Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 16/09/2026why did my white monster 1-pack come in such an oversized box?? smdh 2394
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 04/09/2026Hard to say if it’s more infuriating if they’re “reinventing USAID But Worse from first principles” or “using the pretense of reinventing USAID But Worse to siphon cash from infectious disease research to fund illegal wars in Iran and the Caribbean” 2114
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 04/09/2026I suspect this has more to do with why this crew is under the microscope right now than anything else in the article, unfortunately. Winning college football coaches get away with…a lot. Expensive useless losers, on the other hand… 050
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Coyote vs. ACME was an instant classic. A fresh and unique and deeply relatable narrative, both timeless and timely. A core message for any audience, tight writing, nonstop jokes. I‘ve spent years of grad school feeling like old-school Wile E. Coyote & cried a very normal number of times. 2534
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/08/2026a fitting Dolly Tribute Beat takes a decent bit of time, a whole lotta glitter, and some real glass mirror clip-ons, if you’ve got em 0230
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 08/08/2026Fun update!! Just got a pretty sweet secondhand penBBS bundle (3 pens in great condition, including a 469, plus some fun extra nibs) on r/pen_swap this morning 😎 ($88 for all this plus international shipping!) 140
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 06/08/2026there are a couple of species of mosquito around us that make enormous larvae (pretty rare to spot and usually 1-2 per container) - they’re often very orange and carnivorous towards other species’ larvae, so let them hunt!! a close-up of a murder in progress feat. some porch skeeters I found in CH 110
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 06/08/2026if you’re wondering “do tadpoles eat mosquito larvae”: yes! if you’re wondering how to tell them apart: a 5-minute shitty infographic i just doodled up 🫡 221
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 06/08/2026it reminded me powerfully of a corny old Prairie Home Companion ‘Bad Jokes!’ bit (which apparently was sung between John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson??) that I heard 15+ years ago but still recall whenever I’m reminded of that variety of suburban white dads 110
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 05/08/2026She has such a sweet sleepy smile that I haven’t been able to bring myself to dislodge her 😭 I gotta go to work but I’m not a monster… 2604
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Two recent “post-morning shenanigans lounging” shots. We had to do a LOT of fetch this morning. 3170
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 05/08/2026an occupational hazard of being fabulous and having a darling little white cat: lipstick staining the baby’s noggin!! (she grew SO much between these two pics, omg. the second was a few weeks ago) 2341
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 05/08/2026many such chickens are coming home to roost in the first week of august, unfortunately 030
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Thanks for the recs! Btw - they do make EF kakunos that are super duper fine (& scratchy). I found one new in its box (near the Jinhao shark) in a dumpster recently (a hardcore pen nerd mid-moveout dumped two cheap ones and a bunch of ink samples/a nice case). It’s my go-to for detailed marginalia! 100
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 01/08/2026you’re coming on this journey with me for a sec. like.look at this nonsense. 6101
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Gretl update: she knows how to fetch now! (Also, how to dribble, which leads to the occasional detour) 0395
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 29/07/2026I pulled this up earlier, but got distracted by a tornado warning for a bit - Leon Rosen was a famous old arbovirologist who refused to believe that dengue hemorrhagic fever was caused by antibody-dependent enhancement (it very much is). This was massively detrimental to public health + the field! 1101
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 28/07/2026It looks like the first report was in 1977, in a conference proceedings - could be worth requesting an interlibrary loan scan. Conference proceedings from that era have been more generous with backstory than papers, in my experience with the contemporary Nematocera genetics lit 310
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/07/2026Gretl is still recovering from her spay. The cone fills her with great despondency. Unfortunately, she tries to lick her incision every time she thinks we aren’t watching, so. (She gets a couple hours of Supervised Nude Liberty every day, never fear.) 2686
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 22/07/2026The cone actually facilitates this quite well 😅 (from earlier tonight; she’s currently doing the same thing in a cat bed next to me on the guest room mattress, relocated to the floor of a different, kittenproofed room.) 011
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 22/07/2026oh 100%. stray kittens all look like gangly bat-eared aliens, so it’s always interesting to see the Siamese mutts either outgrow or double down on those traits 😁 classic example is my sister’s cat (left) (went DSH route) vs my mom’s (right) (meezer central). (their tabby sisters got all the brains) 010
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Little baby is dropped off at the doctor 😭 I miss her already 3140
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Gretl appears to be having a largely leg-based growth spurt 😭 she still has her baby face, though. She’s off to get spayed tomorrow and I’m worrying - I think she’ll be fine, but I don’t quite know how to keep her from ricocheting around for two weeks! 5460
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 20/07/2026Gretl is hard at work preparing for her deputy research assistantship 🫡 (exploring during zone swapping in an even slower intro than before…lord.) 1121
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Omg, sorry, I saw and then totally forgot to reply to this!! What an excellent elephant. I am hanging in there - a lot of very tedious bioinformatics troubleshooting atm, but I get to come home to an adorable baby kitty (Gretl! A new family member), so at least there’s that 😁 how are you? 140
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Got an anonymous comment filed with enough specifics & personal touches to require response & be a bother. Many thanks to Gretl, who dozed adorably on my lap through it all and kept morale afloat in the face of deep existential dread. 8804
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 13/07/2026she’s literally an angel when she naps 🥺 i have so so many photos about this. (this has been my kitten room dress all week for bb quarantine reasons) 070
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 13/07/2026very busy with kitten socialization and enrichment lately. a few choice Gretl shots from yesterday & today: 1-2, her craziest nap pose yet. 3, baby’s first post-vacuum proximity (eek!) self-soothing (note the double paw lock-in); 4, the subsequent deeeeeep nap (we’d played pretty hard beforehand) 4422
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 12/07/2026awake but not for much longer because…tiny kitten socialization & enrichment is a Lot. celebratory kitten pose! 💃🏻 191
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Still an issue The biomed umbrella program students split out to ~13 programs after first year, so it’s ~60-100 students a year (=more bargaining power) & competes with applicants to unionized med school programs. Our stipend is going up; pretty sure bio is still $28k base (PIs can ⬆️, but it’s rare) 130
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Lapcat training is going quite well!! 🥹 (following an hour of Extreme Aerial Parkour to blow off some steam, of course) 4532
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Guess who is: - rabies-free! - currently decompressing in a bathroom! - actually a girl! (permanent name: Gretl) - three pounds of whoop-ass 😤‼️ 4865
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 06/07/2026From a 2018 article on the slur’s resurgence as a football stadium chant in Mexico. Food for thought, perhaps. www.theguardian.com/football/201... 04113
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 03/07/2026The author is discussing why the now-federally recognized Lyme BS is going to endanger women who will likely forego useful treatment for deadly conditions as a result. That opportunity cost is more vague for mis-ID’d conditions without clear treatments, like ME. He does still address those, tho: 010
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 02/07/2026The latest news from the slammer (SPCA bite quarantine): a MAJOR headshot upgrade for Tomatinho, who is looking healthy and precious and not even a little bit rabid so far!! 5512
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 27/06/2026She’s a fraidy cat, so the trip was stressful for all of us, but also such a sweet baby that she was out and lovey for a while once she left the carrier. (She’s taking a nice secure nap under the bed now. No surprises there!) 070
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 27/06/2026After an hour of lively pursuit in roadside shrubs, the baby somehow skedaddled into an insane gap next to a building with no doors in or steps out - just walls. Their savior got bitten while climbing the ladder with them. (I was in a skirt, so no ladder for me, but had a box staged to drop it into) 1502
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Our SPCA logs all intakes with pics on their adoption portal, even ones that aren’t available (e.g. rabies watch quarantined) or immediately adopted out. Just checked, and yes, (slammer pseud) Sally Tomato (unavailable & headed to me once they are) is posted 🥺 (they were in a holly hedge at first.) 0120
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Found some old vids from the SalivaDirect protocol 101 tweet thread, including our NBA-funded, LeBron-decorated thermocycler 🤣 Inspired by ridiculous qPCR curves after a long day that wasn’t over yet. I remember cutting each finger out as 3 of us split 40 McNuggets in the LEPH 6 conference room… 020
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Before she became an iconic indoor diva, Liesl was a recently weaned fraidy cat & Dickensian orphan stray fleeing pursuit by hawks who I socialized ❤️ she’s thirteen this June! My little teenage dirtbag baby 🥹 1331
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026My family loves siamese rescue mutts - Liesl overlapped briefly with the generation of family meezers who passed in their (& my) late teens, and was a good big sister to the next generation of my mom’s cats & later my sister’s. We’ve been thinking lately that she could use a lil buddy again 😸 2281
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Our tiny miscreant has been delivered to the SPCA for their mandatory quarantine with a belly full of pate. I’ll be picking them up to foster/adopt after :) Liesl inspected me thoroughly upon my return. I told her: enjoy your childfree peace while it lasts! You’ll have a siamese summer intern soon! 2461
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Came to check back in one last time before bed and someone had finally left the litterbox (after…hours there) and relocated to their comfy towel! AND scarfed down a whole saucer of fish pâté (strategically placed to encourage towel exploration). Big developments! 1511
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 26/06/2026I was on my way from lab meeting to pick up a library book request earlier when I spotted a person crawling into the roadside shrubs. Long story short, a tiny miscreant is spending the night in my tub before they head to a state-mandated 10-day rabies quarantine tomorrow 😼 (That isn’t their blood.) 7868
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 22/06/2026For anyone who thought “fake job recruiter spam texts” were a grim US recession indicator, a troubling new development: “fake affordable health insurance spam texts” 0102
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 20/06/2026A US ducks per county map, based on the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture. Knowing that “presence of duck farms” makes HPAI outbreaks likelier overall (+ higher potential for tx between contracted farms under the same company) may explain some current spatial patterns brilliantmaps.com/ducks-by-us-... 151
Isabel @isabelott.bsky.social · 19/06/2026i was unaware that this was a thing that could happen????? there is…no body of water nearby????? 8443