this week i

published my most significant contribution to the r community, even though i didn't really do anything.

helped myself to all four seats across the atlantic.  yum thanksgiving dinner.

watched goodfellas - timeless.  best line: "whoever sold you those suits had a wonderful sense of humor."  also decided the best line from any movie, ever, is: "do they speak english in what?"

figured out what i didn't like about lincoln: his speech patterns matched the bane villain from tdkr.

landed in maputo late night..

..one year older than my grandfather.
 

buildings out of place anywhere but here

the choicest street names..
 
..but so much for communism.  nothing says 'every man for himself' like de-centralized air.

stark gender disparities

sewage system pizazz

i know a few hermit crabs back home who would love to try on that outfit..

..and for upper-body strength, nobody beats this critter.

summertime christmas lends itself to all sorts of new interpretations of santa

noted only two modes of transit.  the wedding brigade..

 ..and the chauffeured businessman.

feel safe anywhere they advertise huggies.  it's a good rule of thumb.

crossed the bay.






found the city worn, warm.

think best, work hardest when i move.  pictured here combating both sunburn and sql.

made it to cape town.

read..

(1) end of life law

although the michigan legislature enacted a law against assisted suicide mainly to stop kevorkian, and he was prosecuted four times under it, juries refused to convict him

the american medical association opposes physician-assisted dying altogether, stating in its code of ethics that is "is fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as a healer."  but the american medical association now represents no more than 30 percent of physicians, and other medical organizations, such as the american medical students association, the american public health association, and the american medical women's association, supported assisted dying


(2) the evolution of computing


mathematicians, he continued, 'are the freest and most fiercely individualistic of artists'..'after all everybody has to do his thinking alone.'

(3) in prison

(4)
capture mission

bin laden had not been armed when he was killed, administration spokesmen conceded.  he had not used any woman as a shield.  nor had there been a "firefight" in the house where he lived

holder said, "you're talking about a hypothetical that will never occur.  the reality is that we will be reading miranda rights to the corpse of osama bin laden."

their heads on pikes

rules of engagement that made bin laden's surrender all but impossible

(5) predictions and skepticism of medicine in the next two decades

medical care will no longer be controlled by physicians.  neither will medical information be based on the results of studies of large populations, which..give less precise information than do studies of individual patients.  instead, patients will largely manage their own care, based on their access to detailed and digitized information in the world's medical literature and to information about their own bodily functions and individual genetic makeup

if major parts of topol's vision are eventually realized, as unlikely as that may seem to skeptical physicians like me, it will only be in the distant future.  for now, i remain unpersuaded that the "creative destruction" of medicine is imminent

11/29

this week i

received my first citation from a united states government agency for survey syntax.  bureau of labor statistics, no less.

consider the field of medicine the pursuit of immortality with a sense of humor.

published a summary of what medicaid does for people with chronic illnesses, plus disease-specific briefs on diabetes, respiratory disease, cardiovascular diseases, and behavioral health conditions.

introduced samhsa to the free, open-source scripts i've written to analyze their data.  invited back for more next january, accepted.

found a bug in the descr package.  twenty-four hours later, it's fixed.

presented monetdb to a room full of quants at aspe.  might've won a convert or two.

possess proof my check was cashed.  gonna hold you to it.

drove to brigantine for the weekend.  saw lincoln, munich, and some piles of sand.


sold the clarinet i bought seven years ago with my first real paycheck.  when one dream dies, make sure another takes its place.

repaired the hole in my floor.

have lived through thirty-one winters and twenty-nine summers, time to set things right.

11/22

this week i

published everything you need to analyze the consumer expenditure survey with free software.

held on tight.
  

had the foundation of my career riding on this election.  the american left wasn't the only winner last tuesday.  after correctly predicting 49 states in 2008 and every state this time, nate silver has proven the essential role of mathematics (and specifically survey methodology) in modern society. when you're ready to learn that new language, make it statistics.  applied math makes me feel like this every day.

joined the crowds..

at 1600 pennsylvania

 ..and just about everywhere else.

have more good news: obama won less than 40% of the white vote and more than 80% of the minority vote.  in 2004, whites were 77% of all voters, now down to 72%.  maybe that's why republicans don't like math.  when the minority reaches the majority and current republican proposals are a museum exhibit, we will raise my taxes.  welcome to liberal america.  lincoln and both roosevelts are smiling down.  this campaign may have ignored the poor, obamacare will not.  also: maryland: wrong to be given the chance to vote on each others' civil rights, wonderful that we upheld them anyway.
 
relived the enthusiasm of 2008, but with specifics (the speech).  i've said it before (1/3rd of the way down), bill clinton said it again, and obama concluded his campaign with it.  my president.

the most diverse nation on earth.  the belief that our destiny is shared.  that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another..the freedom which so many americans have fought for and died for comes with responsibilities as well as rights.  and among those are love and duty and charity and patriotism.  that's what makes america great.

hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists

we are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions

declare: health reform is already the law.  over the next four years, instead of shoving the entire united states government up a hill, constantly barking as their watchdog when they fail to implement new rules that help the lower and middle classes, we will be working with a cooperative administration.  this law will last the better part of our lifetime, make it work.

found sal khan's explanation of ppaca.  yee haw.

recorded video zero zero zero.

feel good about everything.

donated to my favorites.

fell formal.




spied on our neighbors.

played doc, doc, prez.


passed sunday night troubleshooting big survey data with my favorite kiwi, seen here trumpeting nate silver.

11/15

this week i

migrated to stackoverflow.  reddit-style voting system for programming tech support, helped me crack and finish nsduh.

snuck up to boston..

..for halloween night.

(r-oh)

huseyin went as a redneck.  i.e. my constituency

drank late afternoon coffee and people-watched in beacon hill..


..notice the rubik's cube.

returned a photo to its rightful owner.

stayed out late, hey for a wednesday.


spent the day working at haahvahd.

11/8

this week i

abandoned building this online query tools wikiusgsd deserves my attention instead, now with nhanes.

drove as west as maryland would take us.


rented a herrington manor state park cabin..

..with my dad.

sat and listened to the silence..

..until something broke it.  well hey little fella.

communed with the garrett county watershed.



 explored the local museums.




tried my first edurinal.

wish our one percent were as cool as they used to be.

rank maryland superior to all other states.

learned how the locals live, past..

present

..future.

can't think of someone more deserving of the guillotine.  it was him or us, people.

while we're at it: raise taxes, demand transparency.

headed home.

prepped for a dracustorm, wonder if it's also effective on frankenstorm sandy.  memo to noah: throw the mating pair of rats overboard this time.

read about nurse practitioners, gotta write a synthesis paper that examines pcp shortages, the medicaid expansion, and a review of current state law.

physician reimbursement places a zero value on talking to the patients.  but nurse practitioners are salaried, giving them the luxury of time.

a review of 118 published studies over 18 years comparing health outcomes and patient satisfaction at doctor-led and nurse practitioner-led clinics found the two groups to be equivalent on most outcomes.  the nurses did better at controlling blood glucose and lipid levels, and on many aspects of birthing.  there were no measures on which the nurses did worse.

they may be old-fashioned, but that doesn't mean they should be financed with bake sales.

11/1