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Andrew Sparling

@awsparling.bsky.social

5.7K followers 4K following 2.9K posts

Ph.D., history. Hist. of sci. & med.; Paracelsus; c16 Germany. Husband & father. 𝕏-pat. Hobby: learning about & not catching brain-eating bat viruses. In public indoor spaces, wear a high-quality mask (N95 or better). Clean the air! 📍Melbourne, VIC

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · Nov 17

It's Bluesky. Posting is bleating.

That's it. That's the bleat.

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 13h

Owch

Reposted by Andrew Sparling

jam @socialistboat.dad · 1d

I got a pack of like 60 breakfast bars at Costco for like 20 bucks. They aren't very good

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 14h

#Epstein

Adelita for Congress @adelitaforcongress.bsky.social · 20h

Speaker Johnson, you ready to swear me in?

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 15h

I just can’t get past the misuse of “begs the question.”

Reposted by Andrew Sparling

Richard Corsi @corsiaq.bsky.social · 15h

Two friends and ex-colleagues at UT Austin found an old student newspaper article and sent it to me. Everything pre-COVID seems like a lifetime ago. This image in the article was from 2005, before having to worry about my beard giving a poor seal on a respirator. Oh, to be 20 years younger again.

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Reposted by Andrew Sparling

Gabby Giffords @gabbygiffords.bsky.social · 23h

Over 700,000 southern Arizonans still don’t have representation in Congress, more than three weeks after we elected @adelitaforcongress.bsky.social.

Democracy means honoring the will of the people. Speaker Johnson must do the right thing and swear her in so she can get to work.

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 15h

#Epstein

Dr. Jack Brown @drjackbrown.bsky.social · 16h

Mike Johnson fears 218.

Swear-in Rep. Adelita Grijalva. Now. Release the Epstein files!

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 16h

But yes, more generally because Ausgrenzung is the modus operandi of tyrants.

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 16h

Not least because everyone is at most n COVID infections away from a disability (where n = some integer).

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Reposted by Andrew Sparling

Blaise Ulysse Bernard Collins @wittywebhandle.bsky.social · 1d

Mock cover for 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand

"Ayn Rand

Atlas Needs You To Spot Him Like 20 Billion Dollars

1st Argentinian Edition"

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 16h

There was a lot of this in c19. What’s the book?

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 16h

Already blocked, whoever it is

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 17h

Personally I'm more concerned about the brain-rot, but yes.

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

Next challenge: making sure it doesn’t use any lead solder!

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

Makes all the difference. Florence Nightingale had it figured out in the 1860s—*including* the value for mitigating the spread of infectious disease of monitoring indoor CO2.

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

#Epstein

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 20h

“What is he afraid of?”
“Epstein!”

House Democrats have a message for Mike Johnson as he continues to avoid swearing in Rep.-elect Grijalva. (video via Ally Mutnick/Twitter)

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

Mazel tov on staying healthy! How good is the air in your wife’s school?

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

That supercomputer spews disinfo. But it can give you access to legit scientific research if you know how to find it.

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

Very true! And now the U.S. has banned imports of the tests apparently. And I agree with you that the engineered solutions that require no individual effort will be the necessary way forward. And let’s not forget 220-nanometer UV!

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

other mom and son pool-tested with Pluslife: red light! They took the play date outdoors and my son masked. Next day: other family sick. Rapid tests are *not* sensitive enough to catch such instances reliably.

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

A big catch is that people are contagious before they become symptomatic (or never show much in the way of symptoms). The best protection against this is molecular testing, such as with a Pluslife machine.

Real-life example: my wife and son set up a playdate. Nobody had symptoms. Wife & son &

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

A lot of people are probably screwed—but not everybody, because some of us aren't catching it over and over. Our famiy has had it once, despite 2 kids in school.

Because we monitor indoor CO2, ventilate and filtrate at home, test (with a Pluslife machine), and in indoor public spaces mask.

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

O.K., see if this clarifies it: even a moderately effective vaccine will *always* be preferable to infection.

Meanwhile, anti-mask sentiment undermines vax efforts, by contributing to the mistaken view that catching COVID over & over is a reasonable or acceptable risk, b/c COVID is now "mild."

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Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 18h

is not without its own risks, including immune imprinting, T-cell exhaustion, & chronic inflammation. A few studies have suggested, for instance, that the last round of vaccines might actually have *increased* susceptibility to infection (via imprinting), while still reducing acute disease symptoms.

Andrew Sparling @awsparling.bsky.social · 19h

I agree that a sterilizing vaccine will be a game-changer, if there ever is one. Meanwhile, though, the vaccines are at best a gain on the margins. N95s, meanwhile, are a rock-solid interdiction, based on physics that the virus can’t evade by evolution. And an endless litany of COVID boosters

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