Alex Wenzel
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alexwenzel.bsky.social
Alex Wenzel
@alexwenzel.bsky.social
1.8K followers 360 following 6.3K posts
Postdoc studying cancer. Academic unionist and transit enthusiast. Trying to make buses less invisible. TF2 Medic main.

This account does not represent the positions or opinions of my employer or of my union.

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alexwenzel.bsky.social
And when I say anyone who lives north of Mission Ave, I mean virtually everyone who is served by that bus stop.
Overhead view of the area around Mission Ave and Francesca Drive in Oceanside. Mission Ave runs diagonally from the southwest to the northeast. Almost all of the homes within walking distance of the street are northwest of the street, meaning nearly everyone who lives near the bus stop at Mission Ave and Francesca Drive must cross the street to take the bus going northeast.
November 11, 2025 at 8:25 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
A very Southern California street and "crosswalk". Curves and elevation changes create limited visibility. The speed limit is 45, meaning cars are traveling at least 50-55 mph in a residential area. The closest intersection with a stoplight/4way stop is a third of a mile away.
Screenshot of Google satellite view of Mission Ave intersecting Francesca Dr in Oceanside. It is a 3way intersection. Francesca Dr is a small residential street leading to a single-family development. Mission Ave has 4 traffic lanes and a wide median. In the three intersections visible in this screenshot, none have a stoplight or painted crosswalk and there is no protection for pedestrians crossing Mission Ave.
November 11, 2025 at 8:22 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
He was also among the least self-aware sexists in history, blaming genetics for the lack of women in science after he built his career on a discovery which was not possible without the work of a woman he refused to professionally credit.
In the epilogue to the memoir Avoid Boring People, Watson alternately attacks and defends former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers, who stepped down in 2006 due in part to his remarks about women and science. (1011 Watson also states in the epilogue, "Anyone sincerely interested in understanding the imbalance in the representation of men and women in science must reasonably be prepared at least to consider the extent to which nature may figure, even with the clear evidence that nurture is strongly implicated."[76](98 Watson and Crick's use of DNA X-ray diffraction data collected by Rosalind Franklin and her student Raymond Gosling attracted scrutiny. It has been argued that Watson and his colleagues did not properly acknowledge colleague Rosalind Franklin for her contributions to the discovery of the double helix structure. 38][451 Robert P. Crease notes that "Such stingy behaviour may not be unknown, or even uncommon, among scientists". (46) Franklin's high-quality X-ray diffraction patterns of DNA were unpublished results, which Watson and Crick used without her knowledge or consent in their construction of the double helix model of DNA. (45] (37)(47) Franklin's results provided estimates of the water content of DNA crystals and these results were consistent with the two sugar-phosphate backbones being on the outside of the molecule. Franklin told Crick and Watson that the backbones had to be on the outside; before then, Linus Pauling and Watson and Crick had erroneous models with the chains inside and the bases pointing outwards. [23] Her identification of the space group for DNA crystals revealed to Crick that the two DNA strands were antiparallel. [23]
November 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
For my non-scientist followers, if you saw a headline that the “co-discoverer of DNA” died and are surprised to see that the responses from health scientists range from indifferent to celebratory, here’s a small sample of his bigotry. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W...
In 2007, Watson said, "I turned against the left wing because they don't like genetics, because genetics implies that sometimes in life we fail because we have bad genes. They want all failure in life to be due to the evil system." [69] On the issue of obesity, Watson was quoted in 2000, saying: "Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them."|74) Watson repeatedly supported genetic screening and genetic engineering in public lectures and interviews, arguing that stupidity is a disease and the "really stupid" bottom 10% of people should be cured. 75 He also suggested that beauty could be genetically engineered, saying in 2003, "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great."!751176] At a conference in 2000, Watson suggested a link between skin color and sex drive, hypothesizing that dark-skinned people have stronger libidos. (74][102] His lecture argued that extracts of melanin-which gives skin its color-had been found to boost subjects' sex drive. "That's why you have Latin lovers", he said, according to people who attended the lecture. "You've never heard of an English lover. Only an English Patient."[103) Watson also said that stereotypes associated with racial and ethnic groups have a genetic basis: Jews being intelligent, Chinese being intelligent but not creative because of selection for conformity, and Indians being servile because of selection under caste endogamy. 104) Regarding intelligence differences between blacks and whites, Watson has asserted that "all our social policies are based on the fact that their (blacks) intelligence is the same as ours (whites) - whereas all the testing says not really ... people who have to deal with black employees find this not true." (105]
November 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Not that the overall point is wrong, but using “overwhelming” to describe a 1.5% popular vote margin and a single-digit House majority is just propaganda.
Pelosi, for her part, told CNN days ago that she had no doubt she would win re-election if she were to run for another term. Still, the overwhelming defeat Democrats suffered last year in the congressional and presidential races has prompted soul-searching within the party — and louder calls for older Democrats to step down and make way for new politicians with fresh ideas.
November 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
This was recently a construction site for a new research building. They finished the already in-progress excavation and paused indefinitely due to risk from funding cuts. With NIH making fewer grants, it would be hard to staff anyway. Whatever cure you’re hoping for, the regime is stealing it.
November 7, 2025 at 1:32 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
That's ok, Google, I can't either.
Screenshot of an email from Google. The title says "Hi Alex, we updated your settings". The next line is a black rectangle added by someone editing the screenshot to hide an email address. The line after that says "Google couldn't confirm you're an adult, so some account settings have changed." The bottom has a blue button labeled "Check it out".
November 6, 2025 at 2:35 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Notably, NCI was somehow able to post a rough FY 27 budget request that asks for an additional $4 billion explicitly because of the multi-year policy. It got past (or was never seen by) political appointees and is still online. www.cancer.gov/research/lea...
FY27 TOTAL: $11,537 [in millions of dollars]. "*This increase includes funding to maintain the same number of awards as FY24 and ensure stability during the NIH’s transition to fully funding research grants up front. "
November 5, 2025 at 6:42 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
San Diego City Council had to repeal a 1918 prohibition on “seditious language” because SDPD was still using it as recently as 2020, mostly to punish Black men for rap lyrics or for criticizing police. voiceofsandiego.org/2020/08/03/s...
"I was drunk, you know. I was having a good time. I know that I was feeling myself," Watson, who now lives in Minneapolis, told VOSD. "And I was rapping a song, but it had cursing in it." Watson remembers a police car rolling up slowly beside him and his coworker, windows down. An officer got out and stopped Watson, he said, claiming that the lyrics he'd been singing had been directed at the police. The officer had apparently told Watson through the police car window to stop singing, but Watson said he didn't hear the order. The coworker, Keylan Chapman, backed up Watson's version of events. The officer wound up giving Watson a ticket for violating section 56.30 of the city code, which reads: "(It) is declared to be unlawful for any person within the said City of San Diego to utter or use within the hearing of one or more persons any seditious language, words or epithets."
November 4, 2025 at 2:38 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
To summarize, the President and the HHS Secretary are boosting attacks on one of the largest health systems in California, likely resulting in disrupted care for thousands of people, because the Dilbert guy tried to cure his cancer with veterinary anti-parasitics. www.npr.org/2025/05/20/n...
Adams did not go into detail about his treatments, other than saying the anti-parasitic medications ivermectin and fenbendazole did not work for him. There is no evidence to support the claims that ivermectin - which was falsely touted as a treatment for COVID-19 - can treat cancer. As a California resident, he referred to the state's End of Life Option Act as "an option." Adams previously advocated for passage of the law, which allows doctors to prescribe an aid-in-dying drug to certain terminally ill patients.
November 2, 2025 at 11:10 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Apparently the executive order prohibiting federal officials from fact-checking private speech only applies to public health.
Hours after the episode dropped, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy fact-checked the socialite. "Yes, @KimKardashian, we've been to the Moon before... 6 times!" Duffy wrote Thursday on X. "And even better: @NASAArtemis is going back under the leadership of @POTUS." "We won the last space race and we will win this one too," Duffy wrote.
November 1, 2025 at 1:46 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
I have some questions.
“She also said we would never treat Tim Scott like this,” says one officer tasked with escorting Mace says in the report.
October 31, 2025 at 11:17 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
This is the City Attorney to a Councilmember during a public City Council meeting, in case you were wondering if this story is worth reading.
“I am no longer intimidated by you Councilmember Blain,” Fenstermacher said during the meeting. “I don’t give a flying fuck if you fire me. I will not take this lying down anymore. You are a bully, you’ve been harassing me for months, and I’ve tried to be professional. This is enough.” 
October 31, 2025 at 10:03 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
“Killing someone with a car isn’t that bad” vs “killing someone with a car isn’t that bad unless it’s a cop.” One of the great unresolved questions in the American legal system.
Charging a fatal DUI as murder in California often happens when the defendant has a prior DUI. Alcantar's other defense attorney, Dan Greene, called it "less common" to charge someone with murder in a DUI-crash case when the defendant does not have priors. "There's very little that separates this case, charged as a murder case, from the thousands of other cases that happen each year where good, ordinary, law-abiding people get a DUI," he said. "It's important to know that this collision did not happen on the shoulder of the road or into a building; the collision occurred on a highway where people - sober or otherwise - expect to be able to drive without impediment." Dan Greene also said the reason that possible charges connected to the second death had not been filed against his client as of Thursday was because the cause and factors leading to Morris' death had not yet been fully determined.
October 31, 2025 at 4:46 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
It seems that their "issue" is with acknowledging the similarity of breast anatomy and breast cancer pathology in men and women. It's the "men can't give birth" kind of childishness, but taken to an exceptionally cruel extent.
The PACT Act gives administrations widespread discretion to cover diseases as science develops. Last year, the VA added three cancers, including male breast cancer. The law states that “reproductive cancer of any type” be covered. Officials added male breast cancer under that category after a working group of experts reviewed the science. The decision noted “the marked similarity of male and female breast cancer.” The Trump administration’s memo argues that designation is a mistake. “The Biden Administration falsely classified male breasts as reproductive organs,” Kasperowicz said in his statement to ProPublica. A former official who was involved in the VA’s decision last year said that while there were discussions about how to interpret “reproductive cancer,” the scientific consensus among VA oncologists was clear. “The evidence showed that male and female breast tissue respond similarly to toxic exposures and share nearly identical biological and mutational profiles,” said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concern for his job prospects in government. “Expanding coverage to male breast cancer was the right call.” Rosie Torres, who advocated for the PACT Act after her husband became sick, said the current administration is putting politics above patriotism and people. “It shouldn’t matter who signed the bill,” Torres said, referring to Biden. “If you don’t like the ‘reproductive’ word, do it under another category. Don’t remove it. These are peoples’ lives.”
October 30, 2025 at 12:46 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
How often is a family with young children from Mid-City going to want to go to the beach after they've sat on a route 10 bus in traffic for 30 minutes on University, missed one Blue Line train while navigating the Old Town 10<->Trolley transfer obstacle course, and then had to run this gauntlet?
Screenshot of Google Streetview showing an unsignaled pedestrian crossing at the end of a tight-radius highway exit ramp that merges into a high speed four lane road. Google streetview screenshot of a narrow sidewalk leading to a crosswalk across two bifurcating lanes of a highway exit ramp where the ramp begins curving to allow cars to drive across the crosswalk as fast as possible.
October 30, 2025 at 12:32 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Boards like CARB and Coastal Commission can't imagine a world without universal driving and it undermines them. CARB wants agencies to electrify aggressively while less service means more driving. Transit to the coast can take 2-3 hours if you can't afford a car because C.C. thinks this is "access".
Screenshot of Google Maps showing view from the air of Clairemont Drive Station looking west towards the beach. There is a four lane road on a bridge over a highway that is between the station and the beach.
October 30, 2025 at 12:17 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
The University of California is beginning an austerity campaign. The university has not filed a single lawsuit in its defense. The victories are all in cases brought by its unions and faculty associations. This is what they've been working on while we won back 100s of millions of dollars for them.
Dear UC faculty colleagues, We write to initiate a systemwide conversation with our academic community about how to position the University of California for future success in an era when we must balance limitations on available resources with our commitment to longstanding values and ambitions.
October 29, 2025 at 11:41 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
An honest headline that admits “free market” is when government spending benefits an oligarchy.
Milei's triumphs 4m ago AP The Argentine president's midterm wins strengthen his free-market experiment, backed with billions of dollars from the Trump administration.
October 27, 2025 at 2:54 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Missing route 140 and what an incredible example of San Diego topography-tailored transit it would’ve been if it had been given priority on I-5 and Torrey Pines. It was ahead of its time.
Screenshot of a navigation app showing a transit trip on San Diego MTS route 41 north to UCSD and then route 30 to downtown La Jolla. The trip forms a geographic semi-circle, there are roads that form a more direct route.
October 24, 2025 at 5:14 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Faculty: Blue state public schools are the only ones who can unionize now. This is your last chance.
The stalemate has shaken faculty confidence in the Academic Senate's power and has pushed some toward unionization. The UC system is home to a union that represents nearly 50,000 graduate students, postdocs, and academic researchers-but no tenured and tenure-track professors. "For many years, I thought we didn't need a union," says Walter Leal, a professor of molecular and cellular biology at UC Davis. "Now, I believe the only way out is if we're effectively unionized, which is a very dramatic change."
October 24, 2025 at 1:47 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
The story is not that these laws make nerds like me mad, it’s that liars and grifters made it so this girl has to live the rest of her life with these injuries, and her mother has to live the rest of her life, perhaps longer than her daughter, knowing she did it to her.
Less than a week later, Emily Marris' toddler, Brooklyn, was hospitalized and nearly died after drinking raw milk. The Southern California mom did research online, finding a homesteader Facebook group and buying raw goat's milk from a seller who called it "clean and tested." Retail sales are legal in California. Brooklyn ended up on dialysis and a ventilator, suffering three cardiac arrests before finally turning a corner. She now has high blood pressure and walks with a limp.
October 22, 2025 at 12:03 AM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
For context, this shows distance to the park as measured by the shortest possible line between the boundary of the park and the boundary of the council district (visually estimated). Among the central/contiguous districts that aren't D3, there is no correlation between proximity and park visits.
Figure showing trips per capita to Balboa Park vs straight-line distance to the park for each San Diego City council district. d2 is the closest and has the most visits per capita, but d1 and d6 are the furthest and are also among the highest in terms of per capita trips. d4 and d9 are much closer but have fewer per-capita trips.
October 20, 2025 at 4:13 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Since local media are now attacking paid parking at Balboa Park with appeals to equity, reposting some figures I made earlier showing who goes to the park under the existing car-priority system.

Excludes D3 since it contains the park and is an extreme outlier, and D5 and D8 for extreme distance.
Figure showing trips per capita to Balboa Park vs median household income for San Diego City council districts. d9 and d4 have the lowest income and per capita park visits. d2 and d1 have the highest income and per capita visits. Figure showing trips per capita to Balboa Park vs percent of residents who identify as white for San Diego City council districts. d9 and d4 have the lowest percent ID'ing as white and per capita park visits. d2 and d1 have the highest percent ID'ing as white and per capita visits.
October 20, 2025 at 4:13 PM
alexwenzel.bsky.social
Going through notifications and this isn’t even the worst headline choice they’ve made today. These are two hours apart.
Breaking News Israel strikes southern Gaza in test of ceasefire. Breaking News 11:23 AM An Israeli security official says the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza is halted "until further notice" after a Hamas ceasefire violation.
October 19, 2025 at 10:01 PM