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Black History Month 2025 ASALH Theme
This is Black History Month and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) theme this year is African Americans & Labor. When I look back on my youth, I think of my time learning on the job to be a survey crew technician and drafter for a consulting engineer company in…
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Just Got Isabel Wilkerson’s Book: “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents”
I just got a copy of Isabel Wilkerson’s book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” I read her other book, “The Warmth of Other Suns” years ago. It won a Pulitzer Prize. I read the first section, “Toxins In The Permafrost And Heat Rising All Around.” It brought back memories of the 2016 Presidential Election,…
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 2025 Events and Some Thoughts
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Week started January 20, 2025. There will be several very worthwhile events, many of which are listed here. Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Humanities Medal, will deliver the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Lecture on February 5, 2025 at the University of Iowa Medical Education…
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Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trying to Defeat Humans?
I just found out that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been reported to be lying as far back as May of 2024. In fact, because I can’t turn off the Google Gemini AI Overview. Gemini’s results always appear at the top of the page. I found out from my web search term “can ai lie” that…
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Artificial Intelligence Can Lie
I noticed a Snopes fact check article (“AI Models Were Caught Lying to Researchers in Tests — But It’s Not Time to Worry Just Yet”) today which reveals that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can lie. How about that? They can be taught by humans to scheme and lie. I guess we could all see that coming—or…
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Artificial Intelligence: The University of Iowa Chat From Old Cap
This is just a quick follow-up which will allow me to clarify a few things about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medicine at the University of Iowa, compared with my take on it based on my impressions of the Rounding@Iowa presentation recently. Also, prior to my writing this post, Sena and I had a spirited conversation…
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Amaryllis Progress and Other Notes
I have a few messages to pass on today. This is the last day of November and the Amaryllis plants are doing so well Sena had to brace the tallest one using a Christmas tree stake and a couple of zip ties. It’s over two feet tall! I’m not sure what to make of almost…
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Clozapine REMS Program May Go Away
The Psychiatric Times published an article about the large majority of FDA committee members recently voting to dismiss the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for clozapine. That reminded me of my short post about Cobenfy, a new drug for schizophrenia. It has side effects but none of which necessitate the need for a REMS…
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Another Congressional Hearing on UAPs and We Still Don’t Know Who Was Driving That Thing
I just sat through the two and a half hour long House Committee Oversight and Accountability hearing dramatically entitled: “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.” The impression I got is that somebody still thinks we can’t handle the truth. This is the second congressional hearing on UAPs I’ve seen. I have to admit, I thought…
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Fluoride in Your Precious Bodily Fluids
Yesterday, Sena and I talked about a recent news article indicating that a federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review the allowed level of fluoride in community water supplies. The acceptable level may not be low enough, in the opinion of the advocacy groups who discussed the issue with the judge, according…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 