It is absolutely preferable to not pick up the cigarette in the first place news.berkeley.edu/2026/10/09/u...

Using AI for just 10 minutes erodes your ability to persist at hard things - Berkeley News

A UC Berkeley researcher co-authored a study that raises profound questions about how we interact with artificial intelligence in education — and daily life.

news.berkeley.edu

friday is for kafkaposting

Bay comrades PLEASE vote for this. If it fails the consequences will be dire for transit and it will hollow out the entire Bay Area.

Katie Tightpussy, Editor-In-Chief@katie.bzky.team · 5d ago

it is very cool (read: very not cool) that "What if the entire regional economy immediately exploded?" is a ballot measure in the bay area because we are in the 'touching the hot stove' era of american history. if you live in the bay area you should vote for the regional transit measure.

There are millions and millions of people in the US with long covid, and it will continue to be that many or larger as the damage from repeat infections continues to rack up. While I appreciate the sentiment here, minimizing is minimizing and has to be called out. “Unlucky few” is absurd.

Billy Hanlon@bhanlon15.bsky.social · 6d ago

Tri-City Herald (WA): 'Guest Opinion: COVID-19‘s long-haulers are suffering and need our support' 'our elected officials need to come together in a bipartisan effort to help these unlucky few whose bodies were negatively affected long-term.' amp.tri-cityherald.com/opinion/opn-...

The very empathetic and largely positive piece I’m reacting to only mentions Covid once and it’s in context of how some of the newly IDed disabled people boldly wear “Covid masks”. Totally a coincidence everyone’s got POTS &/or ME now. Unrelated to a virus that gives you POTS &/or ME running rampant

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The Sick Times@thesicktimes.org · 3w ago

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Truly awful injustice. To everyone who thinks LC is just something "hysterical" rich women complain about um...

october "pre-order The Struggle Is Always Worth It now!" krausch@octoberk.bsky.social · 2w ago

this investigation on long COVID inside of prisons is out today at the Sick Times! I worked on this piece for months and am so grateful to the folks who shared their experiences with me. I'll write up a real thread a little later, but you can read it now: thesicktimes.org/2026/09/29/i...

This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!

I'm deleting most fundraising texts these days, but if you sent me one saying you had identified these consultants and promised never to work with them, I would give you the max

Thomas Lecaque@tlecaque.bsky.social · 3w ago

I want the name of every consultant who convinces a Democrat to run an ad ceding ground to trans hatred, and I want them blacklisted by the party and noted so I can never give a cent to anyone who hires them ever again.

The CDC and partners “implemented air monitoring for pathogen surveillance in congregate areas at four U.S. international airports. From October 2023 to August 2024, SARS-CoV-2 was detected by PCR in 98.3% of air samples.” We desperately need indoor air cleaning measures. Til then: 😷

Dick Zoutman@dickzoutman.bsky.social · 3w ago

VERY important paper! This study detected SARS-CoV-2 in the air of common areas of 4 big US airports. SARS-CoV-2 detected in 98% of samples through the year. Influenza A was found during flu season. That’s why you want to wear an N95 respirator in an airport! And all indoor public spaces all year!

1/ 🚨Take action by Friday! NIAID has proposed eliminating its Division of Clinical Research — the infrastructure behind its clinical trials — on a public comment window of just five days. #MECFS #LongCOVID

Last day to apply: the Norris Lab in the US has a visiting scholars program superficially similar to mine. If you're interested in/have #EDS, you can apply for a three-day intensive to focus on becoming a patient-scientist. Very cool! 🧪 #MedSky www.thenorrislab.com/vsp

It's ME(Jaime)@exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social · last mo.

Applications will open to Canadian master's, PhD, and MD/PhD trainees Monday, September 21 but important information is up right now! Familiarize yourself with the dataset, learn about the FOA, and bookmark so you can be ready to apply when the time comes: www.meaction.net/scholars-pro... 🧪

Anything wider or longer than an iPhone 12 mini with a case is too wide to comfortably fit in a pocket.

The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · last mo.

Apple's first foldable iPhone will start at $1,999. The new iPhone “Duo” phone will fit comfortably in a pocket and allows people to use more than one app at a time. 🔗: https://on.wsj.com/4xLDG0D

Apple, what many folks really actually want as a phone feature is that it will FIT IN OUR POCKETS AND HANDS. I know a surprisingly large number of folks - in Silicon Valley!! With well-paying tech jobs!!! - who keep limping along their iPhone 12/13 minis year after year, our hopes never fulfilled.

As once-extinct diseases sweep through America, sickening, maiming and killing, the wild lunacy of anti-vax superstition grows ever more difficult to excuse.

What I want in an iPhone is an iPhone 12/13 mini sized phone with modern battery and camera technology. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR?!??? What I do NOT want in an iPhone is a way to smash even more screen real estate (that my hands have to hold somehow!) into it.

Look if chatbots are sentient and feeling then the people using it are enslavers and the entire concept of what we are doing is horrifying, not enlightening.

AI data centers as profane temples of the necromancer lords.

When I was doing my PhD (in Applied Physics, at Stanford) I ended up on a crackpot’s email list. He emailed me every single month. It was amusing! But definitely not something to respond to in any way.

the beggars out of here getter@milesklee.bsky.social · last mo.

FLORALINDA, by Tamsyn Muir, coming July 2027!! Go check out Cosmo to see the cover and read a sample. www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainmen...

Tamsyn Muir’s First Full-Length Novel in Five Years Is Coming—Get an Exclusive First Look at ‘Floralinda’

Time for a brand-new adventure from the Gideon the Ninth author.

cosmopolitan.com

i think its telling that the warmakers understand that long covid is a serious problem for our continuing function as a society yet our political operatives do not.

Calling all people with #LongCovid and/or #MECFS: I'm writing for @thesicktimes.org about the "October slide" -- when symptoms get worse in the fall. I want to talk to people who are aware of this but DON'T get worse in the fall! Is that you?? You can DM me here or email L.boissoneault@gmail.com

BREAKING: The Department of Defense is funding a new clinical trials program for Long COVID with an initial grant of $8 million. Called PROBE-PASC, the program will focus on mechanistic trials that will study the disease’s underlying biology in tandem with testing treatments.

@eamondaly.bsky.social

Moderna approved for all 65+, and for 6 months to 64 with underlying condition that increases risk of severe Covid Pfizer for all 65+, and 5-64 with underlying condition Sanofi (Novavax) for all 65+, and 12-64 with underlying condition What proof is required is going to vary by where you get it

It always feels like all the wrong people die, but I think it’s because there are far more beloved people than there are bastards.

if you have trouble hydrating consider: a data center is beating you at hydration dont let a data center beat you at hydration

"If we want people to stop using AI, we need to help them come up with alternatives for what they use it for." THINKING. WITH YOUR BRAIN. THAT'S THE ALTERNATIVE.

PhD students Annabel Zhang and Katy Krupinsky quantified variability in factors that control the risk of airborne transmission in our new paper, "Heterogeneity of Airborne Virus Transmission in the Built Environment: A Narrative Review." paijournal.com/index.php/pa... With Adam Lauring

I wouldn't call myself a cartoonist, but I had the vision and just needed it to be on paper to the best of my ability.