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Call me Ishmael

@thewhitewhale.bsky.social

220 followers 400 following 250 posts

books, words, left politics, learning stuff, long covid (he/him). In Australia, but a citizen of the world. Views expressed here are my own.

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · Nov 18

Hello world.
I'm Michael, a thirty something dude from Australia. Interested in books (literary/fantasy/sci-fi/history/philosophy/etc) and other places cool words are written. Always keen to learn new things.
Afflicted with long covid, and following the science.

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 6h

How the new fusionists brought race "science" and eugenics back into mainstream conservatism. www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

From the Cesspool to the Mainstream | Suzanne Schneider

The “new fusionist” intellectuals are the missing link between nineteenth-century race science, twentieth-century libertarianism, and the contemporary alt-right.

www.nybooks.com

Reposted by Call me Ishmael

Denis - The COVID Info Guy @thecovidinfoguy.bsky.social · 14h

COVID-19 Risks for Patients with Chronic Liver Disease.

People with chronic liver disease (CLD) face higher risks from COVID-19. Studies show 20–65% develop liver test abnormalities during infection — linked to more severe illness and poorer recovery.

COVID-19 Risks for Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

Discover a study showing how COVID-19 affects people with chronic liver disease, highlighting the importance of vaccination.

www.emjreviews.com

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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 14h

The last time I checked the definition of solidarity in terms of justice was listening to a marginalized group and doing what they say they need of you, not finding a way to keep doing what you’re already doing and still getting a gold star.

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 12h

Open Access paper - www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Factors associated with persistence or recovery from long COVID 6 months post-SARS-CoV-2 infection | Epidemiology & Infection | Cambridge Core

Factors associated with persistence or recovery from long COVID 6 months post-SARS-CoV-2 infection - Volume 153

www.cambridge.org

Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 12h

Australia is not unique, despite our solid efforts in 2020 and 2021. reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/...

More than half of long COVID patients still showing symptoms after six months

A new study of Australians suffering from long COVID found 58.7 per cent still had persistent symptoms six months after their initial infection.

reporter.anu.edu.au

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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 22h

It is always about their feelings. Not our deaths.

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Elana Levin @levin.bsky.social · 19h

when work makes people sick and insists on making them sicker by denying the right of protection and there is no safety net --- consider other people.
via @thesicktimes.org

Despite the ongoing pandemic, some companies are banning employees from masking - The Sick Times

While some anti-mask policies have failed — a win for workers — there is a larger effort to ban masks in the U.S. on state and local levels. And more businesses may attempt to ban masks in the workpla...

thesicktimes.org

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 14h

I once tried to take the "rational assessment of the threat environment" approach. It worked for a while, but eventually I caught Covid when I unmasked to eat. That left me disabled.

If you roll enough dice, you'll eventually roll a 1. Mask up.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

(and i think it is a demand that stems from fear more than a rational assessment of the threat environment)

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 1d

Interesting piece on the challenges of Long Covid in Africa.

Africa: Beyond Malaria - Uncovering the Overlapping Crisis of Long Covid in Ethiopia and Uganda

While governments lifted restrictions and international attention moved elsewhere after some declared victory over the initial, acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, a significant portion of Covid-19 ...

allafrica.com

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 1d

The line between contemporary literature and genre fiction is so thin as to be non-existent. And there are more snobs on the genre side of the line than the lit side.

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 2d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 2d

Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Paternal SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts sperm small noncoding RNAs and increases anxiety in offspring in a sex-dependent manner - Nature Communications

Whether paternal pre-conceptual SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts sperm RNA content, or effects offspring phenotypes, has not been previously investigated. Here authors report changes in sperm noncoding RNAs in SARS-CoV-2 infected sires and increased anxiety-like behaviors in offspring.

www.nature.com

Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 2d

Offspring whose fathers were infected with Covid had increased anxiety-like behaviours and altered gene activity in the hippocampus. In mice, but another reminder we're still early in understanding the long term effects of mass Covid infections.

COVID-19 causes changes in sperm that lead to increased anxiety in offspring - News Hub

Key points A Florey study in mice has found that offspring conceived after a father has been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and developed COVID-19 symptoms have higher levels of anxiety-like behav...

newshub.medianet.com.au

Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 4d

"All I say is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims - and as far as possible one must refuse to be on the side of the pestilence." - Albert Camus, The Plague 📚💙

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The Sick Times @thesicktimes.org · 4d

A group of 53 people with #LongCOVID joined a clinical trial for Vyvgart. For many of them, the treatment changed everything.

Then, without warning, Argenx canceled the trial.

Most of them have now relapsed.

They're calling on the NIH and HHS to study the drug: bit.ly/48l1Qp5

A photo Nicole Barrick, a woman in a pink KN95 mask, receives an infusion of Vyvgart. The text reads, "The Sick Times. Vyvgart brought us back to life, but the Long COVID trial was canceled. We are calling on the NIH and HHS to study the drug. By Clare Banaszewski, Nicole Barrick, Mike Bilik, Addie Davis, Mia Delli Gatti, Ellie Hayes, Roman White."

"For those living with Long COVID, every ounce of hope is hard-won. This isn’t just about physical symptoms. It’s about the emotional toll of being given hope — and then having it taken away." - Vyvgart clinical trial participants
Clare Banaszewski, Nicole Barrick, Mike Bilik, Addie Davis, Mia Delli Gatti, Ellie Hayes, Roman White

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Dick Zoutman @dickzoutman.bsky.social · 4d

Enduring Outcomes of COVID-19 Work Absences on the US Labor Market url: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Enduring Outcomes of COVID-19 Work Absences on the US Labor Market

This cohort study examines the extent to which COVID-19 continues to generate work absences and decrease labor force participation beyond the pandemic period in the US.

jamanetwork.com

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 5d

Reporting from NZ facing the realities of Long Covid. www.1news.co.nz/2025/10/10/o...

Offered rest home care at 24: the lonely plight of young Kiwis with long Covid

A group of young Kiwis prove what international studies show: that long Covid has a particularly debilitating effect on young people. But how much medical support is there for them?

www.1news.co.nz

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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 7d

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long.
There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Research could offer hope for ME patients – but some experts urge caution and say more studies needed

www.theguardian.com

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Julia Doubleday @juliadoubleday.bsky.social · 9d

Nobody has Long COVID, but everybody has brain fog, cognitive decline and memory loss. I talk about the overwhelming scientific evidence that COVID damages the brain, and the overwhelming social unwillingness to acknowledge it in my latest:

www.thegauntlet.news/p/when-will-...

When Will the Lion Concern Himself

Joking memes make light of the uncomfortable reality: everyone's got a little of that post-COVID brain damage these days

www.thegauntlet.news

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#9 Dream @gayfabfourfan.bsky.social · 11d

Can’t emphasize enough that new studies like this come out ALL THE TIME but are usually ignored by basically everyone, including the media & the medical establishment. It’s bananas. #COVID

COVID-19 infection associated with increased risk of new-onset vascular dementia in adults ≥50 years - npj Dementia

npj Dementia - COVID-19 infection associated with increased risk of new-onset vascular dementia in adults ≥50 years

www.nature.com

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 11d

"When you see the suffering and pain that it brings, you have to be mad, blind or a coward to resign yourself to the plague." - Albert Camus

Reposted by Call me Ishmael

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 12d

Please use alt text when posting illustrations or photos or other images. I realize it feels like an inconvenience if you didn't ever do it at the other place, but folks who need it are a zillion times more inconvenienced every single day.

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Call me Ishmael @thewhitewhale.bsky.social · 12d

It is no coincidence that those most willing to collaborate with the coronavirus are also those who will collaborate with fascism.

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Tom Kindlon @tomkindlon.bsky.social · 17d

"Long COVID is not FND, but some patients are getting diagnosed with it. Here’s what to do if it happens to you" (Sept 26) by @davetuller1.bsky.social

thesicktimes.org/2025/09/26/l...

There are some references to ME and generally it seems just as relevant to those with ME/CFS

#LongCovid #MEcfs
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Key points you should know:

Some people with Long COVID are receiving potentially unhelpful diagnoses of functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition in which people experience neurological symptoms that cannot be attributed to known or currently identifiable pathophysiological causes.

FND proponents theorize that it is a “brain network” disorder characterized by factors such as hyperawareness of bodily sensations and faulty perceptions of self-agency, but the diagnosis does not explain Long COVID symptoms.

Researchers, clinicians, and people with Long COVID say that FND treatments can be unhelpful or even harmful and that the diagnosis can lead to delays in appropriate care for symptom relief.

Since having FND in medical records can lead doctors to attribute subsequent medical complaints to the condition, some seek to have the diagnosis changed or removed.

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Dr David Joffe MB BS(Hons), PhD, FRACP @davidjoffe64.bsky.social · 19d

🧠 Daily Feed of Brain Damage 🧠

Part 3 🤦🏻‍♂️

doi.org/10.1212/WNL....

Rising Cognitive Disability as a Public Health Concern Among US Adults | Neurology

Background and ObjectivesCognitive disability—defined by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) as serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions because of a physi...

doi.org

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Carolyn Barber, MD @cbarbermd.bsky.social · 20d

Scientists at CSIC just tested an intranasal COVID-19 vaccine in mice.

Result? 100% protection after 2 doses. 🐭💨

Unlike shots in the arm, this nasal spray builds immunity where the virus enters — the respiratory tract.

#BlueSky #MedSky #SciSky #IDSky #NewsSky #NurseSky #EMSky #PedsSky

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