mindstalk.bsky.social

A new preprint suggests SARS-CoV-2 has evolved to become harder for our immune systems to recognise. Researchers found that newer variants, including XBB.1.5 and KP.2, are less easily recognised by immune cells that detect new threats. KP.2 was recognised 3 times less often than the original strain.

This has been happening for six years. Hospitals *regularly * give patients COVID when they are admitted for other illnesses in every country. Including the US. The numbers are absolutely horrific. And many patients who get Covid in hospital die. Patients shouldn’t have to worry about being killed.

You know something crazy? During the pandemic when everybody was masked all the time, I started wearing a mask while mowing my lawn… And you know what? All the dust, dirt, pollen, etc. that I WASN’T sucking into my sinuses & lungs felt way better, and I’ll never mow the lawn again without a mask.

Remember when Michelin ratings used to matter for chefs 🙄 www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/2... #ai #llm #food #cooking #restaurants #Michelin #HumansUsedToDoThisWork

Years ago i came up with the term ‘book desert’ by analogy with ‘food desert’ for neighborhoods that have no public libraries or book vendors within walking distance. The school I am the librarian at is in such a neighborhood, so I always try to give away weeded books as much as possible.

New local minimum in food discourse: getting accused of lying because I said I'd eat burgers multiple days in a row to avoid wasting food.

New: I pulled the Character ai bankruptcy documents. They show: - They were spending $14 million/month on compute alone at a time their revenue was around ~$1 million/month - Currently losing $9 million a month - They admitted they enshittified & that it didnt work www.404media.co/character-ai...

I don't add fluid - you don't need it. I put the chopped garlic into freezer bags, seal the bags, smoosh them flat, then I use a ruler to create indentations in the garlic before I freeze it. Then whenever I need garlic, I break off a square - each one is about two cloves or so.

It's insane to me that some people really don't cook anything, it seems like such a basic human need. Like, do you also pay someone to masturbate you every time you need a wank? Making yourself a comfort food just the way you like it is in the same range as sex in my hierarchy of needs pyramid

Drivers: "stupid bicyclists breaking the law" Drivers: "stupid drivers not breaking the law"

Better ventilation and filtration of indoor air would have given us much better protection from: asbestos, lead, mold, flu, toxic metals dust, cold, covid, measles, other airborne viruses, radionuclides, diesel exhaust, wildfire smoke, and every other airborne particulate.

Seeing lots of discussion about the effects of COVID What does adding another highly infectious virus to the mix mean for our children’s in-person learning? Hampshire’s illness absence exceeds the national average What support does your local school receive? ✍️ www.safeairschools.org/campaigns/

All it takes is money to deceive us all, as in cases like this.

Gas-fired commercial kitchens are subjecting chefs to noxious fumes and overpowering heat. This new study quantifies just how dangerous they are.

And suppose we find out that PJ.2.1 was circulating among immunosenescent individuals in some relatively isolated nursing home in Ontario—and that its circulation could've been prevented with efficient ventilation and air filtration? I think this would be an important revelation for public health.

Large upload from Ontario yesterday, providing some striking revelations about the evolution of PJ.2.1. First, there is yet another strikingly divergent branch of PJ.2.1. This isn't one variant: it's four. More and more, this resembles the emergence of BA.1/2/3. What is happening? 1/

and that bad equilibrium is basically where i think the problem lives. if we were all writing memos to each other like we used to do on forums, it would make sense to check and post once a day and otherwise not worry about it too much. but tweet-length messages incentives constant checking.

i have a new theory of Social Media Bad. a lot of ink has been spilled about the addictive qualities of twitterlike social media, including many allegations of developer use of "dark patterns" and self conscious "engagement maximizing", but i'd like to propose something a little more mundane.

2018 was the last time I went maskless to a con Also the last time I suffered “con flu” 10/10 would rec not having to schedule in an extra 5 days of being miserable after 2-3 days of fun

Thanks to RFK Jr.: Measles Outbreak in Pennsylvania Is Now the Biggest in U.S. in 35 Years Cases in state surpass prior record as falling vaccination rates fuel the disease's rapid spread www.wsj.com/us-news/meas...

inspired by the bluray commentary

Aha, a very helpful apostrophe history chart!

Everytime i dip a cheese stick its always in the back of my mind "isnt this just a reverse pizza to go with a pizza?"

See this perspective for any point on the map with Mercator Extreme: mrgris.com/projects/mer...

The Mercator projection if it weren’t cropped (click to view full size)

The creators of the projection describe their process in detail in a paper you can download for free here: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

I really don’t understand this map story thats been going around the past few days. Since when did the UN use Mercator? All the UN maps I’ve seen are based on adjusted maps. edition.cnn.com/2026/09/04/w...

What's significantly worse is that the russian version of the map shows Crimea shaded the same color as russia. Under Crimea on the russian version it says (according to DeepL) "Under Russian administration/control; sovereignty is disputed by Ukraine.”

by artist Ginny Robbins

In Oulu it is -Dark 1/2 of the year -Ice and snow 1/3 of the year -Pretty often below -20°C And it is one of the cycling capitals of Europe. What matters most is whether infrastructure supports cycling. Not the weather or terrain.

“Dutch people cycle an average of 2.6km each per day. If this pattern was replicated worldwide, annual carbon emissions would drop by 686 million tonnes. This mammoth figure exceeds the entire carbon footprint of most countries, including the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia.” @euronews.com

A great thread here, so I just wanted to link a supporting article by a huge law firm heavily involved in tech for anyone interested in deeper reading about the changes insurers are making. www.fenwick.com/insights/pub...

Google Maps has now capitulated to Donald Trump and changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Apple Maps still uses the correct name.

Same things are happening all over the Poland - here are a couple of “before and after” photos from Poznań

We all know the urban greening Paris has been doing. But do we know what Warsaw Poland has been doing? Impressive. “Not so long ago, they were dominated by cars, concrete, & asphalt. Today, they're full of greenery, pedestrian-friendly, & better for the climate.” The New Center of Warsaw project.

hilarious Mansfield Park jokes www.thechatner.com/p/mansfield-...