Someone across the street has set up a speaker outside their building that's been playing Christmas music from 9am to 9pm every single day for a couple weeks already, clearly audible through my closed windows, and I do not think I can survive another month of this

I hope the minority of PR people who send useful things know that the reason I often don't reply is that my inbox is flooded with garbage 24/7, and no matter how many lists I unsubscribe to or how many filters I set up or how many messages I mark as spam, there is never less garbage

Life goals

Can Android please give me the ability to mass block all numbers with a given area code + exchange, to thwart the spammers who call repeatedly from (presumably spoofed) numbers with just the last four digits changed

Trader Joe's cashier: Lots of frozen foods, wow Me: Haha yeah I hate cooking Cashier, a minute later: Man, really stocking up Me: No, seriously, I REALLY HATE cooking

My doctor was harping on my weight gain at my recent physical and telling me my bloodwork was probably going to show I was prediabetic, but my A1C actually went down from last year and I've never felt so smug in my life

Once in elementary school I was playing a trivia game with a friend, and she scoffed at a card and said "this is too easy: are tasmanian devils real?" But I didn't know and was mortified, so I tried to laugh it off and said "oh that is too easy, pick another, not fair for me to get such an easy one"

I will not look before my doctor calls I will not look before my doctor calls I will not look b

NEW: In 2024, Tierra Walker was sick and getting sicker. She was also pregnant. She knew abortion was illegal in Texas, but thought there was an exception for women like her, whose health was at risk. Doctors told her there was no emergency. Then she died. www.propublica.org/article/texa...

Just remembering the time I was writing about a long-shot candidate and attended church with her and everyone was told to hold hands with the people next to them, and she grabbed my hand and I stood HORRIFIED trying to figure out if I could let go without being rude and obsessed about it for a week

SCOOP: CDC officials on Monday linked for the first time the measles outbreak that began in Texas with another in Utah and Arizona, a finding that could end America’s status as a nation that has eliminated measles. (Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/h...

Haven't seen such an explicit, shameless statement of the power dynamics of sexual harassment since Dennis's "the implication" scene in It's Always Sunny www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

New from me + @teddyrosenbluth.bsky.social: Many people are using AI to try to fill gaps in the medical system, from rushed appointments to lack of doctor access to dismissal of symptoms. The gaps are real. So are the risks of AI hallucinations and sycophancy (yes, the sodium bromide case is here).

“One of the things that really gives me joy is the fact that there are so many amazing, brilliant, creative disabled people out there. But part of my rage — and it’s a very real rage — is that most people don’t really know about them.” Obit:

Some days it feels good to be statistically literate, and other days you see a claim that pets with a particular company's pet insurance "are twice as likely to live longer"

Just did a terrible thing for my mental health and searched Bluesky for a particular person in the news, posts about whom would definitely piss me off, and no results came up and I was like ????? and then remembered I muted the name last year. Amazing job 2024 Maggie, saving 2025 Maggie from herself

ah, the cycle where you manage to squeeze your article down to the allotted word count and then the editing process adds an actually quite useful section and then you manage to squeeze it back down and then the editing process adds an actually quite useful section and then you

As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX

Me: go to sleep My brain: did you ever notice how the streetlight coming through the gaps at the top of the curtain makes it look like there are eyes glowing at you from the wall

This would be a perfect post if the text on the photo were "The Penny, 1793-2025"

How fascinating that they don't say what the *results* of the clinical study of these supplement ingredients were

When you have never been to New Jersey

NYC human, despite entire lifetime spent in Northeast, agrees

OK I don't mean to be hyperbolic but this might affect conservatively 65% of my diet

Just got a pitch email about a member of the boy band that sang one of my middle-school anthems hawking supplements, in case anyone was wondering whether we live in hell

I'm a former political reporter and a former copy editor, so I think it's fair to say I'm pretty knowledgeable about both US politics and the English language, but I've spent the past five minutes trying to parse the second sentence here and I'm still not 100% sure I've done so correctly

As expected, Canada has lost its measles-free status because of the long-running outbreak there. With it goes the #measles elimination status of the entire zone of the Americas, the only division of the #WHO to ever have achieved measles elimination. www.statnews.com/2025/11/10/m...

Would you believe this blanket was once draped neatly over the back of the sofa

Also if you're like, what what the heck is going on? I got you. I helped put together this timeline of the two dozen stories I've done about the work Trump has done to block funding to SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/u...

NEW: The Trump admin told states it must immediately "undo" the work to provide full food stamp benefits, or face penalties. The feds sent this in a late-night memo, only adding to the chaos and confusion around SNAP. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/b...

This was a strange week — my anniversary of going on medical leave after ignoring warning signs for months and collapsing over the finish line of the election. I felt that visceral sensation of “this time last year I was…,” which was uncomfortable because this time last year I was a wreck. But... 1/

An interesting thing I've noticed since masking stopped being common: When I see another masked person, even a stranger, we often exchange eye contact and a nod. Like, oh that's nice, there's one other person in this room who definitely isn't judging me and was probably also feeling awkwardly alone.

calm down

WHY IS IT ALREADY DARK I know I complained about this yesterday, but it hasn't gotten better and I just find that rude

No one told me that adulthood would involve getting excited about enrolling in next year's FSA

I like Kit Kats. My husband likes Reese's. We had a bag of each left over from Halloween. Guess which of us has more self-restraint

Why did the sun set one hour earlier but it feels like it's been dark for a thousand hours

"Where are the Dodgers from again? I always think of them as Brooklyn but I know that's not right" — my husband

Welp

I haven't been watching, but all I want now is for the game to reach 2am. Maybe we loop back to January 2020 and the pandemic never happens or something

It's a four month journey to the other side

Today in poorly designed pre-appointment forms (I'm fine, just getting some mild knee pain checked out)

This is flat out false. SNAP cannot be used for that. It’s not permitted under federal law and no states have an exemption for it.

I would love to see a breakdown of how much it costs to increase police patrols in grocery stores versus how much it would cost to compensate stores to give SNAP recipients free food while benefits are suspended

Eating candy for lunch, as one does

At least 50% of NBC's gymnastics commentary

I am not getting anywhere near enough trick-or-treaters for the amount of candy I bought. Come on, kids!

Am I losing my mind or is 40 Across in the Friday crossword in the wrong tense?

The trick-or-treaters who visit me tomorrow should thank the coworker who just waddled by my desk in an enormous costume, because if not for him I would 100% have forgotten to buy candy

one of my favorite things is when the subject of a piece threatens a journalist and the journalist responds by casually printing everything very matter of factly