Kat Arney
@Kat_Arney
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Award-winning Storyteller of Science. PhD. Founder & Chief Creative Officer @firstcreateme strategy & content. Views: mine. Book:
London
Joined April 2009
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I know it's a running joke that dads are obsessed with turning the thermostat down, but I'm currently living in my parents' house because my dad is unwell and he fiddled with the thermostat using his phone app FROM HOSPITAL.
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I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of mathematicians cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced
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This is fascinating!
Somatic mutations accumulate similarly in cells that actively divide (mitotically active) and cells that don't (post-mitotic), which means the major cause of somatic mutations is not DNA replication error, as was believed previously. Fascinating!
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I don't have a SoundCloud, I just want to be able to stop worrying about accidentally killing my elderly parents by giving them what will very shortly become a vaccine-preventable disease. Thanks for reading.
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Repeat after me until it sinks in: SCIENCE IS A PROCESS NOT A PRODUCT
This politician on the Today programme is ‘sick of the science changing’. This is why more scientists need to go into politics, and politicians need to have a better understanding of how science works.
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This bird has... Jazz hands?
Brazilian Saci bird 'dancing'. Palaeoartists might enjoy animating some dromaeosaurids doing this.
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ETA: Vaccines have risks, which we can't 100% quantify over the long term or for everybody but can estimate pretty well from trials as being very small. COVID has risks, which we can estimate pretty well from the 1.5 million people who have died already with it. Choose wisely.
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London Air Ambulance receives no public funds. Donate here to do something constructive right now
#westminster
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@Kat_Arney
1) Money. Relatively few in the scientific, pharma & policy worlds care about vaccines compared w/ drugs. Most vaccine programmes are underfunded as they’re perceived as not profitable, only relevant to LMICs, & have few research groups/companies working on them
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@Kat_Arney
Getting funding & research capacity for vax usually takes months/years.
#COVID19
#vaccine
was a massive global research effort w/ $millions for multiple groups/projects in weeks. Years of funding cycles & lab research happened in months, huge amount of time saved
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@Kat_Arney
2) Trials. It takes months/years to get approval for trials, set up the infrastructure and recruit enough volunteers, especially for less common diseases. Again, this happened in weeks as vax trials were prioritised for regulatory approval over anything else
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@Kat_Arney
We’re in a global pandemic – the vaccine is being tested in places with very high community prevalence, so trials can hit pre-determined statistical milestones very quickly. Huge amount of time saved
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@Kat_Arney
Of course we can’t get long term data on safety and efficacy yet, and that will come (NB Oxford viral vax is built on previous technology that has been trialled before). Generally, we would expect any serious issues to show up quickly - oldest trials are 6+ months now
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@Kat_Arney
Setting up a trial also takes time, money and infrastructure.
#COVID19
#vaccine
trials plugged straight into existing trial sites around the world w/ 10000s volunteers wanting to do their bit to get life back to normal. Huge amount of time saved
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@Kat_Arney
3) Prevalence. To show vax effectiveness, you need a high number of people with the disease in the population – big problem with the Ebola vax is that it took so long to develop the outbreak was over & the couldn’t get enough numbers to conclusively show it worked
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But Heisenberg says you can't have a position *and* Momentum at the same time...
#VeryNichePoliticalPhysicsJoke
Asked Labour’s position on a second EU referendum, Diane Abbott says: “We’re not saying anything definitively but we have a position.”
#r4today
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What kind of twisted horrible world do you live in where you believe that dedicated and highly trained paediatricians would actively want to kill a child? Every doctor I've ever met is working to alleviate suffering, usually in very difficult and emotional situations
#AlfieEvans
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@Kat_Arney
These are just my immediate thoughts – would love to see if anyone has done a calculation on exactly where/how much time has been slashed from the vax devt process just by everything moving faster & being properly funded or other areas where time has been saved. /end
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Don't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever do this
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OK who wants to read a book on cancer genetics & evolution, containing stories about asshole amoebas, mummified mice, swearing, ranting, jokes, memes & Pixies references? Because that's what I've nearly finished writing & could do with some cheerleading to get me over the line.
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Given that this started because a news outlet wanted to only call medical docs Dr, let us not forget that a PhD is an actual doctorate, and the medical title is an honorific
fantastic piece by
@paddy_evans
#ImmodestWomen
#ImmodestWoman
‘It's Dr, not Ms,' insists historian - BBC News
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I have a joke about Mendelian genetics but only half of you will get it.
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Every so often I see a pattern that is *nearly* enough to make me want to take up the Devil's handicraft.
Need a Unique Handmade Gift? How About a Crochet Pangolin? 👉
#crochet
#pangolin
#handmade
#diy
#amigurumi
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Can someone make me a t-shirt saying "I've had this cough for four bloody weeks and it's not coronavirus, please don't look at me like that"?
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A baboon stole my sandwich, ate half of it, then masturbated over the remains. Kenya 2002.
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"3,000 acupuncturists stand ready to help NHS fight coronavirus" - I bloody hope they're planning to fight it by closing their quack clinics and staying at home unless they've got actual medical training...
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The three kinds of emails you get when you've written a science book:
"Why didn't you cover my paper on [niche topic that you only mentioned in passing] from 1985?"
"Why didn't you include this/put in pictures/do it differently?"
"hElLo HeRe iS mY TheOrY..."
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Science is a process, not a product. People who communicate research for a living need to move away from the press release model of "scientists have found a thing, do you like it?" to telling stories that reveal the context & questions that drive research
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Exceptional clarity from
@IanDunt
on the epic clusterfucktastrophe that is facing the UK as Johnson and his team have to Get Brexit Done. Spoilers: they can't, at least not without breaking an awful lot of things.
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Give this man a BAFTA
the room next door - President Trump and the OTHER Room Next Door
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Hands up if a cuckoo made you feel inadequate this morning...
He is Onon a Cuckoo. This bird was in Kenya on 29th April. Today he is in Madhya Pradesh. He has completed his crossing of the Arabian Sea to India and, for good measure, flown another 600 km inland also. It is 5000 Kms flying in a week. Feel that amazing feat.
@BirdingBeijing
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Honoured to have won the first Gordon McVie award for cancer reporting
#mjaawards
- he was such an incredible science communicator and voice for cancer research
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Potential dog names that have already been vetoed by my joyless boyfriend:
Ronnie Barker
David Bowwowie
Isambard Kingdom Bonel
Napoleon Bone-apart
Mark Ruff-alo
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Update: Here are a couple of useful references that have been brought to my attention that explain more about where the vaccine development process has been accelerated: and
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Hello, my name is Kat. I have a PhD in genetics and write about DNA for a living. I still have to do a little mime to remember which way the double helix goes. Every. Single. Damn. Time.
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@Ali_Crockford
He is doing a lot better now - he's eating by himself, but also that means he's moaning about the food, lol
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Well, I now have to get it home in one piece... :o Science Explained winner 👍
#mjaawards
@mjauk
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Translation: we've got a massive online shop and we're doing really well but some people think it's a bit ... cheap. We bought Debenhams so we could use the name to get into a posher market with fancy brands.
10 points if you can get to the end of this statement from Boohoo about buying Debenhams without developing an aggressive migraine
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Organic chemicals are just about ok, but be very careful to avoid dihydrogen monoxide. They put that crap in everything nowadays!!
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Unsolicited dik dik pik
Meet Mr Pistachio! He's a newborn dik dik - a tiny antelope - who's just made his first appearance at a wildlife park near Doncaster:
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The 2200 year old face of a dog that knows it has Done A Bad
This 2,200 year old mosaic panel from Ptolemaic Egypt, with an adorable dog seated next to a knocked-over gold wine jug, is one of my favorite mosaics.
It once graced a floor in the royal quarter of Alexandria and is now located in the modern library of Alexandria.
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Do you have a vagina? Do you like vaginas? Do you think people should know more about vaginas in general? You can help support the world's very first Vagina Museum:
@vagina_museum
@DrJenGunter
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The Descant of Man is written roughly a fifth higher than the Origin of Species, with a killer high note in the last chapter.
He mentions humans only once in the Origin, but turned his eye to our species in the Descant of Man in 1871. It is a book of similar levels of scientific insight, though also contains sentiments and language that we might find unpalatable today.
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Garbage in, garbage out. When will people realise that machine learning is only ever as good as the training data?
Amazon built an AI to rate job applications. It analyzed 10 years of (male dominated) hires. Then it started penalizing resumes that included the word “women’s,” downgrading graduates from all women's colleges, and highly rating aggressive language.
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Slightly disappointed that the headline to this isn't "Love, Actuary"
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8: JUST PUT ON YOUR FUCKING SHOES
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Ah joy - first cancer conspiracy related email arrived today... "havent read your book, but im almost sure you DONT know what cancer really is (its a TREE FUNGUS) English Doctors knew this 250 yeras ago!!!!"
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Incredible story about dangerous quackery
Jillian Epperly’s recipe for a fermented cabbage slurry that makes “waterfalls” of diarrhea made her the head of what she called a “poop cult.” Thousands followed her dangerous science before a grassroots movement shut her down when Facebook wouldn’t.
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There should be no state-funded faith schools of any kind, imho.
Three in 10 families in England are left with little choice but a faith school while thousands are forced into faith schools against their wishes every year, our research has found.
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Another case to add to the evidence for the 'Rule of Assholes' - if someone is dodgy in one aspect of their life (eg financial dealings), they're probably dodgy in others (working relationships), because fundamentally they don't respect other people:
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Twitter hive mind: looking for awesome women scientists of colour or science-adjacent people (ideally life sciences) for a panel event on amplifying voices & stories of women in science. Evening of 20th March in London. Any ideas???
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What - and I cannot stress this enough - the fuck?
I'm currently looking into the use of aromatherapy in NHS maternity care. Here's a table from one NHS Trust set of policies on what aromatherapy oil to use for what situation. This, IMO, is entirely inappropriate: these are serious symptoms, and shouldn't be 'treated' with smells
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👇👇👇 This. I'm baffled by orgs/corps who think social media is a trivial task that can be outsourced for pennies. Managing the public face of a brand is a big responsibility. Generating quality content & driving engagement is hard. And no, we can't just "make it go viral" 🙄
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I AM VINDICATED AT LAST
Important finding: sorting your email is pointless. Putting email in folders wastes an an average of 67 hours of your life a year. People who use folders take MORE time to find stuff compared to searching & are no more accurate in finding what they want.
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When the death of one woman causes this much panic about the stability of your entire democracy, something has gone very badly wrong. Rest in power, RBG, what an incredible life. Looking to my US friends and family to honour your legacy.
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Me, a professional writer, when I am not writing: I LOVE WRITING! WHEEEE MY JOB IS AMAZING!
Me, a professional writer, the very second I actually have to start writing something: AAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH MAKE IT GO AWAY
(This post is brought to you by the end of a very long week)
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Intrigued by the concept of an 18+ Lego set. Does the space shuttle have tits on it or something??
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Doing *anything* causes epigenetic changes... Whether they're relevant to anything or not is the more pertinent question 🤷
Drinking coffee appears to cause epigenetic changes to your DNA
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I want to see someone outside of chemistry do a periodic table please I would really treasure it and promise not to make fun
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Thread. Lord, Grant me the confidence of a mediocre man with access to the internet.
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It's here! Delighted to announce that my 3-part
@BBCRadio4
documentary series, Bug In The System, about the past, present and future of
#cancer
will be airing from next week: Huge thanks to my amazing producer
@BethSF
who made it happen & all our guests
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Absolutely delighted to see
#RebelCell
featured as one of
@thetimes
20 Best Books of the Year so far
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Take two minutes to give your brain a beautiful bath in these gorgeous, squishy vocal harmonies
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Roundup of the past decade: Great wedding, shit marriage 😥
Horrible "Hot Mess" years 2012-2015 😢
Quit job, got divorced, built successful freelance career, wrote 3 books & started my own business 💃💪
Found someone amazing & moved out of London ❤
Bring on 2020... 🎉✨
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Oh god I can't even... It's like watching a dog pipetting
For years afterwards Boris cursed that they didn’t just read his CV, with its mesmerising Latin quotes, but unfortunately they asked him to demonstrate his skill set.
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We're all expanding faster than expected right now, honey.
The universe seems to be expanding at a faster rate than cosmologists expect. Physicists’ proposed explanations largely relate to two unknowns: dark matter and dark energy.
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*drumroll*.... happy to announce that my next book, 'Rebel Cell: Cancer, evolution and the science of life' finally has a cover design! Available to preorder now
#RebelCell
#sciencebooks
#sciencetwitter
#Cancer
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Three years ago today, my sci comms company,
@FirstCreateMe
, was born. Today we're a team of 5+ taking on the world. It's a wild ride but I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks as always to my *ahem* strategic business partner
@mjrobbins
for coming along the journey.
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@gayblackgeek
And also the Indian mysticism strand of hippies (think The Beatles in their Maharishi phase)
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“The results are going to be messy,” he said. “You test 30,000 people so that the messiness kind of averages out.”
STAND BACK EVERYONE - THIS GUY JUST INVENTED CLINICAL TRIALS!
A biohacker discovers that testing a vaccine is far more complicated than he ever imagined
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No annual roundup, no resolutions. I'm just grateful to be scraping myself over the finish line of an unfeasibly long year with a particularly brutal end, hugely thankful to my family, team, friends & amazing partner for being there through it all. Here's to 2022, stay well x
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Herbs do not cure viral infections. Spend your money on wine and cute shoes
Your cold is cancelled. Learn to balance or boost your immune system with herbs from Remedies Herb Shop tomorrow at
#BUSTCraftacular
.
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It is at times like these that we turn to alcohol. Specifically, the best-named alcohol of them all
#chemistry
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Until about last year I had no idea the Menten in MM enzyme kinetics was a woman.
#OnThisDay
1879: Scientist Maud Menten was born. She co-devised the Michaelis-Menten equation, one of the fundamental models in enzyme kinetics
#WomenInSTEM
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SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Winner!
#ghwawards2018
huge congrats to runner up Melissa Hogenboom, who is frankly brilliant
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Boris' ambitions are as transparent and revolting as a turd wrapped in clingfilm
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Pre-existing conditions include many people you know, love, work with: People with autoimmune conditions, people with heart issues, people with diabetes, people with asthma, people undergoing cancer treatment and more...
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Feel like "make it stop" could be the only slogan that could compete with "get it done"
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Lord, grant me the confidence of a mediocre white man
The physical embodiment of arrogance, entitlement, disrespect and contempt for our parliament.
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OK twitter: I'm so proud & excited to launch my next book, Rebel Cell, in August. But it's not a great time to be launching a book so I need your help... Any ideas/contacts for online events/talks/Q&A, podcasts, reviewers etc? Hit me up, I'm here for it!
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Me, a professional writer:
*Googles* Compared with or Compare to?
Every single time.
What's your thing-you-really-should-know-by-now?
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OK
#sciencetwitter
, don't let me down.. Need a name for a 5-part Radio 4 series about genes. Current ideas: Gene Genie. The Notorious ACTG. Inside your genes. Stranded. Strands of Life. The Secret Life of Genes. Recipes for Life. The Human Blueprint... Can you do better???
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Adults, children and babies will die because of this. Vaccinate your rug-rats, please
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Have you read & enjoyed my book, Herding Hemingway's Cats? Please can you review on Amazon/Goodreads etc? Thanks!
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@skrishna
@oldenoughtosay
Ah yes, because performative tweeting is what *really* makes a difference in this world. 🙄🙄🙄
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So angry. I will lose my current EU-based work (& £ I get paid for it!) if we leave the single market, as will many other small/sole-trader businesses. It's clear Corbyn is NOT pro-UK workers at all, just hates the EU.
.
@JeremyCorbyn
says he does not understand why
@NicolaSturgeon
says "join the single market" when leaving the EU means leaving single market
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No idea of original source but these plant tags are so accurate for my gardening mentality it hurts.
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It's alive!!! My new book coming out in August :) preorder available now
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Pet peeve: anyone who says "utilising" instead of "using", especially in public-facing communications. STOP IT.
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we don't live in a TV show - this is why torture doesn't work. A corking piece by
@mjrobbins
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Never. Fuck. With. Knitters.
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