAT. Today, Relatively Few Colleges Require the Test. Where Is It Headed?

The standardized exam has evolved over the past century, all in the name of testing for college readiness. Now, it has become a symbol of the American higher education system

Smithsonian Magazine

LilMikeSF 5h ago

#SCOTUS majority refused to take up religious #AntiVaxxer challenge to a #pandemic-era #NewYork rule requiring #healthcare workers to get #vaccinated against COVID-19, Justices #Gorsuch, #Thomas and #Alito dissented.

https://www.law360.com/healthcare-authority/articles/2395611

BREAKING: Justices Skip New York Health Workers' Fight Over Vax Rule - Law360 Healthcare Authority

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to take up religious healthcare workers' challenge to a pandemic-era New York state policy requiring healthcare providers to make their employees get vaccinated against COVID-19, drawing a dissent from Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Prism & Pen 1d ago

This is a #gay story. Gay men were allowed to die because the government had decided that gay men did not count. That is the specific, documented, unambiguous truth of what happened.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/the-aids-crisis-wasnt-a-failure-of-government-or-media-it-was-a-decision-b4cb38124608?sk=c6bb107dc3992df695e80c9fb445164c

#LGBTQ #USPolitics #AIDS #Bigotry #Pandemic

The AIDS Crisis Wasn’t a Failure of Government or Media. It Was a Decision.

They knew, they laughed, and 21,000 people died before anyone in power said a word.

Medium

The-14 2d ago

What’s the risk of humans getting sick from bird flu?
#BirdFlu #H5N1 #Health #AvianFlu #Virus #Influenza #Pandemic #Australia #Biosecurity #Poultry #Wildlife #FoodSafety #Virology #Epidemiology #DiseasePrevention #GlobalHealth #FlueVaccines #Research
https://the-14.com/whats-the-risk-of-humans-getting-sick-from-bird-flu/

What’s the risk of humans getting sick from bird flu? | The-14

Learn the real risk of H5N1 bird flu to humans, how it spreads, why Australia remains low risk, and what experts say about preventing future outbreaks.

The-14 Pictures

Show thread

Mark 2d ago

- The Army’s 77th Brigade, tasked with non-lethal #psychological #warfare, collected tweets from #British #citizens posting about #Covid-19 passing them to central govt despite claiming operations were directed strictly overseas
- Targeted speech included public #criticism of #Conservative govt's #pandemic response as well as journalists’ criticism of withdrawal from Afghanistan & MPs’ criticism of NATO

https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campaigns/ministry-of-truth/?mc_cid=29b436a9ef#findings

#BigBrother #authoritarian #oppression #FreeSpeech #privacy

[2/2]

Shut down the Ministry Of Truth

Secretive UK government ‘disinformation’ units have been spying on political dissent and suppressing free speech online.

Big Brother Watch

Open Risk 2d ago

People who think/wish that worsening climate fundamentals leading to #heatwave events will suddenly sensitize society to environmental #sustainability are probably counting themselves prematurely rich.

Just a few years ago we had a planetary scale biological #pandemic risk event which is now almost forgotten. As soon as stress subsides prevalent cultures and mental models reassert themselves, like an elastic band that returns to its base state

Real change does happen but is infuriatingly slow

Droppie 2d ago

this somewhat set me aback, with afaict an air of presumptive entitlement

10) If you find yourself locked down for the 154th time during a pandemic in Melbourne, drag out the credit card and order a delivery of croissants, tarts and those weird things called cronuts for your exhausted team, make coffee, cry until you start laughing again and then go on air and do your job.really? so you implicitly expect & rely on a servile class below you to miraculously endure the pandemic & magic up your frivolous stuff? were they safe, were they protected, were they looked after, did anyone care about them?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-27/27-lessons-journalism-last-weekend-reads-column/106839830

my interpretation & reaction might be wrong & OTT, i admit, but fwiw they're conditioned on the basis that i never have & never will use any of those abusive multinational food delivery services, on principle, so i instantly look askance at peeps who do, & especially when so apparently glibly as here

#pandemic #arrogance #entitlement

Farewell: 27 things Virginia Trioli learned at the ABC

After almost 40 years in Australian journalism, 27 of them at the ABC, I am now in possession of enough mistakes to claim a small amount of experience.

Hacker News 3d ago

A forgotten social media post may hold key clues to Covid-19's origin

https://www.science.org/content/article/forgotten-social-media-post-may-hold-key-clues-covid-19-s-origin

#HackerNews #Covid19Origin #socialmedia #clues #pandemic #research

toresimonsen 4d ago

Tell #elon #musk I spent $1.4 trillion dollars. Musk will never be the world's first #trillionaire. My participation in the #vaccine trial helped save lives throughout the world. You did not pay attention to anything. You may want to read my #pandemic notes. Republicans killed Republicans but I worked to save everyone.