Bypassing the gene editing roadblock: “vast majority of the 400 million people in this world with genetic diseases suffer from diseases too rare for companies to be able to recoup the costs of drug development”

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https://archive.ph/20251119164735/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/health/gene-editing-rare-diseases.html#selection-857.337-857.507

“he receives many heart-rending emails from anguished patients with genetic diseases or their families, and he doesn’t want them to expect widespread solutions anytime soon.”

Because of redundant systems, disorders from single gene mutations are relatively rare but still require custom edits. One day we custom edits will cost far less than today, but most with disease will be dead by then. Bypassing stop codons is a fairly desperate measure but may become viable sooner.

MindNode 2025.7 reunites with Finder: “Desktop or any folder in Finder or the Files app. MindNode will automatically create an Alias that opens the document instantly”

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https://mindnode.com/post/mindnode-2025-7

Mindnode switched a few years from a traditional file based approach to an “app-managed local data cache”. That meant MindNode projects could not be represented in finder and it made local backup/restore very clumsy. 2025.7 mitigates the first of those problems. I’m still on MindNode Classic but now I have to think about migrating.

“Chris Buskirk of the Rockbridge Network, a secretive organization funded by tech leaders to create a network that will permit the MAGA movement to outlive Trump”

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https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-16-2025-190

Their dream is a really dumb version of Singapore — on a vastly larger scale and without Singapore’s odd socialist streak.

“a majority of people would prefer to live in a world where a child does not have to sell her body to older men in order to save enough money to get braces on her teeth.”

Fibromyalgia: genetics study claims primary brain disorder also associated with Long COVID.

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https://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/fibromyalgia-finally-gets-a-genetic-fingerprint/121461

“The strongest genetic signal emerged from a variant in the HTT gene, which also causes Huntington’s disease when mutated. Another key player, GPR52, regulates HTT and is already being explored as a drug target for Huntington’s. Other implicated genes, including CAMKV, DCC, DRD2, MDGA2 and CELF4, have established roles in brain development, neuronal signalling and pain processing.”

Fibromyalgia has long been thought of as a brain disorder. The question is whether the environmental trigger is viral infection/immune response.

“chances of finding a de novo mutation go up if a patient has severe autism and other, co-occurring conditions, like epilepsy, movement disorders or an intellectual disability. “

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https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/a-furious-debate-over-autisms-causes-leaves-parents-grasping-for-answers/

De novo mutations are mistakes during routine DNA manipulation, not inherited. Autism is a crap syndromic term for a wide range of conditions many of which are associated with a variety of inherited and de novo mutations in a wide variety of proteins. There really doesn’t seem to be a single cause to focus on.

Judge Mark Wolf, American patriot: why he resigned to fight for democracy

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https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-9-2025

“Trump’s use of the Department of Justice to hurt his political opponents, his firing of inspectors general, the administration’s pay-to-play policies in which wealthy donors get government favors, the corruption of cryptocurrency, unconstitutional executive orders, and the threats against judges as Trump attacks the rule of law.”

“after 80 years of on-and-off support for the Palestinian cause the [arab] regimes have finally written them off”

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https://gwynnedyer.com/2025/arab-nadir-clueless-hegemons/

“highest policy priority of Israel’s immediate neighbours, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, is not to prevent the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. It is rather to ensure that the new wave of Palestinian ‘refugees’ does not end up on their territories”

“When you look at what’s driving electricity bills, it’s really poles and wires”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/climate/electricity-prices.html

Mostly not data centers or generation costs.

“utilities have nearly tripled the amount they spend annually on the network of poles, wires, substations and transformers … Large portions of the electric grid are nearing the end of their 50-year life spans …deal with storms, fires and heat waves …”

LLMs enabling Data Freedom between apps

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https://www.macstories.net/notes/llms-for-data-portability/

“I opened Claude for Mac, installed one of its built-in Notes extensions, and asked it to replicate content from a specific folder of the Notes app in a Notion database while keeping as much of the original formatting intact as possible.”

This is very encouraging. One day I hope an LLM will free my blogs from Blogger (existing migration options suck).