Zeal Wierslee
@zealws.bsky.social
Software engineer in the bioinformatics space. Biology, math and science nerd. He/him
When I was a student moving from engineering to biology, I often heard that I was moving to a ‘soft science.’ Whereas physics and chemistry and mathematics had ground truth rules that were true no matter what, biology seemed like anarchy by comparison.
Columbus Dispatch: The conduct of Vivek Ramaswamy in attacking his rival has been reckless, shameful and morally depraved. Therefore we are pulling our support for Ramaswamy and endorsing his rival, Amy Acton, instead. www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...
I recently read Programming as Theory Building by Peter Naur and it provided a really good framework for understanding the software development process. It's basically a way of developing a mental model for the problem you want to solve. The mental model is what you're developing, not the code base.
Peter Ellis@almostconverge.kozterulethasznalatienge.day · 3mo agothe process of writing code is only important insofar as it gives us a framework to analyse, understand and communicate about the problems we're trying to solve
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.
slate.com
Guys. Heads up. Let’s talk about Hantavirus. There have been SEVERAL bad takes and BLATANT misinformation circulating regarding this outbreak so I figured it was a good idea to make a thread about it. Stay calm. Stay vigilant. Know your facts. Here’s ALL you need to know. 🧪🧵⬇️
The word "may" is doing some heavy lifting in this headline
Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 6mo agoThis week in P-hacking
after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...
Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content
“In recent months, more and more administrative reports centered on LLM-related issues, and editors were being overwhelmed.”
404media.co
Recently took a ~500mi road trip in our 5 year old Nissan Leaf and it was far easier than expected. I estimated it was about 35-50% the price of driving our hybrid SUV for the same distance. It did take some planning to find chargers along the route in advance but wasn't that much extra work.
Technology Connections@techconnectify.bsky.social · 7mo agoOkay, I just want to point out that if you have been considering an electric car, I would really consider doing that quickly because things do not look good re: oil availability and cost. Used EVs are currently a screaming deal. I have a feeling this will not be the case for too much longer.
I analyzed over 10 years of anti-trans legislation. Over 330 bills have passed, with ~300 of them in just the last 5 years. There is no precedent in American history for so many bills to target one particular minority group like this in such a short timeframe. www.thedissident.news/the-ratchet/
The Ratchet
In 2015, state legislatures across the United States considered 75 anti-LGBTQ bills, of which 27 targeted gender identity.1 In 2025, that total reached 1,059—with 851 of the current-session bills targ...
thedissident.news
Why isn’t Elizabeth Warren the Senate Minority Leader?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 8mo agoElizabeth Warren: "I am a hard no on a supplemental. This is not a war the American people want us to engage in. This is not a war that makes us safer ... No. No more money. The only thing Congress has the power to do is to stop actions like this through the power of the purse."
Fuck him. He'd rather fund the bombing of school children and the gassing and poisoning of a city of millions than find a god damn spine.
hammancheez but spooky@hammancheez.bsky.social · 8mo agoProfiles in courage
Worst possible place for a measles outbreak. This is very very bad.
Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · 9mo agoWhat a nightmare. “After a week of public outcry over the South Texas Family Residential Center’s treatment of young children behind its walls, the Dilley facility is experiencing a measles outbreak, according to immigration attorney Eric Lee.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
This just drives home the truth that these were *not* improperly trained agents, but instead long-time well-trained actors emboldened by the Federal government's inability to execute the law or enforce justice.
Caitlin Kelly@caitlinkelly.bsky.social · 9mo ago“Ochoa is a Border Patrol agent who joined CBP in 2018. Gutierrez joined in 2014 and works for CBP’s Office of Field Operations. He is assigned to a special response team, which conducts high-risk operations like those of police SWAT units. Records show both men are from South Texas.”
Just making sure that 2025 is definitely over
Rewatching Battlestar and JFC it was prescient. Armed, masked thugs ripping mothers from babies, grabbing innocent people with no warrant. A self-important buffoon as President. Fascists stripped of humanity. On and on.
Pinball model of development and reprogramming. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Greg Priest@gregpriest.bsky.social · 12mo agoConrad Hal Waddington was born OTD in 1905. His “epigenetic landscape” is a diagrammatic representation of the constraints influencing embryonic development. On his 50th birthday, his colleagues gave him a pinball machine on the model of the epigenetic landscape. 🧪 🦫🦋 🌱🐋 #HistSTM #philsci #evobio
The welfare state is about dignity, equality, and making people not poor, but as @itsafronomics.bsky.social says/cites here, it’s often also an investment that more than pays for itself
Anna Gifty@itsafronomics.blacksky.app · last yr.Why should you 🫵🏿 care about SNAP? SNAP recipients saw: - Improved life expectancy - Lower chance of incarceration - Lowers chance of poverty - Lived in better neighborhoods - Higher human capital SNAP keeps our neighbors fed, communities safer, and kids educated. Also people are HUNGRY. DUH!
The MMR vaccine is one of the most stunningly effective medical therapeutics in existence. It’s also safer than most of your everyday activities. This is simply an attempt to stop people from vaccinating.
Melody Schreiber@melodyschreiber.com · last yr.The acting director of the CDC called for new, separate MMR shots. That would be "remarkably complicated, time-consuming, costly, but more importantly unnecessary," @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social told me: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
As if I needed another reason to dislike Dawkins.
Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social · last yr.For those following along, writers include Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Gad Saad, Jerry Coyne, Amy Wax, Peter Boghossian, Steven Pinker, Jordan Peterson & 20+ more via Post Hill Press. posthillpress.com/book/the-war...
Don't forget Thai, and whatever New Zealand's got to offer. Club D ftw!
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · last yr.D, final answer, not even close. You get everything from Mediterranean to Middle Eastern to Indian to Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, and assorted Southeast Asian, then because you also get Singapore you get world class global cuisine too. I’d miss a good taco, sure. But easy, easy answer.
"That relaxed attitude about bodily autonomy comes as something of a surprise, given the state’s six-week abortion ban, but this is America, where you can do anything with your body unless there’s a uterus in it."
Alexandra Petri@petridishes.bsky.social · last yr.Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children
I worked for a big tech company that had a search feature. They developed a new feature that would autosuggest the top few results as you typed, and it was wildly successful. Being able to jump to the thing you're searching for, and skip a separate search results page was exactly what users wanted.
Greg T@gregt314.bsky.social · last yr.Google developer #1: "That's it. Our search engine is simple, efficient, and reliable. It's perfect. We're done." Google developer #2, presumably: "But wouldn't it be *more* perfect if the first search result was always a robot who mansplained your search results to you incorrectly?"
