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The two kinds of professors you’ll meet
Posted on June 8, 2017 2 Comments
When I was in college, there was this one chemistry professor known for being very tough on students. He was the professor you’ve probably heard about, the one who tells the class that most of them will fail and will have to re-take the course. He said that it was pointless to try and get […]
Will Your World Be Worth Saving?
Posted on June 6, 2017
In the climactic battle in Batman v Superman, Lois Lane asks Superman not to try and kill Doomsday with the kryptonite spear. “This is my world,” Superman says to Lois. In this incarnation of the character, he has struggled with whether or not he belonged on Earth. To many, he is an alien who continues to meddle […]
Books You Should Read: “We Are Legion (We Are Bob)”
Posted on June 4, 2017
Very few times in my life have I read a novel that keeps me reading right on through and I long to get to the end of it and find out what happens. “We Are Legion (We Are Bob)” by Dennis E. Taylor is such a novel. Now, in full disclosure, I didn’t read the […]
What the heck happened to you?
Posted on May 28, 2017 3 Comments
First, a warning. Some of the videos below, and my transcriptions of what is said in those videos, contain racist, ignorant, and insensitive comments. Best to leave the videos for some time when you’re wearing your headphones or at home away from children. Don’t judge me, but I was playing on the XBox the other […]
What we should have been doing all along: Translational Epidemiology
Posted on May 26, 2017
When I was applying to get into the DrPH program, the interviewer — who would later become my academic advisor — asked me for my thoughts on Translational Epidemiology. Translational Epidemiology (TE) is the use of epidemiology in different stages between identifying a population-level problem to identifying a solution for it, to evaluating what that […]
ODD or ENTP?
Posted on May 22, 2017
The oldest of my cousins (on my mother’s side) was always the standard by which the rest of us were measured. He was smart, athletic, and an overall well-behaved kid. Whenever one of us did something that disappointed our parents, we would be reminded of my cousin’s achievement and asked why we couldn’t be more […]
The Frictions That You’ll Encounter
Posted on May 4, 2017 2 Comments
Before I begin, a quick note: I worked on the Zika response in Puerto Rico during November and December of last year. A section of this blog post deals with what is happening in Puerto Rico with regards to investigating Zika cases, and it includes excerpts from news reports indicating that there is a lot […]
Non-Biostatistician, Non-Epidemiologist Tries to Complain About Biostats and Epi
Posted on April 29, 2017
Don’t you love it when people who don’t know better think that they know better, and then they end up making fools of themselves? There is a particularly interesting anti-vaccine man by the name of Brian S. Hooker. He has a doctorate in biochemical engineering, according to his Wikipedia page. Maybe you remember BS Hooker […]
Go Where The Problems Are
Posted on April 25, 2017
One of the things that I didn’t like about working at the state health department was sitting at the office all day without much of an opportunity to get outside and work in the field. Whenever there was an outbreak, it was the job of the local health departments to send people out to do […]
The Grand Canyon
Posted on April 21, 2017
My wife and I escaped Phoenix for a couple of days and went up to the Grand Canyon. We had never been there. It was pretty awesome. (I’ve seen the Copper Canyon in Mexico, which is bigger, but different.) We took some pictures. Most were taken by her, though.