iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Superchunk - Lost My Brain Bully - Brainfreeze Spoon - Stroke Their Brains Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain Kristin Hersh - Nerve Endings Anything by Brainiac, Bad Brains, The Nerves, and Hippo Campus (I'll see myself out)

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Tom Perriello for Congress @tomperriello.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Our healthcare heroes are the canaries in the coal mine. They are alerting us of a impending collapse– and we need to listen.

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Everyday at track practice in the late 80's in yes, NoVa, we ran the "Kennedy loop" by his boyhood home as a warm-up. We didn't get a DD until 1991 when RFK jr. would have been 37.

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Since the world is crumbling down around us, we might well as take the time to appreciate one of the most amaze-balls tracks ever put to vinyl pitchfork.com/reviews/trac...

pitchfork.com

New Order: “Ceremony”

Read Mark Richardson’s review of the track.

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

One million American dollars per day

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Thursday night (2/12) - was in town to visit my mom. The first field trip I took in Kindergarten in ‘77 or ‘78 was a ride on the newly opened Metro. Rode it daily for years to work and school. This was a first (even after 9/11).

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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

On the contrary, there has never been a better time to DOUBLE your caffeine intake. Fascism isn't gonna fight itself fam, we need FUEL!!!

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

this is who runs this account (with his cousin 😉)

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Combining my interests in medicine and math, this is a bonkers tale about predatory journals. @pccmdoc.bsky.social - I totally thought of your warnings on the subject as I read it. @retractionwatch.com

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Both Amy Millan and Emily Haines sing on the record. And Amy eventually became a member.

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maura quint @mauraquint.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The thing about Catherine O’Hara is she is so hilarious and talented that I forgot she was mortal

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Rainer Maria (Caithlin De Marrais)- A Better Version Of Me Stars (Amy Millan) - Night songs Bjork - Vespertine Neko Case - Canadian Amp Kelly Hogan - Because It Feels Good Bonus: Milemarker (Roby Newton) - Anaestetic Unwound (Sara Lund) - Leaves Turn Inside You

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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

today the fascists killed a nurse who did good work for the people in his care

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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Tylenol during pregnancy is safe without increased risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability of offspring A new review of the evidence just out www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

JUST IN: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore $12 million in grants to the American Academy of Pediatrics, saying the terminations appear to be retaliation for the group's view points re: vaccine safety/efficacy. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

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Paige Perriello @paigeperriello.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

This one deserves its own repost….

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Paige Perriello @paigeperriello.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Great and sobering article about what lies ahead…

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

From later in the review "To be sure, vast swaths of it are impressively and aggressively awful." #brutal

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Congratulations Dr. Turner. Also, WTAF is wrong with people.

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Former U.Va. President Details Justice Department Pressure That Led to Ouster www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...

nytimes.com

Former U.Va. President Details Justice Department Pressure That Led to Ouster

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

"The Cavalier Daily corresponded with former Rector Robert Hardie, whose term ended June 30, regarding the two accounts. He confirmed that he agreed with Ryan’s account. 'I concur fully with President Ryan’s recollection of events,' Hardie said." Welp www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

cavalierdaily.com

Ryan and Sheridan provide full accounts of Ryan’s resignation. They differ significantly

“I concur fully with President Ryan’s recollection of events,” former Board Rector Robert Hardie said.

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Joe Fore @joefore.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Former UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned over the summer due to pressure from the Trump Administration, just shared this 12-page letter with the Faculty Senate, detailing his experience with the Board of Visitors and DOJ. It's a surreal--and troubling--read. drive.google.com/file/d/1Is6x...

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

As SNAP hangs in the balance for nearly 42 million people, misinformation is rampant. Myths of laziness and fraud persist when we should be talking about too low wages for workers, income inequality, and our threadbare social safety net. In this guest post, Adam Chandler sorts fact from fiction:

thehandbasket.co

SNAP benefits feed essential needs while still leaving many hungry for more

Journalist and author Adam Chandler explains what so much of the conversation about them gets wrong.

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

But seriously, I bought tickets for me and my boys for next week's game against Chicago - all three are lifelong Ravens fans but this will be their first NFL game in person - so I'm hoping that this bye week is what they need to get everything back in order.

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Steven L. Johnson @stevenljohnson.org · 17/10/2025

UVA says no to the compact

To the University of Virginia community:

On Monday of last week, Rector Rachel Sheridan and I shared a message with the community regarding the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We were asked to provide comments on the proposal no later than October 20.

Today, I sent the letter below to the Secretary of Education and to White House officials. The letter confirms our core values and commitments while expressing our view that federal research funding should be based on merit.

I want to thank personally the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, Student Council, and many other members of our community who expressed their opinions on the proposed Compact, through the online form we provided and other means. Your thoughtful feedback shows a profound care for the University and a strong commitment to its future.

We will continue to work to strengthen free expression and free inquiry, protect academic freedom, ensure affordability , promote intellectual pluralism, and maintain institutional neutrality in an increasingly polarized world. I am grateful for your continued dedication to the University and I look forward to working with you on these vital projects.

Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia

October 17, 2025

The United States Department of Education
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary McMahon, Ms. Mailman, and Mr. Haley,

Thank you for your letter inviting comment on the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We wholeheartedly agree that “American higher education is the envy of the world.” We also agree with many of the principles outlined in the Compact, including a fair and unbiased admissions process, an affordable and academically rigorous education, a thriving marketplace of ideas, institutional neutrality, and equal treatment of students, faculty, and staff in all aspects of university operations. Indeed, the University of Virginia leads in several of these areas and is committed to continuous improvement in all of them.

We seek no special treatment in exchange for our pursuit of those foundational goals. The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship. A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education.

Higher education faces significant challenges and has not always lived up to its highest ideals. We believe that the best path toward real and durable progress lies in an open and collaborative conversation. We look forward to working together to develop alternative, lasting approaches to improving higher education.

Sincerely yours,

Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia

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Mike Spaeder, MD @despitethetimes.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

UVA Reject the Compact Rally marches on

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ACOG @acog.org · 22/09/2025

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. bit.ly/47Wxc59

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Patton Oswalt @pattonoswalt.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

So glad ICE is in Chicago. The city is a lawless hell-scape. Blues musicians wrecking hundreds of police cars. High schoolers doing weird scientific sex experiments. Kids home alone during the holidays. Women killing their husbands and lovers and then SINGING about it sassily. This has to stop.

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