Notices by Brian Vastag (brianvastag@sciencemastodon.com)

Sen. Van Hollen posts picture on bluesky sitting at a table with Kilmar Abrego Garcia and this message: "I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return."

https://bsky.app/profile/vanhollen.senate.gov/post/3ln2gcpf6js2m

#USpol

I like to take photos of the landscapes & wildlife here on Kauai, so here's Hawaiian monk #seal H92 (they're all tagged). About 1400 of these seals exist today & NOAA has done a great job increasing their numbers of late. They dig these face trenches in the sand to cool off but it's a good metaphor for a lot of things these days. #photography #animals #mammals #Hawaii #beach #ocean

My relative who votes straight GOP every election in North Dakota has spent decades inspecting meat for USDA.

There goes his job....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-food-safety-inspections-plans/

An NBA player (Damian Lillard, Milwaukee Bucks) has been cleared to play just 3 weeks after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot in his leg. This is a remarkable timeline (months of treatment with blood thinners is typical) and I'm sure many physicians are skeptical about him being OK to play.

#sports #NBA #medicine

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44718151/sources-damian-lillard-cleared-deep-vein-thrombosis-blood-thinning-meds

For people still wearing N95s and the like: The federal office that ensured masks met the N95 or KN95 standards has been destroyed. So any masks sold in the US could well be counterfeit or inadequate.

https://www.ems1.com/public-health/hhs-cuts-eliminate-niosh-respirator-certification-staff

Welp #measles has returned to #Hawaii.

Watching civilization slam the stick shift into reverse is fun.

https://health.hawaii.gov/news/newsroom/measles-case-confirmed-in-child-on-o%CA%BBahu-doh-notifies-public-of-measles-exposure-locations/#:~:text=HONOLULU%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Hawai%CA%BBi%20Department

Finished migrating my stuff off of Google drive and onto pCloud, based in Switzerland. Not as many features, sure, but lower price per GB and one less gross Google tentacle in my life.

pCloud automates Google photos migration so that part was easy.

@erininthemorning.com Fund managers:

Sen. #Booker now decrying cuts to NIH funding, repeating the oft-cited statistic that $1 in basic biomedical research funding leads to $5 in economic gains.

Compares the decimation of US research to Chinese cultural revolution.

#USpol

Applause in the Senate as Sen. Schumer tells Sen. Booker he now has the longest filibuster in US history, besting a racist shitbag.

#USpol

The US Men's National Team just lost to Canada. Lol. 👍👎

#sports

Hmmm....my financial institution is making me call them to short #Tesla. Won't let me do it electronically. Fuck that.

@adamshostack @inthehands Oh yeah I was trying to buy TSLQ and Citibank is making me call....

On a day when a volcano resumed erupting, we get news that the Hawaii Volcano Observatory - relied on by residents of Hawaii Island to stay safe from lava and vog - will have its HQ closed by Elon fucking Musk.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/03/hawaiian-volcano-observatory-is-being-evicted-amid-federal-cuts/

@heidilifeldman Wonder what the judge does when they inevitably shirk the orders.

I get so incensed at all of the security theater for fucking banks, medical providers and the like when these monopolistic corporations are constantly hemorrhaging our data.

Oh, the burden is on me to jump through these hoops..make new passwords... type in fucking 12 digit 2-factor codes...endless catpchas....& when THEIR TERRIBLE FUCKING SECURITY leads to terabytes of personal data getting posted for LULZ & profit, I will get $22, which was my share of the Equifax settlement.

#rant

@atomicpoet In Nov. '22 I saw many people on the fediverse tell journalists to leave and several servers de-federated from journo.host. Journalists who tried it here took the hint and most did leave as far as I can tell.

Physicians may be surprised to learn that there have been *dozens* of potential biomarkers (blood tests, saliva tests, etc, basically) identified for ME/CFS and #LongCovid. These never get turned into working, widely-available tests because no one funds the studies needed to validate them in large cohorts. Here's a new story from The Sick Times & a page from MEPedia that lists many potential biomarkers.

#medicine #ChronicIllness

https://thesicktimes.org/2025/01/21/finding-an-accepted-long-covid-biomarker-will-be-complicated-this-blood-test-could-give-us-answers/

https://me-pedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_biomarker

Interent search has become so useless...try googling "The X-Files season 12" and see what you get. It's impossible to tell from the first few pages of results if there will be a season 12 or not.

#TV #search #Google

If your company tries to disinvest its retirement plans from oil & gas, a GOP judge will tell you that's illegal.

#climate

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/american-airlines-held-liable-for-esg-investing-in-401k-plan?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub