iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Please: Recommendations for science and math communicators doing videos 6th through 8th graders can follow. #science #STEAM #Communication #youth

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

It looks good. Dang. I can no longer read comfortably at 600 wpm. Eldritch tentacle floaters in my eyes. 😆😳😢 I now understand this meme. Thank you. We all know I'll try it

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Um, what book? I have no idea what book but it sounds like something I'd buy. Read may be a different question. Odds improve if I get the audiobook. Probably The Nice and Accurate and Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, with a forward by Agnes Nutter, Witch.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The faked data may be the result of procrastination. That's only one data point. If someone found that 70% of the papers on the effect of procrastination were faked, you'd have something publishable.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

You remember the hype over the Segway, I take it. But I also remember preliminary reports of that molecule in Gila Monster saliva that seemed to decrease glucose levels. And, looking at the brand new genetic map of E. coli, the Prof telling us the human genome sequence was 209 to 300 years away!

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Gosh, am I curious! You folks are doing the proper thing, making sure your results are correct and cleaning up some important questions. You should not tell us now. But I'm from Pittsburgh, and we are born and raised nebby. Nebby: Pittsburgh word for getting into everyone else's business. 😆🤷‍♂️

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So "a relentless increase in emissions" is "someone is opening the dang water faucet wider." Don't ask me about the third derivative with respect to time. Others can slug it out. No, the previous line was not my reason for the post.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I'm sorry. What did I miss? Am I asking "What topic am I interested in? Or was there some inciting incident?

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

"I don't see it." -- Brad Boimler

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Somehow narcissism and psychopathy are evolutionarily useful in primitive societies. Maybe even today. It might be like sickle cell: heterozygous (one copy) people survive better but homozygous (two copies) don't do well. The gene is so useful, killing off 25% is still an improvement.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Life may have had a bizarre start, with bits & pieces strewn on metal surfaces on the Earth's sea floor near or on smokers. A big evolutionary step might have been getting assembled & free of the need for metal surfaces. Speculation: What if ALH 84001 fossils were big enough for part of life? 🧪🧬

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Peter watches all those ancient TV shows from mid-last Century.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I don't swear because we have pet birds who will hopefully out live me and need to be rehomed. It's easy to teach a parrot to swear. But parrots that do swear are difficult to stop and lessen the chance of adoption. Parrot Tax attached.

Rob and Cirrus the Congo African grey parrot from an odd angle. And yes, my hair is thin.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

And yes, I realize my survival in that class was two diagnoses deciding to cooperate for once. It's a shame it requires a disaster to activate that "superpower." And when it's not a disaster, they fight brutally and become my kryptonite. If I swore, I would say "DUCK" here.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Links: 1. www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bfo... 2. www.facebook.com/share/v/1DPd... 3. www.facebook.com/share/v/1BeW... 4. www.facebook.com/share/v/1Eo2... 5. www.facebook.com/share/v/18h7... I hate reels with hundreds of videos and there's no table of contents or index.

facebook.com

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

And there's a surprise: Magnesium probably doesn't stop Toursades de Points. That's electricity or statistical luck. Magnesium keeps TdP from coming back. And I am fascinated over a deadly rhythm, where looking on in horror feels more human and less mad scientist. An epiphany a betrayal. Fin.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Religious epiphanies fade. So do scientific epiphanies, like extracellular fluid slipping through my hand, unable to be contained. I don't know anyone I could explain it to, and I'm quickly becoming one of the people I can't explain it to.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

It was like that, except with microscopic details. I'd love to see the structure of real pores & how close we came to divining their mechanisms without the genetic sequencing we had today. How does the equation for laminar fluid flow give the right answer for atoms and molecules going single file?

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I could see how it all fit together, and it was awe-inspiring. And I don't know anyone who would understand that feeling. As a kid, I had a model of a car like the transparent human. You could see how the engine and differential and transmission worked all at once.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I just viewed a five part series on magnesium and Torsades de Points. Most people taking ACLS know that rhythm by sight and dread. And my brain filled in all the little details. Channels that kept ions out. Channels that kept ions in. What caused the Q-T interval.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I busted my butt for that class. I had an astonishing ability to focus that wasn't natural for me, yet be free to connect what I was learning to related topics that shouldn't be related. I got an A- one semester, and an A the second. And I was burned out as I put my pencil down on the final.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I learned how electrical potentials across membranes of living cells were measured. How pores might work. (We only had the genetic sequence of E. coli at that point.) How pore structure affect which ions can pass and which can't. How the electrical system of the heart worked on a molecular level.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I didn't have the engineering background, the biology labs, or the experience to do calculations professors handwaved over in class. The professors saw how much I wanted to take the class and gave me readings to learn major concepts I had never seen. The class was amazing.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

🧪🧬 About 45 years ago, I signed up for a graduate class I didn't have the prerequisites for. Quite possibly only the professors teaching it did. I couldn't drop out after the first class because it was so fascinating. We were studying how pores in membranes worked. I probably should have.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I knew enough German and Yiddish to understand what followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane were calling me and others.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I was a minority in my college. I did have prejudice directed against me. Ignoring it wasn't fun, but I accepted it. And followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane were an issue. I learned to not get into discussions with them. I lived in Sq. Hill when the Cave of the Patriarchs happened. I still chose there.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Sorry. I thought you brought up some useful points.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

2-3 percent isn't rare. That's not the problem. It's because the groups do not associate randomly. This whole thing is what bugged me. I knew it was something.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Having an atomic energy lab employer undid some segregation. Good job, nice pay, mostly scientists. Jews and Presbyterians promote reading, education, and a Presbyterian stereotype that's offensive. I didn't get into states where Catholics, Italians, Blacks, and Jews weren't wanted. (KKK)

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

There are social reasons they segregated themselves or were forced to. Blacks? They segregated for the same reasons plus Jim Crow, redlining, etc. I've always wondered that the the Beth Israel synagogue was just over the borough's border where I grew up.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I taught CPR to a school for Hasidic males. None of them make it into my 120 because I never had contact with them again. I lived in Squirrel Hill which was segregated because there are advantages. A wire can make where you can go on the Sabbath larger. Kosher meat markets. Etc.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

2-3% isn't that rare for humans with groups of 120. How do we get most people don't know someone Jewish? There could be things like some people have no friends. But that's not enough. The only way is if the assumption "if it's all random" is false. Segregation. Why they're segregated…

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Humans have about 120 people they have significant contact with. Our brains enlarged to handle groups, and it tops out at 120. I used 100 so I could do most of it in my head. I did a rough analysis, but if it's all random, there is at least a 95% chance a non-Jew know someone Jewish.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

At three green marbles in a bag with 97 white, one pick gives a ~5% chance of picking a white marble and a green marble. It's not 3% because we're not counting 2 green marbles. Replace the marbles and do it 100 times. The chance of picking at least one green marble is 95%.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Note that I didn't say it's not true. Just that it was weird. It's not my experience by orders of magnitude. And I just realized why it bugs me. There is something skewing the stats.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

They didn't even try for the Christians. Ok, they avoided both Easter and Passover because they wanted to rent out the campus. There are things I'm not saying.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

But it's odd because that's nowhere near my experience. I forgot my pediatrician. He worked with Salk and was Jewish. Ok, I knew what I was in for moving to Squirrel Hill. That was a gimmie. But I knew quite a few people with number tattoos. That's a subset of a subset.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

How could I not recognize it? I forget what they called the musical version: Streisand, Mannilow, Neil Diamond, and some others. On F-Troop, the Indians walked around for a long time and found that area and said "Where the Hekkowi?" Reference to the lost Tribe of Israel, all actors Jewish.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

@clbergpowers.bsky.social It was Washington University in St. Louis. I don't want cause problems for anyone. Rich, powerful, a lot from New York, known for Pre-Med. A number of profs were Jewish, many in the sciences worked on the Manhattan project. Tests were scheduled around Jewish observances.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

This was in the '70s. I was in the Student Government and led the Student Group committee. There was a group of Jews For Jesus made of students. The four members of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade were Jewish. Hillel, I forget. There were booths all over the place around the Cafeteria.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

When Things Were Rotten may have been in the '70s. Same with Mannilow, Streisand, and others. I didn't even go into the '60s cartoons. I forget if the writers were the ones that left the Borscht Belt comedy circuit. I learned Yiddish off of cartoons. Well, the insults. Sammy Davis Jr., of course.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I'm used to seeing Jewish people everywhere, even before moving to Squirrel Hill or going to the University. And don't forget TV. I grew up in the '60s. The Indians were Jewish on F-Troop. Buddy on the Dick Van Dyke show. show. Kirk! Spock! Col. Klink & Burkhalter. Jews being rare is weird to me.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

When I moved back to Pittsburgh, it was to Squirrel Hill, near Tree of Life. I explained about the school to a Jewish mother & wrote a recommendation. I understand it's no longer that way. Some of my profs worked on the Manhattan Project. Didn't get my adviser to autograph a periodic chart.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

This was decades ago. Tests avoided Jewish holidays and I wasn't permitted to skip Good Friday. I had to explain to some Christian friends Sukkot & not wearing leather sometimes. I knew people with shirts "I upped my pledge to the JDF." And "Up yours" on the back. I used to speak some Yiddish.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

That strikes me as odd. Ok, the neighbors took care of me when my parents went bowling and I attended the synagogue as a result. Good size congregation. Started in my churche's Fellowship Hall. My University was ~70% Jewish! I believe you (within 10%), but that's just weird.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Now I know what I sound like when bringing up some trivial point in biochemistry.

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight." -- Sun Tzu in "The Art of War."

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Rob Carr @robcarr.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Mexico would chip in. Puerto Rico might be convinced, and they ARE part of America…and can't vote in national elections.

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