Sign in

paulspellman.bsky.social

@paulspellman.bsky.social
108 followers 61 following 1.1K posts
PostsRepliesMedia
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
What does this mean? I get that there are different “ways of knowing”. I reject the premise that a society must accept “ways of knowing” that it chooses not to, at least insomuch as nearly all cultures reject “ways of knowing” different than their own.
000
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Maitreya Dunham @maitreya.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Emotional and meaningful day celebrating and remembering the legacy of David Botstein. pph.princeton.edu/david-botste...
pph.princeton.edu
David Botstein Memorial Symposium
0244
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
TrueSync @truesync.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Yep that was my primary reason in dropping cable
032
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I will never pay for cable because I will never give Fox News what cable pays them. I have been cable free 15 years and in one place 5 miles from tower even a 120” antenna didn’t work. At current house it probably would. But I don’t want to run the cable I’d need.
141
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Five years ago CA had essentially no battery for on demand supply . Today 17GW. Next decade current plan is another 10GW. It can absolutely be accelerated. Solar currently at 50GW peak. Cheapest solution for expansion. At many temperatures it is more efficient to go gas->elec->heat than gas->heat.
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It will be uncomfortable for the *heads who drive behemoths. It will require subsidies to move off oil heat in NE. It will require vast expansion of solar and wind. All doable and more importantly NECESSARY to mitigate climate change. It may require some nuclear.
220
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In many markets OTA is unreliable and therefore in the OTA space I either have to have a spaceship sized antenna or pay for cable. Or buy sunday ticket and get ALL the games. Cause do I really want to watch Rams and Chargers?!
211
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The US in long run will be fine. There is plenty of land for solar. Natural gas will get repurposed to fertilizer. It will happen in 10 years or less. We may get some crappy offshore oil rigs but other than that, we will be fine.
121
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
For all of y’all who don’t believe in markets… build too much supply price goes down. If you want to make housing more affordable… build more housing. It’s magic! For those of you who don’t know why prices rose, # people per unit down more demand for more units = price up! Magic!
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
So that’s why China is doing it? I rather suspect it’s more like nuclear weapons, if you fall behind you might be wiped out.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Assuming you live in the US or Europe the population more than doubling in 5 years would likely lead to housing price increases of 2-3 fold. All transit would come to a halt. The infrastructure doesn’t exist. People want the thing they want to never change but this would be a big change.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I think you will find it isn’t practical and the results would likely create a country you wouldn’t like. There might be as many as 500M people trying to get to US in 5 years. The same for Europe.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The stocks he choose were high growth very risky stocks. And presumably he got lucky (although it could be some form of insider trading). The only way to avoid inheritance tax would be to renounce US citizenship but then you owe capital gains. So not forever.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Thiel used his Roth for extremely risky stocks that grew dramatically and the money in a Roth grows tax free. But he changes the stocks which would normally trigger capital gains.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
That is an *interesting* idea.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
You think it’s all PayPal?
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The stepped up basis is because people didn’t know what other people paid for things. Very hard if you include capital improvements, depreciation etc. Not indexing cap gains is that calculating inflation basis was hard.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Yes, this is the much bigger problem. Also important to remember that the stepped up cost basis then runs into the $15M inheritance tax limit.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It depends a bit but yes, this strategy can save some tax money, but not as much as you imagine. Rebalancing the portfolio triggers the gains and a few bad years can force sales. There is a reason Thiel’s Roth is so big, he can rebalance when he wants. Everyone else has to be strategic.
200
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
100% factual and not true for the investor class. Only true for moderate income folks.
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
You are absolutely wrong. The US doesn’t index capital gains. You could buy $70k in stock, sell 10 years later at $80k and owe tax on the $10k but the real value of the $80k is more like 60k because of inflation. Cuban’s example is reasonable too. And most dont get taxed on gains from their home.
251
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Philosophy is by far the most focused on truth in the humanities in that there are at least “some” formally correct answers. I think it is for a post-modern mind the folks who abandoned religion might be landing in philosophy.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Strangely it’s such a commitment that it’s kinda overwhelming. So I bought Sunday Ticket with Redzone today.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Having just heard this why on earth would anyone willingly engage with this person as their mentor. There should have beeen red flags absolutely everywhere.
000
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin @ecmclaughlin.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I intentionally refused to let a Cybertruck merge last night outside of MetLife stadium. I’m not often petty but it’s such an obvious sign of being an asshole to drive one of those things.
4387591653
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
New email to Director Bhattacharya to start Labor Day weekend regarding the secret transfer of appropriated funds to the Department of Defense.
Dear Director Bhattacharya:

Nothing screams "radical transparency" like quietly signing an agreement with another agency transferring hundreds of millions of dollars appropriated to NIH that is only publicly disclosed through investigative reporting and only confirmed by a vague statement by you on "X".

As you know, I have been tracking NIH commitments in as close to real time as possible. I am flattered that NIH has mimicked my "funding curves" on the front page of the NIH Reporter website. Apparently, I will need to consider essentially secret interagency transfers in my analysis.

This is another good contribution to your legacy at NIH..."Director Bhattacharya broke new ground and many other things."

Sincerely,

Jeremy M. Berg
Director NIGMS, 2003-2011
15506168
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Seems like the field ought to be a data sharing standard for the field. The person 1/11 2/12 identity pattern is WILD. Would have been trivial to se if data were available.
010
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
ASM: Congress Must Reject Siphoning of NIH Funds to DoW bit.ly/4xKYUfo
23917
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Ffs
030
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Fine with me if congress goes after bhattacharya
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Impeachable
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The mentorship is actually field wide. Several institutions have developed materials for mentorship academies that are train the trainer models. Look at university of Wisconsin mentorship academy.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Not sure how it works in your field but mentoring has to be two way and is absolutely subject specific. For me the benefits are that it helps attract lab members who are great. Others may just get emotional satisfaction at helping someone out (and I get that too) but it’s absolutely mutual.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Trainees and other faculty need to make sure that abusive advisor don’t get more trainees. You’ve got to be the wingman/Internal affairs/whatever metaphor you want. And other letter writers can write in their letters. There is no letter from Dr McFamous because he’s an abusive ass.
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
You can teach mentorship but it absolutely shouldn’t be taught by experts in education. They can study the problem, fine. It should be taught by expert mentors in the field. Quite bluntly it boils down to do the things you liked that your mentor did and don’t do the things you didn’t like.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
People from Milwaukee often get nailed like 95%, if that helps.
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Is this like a philosophers dilemma? If I think about something must I then worry about it? Students often have low expectations and can only compare to their peers (they don’t know what they don’t know) so I think if you can decide you are better that your peers your students probably do too.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Our field does have best practices for establishing relationships and expectations- essentially a contract process. But it’s not from Ed it’s from mentors who have been recognized to be expert.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Once you hit PhD level you are building the content as you are creating new knowledge.
100
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
There is no right way to mentor (but there are lots of wrong ways). There is not a pedagogy for mentorship because it is field, mentor, and trainee specific. Pedagogical approaches cover content, order/sequencing, and effectiveness but only make sense for common activities.
200
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This I totally agree with. Personality differences mean that some people really appreciate a mentor’s style and other see that it work (but not for them).
010
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It’s hard to take mentorship from someone you dislike so I find this surprising. If you just mean the quality of their critical thinking and reasoning I totally agree but I wouldn’t call that mentorship.
100
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Jacob Oller @jacoboller.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
people reduce Ruby the elephant to just “the painter elephant” but never talk about her other great passion
companionship.!2! She would scatter grain in her small 20-by-30 foot enclosure to lure ducks into range, then she stomped them to death. This aberrant behavior was
1443282
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
For mentorship I’d use stated career outcomes vs achieved career outcomes. Philosophy might be different from science in the sense there is a *lot* of luck in choosing a good science topic.
020
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Trainees don’t necessarily know good mentorship (but they know bad mentorship). They love a mentor who feels like a friend but being a friend makes it very hard to give negative feedback which is why you need to keep some distance and look at outcomes.
140
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
You can take distribution of (1) outcomes, (2) just asking them, (3) how many students are interested in working with you (they should be talking to each other and you should encourage them to do so). (4) evaluating if they trust you. I’ll skip answering if I’m good at it.
120
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
When I saw this yesterday I was inclined to think it nonsense. Thank you for saving me the time.
000
paulspellman.bsky.social @paulspellman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
My understanding of the “replication crisis” is that when another team attempts to exactly repeat published research they cannot. This type of research is costly and not highly cited unless the primary finding is very important and the replication is done amazingly rigorously which is long/costly.
000
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
absolute fuckers "Trump officials at NIH disclosed the existence of DoD’s efforts only after being pressed for information by House Appropriations Committee Democrats." democrats-appropriations.house.gov/news/press-r...
democrats-appropriations.house.gov
Defense Officials Attempt to Raid NIH Funds to Cover Department of Defense Activities
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) has learned that officials at the Department of Defense (DoD) are working to divert billions of dollars from the National Institute...
1018394
Reposted by @paulspellman.bsky.social
Mike Black @mikeblack114.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
lmfao how did they think this wouldn't get found out or was a good idea
1334357