Kath
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kathmarval.bsky.social
Kath
@kathmarval.bsky.social
630 followers 350 following 4.3K posts
curious about everything
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kathmarval.bsky.social
I love reading stuff about how old the Appalachians are.
Screenshot: a post from old Twitter.
1/2
Post by: Melissa @butterflysnbees The appalachian mountains are older than dinosaurs. The appalachian mountains are older than trees. The appalachian mountains are older than saturn's rings. The appalachian mountains are literally older than BONES. The appalachian mountains should be regarded WITH PURE TERROR.
November 21, 2025 at 4:51 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Well I was kind of naive & dumb then, but I was surprised. I didn't think Michigan & Wisconsin were swing states ("Blue Wall" & all that).
I note that Wikipedia, for what it's worth, agrees that Wisconsin was unexpected.
Pennsylvania, Florida, & Ohio, yeah, I thought they were swing states.
In the general election, Donald Trump unexpectedly won Wisconsin, defeating Clinton by a margin of 0.77%, with 47.22% of the total votes to 46.45%, the lowest percentage of victory since 2000. Trump's victory in Wisconsin was attributed to overwhelming and underestimated support from white working-class citizens in the state's rural areas, a demographic that had previously tended to either vote for the Democratic candidate or did not vote at all.[2][3][4] As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last time that Door County voted for the Republican candidate, and the only time since 1960 that the Democratic presidential nominee won the nationwide popular vote without winning Wisconsin.
November 8, 2025 at 1:28 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
I take that back! My info was out of date. They now recommend both the HepB AND the RSV vaccine at birth. It's still true that the Vitamin K shot is a vitamin, not a vaccine, & other vaccines are given later.
Wrong info in my old post in screenshot.
Screenshot of my deleted post which didn't describe RSV as a vaccine given at birth.
September 16, 2025 at 11:07 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
You have made a logical inference but it is incorrect. This season's covid vaccines are available NOW, even though ACIP hasn't met.
Walgreens web page saying: COVID-19 vaccine update: This season's COVID-19 vaccine is now available and is approved for all adults ages 65+ and those under 65 with certain health conditions. Save time and get it with your flu shot. walk in or schedule online >
September 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
No, he doesn't seem to be old enough for that. According to the article, he says he was vaccinated as a child.
Excerpt from article. Highlighted text reads: "Hooker said he became sick with measles despite being vaccinated as a child. But because he was born before 1989, he probably only received one dose of the MMR vaccine, which is 93% effective at stopping illness. Vaccination may also make breakthrough illness milder."
July 21, 2025 at 9:55 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Your timeline suggests you are a thinking person. Please look up how metabolism works in a reliable source.
Here's a start:
"Insulin is a key hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels. It's so important that you can't live without it."
www.cdc.gov/diabetes/abo...
What is insulin? Insulin is a key hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels. It's so important that you can't live without it. Here's how insulin works when everything is working properly: When you eat, food is broken down into sugars that circulate in your blood. This increase in blood sugar causes an internal organ called the pancreas to release insulin. Insulin acts like a key to let blood sugar into your body cells, which use the sugar as energy. After this happens, your blood sugar returns to a normal level. Insulin also signals your liver to store extra blood sugar as energy for later. If you haven't eaten recently, your liver releases stored blood sugar so energy is always available.
July 12, 2025 at 10:01 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
It floods, but this was not the usual pattern.
This was tragic, & there are things we could do to prevent another - but this was not caused by budget cuts that haven't happened yet, or even by DOGE chaos.
More citations in next post.
1/
theeyewall.com/making-sense...
Did budget cuts play a role? No. In this particular case, we have seen absolutely nothing to suggest that current staffing or budget issues within NOAA and the NWS played any role at all in this event. Anyone using this event to claim that is being dishonest. There are many places you can go with expressing thoughts on the current and proposed cuts. We’ve been very vocal about them here. But this is not the right event for those takes. In fact, weather balloon launches played a vital role in forecast messaging on Thursday night as the event was beginning to unfold. If you want to go that route, use this event as a symbol of the value NOAA and NWS bring to society, understanding that as horrific as this is, yes, it could always have been even worse. Did budget cuts play a role? No. In this particular case, we have seen absolutely nothing to suggest that current staffing or budget issues within NOAA and the NWS played any role at all in this event. Anyone using this event to claim that is being dishonest. There are many places you can go with expressing thoughts on the current and proposed cuts. We’ve been very vocal about them here. But this is not the right event for those takes. In fact, weather balloon launches played a vital role in forecast messaging on Thursday night as the event was beginning to unfold. If you want to go that route, use this event as a symbol of the value NOAA and NWS bring to society, understanding that as horrific as this is, yes, it could always have been even worse. Do we need to start thinking of every risk of flooding in Texas as a potential high-end event we should pre-evacuate the highest risk people (like children and elderly in floodways) for? Is that even practical? We can critique the answer given by the Kerr County judge here all day, but he’s correct in that the reality is they deal with flooding a lot. What is actually practical? I don’t know the answers to these questions. But it’s been a little over 10 years since Wimberley, which was a wake up call in some ways too. It’s time for another, and we need to think much bigger than just the areas impacted this time and more about Flash Flood Alley as a whole. Flooding risk is high in Texas. People learn to live with it in some ways. But something like this absolutely cannot happen again. The Texas legislature meets for a special session beginning on July 21st. This may be an important topic to add to the agenda.
July 5, 2025 at 6:05 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
But well OK, I'm confused.
The CDC web page says Tdap *or* Td.
I did deliberately all for Tdap at my last tetanus shot because I couldn't see any reason not to, & I trust your info, but I'm confused.
No recommendation for booster doses against pertussis Immunity to pertussis following Tdap vaccination wanes after a few years. However, there's no recommendation to administer booster doses to maintain protection against pertussis. Adults do need booster doses every 10 years to maintain protection against tetanus and diphtheria. Although these doses are aimed to protect against diphtheria and tetanus, healthcare providers can administer either Td or Tdap.
June 8, 2025 at 5:10 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Also from the CDC web page:
2/
Adults CDC recommends vaccination every 10 years for all adults to maintain protection against tetanus. Once an adult has received a dose of Tdap, administer Td or Tdap for their booster doses. Keep Reading: Tdap products for adults 65 years or older
June 8, 2025 at 4:55 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
But it really isn't.
It's every 10yrs for the *tetanus* component.
From the CDC web page:
1/
No recommendation for booster doses against pertussis Immunity to pertussis following Tdap vaccination wanes after a few years. However, there's no recommendation to administer booster doses to maintain protection against pertussis. Adults do need booster doses every 10 years to maintain protection against tetanus and diphtheria. Although these doses are aimed to protect against diphtheria and tetanus, healthcare providers can administer either Td or Tdap. Adults 65 years or older When feasible, administer Boostrix® (Tdap) to adults 65 years or older. Adacel® (Tdap) is only approved for use up through 64 years of age.
June 8, 2025 at 4:53 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Probably not.
There are very specific physical criteria that create this hazard.
They used to say there were five, but apparently that's now been found to be three.
Screenshot (w/ alt text) is from the linked article.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Ny....
Gas Saturation Lake Nyos is one of only three lakes in the world known to be saturated with carbon dioxide—the others are Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. A magma chamber beneath the region is an abundant source of carbon dioxide, which seeps up through the lake bed, charging the waters of Lake Nyos with an estimated 90 million tonnes of CO2.
May 31, 2025 at 4:49 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Just looked it up - Novavax has also been associated w/ a higher risk of myocarditis in young males.
Plus I fear that it's nowhere near being authorized for children.
www.cdc.gov/vaccines/cov...
Data from the clinical trials of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine and post-authorization vaccine safety monitoring outside the United States suggest an increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis following Novavax vaccination.
May 15, 2025 at 5:18 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
And - this is still the US CDC guidance.
www.cdc.gov/yellow-book/....
Discussing the benefits and risks of YF vaccination with all patients—but particularly those with underlying precautions—is an essential part of the pre-travel consultation. If travel to a YF risk area is unavoidable for a person with a vaccine precaution, the discussion about vaccination should balance the risk for YF virus exposure against the risk of vaccination (i.e., adverse event or inability to elicit an immune response). Solicit information from the traveler about their risk tolerance level and include this in the shared decision-making about whether to administer YF vaccine. If the decision is made to not vaccinate the traveler, provide a medical waiver, emphasize the critical importance of adhering to insect bite precautions, and discuss risks associated with being unvaccinated. When no risk of YF exists in the itinerary but country entry requirements are in effect in the traveler's destination(s), the vaccine risk outweighs the disease; avoiding vaccination and issuing a medical waiver to fulfill health regulations is reasonable, but this decision should be made in deliberation with the patient.
May 15, 2025 at 5:02 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
From the article you posted:
2/
Five years ago, on April 3, 2020, the world’s top bioaerosol scientists warned the WHO that COVID was transmitted in infectious aerosols, tiny particles that drift in the air like smoke. They were right. And they were shouted down.
May 1, 2025 at 2:17 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
This is what I'm talking about. In the US at least it caused confusion. As I recall things it caused confusion for the WHO as well.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborn...
Infectious aerosols: physical terminology edit Aerosol transmission has traditionally been considered distinct from transmission by droplets, but this distinction is no longer used.[3][4] Respiratory droplets were thought to rapidly fall to the ground after emission:[5] but smaller droplets and aerosols also contain live infectious agents, and can remain in the air longer and travel farther.[4][6][7] Individuals generate aerosols and droplets across a wide range of sizes and concentrations, and the amount produced varies widely by person and activity.[8] Larger droplets greater than 100 μm usually settle within 2 m.[8][5] Smaller particles can carry airborne pathogens for extended periods of time. While the concentration of airborne pathogens is greater within 2m, they can travel farther and concentrate in a room.[4] The traditional size cutoff of 5 μm between airborne and respiratory droplets has been discarded, as exhaled particles form a continuum of sizes whose fates depend on environmental conditions in addition to their initial sizes. This error has informed hospital based transmission based precautions for decades.[8] Indoor respiratory secretion transfer data suggest that droplets/aerosols in the 20 μm size range initially travel with the air flow from cough jets and air conditioning like aerosols,[9] but fall out gravitationally at a greater distance as "jet riders".[9] As this size range is most efficiently filtered out in the nasal mucosa,[10] the primordial infection site in COVID-19, aerosols/droplets[11] in this size range may contribute to driving the COVID-19 pandemic.
May 1, 2025 at 1:01 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Proof of cat
#caturday #proofofcat #catsky
Fluffy grey & white cat resting on pillows & blankets.
April 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
How about if I keep my beloved cats indoors?
Actually, I've read that these work better than bells:
www.birdsbesafe.com/products/fun...
April 11, 2025 at 2:47 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
No, it's the same one, but for people >65 & others w/ risk factors, it is recommended that you get it again after 6mos.
www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccin...
Screenshot of the recommendation for people 65+ from the same CDC page that is linked.
April 6, 2025 at 4:29 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
#proofofcat I mean #proofofdog
A white dog sitting outdoors on a black trunk the size of a small sofa.
February 20, 2025 at 5:42 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
#proofofcat
Very & white cat lying curled up and looking at camera.
February 18, 2025 at 3:27 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
#caturday #proofofcat
Hey and white cat sleeping Black cat looking at camera
February 15, 2025 at 10:51 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Gentle reminder to everyone about to post anything about "hundreds of millions" of USAmericans:
There are only ~336M people in the US.
www.commerce.gov/news/blog/20....
Screenshot from the US Census Bureau page linked in the post. Shows projected US & world populations on Jan. 1, 2024.
February 2, 2025 at 6:21 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
😥
Screenshot with "user blocking you" message
January 26, 2025 at 12:22 AM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Was it this one? I have dim memories of rumors of people thinking you could get it from eating ham or bacon.
Gerald Ford getting vaccinated against swine flu. The photo was released as part of a campaign encouraging vaccination against the swine flu. That vaccine campaign was halted because of a possible small but higher risk of vaccinee's developing Guillan Barre Syndrome (along with what turned out to be lower risk from that particular flu than had appeared at first). There is evidence that modern flu vaccines do not present a higher risk of contracting Guillan Barre Syndrome.
January 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM
kathmarval.bsky.social
Two seated girls at a table wearing complicated & uncomfortable-lookinh devices to control their posture.
January 25, 2025 at 6:42 AM