mc_maurer (u/mc_maurer)

mc_maurer commented on DOGE Bro's Grant Review Process Was Literally Just Asking ChatGPT 'Is This DEI?' techdirt.com/2026/02/19/d... · Posted by u/hn_acker

xg15 · 23 days ago

> We’ve mentioned Cavanaugh here before, for the time when he was head of the US Institute for Peace, and Elon and DOGE falsely labeled a guy who had worked for USIP a member of the Taliban, causing the actual Taliban to kidnap the guy’s family.

Sorry for the OT, but... what on earth?

mc_maurer · 23 days ago

Yeah the story linked there is absolutely nuts.

mc_maurer commented on Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place eukaryotewritesblog.com/2... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

phil21 · a month ago

> have been trying to find a glove-solution that is still warm.

Good luck! Let me know if you find anything, I certainly tried for a few years and now have an absurdly large glove collection to last me a lifetime.

I've found when I need to use gloves I just burn a dollar on an iron oxide heating packet - and it mostly works until it gets to about 10 degrees or lower. After that you really need to wear serious winter gear if you're going to be out for more than an hour or so, at least for me.

I have been wanting to try some of the battery heated gloves but I'm still a little suspect of them. When I find a pair I like on sale I plan on trying them out. I tend to lose things, so we will see if it actually is a net savings vs. burning up a few dozen of the disposable heating packs a year. I certainly don't like the waste generated either way and it seems a bit silly.

mc_maurer · a month ago

https://www.kinco.com/5210-l

I wear these walking the dog down to -20F or so. They're warm enough with the tops flipped up, and you can quickly flip them down for a little dexterity to tie a poop bag. Not gonna say your fingers won't get cold while you're doing it, but it's the best approach I've found short of multiple pairs of gloves, which is just a pain for a quick dog walk.

mc_maurer commented on Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place eukaryotewritesblog.com/2... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

computerdork · a month ago

Moved a year ago from California to northern Michigan. To add to this list, specifically regarding "Do NOT get wet and cold":

o If you're walking out in the cold, have many different ways to keep your feet and your hands warm, because usually, you'll have a good-enough coat and winter-pants that'll keep your core relatively warm, but it's the very ends of your extremities that get cold (just got a small amount of frost bite on my toes the other day).

o On top of really thick gloves and socks, can buy some battery-heated versions of both. These aren't just gimmicks, they work wonders! As do the standard handwarmers and toewarmers

o Get real winter boots, these are water proof and insulated, so your feet won't get wet, and will resist the cold for longer (didn't learn this one until recently. Yeah, once your shoes get wet enough to bleed into your socks, you feet start to freeze).

o For your head and neck, carry one of those head and neck covers with you in your coat pocket (called a balaclava). Because sometimes you misread the weather and suddenly you've got a 5 degree wind chill streaming over your neck and face.

o etc:)

And, actually, walking in the snow is really nice (so clean and pure), which is why a lot of us here do actually go outside.

mc_maurer · a month ago

A big thing I would add is to strongly consider how much you'll be moving, especially when it comes to footwear.

Boots that are rated to -40 during light activity can leave you with cold toes if you're standing still in -10 for an hour.

Activity levels also dictate how you layer and how easily you need to dump heat. If you're hiking, snowshoeing, XC skiing, you want some layers with zips so you can quickly let heat out.

mc_maurer commented on Some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature nature.com/articles/d4158... · Posted by u/Growtika

mc_maurer · 2 months ago

Ecology PhD turned data scientist, I was looking to respond and you summed up my thoughts really well!

I will add that funding can complicate things a bit, funding sources often get wowed by more "advanced" methods, while the underlying science might be less than stellar. There are important questions that can be answered by small, elegant field studies, and there are questions that require larger datasets and more computation. When we start putting the methodological cart before the scientific horse, that's where we run into problems.

mc_maurer · 2 months ago

I'd also add that the best scientists I know have, for the duration of their careers, put the question first and pursued methods to fit. I know folks who have the wildest set of skills, from next-gen sequencing to fish tattooing and all sorts of random engineering skills. Willingness to learn new skills in the pursuit of worthwhile questions is one of the hallmarks of a good scientist, in my experience.

mc_maurer commented on Some ecologists fear their field is losing touch with nature nature.com/articles/d4158... · Posted by u/Growtika

tony_cannistra · 2 months ago

I have a PhD in Ecology and a BS in CS. I find the bifurcation portrayed here exaggerated. The best modern ecologists merge rigorous fieldwork with advanced modeling; we need to harness vast, underutilized datasets, not just generate new ones.

The 'computer scientist' quote illustrates a frustrating trend: tech-centric 'drive-bys' that lack the ecological context required for good science. On the flip side, the 'old guard' who ignore modern data assimilation are leaving massive potential on the table. The field is rightfully shifting from site-specific anecdotes to foundational, broad-scale work, but we need both skillsets to do it justice.

mc_maurer · 2 months ago

Ecology PhD turned data scientist, I was looking to respond and you summed up my thoughts really well!

I will add that funding can complicate things a bit, funding sources often get wowed by more "advanced" methods, while the underlying science might be less than stellar. There are important questions that can be answered by small, elegant field studies, and there are questions that require larger datasets and more computation. When we start putting the methodological cart before the scientific horse, that's where we run into problems.

mc_maurer commented on R packages for data science tidyverse.org/... · Posted by u/cl3misch

vharuck · 3 months ago

So is this:

    `(`(1)

Bonus points: Find a use for having the parenthesis be a function.

mc_maurer · 3 months ago

Sneaking some very devious stuff into a friend's .Rprofile when they're not looking

mc_maurer commented on A Defense of Weird Research asteriskmag.com/issues/09... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

mc_maurer · a year ago

I'd even argue that the declining rate of scientific advancement is due to the academic track moving towards the same short-term thinking that plagues parts of the private sector. When the incentive structure is towards pumping out publications, there is way less breathing room for the patient development of good science and novel research. Plus, null results coming from excellent research are treated as useless, so the incentive is towards finding obvious, positive results, especially for early-career scientists.

The total result of the current academic incentive structure is towards the frequent publication of safe, boring positive results, especially pre-tenure. Academic research needs to become LESS like the quarterly return driven private sphere, not MORE like it.

mc_maurer commented on SQL pipe syntax available in public preview in BigQuery cloud.google.com/bigquery... · Posted by u/marcyb5st

jakozaur · a year ago

The SQL with pipe syntax is also been implemented at Databricks since Jan 30, 2025: https://docs.databricks.com/en/sql/language-manual/sql-ref-s...

Still, the best is yet to come. Previously, SQL extensions were a pain. There was no good place, and table-value functions were a mess.

Now, it would be possible to have higher-order functions such as enrichment, predictions, grouping or other data contracts. Example:

  FROM orders
  |> WHERE order_date >= '2024-01-01'
  |> AGGREGATE SUM(order_amount) AS total_spent GROUP BY customer_id
  |> WHERE total_spent > 1000
  |> INNER JOIN customers USING(customer_id)
  |> CALL ENRICH.APOLLO(EMAIL > customers.email)
  |> AGGREGATE COUNT(*) high_value_customer GROUP BY company.country

This may be called one SQL to determine distinct e-mail domains, then prepare an enriching dataset and later execute the final SQL with JOIN.

Iterative SQL with pipes may also work better with GenAI.

mc_maurer · a year ago

If only it worked on Databricks serverless SQL warehouses...

mc_maurer commented on Another new wasp species discovered by researchers phys.org/news/2024-09-was... · Posted by u/wglb

User23 · a year ago

My first thought was “is it parasitic?” And then I click and of course it is.

Parasitic wasps are gross, but fascinating. If I recall correctly there is a parasitic wasp that parasitizes a parasitic wasp that parasitizes a parasitic wasp that parasitizes some kind of caterpillar.

mc_maurer · a year ago

The term for parasitoids that attack other parasitoids is a "hyperparasitoid". I did my PhD on parasitoids that attack aphids, but I've never heard of a hyper-hyperparasitoid, do you have any reference to that example?

mc_maurer commented on Parasites are everywhere. Why do so few researchers study them? smithsonianmag.com/scienc... · Posted by u/sohkamyung

taylorius · 2 years ago

That's interesting. I first read your comment, and I thought you were referring to the personalities of those studying an animal gradually changing as they unconsciously model their own behavior after that animal. This seems highly plausible to me.

But then I re-read it, and the second time it seemed to mean that the members of a group studying a certain animal would self select to favour those who are fascinated by and admire that animal. This also seems highly plausible to me.

Either way, it seems fitting that the world of shark study is full of "apex predator" researchers.

mc_maurer · 2 years ago

I think some of it is self-selection, but I also think some of it is a filtering effect based on the much more competitive and stressful atmosphere. Getting funding and permits and equipment to study sharks is a way more stressful process than walking around in a field collecting bugs. Not that collecting bugs is always easy, but the barrier to entry is way lower.