Farrel Buchinsky

Furthermore, ideas are cheap and plentiful. Way rarer is the skill and resources to execute an idea. And even rarer still is the random confluence of uncontrollable and unknowable variables that will result in the execution succeeding. Looking backwards after success has been had, it will look as if it was all because of the idea. Nonsense! - Farrel Buchinsky

Useful suggestions for making diagnosis - Farrel Buchinsky

Did I miss the reference? Where is the original paper? What is the confidence of "will do better"? I have long maintained that "Honesty is the best policy" is a lie perpetrated by liars to dissuade others from using an instrument that they, liars, have found to be so very useful. - Farrel Buchinsky

This is the article that was my initial inspiration to realizing that RRP will be solved by patients providing most of the data and not doctors. Patients may have more time and may have more motivation but they need doctors involvement. I would like to see a site where patients report and doctors verify or "tidy up" - tidy up in a medical measurement sense. - Farrel Buchinsky

Appears to be a great resource for starting. But I had a quick look around and it seems very complicated. Probably a great idea if one is using it all the time. Will be difficult if one is going to use it once every few months. - Farrel Buchinsky

Great snippet about being able to search within articles that cite a common article. Can Pubmed do this? - Farrel Buchinsky

I checked out spokeo. My impression is that it is just another great idea that portends great utility but does not materialize. It is just another website that does a good job of presenting clear seemingly-accurate data that is not accurate and that for money will give you more -- presumably more well-presented seemingly-accurate data that is not. - Farrel Buchinsky

A great demonstration of how us humans see patterns even when they do not exist and how we develop a sense of confident (or semi-confident) prediction where the data does not support it. This is brilliantly layed out in “The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives” By Leonard Mlodinow. We humans are terrible at recognizing and understanding randomness. Paranoia, superstition and belief count for a lot more in our brains. Not that they should, they just do. - Farrel Buchinsky

Geepers this looks cool. ggplot for exploring data that one holds in one's google spreadsheets whitout having to first download the data. Could use it on any computer from anywhere at anytime. Can't wait to try it out. - Farrel Buchinsky

Purist communism is not what is wanted since there is no differentiation of income to increase drive and risk. Unfettered capitalism without a strong safety net is simply the law of the jungle, economically speaking. So how much differentiation is best for all of us? How much is best for you? - Farrel Buchinsky

I wish to repeat what others have said (I think one was Dan Ariely). If our human brain which is so capable in the visual perception department can be so utterly foxed by this, then how certain can anyone be of anything in domains that are more fuzzy such as which medicines work and which ones do not. On the other hand it is unworkable to second guess everything. A little bit of circumspection is in order. Don't just be certain because you are certain. - Farrel Buchinsky

A list of what can and what cannot be paid for from money in a HSA - Farrel Buchinsky

And that is how you pay yourself back from a health savings account. - Farrel Buchinsky

Who knew that if you inadvertently paid for a medication with the wrong credit card (a regular one, instead of the one linked to the Health Savings Account) you could simply get the HSA bank account to issue the cash to you and then declare what the expenses were for on the tax returns. - Farrel Buchinsky

I don't celebrate Easter but if I did this is what I would get into. - Farrel Buchinsky

I wonder how long it would take for me to set this up. Almost all studies need to to be analyzed and reanalyzed. For instance there are metrics of enrollment and metrics of analysis when enrollment is completed and then there is analysis after one finds glaring errors of data entry the the first analysis revealed. Furthermore almost all statistical analysis needs to be communicated to someone or some groups. Only the nerdiest of the nerdiest can understand an R console output. - Farrel Buchinsky

This is going to be amazing. I do not have the time to learn to program in Java although for something very simple (as shown in the tutorial) I may be able to to customize an existing script. Can you imaging if we see people posting their scripts that we can then customize to our own needs. Or can you image "packages" contributed by others the way the open source community does packages and libraries in R. That will mean that anyone can create highly customized web 2.0 applications from within their own Google Sites. - Farrel Buchinsky

Cannot find article in online search of journal. Wanting to confirm that there was neither HPV 6 nor 11 in the specimens. Also want to see what the incidence was. - Farrel Buchinsky

Just as well the snow is melting. Soon it will be time to get back on the bicycle and check how this can help me. Now all I need is an android phone to navigate with. - Farrel Buchinsky

Entitities are entitled to make money from us for services they provide to us. But oh the pain we have to endure so that those entities can secure their financial interest. - Farrel Buchinsky