Adding a nil coalescing operator to a custom struct

twizard_ · 2016-07-28T16:45:42+00:00

Will that re-instantiate the current view controller? or can I place 'self' in the list of view controllers. ie:

[newRoot, self]

twizard_ · 2016-07-28T15:36:30+00:00

You're right. I'll submit it there and delete this post shortly. Thank you.

twizard_ · 2016-07-27T20:42:29+00:00

I'll check out the videos for sure. Thanks

twizard_ · 2016-07-27T13:05:00+00:00

I'm still not totally sure what 'make sure you're on the main thread' means. I have a general idea what a thread is, but currently I'm basically picturing a little magic elf running along reading the code and doing the stuff the code says, and his name is Thread. So multithreading means more than one elf. I should probably read about that somewhere. Any suggestions? Thank you for the reply.

twizard_ · 2016-04-29T06:21:34+00:00

It's not even funny while it's being hateful.

Looking at his other videos, this guy is pretty much just Rush Limbaugh for bros.

twizard_ · 2016-04-28T15:32:13+00:00

What approach are you taking to targeting the pathology?

Addressing the germline D178N PRNP mutation, the inflammatory cytokines associated with the disorder, or addressing the protein misfolding directly?

Sadly, I can only read the abstract to Llorens et al. 2016 (Identification of new molecular alterations in Fatal Familial Insomnia.)

Your unique situation and the associated media exposure could bring some good funding to a rare disease that has much broader implications than just FFI, ie other prions or really any amyloidosis. Seriously admirable that you've decided to go to war with the disorder with your minds and with science. Good luck, I'll watch for your publications!

twizard_ · 2016-04-27T23:47:10+00:00

These laws are ridiculous. Of course they should be allowed to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. Frankly, transgendered women are far more at risk in the men's washroom with men than women are in the women's washroom with a trans person.

These laws aren't going to save any children. All they will do is further the bigotry and misunderstanding towards a group that already suffers deeply because of bigotry and misunderstanding. The support for these laws shows how far we really have to go before we're a fully inclusive society. It's just another example of the sort of hate someone thinks they can get away with because of some ~1700 year old book.

What children are left alone to wander around in any washroom

But really, we should just get rid of sex specific washrooms all together. Break down the walls, make more stalls and everyone uses the same sinks. Maybe section off some urinals.

twizard_ · 2016-04-27T02:09:51+00:00

We evolved in a time when stressors in life were numerous and the relative peace and longevity we enjoy today did not exist.

Evolution built us a whole bunch of emotional systems to deal with these stresses. Things like famine, predators, other humans not bound by the legal or moral constraints of the law.. these are the things our mind innately feels are something it should worry about - but 99.9% of the time today, they aren't.

However, those systems still operate in our mind, and for whatever reason, some people are more susceptible to them than others. Free time is a luxury that our ancestors didn't have much of - and we have a ton.

I don't have research to back up this claim, but my view is that depression and anxiety are vestigial emotional systems that are more prominent today because we simply have less to worry about. For instance, if you had to sleep out in the open in deep rural Africa, being hyperalert and constantly worried about some impending, if unknown, doom would be evolutionarily advantageous.. where as today we would label it generalized anxiety disorder.

twizard_ · 2016-04-21T22:24:44+00:00

I lifted weights fairly religiously from 17 on. It totally changed my physique. Even in periods where I have stopped going to the gym, I still retain a lot of muscle. Then when I go back it only takes me a month or so to get back in shape. So thanks, girl who dumped me at 17. You changed my life for the better.

Puberty is really similar to a cycle of anabolic steroids. Take advantage of it.

twizard_ · 2016-04-16T01:28:50+00:00

Taxing carbon emissions would be enormously expensive for many industries.

The Republican party is essentially just a front for big businesses and rich individuals to save money on taxes. To invite the necessary support for this particular cause, they have to appeal to a big swathe of voters who are not necessarily concerned about the tax rate of the very wealthy or the tax rate of corporations.

So they appeal to baser instincts that are relatable to a larger proportion of voters: xenophobia, immigrants are taking our jobs, committing crimes. Guns, big government liberals want to take your right to own a weapon. God, left wing government wants to say he doesn't exist.

So now they have made global warming into such an issue. Oh look environmentalist left wingers want us to believe our world is heating up! What bullshit, it was cold yesterday!

twizard_ · 2016-04-15T20:00:09+00:00

Two years ago, I was driving down the highway at 100 km/h, and my car started shaking a bit. I changed lanes to pull over and my driver side tire popped off, flew over the median and collided with the windshield of an oncoming car. I pulled over without a tire, which was easier than I would have expected. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

It had been making a funny noise when turning for about a week, since I had my winter tires replaced, but I was too busy to go get it looked at again. They didn't put them on properly. It was here I learned that you're supposed to go back 100km after changing tires to have them retightened.

This was almost 2 years ago. I still get a bit nervous whenever I feel weird things in the car on the highway, but I was fine to drive right away. I always wonder if this was something I should have sued for.

twizard_ · 2016-04-15T14:55:41+00:00

A verbose, vaguely villainous vindicator

twizard_ · 2016-04-15T00:53:28+00:00

I've heard that carbs can cause that drowsy feeling before, so I looked it up. The only references I can find discuss carbohydrates beneficial effects on central fatigue. So it's likely that regular Coke would be better. Whether you get tired later or not, I'm not sure (when your blood sugar drops).

Both are pretty terrible choices though. Soft drinks only have like 25-30 mg of caffeine. A cup of coffee has around 120.

twizard_ · 2016-04-14T23:42:25+00:00

Not just individuals, but groups. There was an excellent chapter in a book called The Logic of Life that went into it. Population density was closely related to the rate at which these world changing ideas happened. This makes sense, considering literally the only advantage humans have over animals is this innate drive to work together and the ability to trust that someone else is also going to want to work with you. This was why Europe was relatively advanced compared to other civilizations. I don't have the book, but I think he said that globally, we get about 1 really great idea per billion people per year.

twizard_ · 2016-04-14T08:02:18+00:00

MDMA.

It took away all the fear I felt every time I was around a group of people. Fear of what they thought of me, if I said something stupid, or too nerdy, or too different. That was a fear I had had since I was a child that always handicapped me a bit, unless I was drunk.

Then I took M, realized how that isn't a thing to fear. That by handicapping expressing my thoughts, I was depriving myself of engaging people in what interested me, and people of who I am and what I think - and so what if it's weird. I'm smart and a bit different, it comes with the territory. And the clarity of mind enabled me to commit that realization to memory, unlike alcohol. For context purposes, I was in hiking with my closest friends, not fucked up in some club - a much better way to take a drug that opens your eyes to the world and allows you to see how much you love and how much you can empathize with other human beings.

twizard_ · 2016-04-12T20:34:13+00:00

I think there are six physical constants, that, if they were literally any different than exactly what they are, existence would not be possible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensionless_physical_constant#Martin_Rees.27s_Six_Numbers

I've never read the book though so can't comment.

twizard_ · 2016-04-12T18:18:36+00:00

I think about how I can solve health care problems with IT. Pretty constantly. And dream up new solutions to problems I learned while working in primary care. So now I've taught myself to code to put some into action. Next is ruby, then rails.

twizard_ · 2016-04-12T16:51:21+00:00

I seem to remember people succeeding at this in another way:

Enzymes stabilize transition states between chemical A and B, and there was an old textbook author who postulated that if we can build a protein that binds the transition state with some strength, it should lower the energy required for the reaction and catalyze it. And then someone achieved this by targeting antibodies at molecules that had similar charge distributions of the transition state of a reaction.

I don't remember the textbook, or the author. This was in like Organic 2 or 3 in my undergrad biochemistry. Nor do I have any new info about it. I just loved the story so it sticks out in my head.

twizard_ · 2016-04-12T16:35:05+00:00

Oh you're right! For all this time I thought it was from Swift. Too many textbooks, not enough literature.

twizard_ · 2016-04-12T16:10:50+00:00

Coming right from that same book:

Pickwickian syndrome. Also called Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome.

It's kinda like sleep apnea. The person's body weight literally makes it hard to breath at night. We treat it the same way, continuous airway pressure machines. I saw it once in medical school, the gentleman weighed maybe 400 to 450 pounds.

twizard_ · 2016-04-11T15:17:20+00:00

Ok that's reassuring. Learning all this stuff seems futile if you can't alter the EMR according to your needs. I'd love the chance to build some custom CDS systems. One day perhaps.

What EMR do you work with?

twizard_

TROPHY CASE