My first byline at @sfstandard.com : Bay Area cycling community rallies after Alex Pretti’s death sfstandard.com/2026/01/30/a...

things I miss: in tha 80s punk groups would cover ‘stupid’ 70s songs. eg 1. Replacements: Black diamond (Kiss) 2. Soul Asylum: jukebox Hero (Foreigner) 3. Sonic Youth: Sweet Jane (velvet Underground) 4. Killdozer: Sweet Home Alabama (Tom Petty) @clarajeffery.bsky.social @romanmars.bsky.social

Thank you @davideagleman.bsky.social for having me on to talk drugs and Drug Story!

Now this is cool: Apple selected Drug Story as a featured New Show! No idea exactly how this happens, but I expect it helps that so many folks have given Drug Story a generous 5 star rating at Apple Podcasts. (HINT, HINT)

The pros, cons, and controversies of prescription drugs - loved talking with Alexis Madrigal on @kqedforum.bsky.social this morning. Take a listen! www.kqed.org/forum/201010...

For our first newsletter of the year, co-founder @thgoetz.bsky.social introduces his new podcast, Drug Story, that explores the state of health in the US and how we got here -- one blockbuster drug at a time: mailchi.mp/9729a35a1ac4...

One of my fave Gehry buildings was the house he built for himself in the middle of a neighborhood in Santa Monica, CA. Actually, he didn't build it - he bought an old bungalow and added to it until it became... this. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehry_R...

Did you know that Xanax is name-dropped in rap songs as much as Hennessy, Rolex, or Air Jordans? My new project: DRUG STORY, a podcast about the disease business, one drug at a time. The first episode drops on Tuesday, January 6. check out the trailer here: www.drugstory.co/p/drug-story...

Pick: in history, Top 10 medications that have been/treated: a) most significant drugs (pro/con) of past 100 years b) most significant conditions of past 100 years c) just a crazy story behind it or the disease? (dropping a sneak preview of something cool this week)

With the news on ultraprocessed foods this week, it's worth going back to this excellent explainer, from @alicecallahan.bsky.social, on how we got to where we are today: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

I am super duper excited to read this. Charles Mann is so good at this stuff.

Shameless plug: For a year, I've been working on a series about the vast systems that underlie life in most of the world. Built up over generations, these systems are the cathedrals of our time--but all too few of us know anything about them, and they're all at risk of failing. Here's the latest:

If you need me today, I'm doing the fucking news.

“Good luck to all” is just …

Health in all design ... www.fastcompany.com/91377661/why...

As they say, I will just leave this… here. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Tremor?

Earthquake bluesky

apropos of nothing, here's the wine list at Mar A Lago lagomar.com/wp-content/u...

*Now* i get it - when people say "do your own research" - they mean once the NIH, CDC, NSF, and other government-funded science all shuts down.

This is true. My team at iodine did for $1.1m what a previous team had failed to do for $150m for fda. Instead of praise we got rousted.

The Great American Enshitification begins

if anybody is backing up gov websites, please add ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc to the list - a clearinghouse of what works in education policy, hosted by dept. of education. essential documentation of how to teach!

A really good assessment of how Bryan Johnson is chasing the wrong metrics, by Gregory Katz gregorykatz.substack.com/p/bryan-john...

What I've read so far, the "evidence" is that they can't figure out how else DeepSeek could've done it, which, hrm. Also, *if* someone stole OpenAI's data, call the police, using copyrighted material without paying its creators is a crime, good point. techcrunch.com/2025/01/28/d...

The Columbia River, which drains about 244 billion cubic meters of fresh water into the Pacific Ocean from tributaries in Canada, Washington, Idaho and Oregon, does not connect to Southern California through any man-made channels or natural bodies of water other than the Pacific Ocean.

An ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has become the largest in recorded history in the United States.

Crazy: in the 1960s, the average American adult smoked more than 4,000 cigarettes a year. That’s half-a-pack a day *on average* for ALL adults.

I think MJ had it exactly backwards cuz Prince had better songs

Highly recommend “The State of Fire: Why California Burns” - a beautiful, thoughtful and prescient 2024 book by Obi Kaufmann. Amazing charts and watercolors and insights throughout

Story I would love to read: profile of whoever thought of taking steer penises and turning them into dog chew toys. I hope she is very rich now.

Ride in Peace, Jimmy Carter #RIPJimmyCarter

such a great example of how transportation decisions (auto trends in particular) affect human health (in a bad way)

for a thing I'm doing, looking for a couple people taking Lipitor/atorvastatin, willing to talk w me about their LDL/HDL numbers, and their Rx, etc. It'll be fun! [email protected]

If you’re interested in creating a future where everyday life is healthy by design, please join with us at Building H…

In 2025, we will be as far from the year 2000… as 1975. That makes my Gen X heart break.

CMS proposes that Medicare/Medicaid cover GLP-1s for weight loss. This makes sense for public health - better to avoid waiting till people move to full diabetes - but it could be a very expensive proposition for Trump et al. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/u...