2010-04-13 / 22:31 / dave
Dub isn’t a heavy-handed bass line or some person pounding drums like a rock musician or anything that sounds like “reggae,” but more of a way of thinking, of cracking songs open and having the edges bleed together.
I AM SO EXCITED! See you there!.
2010-04-07 / 16:32 / dave
Precision Therapeutics, Inc: Job Description
Job Title: Informatics Intern
Department: InformaticsThe Opportunity
Precision Therapeutics, Inc. is a diagnostics services company dedicated to providing physicians and patients with actionable clinical information to personalize cancer treatments. We are currently seeking an Informatics Intern.
Duties and Responsibilities
(Include the following: other duties may be assigned)
The goal is to do a thorough investigation on the best way to measure in vitro chemosensitivity generated by ChemoFx assays. Traditionally the two major schools of thought are IC50 and AUC of the dose-response curves. Due to the special features of the curves from ChemoFx assays (e.g. non-monotone, resistant lines do not respond, non-sigmoidal), there are some AUC derivative metrics (such as aAUC, tAUC) that are intended to account for the curve characteristics that are not captured by AUC. However, it has been unclear which measure is the ‘best’, and it is difficult not to pre-specify this in a protocol.The current thought is that this research involves two components. (1). Mathematically, what is the optimal way to quantify a dose-response curve from in vitro assays? This step involves the combination of mathematical models AND the knowledge of in vitro biology (especially w.r.t. how ChemoFx is setup). Both parametric models (such as logistic regression model, polynomial model; as well as the choice of IC50, IC25, etc) and non-parametric models (e.g. AUC and its derivatives, smoothing spline) need to be considered. (2). Use clinical data that have already demonstrated the ‘link’ between ChemoFx assay and clinical outcome to compare the performance of different metrics. This can be achieved by in-sample cross-validation approaches or by using multiple independent datasets.
Qualifications
Education requirements
- Graduate student with 2 years towards PhD in Statistics
Experience
- No prior working experience is needed
Required Skills
- R and/or SAS programming
- Good communication skills and writing skills
- Able to perform statistical simulations
Preferred Skills
- Knowledge of prediction and cross-validation
- Knowledge of non-linear regression and model fitting, especially the 4-parameter logistic regression model for dose-response curves
- Knowledge of area under the curve (AUC) calculation
If you are seeking a dynamic, challenging atmosphere, that is never boring, with a chance to make a difference and help cancer patients, email your resume to PTIResumes@ptilabs.com with the word “Informatics Intern” in the subject of the email
I didn’t write the posting, but feel free to ask me questions.
2010-03-23 / 14:11 / dave
CloudFab basically works like this: Manufacturers list their machines and prices. Buyers can then upload STL files, and request quotes from all manufacturers that have a machine that can make their part. We’ve written software that analyzes the file and automatically generates a quote based on various factors, including shipping cost. That way, quotes are generated (almost) instantly. Some sellers still prefer manual quoting, and so we’ve provided that option as well. We also hold the money in escrow, to mitigate the risk for both parties in the transaction, and will do arbitration as necessary in the case of an unfortunate outcome.
Check out my super boring profile: dgingrich
PS: They’re out of Pittsburgh, if anyone wants to rep some hometown pride.
wdired-change-to-wdired-mode, because otherwise I will forget again2010-03-15 / 18:32 / dave
In a Dired buffer in Emacs 22, use ‘M-x wdired-change-to-wdired-mode’ to to make a buffer writable (recent CVS versions also have this bound to ‘C-x C-q’). Change the filenames as you see fit and hit ‘C-c C-c’ to make your changes permanent.
dired key-bindings.UPDATE: …Or just make it real easy.
2010-03-08 / 09:33 / dave
Via Lifehacker which links to the New York Time’s article on Depression’s Upsides
2010-03-02 / 19:07 / dave
I didn’t do anything big for my 30th birthday with the rational that I would wait for my 25‘th birthday. Then I thought “this year I’m turning python -c 'print 0b11111'! That deserves some sort of nerd celebration!”
Then I got sick.
It didn’t stop me from having a nice dinner & some bluegrass party times on Friday night. Then Saturday I had breakfast, conned my friend into taking me to the Co-op and Trader Joe’s, and then had 18 hours of uninterrupted fevered dreams. Sunday I sat around drinking hot water to try to loosen the massive blockage in my lungs. I also did all the work I was supposed to do Saturday.
Some more anecdotes, told as a pithy definition list:
Now I’m mostly better except that I keep spitting up masses of dead, bloated T-cell and have trouble breathing when I ride my bike.
My birthday has been postponed until next weekend.
2010-02-24 / 22:24 / dave
As of 2010-02-20:
2010-02-21 / 22:05 / dave
The 442nd is commonly reported to have suffered a casualty rate of 314 percent, informally derived from 9,486 Purple Hearts divided by some 3,000 original in-theater personnel. U.S. Army battle reports show the official casualty rate, combining KIA (killed) with MIA (missing) and WIA (wounded and removed from action) totals, is 93%, still uncommonly high. Many of the Purple Hearts were awarded during the campaign in the Vosges Mountains and some of the wounded were soldiers who were victims of trenchfoot. But many victims of trenchfoot were forced by superiors—or willingly chose—to return to the front even though they were classified as “wounded in action”. Wounded soldiers would often escape from hospitals to return to the front line battles.[citation needed]
2010-02-14 / 22:27 / dave
2009-11-18 / 22:10 / dave
…remixes and covers are pretty good too.
Carl Bradney – Slipping into Darkness (buy)
Nicolas Jaar – Billy Jean (Nico’s Rework)
Shinehead – Billy Jean (buy)
Snares – Electric Funeral (buy)
2009-11-18 / 07:45 / dave
Edits, unlike remixes, reveal the underlying majesty of the original work. They make it alright to indulge in guilty pleasures.
Fleetwood Mac – Dreams (Soul Clap Edit) (buy on mp3 or vinyl; and I recommend you do because the edit of “Wicked Game” is similarly amazing)
The Bee Gees – Love You Inside Out (Cole Medina’s Col Loves Your Insides Out Edit) (buy; and yes, the edit of Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic” is also really really good)
2009-11-13 / 15:25 / dave
The last time SALEM graced these pages it was for a mix of several styles, many of them not hip-hop. But the south is powerful within them and it leaks out as heavy sludge:
Gucci Mane – Round One (SALEM Remix)
SALEM – Trapdoor
Meanwhile Busdriver has been here for years.
Busdriver – Least Favorite Rapper (Anti-Pop Consortium Remix)
2009-11-08 / 15:59 / dave
Last year for his birthday my dad asked everyone for mixtapes. I tried putting one together in Audacity. It was a lesson in software crashes, followed by a lesson in awkward pauses during track changes.
Fed up I sent it off then didn’t listen to it until two weeks ago while driving 1200 miles over 5 days. Despite the flaws, it’s a decent driving mix. It’s also a nice picture of what I was listening to a year ago; plus I managed to sneak a Megaman sound effect in there somewhere. Happy hunting!
I had originally planned to go more funk/dance hall, here’s the tracklist from the outtakes CD (listed alphabetically):
2009-10-28 / 11:08 / dave
LOL butter!
Alien veggies via the CSA
My pumpkin, 2009
What happens when a runner’s stride frequency is the same as a camera’s frame rate?
2009-10-19 / 03:32 / dave
The client is thirty-six years old and lives alone since his wife left him three weeks ago. She took the kids and all the kitchenware except for a large knife and a bowl and a coffee cup. The client admits her leaving may have had something to do with the fact that, without warning, he completely gutted the house. Tore out all the walls and ceilings, all the lath and plaster, right down to the studs. He says he did this in order to live like a primitive. When asked if it was successful, he says, “It was a step in the right direction.”
The client is a thirty-six-year-old male who lives alone since his wife and children left him over two months ago. He says there’s a darkness that separates him from other people, a heavy darkness, like looking at a person from the bottom of a well. He believes that if he could say the right words, then the darkness would go away. He says he sometimes knows the right words but can’t say them. Other times he can’t even think of what words to say. He has a very flat affect, speaks only when he is forced to reply, and these words he mumbles almost incoherently. His house has no electricity, he has yet to clean up the lath and plaster debris on the floor, and the window frames have no glass in them. He says, “I feel like I’m living on a meteorite.”
The client is thirty-six years old and lives alone since his wife and children left him three months ago. Last week he went fishing in the San Juan Mountains and now believes that there is no better fisherman than himself. He says, “I can’t tell you about it, because talking about fishing is silly. All I can say is I walk around in the water, and I know the instant the fish will jump for the fly. I cut open their stomachs and squeeze out the bugs in my hand, study what they eat, how it all gets digested, even the exoskeleton and wings.” He says he was sick before, but now he’s okay, and that it was the fly rod, just holding the rod in his hand, that cured him. His house is clean, the electricity is on, the walls have been Sheetrocked and painted white.
He says. “I’ll have to ask her, beg her, and maybe she’ll come back.”
Scott Carrier, Running After Antelope
Scott Carrier produces some of my favorite This American Life segments. There’s an eerie darkness to his stories that reminds me of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s songs about depression and break-ups.
This American Life – #80: Running With Antelope (buy)
This American Life – #181: The Friendly Man (buy)
2009-10-14 / 17:25 / dave
Success comes with a price, in this case a calcaneus stress-fracture. Ex-runner Mark, in reference to my then-upcoming MRI, warned that my cycling fitness was probably working against me: my cardio & legs were more prepared than my dainty skeleton. My 5 year old New Balance kicks probably weren’t helping, especially since last year I half melted the soles while drying them in a fire. Hiking ruins everything.
Since I don’t have any pain while walking or biking I dodged having to use crutches, which is good since I hear that cycling with crutches is terrible. But I am off “high-impact” foot activity for 6 weeks. Looks like it’s all about yoga and/or swimming for the next month and a half.
It also means I’ve got some open race entries up for grabs. Anyone want to run the Partners in the Park on October 25th (in York, PA) or the Spirit of Pittsburgh half marathon on November 1st? Upside: free. Downside: they’ll think you’re me.
2009-10-14 / 13:00 / dave
We all know Windows is a ghetto (at least for developers); I just googled for confirmation. Unfortunately I’m stuck there because of work and have been using cygwin to make things easier.
Unfortunately I’m beginning to think cygwin is a ghetto too. You can compile some source, but there are enough differences to be annoying. Specifically you can’t compile libraries to link against other windows apps (like for Python & Haskell libraries) and the path wrangling & soft links break in any native app. It’s only nice if you don’t leave it’s confines.
So maybe a better analogy would be that cygwin is like having a really nice loft in a bad neighborhood.
In contrast MinGW seems more interested in making Windows habitable. Maybe it’s like bike paths & community gardens?
Anyone have any experience with MinGW? I think all I really need is the GCC tools, ssh and bash.
PS: and yes I’ve thought about VMware, etc. But I have to release under Windows anyway, so there’s no point having to maintain two environments. I do have an Ubuntu laptop but I never end up using it.
