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  I did my first phone-banking shift of the mid terms this week. There are a lot of states with toss-up house and senate races that can use remote help. You can find out about volunteer opportunities here: https://www.mobilize.us/ If anyone is thinking, “I just don’t have the personality for phone or text banking,” I feel your pain. I will report that the dumb trick of telling yourself “let’s pretend I am an outgoing person who enjoys interacting with the general public over the phone” before y...

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  The CDC finally moved ahead with #COVID #COVID19 vaccine ordering under its Vaccines for Children program. Half of US children get their vaccines through this program. #giftlink https://wapo.st/4rvrgYp

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  Greetings, here are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been highlighting the bad SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant, which finally improved in last week's reporting. This week, they're headed back up. The last seven day ru...

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  Confession: I don't understand how visibility works when replying via Bluesky bridging. I was replying to someone who was defending Brian Heywood's I-638 by saying that the initiative didn't even use the word "genital." (Link: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xaxnvhjkkryuiesxm4rhxkrf/post/3mvolfuc74s2b) I replied, but then my reply fell down some private mention wormhole. I intended unrestricted visibility on my reply, so here is try #2.

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  This is an excellent Vox article on I-638, the Brian Heywood initiative that would force all #washingtonstate girls who want to play school sports to submit to physical genitalia exams, or get genetic or hormonal testing done, all at to_be_determined’s expense. #seattle #kingcounty https://www.vox.com/politics/501579/transgender-washington-midterms-ballot-measure-girls-sports-athlete

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  Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. Last week I highlighted really terrible SARS-CoV2 concentration numbers from the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7 day running average for 8/25, but said, maybe this is a crazy outlier, let's see next week's numbers. Well, they'...

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  Got down to some eclipse photo processing today. This is an image of the chromosphere, where the sun’s inner atmosphere just peeks out from the moon. #eclipse #iceland #astrophotography

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  Something cool. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/world/australia/humpback-whale-birth-video-drone.html?unlocked_article_code=1.11A.qwNS.SMZ01Ho6ejx2&smid=nytcore-ios-share

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  I had my first encounter with biometric exit on an international flight tonight. Because I am on team “how do you know you have rights if you don’t exercise them?” I requested an opt out. And the gate agent told me no one had done that before! They had to call a supervisor to find out what to do. BTW once they figured out the manual procedure it was fast. The agent then put me back at the head of the boarding line and ultimately the opt out wasn’t a big deal. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.co...

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  Hello, it’s the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. The West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant's 7-Day running average of the Sars-CoV-2 levels went down a bit and then went up a bit. The last data are from 7/21. WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews...

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  Ugh. Stay safe, PNW peeps. #giftlink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/weather/oregon-wildfire-update-washington.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0VA._BS5.KdTyPA0H3o57&smid=url-share

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  This is so dishonest and disrespectful. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/us/politics/iran-troop-deaths.html?unlocked_article_code=1.0FA.eh1a.8hqDnGZOccpT&smid=nytcore-ios-share

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  I'm happy to report that the #washingtonstate #covid #covid19 #wastewater site is being updated again, yay. It's been down due to a supplier issue since early June. Let's start with the West Point (WSPT) sewage treatment plant. The 7-Day running average of the Sars-CoV-2 levels is up above the nice low baseline level we were enjoying this spring. The last data is from 7/14. WSPT is one of three King County(-ish) sewersheds in this dataset. You can find overviews, individual sewersh...

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  This is an interesting KUOW story about Washington State prepping for Trump attacks on elections. I didn’t know that King County has an online delivery mechanism for ballots, for example. I hope Clark County is making similar preparations, since I imagine that’s going to be the epicenter of attacks on voting in the state. https://www.kuow.org/2026-07-20/will-trumps-election-moves-affect-was-primary

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  Recent discovery: the King County library runs makerspaces! I needed some stuff 3d printed, and these awesome librarians had a fleet of prusa printers ready for me to use. They supply the filament. You don’t even need a KC library card! https://kcls.org/makerspaces/ I 💕libraries, they are so badass.

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  Hi #washingtonstate voters, it's primary voting time. You have until August 4th to get your ballots back in. I filled out my ballot tonight, with particular attention to all the State Supreme Court races. I can't overstate how important these specific races are as we gear up for more court fights. If you want more background beyond the candidate statements, Fuse Washington has an excellent Progressive Voter's Guide here: https://www.progressivevotersguide.com/washington PS: Did you...

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  This guy is in the US legally and with a valid work authorization. He is a lawyer for the state of Alaska and is now imprisoned in an ICE detention facility in Washington State. ICE won’t say why they they claim he is now deportable, but from this reporting it appears that a speeding ticket is the precipitating event. Yes, you read that right: a speeding ticket. https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/ice-arrests-and-detains-alaska-state-attorney/

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  @WADeptHealth@universeodon.com thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing the wastewater reports again soon — I find them valuable, and I know others do too.

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  RE: https://universeodon.com/@WADeptHealth/116925523679853520 It looks like it will be another week before we get #washingtonstate #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater reports again. 🙁

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  US peeps: tomorrow, Monday, is the deadline for commenting on the OMB rule change that would give the Trump administration political review over allocated federal grant awards for any reason whatsoever. Here’s a primer on it: https://www.standupforscience.foundation/policy-and-advocacy/beyond-science-how-ombs-proposed-rule-on-federal-financial-assistance-threatens-essential-services-nationwide If submitting a comment to the federal register feels pointless, know that it is very much not. A big...

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  We also paid our respects to the Red Creek fir, billed as the world’s largest Douglas fir. It’s just shy of 74 meters tall. It’s waaaay back off some logging roads outside Port Renfrew. Locals tell you to make sure you have a full tank and other supplies before you set out, and I say that’s good advice.

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  Here’s a picture of a bald eagle from our trip to Vancouver Island last weekend. It turns out bird photography is pretty easy, provided said bird can stay still for a hot minute.

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  Though the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater sampling has apparently resumed this week, there's a note up on the dashboard saying that the reporting won't start until July 22nd. That's about six weeks of no wastewater data on respiratory pathogens for the entire state, welp. I'm very disappointed. DoH's site: https://doh.wa.gov/data-and-statistical-reports/diseases-and-chronic-conditions/communicable-disease-sur...

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  RE: https://universeodon.com/@WADeptHealth/116873752580919355 Some good news re #covid #covid19 #wastewater reporting in Washington State …

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  Space weather.com published a photo of last night’s aurora plus an ongoing electrical storm, and it is AMAZING. Photo by Roger Hill. https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=234609. Ps: I hope I am not being suckered by genAI here. Hard to check earlobes and fingers on this image. :)

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  In the same vein, here is a Jason Horowitz analysis of Trump’s self enrichment in office that compares it to past examples like Berlusconi and Mobutu, leaving the reader to the conclude that the latter suffered from rookie numbers. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/world/europe/trump-world-leaders-corruption-wealth.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vFA.TgEE.VqhNWbVuB3j4&smid=nytcore-ios-share

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  Trump is on one long sacking spree of gullible Americans while also taking in direct payments from foreign governments. Anyway here’s a story by Eric Lifton and David Yaffe Bellany about how it’s going for $Trump memecoin buyers. #GiftLink https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/us/politics/trump-coin-crypto-investors-loss.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vFA.JFTU.TKByxBxor-yD&smid=nytcore-ios-share

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  Much more naked eye visible now. But it’s bedtime for realsies this time. I leave this #aurora in your capable hands.

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  The Onion’s new Infowars parody site launched, and the ads are pretty great. https://theonion.info/

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  Hi, these are the weekly #washingtonstate #kingcounty (that is, #seattle and environs) #COVID #COVID19 #wastewater toots. A quick reminder that this King County respiratory disease data comes from Washington State, not the federal government. So, ugh, this is not good: all of the Washington State wastewater data are not being updated. The note isn't making any promises about when the reporting will resume. Since Seattle has about eighteen kajillion people coming here for the World Cup, it w...