SO MANY interesting things to think about in this series!

COVID isn’t acting like the viruses most of us grew up with, and treating it like “just a cold” is putting people at real risk. David Brasure breaks down why SARS-CoV-2 is fundamentally different, how it causes long-term damage, and what we can do to protect ourselves.

It's DECEMBER! You have TWO MONTHS to purchase a World Science Fiction Society (WSFS) membership to the Los Angeles 2026 #Worldcon if you want to nominate for the #HugoAwards. www.lacon.org/register/ Get yours by January 31, 2026!!

It has become very clear that “me too” didn’t go nearly far enough

….oooof. Yeah. Also I absolutely will not be seeing this. #mecfs #longcovid #pasc

DOGE and others in the administration want to build a giant database of records by haphazardly combining info the government collected for one purpose, like paying taxes, and use it for another purpose, like targeting immigrants. We can't let this happen. takebackctrl.org/get-a-warrant

Post you from a different era. The archaeologist, late 1990’s.

I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.

At the food pantry I volunteer at we were absolutely swamped today and by many first timers. We ran out of whole categories of food. Please donate cash to your local organization if you at all can.

FOOD BANK FUNDRAISER! $4,000 raised since last night for food banks across the USA to help them prep for SNAP ending Nov 1 🥫🍎🥗🥣🥛🥧🤝 No org, just the BlueSky community being generous 🤩 If you want to help keep the momentum going, here's a fresh thread of food banks in the states losing the most SNAP

(1/3) 🥦🥖🧀🍗 Today on #NationalFoodDay, many Americans are worried about their next meal. States are warning that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits may not be issued in November if the shutdown continues.

Thread full of some good online privacy hygiene tips

#longcovid #mecfs #pasc

NEW 😷: Masks are a vital tool in protecting people from COVID-19 & other airborne diseases. But s ome employers are banning them, even though Americans have the right to accessibility tools under the ADA. Nadi Zimmerman reports for @thesicktimes.org thesicktimes.org/2025/10/14/d...

While all of the things in this article are likely true, I wonder if @nytimes.com has considered how long COVID might be affecting these numbers. Millions of Americans have #longCOVID and #mecfs, both of which disproportionately affect women. #pasc www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

The University of Texas Health Houston Long Covid Clinic shut down this week. Apparently it went gently into that good night. Nothing in the news. Nothing on the web page. The pages for the clinic seem to have just vanished from the site. #mecfs #longcovid #postcovid #pasc #uthealthhouston

I’ve watched this 100 times.

This seems like a good day to mention that I've been using the Loóna sleep app for years, and @catvalente.bsky.social 's Sleep Escape "Starfire Station" is hands-down my favorite. "Who ARE you???" made me LOL in delight the first time, and smile every time I repeat it. I just absolutely love it.

This is your regular reminder that rationality is an emotion. It is not the opposite of emotion. It is the feeling of being calmly certain. That is not the same thing as being right. It is the FEELING of being right.

Just what I needed right now

I’ll end this with something I’ve said before. Art has value. It’s an essential service. What we do, is one of the most important jobs on this fucking planet. Do not undervalue it or yourself. Ever. Fight for it. Trust me, you will never regret that. 5/5

"Is it time for Hollywood to concede that a lot of moviegoers in North America are never coming back? That movie theaters have permanently lost 20 to 25 percent of their customers?" Stories like this mystify me... www.nytimes.com/interactive/... (1/)

(Hopefully) Very useful thing coming from Mt Sinai - a clinician's manual for infection-associated chronic illnesses (like long COVID, ME/CFS, Lyme Disease, EDS, POTS, and others). They commit to update it every 6-12 months. (1/3)

No strong studies show real-time crime centers actually cut crime, yet they “end up collecting massive amounts of data without proper audit or oversight" - a situation that's ripe for abuse, EFF’s Beryl Lipton told @seattletimes.com.

I believe that if Superman landed in practically any other country in 1995, that in 2025 he wouldn't be stopping the Boravian invasion of Jarhanpur, he'd be in the Ukraine, and Gaza, and Southern California, and at these sites (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...), and at Guantanamo Bay, doing good.

So. The Pinkertons. That news item that went around yesterday about Emily Blunt playing Kate Warne? It's from four years ago. Last solid news about the Kate Warne biopic was from 2023. It seems clear that the movie is trapped in development hell and won't ever appear. Which is a good thing. 1/

And the second plumeria started blooming today! No flower stalks on the other ones yet. #BloomScrolling #Plumerias

First plumeria of the year started blooming a couple days ago. #BloomScrolling #Plumerias

Orchid in full bloom! 8 flowers, yard stick for scale. #BloomScrolling #Orchids

Apollo 13 was about 10 hours into her flight 55 years ago right now! You can follow along in “real time”: apolloinrealtime.org/13/

I don’t know if folks who haven’t spent time in / closely following Texas understand just how brazenly corrupt Ken Paxton really is. But here’s a thread, if you’re curious…

THIS IS HUGE! Researchers at Stanford University have developed a dual-antibody treatment that remains effective against ALL SARS-CoV-2 variants by targeting a less-mutable part of the virus. This breakthrough could lead to longer-lasting therapies that OUTPACE viral evolution. 🧪🧵⬇️

This is so lovely and sad, funny and sweary. “This is a true story. This actually happened. I mean, to one degree or another, all my stories are true. The one about a unicorn, or Lila the Werewolf – well, no, that one really did happen – …”

WIRED is tracking numerous reports of Musk-related shenanigans across the federal govt. We're looking for fed employees open to discussing the activity they're seeing or to help confirm other reports. Anonymity offered. Please use @signal.org (contact dell.3030). Do not use work networks/devices.

My friends, I am so beyond thrilled to share the second installment in Love Letters: Reasons To Be Alive, written by none other than the absolutely legendary @hellafitzgerald.bsky.social

Trans rights are human rights.

If you want to nominate for the Hugo Awards, you must have your $50 WSFS membership or full Seattle Worldcon 2025 membership purchased by January 31st, 11:59pm PST! seattlein2025.org/memberships/...

Trump set the TikTok ban in motion Congress passed legislation Biden signs legislation SCOTUS upholds ban Biden says his administration wouldn’t enforce the law, leaving room for TikTok to stay open TikTok shuts down anyway Trump tweets TikTok pretends Trump saved it 🙄

Training materials obtained by @theintercept.com include specific examples of permitted hate speech that “demonstrate that Meta’s policy changes are political in nature and not intended to simply allow more freedom of expression,” EFF’s @jillian.bsky.social said.

By the time we shared this statement, the conversation had understandably shifted toward Meta's dangerous new content policy. It was a mistake to project good faith onto the company, which quickly showed it was not deserving of it. For a full analysis, see www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

Back when I did this event in June (and got to see @ahsimlibrarian.bsky.social !) for "Stories Are Weapons" I had no idea I would be living through an escalating psychological war. Now I'm glad I did the research so you can learn from all the archive hunting and reporting I did ...

I'm going to spend the next month shouting about how everyone should support bookstores everywhere. (Books make great presents! Lots of bookstores also sell other cool stuff!) But for right now, these bookstores especially need a lot of extra help. We can't do without them.

Anybody else on StoryGraph? app.thestorygraph.com/profile/katj...

Right. Here's your to-do list for the next two months to put you in the best possible position to survive what's coming: 1. Renew your passport (or apply for a passport) this week even if it is not expiring in the next four years. Renewing early will give you the maximum 10-year validity period.

www.bakerinstitute.org/roadstaken “‘roadsTaken’ is an interactive map and geospatial database of buildings removed and people displaced by highway construction in Houston, Texas. (1/x)

A few more pledges and I'll be able to pay out contributor bonuses in the triple digits, including bonuses for cover artists!!

The WHO has certified Egypt, home to 100 million people, as malaria-free. Dr. Tedros poetically stated, 'Malaria is as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history and not its future.' https://buff.ly/3Upborh #ShareGoodNewsToo

I am 1000% here for more singing and dancing in all of my media.

“Who steps on butterflies?!”