Insect Apocalypse

Jun. 12th, 2025 07:56 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Here's another post about the insect apocalypse, including a trophic cascade devastating other species especially insectivores.  This one proposes electromagnetic radiation as a causal factor, which may or may not be true, and is not being studied.  It would be nice if that were a cause, because it is a factor under human control and thus could be fixed.

US Politics: Transcending parody

Jun. 12th, 2025 08:35 pm
petra: A cartoon penguin standing in dandelions thinking, "Dandelion break." (Bloom County - Dandelion Break)
[personal profile] petra
After illegally ordering the National Guard and the Marines to violently end protests in California, 47 went to the theatre to see Les Misérables.

Can we please fire the people scripting this season of the United States of America? Some of these choices are so asinine I think they're consulting genAI for their scripts, and no one is editing them.

Oh, wait, that's what the politicians are doing to make fucking laws.

I'm going to go read amnesia fic now and think, "I wish that were me."
[syndicated profile] theatlantic_health_feed

Posted by Katherine J. Wu

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted his new position as health secretary, he made a big show of distancing himself from his past life. “News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry,” Kennedy, who has for decades promoted the debunked notion that vaccines cause autism and has baselessly sown doubt over the ability of the U.S. government to vet shots, said at his confirmation hearing in January. “I am neither. I am pro-safety.”

But for all Kennedy’s talk, this week, he did exactly what a person would do if they were trying to undermine the scientific consensus on vaccination in the United States. He abruptly dismissed the entire expert committee that advises the CDC on its nationwide vaccine recommendations—and began to fill the roster with like-minded people ready to cast doubt on the benefits of vaccination.

Like Kennedy, few of these new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, or ACIP, have openly embraced the notion that they are anti-vaccine. But among them are individuals who have spoken out against COVID vaccines and policies, claimed vaccine injuries for their own children, and falsely linked COVID shots to deaths—or even baselessly accused those vaccines of “causing a form of acquired immunity deficiency syndrome.”

In January, I wrote that remaking the committee in exactly this way would be an especially harmful blow to Americans’ health: Perhaps more than any other body of experts in the U.S., ACIP guides the nation’s future preparedness against infectious disease. By appointing a committee that is poised to legitimize more of his own radical views, Kennedy is giving his skewed version of scientific reality the government’s imprimatur. Whether he will admit to it or not, he is serving the most core goal of the anti-vaccine movement—eroding access to, and trust in, immunization.

In an emailed statement, Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard reiterated that “Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine—he is pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability,” and added that his “evidence-based approach puts accountability and radical transparency first, which will restore trust in our public health system.” (Kennedy, notably, promised Senator Bill Cassidy during his confirmation process that he would maintain ACIP, as Cassidy put it, “without changes.”)

Since the 1960s, ACIP has lent government policy on vaccines the clout of scientific evidence. Its mandate is to convene experts across fields such as infectious disease, immunology, pediatrics, vaccinology, and public health to carefully vet the data on immunizations, weigh their risks and benefits, and vote on recommendations that guide the public on how to use them—who should get vaccines, and when. Those guidelines are then passed to the CDC director, who—with only the rarest of exceptions—accepts that advice wholesale.

“These recommendations are what states look to, what providers look to,” Rupali Limaye, an expert in vaccine behavior at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told me. Medicare, for instance, is required to fully cover the vaccines that ACIP recommends; ACIP also determines which vaccines are covered by the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides free vaccines for children whose families cannot afford them. The experts who serve on ACIP have the opportunity, more than just about any of their scientific peers, to translate their vaccine rhetoric into reality.

So far, Kennedy has dismissed the 17 people who were serving on ACIP, and filled eight of the newly open slots. Most of the new nominees have an obvious bone to pick with at least some vaccines, especially COVID shots, and have publicly advocated for limiting their use. Among the new members, for instance, is Robert Malone, a controversial physician who has spoken at anti-vaccine events, where he has denounced COVID vaccines and, without evidence, suggested that they can worsen coronavirus infections. Another appointee is Vicky Pebsworth, who serves on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, an anti-vaccine nonprofit previously known as Dissatisfied Parents Together. A third, Retsef Levi, a health-care-management expert, called for the administration of COVID vaccines to be halted in 2023, and has questioned the shots’ safety, despite a large body of evidence from clinical trials supporting their continued use. Overall, “this is not a list that would increase confidence in vaccine decisions,” Dorit Reiss, a vaccine-policy expert at UC San Francisco, told me. (None of these new ACIP members returned a request for comment.)

The next ACIP meeting is scheduled for the end of this month—and the agenda includes discussion about anthrax vaccines, chikungunya vaccines, COVID-19 vaccines, cytomegalovirus vaccine, the human-papillomavirus vaccine, influenza vaccines, the Lyme-disease vaccine, meningococcal vaccines, pneumococcal vaccines, and RSV vaccines. That’s a big slate of topics for a brand-new panel of members, Paul Offit, a pediatrician and a vaccine expert who has previously served on ACIP, told me: Depending on how the meeting is structured, and on the input from CDC scientists, these new committee members could substantially alter the guidelines on several immunizations—perhaps so much so that certain shots could stop being recommended to certain groups of Americans. Based on the composition of the committee so far, Offit predicts that the new ACIP will eventually push the CDC away from full-throated endorsement of many of these vaccines.

Even subtle changes in the wording of CDC recommendations—a should swapped for a may—can have big ripple effects, Limaye told me. Insurers, for instance, may be more reluctant to cover vaccines that are not actively endorsed by the CDC; some states—especially those in which vaccines have become a political battleground—may stop mandating those types of shots. If the CDC softens its recommendations, “we will likely see more partisan divides” in who opts for protection nationwide, Jason Schwartz, a vaccine-policy expert at Yale, told me. Pharmaceutical companies may, in turn, cut down production of vaccines that don’t have full CDC backing, perpetuating a cycle of reduced availability and reduced enthusiasm. And primary-care physicians, who look to the CDC’s vaccination schedule as an essential reference, may shift the language they use to describe childhood shots, nudging more parents to simply opt out.

Historically, medical and public-health associations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have aligned their vaccine recommendations with ACIP’s—because those recommendations were all driven by scientific evidence. Now, though, scientific consensus and government position are beginning to diverge: Multiple groups of physicians, scientists, and public-health scholars have issued statements condemning the vaccine decisions of Kennedy and his allies; a number of prominent scientists have now banded together to form a kind of alt-ACIP, dubbing themselves the Vaccine Integrity Project. As the views of fringe vaccine groups become the government’s stance, Americans may soon have to choose between following the science and following what their nation’s leaders say.

Identifying as “anti-vaccine” has historically been taboo: In a nation where most people remain largely in favor of shots, the term is pejorative, an open acknowledgment that one’s views lie outside of the norm. But the more vaccine resistance infiltrates HHS and its advisers, the more what’s considered normal may shift toward Kennedy’s own views on vaccines; ACIP’s reputation for evidence-backed thinking could even gild those views with scientific legitimacy. Assembling one’s own team of friendly experts is an especially effective way to sanewash extremism, Reiss told me, and to overturn the system through what appear to be normal channels. If the nation’s most prominent group of vaccine advisers bends toward anti-vaccine, the term loses its extremist edge—and the scientists who argue, based on sound data, that vaccines are safe and effective risk being labeled anti-government.

[ SECRET POST #6733 ]

Jun. 12th, 2025 06:45 pm
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[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6733 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 09 secrets from Secret Submission Post #963..
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Today just keeps on giving...

Jun. 12th, 2025 06:32 pm
settiai: (Hughes -- psychodragon82)
[personal profile] settiai
Welp. This is certainly a day. The fire alarm went off again this afternoon. And this time? It was an actual fire. 🙃

They managed to get it put out fairly quickly at least, and from the time the fire alarm went off to the fire trucks arriving was, like, less than two minutes. So good on them for a great response time.

Long story short, the laundry room that the hotel staff uses to wash sheets, towels, etc. caught on fire. I'm guessing it was one of the industrial dryers in there based on what I saw. There's currently a hole in the wall leading into the laundry room, firemen still running around, and a shit ton of smoke in the hallways, but they've let everyone back inside. And my suite is about as far as you can get from where the fire was, so there's at least no smoke in here as long as I keep the door shut.

Garrus is already back to normal, but Keyleth has hidden herself under the bed and probably won't be coming back out for at least a few hours. Minimum.

June is, uh, certainly shaping up to be a month. That's for sure.

Sunshine Revival

Jun. 12th, 2025 04:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The old [community profile] sunshine_challenge is defunct, but other folks are reviving it this summer with the [community profile] sunshine_revival. See the schedule and link below for more information. Spread the word!

Sunshine-Revival-2025-Banner-3.png

Read more... )

Books

Jun. 12th, 2025 02:23 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
A Rainbow of Queer Books for 2025: Orange

HAPPY PRIDE 2025! For Pride this year, we’re changing up our usual rec lists. Instead of doing books with specific identities or themes, we’re focused this time on cover color! Throughout the month of June, we’ll be doing 8 rec lists, each with covers inspired by one of the colors of the original Gilbert Baker Pride Flag. We drew a little additional inspiration from the meaning behind the color and why it was included in the original LGBTQIA+ flag (in this case, orange = healing), but we prioritized color over meaning. The contributors to this list are: Sanne, Tris Lawrence, Nina Waters, polls, Shannon, Linnea Peterson and Owl Outerbridge.

Birdfeeding

Jun. 12th, 2025 01:57 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and quite warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I checked the firepit.  It has burned down mostly to ashes.  I started trimming weeds around the outside edge.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I picked half a bag of mulberries in the savanna.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I sowed Bee Lawn Mix on a bare patch beside the garden shed.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I did a bit more work around the patio.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I picked a bag of mulberries in the savanna.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I finished trimming around the firepit.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed more grass along the edge of the strip garden.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed grass along the south edge of the patio.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed brush along the edge of the strip garden.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I trimmed weeds along the edge of the south sidewalk.

EDIT 6/12/25 -- I intended to lay the base for the next bonfire.  I was only able to find one log big enough, and I need two.  There are some older ones but they are buried under too much brush to reach.  >_<  And it started drizzling anyhow, so fuck it.

I am done for the night.

The So-called "Big, Beautiful Bill"

Jun. 12th, 2025 02:51 pm
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[personal profile] fabrisse posting in [community profile] thisfinecrew
Today, my representative in Georgia, Buddy Carter - Republican, District 1, wrote an Op-Ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution urging our senators to vote for the Frankenstein abomination known as the "Big, Beautiful Bill."

(The Op-Ed is behind a paywall, but can be found here: https://www.ajc.com/opinion/2025/06/buddy-carter-sens-ossoff-warnock-should-support-trumps-big-beautiful-bill/ )

I wrote an email to Carter explaining why I thought he was wrong, and then adapted the language to send to my senators asking them to stay strong against it.

Because this bill is such a Frankenstein's Monster, I chose to limit my comments to the environmental issues which would have both direct and indirect impacts on Buddy Carter's district. I urge all of you who have Republican Senators to find sections of the bill to read which will have direct negative impacts on your state. If your representative voted for it, send them an email censuring them for those same negative impacts. Then write to both senators using the first email as a template.

My email addressed sections:
80152. Rescission relating to environmental and climate data collection.
80201. Rescission of funds for investing in coastal communities and climate resilience.
80202. Rescission of funds for facilities of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and national marine sanctuaries. [nb: this is especially important for hurricane regions and areas with a fishing industry, though I also pointed out the pods of dolphins off of our local Jeckyll Island State Park would be affected.]
80308. Timber production for the Forest Service.
80309. Timber Production for the Bureau of Land Management.

[The latter two will have adverse effects on air pollution levels, but there are whole sections on coal production and offshore drilling for oil and natural gas which will contribute to air pollution directly.]

80202 will also adversely impact tornado zones.

Let's work to defeat this bill.

446. Dessert – beach day

Jun. 12th, 2025 02:22 pm
analogbasilisk: (FICTION)
[personal profile] analogbasilisk posting in [community profile] 100words
Title: beach day
Original
Rating: G
Notes: N/A

Read more... )

How to Secure Yarn End on a Ball

Jun. 12th, 2025 12:21 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Use a hair clip.  It holds securely, doesn't damage yarn, molds to the shape of the ball, and tells you exactly where the end is. 

Finished Prodigy

Jun. 15th, 2025 12:37 pm

Contemplating July activities

Jun. 11th, 2025 11:57 pm
sholio: Carol Danvers glowing (Avengers-CM Carol glowing)
[personal profile] sholio
After a couple of years of really struggling with mood and creativity, between burnout and family issues and god knows what (and I know I've been hard to deal with in fandom, at times), things are suddenly ... good! I can write again, I'm signing up for exchanges, whatever has been blocking me has gotten a whole lot better.

July is my birthday month, therefore Best Month, obviously, and I would really like to try to do some kind of "post a short fic every day" thing if I can make it work. Unfortunately I'm suffering a dearth of appropriate challenges, because of course now that I want one and have the mental bandwidth to do something with one, daily month-long prompt challenges and/or bingo card challenges for July are nowhere in sight. The closest thing is July Break Bingo, but I've asked for cards for this before, and I just ... never really do anything with them; I appreciate that it exists, but I think I need more of a - I don't know, social element to it, I guess? Less open-ended, more directed? Their cards just don't really click with me somehow. And I can't find a Tumblr prompt/whump/whatever themed promptfest thing for July.

So I'm kicking around a few different ideas. Why not throw it out to a completely nonbinding poll?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 24


What should I do for July?

View Answers

A custom bingo card/prompt list created (by me) from all my favorite tropes
12 (50.0%)

A personal challenge to finish older inbox prompts/unwritten prompts from past fests
7 (29.2%)

Find a prompt list from a previous (non-July) fest that I didn't do at the time, and use that
5 (20.8%)

Ask my flist for new prompts until I get 31 of them for fresh inspiration
8 (33.3%)

Run a comment fest over at the Biggles comm
6 (25.0%)

Something else that I will suggest in comments
0 (0.0%)

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