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OK. I may get slaughtered here, but there is a kind of pundit who doesn't know what he doesn't know. I'm not talking about ordinary people on @Twitter who shoot the shit on a variety of topics, but people with millions of followers, readers. 1/

 These are usually men, who will assume expertise because they've always been told they were the smartest in the room, were given a platform because of who they are, and feel no sense of humility when they decide to ramble off and take down others. 2/
Here I am talking about @NateSilver538 @mattyglesias and @DouthatNYT who have decided they are the arbiters of truth in science and public health. 3/
It started with the #ACIP recommendations on the next phase of #COVID19 vaccination (which as far as I know is still pending). All three of them are suggesting that #ACIP doesn't know what it's doing because there are discussions happening about how to manage trade-offs. 3/
All three believe age-based allocation is the only way to triage vaccine delivery and they've been scornful of the deliberation of #ACIP for talking about things like equity, essential workers, etc. 4/
I'll wait and see how the recommendations play out, but let it suffice to say that there are complex trade-offs that have to be considered and the "certainty" of these three gentlemen, their easy derision of the process is sorta gross. 5/
Don't get me wrong. I am all for criticizing scientists. I did it for years as an AIDS activist but what I think differentiates us from them is that we dug deep into the science, had mentorship from some great researchers, took on problems, analyzed them sometimes for years. 6/
We weren't spouting off for this week's column or a series of tweets. And we got things wrong and were ruthless with each other about our failures. 7/
But now @NateSilver538 and @DouthatNYT are going after "public health," suggesting they know the contours of what is scientific and "para-scientific." Go ahead fellas. Tell us what you really feel. 8/
Nate Silver in discussing ACIP over the weekend, decides that all of public health has got it wrong. 9/
I dunno Nate, is that the basic scientists who helped sequence the #SARSCoV2 genome, developed new tests for detecting the disease? 10/
Or the biostatisticians who analyzed the vaccine trial results, the modelers who have been helping hospitals gauge ICU capacity? 11/
It's all public health. I see. Yes. Those who've made sure the water you drink is safe, that you don't get food poisoning from your local restaurant, who've kept us from having other epidemics or battled other ones for, I don't know decades? 12/
Oh but it's not you, it's them the front-line public health workers who are making sloppy decisions out there. You mean, those who've gotten death-threats, who are screamed at from left and right for doing their jobs? 13/
One day we should go all Lysistrata on you. See how well you fare if public health went on strike. We would never do that because even if we get paid terribly, work long hours, get shit thrown at us, we do our jobs, from bench to the field, in research and practice. 14/
Now for @DouthatNYT who decided that once public health leaves the laboratory, it's all political, suspect and worthy of derision as "para-scientific." 15/
Again, dear Ross has no idea what people in public health do, but go ahead just now spray paint fraud, charlatan, all over us. Because that's "para-scientific" is a fancy word for. 16/
Politics. No politics in public health please for @DouthatNYT. No conception that public health in its practice is hemmed in by politics on every side. 17/
From the politics that make us sick--we call them the social determinants of health (I just heard Ross faint) to the policies we have to fight for to keep people healthy, public health is intertwined with politics, as it is a public not private science. 18/
What sends Ross off the deep end is that racial equity is being raised in the vaccine allocation discussions. Once we talk race, then it's politics for Ross, and he gets to weigh in. Ross always gets to weigh in. 19/
So, let's talk epidemiology. There are racial disparities with #COVID19 that have not be articulated with para-science," but a tried and true method called counting the bodies. The risk of death for African-Americans is far greater than that of their white counterparts. 20/
And when young people die? They are often again from African-American, Latino communities. This is what the data shows. So discussing racial equity in health isn't a conversation about affirmative action @Harvard. It's about understanding who gets sick, who dies. 21/
Yes a strong case can be made for age-based triaging of vaccine allocation. It doesn't take a pundit to see that. 22/
But in addition to age, race/ethnicity are a strong factor in predicting death from #COVID19 in the US. It's just the facts. 23/
So if you wanted to frame vaccine allocation around preventing the most deaths, you'd go with age+race/ethnicity. 24/
But some people might say you want to prevent "premature deaths,", which might skew vaccine allocation younger. 25/
You might also make a case for instance, for keeping schools open as a social priority, and that would mean teachers would be categorized as "essential workers," and be moved ahead in line. 26/
If you believe these vaccines actually prevent transmission rather than blunting serious disease alone you might want to cluster-bust and head towards prisons, jails, meatpacking plants and Amazon warehouses. 27/
The main point here? It's complicated. But not complicated for @NateSilver538, @mattyglesias & @DouthatNYT who've got the answers and will take down an entire field, well, a diverse set of fields under the rubric of public health with their arrogance and snark. 28/
Who is #ACIP? "14 of the members have expertise in vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious diseases, and/or preventive medicine; one member is a consumer representative." 29/
But sure, put @NateSilver538, @DouthatNYT and @mattyglesias in charge. How hard can public health be? 30/
It's hard, getting harder. 31/ https://t.co/fQwzUohiGC

More from Gregg Gonsalves

Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
I've spent the past year as angry as I've been since the early days of the AIDS epidemic when I had to bury friends in their 20s, 30s because our government didn't care if gay men lived or died from a new virus among us. 1/


Some were put off by my anger, some thought scientists shouldn't be political or if they were tone it down a bit. 2/


I work in public health. I am not a basic scientist or a theoretician. I work in a field that is hemmed in by history and politics on every side. 3/


From the 19th century onwards, we've known that who lives and who dies isn't just a function of biology. The data support this thesis, we call them the social determinants of health. 4/


My friend and colleague Paul Farmer calls out these determinants in more direct terms as pathologies of power, structural violence. 5/
LIFE
Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
I think @SamAdlerBell in his quest to be the contrarian on Fauci gets several things wrong here. 1/


First, the failure last year actually was driven by the White House, the #Trump inner circle. Watch what's happening now, the US' scientific and public health infrastructure is creaking back to life. 2/

I think Sam underestimates the decimation of many of our health agencies over the past four years and the establishment of ideological control over them during the pandemic. 3/

I also am puzzled why Tony gets the blame for not speaking up, etc. Robert Redfield, Brett Giroir, Deb Birx, Jerome Adams, Alex Azar all could have done the same. 4/

Several of these people Bob Redfield, Brett Giroir, Alex Azar were led by craven ambition, Jerome Adams by cowardice, but I do think Deb Birx and Tony tried as institutionalists, insiders to make a difference. 5/
HEALTH
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Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
Here @playbookplus goes again: ‘HOW MUCH IS BIPARTISANSHIP WORTH?’ I don't know @politico, how many more months would you like the pandemic to drag on for? How many more dead? How many more people, businesses ruined economically? I'm sorry but this is garbage framing in a crisis.

Oh but this is what powerful people are talking about in DC! Might that point itself be examined with more seriousness than taking this BS at face value? Don't you understand, we just reflect back what people are saying? We are mirrors on the world, we offer no commentary.

If "very serious people" are talking about what "nice number" would be $1.3T, 1.2T and not what we need to get out of this mess, might it be worth saying, perhaps, this conversation w/o reference to epidemiologic or economic reality is just a failure of leadership, governance?
ECONOMY
Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
Important tweet from @jaketapper. One amendment: mainstream media will try to change the subject too. It's not a new criticism, the deferential spirit among the political press corps has been noted since Didion wrote about it in the 1990s.


"Those who talk to Mr. Woodward, in other words, can be confident that he will be civil (“I too was growing tired, and it seemed time to stand up and thank him”), that he will not feel impelled to make connections between..." 1/

"what he is told and what is already known that he will treat even the most patently self-serving account as if untainted by hindsight..." 2/

"In this business of running the story, in fact in the business of news itself, certain conventions are seen as beyond debate. “Opinion” will be so labeled, and confined to the op-ed page or the Sunday-morning shows." 3/

"'News analysis' will be so labeled, and will appear in a subordinate position to the 'news' story it accompanies. In the rest of the paper as on the evening news, the story will be reported “'impartially,' the story will be 'even-handed,' the story will be 'fair.'” 4/
FOR LATER READ
Gregg Gonsalves
Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves
Eight years ago, Spencer Cox died of #AIDS. He had access to #antiretroviral therapy, but in his own struggles with #depression and substance use, he stopped taking them. 1/

Spencer left college, dropped out like me in the 80s, and we both found ourselves in @actupny where we joined the Treatment and Data Committee, doing battle with drug companies, the @US_FDA, the @NIH on a quest to save ourselves and our friends from near-certain death. 2/

Now everyone knows what those dark days before the advent of antiretroviral therapy were like. Waves upon waves of dying friends. A government who couldn't care less for the sick and dying. 3/

All this has happened before, and all this will happen again. AIDS. #COVID19. The next pandemic. The fire next time. 4/

And it changes you. Seeing so much death so young. Seeing those in power turn away from the catastrophe, even joke about it (find, listen to the tape of Larry Speakes in Oval Office w Reagan laughing about AIDS). 5/
HEALTH

More from Twitter

Atharva Kharbade
Atharva Kharbade
@athrvakhrbde
A guide for ambitious teenagers who want to grow

This thread contains guidance related to:
• Twitter Networking
• Avoiding Naive bBlunders
• Growing on Twitter
• And anything I could tell advise you like an elder brother

Thread Continued

No one is perfect from the beginning. Self development is a journey.

I made almost all of the mistakes I've mentioned further in the thread

1/

Be patient when you reach out people (especially the ones with more than 1k followers) on Twitter

You may not get reply for couple of days. This happens cuz the person has many DMs pending and is left with no bandwidth to reply

2/

So don't be like "???" or "will you reply???"

Be more generous in the approach. Follow up more politely with sentences like "looking forward to your reply"

3/

Whenever you send a Cold DM, keep the message short and precise.

@palakzat and @SumneshSalodkar guided me in the right direction with this
TWITTER
Rebekah Fenton, MD, FAAP
Rebekah Fenton, MD, FA...
@RFentonMD
It is past due time we talk about microaggressions on interviews (a thread #MedTwitter #AcademicTwitter):

First, microaggressions are harmful! Despite their name, they signal “you don’t belong here” to marginalized groups.

Second, interview days are already nerve-wrecking.

One comment or experience has the ability to undermine an interview day. Applicants may not have the ability to report immediately and anonymously or may fear retribution for doing so. Interview day microaggressions put applicants in an awkward spot in addition to the harm.

They are also not rare experiences. As a Black woman, I have experienced them at multiple institutions and different levels. I’m sharing my stories as examples of what happens, but I have no doubt there are many others, even within your institution, that need to be responded to.

College: I had an in-person panel interview for a full-tuition scholarship. One POC on the panel repeatedly asked, “where are you from?” I was 17 and eager to please, but also knew I didn’t have to share that my ancestors were traumatized thru slavery. I got flustered and bombed.

Med school: A diversity website wrote, we need more physicians of color because they are more likely to serve in underserved communities. While true, the reason we need more representation in medicine is because minoritized groups have been kept out. PERIOD. I didn’t apply there.
TWITTER
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JK MOLINA
JK MOLINA
@OneJKMolina
27 Tweets That Will Hurt Like A Motherfucker

Thread:

You don't want a girlfriend, you just want to feel loved.

If you brag about not giving a fuck, you’re giving a fuck.

You only hate your parents because you're too scared to forgive them.

People you haven't forgiven will live rent-free in your mind until you do.
TWITTER
Barney Panofsky's Best Intentions
Barney Panofsky's Best...
@mynamesnotgordy
What I learnt on the Twitter this week:

1. Well I know I learnt a lot more on Twitter this week than Trump did.
2. After Covid numbers skyrocket in Ontario for past four months, Doug Ford says the data modelling suggests he might have to stop his cross-province campaigning soon.

3. After the assault on the Capitol this week, the CPC finally pulls camou MAGA hats from online merch shop.
4. With pictures of the CPC's Deputy Leader wearing a camou MAGA hat circulating, Michelle Rempel expresses outrage that Candice Bergen getting more attention than she is.

5. UCP MLA Pat Rehn issues statement after return from Xmas trip to Mexico. Says he is sorry, but also very excellent.
6. Jason Kenney says he knows he's failed Albertans and that's why he moved up to the Sky Palace to help him see things from the everyday people's perspective.

7. Westjet insists Kenney government provide more notice of planned out-of-country travel next time so airline can be sure to have enough planes ready.
8. Blogger Karen Bexte travels to DC for insurrection, asks to speak to Canada's manager after he's asked to take a Covid test.

9. Trump says the crowd he got to attack the Capitol was far larger than any crowd Obama ever got to attack the Capitol. Huge crowd. Tremendous crowd of terrorists.
10. After being shut down on every major social media platform, Trump seen at Radio Shack haggling over a CB radio.
TWITTER
pohjie
pohjie
@pohjie_pj
After hearing about @JanelSGM from @csallen, I spent the past few hours digging into her Twitter feed to see how she has been building Newsletter OS in public, from ideation to launch.

Here are some highlights in chronological order and what you can learn from the process:

1/ August 5 2020: Janel digs into '50+ newsletters' (note the number to build credibility) and creates a thread to discuss the lessons learnt. She also mentions that this is for a side project, which raises awareness of something she may be working


2/ August 5 2020 (cont): Each tweet in the thread is focused on a key message, with clear pointers for newsletter writers to


3/ September 1 2020: Janel tweeted about #buildinginpublic (note the hashtag) with @pabloheredia24 for @makerpad's challenge. While the project is https://t.co/tMb1qCnxVY and not NewsletterOS, Janel is getting in the reps on how to build in

4/ October 18 2020: Janel hints at building her new product using @NotionHQ and @gumroad. But instead of telling the audience directly what the product is, she invites her audience to take a guess.
TWITTER

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KrishnaLeela
KrishnaLeela
@Talesofkrishna
🌿𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 : 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗𝒂 & 𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒖

Once upon a time there was a Raja named Uttānapāda born of Svayambhuva Manu,1st man on earth.He had 2 beautiful wives - Suniti & Suruchi & two sons were born of them Dhruva & Uttama respectively.
#talesofkrishna https://t.co/E85MTPkF9W


Now Suniti was the daughter of a tribal chief while Suruchi was the daughter of a rich king. Hence Suruchi was always favored the most by Raja while Suniti was ignored. But while Suniti was gentle & kind hearted by nature Suruchi was venomous inside.
#KrishnaLeela


The story is of a time when ideally the eldest son of the king becomes the heir to the throne. Hence the sinhasan of the Raja belonged to Dhruva.This is why Suruchi who was the 2nd wife nourished poison in her heart for Dhruva as she knew her son will never get the throne.


One day when Dhruva was just 5 years old he went on to sit on his father's lap. Suruchi, the jealous queen, got enraged and shoved him away from Raja as she never wanted Raja to shower Dhruva with his fatherly affection.


Dhruva protested questioning his step mother "why can't i sit on my own father's lap?" A furious Suruchi berated him saying "only God can allow him that privilege. Go ask him"
RELIGION
Amit Schandillia
Amit Schandillia
@Schandillia
[THREAD: HISTORY OF THE HINDU TEMPLE]
1/102
Four hours south of Aswan in Lower Nubia, right by the Nile, is a region dotted with temple complexes built more than 3,000 years ago. Some like the temples of Amada, Derr, and Beit el-Wali go as far back as 1500 BC.


2/102
A little further south, not far from the border with Sudan, is another complex dedicated to Ramses II, Hathor, and Nefertari in the village of Ipsambul, better known locally as Abu Sunbul and internationally as Abu Simbel. These go back to the 13th century BC.


3/102
Djeser-Djeseru, also known as the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut in Upper Egypt also dates to 1400 BC. Over 500 years older is the nearby Mentuhotep II, also a mortuary temple. Both were dedicated to the cult of Amun Ra, besides their respective pharaohs.


4/102
Far older is the Ġgantija complex of Malta. Going as far back as 3600 BC, this one comprises of two temples entirely made of stone and enclosed in a stone wall. From the figures therein, it's understood to be a site of some kind of a fertility cult worship.


5/102
Dating from the same period are the limestone megaliths of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, both said to have once hosted ritualistic sacrifices as part of the same fertility cult worship as found in the Ġgantija complex. Malta has some of the oldest temple complexes in Europe.
RELIGION
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Anu Satheesh
Anu Satheesh
@AnuSatheesh5
Sri Mridanga Saileswari Temple Muzhakkunnu, Kannur KERALA

The temple is established by Parasurama and it is one among 108 Durga temples.
Devi will answer all the prayers of her devotees who pray to her with utmost devotion lighting the ghee deepam.


It is the family diety of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
Devi is present in three forms Kali, Saraswati and Lakshmi.

Legend...👇
Once a Mridungam ( musical instrument) shaped rock fell from heaven here.
@SriramKannan77


Devi originated in the form of Mridangam and Parasurama captivated the essence of Devi into a Vigraham. Vigraham is made of Panchaloham.
Kathakali, an art form of Kerala originated here.


Temple Vigraham was stolen 3-4 times, but because of power of Devi all the attempts were failure. Police records says that Whenever the thieves try to steal, they lose their senses, and they will be in a confused state. So they will abandon the idol.
🕉
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Vibhu Vashisth \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Vibhu Vashisth 🇮🇳...
@VIBHU_Tweet
Did you know?

Rani Bhabani was the Queen of Natore, Bengal or 'Natorer Rani' as she was famously called. She made great contributions in Tarapith & renovated Benaras.

In Varanasi, Durga Kund Mandir was constructed by Rani Bhabani in the 18th century.


Born in Chhatimgram village, Bogra District,Her father's name was Atmaram Choudhury.Bhabani was married off to Raja Ramkanta Moitra,the then zamindar of Rajshahi.After his death, Bhabani became the zamindar, and started being referred to as Rani.She was known as Ardhabangeshwari.

A woman as a zamindar was extremely rare in those days, but Rani Bhabani managed the vast Rajshahi zamindari most efficiently and effectively for over four decades.
Maharani Bhavani was very pious in her personal life. She passed her life in a strict disciplined way.


She conducted the administrative work skillfully. As a Maharani she was an impartial judge. Rani Bhavani had a very hard time during the fag end of her life. The Zamindari (estate) incurred serious loss due to the change of the revenue policy of the company.

In spite of being the owner of a large Zamindari (estate), she had to depend on the stipend of the government in the later part of her life. The amount of this stipend gradually decreased and became Rs. 1000/- only in the end.
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Katie Mack
Katie Mack
@AstroKatie
Light travels at about 1 foot per nanosecond.

Hold your hand up 12 inches from your face: you’re seeing your hand as it was a nanosecond ago. Everything you look at is, to one degree or another, in the past. The farther away in space, the more ancient in time.

You can’t see the Sun as it is now, but you can see it as it was about 8 minutes ago. You can’t see Alpha Centauri now, but you can see it 4.4 years ago. You can see the Andromeda Galaxy as it was 2.5 million years in the past. And so on.

With powerful telescopes, we can see galaxies whose light has been traveling to us for more than 13 billion years. We see them shining in a universe that’s still young, where gravity has just begun to pull matter together into stars and galaxies.

We can see something even more distant, and more ancient, than the first galaxies. If we peer out far enough, in between the galaxies, we can see parts of the Universe that are so far away, it has taken the light from that distance almost the entire age of the cosmos to reach us.
SCIENCE