Ryan Schultz

HOUSEKEEPING NOTES: Going Off-Topic on My Blog, and Being Clear About How I Use AI in My Blogposts EDITORIAL NOTE: No generative AI tools were used in the creation of this blogpost. However, I cannot guarantee that any clip art I used to illustrate this post, found through the image search featu…

HOUSEKEEPING NOTES: Going Off-Topic on My Blog, and Being Clear About How I Use AI in My Blogposts
ryanschultz.com/2026/02/24/h...

This award-winning documentary considers America's "war on books" and how extremism fuels censorship efforts. The border does not grant us immunity from these activities. This promises to be an interesting viewing and discussion for everyone interested in the free exchange of ideas. Free admittance.

On Friday, January 16th, at 6 pm, the Manitoba Library Association (with support from the Goethe Institute and the Université de Saint-Boniface) will screen a free showing of "The Librarians," with a panel discussion following, in the Martial-Caron Auditorium. This award-winning documentary considers America's "war on books" and how extremism fuels censorship efforts. The border does not grant us immunity from these activities. This promises to be an interesting viewing and discussion for everyone interested in the free exchange of ideas.

On Friday, January 16th, 2026, at 6 pm, the Manitoba Library Association (with support from the Goethe Institute and the Université de Saint-Boniface) will screen a free showing of "The Librarians," with a panel discussion following, in the Martial-Caron Auditorium. See poster for details:

Top picture: Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist in the movie Brokeback Mountain. Bottom picture: Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander and Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov in the TV series Heated Rivalry (based on the novel of the same name, from the Game Changer series of novels written by Rachel Reid)

My most recent blog post is *completely* off-topic, about how Heated Rivalry is Brokeback Mountain all over again, and how "coming out" has many, sometimes different meanings in social VR, virtual worlds, and other forms of the metaverse.

Ryan Schultz News and Views on Social VR, Virtual Worlds, and the Metaverse, plus Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI's Impact on the Metaverse

However, I do have a blog at ryanschultz.com, where I usually write posts about my areas of (research and personal) interest and expertise: virtual worlds, social VR, and the metaverse, and more recently, artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI and AI's applications to the metaverse.

2026 on an ombre background with a star

Happy new year! I just wanted to let all the people I whom I am following, and who follow me, know that I am not often on traditional social media like Bluesky or Mastodon. I just find that my mental health is better since I have cut back drastically on my social media, and stopped doomscrolling.

Thanks, Dylan! I appreciate this. (Sorry to take so long to respond; I am not very often on traditional social media like Bluesky).

This is top-tier trolling. Backgrounder for those who don't get the joke: www.bbc.com/news/article...

To our American friends who may now be struggling to find health information on US websites: Please check out the Public Health Agency of Canada's website for helpful resources, updated dashboards & practical health tips.

🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

canada.ca/en/public-he...

I believe that ALL social media, including BSky, inevitably tends to become a toxic cesspool/dumpster fire over time, and leads to greater societal harm. I am ONLY here for the topics mentioned in my BSky profile, and I will mute and/or block profiles who follow me as needed to maintain that focus.

B.C. doctor reflects on treating teen with H5N1 for 2 months | CBC News Researchers are comparing the genetic features of the B.C. patient's avian flu strain with that of a Louisiana patient who died last week.

13 yo girl in Canada became seriously ill with H5N1 that had a mutation also found in the H5N1 infecting the man who died in Louisiana.

"This child needed a lot of support, basically the maximum amount of respiratory support that we're able to provide in a modern ICU"

Biomedical scientist who works in cancer & infectious disease life sciences biotech here:

Banning US scientists from communicating with the WHO threatens humanity.

Banning communication about emerging health risks like disease outbreaks & food recalls threatens humanity.

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Rent rose by 20 percent across L.A. County after fires. That’s illegal. In nearly 30 cities in the county, the median rent for homes listed within two weeks after the fires began increased well past the legal limit of 10 percent. January 25, 2025

If the disaster doesn’t get you, disaster capitalism will finish the job.

So Trump has now forbidden the U.S. Centers for Disease Control from working with the World Health Organization. I am beyond words. The next four years are going to be an absolute shitshow.

Alberta’s COVID Task Force Goes Full MAGA | The Tyee The government quietly releases a report pumping discredited ‘cures’ and attacking vaccines.

Alberta's COVID Task Force Goes Full MAGA via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025...

I am only back on social media as a result of recent U.S. government decisions which will impact how I will receive information about H5N1 and other potential pandemics. As a result, I have set up this account on Bsky, to follow good, authoritative sources of information.

Only people I follow can respond to this post. I am looking for good, authoritative people/sources of information to follow on the following topics: coronavirus/COVID; H5N1/bird flu; and epidemics/pandemics. That is the ONLY reason I am on Bsky. Please recommend some good profiles to follow, thanks!

Anti-Immigrant Rioters Set a UK Library on Fire. The Community Rallied. After the Spellow Library in Liverpool was targeted during England’s unrest last summer, more than 10,000 people donated to its restoration.

After the Spellow Library in Liverpool, England, was targeted during a wave of anti-immigrant, racist disorder last summer, more than 10,000 people donated to its restoration.

Hello everybody! I left Twitter for Mastodon when Elon first started musing about buying it, and I have been watching the ensuing dumpster fire from afar. I no longer have any social media (except Mastodon, which I rarely use), and I only read selected subreddits on Reddit anonymously.

Hello Helen! I am Ryan Schultz, the science librarian from the University of Manitoba. I followed you when I was on Twitter and I would like to follow you for your H5N1/bird flu coverage, please. Thank you! I have now set up a Bluesky account just for that purpose.