Dec 13, 2025
Today's Belle
Throwing your weight around doesn't make you look strong - it makes you look unstable. And that makes the people around you look for better, more reliable friends.
Jimmy Kimmel
They treat him like he's three years old - because that's how he behaves.
- He demands attention
- He needs instant gratification
- He has to be constantly praised for nothing
- He needs plenty of nap time
- They order in McDonalds for him two or three times a day
- He has ice cream after every meal
- He uses a Sharpie when he's not supposed to
- He wants to hear the same two songs over and over
- He wears diapers
He's three years old!
A Prized Woman
I can't even spell half the shit this woman knows like the back of her hand.
Congratulations to Dr. Mary Brunkow on receiving the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this week in Stockholm.
And to think a drugged up roids ranger with a dead worm in his brain has been put in charge of our national health policy.
Stay home, try to eat right, and get some exercise. This ridiculous charade will pass, and we have to be ready for the massive rebuilding effort we'll have to make on the other side of it.
In her acceptance speech on Wednesday, Dr. Brunkow reflected: "As a woman in science I especially want to acknowledge those role models who gave me the courage and incentive to persevere. My hope is that I in turn can be that role model for my own daughters, who are just now launching out into the world, as well as for other young women who are excited about science."
Dr. Brunkow was honored for groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance, which prevents our immune system from attacking the body's own tissues. She identified the gene that controls regulatory T cells -- a previously unknown class of immune cells that act as security guards to keep harmful immune responses in check.
The American scientist shared the prize with Fred Ramsdell, also from the United States, and Shimon Sakaguchi from Japan, who made complementary contributions to understanding peripheral immune tolerance. The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer. As Olle Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee, explained, their research has "been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases."
Brunkow received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1991 in molecular biology and is currently a senior researcher at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. Her Ph.D. adviser, former Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman, described her as "incredibly bright" and "bold," noting that as a student, Brunkow was one of the first brave enough to tackle the mysterious H19 gene, which other scientists had dismissed as junk.
Brunkow and Ramsdell conducted their prize-winning research together at Celltech Chiroscience in 2001, when they identified a mutation in the FOXP3 gene in a mouse strain suffering from lethal autoimmunity. They explained why this specific type of mouse was particularly vulnerable to autoimmune diseases and showed that mutations in the human equivalent of this gene cause IPEX syndrome, a serious autoimmune disease. In 2003, Sakaguchi linked their findings to his earlier discovery of regulatory T cells from the 1990s, proving that the FOXP3 gene governs the development of these crucial immune regulators.
Brunkow, who is now the fourteenth woman to have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, described the regulatory T cells as "rare, but powerful, and they're critical for sort of dampening an immune response". She explained that these cells function as a braking system that prevents the body's immune system from tipping over into attacking itself. Their discoveries have led to potential treatments now in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and stem cell transplant complications.
Dr. Brunkow was honored for groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance, which prevents our immune system from attacking the body's own tissues. She identified the gene that controls regulatory T cells -- a previously unknown class of immune cells that act as security guards to keep harmful immune responses in check.
The American scientist shared the prize with Fred Ramsdell, also from the United States, and Shimon Sakaguchi from Japan, who made complementary contributions to understanding peripheral immune tolerance. The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer. As Olle Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee, explained, their research has "been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases."
Brunkow received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1991 in molecular biology and is currently a senior researcher at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. Her Ph.D. adviser, former Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman, described her as "incredibly bright" and "bold," noting that as a student, Brunkow was one of the first brave enough to tackle the mysterious H19 gene, which other scientists had dismissed as junk.
Brunkow and Ramsdell conducted their prize-winning research together at Celltech Chiroscience in 2001, when they identified a mutation in the FOXP3 gene in a mouse strain suffering from lethal autoimmunity. They explained why this specific type of mouse was particularly vulnerable to autoimmune diseases and showed that mutations in the human equivalent of this gene cause IPEX syndrome, a serious autoimmune disease. In 2003, Sakaguchi linked their findings to his earlier discovery of regulatory T cells from the 1990s, proving that the FOXP3 gene governs the development of these crucial immune regulators.
Brunkow, who is now the fourteenth woman to have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, described the regulatory T cells as "rare, but powerful, and they're critical for sort of dampening an immune response". She explained that these cells function as a braking system that prevents the body's immune system from tipping over into attacking itself. Their discoveries have led to potential treatments now in clinical trials for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and stem cell transplant complications.
(hat tip: A Mighty Girl)
Women will save us.
All we have to do is
stay the fuck out of their way
and let them do it.
Dec 12, 2025
Today's Robert
On sustainability, the impermanence of corporeal things, and trying to grow back into our natural sense of scarcity.
Now put that together with the contradictory belief that things are both scarce and inexhaustible, which effective marketing has used quite well to tie us in knots so we just kinda throw up our hands and go along with whatever's fashionable at the moment.
Overheard
The guy who's covering the entire White House with gold leaf is telling us our kids will just have to do with fewer dolls and pencils.
Always A Good Day
Every day is a good day to punch a Nazi.
Like Dec 12, 1967, in Los Angeles.
Fighting breaks out between Nazi demonstrators and counter-protesters outside of a Westwood movie theater on Dec. 22, 1967.
A group of seven Nazis carrying racist signs outside a Westwood theater in 1967 were protesting the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” which portrays an interracial romance.
An article in the next morning’s Los Angeles Times reported:
Seven Nazi demonstrators were beaten and chased from the neighborhood Friday night as they attempted to picket a motion picture theater in West Los Angeles.
The uniformed members of the American Nazi Party began picketing the Village Theater at 961 Broxton Ave., West Los Angeles, shortly after the main feature began at 8 p.m. …
A crowd of more than 50 people gathered within a few minutes and began jeering and taunting the khaki-clad self-proclaimed Nazis. A youth, about 20, made first physical contact with the demonstrators when he bumped into Nazi Lt. Lee Vincent.
Violence erupted moments later as the jeering crowd closed on the Nazis, forcing them into the street. The seven replied to taunts with anti-Semitic slogans and were attacked.
The mob appeared to have no specific organization, but was composed mostly of young men in their late teens or early 20s. They ganged up on the individual Nazis, knocking some to the street.
No clubs or weapons were in evidence, but several Nazis were bloodied by the large crowd as they attempted to take refuge at a gas station at the corner of Gayley and Weyburn avenues. At least one appeared to be seriously injured.
The running battle continued onto Gayley Avenue, where a red and white Volkswagen bus picked up six and roared away. A lone bedraggled Nazi sought sanctuary in a nearby supermarket, and slipped away.
Police did not arrive on the scene until the battle was over. No arrests were made.
Dec 11, 2025
C'mon, Guys
Standing over here acting like a jerk and smelling like bad judgement - and nobody wants to hang with me.
What's wrong with the world all of a sudden?
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