Ali Ruth
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ali-ruth.bsky.social
Ali Ruth
@ali-ruth.bsky.social
280 followers 730 following 96 posts
DC-based humor writer and public health data scientist; writing @ the New Yorker and other outlets. Health data nerd. PhD in public health. Writing at https://www.aliruth.com/
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ali-ruth.bsky.social
Ali Ruth @ali-ruth.bsky.social · Oct 16
While furloughed I am dusting off old song parodies and contemplating a Sesame Street career pivot into educational Broadway songs (joking / actually not entirely joking given… everything going on)

#Wicked #Broadway #WickedForGood

youtu.be/E7yIwWn0F2c
Wicked parody - Populist - Popular - AP US History
YouTube video by Ali R. Ruth music
youtu.be
Reposted by Ali Ruth
rainesford.bsky.social
The chaos adds to the stress. Young adults I spoke to while reporting named the uncertainty around SNAP and the back-and-forth as part of what was taking such a heavy toll—not knowing what to prioritize, or how to plan. Even as benefits begin to go out, that kind of uncertainty is devastating.
kylegriffin1.bsky.social Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 21d
Breaking: A federal appeals court just denied a last-minute bid by the Trump admin to temporarily halt some SNAP funding during the shutdown.
November 7, 2025 at 11:39 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Continuing my furlough hobby of recording parody songs - this is a jazz parody cover of Autumn Leaves #sweaterweather m.youtube.com/watch?v=puQd...
Autumn Leaves - Parody - Fall Lament - Jazz
YouTube video by Ali R. Ruth music
m.youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:20 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
This is a beautiful interview with (now-28!) Malala Yousafzai

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/p...
Malala Yousafzai Thought She’d Never Fall in Love
www.nytimes.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
michellesingletary.bsky.social
We don’t know how or when this government shutdown ends. But there are resources to help if you’re not getting a paycheck. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Column | 4 phone calls furloughed workers can’t afford to skip during the shutdown
We don’t know how or when this shutdown ends. But there are resources to help if you’re not getting a paycheck.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:49 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
While furloughed I am dusting off old song parodies and contemplating a Sesame Street career pivot into educational Broadway songs (joking / actually not entirely joking given… everything going on)

#Wicked #Broadway #WickedForGood

youtu.be/E7yIwWn0F2c
Wicked parody - Populist - Popular - AP US History
YouTube video by Ali R. Ruth music
youtu.be
October 16, 2025 at 2:50 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
spent Day #5 of my furlough learning how to create a MIDI musical backing track by plugging a cable into my electric piano keyboard, just as the GOP intended
October 7, 2025 at 9:00 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Absolutely loved this quick read about later-in-life pop stardom www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/o...
Opinion | Sudden Pop Stardom After 50
www.nytimes.com
October 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Beginning of October means beginning of Spooky Season, the month in which I argue that "Sweet Caroline" in a minor key is *actually* the scariest Halloween song of all time - www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vH4...
«Sweet Caroline» by Neil Diamond in minor key
YouTube video by Oleg Berg
www.youtube.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
wired.com
A Harvard Business School study shows that several AI companions use various tricks to keep a conversation from ending. www.wired.com/story/chatbo...
Chatbots Play With Your Emotions to Avoid Saying Goodbye
A Harvard Business School study shows that several AI companions use various tricks to keep a conversation from ending.
www.wired.com
October 1, 2025 at 6:07 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
I'm late to catch up on it but the timing ended up being ideal for watching Marc Maron's new "Panicked" special - so so good (& perfect for right now) play.hbomax.com/movie/c51673...
Watch Marc Maron: Panicked (HBO) | HBO Max
Watch Marc Maron: Panicked (HBO) on HBO Max. Plans start at $9.99/month. ​In his second HBO special, comedian and podcaster Marc Maron offers up his nuanced perspective on our increasingly uncertain w...
play.hbomax.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:24 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Random useful thing I learned today - when you’re hyperlinking to a url for a pdf, you can append “#page=11” at the end of the link to direct the user to land on a specific page when clicking
September 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
jama.com
Centralizing data from diverse reporting systems enables timely, actionable measles surveillance, helping guide public health interventions, improve vaccination efforts, and model outbreak risk more precisely within communities.

ja.ma/3IwmxUl
Map of the US showing cumulative measles cases reported in 2025 from Johns Hopkins University. Red dots signify imported cases, blue dots signify local. Dot sizes indicate case numbers: 40, 150, and 400. Labels include Los Angeles, Gaines County, New York, Washington, DC.
September 21, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
hdcshah.bsky.social
Gun violence has such a massive blast radius the stats never capture. Those who witness it in person, the medical professionals that handle the wounds, the injured who carry the damage with them forever, the families shattered, the communities permanently scarred.
September 11, 2025 at 3:43 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
reading-wise I am really leaning into my Retired Dad Era* right now

*exclusively reading books abt WWII and Ancient Rome
September 3, 2025 at 10:11 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Yesssss love to see map projection minutiae make the news (also wholly endorse making changes to better represent the actual scale of Africa) www.npr.org/2025/08/21/n...
African Union backs campaign to replace Mercator map that distorts Africa's size
Organizers behind the Correct The Map campaign say the Mercator map's shrinking of Africa minimizes the continent's global influence — and is just plain inaccurate.
www.npr.org
August 27, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
jamellebouie.net
from chandra manning's wonderful book "what this cruel war was over"
Nothing made slavery’s toxicity more obvious to Union troops than its effect on the fundamental unit of society, the family. For one thing, slave sales separated families. In the Upper South, where many Union soldiers were stationed in 1861, about one in three first marriages was broken by sale, and about half of all slave children were separated from at least one parent. 129 With their own eyes, soldiers saw slavery snap bonds between parents and children. The men of the Seventh Wisconsin were awakened by gunshots one November night. The following day, soldiers “learned, and saw the cause of the alarm in the form of two negro women—a mother and a daughter.” The pair had fled to Union lines to avoid the proposed sale of the “goodlooking” daughter into the so-called fancy trade, which soldiers viewed as a form of concubinage. Outraged by the plight and moved by the vulnerability of the mother and daughter, “every private in the ranks” cursed “that system which tramples on the honor of man, and makes merchandise of the virtue of women,” according to one member of the regiment. 130 When an Iowan encountered a young child about to be sold by her own father, who was also her master, he vowed, “By G–d I’ll fight till hell freezes over and then I’ll cut the ice and fight on.” 131
August 19, 2025 at 11:39 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Ooo this is slightly different but just found this great piece by @cllevin.bsky.social on the weirdness of Amazon shop names slate.com/technology/2...
August 20, 2025 at 5:18 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Journalistes! Could someone plz write a deeply reported piece (or point me to an existing one) about these web-only clothing brands with names like "EARTH THREADZ" and "GREENN ECO-CHIC" but the clothes are still mass-manufactured plasticky garbage? Are there regulations about this?? Thx in advance
August 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
fabioethics.bsky.social
After literal YEARS of trying, I finally managed to write a bioethics-themed crossword! Available now in @science.org:
www.sciencenews.org/article/cold...

(thanks to @norahsharpe.bsky.social and @bewilderingly.bsky.social for excellent editing!)
Cold Cuts Crossword
Solve our latest interactive crossword. We'll publish science-themed crosswords and math puzzles on alternating months.
www.sciencenews.org
August 19, 2025 at 10:30 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Relatedly it is never too late to start closely following the activities of your county- and state-level Boards of Election! (Many allow public attendance at meetings / post minutes online)
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 19
REPORTER: States administer elections, not federal authorities. So can you provide details about how the White House plan to eliminate mail voting?

LEAVITT: The White House continues to work on this
August 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Every single time I see "small craft advisory" on one of these things, my brain just imagines the tiny handicrafts that we used to make in Girl Scouts (popsicle stick creations, little weaving loom blankets, etc) and I get super confused
was.nws-bot.us Alerts from NWS Baltimore MD/Washington DC (UNOFFICIAL) @was.nws-bot.us · Aug 17
Small Craft Advisory issued August 17 at 1:44PM EDT until August 18 at 6:00PM EDT by NWS Baltimore MD/Washington DC
Additional Details Here.
* WHAT...North winds around 10 kt with gusts up to 20 kt expected. * WHERE...Tidal Potomac River from Key Bridge to Cobb Island MD, Patapsco River including Baltimore Harbor, and Patuxent River to Broomes Island MD. * WHEN...From 6 AM to 6 PM EDT Monday. * IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft. * WHAT...Northeast winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt expected. * WHERE...Chesapeake Bay north of Drum Point MD, Chester River to Queenstown MD, Eastern Bay, and Choptank River to Cambridge MD and the Little Choptank River. * WHEN...From 6 AM Monday to 2 AM EDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft. * WHAT...Northeast winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt expected. * WHERE...Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point MD to Smith Point VA, Tidal Potomac from Cobb Island MD to Smith Point VA and Tangier Sound and the inland waters surrounding Bloodsworth Island. * WHEN...From noon Monday to 6 AM EDT Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
August 17, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
marisakabas.bsky.social
www.thehandbasket.co/p/federal-ag...
A response people like to lob when stuff like this is shared is, “are you surprised?” I expect this time will be no different, but I’d like to preemptively address it. There is a difference between being surprised and shocked. Is it surprising that Trump’s stormtroopers are acting with impunity? The past nine months have taught us no, of course not. But is it shocking to see a man—someone’s family member, someone’s friend, someone’s neighbor—being brutalized by agents who are fully aware they’re being watched and recorded? Yes. And I hope it remains shocking. There can be no day when this is normal.
August 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Ali Ruth
dieworkwear.bsky.social
me working to solve the rising sea levels
Travis Kelce in GQ. He's in the ocean and only wearing a CAT work vest and gold necklace. He's smoothing his hair back.
August 13, 2025 at 1:39 AM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
will *try* to catch the Perseid meteor shower in the Northeast tonight - thx @ianlivingston.bsky.social wapo.st/45q58nS
When to catch the Perseids, the year’s best meteor shower
This year’s Perseid peak lines up with the full moon, which will make it harder than usual to view some of the show.
wapo.st
August 13, 2025 at 12:58 AM
ali-ruth.bsky.social
Great job opp with the Associated Press' elections data team blending data science + journalism! I worked with this team for the 2022 midterm elections and really enjoyed it - so interesting to get a bird's eye view of county-level election result websites:
careers.ap.org/job/Washingt...
Elections Data Scientist (Newsperson)
Elections Data Scientist (Newsperson)
careers.ap.org
August 11, 2025 at 7:22 PM