ashlee, mph

FREE FROM IRB HELL

Beyond the obvious*, an important and insidious aspect is how it's marketed to women.

Pregnancy and motherhood can be hard. The uncertainty. The expectations.

This marketing directly exploits this to suggest that eugenics is the right choice. To give you control and prove you are a good mother.

A white cat is digitally altered to look like its eyes are watering and it has a smile on its face

back in IRB hell

Parents who welcomed children this year can soon apply for 2026 bonding leave The Department of Employment and Economic Development said it would open a portal for parents to pre-apply for paid family leave in 2026 if they welcomed a child this year.

Are you a parent in Minnesota who recently welcomed a new baby? Starting this week, you can apply to take bonding leave in the new year under the state's paid family and medical leave program, which takes effect Jan 1st! www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...

i see some of the greater offenders popping up on linkedin every now and then but 100% agree with this sentiment

Can chatting with strangers improve public health? Science and data are important, research shows, but people are incredibly receptive to personal stories about public health.

wrote about yapping (making small talk) for @statnews.com . why I love to do it, why I need to get better at it (in terms of talking about public health) and why everyone should make friendly conversation with a stranger.

www.statnews.com/2025/12/04/p...

but depending on whatever constitutes “disruptive,” the workers are forced into using leave time if it gets to be too much which

lol

the policy info on this one (that the article doesn’t include) says that basically workers can bring their infant to work to be right beside them and/or potentially reallocate care work to another coworker for up to an hour if needed.

Governor Mike Braun Announces "Family First Workplace" Policy Indiana Governor Mike Braun announced on Tuesday the start of what he calls the Family First Workplace initiative.

about to be a lot of sick infants and workers in these offices.

this question always sucks but one time someone with a fresh PhD asked me this and it unlocked a special level of knife-twisting in the back

i'm sure others have said this, but for PhD students it is the perennial "how much longer do you have left?"

Good morning! First Choice v. Platkin oral arguments start momentarily and I will be following along. More background on this case and its importance in this thread/this @autonomynews.co story:

Someone get me (genetic epidemiologist) & my husband (school psychologist) on a podcast bc our rants on these people are...fiery. We spent 5y in the bay around these folks and oh boy.

I'm also so sick of these puff pieces that avoid saying plainly what this actually is. Shoddy science for eugenics.

He Vowed to “Protect the Unborn.” Now He’s Blocking a Bill to Expand Medicaid for Wisconsin’s New Moms. Splitting with anti-abortion members of his own party, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has refused to join 48 other states in ensuring that vulnerable women have access to potentially lifesaving ...

In 48 other states, new moms have access to Medicaid for up to one year after they give birth. Not in Wisconsin.

There, the limit remains two months. And it’s only because of one man: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

By @megomatz.bsky.social

“(redacted) lab at (university) is looking for a postdoc fellow to advance research at the intersection of CRISPR, AI, bioengineering, and immunology. come apply to work with us!”

don’t piss me off

New organization "Broadway Voices for Palestine," announces that tomorrow, they will be performing a virtual reading of plays written by Palestinian children.

Proceeds will go to The Hands Up Project charity.

Allie Trimm, who plays Glinda in Wicked on Broadway, explains more:

OpenAI Loses Key Discovery Battle as It Cedes Ground to Authors in AI Lawsuits The issue has been a major battleground in discovery. OpenAI could be on the hook for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars if it was aware it was infringing on copyrighted material.

The OpenAI ruling writers should know about 👀 (if your work was scraped for LLM training, this affects you). www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

Good day to buy some books from your favorite independent bookstore. (Really always a good day to do this.)

and no, immigrating to the other spouse’s country is more often than not not an option on the table, especially if you have any kind of disability or are above a certain age.

one of the things a lot of people who’ve never gone through green card interviews don’t get is that aside from being stressed (even in “better” circumstances), you have to go in with a healthy sense of paranoia because you can’t tell if the small talk is another test, etc.

chat, we accepted an offer on our condo and my months-long nightmare is hopefully coming to an end

can i get a W

Minnesota Democrats make a big bet on paid leave • Minnesota Reformer Washington state’s paid leave program is facing a shortfall of $350 million after years of error-prone forecasting. Among the program’s flaws in Washington: They plan for the future by looking backwar...

Minnesota’s paid leave program will launch on Jan. 1, ushering in a new benefit for Minnesota workers. The stakes couldn’t be higher, for the businesses and workers affected, but also for Gov. Tim Walz and Democratic lawmakers.

what a beaut

Firefox are trying to ram their AI stuff too unfortunately bsky.app/profile/modm...

I understand the reasoning behind zeroing in on ICE & DHS abducting citizens. But when you lead with what's perceived as your most sympathetic cases, you cede the moral high ground & make arguing for others harder. It is wrong for armed, masked gestapo to grab people - doesn't matter their status.

i am noticing how some of you talk about the victims and survivors from those files and some of you need to kill that part of your brain that treats politics as a sport.

New: Reuters has tallied job losses, suspensions and investigations stemming from the reaction to Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 assassination. Its findings: More than 600 Americans have been punished, and the figure is likely to be an under-count.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

something that is heartening to me, as a gen AI hater, is how many normie ass streamers on twitch hate gen AI and are trying to fix their ads to stop showing them

Labor Studies is Vital for Working Hoosiers In 2025, Indiana passed HEA/HB1001, a budget law requiring public colleges to seek approval for continuing low-enrollment degree programs. In response, universities—including multiple Indiana Universi...

Please consider signing this petition to restore Indiana University's Labor Studies Department.
actionnetwork.org/petitions/la...