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Pat Donaldson

@ptdnldsn.bsky.social
205 followers 645 following 1.1K posts

Inventor, Country Dancer (English, Scottish, Contra, Morris), Soprano, Mom, Black belt. Trying to be civil.

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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
People rebutting MAHA by pointing to children dying are missing the eugenics of it. Children who die of disease, especially those already disabled, have removed themselves from the gene pool, their deaths evidence of their weakness. They believe their own children are superior stock.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Politicians should be able to freely talk about their faith, morals and/or ethics. This is not in any way the same as government enforcing a religion. Most laws have a basis in morality. Clean Air, workers rights, slavery. It helps to know what kind of principles an elected leader lives by.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We are suffering from too cheap communication. I want an email service that charges people a penny to send me an email, and a phone service that charges a penny a call. I’m paying for the free service with my time spent filtering, and I don’t like it.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I volunteer with a medical drive service for seniors, and I’m starting to see this with people 80+. They get an absolute ton of spam calls. If they’re waiting for some unknown driver to call them, they need a way to filter callers, and decide who to pick up for.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
He’a going to cut funding for everything he’s never heard of, on the assumption that if he doesn’t know what it is, it’s not important.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Trump is “going around congress“ because the Republicans who control both the House and the Senate are letting him do it, with some help from the Supreme Court. A Democratic House will be able to exert some pressure. With a two thirds majority in the Senate you could impeach and remove.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I think that if parents felt more ownership of schools they’d be more likely to monitor, participate and volunteer. Also school officials would be more likely to pay attention to parent’s complaints and suggestions.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
What if parents don’t care NOW because they feel the schools are just another big system stacked against them?
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Large districts attract career administrators, with large salaries. They also discourage participation by parents because a neighborhood group can’t drive change in the system. It seems extractive. Money pulled out of poor families to pay high earners rather than improve schools and pay teachers.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Obviously, there are some things that are better done at scale. But NY solves that problem for small rural and suburban districts with BOCES, and there’s no reason why that couldn’t be extended to cover small city districts.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I’ve been trying to come to grips with the problem of bad large public school systems, and the only solution that makes sense to me is to break up large city schools into districts small enough so that parents feel they can control outcomes. That might require different funding models.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Yup, 4 digit displays are online. gdgrandview.com/product/led-...
gdgrandview.com
LED Gas Pump Topper Factory | Double Sided Price Signs - Grandview Sign Factory
Buy direct from a professional LED Gas Pump Topper Factory. Double-sided 88.88 4-digit 7-segment displays with Red/Green digits. Compact IP65 design for service stations. Wholesale pricing.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I remember when gas was a quarter a gallon, and the angst as it approached $1 a gallon was real, because pumps only had two digit displays for the price. We’ll be reliving that as gas approaches $10 a gallon. Gas stations are probably already upgrading displays in preparation.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A good vehicle for a couple with dogs, though I could theoretically fit into the back seat. We’ve been leasing / buying pure EVs (Nissan Leafs) for the last decade+, and each upgrade has doubled the range of the previous one. Looking forward to the 600 mile EV upgrade 5 years from now.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
My spouse, the pieman, made a pie and a half for a start of term pot-luck which was overburdened with desserts. I am eating peach pie with crème fraiche for breakfast and life is good.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Yes
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
When he has learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery, When he knows more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery – In short, when he's a smattering of elemental strategy Then Pete Hegseth will deserve the posting that he has today.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
When he knows half as much about the world as HIllary When he can tell the diff'rence between drones and field artillery When such affairs as sorties and surprises he's more wary at We might have a bit of confidence in his Secretariat
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
He knows all of the ancient battles found in Rome and Thessaly and believes that you can win a modern war with white supremacy diversity is not a strength, woke is just a shibboleth and no female marine could ever out-arm-wrestle Pete Hegseth
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
He’s very good at projecting a virile masculinity And questioning your decorations based on your ethnicity He believes that God will favor us no matter what our morals are He is the very model of a modern right-wing warrior.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
He’s very well acquainted with matters of publicity He understands how suits and makeup project authenticity He knows how to time statements so that they make the evening news And how to rile-up Democrats to gain the greatest YouTube views
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Pete Hegseth is the model of a modern right-wing warrior He solves potential problems with solutions ever gorier He spouts a lot of talking points both true and ahistorical And enforces party loyalty in orders categorical.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Someone at your publisher needs to not be an idiot.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/f...
support.microsoft.com
Field codes: RD (Referenced Document) field | Microsoft Support
Field codes: RD (Referenced Document) field
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Have you already broken the book up into chapters? You can edit each file separately, and then use the RD field codes to generate a global TOC and index. I know this is a kludge, but it’ll save time in the long run, and you don’t need to learn new software.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The CDC has issued a clinical update on rabies prophylaxis, including a link to a rabies prevalence in animals checker, which I noodled around with. I applaud the wording for large, unspecified rodents kellycharniga.shinyapps.io/RabiesRiskTo...
Chart of rabies in animals in Ny, including the risk from “Rodents of Unusual Size”
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Dred Scott, and all the other rulings requiring Northern States to enforce slavery, even on free soil. Which way will the Supreme Court rule, and how lasting will that ruling be?
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
@bsky.app If I home in on the replies to a skeet, to see more of the discussion, the interface gets really laggy. Often it freezes up entirely when I try to go back to the “Following” feed, and i need to manually clear the url and retype “bsky.app” to get back to scrolling. iPad, DuckDuckGo browser
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I did not realize that Australia was about the same size as the 48 contiguous US States.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
xkcd.com/3290
xkcd.com
Trade
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It trembled noticably while the engine idled! Just sitting at a traffic light not going anywhere, the engine is turning over and the car is vibrating. How did I ever live with that? And then I get home, drive the electric, stop at a light, and all sound just stops except the radio. blessed quiet.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
We kept a gas car to go on long trips, and so I took the civic on the road last week, and spent the first hour wondering if there was something wrong with it. Just unbelievably noisy. It even made noise when it was stopped at a traffic light, not moving.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Very different from the way Vaccine Adverse Reactions are treated. Every death recorded up to 3 months after vaccination is the direct result of the vaccine. Deaths after measles or Covid infection are due to some other factor, even when the cause of death is a known side effect of the disease.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
People don’t like it when you mess with stuff that they learned in elementary school. The Great Lakes are HOMES. Changing the name is irritating. The acronym is SHAME, and who wants that?
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Alternatively - having some exposure to woodworking, sewing and simple circuits is not a bad thing, and a welcome break from hours of academics.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
If you start by blaming the opposition party for things that actually had a modest impact on deaths, that’s not helpful. You get much more progress by addressing the largest contributor, especially when it has an engineering solution. We’re good at engineering.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Understanding the impact of indoor air quality should lead politicians to fund/regulate better ventilation and filtering of air in public spaces. That requires a politics where both sides cooperate to find solutions for the public good rather than playing gotcha.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
It is tempting to blame politics, and certainly vaccine hesitancy didn’t help, but vaccine uptake was very high in the people most at risk of dying.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Northern states had one peak a year, in the winter. Drive-through states on the way to other places (Ohio) did poorly. States at the edges (Maine) did well. The US suffered greatly partly because of the wide adoption of air conditioning, and the interstate highway system.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I tracked excess deaths for years, trying to find patterns that would explain Americas high death rate and finally concluded that it was mostly due to climate and geography. Southern and Western States had two Covid peaks a year, because the heat drove people indoors in the summer.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Japanese is a syllable based language, and doesn’t have that many syllables. There’s a rhythm too it. And as a visitor you only need the formal modes! You can ignore most of the status stuff. Good luck, and have fun with it!
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The video doesn’t actually say that bad cooks have lower dementia risk. It says that bad cooks who cook at least once a week have lower dementia than bad cooks who don’t cook at all. Perseverance in doing things you’re bad at. engaging in mental and physical challenges.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I subscribe to the Economist magazine, and when I click on a link to a story in Bluesky, it seamlessly opens in the app, and I don’t have to re-login. So the technology to do this exists. And also, I click on many more Economist links because it’s so frictionless.
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Reposted by Pat Donaldson
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The president is refusing to spend taxpayer money assisting Americans suffering from natural disasters solely because their states didn't vote for him. I know there are a thousand scandals at the moment, but this one deserves some more oxygen at every level.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
It’s absolutely the awful plea bargains, but also, Happy Birthday🎉
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The CDC concluded that Hep B vaccination didn’t Increase the rate of death. which is probably statistically valid for a 95% confidence interval, but c’mon. 95% of infant deaths were among unvaccinated babies, even though more than half of infants were vaccinated.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
www.cdc.gov/acip/downloa... Here’s the CDC presentation on Hep B vaccination in infants. They find that vaccination is somewhat painful, and can make babies fussy and feverish. But they also found that while over 66% of all babies got the infant Hep B shot only 5% of babies who died were vaccinated.
cdc.gov
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Another argument is that vaccines protecting against a specific disease may also cause harm through rare side effects. If a vaccine prevents 100 deaths but causes over a 100 cases of death or disability it shouldn’t be recommended. But of course that is exactly what vaccine panels discuss.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
So, for Hep B our “peer country” is Denmark, which doesn’t require the infant Hep B dose, but which also has about a third of the Hep B carriers that we do and free health care, so that virtually everyone goes to prenatal care appointments.
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Pat Donaldson @ptdnldsn.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I dipped into some of the vaccine controversy, where the US is comparing our vaccine schedule to ”peer countries”, and it looks like our peer country is whichever country doesn’t have the specific vaccine being talked about on it’s schedule.
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