Ian Robertson 's Avatar

Ian Robertson

@ianwrob.bsky.social

Modest egomaniac + secular humanist misanthrope + erratic Marxist + I design buildings, hopefully passiv, and once climbed Grouse Grind 17 times in a day. Same handle on the bird.

2,255 Followers  |  3,489 Following  |  29 Posts  |  Joined: 17.07.2023
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Posts by Ian Robertson (@ianwrob.bsky.social)

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After blasting WHO costs, Trump officials propose more expensive alternative HHS proposes spending $2 billion a year to re-create systems the U.S. accessed through the WHO at a fraction of the cost, according to officials briefed on the matter.

β€œSpending two to three times the cost to create what we already had access to makes absolutely no sense..."

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

22.02.2026 17:36 β€” πŸ‘ 2612    πŸ” 1079    πŸ’¬ 252    πŸ“Œ 82
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Six years in, long Covid is still with many Vermonters β€” and they say the system is failing themΒ  - United States News Beep Mary Kate Shanahan has long covid. Seen in South Burlington on Friday, February 13, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

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"The most positive takeaway I have had from all of this is reinforcement of my knowledge that I have the capability to self-educate &
self-advocate within a system that seems to be working against providing care [for #LongCOVID] -

www.newsbeep.com/us/484051/

22.02.2026 16:50 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
ClinicalTrials.gov

Thoughts on this: clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT048... (with 2 additional protocols now for tazemetostat or capivasertib)

vs hormone therapy & radiation?

54 yrs. Gleason 9. Grade 5. Stage 3.

#MedSky #urology #oncology #prostate #cancer

22.02.2026 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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🚨OPENING SUBMISSIONS
'Impact on Society' - UK Covid-19 Inquiry

Adam Wagner KC, on behalf of CVF, identified unequal impacts and that Clinically Vulnerable people cannot be expected to protect themselves.

He asks for:
Safety
Support and
Status (under the Equality Act)

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17.02.2026 18:20 β€” πŸ‘ 55    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3

Housing. The #1 most alienating thing about Canada to young people is the extraordinary cost of housing.

As a housing nerd, I know it’s mainly municipal/provincial, not federal.

But Poilievre identified a sore spot that the Liberals have long seemed out-of-touch on.

19.01.2026 01:07 β€” πŸ‘ 110    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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This is the sixth death in ICE custody in 18 days. This isn’t enforcement, it’s a system that cages people, outsources care, and shrugs when they die. Abolish ICE.

18.01.2026 21:28 β€” πŸ‘ 6552    πŸ” 3127    πŸ’¬ 392    πŸ“Œ 292

You all know that disease has been used as a tool of oppression throughout history, and that includes yesterday and today.

Fight oppression. Fight disease.

Solidarity. 😷

15.01.2026 03:46 β€” πŸ‘ 65    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

In like six months or so we’re gonna have some wild undercover investigative pieces from journalists who got jobs as ICE agents huh

16.01.2026 02:20 β€” πŸ‘ 2510    πŸ” 287    πŸ’¬ 72    πŸ“Œ 9
Man 'trains' crows to attack MAGA hats after saying there's 'no longer a moral option

A man has gone viral after training a murder of crows to swoop down and snatch MAGA hats from unsuspecting Trump supporters, documenting his months-long experiment

Source: Daily Star https://share.google/VB2AOuDvmhM2wn9QH

Man 'trains' crows to attack MAGA hats after saying there's 'no longer a moral option A man has gone viral after training a murder of crows to swoop down and snatch MAGA hats from unsuspecting Trump supporters, documenting his months-long experiment Source: Daily Star https://share.google/VB2AOuDvmhM2wn9QH

I can't believe that this has been an option the entire time
*sets up school for raccoons against racism*

15.01.2026 03:12 β€” πŸ‘ 2731    πŸ” 768    πŸ’¬ 75    πŸ“Œ 121
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Iris Gorfinkel: As a doctor, this U.S. health policy scares me and Ontario kids are in the blast radius Vaccines have become a political loyalty test in both the U.S. and Canada.

As a doctor, this U.S. health policy scares me and Ontario kids are in the blast radius #Opinion

15.01.2026 20:14 β€” πŸ‘ 34    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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Not Russia, not China but the US today. Sickening.

15.01.2026 19:36 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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JFC this works. Really. FFS.

15.01.2026 19:36 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I don't think most Americans have any idea how dangerous it is for a president to declare an entire ethnic group to be "garbage." This is how the worst atrocities in human history have begun.

27.12.2025 16:50 β€” πŸ‘ 9779    πŸ” 2532    πŸ’¬ 273    πŸ“Œ 98
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On RFK Jr., vaccines and my son with autism and Down syndrome Knowledge is the vaccine for ignorance and fear. But RFK Jr. just wants to let the fever burn.

This pleases me (gift):

"I had only one advantage: I’m a historian. One of the true gifts of studying the humanities is not the content we learn in school, but that we develop the skills to learn what we need to know when life takes unexpected turns. So like a proper nerd, I made a reading list."

19.12.2024 02:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1174    πŸ” 497    πŸ’¬ 43    πŸ“Œ 61
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New meta-analysis shows systemic immune-mediated diseases are linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular deathβ€”highlighting the importance of integrated cardiometabolic care.
πŸ”— https://ow.ly/x87650XIyxo

#CardioResearch #HeartHealth #Inflammation #CardioSky #MedSky

12.12.2025 17:17 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
screengrab from https://bccdc.shinyapps.io/respiratory_pathogen_characterization/. Graphics of test pos charts (LOL, no axes labeled) showing Flu A at 13.8%, up 6.4%; Flu B 0.3%, up 0.1%; RSV 3.5%, up 0.7%; SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) 3.8%, down 0.4%

screengrab from https://bccdc.shinyapps.io/respiratory_pathogen_characterization/. Graphics of test pos charts (LOL, no axes labeled) showing Flu A at 13.8%, up 6.4%; Flu B 0.3%, up 0.1%; RSV 3.5%, up 0.7%; SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) 3.8%, down 0.4%

Oof. Flu A taking off like a rocket in #bcpoli (as predicted, but who needs prevention from @governmentofbc.bsky.social, amitrite?!).

Flu A test ~2X in 1 wk, from 7.4% to 13.8%
COVID going down, RSV up a bit, but still LOTS of both around.

#FluIsAirborne. Get your vax asap AND #MaskUp.

12.12.2025 17:02 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
Some scientists say that a mere cough or sneeze can produce airborne viral particles. Dr. Annalee Yassi, one of the country’s foremost occupational medical experts, said researchers now know that there is always an airborne component of a cough or a sneeze. A cough or a sneeze never produces just large droplets. She told the Commission:  There is unquestionably some airborne spread even if it’s only when people are coughing or sneezing, never mind nebulized and ventilated

Some scientists say that a mere cough or sneeze can produce airborne viral particles. Dr. Annalee Yassi, one of the country’s foremost occupational medical experts, said researchers now know that there is always an airborne component of a cough or a sneeze. A cough or a sneeze never produces just large droplets. She told the Commission: There is unquestionably some airborne spread even if it’s only when people are coughing or sneezing, never mind nebulized and ventilated

Hey everyone, it's time to play "guess the year we knew COVID was airborne"!

(answer in link: wayback.archive-it.org/17275/202203...)

09.12.2025 15:17 β€” πŸ‘ 161    πŸ” 52    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 4

β€œLeading medical societies and many state health officials say Kennedy is trying to dismantle a vaccine program that prevents disease and saves lives based on his beliefs rather than scientific evidence.”

09.12.2025 16:08 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 0

Intensely funny because it seems like the vast majority of people at that event were convinced it was fully autonomous and Musk has repeatedly recently claimed they're not tele-operated

www.reddit.com/r/robotics/c...

08.12.2025 11:17 β€” πŸ‘ 627    πŸ” 233    πŸ’¬ 17    πŸ“Œ 14
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Springer Nature retracts, removes nearly 40 publications The dataset contains images of children’s faces downloaded from websites about autism, which sparked concerns at Springer Nature about consent and reliability.

Holy CRAP.

Retired engineer takes random pics of *kids*, without consent or attribution, bins them into β€œautistic” or β€œnot autistic”, and uploads that β€œdata” for free on Kaggle.

Well over a HUNDRED papers are published, 38 in Springer Nature, 25 in IEEE, using it.

And no reviewers objected? WTF.πŸ§ͺ

08.12.2025 23:49 β€” πŸ‘ 740    πŸ” 362    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 0
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Not only is ICE snatching hard working people who are trying to earn a living, they’re taking their money too?

A witness recorded ICE agents taking a cash box from a taco stand in La Puente during an operation where four people were arrested.

08.12.2025 18:24 β€” πŸ‘ 7106    πŸ” 4171    πŸ’¬ 597    πŸ“Œ 350

So, to all the "RFK's got some good ideas" folks (Rachael Bedard, Leana Wen) and Jay Bhattacharya is "an excellent choice for NIH" (Steven Macedo, Frances Lee) and Vinay Prasad "will bring a breath of fresh air to FDA" (Adam Cifu, John Mandrola) groupies--you own this now too.

07.12.2025 11:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1491    πŸ” 346    πŸ’¬ 26    πŸ“Œ 22
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Federal judge restricts how ICE can arrest people in Colorado, calling past conduct β€˜unlawful’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ conduct during arrests in Colorado has been β€œunlawful,” a federal judge ruled Tuesday in an order that restricts how immigration officers can arrest people ...

I haven't seen anyone else reporting on this great decision.

www.durangoherald.com/articles/fed...

27.11.2025 16:04 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
Screen shot of Safe Parkside IG post

Screen shot of Safe Parkside IG post

Pedestrian struck by motorist on Parkside a block from the speed camera that vigilantes kept tearing down that caused ford to remove them from all Ontario. Drive as you wish Ontario. Nobody matters. This is what you voted for.

28.11.2025 00:52 β€” πŸ‘ 335    πŸ” 184    πŸ’¬ 20    πŸ“Œ 22

For someone who hates socialism he sure loves being publicly owned

27.11.2025 17:01 β€” πŸ‘ 204    πŸ” 33    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 1

FDA drops proposed rule on asbestos testing in cosmetics

www.consumeraffairs.com/news/fda-dro...

25.11.2025 23:07 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 14    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 6

Aerosol transmission of SARSCoV2 virus is the dominant route for transmitting COVID-19.
πŸ‘'2025 Faraday Horizon Prize for advancing understanding of the physicochemical properties of exhaled aerosols, and their impact on transmissibility of respiratory pathogens.' @rsc.org
www.rsc.org/standards-an...

25.06.2025 11:20 β€” πŸ‘ 408    πŸ” 207    πŸ’¬ 38    πŸ“Œ 46
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West Point plaque: "Our code of military obedience requires that, should orders and the law ever conflict, our officers must obey the law."

25.11.2025 22:40 β€” πŸ‘ 1393    πŸ” 334    πŸ’¬ 31    πŸ“Œ 18