Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@qoto.org

Hello, all. I've been around for a few days but haven't yet made an #introduction post. So here we go.

I'm a #bioinformatics consultant with [The Bioinformatics CRO](https://www.bioinformaticscro.com/) working on a variety of small and large projects ranging from fundamental genomics to clinical decision support. Before that, for several years I was a postdoc and ORISE fellow specializing in high-altitude medicine and physiology at the University of Colorado Altitude Research Center. My academic background is a nearly even mix of #biostatistics, machine learning, and biology.

The ARC* has been sadly moribund for a few years, but thanks to collaborations with other groups, we're [starting to get more active again](https://harcsummit.org/). Hopefully I will have more to say about that in the future. Meanwhile, feel free to ask me anything about #altitude medicine---I think I still remember most of it.

Years before _that_, I was an Air Force #medic (after a brief stint as an Army infantryman) followed by a couple of years as a civilian EMT. My time in patient care informs my approach to science: the numbers I crunch represent human lives.

Otherwise, I'm an armchair #paleontologist hoping to be able to call myself an _amateur_ paleontologist again one of these days---by which I mean actually spending some time in the field and/or the prep lab---a too-occasional science fiction writer, and chronically sleep deprived. Also, my life is the internet: it's cats all the way down.

*Fellow #Primeval fans may recognize the jacket in the picture. My wonderful fiancée found it for me when I was hired at the ARC, for exactly the reason you think.

I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed in #AOC for making fun of her perception of Stephen #Miller's height, or in the many otherwise decent human beings who have repeated it with approval.

Anyway, don't do that. Dude's a fucking #kapo, you can find other ways to mock him.

Perhaps I was luckier than I thought when my academic career ended prematurely.

No matter where you go ... there you are.

You know, I'm good with this.

#Bioinformaticists need a set of Greek theater masks.

I'm horribly amused that at least on my server, the picture of Dr. Marrazzo's face is blurred out as "sensitive content."

#Noem is slaying her thousands, and #Hegseth may slay his tens of thousands. #Kennedy will slay his millions. Single-digit millions if we're *lucky*. Tens or hundreds aren't out of reach.

I know I keep repeating this. Because it's true.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-fires-nih-vaccine-whistleblower-dr-jeanne-marrazzo/

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our snark.

"#FEMA is overrated anyway half the time they get it wrong to right before hurricane or tornado hits they can’t control the weather" [sic]

"#Weather #control is #HAARP's job. Do try to keep up."

Nature is so beautiful.

"#Correlation is not #causation" is right up there with "according to science" and "read a history book" on my list of thought-terminating cliches. Even when it's applicable—which is less likely than you think—there's nearly always a better and more specific way to make your point. Trust me on this.

I've been so eager to learn the truth about #Amelia #Epstein.

About Jared #Polis and #RFK Jr.

When Donald #Trump announced #Kennedy as his nominee for Secretary of #Health and Human Services, most Democrats reacted with alarm and disgust. Kennedy has amply justified that reaction: I've written at length about it and no doubt will again, but that's not the point here.

One prominent Democrat endorsed the nomination: Jared Polis, currently Governor of Colorado. Since that happened, I've seen many otherwise rational people make excuses for him, often citing this Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/19/jared-polis-colorado-trump-rfk-jr

The article doesn't exonerate Polis. Quite the opposite.

Antivaxers are mass murderers. Decent people do not "look forward to working with" traitors to humanity. Say if I found out Vladimir #Putin was just as much into paleontological science fiction as I am (probably not) I still wouldn't invite him to collaborate on my time travel stories.

One specific quote from Polis really jumped out at me: "[RFK Jr.] helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up #HHS and #FDA."

Vaccine mandates are not something to be "defeated." They're among the most effective public health measures in history. Every rational person knew Kennedy's "shaking up" would mean the destruction of HHS, FDA, and every other agency whose work is based on science rather than murderous ideology.

Polis may well run for Senate in 2028. If he does, and gets the nomination, I'll probably vote for him, because he's practically guaranteed to be better than whoever is the Republican nominee. But I'll oppose him every step of the way before that.

From comments on a years-ago Facebook conversation: "Well, okay, I used to be #Chekhov, and on my good days I still am. But I can feel myself turning into #Bester." The transition is just about complete now.

"I was too smart to enlist and they didn't want me as an officer because I raise too much hell."

"Officially, there's no record of my service."

"I'd've punched out the DI the first time he got in my face."

Did I miss any?

I do so love it when someone tells me to "read a basic #textbook" in a field where I've not only read basic textbooks, but some advanced ones as well—and as it happens, that I'm getting paid to work on *right now*. #Immunology, in this case, but it's a widespread phenomenon.

Well no, I don't love it, but it does at least provide some brief amusement. Link, for the curious: https://thinktankredux.quora.com/Im-still-going-to-try-to-keep-from-posting-about-politics-in-general-but-Ill-make-an-exception-for-matters-of-medicin?comment_id=156316551&comment_type=3

"Okay, we're clearly at the beginning of a #movie. Now, is this a wacky #comedy with incompetent #gangsters who take ever-more-ridiculous pratfalls in a futile attempt to recover their loot, or a gritty #thriller where the viewpoint characters are in way over their heads? Help me figure it out ... fast."

"I am humorously pretending not to understand context so I can deliberately misinterpret your statement! Look at me! I am very clever!"

Whoever first said puns are the lowest form of humor might have had a different opinion if they'd lived to see the internet.

I'm still going to try to keep from posting about politics in general, but I'll make an exception for matters of #medicine and #public #health. Not only is it of course a subject near and dear to my heart, in the big picture it may well be the most vital issue of our time, and of any time.

#Infectious #disease taken as a whole has killed more people throughout history than any other cause of death, and it's not even a particularly close race. Most people living today have never experienced a world without #vaccines and #antibiotics. We have forgotten the terror carried by even the whisper of plague. #AIDS and #covid, terrible as they were and remain, are the merest echoes of the horseman's hoofbeats. This is a *good thing*.

We're about to learn again. Monarez and many other dedicated people at the #CDC did their best to keep that memory buried in the past, and it wasn't enough. Dedicated traitors to humanity have dug it up and brought it back to life, to shamble through our streets rotting and stinking and hungry for living flesh.

But maybe she'll at least get to go on record telling the alleged people who enabled this horror exactly what they've done. Every disaster movie begins with ... you know the rest. Future historians will remember that not everyone was complicit, if there's any such thing as history at all.

Okay, I lied: now would be a great time to listen to some Small Faces.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.