Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.
@mdgarfinkel.bsky.social
"Native New Yorker, adoptive Chicagoan, 25-year veteran of being a stranger in a strange land." Drosophila (fly) person. Childless cat man. Cinema buff. "Fascinated by everything except how to dress," as Matt Groening would put it.
Well… this is a first. Party of the First Part began to follow me because they found me in the Starter Pack belonging to Party of the Second Part. What makes it even stranger is that I have no idea why Party of the Second Part added me to their Starter Pack. How common is this?
I’ve seen a few people commenting today that the idea of separating the MMR vaccine into three separate shots might be a good strategy to get anti-vax parents to vaccinate. Absolutely not. Here’s why. First, countering anti-vax misinformation is like playing whack a mole. You bat down one lie…
#OTD 1846: President James Polk signed into law the creation of the premier Washington DC entity "For the increase and diffusion of knowledge," as endowed by James Smithson's Will. Thank you, Ali Velshi @msnownews.bsky.social for highlighting another critical scientific advance on The Night Light.
Ten years ago I helped bury a 75-year-old man at a cemetery in #Mobile #Alabama. I arrived before the hearse, so I had a chance to walk the grounds. I had _never_ before seen baby-sized graves, with foot-stones identifying the dead as all under age five. Every one was before ~1920. So, so many.
Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · yesterdayBill Cassidy, who cast the deciding vote to confirm RFK Jr as HHS secretary, says the EO is "wrong" He will share a legacy now with RFK Jr: rows of tiny coffins
That would be “tomorrow, 8/11.” Tuesday is the ELEVENTH!!!
I hope you don’t mind that I have stolen “Santa Monica Goebbels.” TIA.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterdaydo not take medical advice from Santa Monica Goebbels
Trump logic: kids get “too many” vaccines. Imma sign an executive order to try to make them get more vaccines.
Trump is signing an executive order today recommending that the MMR vaccine be separated into separate vaccines. There is no scientific basis for this recommendation. Separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are generally not available in the U.S. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Trump to sign executive order calling for spacing out childhood shots
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order calling for spacing out childhood vaccines into separate medical visits and splitting the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three dif...
apnews.com
#Alabama voters in Congressional districts 1, 2, 6, and 7 have a Special Primary Election TOMORROW, August 11th. There will be no runoff, so the biggest vote-getter wins the nomination. End of story. Check this URL for your registration status & polling place: myinfo.alabamavotes.gov/VoterView
ALABAMA Secretary of State | VoterView
myinfo.alabamavotes.gov
American allies are concerned that US-built equipment such as the F-35 has a "kill switch" that could be used to disable their aircraft if they antagonize the USG. So they are working towards non-US-based military hardware acquisition. But beware of your supply chains! www.twz.com/sea/chinese-...
Chinese Components In Royal Navy's New Drone Boat Raise Cyber Security Concerns
The issue highlights supply-chain risks amid growing concerns over Beijing’s cyber access to Western military capabilities. The issue highlights supply-chain cyber risks amid growing concerns over Bei...
twz.com
Ali Velshi, reporting on @msnownews.bsky.social Eleventh Hour, is again profiling #science in _The Night Light._ Tonight he summarized the activities of a new civic-engagement group, Astronauts for America @astronauts4america.bsky.social www.astronautsforamerica.org #NASA #Voting
Astronauts for America |
astronautsforamerica.org
Bill Cassidy finally figured out a way to bump his RFK Jr. confirmation vote out of the first sentence of his obit.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who lost his primary to a Trump toady, put his post-Senate career as a highly paid lobbyist and corporate board member above the nation. Quelle surprise. All hail the Trump Law Firm, the Senate-confirmed successor agency to the Department of Justice.
Close friends & family are aware of my use, overuse, and occasional abuse of the phrase "sentimental value." Thus, @xkcd.com made me LOL — very loudly! Well done, Randall, well done. xkcd.com/3281
Antiques Roadshow
xkcd.com
Odd - "the envy of the world" is precisely the phrase the Economist used to describe Biden's economy in 2024.
Sign often found at #NoKings rallies in #Birmingham #Alabama … “Vaccines Cause Adulthood.”
Chise@sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 2w agoToday, there is strong evidence to suggest aluminum adjuvants are safe for use in childhood vaccines. Plus, each year, about four million deaths are avoided because of these immunizations. Childhood vaccinations don't threaten children's lives, they save them.
Deeply nostalgic for the many decades when Political news was boring Stonk and bond markets news was boring The US boringly maintained global stability and free passage sea lanes
Quote of the day, 7/27/2026: "They [Republicans] have sold their souls to Donald Trump and the check bounced." — Jon Meacham, presidential historian
It’s really rich to hear nepo-babies like Bill Pulte talk about firing 30% of the ODNI staff and calling it “trimming the bloated elite class.”
Ali Velshi of @msnownews.bsky.social ends his "Eleventh Hour" with a feature called _The Night Light._ So far he has focused on scientists & #science. I applaud his choices & the theme. Tonight he honored the 3 women who saved #NOAA data from the DOGE ax. Most of it is back online at climate.us
Climate.us Home
independent, nonprofit, and immune to politics
climate.us
This is what America voted for — Trump hired RFK Jr. to “go wild on health care.” I guess this what they mean by promises made, promises kept.
Paul Bleicher@pbleic.bsky.social · 3w agoAstonishing. RFK Jr. adds 8 members to a 6 member FDA advisory panel. 6 of them were sellers of peptides, and the 7th a compounding pharmacist. In an 8-6 vote with all 8 votes coming from these new panel members, the panel approved 4 peptides against the objections of FDA scientists.
We can't even. "A senior US State Department official displayed a map of Africa that was completely wrong before high-level officials from African nations, including some whose countries had been mislabelled." open.substack.com/pub/emilysba...
The US State Department Redraws the Map of Africa at the AIDS2026 Conference
And rewrites history, too. All before the official opening.
open.substack.com
Heh. There is a #candidate for #Congress in #Alabama who thinks that the solution to housing affordability is to encourage widespread deployment of “manufactured homes” as a substitute for on-site bespoke construction by the likes of D.R. Horton and Clayton/Doyle.
Jesus. It takes a special kind of landlord to want to own a trailer park, and that kind of landlord suuuuuucks. For anyone not already familiar with this piece:
This take is incredibly stupid. MAHA is Ye Olde Patent Medicine Show. Complete with all the traditional conspiracy theories, evangelical religion only when convenient, woo, retrograde gender roles, and grifts.
The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 3w agoA lot of people in public health believe that MAHA is “nothing more than a subversive anti-vaccine, anti-science syndicate,” but the movement is an opportunity that the public-health sector “cannot afford to squander,” Craig Spencer argues:
1. It could be "the end days" for the Republican Party. That's how Jake Sherman put it when the co-founder of Punchbowl News shared the latest by the Emerson College Polling Center. x.com/JakeSherman/...
