Erika ZD

This is The Way.

Hi, former Foreign Service Officer here

The Secretary of State might be interested to learn that visa requirements and terms are generally reciprocal. We do it to them, they do it to us.

anxiety does *not cause* masking
masking does *not cause* anxiety

A mass-disabling pandemic *causes* anxiety *and* masking *and* you know, a little bit of mass disability

Grey textured background. In the bottom right corner, there is a red circle with a line through it. Inside there is blue text that reads AI. Black text reads: ASAN Says No Generative AI in Plain Language! Full plain language statement on our website. The ASAN logo is at the bottom.

Dark grey textured background. There’s a lighter grey box with text that reads: Artificial intelligence is when a computer program does things that normally need to be done by humans. We call artificial intelligence “AI” for short. There are lots of different kinds of AI. The way AI works is by using data from people. Data is information a computer can read. AI programs read data made by people to understand what to do. Generative AI is a specific kind of AI. Generative AI can use data to make new things. Generative AI can create many kinds of new things, like: text images music/movies and more People have already started using generative AI to write plain language.

Grey textured background. Text reads: In our statement, we explain the reasons why people should not use generative AI to write in plain language. Plain language is an important part of making things accessible for people with disabilities. Using generative AI makes “plain language” that is not actually accessible. We hope anyone who writes in plain language will not use generative AI. Here are the reasons we talk about in our statement: Generative AI changes what things mean Plain language is an idea that is too new for generative AI to understand Generative AI focuses on words, not ideas Generative AI has discrimination built-in Plain language is by and for disabled people Read our full statement to learn more about each of these reasons.

Dark grey textured background. There is a blue “AI” with a red circle and line over it. The ASAN logo is at the bottom. There’s a light grey box with the following text: ASAN does not use generative AI for plain language. We hope people writing in plain language understand why you shouldn’t use generative AI for plain language. People writing in plain language should always talk to disabled people first. People with disabilities can give feedback to make stronger plain language papers. We do not need AI to do this work when we already know disabled people can. Nothing about us without us!

Generative AI changes what things mean because it focuses on words, not the meaning. It adds words, changes meaning, and makes "plain language" that is not accessible. We know, because we tested it. Generative AI has no place in plain language. autisticadvocacy.org/2025/07/asan...

PMC COVlD Dashboard, July 21, 2025 (U.S.)

COVlD is surging in 7 states, according to the CDC.
🔹Hawai'i (Very High)
🔹California (High)
🔹Nevada (High)
🔹Texas (High)
🔹Louisiana (High)
🔹Florida (High)
🔹South Carolina (High)

pmc19.com/data

How much stronger would universities be in fighting the far right had they not acted like their race and gender scholars’ research and courses had no value. Welp…

Thank you! I went and looked at all the inscriptions with an Ummidia Quadratilla in Clauss-Slaby, and didn't find one for her tomb at all! Was she also active in Ostia, or is that another woman with the same name?

"Turia" is maybe my all-time favorite inscription! This is great!

That's a good question! I only know about her through scholarship, so I need to go read those inscriptions :)

I just learned that we can poke around looking at her amphitheater, and her tomb, over here. It suggests "similar locations" too, based on how they look. It's really a fun site!

www.italyformovies.com/location

And her amphitheater, specifically:

www.italyformovies.com/location/det...

Riace bronze lips.

A bronze statue of the god of wine Dionysos (Greek name) / Bacchus (Roman name), early 2nd century CE. His head is crowned with vine leaves and fruit. The eyes are from limestone, the pupils would have probably been in coloured glass paste and the lips are in copper. The statue was made using the lost-wax technique. (Palazzo Massimo, Rome).

PALAZZO MASSIMO bronze boxer

I am inordinately excited when I see copper inlay lips on ancient bronzes. It is the best touch. 👄

Gaza faces 'man-made' mass starvation due to Israeli aid blockade, World Health Organisation says Israel denies it is responsible for shortages of food - but aid groups have accused its government of creating "chaos, starvation, and death".

Feels like a good time to point out that starvation of a civilian populace is a war crime. By the very definition of genocide, the Israeli government is doing it. There is no defence, no deflection, the Israeli government is committing genocide while the world watches.
news.sky.com/story/gaza-f...

Talk about The Wire, Sopranos, Game of Thrones all you want, but the greatest US television program ever made is Sesame Street. It's not even close. 50+ years of treating kids across class, ethnicity, religion not as mini-consumers...but as citizens with a stake in this world.

Today is yet another day a neighbor's pet is out and loose, and doesn't want to be. But today that pet is a big floofy orange tabby on a roof, and they just will NOT climb down, not into a laundry basket, or onto a two by four, not into a snow shovel lined up right at the gutter line.

Cat 1, us 0.

The antihistamines aren't a perfect preventative and can't replace masking, air filtration, vaccination, etc, but it does seem to move the needle that few critical percentage points and it's a useful part of any defense in depth strategy

There's also evidence that taking high enough doses of a H1+H2 antihistamine can help you from getting COVID in the first place and help prevent you from developing long COVID if you take them while you're in the active infection period! I still (*knock wood*) haven't had it

If you currently have COVID and are trying to avoid long term effects, the dosage in the antihistamines is 10mg of cetirizine or loratidine and 20mg of famotidine every 12 hours. (If you're not in the US: sub "any second generation H1 and H2 antihistamine twice as often as recommended" as needed.)

It's better, and I'm certainly used to it! I hope the same for you, that you're living a wonderful life, LC and all!

a disaster for many reasons, but I’m especially livid thinking about countless disabled students whose families who will have even less in the way of recourse when their kids’ educational rights are violated

Lockdown and a legacy of trauma “Many of us, especially healthcare workers, experienced trauma during the early pandemic,” explains Kindschy, who worked as a trauma therapist before she was disabled by long COVID. It is understandable, she says, that people have negative associations with COVID and would prefer to forget about masking. Still, she says, it is hard to hear people use trauma to justify not masking — a simple action that could protect her and people like her from risk of further disability — and that, moreover, if adopted by more people, would make it possible for her to be included in public life. “Trauma is not a life-sentence; you can get treatment for it. It should not be used as an excuse to marginalize disabled and vulnerable people.” She continues, “I’m begging for people to care about my life, and it’s just mind-boggling to me that they don’t.”

yesss to this

Same! I didn't recover from LC, but I did get a lot smarter about managing it, and living with it.

Burnout is clinically understood as a combo of 6 factors—work overload, lack of control, insufficient rewards, breakdown in community, absence of fairness, & value conflicts—and only a fraction of it is under your control. Burnout is a systemic problem, so be kind to yourself and hard on the system.

the more i understand cyanide, the more hesitant i am to eat it

this, to me, is a paradox

The Media's Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work AI is not going to save media companies, and forcing journalists to use AI is not a business model.

Media outlets can't pivot to AI to save themselves. It's not a business strategy and it's not going to work. The only path forward is for journalists to lean into their humanity, to do things AI can't, and to make clear they are writing for people, not algorithms:

www.404media.co/the-medias-p...

I'm a long hauler, and it didn't do anything for my LC, (and, perversely, increased my fatigue really massively!) but I think it did help with not further lowering my baseline with my reinfection. My PCP prescribed it, b/c I showed him the several articles, and he specializes in chronic illness.

Vampire bats' mutual grooming helps spread innovative rabies vaccine A gel that bats lick off one another’s fur could help prevent rabies outbreaks in cattle, a growing problem in Latin America

This is really cool! A rabies vaccine, applied as a gel to fur, spreads quickly among bats as they lick and groom each other. That prevents rabies outbreaks in other animals. www.science.org/content/arti...

Happy Disability Pride Month! I encourage you to celebrate by learning about why Black folks & others may not claim disability pride, but still belong in disability community. Check out my free, open access book #BlackDisabiltyPolitics from @dukepress.bsky.social!

library.oapen.org/handle/20.50...

I’m looking to speak with people about their use of metformin for treating COVID. This includes taking metformin during an active infection, or to treat Long COVID. If this sounds like you, please email me at rcfairbank@gmail.com