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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • It’s not that we don’t use mode, there are definitely times mode is used. It’s just that mean (and median as well) contain a lot more useful information about distributions that we often care about. For a normal distribution mean, median, and mode should all be identical. So why do we use mean? Because mathematically, the mean is what underpins the formula for the normal distribution, not median or mode, and when you’re talking about doing math with normal distributions mean is the thing to talk about (along with standard deviation).

    We use median a lot too, you probably just don’t hear it called median very often. The median is useful in non-normal distributions, and it defines the 50th percentile, so along with the 25%-ile and 75%-ile you’ve got your quartile distributions. We use these all the time to talk about grades in schools, or when we talk about home prices distributions in a given area, or salaries within a given field.

    We use mode too, again just by a different name most of the time. Any time you’ve asked “what’s the most common blank” you’re basically asking for a mode. When we talk about “average” income in a country, we’re usually actually talking about median or mode. Favorite animal? Answered as a mode.

    You have to use the right statistical tool for your question: unfortunately English doesn’t do a good job of conveying this without math jargon.



  • I mean if the only way they’re gonna have jobs is through predatory hiring practices that could leave them fired and without severance, then yeah. Because if the company is planning on hiring these younger workers for the long-haul, then this shouldn’t be a significant change. I think overall national policy should discourage unnecessary high-turnover and predatory hiring. I’m sure there will be situations this is still unavoidable, but that doesn’t mean we have to endorse it by way of law/policy.


  • I’m going to digress from the economics a tad and focus on the ethics of this. I feel like companies should be on the hook for this. You should invest in capital (including human labor) based on your confidence in its expected return. Companies should not be able to hire a myriad of workers for funzies and not have to meaningfully consider if that person will be necessary in 6 months. If it is a legitimate business venture, then the cost of potential severance for new hires should be folded into the economics of the decision to pursue that venture. Larger severance pay/worker protections encourage employers to not utilize exploitative hiring practices.


  • A lot of the really prestigious medical schools/residency programs have a reputation for a toxic culture, and this means by and large they attract a larger share of toxic applicants. Their programs are really focused not on training great bedside clinicians, but on training people who will attempt to change fields through research and public policy. Unfortunately, the toxic nature of these programs, and their immense emphasis on publishable output and reputation, likely attract a larger fraction of narcissists with the skills necessary to mask their inappropriate behaviors when needed in comparison to other programs. That is not to say that all Harvard trained physicians are horrible people, I’m sure the vast majority of them are fantastic, but I would be money that Harvard attracts a greater fraction of the kookes than your average midtier medical school.



  • All remote based typing is awful, T9 included. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can type with swipe gestures on a virtual keyboard via remote faster than I can input T9 text. I’m unaware of any stock remote for a device with a full keyboard. I would argue Apple has text entry perfected at least as well as any other major manufacturer. You have virtual keyboard entry, solid voice-to-text, and it can be configured to push a notification to your iOS device when you enter a search bar which will auto-open to the remote app and pull up the keyboard. Because of this feature passwords can also be autofilled from Keychain to make logins easier.

    You may personally prefer T9, but I’ve never seen anyone in the last decade input anything into a TV via T9. And you’re asking why it doesn’t have voice input, when it does. You admit to having never used an Apple TV yourself. I hate the idea of app-only interfaces features, but this isn’t a case like that. Maybe you should understand the features of a product before you call it “fucking stupid”.



  • You’ll have to strike a balance between security and ease. Your two major options are reverse proxy and VPN (Tailscale is one option for VPN)

    For reverse proxy, you functionally open the app to the internet. Anyone with the correct web address can access the login page. This is inherently less secure than VPN, but not irresponsibly so. Beyond the reverse proxy itself, you’ll also have to learn how to configure an HTTPS certificate to increase security since it will be open to the internet.

    For VPN, every user you want to be able to access the service has to be tied into the VPN and have the VPN running throughout their access. Tailscale is arguably the easiest way to configure a VPN right now, as you won’t have to manually deal with VPN configuration files for every device. VPN use will functionally make it like you’re on your home network. VPN access to your network should not be given to tons of people if at all possible.




  • Section 2, first paragraph. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6956183/

    At their core phages are viruses, there is no reason to expect the host immune system to not recognize them as foreign and attempt to eradicate them outside the GI tract, where most serious infections occur. The GI tract, skin, and to some extent the lower UG tract will likely tolerate these through mechanisms we tolerate colonizing bacterial flora, but colonization, even with antibiotic resistant organisms, is not a primary indication for empiric treatment for eradication. In fact there are some studies that attempting to sterilize the UG tract in colonized asymptomatic women promote symptomatic UTI.

    These colonizations become problematic when growth becomes unchecked and infection develops, or they seed infection into another compartment. There is no reason to think something as foreign as a bacteriophage wouldn’t be recognized as foreign in a sterile space (kidneys for pyelonephritis, liver abscess from migrated gut flora, endocarditis, etc) where these serious infections occur.

    This ties in nicely with your suggestion of phage cocktail therapy. Yes, that can expedite the delivery of phages, however excessive use of phages could result in anti-phage antibodies, limiting future treatment in a method similar to the development of anti-drug antibodies in epoeitin analogues, insulin therapy, antivenin, and anti-inflammatory antibody therapies like adalimumab (Humira)


  • No, in fact I believe very heavily in evaluating primary literature to re-evaluate decades-old dogma within medicine. I regularly disagree with my professors when they present outdated information in lecture. I have no income right now, and I have forgone substantial amounts of income by pursuing medical school instead of continuing to practice pharmacy. I’m not in this for the money.

    If you would be so kind, I would love to know what evidence you present in contrary to the decades of peer-reviewed cohort, case-control, and RCT data which validate psychiatry as an effective field for managing psychiatric illness. I’d be happy to discuss any scientific data you have that I haven’t seen, and would be happy to change my opinion if it is data-driven.

    I can appreciate your skepticism towards medicine and psychiatry, but if you can’t defend your position with anything but accusations and conspiracy, then I don’t think we have much else to discuss.