Favorites May 12th 2022: SIDS, Courage, and Choice

Toronto, March 2022

Jonathan Marron MD MPH @JonMarronMD

TL;DR: This is a⬆️exciting finding that COULD be an early step toward understanding (& ultimately preventing) SIDS But reports overstating these findings arent helpful & might be counterproductive (or even harmful) Full paper here, worth a read: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…! /fin

A lot of talk about this study of SIDS deaths, although as this tweet indicates, by no means have they found a definitive cause, so this doesn't really change anything about existing recommendations about avoiding SIDS.

Kenan Fikri @kenanfikri

More high-quality biz apps are being submitted in every state relative to before the pandemic bar one: California. Once the brightest star in the startup firmament, the Golden State has dimmed under the weight of exorbitant costs of living, it's safe to surmise.

Remote work is really hitting CA hard, NIMBYism is taking a toll.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

In most contexts we celebrate courageous self-sacrifice for the collective good — but in the context of challenge trials bioethics weirdos think virtuous behavior should be forbidden. slowboring.com/p/solving-prob…

We probably could have had vaccines available months earlier if challenge trials had been allowed. How many lives could have been saved if we'd run the challenge trial, over a thousand had volunteered by April 2020.

Tristan Cleveland @LUrbaniste

Slovakian sees a video about American suburbs and posts questions to Reddit. The level of bafflement is hilarious and appropriate.

That last one: "why do you own the land but never use it" really hits the nail on the head. If only there were a fix for this.

FreshMouthHat @Popehat

Recall the GOP has a pattern of this particular kind of bullshit, like passing laws telling doctors they can't ask about guns in the home. The party of limited government, the party of free speech.

southpaw @nycsouthpaw

It appears the Missouri House and Senate have passed a gag rule forbidding pharmacists from proactively questioning the efficacy of ivermectin treatment for anything. https://t.co/weC0Bi3FMg h/t @LynzforCongress https://t.co/ySk6NaaANc

Some really dumb stuff going on in Republican-controlled states right now. Although don't worry:

Sarah Ferris @sarahnferris

NEW: The Pro Choice Caucus has just sent out messaging materials to House Dems on Roe draft. One of the recommendations: Don't use "choice."

Democratic institutions do some silly stuff too, if only tactically stupid in this case, rather than actively harmful. The old messaging was chosen for a reason, this is such an insane moment to try to rebrand everything.

Connor O’Brien 🏗🇺🇦 @cojobrien

Key defense industries rely on the ability to recruit top international talent. Openness to STEM PhDs and master's grads is inseparable from *both* economic and national security.

Suzanne Monyak @SuzanneMonyak

The chances for these immigration provisions aren't looking so good. @ChuckGrassley said at today's conference meeting he will oppose including any of these changes in the final China competition bill, calling them "partisan and/or completely unrelated to countering China." https://t.co/nx9HQFDgJ1

The immigration provisions in the bill are so good, it'll be a real shame if they're dropped from the China competition bill. It's all related!

The Urbanist @UrbanistOrg

Virginia: “If a rule to allow new construction to have a single staircase up to six stories is approved, then smaller buildings that better foster community among residents could begin popping up in cities and towns across the commonwealth.” @ggwash

ggwash.orgHow single-staircase buildings could impact Virginia’s housing marketSome planners in Virginia are looking at new ways to diversify housing types that can be built in the state, including authorizing single staircase buildings up to six stories.

Yes! Get rid of double staircases! Beautiful buildings await.

Matthew Murphy @TheMurphstar

China says it will ‘strictly limit’ citizens from going abroad | Financial Times 🫥 And many returning are getting their passports clipped. ft.com/content/b91c64…

ft.comSubscribe to read | Financial TimesNews, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Yikes, heading towards North Korea territory.

Threads!

• Thread regarding the implications of that Texas online platform law going into effect.

• Thread suggesting that wastewater monitoring for COVID is not a good-enough replacement for actual testing to figure out local COVID rates.

• Long thread about Russia's manpower problem, and how declaring general mobilization might not help them.

• Thread describing in detail how someone ran a currency short that collapsed the third largest stablecoin and netted around 800 million dollars.