Stupid law nerditry: Federal trial courts are organized into geographic "districts", where each is called "The US District Court for the District of <place>". Except for DC's court, which is called "The US District Court for the District of Columbia", even though there's no district called "Columbia". But "The US District Court for the District of the District of Columbia" would sound too awkward.
Heads up for those who, like me, worry about giving or receiving COVID-19 and flu: The new version of the Aptitude molecular test (for both COVID and flu) is now available at retail. It requires a re-usable reader and somewhat pricy single-use test, but is more sensitive than the rapid tests (comparable to a PCR lab test).
Aptitude Medical Systems
Aptitude Medical Systems
Aptitude Medical Systems
 I've been using the COVID version for a couple years. Expensive, but useful when I'm feeling under the weather or going to visit vulnerable friends.
One of the reasons I'm skeptical of the practicality of e2e verifiable voting schemes is that every system proposed so far is fragile. A single mishap can result in an unverifiable election (and, in worst-case scenarios like this, one in which you can't even determine the winner).
Cryptographers Held an Election. They Can’t Decrypt the Results.
A global group of researchers was unable to read the vote tally, after an official lost one of three secret code keys needed to unlock a hyper-secu...
Next up on the CDC website: "The germ theory of disease is just a theory. There are no recent controlled studies to support sterilizing surgical instruments; this superstitious practice costs hospitals, taxpayers and insurance providers millions of dollars in needless expenses."
Vaccine Safety
Autism and Vaccines
Answers to common questions about vaccine safety and autism.
Just got another flurry of shouty mentions, replying to a post from several weeks ago, complaining about my lack of content warnings on β€œpolitical” topics. Sorry, no. This may be a norm on some instances and in some communities, but it isn’t in mine. And politics, law, and policy comprises a significant fraction of my work and interests. There are more powerful and effective tools for controlling what you read here than scolding strangers for failing to follow imaginary rules.
Hmm. RQ4 Global Hawk just declared an emergency off the Delmarva peninsula. This is unusual, given that the RQ4 is a drone… image