iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

There’s a novel called The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrove that may be of interest to you. set in 1617. Beautiful imagining of the impact of the trials on community and freedom.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

5/ but this, being my messy and first detailed social media posting, is for others in the struggle. I’m with you right now. Looking at those bones and grappling with logic vs our trained reaction.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Oscar Isaac is the only right answer besides Jason Mantzoukas.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

I have a stack of Asunder and Star Eater copies that I’m giving out as gifts because they’re perfect and I need my friends to be as beautifully heartbroken as I was after Asunder.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I’m only mad at the movie bc I convinced myself that Oscar Isaac should be Odysseus in 2020 and Matt Damon is not Oscar Isaac.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Excited for this! When I was a kid I saw the episode of Family Matters where Edith demands payment for her work and gets Archie to agree and it has never left my brain.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Sooooooo….will a btb/last pod team up ever happen? I’d love to hear Marcus and Robert compare book stacks.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Ken Liu is so good! Loved Grace of Kings.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

I worked my way through Anne Leckie’s Imperial Radch series last year and would highly recommend it if you haven’t already read the series.

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Too many variables here. often the move to a new institution/town, etc has its own timeline semi-independent of grant cycle. the speed of the grants office at NewPlace comes into it. One thing I will note is that NIH *can* award the grant "with restrictions" if IACUC is not in place yet.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

One of the local health departments I work with can’t afford Microsoft suite for their staff.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

wait wasn’t this a veep episode

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

A very fair point. I still think this would be helpful for many, but certainly am not confident that they would pursue additional reforms to better support those at the bottom.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Respectfully, I don’t understand your point. It gives relief to those who are burdened by tax payments. A better solution would be this paired with targeted stimulus or other benefits relevant to those 40% and below. Then everyone benefits except the very wealthy.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

I’d like to also make a point that cancelled and rescinded grants represent funds already ”spent” and I have not seen anyone able to show us where that money went instead.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Ok but Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers 100% would not have been in the files. Just a dedicated city level public health professional.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Andrei at every dinner party.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

How can this be reform when there are already rules against the use of masks, requiring the use of body cams, and they already swear to uphold a code of conduct? You’re promising things already in place, blatantly ignored. You think we are stupid. Abolish ICE.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Man, hearing you be so confidently wrong about 30 Rock made me so happy.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Ordered 3 copies to give out for gifts! I really want the sequel! Asunder is the best book I’ve read in years and thats even with eating through the entire Locked Tomb Series this year.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Thank you for this, and I love seeing Vincent Racaniello as part of this. His podcasts helped convince me to move into science and have been an avid fan since 2012. Would love to see public health experts working at state and local health departments involved too.

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Kerstin Hall @kerstinhall.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Convincing you to read my ~preceding~ novel, because I need the sales in order to get this one contracted. 😬 Share yours if you want!

Text: Chapter One
Karys Eska did not like the dark.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Been hungry for a paper like this for years. 🧑‍🍳💋

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

I loved this book so much. Thank you for it. After I read it I ate my way through everything else you’ve published. You’re amazing and I love the worlds you build.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

DIS are the under-recognized backbone of public health, providing direct support to people with an STI and HIV. They help facilitate testing and treatment. They are also undervalued and underpayed. The only way at the state level can provide the CDC with high quality data is bc of this workforce.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

It hasn’t been getting enough attention, but at the same time they closed the Disease Investigation Resource Branch, which provides investigatory support to outbreaks and advises on disease interventions specialist (DIS) best practices.

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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

so much of the fascist movement country is supported by the belief that parents own their children and have a right to ensure they turn out a specific way

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

I wanted to highlight this for you as the impacts of similar cuts on the state and local efforts will also impact the representativeness and completeness of data you rely upon, while further hamstringing prevention efforts.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Disease intervention specialists at the state and local levels. We at the state level collect and submit data and specimen which your work depends upon. This work and the necessity of these staff is not often reflected in analyses.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Dr. Grad, I love and respect your work. I want to call your attention to the closure of the disease intervention and response branch (DIRB), which provides investigatory support for communities experiencing an outbreak of STIs. This, combined with other funding cuts are harming capacity for…

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

I have not seen any journalists with a large megaphone meaningfully address this or try to make it clear to the public. This will impact local vaccination campaigns, outbreak identification and response, free testing, and jobs at every level.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Funding levels for state governments are all public. If you dig into this you will see how reliant states are on federal funds for ALL infectious diseases. Many states are entirely dependent upon federal funds and receive nothing from the state budgets for these conditions.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Please connect this to state and local impacts. The CDC funds health departments to collect those samples. We in turn depend on public clinics who (usually for free) partner with us to actually collect the samples. Clinics are dying due to funding cuts, impacting communities with low access to care.

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Yonatan Grad @yhgrad.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Our preprint and much other work was only possible because of data generated by the CDC STD lab, which was shuttered in the HHS layoffs last week. This is a huge blow to efforts to monitor resistance, guide clinical care, & inform policy www.statnews.com/2025/04/05/c... @helenbranswell.bsky.social

statnews.com

CDC’s top laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration

The Trump administration fired everyone in a CDC lab that is crucial to tracking drug-resistant gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases. "We are blind," an expert says.

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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Drug-resistant gonorrhea, a form of the widespread sexually transmitted infection, is considered an urgent health threat worldwide. The US has just lost its ability to detect it. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/h...

nytimes.com

A Federal Lab That Tracked Rising S.T.I.s Has Been Shuttered (Gift Article)

The United States can no longer keep tabs on drug-resistant gonorrhea, among other infections, scientists said.

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Sen. Cory Booker @booker.senate.gov · 01/04/2025

I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis. Watch here:

youtube.com

Live: Speaking on Trump, Musk, and America’s Moral Moment on the Senate Floor | Senator Cory Booker

YouTube video by Senator Cory Booker

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Please forward this thread on Bhattacharya’s terrible recent writing to as many people as you can. Jay Bhattacharya has his Senate hearing today, and the NYT publishes a fawning opinion essay about him (just as happened during the Kavanaugh and Gorsuch hearings). People are trying to whitewash him.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Limited funding means we have fewer staff to be effective. This also means we lose support to cover the costs of testing and treatment for those who can’t afford care. Even further, fewer funds will be available to clinics or to support testing events. (Done)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

I want to make it clear that public health funding at the state and local level depends on federal support. As more outbreaks of TB, measles, and other infectious conditions pop up, we will need more sufficient funding. (8/?)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

The team was cut in half, with most of those remaining having funds expiring at the end of this year. In the year following the loss of these positions, syphilis rates started to increase again. (7/?)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

In my state, we were able to secure funds for an actually sufficient DIS workforce. This led to a reduction in syphilis cases in the state. Unfortunately, a Biden-era shutdown resulted in the revoking of funds necessary to support this workforce. (6/?)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

We’ve had physicians who refuse to follow treatment guidelines or even take on patients with severe presentations of syphilis. DIS are the ones who go to war with health systems to do what’s right for a patient or help to connect patients to providers they know and trust. (5/?)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

When I see an MD put forward as a public health expert, I wish they could be replaced with a DIS or public health nurse. Those are the people intimately familiar with failures of health systems, difficulties of access, interpersonal dynamics, and work directly with folks to help them navigate. (4/?)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

In my state we rely on disease intervention specialists (DIS) and public health nurses to work with people who test positive and make sure people are accurately tested and treated. They’re the backbone of public health and do not get the respect they deserve. (3/?)

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Response to this problem requires more funding for state and local health departments. Like many other states, we rely on federal funds to do this work, and I worry about how likely it is that the fuckery with public services will make the problem worse. (2/?)

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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 23/02/2025

🌈💫Did you know that government jobs used to be awarded through a patronage/spoils system? This changed in 1895 when Teddy Roosevelt implemented merit-based civil service positions.

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

maybe democrats accepting and adopting the bullshit claim that all government regulations and services are bad was a mistake, in retrospect 🙄

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

This is right, and scientists should read this thread. Musk’s last decade of behavior is driven by a fight: tech billionaires against Silicon Valley engineers and scientists. Now he’s bringing that class war to government. And NIH/NSF. He wants to oppress scientists.

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verin-mathwin @kmquigs.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

The entire communicable diseases division of my department relies on federal funds.

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