iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

But of course the problem in these two moments for Kenya is "what happens when someone lies intentionally?" I don't have an answer here. And public health is so often built on trust relationships in both directions, I'm not even sure how to solve that problem.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 15h

Poor Kenya. This appears to be the at least second time they've had an ebola case get in by lying on entry forms and possibly taking drugs to avoid fever screening. (Last time was 2014) I do not know how screening works if people actively evade it.

reuters.com

Kenya confirms first Ebola case after man who travelled from Congo dies

Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on Tuesday after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from Democratic Republic ‌of Congo died in Nairobi.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 16h

Sigh. If only people remembered that! NONE of us are immune, including all of us who work on misinfo, disinfo, or conspiracy theories!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 17h

"X is the misinfo machine and we're fine over here!" *Looks at bsky posts about plague in Russia.* Umm... Are you sure about that? Because people are angry at everyone who says anything sane and constantly bringing up Wuhan. So no. No we're definitely not fine over here on misinfo.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 18h

I would be there every week. I can't imagine giving up reading to kids to a machine. That's just so sad.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 19h

Well, I suppose the admission is right there, at least.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 20h

OK, but 30 YEARS for the guy who concealed his zines as his only charge?! These sentences are insane even for Texas. We need court reform that makes it impossible to be this crazy, even in Texas.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 20h

Neither do I, but it's definitely a funny thing!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It wouldn't let me tag you and link the song in the same post. Why technology?!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Well, as always, let's take my things and make them funny. My current repeat song is absolutely commentary on how much I'm pissed at my friends. music.youtube.com/watch?v=buYr...

music.youtube.com

I Can't Decide

YouTube video by Scissor Sisters - Topic

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Nothing like your friends thinking your emotions must mean you're intoxicated. Great job there. Good to know how rarely I let anyone see inside my head.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

You know, the major problem with grief is that every time I actually say the 19 contradictory things that are happening in my head people ask if I've been drinking. No. No. That isn't the problem. The problem is that I'm pretending to be a functioning person while trying to mourn a crazy parent.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I am so impressed by the people who can write about new religious movements (read cults or religions and we don't know yet) as they're evolving and not drown in frustration. I have not found that ground in my own work and I so hope I do!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

So cost per case or cost per treatment become worse and worse measures of program integrity and success the better anything focused on disease elimination is doing. It makes for weird incentives.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Yeah exactly. Like, when a disease is common, there is a lot more reward to control measures. As you move closer to extinction (think polio, smallpox, etc) it costs more per case to do the work to prevent the next breakthrough. But you MUST do that last 20 years to really end it.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

So. The problem here is that the closer to eradication a condition is, the more expensive per-case that program becomes. But in order to extinct a disease you MUST continue efforts several years after you've seen a case. So they moved to high-burden from near-extinction diseases at a bad time.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm so entertained. The timing was wonderful.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Well, I made all the way to page 14 of @adambecker.bsky.social book before I was internally screaming in public health and the things that stupid discussion about blindness v intestinal disease broke. Pretty good given what I do? Read the book. It's so good. (Even if I'm yelling about history)

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm more amused than I should be by getting added to an "incites discourse" list on a day my posts were like 90% public health or CT/cult things adjacent. Dude, I so DO sometimes but today?? Lol, not unless measles is discourse now! Hilarious.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I mean, it's my work laptop so I have very few choices, but yeah I am hoping we all get there.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I really appreciate that the main thing the latest windows update did to my computer is make everything open in 3"x3" windows. Not me going "why isn't it opening?!" on my giant screen with a tiny window in one corner and having 5 copies open or anything. Nope. Definitely not.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This was me yesterday refuting plague conspiracy theories with a fever. "please stfu my head hurts and you're stupid" or "ffs read a history book" are sadly ineffective. I postponed responding to today thankfully.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Yes. That's why my post says "planning to become pregnant" not just "pregnant". It also discusses that extensively in the article.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Now that's the fact that will get men to get the MMR. Just like the risk of impotence did for COVID. Sigh. I'll work with what hooks I can get, I suppose.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I really need to go back to my paper about temporality in online spaces distorting public views of scientific work. This is such a perfect example. Breaking news: opinions change with evidence! (But not on the internet where everything is "now" forever.)

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This is really interesting, particularly in showing that ideas can be separated from prose for this kind of analysis. I'm always tempted to run my (not AI obvs) own writing through these for fun.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

*Clearly* that was the whole point of the degree! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It's amazing. I'm entirely an expert in things I want to stop. Like infectious disease and conspiracy theories about them. Funny, I figured understanding a topic was the first step in treating the problem!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This article hurts to read, but it's important. If we can vaccinate people planning pregnancy, it will at least reduce the risk of infant death. I can't believe we're here again.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Wow does this hit home these days.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I gotta say, this person was uh not proud. And minorly panicked. But I also *do not want to know*

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

With a h/t to @alaspooreryorik.bsky.social for the find and my morning laughs.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

So far the best piece on Russia and plague I've seen, including understanding the history of plague measures in Russia. If you're still having anxiety about this, please read! (Or if you just like smart and funny history) thegrimhistorian.substack.com/p/everyone-c...

thegrimhistorian.substack.com

Everyone Calm the Heck Down About the Russian Plague

Before we scare the bejeezus out of everyone with the Great Russian Plague of 2026, pay attention to who is spreading the panic.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A 3D friend of mine put me on a list titled "Real life witches" at one point and I was not sure if I was amusing, had annoyed her, or needed to remind her I'm no kind of religion anyone calls a witch. List names are so often hilarious!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I keep seeing people using speaker and then holding the phone up to their ear like that means people can't hear the convo. My child, we can hear everything. Including your STD results. PLEASE learn to tap the button!

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I am very amused by mine. It is so very wrong on several axes. Probably because I buy gifts for people and it can't figure out what's what, but still.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I'm watching a TV show where this guy lives in a city and just leaves his apartment door open all the time. I'm trying to like it and it's making me yell at the screen every time he does it.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I am currently trying to work through something nasty with a hilarious amount of cold medicine and do not recommend. It gets the fever and coughing, but not the headache. To bed with you ASAP. I have 1 more hour and then to bed with me.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I need an excuse to get back to my CT/misinfo work! You can be my good reason.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Alright, I found a used copy so I'll loop back when I've read it. Probably not till next week given my current unpleasant germs, but it sounds like I need to if we're doing relevant misinfo this month.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Attempting to discuss math while on a hilarious amount of cold medicine is really just not a good idea. Even better, I'm discussing presenteeism while sick stats, which would be me if I didn't work from home. Anecdotal evidence, but still a little funny.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And the endless stream of COVID books bordering (or clearly) conspiratorial just upped the market for them.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I have not, but I think I have to. It's showing up in too many weird spaces and I keep having to refute bits without the context. Another red tagged book for my shelf of terrible primary sources.

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Reposted by DaemonSky

Mike the Mad Biologist and Trump's Press Corps Approver @mikethemadbiol.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Excellent post (I especially like how the uncertainty of what is actually happening is discussed).

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Reposted by DaemonSky

Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Lab-acquired infections happen. Only a small percent ever become public information, in part because they never need to. The plague thing is interesting and unfortunate, and also the pandemic risk of wild type Yersinia pestis in 2026 is indistinguishable from zero. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Too many people owning several houses/apartments? When housing became an investment not a place to live, we broke everything.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We really do have to have this society-wide conversation about how computers don't do things by themselves. There is *always* a human that wrote the code, made the decision, and signs the prescription. Whether they know what they're doing is always the question.

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DaemonSky @dsky.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

There are going to be some fun lawsuits here when they find out the prescriber is still on the hook of something goes horribly wrong. How TF are they getting malpractice coverage for this?!

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