I’m also BEGGING that show to get a journalist consultant if they continue involving the newspaper — last week’s lawyer’s edits were made to look like redacted FBI files (!), and this week, a request for comment was sent in the form of whatever they think a galley looks like, art and all (!!). 🤦♀️
Who else is screaming “Sally Draper NOOO” like 6 times an episode while watching Industry?
“‘Please don’t do in the news nothing about me.’
‘I just wanted to be her friend….I just wanted to have one good friend. It’s nothing.’” www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...
Though it’s a HuffPost UK link, this is about the US.
NEW: A team of security researchers have successfully pulled off the first-known instance of using prompt injection against an AI tool carry out an attack involving physical devices. @mattburgess1.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/google...
Yeah, seconding the ancestry-related sites—they do have death certificates, and some info on property in censuses that asked. Also the National Archives has some info about using tax assessment lists: www.archives.gov/files/calend...
ID Slide 1: White text on a purple background reads: "Summer fundraiser update! We're thrilled to share that all donations this month will now be matched, up to our goal of $30,000, thanks to the Disability Visibility Project. That means new donations will be doubled. We deeply appreciate this generous support from the Disability Visibility Project and its founder and director, Alice Wong."
ID Slide 3: White text on a purple background reads: Join these readers in donating. “Real health journalism like this is under siege.” “Your platform is a critical resource for navigating the ongoing pandemic + raising awareness about COVID!” “Long COVID journalism is lifesaving!!” The Sick Times.
ID Slide 4: White text on a purple background reads: Join these readers in donating. “We need COVID news to continue as long as this virus does!” “As a long hauler, your work has been the most invaluable to my every day safety and sanity.” “We need independent media that won’t be swayed from telling the truth about COVID.” The Sick Times.
ID Slide 5: A mock-up of The Sick Times khaki dad hat. The comment reads: “I want to support good journalism and also my wife wants the hat.”
✨ Exciting summer fundraiser update! ✨
We're thrilled to share that all donations this month will now be matched, up to our goal of $30,000, thanks to @sfdirewolf.bsky.social's Disability Visibility Project!
Help us keep our vital work going into 2026: the-sick-times.fundjournalism.org/donate/
YES! This makes reporting and editing take so much longer. The AI summary/rankings especially can’t handle evolving health information and the actual search results below are worse than what I would’ve gotten a year ago. It’s having the opposite of its intended effect.
I’ve been off social media so long I almost forgot how quickly people use quote posts to dunk on something you didn’t even say. Damn. 😓
I’m not an AI abolitionist. I think AI should’ve been developed ethically & thoughtfully, & people should have tech literacy like they should have media literacy, but it wasn’t & they don’t. Trying to course correct after the fact is incredibly difficult & any harm is bad.
Who ever could have predicted this? There’s already at least one wrongful death suit working its way through the court system, after a 14yo AI user died by suicide.
“Move fast, break things” is the most horrifyingly literal motivational tech philosophy.
www.independent.co.uk/tech/chatgpt...
“HHS said that CMS and NIH would establish a data use agreement focused on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees — about 36% of Americans — and follow autism diagnoses before expanding their research into additional chronic health conditions.”
www.npr.org/2025/05/08/n...
🚨ULP filed at The Wall Street Journal🚨
The charge accuses Dow Jones of unfair labor practices by unilaterally imposing new byline and tagline policies that deny journalists credit for their work. Management has referred to the new policy as “nonnegotiable.” #NLRB
www.iape1096.org/iapework/202...
“[O]ne large survey [from] the [CDC] found about 6% of adults in NY state [had] long COVID in 2023, similar to the national rate. That amounts to about 500,000 people with long COVID in [NYC] alone.”
gothamist.com/news/shrinki...
Use alt-text for text! (A reminder to myself as much as anyone else.)
"If Dow Jones violated our collective agreement with these latest layoffs, we’ll hold them accountable."
www.iape1096.org/iapework/202...
“[The CDC and FDA,] key players in the [WHO]-led process to select the flu viruses for [2025-26 flu] vaccines are participating in a meeting to discuss the issue, despite the Trump administration’s plans to withdraw from the global health agency, sources told STAT.”
www.statnews.com/2025/02/24/u...
Breaking: FDA's March meeting to select flu shot strains for 2025-2026 season has been canceled per email sent to committee members, a VRBPAC member told me. drug companies need about 6 months leeway to make shots in time for fall vax campaigns. #healthpolicy
www.barrons.com/articles/mod...
Shares of vaccine maker Moderna dropped more than 5% late Wednesday after reports that the Health and Human Services Department was re-evaluating its $590 million contract to develop a bird flu vaccine…
@barrons.com
"IAPE takes no position on controversies of geographic nomenclature. But we do view it as a grave affront to the foundational principles of democracy for the federal government to coerce a news organization to alter its stylebook to promote the president’s agenda."
www.iape1096.org/iapework/202...
I'd like to talk to federal workers with Long COVID and related chronic diseases/disabilities about how they're being impacted by the Trump administration's actions, for a story @thesicktimes.bsky.social. Sources can absolutely be anonymous. Message me on Signal at betsyladyzhets.25.
"It’s as if management turned to AI with the question, what’s a way to further diminish newsroom morale while providing no economic or journalistic benefit to the company?"
www.iape1096.org/iapework/202...
Papou, a medium-haired black cat, sits in profile, ears up, on my torso as I lie under a gray quilt.
Papou and his ruff say hey.
WE HAVE A DEAL
📣📣WE HAVE A DEAL!📣📣
Last week, @nymagunion.bsky.social reached a tentative agreement with New York Magazine and Vox Media. We could not be prouder of our members who made it clear they were ready to withhold their labor if Vox Media didn’t meet them with a fair contract.
If possible, please consider donating to the talented reporters, editors and designers impacted by this decision ✊#SolidarityForever www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with...
Congratulations!! Enjoy the time together. 💐💕
A graphic including a collage of Sen. Todd Young, Trump nominee RFK Jr., and a protestor wearing an N95 and holding a sign reading “LONG COVID DENIAL (does not equal) CURE.” Black text on a white background reads, “The Sick Times. RECOVER hasn’t been impacted by Trump freezes so far, sources say. But the program’s future is still uncertain. By Betsy Ladyzhets.”
Key points you should know: RECOVER, the U.S. government’s flagship Long COVID research program, is continuing work largely as usual despite freezes and interruptions across federal health agencies since President Trump took office. Work such as internal meetings and clinical trials has continued in part because RECOVER operates separately from typical NIH research and grant processes.
Key points you should know: However, sources who spoke to The Sick Times expressed concern about potential limitations to new clinical trials, such as a lack of additional funding and constraints on health equity initiatives. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead the federal health department (which oversees the NIH), pledged to support Long COVID research if confirmed. Some advocates are skeptical due to his record of anti-science views and campaign promises.
It’s “business as usual” for the RECOVER, the NIH’s flagship Long COVID research program, despite disruptions across the federal government over the last two weeks — but concerns abound about future clinical trials and other upcoming research. bit.ly/3CAQyzt
