Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@qoto.org

A friend points out that the success of the #Ukrainian #drone #attack on #Russian #airfields has to have the US and other large #defense #industries rather jittery. All those big high-tech megabucks systems ... something something ten-rupee jezail.

My suspicion is that the age of drone supremacy will be short-lived: as long as they rely on human #pilots on the ground, their #signals can be jammed, traced, or hacked. Best-case scenario, the drones become flying bricks. Middle-case, the ground control facilities become #artillery targets. Worst-case, the drones are turned against their erstwhile controllers.

Those systems already exist in embryonic form—note that #Ukraine had to rely on old-fashioned #infiltration to get close enough for the strikes to work. You can bet every major #military power on the planet is already putting a lot of money into R&D for much more sophisticated approaches. Of course the alternative is autonomous drones, taking off with a set of mission parameters and the same decision-making authority as pilots in crewed #aircraft. That, uh, presents its own set of problems.

With all this said, drones are going to be a big *part* of everyone's arsenal going forward, and yeah, it's going to disrupt current #doctrine considerably. Assuming Ukraine survives the war, which I'm increasingly confident it will, veterans will be in great demand as consultants—at least in smart countries. I wonder if the US will be one of those.

Joni #Ernst is a year younger than me. Like me, she probably has decades of life ahead of her. She is also probably aware, as I am, that we're at the age where things start ... just happening. Not to everyone our age, or even most people. But to some. To *enough* to be a source of worry.

A nagging #cough. A #mole you don't remember being there the last time you looked. The sensation of an irregular #heartbeat. Moments of inattention and confusion. Fear that never quite goes away.

If she has any of these symptoms, I hope they're nothing significant. Really, I do. There is a short list of people I truly want to see drop dead, and she's not on it. However vehemently I disagree with her politics, if she were my patient, I'd give her the best possible care. Like I always have.

But when she goes in for her next #medical appointment, if she mentions any of these or other worrisome symptoms to her provider, goes through the usual battery of tests—

—I really do kind of hope the good doctor says "well, we're all going to die" before giving her the all-clear.

Map of US #job losses due #federal #research #funding cuts, on a county-by-county level. Not shown: the number of jobs lost to knock-on effects, of which mine could well be one. And oh yeah, since so many of these grants are #medical and #epidemiological, the number of people who will FUCKING DIE as a result of this lunacy.

https://scienceimpacts.org/

Pretty soon there will be a TACO truck on every corner.

And here it is. "Kill kids and future mothers first" is an odd strategy for a natalist party, but expecting consistency from these loons is a mug's game. I bet I know how they make it fit together in their heads, and so do you. https://endpts.com/rfk-jr-ends-routine-covid-vaccine-guidance-for-kids-pregnant-women/?u=e79ec92b-641d-4704-968d-efd571e586b5

The lengths to which people will go to defend the #TrolleyProblem are both hilarious and terrifying. Bonus points if they accuse you of "not understanding thought experiments."

No, sweetie, I understand fine. I just don't want to be part of your circle jerk.

If this didn't happen, it should have.

Implications for current political issues are left as an exercise to the reader.

The #WISP exists partially as a deliberate counter to this—i.e. to portray #fictional #dinosaurs more like the first panel than the second. Not that I expect it ever to become a #movie. But *if it does*, I will use the vast power for which #writers are known in #Hollywood to ensure my dinosaurs don't have mange and broken wrists.

You're gonna need a bigger turnout.

#Writing-related question: seeking recommendations for easy-to-use, free or very inexpensive #shareware, #Mac-compatible #drawing #software for #mapmaking.

Currently I'm working on a writer's bible for the Stationverse, called "The Silmarillisaurus" because of course it is. For my own use, mainly—a shared world would be neat, but if that ever happens it will be a long time from now. This is for me to keep track of everything.

What I have in mind is really basic. I don't have Tolkien's sketching ability, so I figure I'll draw something simple and then try to pretty it up a bit on screen. Drawing and cloning symbols for mountains, trees, etc., along with lines for shores and rivers and roads, then cloning and pasting as needed.

(*Dedicated* map-making software that allowed me to do things like topo lines would be nifty, but I'm not expecting that.)

Untold æons ago, I was actually pretty decent with Illustrator, at least for a non-artist. Those skills are gone now, like tears in rain, and so is a registered copy I can use on anything resembling a modern OS. Simple and cheap is what I'm after.

Oh yeah—I'm also open to working with an artist who can take my crude sketches and turn them into something publishable. I can pay, just not much right now, and I don't want anyone to feel ripped off. You may be noticing a theme here.

Like many memes about #GenerationX, this is superficially appealing but falls apart the more you look at it. #Xers do a lot of self-congratulating on how #independent we are, but what that's translated into is more support for #Trump than any other generation, including the reviled #Boomers. We're cats.

I am a #medic. If you know nothing else about me, know that.

Whatever happens, wherever you are, whoever you are—call me and I will come for you. That's what medics do. That's what we are.

Mostly.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/nx-s1-5387723/cdc-communications-cuts-social-media-public-health

I've made my living many other ways over the decades. #Infantry, #writing, #web development, #database administration, #teaching, #clinicaltrials, #bioinformatics. Maybe one of these days writing again, for more than a few months this time. All of them have shaped me to one degree or another.

They're all things I did, all part of who I am. Medic is what I am. If you're lucky enough to have your own "what" as well as "who" ... well, you understand.

Until World War One, more #soldiers in every war died of #disease than of #injuries received on the #battlefield. The decreasing death toll of modern wars (you can look it up) is directly due, in large part, to advances in military public health. Those advances travel both ways, back and forth between the military and civilian worlds, preserving life all the while.

#Epidemiology and #immunology and #biostatistics and #environmental #medicine aren't TV fodder, generally speaking. It's hard to make them look glamorous. They're just the reason you're alive to read these words.

#PublicHealth, taken as a whole, is unquestionably the greatest advance in medical history. Nothing else even comes close. Arguably it's the greatest advance in history, period, with no qualifiers needed.

Deliberately breaking it is mass #murder.

I am a medic. I am also a human being. The alleged human beings responsible for this monstrosity, if they ever call me, will call in vain.

As of today (May 21, 2025) through tomorrow, the #FDA is taking public #comments on the proposed rule change for #covid #vaccine #boosters. I have no idea who will read these comments or if they'll do any good. But it seems like we have to try. Please add your voice at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FDA-2025-N-1146-0001

Note that you have to choose a category for your submission. I picked "#Drug industry" since that's where most of my work is these days. Those still in patient care should choose "#Health professional. For everyone else, "Individual consumer" is probably appropriate. My letter appears below.

Good morning, and good luck.

===

Recently announced plans to change the covid vaccination approval process will, if implemented in their current form, make it difficult to impossible for people under aged 65 without serious medical conditions to receive vaccine boosters.

This proposed change seems to be rooted in the idea that covid is a serious threat only to certain groups. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course older people, and those with underlying medical conditions, are at greater risk of morbidity and mortality from covid infection. However, healthy younger people do can and do die from the disease.

Consider that as of July 2022, about 8,000 people in the US aged 18 to 30 had died of the disease. This is greater than the number of US military deaths in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, over a much shorter period: two and a half years for covid, vs. eight years for Iraq and twenty for Afghanistan.

The idea that vaccination and boosters should be restricted is a lethal myth. As a biomedical researcher and former military medic, I consider this change deeply unwise, and urge the FDA to continue using current approval protocols.

Daniel Dvorkin
Ph.D., Bioinformatics, University of Colorado, 2013
M.S., Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, 2007
Medical Service Technician, United States Air Force, 1989-1997

#Bondi is slaying her thousands, and #Hegseth may slay his tens of thousands. But #Kennedy will slay his millions. Exactly as I predicted.

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/05/20/nx-s1-5405013/fda-covid-vaccine-limits

The day may come when someone makes a good, entertaining, and reasonably accurate #movie about humans interacting with (non-avian) #dinosaurs ... but NOT THIS DAY. Clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m1eOoUoVao

By "accurate," to be clear, I don't mean something that actually could happen, or have happened, according to our current understanding of the universe. The WISP (Work In Some Progress) depends on a #time portal. Lost world scenarios, extinct organisms resurrected from preserved #genetic material, whatever ... any setup requires breaking the rules of at least one of #physics, #chemistry, or #biology as we know them. Usually more than one.

*Given the gimmick*, I want to believe the rest. And given my proclivities, that's not hard to do. A tiny bit of effort is all it takes.

I'm just waiting for #PrimitiveWar. Not that I expect it to make much sense, but I do have some hope it will be better than anything the #Jurassic * franchise has turned out lately, or ever will again.

To be clear: I'm not asking if the supposed mob etymology is the origin of the term. I know it isn't. What I am asking is whether anyone knows if it's ever been used that way, *after* it became common slang in the "leave and don't come back" sense.

"Eight miles out, six feet down" smells like an urban legend to me. It's certainly not the origin or common usage of "86," but I'm willing to admit the *possibility* that some mobster used it that way. Does anyone have any real knowledge about this?

8647 is going full Streisand.

The Supreme Court just blocked the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportation on a 7-2 vote. I'm sure you can guess which two.

The Big Beautiful Bill just failed in the House. Mainly because some RWNJs don't think it's draconian enough, but I'll take the win, for however long it lasts.

Becca and I are planning an afternoon hike.

It's shaping up to be a pretty good day.

And okay. It is possible that someone, somewhere, sometime has used "86" to mean "kill." But that's not what it generally means, and anyone who pretends it does is a fucking liar.