I am losing my mind over a @Cornell chemistry professor and former department chair with 69k followers advocating for a livestock de-worming drug as a Covid-19 treatment. The FDA released a statement saying don’t take this
A thread full of anti-science quotes of his 🧵
Do not take ivermectin. It is not an antiviral. Animal ivermectin is not the same as human ivermectin. fda.gov/consumers/cons…
Pharmacies have restricted sales of ivermectin because they don’t want to be held legally liable for off-label use of a medicine.
David’s out here retweeting Steve Bannon’s conspiracy that restricting treatments is a way for Big Pharma to sell more vaccines.
I picked on David for his failure to critically analyze social media posts’ roles in spreading conspiracies. He hit back, which is fine—I have thick skin.
What is not fine is advocating for discredited treatments like hydroxychloroquine, which has killed people.
It would be one thing if he was merely a YouTube crackpot. But he is in a position of authority at @Cornell, bragging about working with @pfizer while also discrediting their vaccine. “The vaccine is causing deaths … Pfizer’s own data shows their second jab doesn’t do anything”
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome is a rare, serious side effect of Covid, NOT of the vaccine. Dave retweeted this mRNA fearmongering and called a skeptical follower an idiot who needs to think of the children.
Look at how typo-riddled Klaus’s post is. “Spline.”
If he was concerned the vaccines haven’t had enough testing, fine. But he also says we shouldn’t wear masks and we should develop “natural immunity”
He is talking about the benefits of being exposed to LIVE POLIO, because he would rather do that than get a POLIO VACCINE. This is your peer, @WeillCornell
Here’s how much faith he ACTUALLY has in “natural immunity,” though:
“Go to a local hospital and volunteer”
Oh, what’s that? He doesn’t want to? “It has a certain Russian roulette quality”
Dave calls Fauci “a pathological liar” for… being terse in FOIA’ed emails.
“‘There’s no ethical guidelines for some of the egomaniacs in science,’ Collum said.”
Maybe he was just waiting for more information, maybe today’s FDA approval for the covid vaccine?
Oh, guess not
(P.S., this article says they gave the control group a real vaccine instead of letting them think they had protection, after ruling out a placebo effect)
Here’s Dave fearmongering over fetal development. He has to use “got pregnant after first dose” because there isn’t much farther to move the goalposts. Myriad vaccinated women have already given birth to fine, healthy babies.
But don’t worry, women. Even if you aren’t a “good breeder,” you can still go live on his prepper compound as long as you’re willing to put in some time at the range.
I expect nothing to come of this. In his blog David notes his wife is a direct descendant of @Cornell founder Ezra and his grandfather was president of the alumni association. And a dean assured him, “what good is tenure if you don’t have free speech?” peakprosperity.com/dave-collum-20…
To that anonymous @cornell Dean: I hope you realize your chemistry professor’s deep & long reach within the anti-vax community is far beyond free speech. I do not care about his “anti-woke” stances. This scientist represents you. He claims your blessing.
Please listen. 🪡
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I saw a viral Twitter thread on “pre-Jackson Tolkien/Middle Earth aesthetica” full of white supremacist dogwhistles.
Let's dissect some of them and talk about how white supremacists love Lord of the Rings.
🧵
For a better reading experience with more detail, subscribe to my substack, where I write about gaming, tech, and culture. robertgreeve.substack.com/p/how-lord-of-…
The alt-right pipeline uses the same principles as every business's marketing team, but instead of promoting, like, Minecraft, it wants to turn you into a brand evangelist for pure hwite culture, Bobby.
I had a wonderful #PAXUnplugged this year—I feel like Twitter-Rob is serious and unapproachable but convention-Rob lets down his hair (literally).
Here's just some of the great people who I crossed paths with this year. Follow 'em, they inspire me. 🧵
I finally got to hug @Persephiroth, who introduced me to the crew of the Shikar actual play after their panel. I wish I had more time to talk to Jasmine about Green Knight and to @LordBalvin about samurai movies
And @GabeJamesGames really is one of the kindest, most supportive spirits in all of tabletop. I was shy about our split-second meeting last year but I love what he's doing with the Session Zero System, so it was nice to have a few more minutes to talk this year.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT designed this 5e D&D rogue archetype in 15 seconds.
It got the subclass levels correct (3, 9, 13, 17). It appropriately tied memories to psychic damage & wisdom saves. I asked it to make the 17th level stronger and it knew “memento mori” had to do with death.
I’m talking with @alyssavisscher and she asked for a spell with the same theme and y’all we are freaking out. The formatting is great. The editorial style is great. The clarification that the target is unaware makes sense (a little less when it adds damage at a higher level tho)
I’m at #PAXUnplugged today and ahh there’s too much to write about this week! Dragonlance; AI text in 5e design; the new One D&D update from both a mechanical and a cultural perspective.
I’m gonna have a busy week so stay tuned for more.
D&D's old bones are itself a mash-up of every successful sci-fi/fantasy epic from the 19th century:
· races from Lord of the Rings
· cosmic alignment from Elric
· magic from Jack Vance
· adventurous themes from Conan, John Carter of Mars, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
And the most popular D&D adventure is refreshed every 10 years for each new edition.
Each time, it closely follows the characters & conflict of Dracula: a vampire lord; his reincarnated lover; his hunter; his brides; his Romani thralls.