Ben Bellows

@benbellows

Cofounder & CBO, Nivi Inc A Michigan farm kid a long time ago. Husband, dad, researcher, neighbor, founder. pubs: orcid.org/0000-0001-9205-6623 #UMich #Econ #PeaceCorps #Ecuador 🇪🇨 #CDC #UCBerkeley #Epi #PopCouncil #Kenya 🇰🇪 #Zambia 🇿🇲 #digitalhealth #AI

3,003 Following3,595 Followers1,893 Posts

Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and benbellows.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Ben Bellows@benbellows· 12d

yeah, I'm sympathetic to dislocation and job loss (USAID anyone?). That said, although pushing paper for Big Insurance didn't make RFK's quip on what we (fail to) measure in GDP, it was pretty close. As a society, sometimes feel we'd do better to valorize democracy more, and the economy less.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· 12d

"Healthcare costs have been rising faster than inflation, and a staggering share of that spending is consumed by administrative middlemen, soaring drug prices, and emergency care for conditions that should have been treated earlier and for less." - AlisonGalvaniProfile
Alison Galvani, PhD, Burnett and Stender Families Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and Director, Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis

Ben Bellows@benbellows· 19d

A pair of southern ground hornbills walking on the Mara last week

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jul 21

Pop-up on UPS today. Tariff refunds for importers who were illegally taxed by Trump last year. www.ups.com/us/en/shippi...

UPS pop-up text reads: Under a phased approach, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is now accepting refund requests for tariffs recently invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Phase 1 covers certain tariff payments made starting January 30, 2026, in addition to pending tariff payments.

.....

UPS is processing refunds for eligible shipments where we served as the importer. We will expand our efforts as CBP launches future phases. We are committed to supporting our customers during the refund process.

.....

For more details, visit the UPS IEEPA Tariff Refund Page.

https://www.ups.com/us/en/shipping/international-shipping/tariffs/tariff-refunds

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jul 8

Noncitizen voting in local elections was commonly done in the Republic since the Founding until the xenophobia of WWI. Still a thing in some localities. Raskin wrote about it in this 1993 UPenn law review article. catcher.sandiego.edu/items/cas/Wi...

screenshot of Jamie Raskin's 1993 "Legal Aliens, Local Citizens: The Historical, Constitutional and Theoretical Meanings of Alien Suffrage" in U. of Penn Law Review vol 141:1391

it reads "Part IV canvasses the current status of noncitizen voting in the United States and describes in some detail the experience of the City of Takoma Park, Maryland, which in 1992 became the first American municipality in decades to amend its charter specifically to extend the franchise to noncitizens in local elections. Takoma Park's experience embodies the cluster of legal and theoretical issues which can emerge when localities attempt to effect this local constitutional change."

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 25

Eye catching ride in Panama.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 22

Great #sbcc2026 panel with @boghuma.bsky.social on addressing health and vaccine misinformation. Avoid copy and paste strategies. Solutions are local. Takes humility and time to listen & process before acting.

Panel at Social & Behavior Change Communication summit (SBCC) 2026 in Panama

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 16

It's a legit image from 2024 and the 2025 post title is 10/10 www.nationalmemo.com/donald-trump...

screenshot of an article by Paul Krugman from Dec 2025 in the National Memo titled "Is Donald Trump Pro-Crypto or Pro-Crime? (Is There Really a Difference?)". Posted with a photo of Trump at the Libertarian Party convention in DC in 2024 in front of a banner "Become Ungovernable". Ironic as that phrasing was the basis for recent indictments against "Antifa" individuals.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 15

Thunderstorm over the thunder dome

screenshot of the weather over DC at the moment

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 13

Nice morning for a run by The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 10

Why is this otherwise prestigious medical journal maintaining a social media account on a known Nazi website? Enough @thelancet.com. The good people of #belfast deserve a response.

Screenshot of The Lancet and its various social media accounts, which include the known Nazi platform X.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jun 10

"a Fellowship of many of the world's most eminent scientists [and the world's richest fascist] and is the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence." royalsociety.org/people/elon-... @royalsociety.org

screenshot of the Royal Society's bluesky account

Ben Bellows@benbellows· May 15

EVs up and running in Abuja. Mostly (exclusively?) Chinese brands from what I can tell. Some charging stations around town according to map apps. Uber drivers talk about cheaper operating costs. But none of my Ubers this week were electric. It’s happening though 🚙🔌⚡️🔋

Ben Bellows@benbellows· May 10

Lightning on the approach to Abuja tonight (standard camera speed). Had us circling for a while before diverting to Lagos to refuel. Now in Tomé to drop off some passengers and pick up a new crew. Slated for an early predawn return to Abuja. Upside, we’ll beat the traffic. #AirFrancemaxxing

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Apr 19

Highly recommend the new Tulum museum. Wasn’t expecting to a Maya Howler Monkey God (Hun Batz/Hun Chuen), patron deity of artists, scribes & dancers. Displayed alongside replica Maya codices.

Photo from the new Tulum museum of a ceramic Maya Howler Monkey God in a glass case and in the lower left of the image a partial image of a leaf from a Mayan codex

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Mar 28

Fam preparing for No Kings. First sign ready.

No Kings protest sign with Smokey the Bear image and reads “Only you can prevent fascism”

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Mar 13

"we dino-care, he dino-care, no one dino-care ..." e agora eu parlo italiano?

As I was composing a skeet, Bluesky asked if I was writing Italian. I dino-care to answer Bluesky. No "non" button; I wasn't skeeting Italian.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 25

Back to CDG and terminal 2E for an uneventful daytime flight to NBO. Watched Bugonia. Odd movie. Cracked open Second Emancipation (highly recommend!)

Howard French’s second book in an anticipated trilogy on the centrality of Africa in the historic rise of the Atlantic region and global modernity

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 25

Can’t sleep! Jet lag. Up at 3am Tuesday. Emails and then a well lit run through Roissy-en-France

Path near Parc du Cèdre in predawn light

“Yard lights in France” Roissy-en-France lit in this swath of greenery

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 25

Managed to find a local bus route (bus 27) to the airport hotel. Learned a bit about Google Maps algo in the process.

Perplexity explains that the Google Map algorithm prefers more sophisticated bus routes, not the local route I picked.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 25

Corollary point - how did CDG win this? For a moment, gave me FIFA peace prize vibes. But you know, once you figure the place out, I bet it’s fun to know you know it. Earned insight, sacred knowledge.

Banner in Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2 proud of winning best (most improved?) European airport.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 25

Monday evening, I cleared French immigration and figured out CDG terminal 2 is far larger than any terminal ought to be. THERE’S A REASON I PREFER SCHIPHOL.

Sign in Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2 with far too many terminal 2es.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 23

Coming up on an hour on the tarmac with a second pass at the wings. Green liquid. Catching a Taiwanese drama Left-handed Girl available in French subtitles.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 23

De-icing at Dulles and delayed a couple of hours. We’ll see.

Plane wing being de-iced in a nighttime snow storm

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Feb 6

Not too cold to grill. FWIW, happy Friday!

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jan 30

hey @acluofmaryland.bsky.social Nice to see the advocacy outreach to ban 287(g) programs across the state. I get the emails and clicked through on one. Do you use X much? I see it in the footer on the petition page and noticed no Bluesky(!).

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jan 15

Willowbrook also comes to mind en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethic...

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Jan 13

Excited @hofrench.bsky.social's The Second Emancipation arrived! Looking forward to diving in after enjoying the first book. Motivated a personal trip to Elmina as I finished it. Now where? Who knows. Just glad this new arrival wasn't a misplaced library copy. Dust cover had me wondering for a sec

Book cover of Howard French's The Second Emancipation. In the post, my momentary confusion about a receiving a misplaced library copy is due to "RETURN TO GIA MAP LIBRARY" above "LOAN ONLY" printed on the upper left of the dust jacket.

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Dec 31

Ben Bellows@benbellows· Dec 25

Sunset on Christmas Eve