A Concerned Scientist @BE@qoto.org

fucking hell, the PIP assessment (disability benefit) is actually as demeaning as I was led to believe.

If you really think that it's important to have to describe, in the details, the step-by-step process of going to the toilet, in order to see if you qualify, then you've never been in a position where you've had to describe, in the details, the step-by-step process of going to the toilet to a young lady 20 or more years your junior.

For International Tea Day, my Green Tea Chemistry print. This linocut illustrates green tea and its chemistry. There's a tea pot, two cups of tea and a tea plant (Camellia sinensis) on a tray, and in the steam, you can see some of the organic chemicals found in green tea. Up to 27% of the composition of green tea can be a member of the flavonoids called catechins like the molecule illustrated on the right. 🧵1/n
⁠
#tea #greenTea #chemistry #linocut #sciart #printmaking #InternationalTeaDay

Scientists have managed to generate a full genetic sequence of #H5N1 #birdflu from store-bought milk, suggesting commercial milk products could be a way to monitor the outbreak in cows, given the lack of cooperation from dairy farmers. https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/21/bird-flu-virus-spread-scientists-monitor-h5n1-in-store-bought-milk/

When people tell me they read one of my books and found it “quite good”, I like to assume they’re from the US where “quite” apparently means “very” 😊

As opposed to the UK/Aus, where “quite good” is just damning with faint praise.

Unless you say it was “really quite good”. *That’s* when you mean “very good”.

If you say “quite good, really”, that means you’re surprised it was any good.

And if you say “Oh, I say, that is quite, *quite* remarkable”, you’re an 18th-century Earl confronted by a tempestuous highland beauty who is tossing her raven-black locks and flashing her sapphire-blue eyes at you because you’re enclosing her commons 😉

#WritingCommunity #linguistics #quite

Re: the last boost

Is someone working on a global low/no-covid specific dating app?

Because if god willin, there is ever a world where it's safe for me to leave the house again, I would really like to meet people who are:

- systems thinkers
- in solidarity with those who have less economic power
- fighting eugenics and ableism
- able to resist peer pressure
- resolved in their convictions
- thinking for the long term

Truly, I can think of nothing sexier and I mean that with my whole heart.

Caitlin Rivers is an epidemiologist who specializes in outbreak science. She advocated for the creation of a National Center for Epidemic Forecasting, and I have followed her for some time for her insights into Public Health.

She is about to release a book to show the influence of Public Health and tout some of its unsung heroes. I highly recommend getting the book either hardcover or ebook:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704843/crisis-averted-by-caitlin-rivers-phd/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

or follow her on Substack:
https://caitlinrivers.substack.com

#PublicHealth

Here we go again. Singapore CoViD19 cases almost double leading hospitals to cancel most elective procedures to free up bed capacity:

The #SARSCoV2🦠 pandemic is not even close to being over.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-covid-19-cases-nearly-double-hospital-capacity-vaccination-4345961?cid=internal_sharetool_ipad_18052024_cna

“As a physician I am deeply concerned about North Carolina’s potential total ban on mask-wearing. It’s disturbing to think immunocompromised and cancer patients could be deemed criminals for following medical advice aimed at safeguarding their health,” [Jerome] Adams said in one post.

https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2024/05/20/doctors-call-public-mask-ban-unconscionable-political-point-making/

#PublicHealth #covid #masks #NorthCarolina #Gaza

Today is a nonstop torrent of abusive acts by Big Tech.

In this one, it looks like Google effectively paid off the feds to avoid a jury trial in the antitrust case. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/google-cuts-mystery-check-us-bid-sidestep-jury-trial-2024-05-20/

Revenue from so-called millionaires tax tops state projections | Boston Globe
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/20/metro/millionaires-tax-massachusetts-generated-18-billion/

My in-laws still talk about "being distanced from others" at indoor events as if it was protecting them. Aerosols don't care about distance. When I point that out I get push back. PH is such a failure. 🤬

Not a single, solitary soul on:

Reddit
Xitter
Vancouver Canucks Subreddit
Canucks Discord

...connecting Brock Boeser's clots to a potential instigation by #COVID19.

Several posts are by alleged doctors and describe the age old canard / test answer that a long transatlantic flight can be associated with it, & they discuss guidelines, Well's Criteria, etc.

How many of the doctors posting this information are in this SAME camp that are unaware of COVID's association with coagulopathy?

My expectation: all of them are either unaware or have heard about this but quietly erase it by not broaching the subject, cuz, then they'd have to face how ableist the medical establishment is.

As someone who randomly did have clots before 2020, if there isn't a genetic cause, and rheumatologic causes are ruled out, it's incredibly rare for a professional athlete to develop a clotting disorder.

Or, it was, before the year 2020.

https://zeroes.ca/@hannu_ikonen/112470668178581314

#Coagulopathy #COVID19 #Disability #hockey #hnom #Canucks #ableism

Oh just fabulous. 🙄 AI-generated personality tests in job applications have arrived. Just helped a library guest apply for a job and the test was incomprehensible from beginning to end. Of course the local outfit had outsourced the application process to a third party company, who had outsourced the personalty/morality tests to yet ANOTHER company. This ordeal was for a job as a JANITOR.
#library #librarian #AI @librarians

Elevated carbon dioxide lets Sars-CoV-2 live far longer in droplets | Research | Chemistry World

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/elevated-carbon-dioxide-lets-sars-cov-2-live-far-longer-in-droplets/4019501.article

acidic or alkaline,
potato, potahto🥔🥔
bottom line… it lingers
#co2 #HEPA #wearADamnRespirator

fascinating though

I assume it’s lingering everywhere🤷🏻‍♀️

>>MRI Abnormalities: 48.4% of pediatric patients with post-COVID-19 neurological symptoms showed MRI abnormalities.

Types of Lesions: Predominantly encephalitis/encephalopathy (73.3%)...

Vascular Abnormalities: 80% of patients with MRI abnormalities exhibited vascular issues, mainly affecting the middle cerebral arteries.

Neurological Manifestations: The spectrum of symptoms ranged from seizures to Alice in Wonderland syndrome.<<

#LongCovid #LongCovidInKids

https://tactnowinfo.substack.com/p/mri-study-reveals-high-incidence

Someone that I work with messaged asking if anyone else is sick after traveling to attend our organization’s big convention last week un😷ed. In a couple mins 2 others responded disclosing they have symptoms too. I really don’t understand how folks aren’t mathing the C19 math 🧮

My family finally became Swiss citizens after a 4-year application process. Photo shows information for our first referendum vote.

Since I cannot be refused citizenship now, it is time to say what I *really* think of this country. Thread.