the world needs more guinea pig cartographers

the hungry observatory

Mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides) Original post

A yellow-headed blackbird prepares to land on last year’s cattails at a nature area in Longmont, Colorado. #FlyDay #BirdOfTheDay #photogenic #Corvidae #EastCoastKin #bird #birds #birdphotography #BirdsSeenln2026 #nature #wildlife #wetland #wetlands #blackbird #blackbirds

Community members are demanding justice for Seattle activist Kai Sorem, 26, who was killed on April 19 by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in what is being described as a massacre of civilians. Sorem was a part of an activist delegation to visit peasant communities of Toboso, Negros Island.

Beautiful

Those of us in public health don't just have to become better storytellers, we need go out into our communities and co-create a better future for all of us. The story of public health in the 21st century should be one embedded in communities that need us most. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Morning! xx

Fun fact: An "endearing" nickname for male Oregon Juncos is "Executioner Bird" He would never! #BirdOfTheDay #BlackHeads #birds #becurious 🪶

If you're in Chicago, come join me, Nabarun Dasgupta and Mary Pounder a week from Saturday. www.chicagohumanities.org/events/atten...

Hi all - Hiraya Health Collective, a new grassroots organization I’m part of made up of Filipino medical and public health practitioners and their allies fighting for health justice, is hosting their first event in Portland, Oregon.

Cherry blossoms in Japan.

@drplantel.bsky.social #medsky

Little is known about the orchardist in Oregon who forever changed the international fruit market in 1875 by cultivating the popular Bing cherry. But two artists used their keen imagination to grow the few seeds of Ah Bing’s biography into a poignant children’s book

NEW: A federal judge in Oregon issued a sweeping rebuke of the Justice Department’s nationwide push to seize state voter rolls, ruling that the department can no longer be presumed to be acting in good faith and warning that its conduct threatens voters and states’ rights.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Just because good news is worth celebrating: There is now a Prep medication that is an *every six month* injection. HIV has, effectively, a vaccination.

On the way to a hospital for an uncontrolled nosebleed, 7 yr old Diana Crespo and her family were snatched by ICE. She is now in Dilley detention center where a measles outbreak is occurring and conditions are very poor Unacceptable Call 5calls.org Write democracy.io www.opb.org/article/2026...

I genuinely have no idea how to convey this to the American people, but I think the biggest impediment to any kind of immigration reform is that people are convinced that "legal" and "illegal" are immutable, intrinsic categories instead of a rapidly-shifting arbitrary constellation of regulations.

BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

Minnesota National Guard members have arrived at a federal building and were directed to distribute donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate to anti-ICE protesters. Guard members were issued reflective vests so they would not be mistaken for federal agents.

I just thought everyone should see this

Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95. “Her painstaking calculations and programming helped transform raw satellite data into precise geodetic models, enabling reliable satellite-based navigation.” [thezebra.org]

One day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history

CMS is rolling back state vaccine reporting requirements for Medicaid-covered children (40% of US children) from the 2026 core dataset and exploring measures on whether families were informed about vaccines, risks and alternative schedules.

Clouds among the power lines this afternoon in Portland, Oregon #Photography #Bluesky #Clouds #Portland 📷🐸

#ForestFriday 💚 Trees and morning glow 💛 Sun and fog are dancing here today ☀️🌁✨ Happy Friday 🦋💫🌲✌️

It is utterly catastrophic that RFK Jr. plans to end CDC recommendations for most childhood vaccines. It’s a betrayal of science, ethics, compassion, and the people of the United States. And it was also a specific goal of Project 2025 (page 254).

Leaving you tonight with a reminder of the works of our forebears. The greatest generation. Funded by moms across America mailing in their dimes to help prevent a disease they all feared.

NEW: Epstein survivors release the most powerful PSA I have ever seen. Make this go viral so every member of the House of Representatives sees it.

Law enforcement has more tools than ever to track your movements and access your communications. Here’s how to protect your privacy if you plan to protest.

Trump just ordered the military into Portland, and he’s giving them the green light to use lethal force on American citizens. Authoritarianism is an abstract concept but Trump is making its impacts real and tangible. Let’s be real about it: This is the beginning of dictatorship in America.

Trump is using his 2020 playbook again, but I want Portlanders to remember what 2020 was actually like. 🧵

The interim CDC director who will rubber stamp the ACIP recommendations on MMRV vaccine and COVID vaccine is neither a scientist nor a physician. He is a former silicon valley executive. When was the last time you consulted a corporate executive for guidance on your health? 🤔...I'll wait.

Now here is my summary of the ACIP meeting itself. 1. The chair permitted people to present harmful misinformation about vaccines throughout the entire meeting. 2. Retsef Levi and several other members appear to have no understanding of basic public health principles and IMO should be removed.

Encourage folks who think like this to buy and actually carefully read Banu Subramaniam’s Ghost Stories for Darwin, which is in part about how much of biological categories is socially constructed Also read anything about how scifi allegories work 🖖🏽 www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

My heart breaks into 10,000 pieces once again.

#Medsky🧪 #episky #microsky #publichealth The Swiss Cheese Model, originally developed by James Reason in the context of accident causation & human error, offers a powerful framework for understanding & addressing complex challenges such as #antimicrobialresistance (AMR).

This man is destroying vaccination as a public health intervention in the US. Top to bottom. It has nothing to do with science. He is a fanatic, know-nothing ideologue.

Another piece (this one by @gregggonsalves.bsky.social) underlining the reality that public health has always been political, and its practitioners should understand that to get better traction for their aims.

Best part of visiting @lshtm.bsky.social means seeing the ORIGINAL broad street pump! Not the public replica, but the actual pump that spread actual cholera in Soho in 1854! One day, I dream this will be in a public museum focused on John Snow! #EpiSky

Tita Maria, a Filipino migrant caregiver in OR was exploited & abused by her Filipino employer for 14 years. Migrante PDX found that her former employer stole almost $200k in wages from her. We must fight alongside Tita Maria!

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Read Maris's piece, then go show your local indie bookstore some love. They're so much more than places to get books--they are places to engage with ideas and others in your community. Staffed by actual humans to help you find the books you didn't know you needed!

Trump admin budget document calls for the elimination of LIHEAP -- which helps low-income Americans heat and cool their homes thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5255650-trump-administration-considering-low-income-home-energy-assistance-program-elimination/

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“As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios,” says White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The petty “thought police” intolerance of the Trump regime should alarm all reasonable people.

An extraordinary separate dissent from Justice Jackson accuses the majority of trying to pass off its dirty work under the cover of the shadow docket and explicitly invokes Korematsu, the Japanese internment case. Wow. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

You guys, they're not stupid They're doing propaganda When they lie through their teeth, they are doing propaganda Do you think the people behind Big Brother in 1984 were stupid? Big Brother says lots of nonsensical shit. It's called p r o p a g a n d a