Tavo @tavoglc@social.cleverlibre.org

A really good article that drives home the point.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/21/us-police-violence-traffic-stop-data

One piece of structural discrimination: When men who have failed at their agreed-upon goal are given more resources & people to keep working on it; while women who have succeeded at their agreed-upon goal are told they haven't succeeded and the goal is actually different now.

The first part is a type of "failing upwards". The second "shifting goalpost".
Having language to talk about the patterns helps to make them a bit more apparent, I believe, and ultimately can change the system.

Pendulums!

It's wild to watch #journalism swing away from quality.

You used to lose your career for plagiarism and now this CNET thing is like NBD. That's the tip of the AI iceberg.

And the WashPo expanding it's opinion section.

The NYT both-sidesing Biden's documents.

Everyone wants engagement. Who wants to stick their neck out on quality?

Me: "arrest the nazis who funded and plotted a very real autogolpe attempt or you will fall to fascism."

You: "but the Parliamentarian..."

Me: "history will not care."

You: "but the wheels of justice turn slowly! I swear Garland is doing his best!"

Me: "do or do not; there is no try and the nazis do not care."

You: "the walls are closing in, any day now!"

Me: "the very same fascists who asked Downmarket Mussolini for a pardon after the coup attempt are now running Congress."

Soooo, it ‘appears’ that “the largest egg producer in the US,” has seen their profit margin soar, showing a massive increase since last year. Avian flu seems to have played an insignificant role. Inflation seems to have played a zero role. Greed seems to be the bottom line. Just another example of what folks with money are willing to do to the little guy to increase their profits. Geez, maybe we should reward these big egg producers with some hefty tax cuts. 🤬 https://mindly.social/@annie/109755900547807890

From our awesome ☕ workgroup:

☕️We are almost ready for the next #ReproCoffee! ☕️
On Jan 31st at 3 pm (CET) we will be discussing "Measurement Schmeasurement" by Flake & Fried (2020) to learn more on how to avoid questionable practices. Sign in in our website at the link below and spread the news!👇
https://www.itrn.org/initiatives/reprocoffee

“I said I was a web developer in a social media environment, and a man told me that ‘cutting and pasting a man’s code doesn’t make you a developer.’”

"In our research, we... found that most women don’t know how to respond to these undervaluing statements, and most men don’t understand how to respond as allies, either."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2023/01/25/how-women-are-valued-in-the-workplace-why-what-you-say-matters/

😬

"Using novel humanized IBC mouse models, we discovered that EGFR-targeted therapy remodels the IBC TME by increasing cytotoxic T cells and reducing immunosuppressive regulatory T cells and M2 macrophages. These changes were due to diminishing immunosuppressive chemokine expression regulated by transcription factor EGR1. We also showed that induction of an immunoactive IBC TME by an anti-EGFR antibody improved the antitumor efficacy of an anti–PD-L1 antibody."

#Immunology #Immunotherapy #EGFR #DrugDevelopment #MonoclonalAntibody

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn7983

The robot apocalypse has been delayed.

#AI #machinelearning #cartoonlogic #silly

In #bioinformatics, and #scientific #computing generally, raw #data is never ever in a usable form.

This is one of the many things #Hollywood persistently gets wrong: the #scientist / #hacker / omni-computer-geek opens up the file, stares at a bunch of #numbers or #symbols, and says, "Ah hah! If I #compile the #HTML to reverse the #polarity on the #IP #gateway, I can #deconvolve the #DNA sequence to #backpropagate the #cellular #metabolism of the #alien #plague! Oh, and make #dinosaurs if you want, but that's extra."

Bonus points if the screen projects on said scientist's face and reflects from the inevitable chunky-framed glasses. Scribbling equations backward on a transparent whiteboard may also be involved.

#Scientists, as I have said many times before and no doubt will need to say many times again, are people. We're pretty good with numbers, yes, as a rule. But what we're good at doing with those numbers is not reading and understanding them. It's using them as the raw materials for product which makes sense to the human brain. Words, pictures, and a MUCH SMALLER number of numbers is our goal. Also continued #funding, which is about the kind of numbers everyone understands.

Before we process the numbers, we need to "#preprocess" them. There are several intermediate steps between the really raw data and the cover story for next week's issue of _Nature_. Preprocessing is where we turn the glowing symbols projected onto our faces into something that kinda-sorta makes sense. It's still not really readable, but people looking at it, who know what they're looking at, can tell what it represents.

Usually this is in the form of one or more #tables: for a familiar example, think of an #Excel workbook with several large #spreadsheets. (In reality, storing data in Excel is a terrible idea, but I'll stick with that metaphor.) Nobody's going to read and digest everything in the workbook. You can look at the headers and a few of the values and at least have an idea where to start. Preprocessing gets you to that point.

For most types of data, preprocessing is fairly standardized. You don't have to write your own code: someone else has already done that work for you. Just pick a #software #package, run the raw data through it, glance at the output to make sure nothing went horribly wrong. Now you're ready to write the code only you can write, to discover the Secrets of Life Itself. Now is the time for SCIENCE.

Or _Nature_. Or _The Journal Of Obscure Subfield Ten People In The World Know Exists_. Or a tech report. You know, whatever.

Careful readers will have noticed the word "fairly" above. In fact there are multiple #algorithms to choose from, and multiple packages implementing those algorithms, and #documentation written at 3:00 AM by an exhausted #postdoc who really just wanted to check the #cell cultures one last time and grab the remaining half a chicken salad sandwich from the break room fridge and go home and crawl into bed for a few hours' sleep before dragging ass back in tomorrow. Shower optional.

Other exhausted postdocs and their harassed #principal #investigators, who get somewhat more sleep and a somewhat finer grade of chicken salad but are much more worried about upcoming funding application deadlines, may or may not bother to write down which package they use to preprocess their data. Or what specific parameters they tuned. Or if they even know how they're supposed to use the damned thing: there's a really good chance they just ran the data through on the default settings, got something that looked reasonable, and called it a day.

Amazingly, most of the time this doesn't really matter. Data has a life of its own. The bigger the data set gets, and these days nearly all data are "big data," the more likely it is that any reasonable method will produce similar results. Good thing too, otherwise science (and _Science_) would grind to a screeching, shuddering, smoking halt.

Sometimes it matters a lot. Careful scientists check, just in case. I try to be one of those, and when I'm not, my coworkers pick up the slack. Luckily for me, for most of my career I've found myself in the company of those who live up to that standard, and I can mostly convince myself I do the same. Another item on Hollywood's long list of sins: science is not a solo enterprise. In fact it's deeply social, which is one of several reason why the stereotype of scientists as loners is a load of crap. But I digress.

In case you're wondering if this has a point, yes it does, and here it is: all the above is why my boss recently sent me a message saying, "Woah yeah ok so maybe you do need to process from raw after all. B/c idk wtf that is."

Without any irony at all: I love my job.

Minnesota 🌨️ COVID-19 current stats for Tue Jan 24 2023

Cases: 1,747,751
Deaths: 14,476
Recovered: 0
Active: 0
Tests: 24,087,418
Doses: 12,616,632

#covid_minnesota
https://covid.yanoagenda.com/states/Minnesota

Colorado 🏔️ COVID-19 current stats for Tue Jan 24 2023

Cases: 1,742,917
Deaths: 14,684
Recovered: 0
Active: 26,864
Tests: 21,068,549
Doses: 12,826,568

#covid_colorado
https://covid.yanoagenda.com/states/Colorado

@BaylessMarilyn @catsladder @HappyHeathen

Kentucky 🏇 COVID-19 current stats for Tue Jan 24 2023

Cases: 1,685,679
Deaths: 17,838
Recovered: 0
Active: 40,977
Tests: 13,675,281
Doses: 7,439,071

#covid_kentucky
https://covid.yanoagenda.com/states/Kentucky

Alabama 🏴 COVID-19 current stats for Tue Jan 24 2023

Cases: 1,596,149
Deaths: 20,820
Recovered: 0
Active: 54,870
Tests: 8,840,429
Doses: 6,957,265

#covid_alabama
https://covid.yanoagenda.com/states/Alabama

@catsladder @spacebarbarian

Louisiana 🏴 COVID-19 current stats for Tue Jan 24 2023

Cases: 1,533,257
Deaths: 18,479
Recovered: 0
Active: 22,798
Tests: 17,584,584
Doses: 6,899,017

#covid_louisiana
https://covid.yanoagenda.com/states/Louisiana

Maryland 🦀 COVID-19 current stats for Tue Jan 24 2023

Cases: 1,337,975
Deaths: 16,173
Recovered: 0
Active: 26,577
Tests: 24,164,742
Doses: 14,518,935

#covid_maryland
https://covid.yanoagenda.com/states/Maryland

@aktbar @kurtote @thereal_renaissance_man

#Genealogy Happy dance! My #FamilyHistory blog caught the eye of a distant cousin who wrote me with details to flesh out my hubby's #FamilyTree. Blogs are easily searchable and a great way to document ancestors as well as serve as #CousinBait