Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@qoto.org

I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed in #AOC for making fun of her perception of Stephen #Miller's height, or in the many otherwise decent human beings who have repeated it with approval.

Anyway, don't do that. Dude's a fucking #kapo, you can find other ways to mock him.

Perhaps I was luckier than I thought when my academic career ended prematurely.

No matter where you go ... there you are.

You know, I'm good with this.

#Bioinformaticists need a set of Greek theater masks.

I'm horribly amused that at least on my server, the picture of Dr. Marrazzo's face is blurred out as "sensitive content."

#Noem is slaying her thousands, and #Hegseth may slay his tens of thousands. #Kennedy will slay his millions. Single-digit millions if we're *lucky*. Tens or hundreds aren't out of reach.

I know I keep repeating this. Because it's true.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-fires-nih-vaccine-whistleblower-dr-jeanne-marrazzo/

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our snark.

"#FEMA is overrated anyway half the time they get it wrong to right before hurricane or tornado hits they can’t control the weather" [sic]

"#Weather #control is #HAARP's job. Do try to keep up."

Nature is so beautiful.

"#Correlation is not #causation" is right up there with "according to science" and "read a history book" on my list of thought-terminating cliches. Even when it's applicable—which is less likely than you think—there's nearly always a better and more specific way to make your point. Trust me on this.

I've been so eager to learn the truth about #Amelia #Epstein.

About Jared #Polis and #RFK Jr.

When Donald #Trump announced #Kennedy as his nominee for Secretary of #Health and Human Services, most Democrats reacted with alarm and disgust. Kennedy has amply justified that reaction: I've written at length about it and no doubt will again, but that's not the point here.

One prominent Democrat endorsed the nomination: Jared Polis, currently Governor of Colorado. Since that happened, I've seen many otherwise rational people make excuses for him, often citing this Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/19/jared-polis-colorado-trump-rfk-jr

The article doesn't exonerate Polis. Quite the opposite.

Antivaxers are mass murderers. Decent people do not "look forward to working with" traitors to humanity. Say if I found out Vladimir #Putin was just as much into paleontological science fiction as I am (probably not) I still wouldn't invite him to collaborate on my time travel stories.

One specific quote from Polis really jumped out at me: "[RFK Jr.] helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up #HHS and #FDA."

Vaccine mandates are not something to be "defeated." They're among the most effective public health measures in history. Every rational person knew Kennedy's "shaking up" would mean the destruction of HHS, FDA, and every other agency whose work is based on science rather than murderous ideology.

Polis may well run for Senate in 2028. If he does, and gets the nomination, I'll probably vote for him, because he's practically guaranteed to be better than whoever is the Republican nominee. But I'll oppose him every step of the way before that.

From comments on a years-ago Facebook conversation: "Well, okay, I used to be #Chekhov, and on my good days I still am. But I can feel myself turning into #Bester." The transition is just about complete now.

"I was too smart to enlist and they didn't want me as an officer because I raise too much hell."

"Officially, there's no record of my service."

"I'd've punched out the DI the first time he got in my face."

Did I miss any?

@oldclumsy_nowmad Hah!

@drdrowland Yeah. Possibly a bot or paid troll rather than just a garden-variety jackass. Quora these days makes it really hard to report users, but (I think) you can still report specific posts easily enough. Of course, who wants to go down the list of hundreds of bullshit posts reporting each one?

I do so love it when someone tells me to "read a basic #textbook" in a field where I've not only read basic textbooks, but some advanced ones as well—and as it happens, that I'm getting paid to work on *right now*. #Immunology, in this case, but it's a widespread phenomenon.

Well no, I don't love it, but it does at least provide some brief amusement. Link, for the curious: https://thinktankredux.quora.com/Im-still-going-to-try-to-keep-from-posting-about-politics-in-general-but-Ill-make-an-exception-for-matters-of-medicin?comment_id=156316551&comment_type=3

"Okay, we're clearly at the beginning of a #movie. Now, is this a wacky #comedy with incompetent #gangsters who take ever-more-ridiculous pratfalls in a futile attempt to recover their loot, or a gritty #thriller where the viewpoint characters are in way over their heads? Help me figure it out ... fast."

"I am humorously pretending not to understand context so I can deliberately misinterpret your statement! Look at me! I am very clever!"

Whoever first said puns are the lowest form of humor might have had a different opinion if they'd lived to see the internet.