This Arizona teacher’s donors choose request for books that highlight diverse experiences (including trans) will expire if not funded by Feb 25th (this week!).
Letter to NYT (correctly) accusing them of anti-trans bias
Derailing in Ohio. Capitalism works best with fetters.
Evidence of Fox News purposefully pushing election fraud narrative in order to make profits.
Why that mask meta-analysis was biased towards finding no effect: This article breaks it down really clearly. Basically it was just a poorly designed meta-analysis that makes comparisons across things it should not be comparing and includes masks we know are ineffective at protecting us from airborne transmission in the analysis (like surgical masks don’t protect the wearer from airborne particles and were never intended to).
A meta study that’s more carefully done on masking. “The results suggest that the classification of infections into droplet versus airborne transmission is an oversimplification. Most guidelines recommend masks for infections spread by droplets. N95 respirators, as “airborne precautions,” provide superior protection for droplet-transmitted infections. To ensure the occupational health and safety of healthcare worker, the superiority of respirators in preventing respiratory infections should be reflected in infection control guidelines.”
A method suggested for stopping getting caught in negative thoughts.
The best thing about not reading Twitter is not reading updates about 9 chickweed lane from damnyouwillis.
Still having a hard time staying away from Reddit even though there is no reason for me to look at Applying2College until mid March at the earliest, now that DC1 has been rejected from hir ED2 school. (I looked at the rejection letter, and it was a special form letter that they only give to a subset of rejected people. Still, I wish it had been a deferral instead.)
This week wasn’t particularly productive. I have massive allergies (Zyrtec is my best friend, but 24 hour Zyrtec should not be taken in the middle of the night because it sets up a bad cycle), I got another desk rejection that bummed me out, a coauthor who was about to submit a paper last week went radio silent, I had been exposed to Covid last weekend but have been Covid negative (still the allergies kept me second guessing even though air filters on full blast + Zyrtec put me back to normal)… excuses all, but ones I grabbed onto.
Next week I will be better! I have to be…
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
February 18, 2023 at 7:42 am
When (or after) my husband and I had COVID, he used generic Zyrtec and fluticasone (generic Flonase) to help with the congestion and mucus which led to coughing. It was like a bad cold or bad allergy attack. They helped reduce the severity of his symptoms.
The only bad thing about generic Flonase is that it can cause nose bleeds.
February 18, 2023 at 10:30 am
OMG I am addicted to those 9CL posts. I keep coming back to them! I check them every week or 2 when I need to distract myself from a stressful day. WHY???
February 18, 2023 at 10:43 am
Masochism?
February 18, 2023 at 10:54 am
Thanks for the link!
February 20, 2023 at 4:32 am
We’ve gotten every possible Version of rejection so far. Flat out rejection from ED, waitlisting, deferral, acceptance but not on main campus, acceptance but into a dumb general studies major, not engineering. I’d say for all but the ED, my kid exceeded the normal stats for entry by a fair amount. 1.5 more months of this. Time is going by painfully slow right now.
February 20, 2023 at 5:04 am
We haven’t gotten waitlisting or deferral…
Is it that smart kids don’t want to be doctors anymore?
February 20, 2023 at 9:11 am
We have many MD friends (from GP up to anesthesiologists) and they all were and many still are hundreds of thousands in debt. Many of their kids are not following in their footsteps or going the cheaper state school route. Their parents are telling them it’s absolutely not worth it to be in crippling debt for most of their career. Although nursing is also super competitive as well so I think maybe a lot of people who are interested in medicine are going that route instead of MD. Between the debt payoff, the liability insurance premiums, and the lost earning years, it takes decades to get out from under it. My kid was also interested in doing medicine but he did a quick back of the envelope calculation and that life path quickly fell off the list and without any regrets.
I also think a bunch of the law majors are also ditching that profession as it’s not as lucrative as it once was.