iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 04/03/2026

TIL that splattering your scrubs with beet juice at lunch leaves you looking like you were at a VERY bad C-section. And it doesn’t blot out. So now I look like an axe murderer, taking care of the babies.

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DocAtCDI @docatcdi.com · 20/02/2026

A view of Earth as seen by NASA's EPIC camera aboard the NOAA DSCOVR spacecraft, capturing our planet suspended in the darkness of space from nearly a million miles away

This image was taken by NASA's EPIC camera onboard the NOAA DSCOVR spacecraft

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 18/02/2026

Installed Linux Mint a few days ago. It’s good. Very good actually. Didn’t expect this, but I could see myself migrating eventually, or even pretty soon. (Currently Mac OS >>> Windows)

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 15/02/2026

Thoughts on the impact of exponentially (literally) growing capabilities of AI. Very much worth the 10 - 15 minutes to read, particularly if you're closer to the start than the end of your career, no matter what that career might be.

shumer.dev

Something Big Is Happening

A personal note for non-tech friends and family on what AI is starting to change.

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Coffee and improved cognition, reduced dementia >130,000 people followed 37 years Benefit seen only with caffeinated coffee or tea and most pronounced ~2 cups/day @jama.com ☕️☕️https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2844764

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 11/02/2026

Encouraging a kid who decided to get vaccinated, in my own apparently strange way. #PedSky

Former pediatrician here (now just newborns) — congratulations and thank you.

When you feel sore and achy afterwards, remember that it’s because IT’S WORKING! Your body’s immune system is going “what the heck is this stuff?!? I’m going to learn to kick the sh*t out of it if I ever run into it again.”

Whenever I got my shots and I DIDN’T feel sort of crummy the couple of days afterwards, I was worried the shots weren’t working :)

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 09/02/2026

So much depth to the half-time show that I missed. Really nice post sharing the cultural meaning. www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQu... www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQu...

reddit.com

Traditional_Rice_682's comment on "Can I get an explanation of the Super Bowl halftime show?"

Explore this conversation and more from the NoStupidQuestions community

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 07/02/2026

This is today. I guess for me it’ll have to be “Eat ice cream for third breakfast day”

en.wikipedia.org

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day - Wikipedia

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Bill Amend @billamend.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Tonight’s dumb napkin cartoon…

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 04/02/2026

Was working with a medical student recently who said I had a “moral code”. I don’t really know what that means but I felt strangely disturbed. They probably shouldn’t let me work with medical students. I’m contaminating them.

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xkcd Bot @xkcd-bot.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Groundhog Day Meaning xkcd.com/3202 Originally, the ceremony used a variety of rodents and mustelids, but over time most people agreed it made sense to standardize on a specific individual ground squirrel in Pennsylvania. Explain xkcd: www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/…

Originally, the ceremony used a variety of rodents and mustelids, but over time most people agreed it made sense to standardize on a specific individual ground squirrel in Pennsylvania.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 02/02/2026

I prefer: “Don’t believe anything without thought.” - Me

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 02/02/2026

This is both horrifying and expected. I have been dismayed at how many clinicians I know are quite willing and even excited to offload their clinical judgement to large language models.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 31/01/2026

Parents terrified to leave home to bring kid to the hospital is yet another thing making me very angry (bili over 25 mg/dL)

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Scott McGrath @smcgrath.phd · 31/01/2026

You do have to give Anthropic credit here. It is rare for a lab to publish data questioning its own tools. Meta constantly buries internal findings that challenge their business model. This kind of transparency is uncommon and should be encouraged instead of dog-piled. Link to the full study:

arxiv.org

How AI Impacts Skill Formation

AI assistance produces significant productivity gains across professional domains, particularly for novice workers. Yet how this assistance affects the development of skills required to effectively…

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Scott McGrath @smcgrath.phd · 31/01/2026

Really important research out of Anthropic: In a RCT study, they found AI coding assistance resulted in a 𝟏𝟕% 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 in mastery for users. While tasks were slightly faster, offloading thinking to AI stunted skill growth. Using AI to explain code, rather than just write it did help with retention.

anthropic.com

How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills

Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 30/01/2026

I had a mom in the nursery ask if I was The Baby Whisperer yesterday, after calming a cranky small one. Honestly, my dream retirement would include being a volunteer cuddler. Someday.

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nfariousactivities.bsky.social @nfariousactivities.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

“This is an image of universal moral urgency, akin to a small number of photographs that once upon a time had the power to change our behavior, away from cruelty or indifference and in the direction of basic decency.“ Gift Link

wapo.st

Column | The abhorrent power of the photograph of a 5-year-old held by ICE

An image like this could once change history. Can one still?

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 24/01/2026

Dang it, how did I miss this? Back in 2018 I worked (very slowly) through an earlier edition of this book using R but always meant to go through it again (with the 2nd edition) to try to cement understanding. This is perfect! Hopefully I can catch and keep up!

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 22/01/2026

So there’s this suspicious looking spot on my loaf of bread. I think it’s mold. Wife thinks it’s just a bit of ash. Good thing I have access to a clinical grade microscope. The truth will be known.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 22/01/2026

I'm tired of feeling helpless, so here's a first pass of a project I've been working on: trying out different 3D-printed whistles to distribute along with informational cards (front and back shown)

Picture of 3 styles of 3D-printed whistles along with images of the front and back of a card to include with the whistles.

📢 Community Support 🚨
• Whistles: 3 short (threat nearby); 3 long (active operation)
Call LUCE hotline 5a - 9p (617) 370-5023: SALUTE-VP
• Size: How many agents present?
• Actions: What are they doing (e.g., arresting, questioning)?
• Location: Where are they and where are they going?
• Uniform: What are they wearing?
• Time: When did the event start?
• Equipment & Weapons: What gear or weapons are visible?
• Vehicle: License plates, vehicle make, model, color
• Photo / Video: If possible to do safely; do NOT obstruct

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

- Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 21/01/2026

Just installed #LibreOffice for use on MacOS — any tips or suggestions? It’s a bit janky with intermittent app hangs on saves (which I’ve seen previously reported but without solutions) and odd UI issues, but I want alternatives to M$ Office and Google apps.

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Iain Roberts @slowbikeiain.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Yesterday it was cows using tools, today its penguins using satellite imagery.

Headline: "Scientists discover emperor penguin colony in Antarctica using satellite images"

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 09/01/2026

Thank you, Massachusetts Department of Public Health. #PedSky

Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH)
Guidance on Recommended Reference Materials for Pediatric Immunization Schedules
January 2026

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is issuing this notification to inform clinicians of a change in recommended reference materials for pediatric immunization schedules.

DPH has a longstanding and ongoing commitment to promoting evidence-based immunization practices that protect communities from vaccine preventable illnesses. Following a review of recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pediatric immunization schedule, DPH now recommends that clinicians in Massachusetts use the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule as the primary reference for the routine immunization of infants, children, and adolescents.

DPH recognizes the importance of clear, consistent, and evidence-based guidance to facilitate safe and effective vaccination practices. AAP is a national professional organization representing pediatric physicians, and its immunization schedule is developed by pediatric experts and updated regularly to reflect current evidence and clinical best practices for immunizing children and adolescents. The AAP immunization schedule aligns with science-backed pediatric standards of care and provides detailed guidance that supports clinical decision-making in pediatric settings.

Clinicians should continue to follow all applicable state requirements, including the immunization requirements for school and camp entry (aligned with AAP recommendations), and reporting obligations, including documentation of administered immunizations in the Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS).

DPH will continue to monitor national immunization policy updates and will communicate any additional guidance as needed.

Thank you for your continued commitment to protecting the health of Massachusetts children and families. …

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 07/01/2026

Here's an annoying behavior that resulted in a hard to find bug: Our build of SnowflakeSQL returns queries in R with: - datetimes as POSIXct (yay!) - time in local (yay!) - timezone in UTC (boo...) It'd be great if I my hospital was near the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, but it isn't.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 03/01/2026

This is a wonderful and extraordinary YouTube series. While it's not "actually" Richard Feynman speaking, it's inspired by him, and the joy and wonder comes through. The explanations are at a low enough level for me to understand, so much as quantum mechanics can be "understood". It's inspiring.

youtube.com

Physics The Feynman Way

The principle of science is that the truth of any statement becomes a matter of experiment and observation, not authority. - Richard Feynman This channel explores the life, work, and ideas of Richard...

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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Thanks GlobalTV Canada! 🇨🇦

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Aman Bhargava @aman.bh · 21/12/2025

> We archived around 86M music files, representing around 99.6% of listens. It’s a little under 300TB. This is the largest music metadata database that is publicly available. Many interesting 📊 charts on this page that can only be made by having this scale of data. annas-archive.li/blog/backing...

Chart showing that 70% of songs are ones almost no one ever listens to (stream count < 1000).

A chart titled "Stream Count Analysis by Popularity" showing a histogram of total streams peaking at popularity scores of 60–70, overlaid with a line graph showing average streams per song spiking exponentially at scores of 90–100. Below, a table lists the top three songs by stream count: "Die With A Smile," "BIRDS OF A FEATHER," and "DtMF."

A matrix grid with the title "Audio Features Correlation Heatmaps" showing histograms of musical traits (Tempo, Energy, Valence, etc.) along the diagonal and 2D density heatmaps showing correlations between paired features in the intersecting cells.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 21/12/2025

Came across a bad joke: What do you get when you cross Cookie Monster with Cthulhu? I’m generally against AI-generated images, but I needed to visualize it:

What do you get when you cross Cookie Monster with Cthulhu?

An Eldritch horror image of Cookie Monster with tentacles coming out of his mouth, holding the cursed tome of the Necronom-nom-nomicon.

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Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 11/12/2025

Nice work by the authors of this MMWR with some good vaccine news! The report found that the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccines provided significant protection against COVID-19 related emergency department and urgent care visits among U.S. children aged 9 months to 17 years. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...

cdc.gov

Effectiveness of 2024–2025 COVID-19 Vaccines in Children...

This report describes COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness among children ages 9 months to 17 years.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 12/12/2025

Challenger 650 for X-Plane sim is picky… tried high altitude flight for the first time at 36,000 feet. I might have accidentally deactivated cabin pressurization + climate control. So, the passengers might have all passed out and the cabin might be at -3°C. No repeat customers from this flight.

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Cédric Scherer @cedricscherer.com · 12/12/2025

I ignored the strip.clip argument in #ggplot2 for way too long 😲 Combined with a small negative margin tweak, you can place facet labels inside each panel. A tiny trick that makes small multiples feel so much cleaner. 🔵 no manual coordinates 🔵 inherits theme styling 🔵 scales nicely when resizing

Side-by-side comparison of two multi-panel bubble charts faceted by world region. The left column shows the default facet labels placed above each panel (“Africa”, “Americas”, “Asia”, “Europe”, “Oceania”). The right column shows the same charts, but the facet labels are moved inside each panel at the top-left using a negative margin. In the center, there is a title reading “Want to place your facet labels inside each panel?” with an arrow pointing right, followed by a short ggplot2 theme code snippet demonstrating how to move strip text inside the panel.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 09/12/2025

New levels of geek achieved — for flight sim, I bought the X-Plane Bombardier Challenger 650 by Hot Start. Wow. Its systems are so accurately modeled that I’m now going through the real life Challenger’s 1000+ page Airplane Flight Manual to better understand what the sim is doing.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 02/12/2025

My wife has been repeatedly repairing large holes in her knit socks, and I believe she is well on her way to creating the Socks of Theseus.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 25/11/2025

Wife has been using the 3D printer at the makerspace a lot. Finally broke down and got one for home. Meet my Hippo of Disapproval. Its role will be to sit on my desk and unsuccessfully prod me into being productive.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 21/11/2025

Refilling the water reservoir for the NICU coffee maker this morning — mystified by the .XAM label. Yes, I really need this coffee badly.

Transparent water reservoir for coffee maker which says .XAM which confused me

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 20/11/2025

Warned my NICU team to be careful about using the CDC as a source of reliable information. Hope the AAP steps up, perhaps expanding the Red Book to cover topics I used to go to the CDC for.

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 16/11/2025

At least half a decade later, the bunny is still going strong… Copy paste the bunny and then put something else in his hand 😃 (\_/) (°-°) />🥕 My kids’ contributions: (\_/) (\_/) (°-°) (°-°) />🔪 🔫<\ (Bringing a knife to a gun fight…) (\_/) (\_/) (🕶️) (._.) / \ />🕶️

reddit.com

From the randomthings community on Reddit

Explore this post and more from the randomthings community

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

This is a real flight school, teaching people to fly planes!!! Like????

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 14/11/2025

Pre-alpha public release of Kitten Space Agency!!! I played a bit of KSP and was disappointed by KSP 2. KSA is looking GREAT after very little time, and the devs seem to have their hearts in absolutely the right place — I’ll be making a contribution to support them! #ksa #KittenSpaceAgency

Screenshot from the pre-alpha public release of Kitten Space Agency

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 14/11/2025

Met the on-call intern and fellow tonight. Was asked “Are you the one who went into SVT while working and got an EKG of yourself?” Why, yes, that would be me (20+ years ago as a peds resident). Caught the break and finished the overnight shift too. I guess it’s good to be known for… something…?

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 12/11/2025

First time I’ve seen this, and even through light pollution of suburban Massachusetts

Aurora borealis despite suburban light pollution

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Joe Chou @incidentalfindings.org · 11/11/2025

Took a night owl cross-country flight back home. There was a rather cranky toddler across the aisle. I no longer have any guilt whatsoever at splurging on noise-canceling ear buds.

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