Brenna McLaughlin

since starting a treatment for raynauds i have less frequent, more foggy migraines like this, instead of intense pain and sensitivity. It's like a horrible ghost of a migraine—feel like I should be able to function but can't think past it.

Mid-90s, wearing my us granola liberal arts college uniform of docs and overalls while spending a semester in Cork... I mean, "dungaree-calling" is preferable to cat-calling, yeah? Shaming, but not dehumanizing!

Truly, NYT, we can only hope so.

To be sure, mostly sweet.

Between the marathon pics on Sunday and last night's jubilant street party from blocks away, the wave of homesickness I feel for my old 4th ave apartment is overwhelming, bittersweet!

UNC news today reminds me that by the time I finished my marathon 8+year MSIS, my diploma came from the "College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity." Where else you gonna learn about rare books and retention policies?
Got a challenge coin from those folks even.

It appears that only mild anaesthesia in the early afternoon will help me to unbroken and more than 5-6ish hours of sleep in a night. Doesn't seem like a feasible solution, though.

Sometimes having 3 other astute readers review a letter is more than you need; and sometimes you need to be staring at it yourself, sleep-deprived, for the 17th time before you catch the obvious homonym problem y'all missed the first 19 reads.

Heh. Through weird lengths (as you saw) managed to talk myself down.
But knowing I *could* rely on you to be pettily intemperate for me if really needed...❤️

I am gonna be the bigger person, I am gonna be the bigger person, I am gonna be the bigger person.

Well, fuck me. Knew bat remediation would mean lot of interruptions/noise from one direction, but wasn't expecting "several people crawling around outside both office windows and the bathroom."

Do want m'little bat friends to find their way back to the barn though.

Maru the Box-Loving Cat, Once the Most Viewed Animal on YouTube, Dies at 18 Maru the cat, a Scottish Fold feline, died at the age of 18 following a decline in health and a cancer diagnosis. The feline is famous for squeezing into boxes, antics that were documented in popular ...

Very sad to learn of Maru's death, the epitome of cat video cats, one of the internet's saving graces. The kiddo is going to be heartbroken. people.com/maru-the-vir...

Emily Tesh's The Incandescent is set in a magical boarding school but ends contemplating the establishment of public school magic education, may have some interesting resonance with this line of thought. (And builds some sense of magic grad school/market for magic edu credentials, too.)

I am in fact pretty ignorant of A LOT of the field of human interest that is sports, but I subscribe to Defector despite that. (Some Gawker universe DNA there, of course!)

Maybe somewhere in that first Brooklyn Bridge photo!

Informed this AM that I am "a classic mom, in many ways."

On further interrogation, this seems to mean I am "annoying" which further translates to "you have too many boundaries [on YT videos, I understand], and are always asking me to clean things."

So, basically, "classic (complimentary)" yeah?

(Also, most recent town plan goes on about preserving the town "character" especially through its "architectural character" and, please, let me tell you what this sprawling still half-rural suburb of Albany has Not Got.)

I've become very curious about the history of the term "viewshed" which comes up a lot recently in local planning conversations. On first read it comes adorned with ALL the red flags.

idk, when someone says "my calendar is flexible in the AM on these days" does it make sense to immediately send them a calendar invite for 12:00 PM? because the general flexibility somehow discounts the specific limit?

Oh. Well. Yeah.
"can you feel this?"
"...yes...?!?"
"huh."

Usually take an earlier train... experiencing Amtrak w/o quiet car is a real lesson in how "inside voice" is interpreted.

Davidson's companion to food is on a bookshelf right behind me when we're eating dinner and I am either instilling an enthusiasm for whimsical research or slowly stifling the impulse to wonder out loud about things for the kid.

(5/5)

🚨 It’s time to flood the zone.

NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn.

📜 Read the Bethesda Declaration
✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support
👯‍♀️Follow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social

Read and sign here 👉 www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

I'll be damned if my face gets to keep THIS nose.

(Stubbornly refusing to get out the space heater in May while my fingers slowly numb.)

What if, instead of being passed back and forth between tech reps and sales reps and AI agents before being pointed to irrelevant support docs and 4-hour training modules, we just had a mimeo, maybe some CC paper, and a working postal system?

My favorite feat of human ingenuity and will? The subway.

AUPresses Decries Executive Order on Gender - Association of University Presses We join with publishers, authors, booksellers, and librarians to affirm that the White House executive order recognizing only two sexes constitutes censorship and has no place in a free society.

Suppressing LGBTQIA+ voices robs scholars, readers & future generations of vital insights; creates a precedent for silencing dissident voices; & undermines the dignity of people everywhere.

full statement here: https://bit.ly/4hUL8yb
2/2

Academic Freedom and Open Discourse - UNC Press Blog For over 100 years UNC Press has championed the principles of academic freedom, open discourse, and the free exchange of ideas—values essential to a democratic society and the pursuit of knowledge.  R...

Recently, UNC Press authors have had their US visas revoked and talks canceled.

For over 100 years, we have stood for academic freedom and open discourse, and continue to do so. Read more on the UNC Press Blog ⬇️

Deleted Fbk today. I've long felt uncomfortable with it and rarely log in, so while I feel sad to have, essentially, severed a connection to friends and family who still use it, it's not like they could contact me there or I could ever find recent news in the ever-more-terrible interface.

Had the office heater perfectly positioned for warmth distribution but the cats felt differently.