Who Wants to Roll Their Own Coins?

The other day we noticed our piggy bank is getting really full. We decided to take it to the bank and get it counted.

Much to our surprise and dismay, the bank told us they don’t count piggy bank small change anymore. In fact, they stopped that about 6 years ago. Then they gave us these little sleeves with different coin denominations on them and basically said count it and roll it yourselves. Nerve!

I looked this up on the web and it turns out this has been a trend for a few years now with the big banks. Smaller banks and credit unions may still count coins. I even saw that Quik-Trip will do it.

And most banks will charge you for counting your coins for you. And there is something called a Coinstar machine which will do it—but it’ll cost you.

I found a web page that explains a little more about Coinstar. You need to know a few things about those big machines. Skip to the end of the article to get the skinny.

There’s a WikiHow instruction web page where you can learn in 15 steps (that’s right, I said “15 steps.”) how to roll coins. I read through the first half-dozen steps and had to go take a nap. And banks may not like the idea of either depositing your coins or exchanging them for folding money.

I’m not liking this idea of rolling coins. But our piggy bank won’t accept many more coins. Maybe I should try to roll some.

Releasing Your Inner Nerd

Getting the new laptop reminds me of my pocket protector nerd days. That’s because the modern laptop is a sharp contrast to the big heavy desktops. I worked for consulting engineers back in the stone age and I wore a pocket protector. Some people might not know what that is. It’s a little plastic pen holder that fits in your shirt pocket. It protects your shirt from ink spots, but makes you look like a nerd. I would also keep notes on a little pocket flip cover paper notebook.

It was mandatory that you carry six or seven pens and mechanical pencils in the pocket holder, which typically would be emblazoned with some kind of engineering advertising label: Nerdy Engineers Are Us or The Silos of Tomorrow.

When I graduated to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) complete with stylus, I thought that was a major upgrade. It was a mobile handheld device on which I took notes using a stylus. It was a little on the big side for my shirt pocket, so it displaced the paper notebook and the pocket protector.

You can see the PDA in action by watching the Men in Black II movie in which a couple of junior level men in black are using them to take notes. This is the scene at Ben’s Pizza Parlor in which Frank the talking pug says the deflated body of Ben has “zero percent body fat” and the two men in black laugh at the joke.

Also on the nerdy side, I used to wear bow ties. They were kind of fun to tie. I had many. One of them was plaid, which I realize raises the nerd level up a notch. My nerd fashion attire also included (you might want to sit down for this)—clip on suspenders. I later graduated to the suspenders you button on the inside of your pants beltline.

I think you can still release your inner nerd by getting a pocket protector. And remember, you didn’t hear it from me.

Is Cribbage Mostly Luck?

I found this cribbage YouTube site that does a really nice job of teaching you how to play Cribbage. Here’s a video about whether Cribbage is mainly a game of luck or skill. It turns out it’s a mix of both.

I play computer Cribbage games with high level computer opponents who-let’s face it, don’t make mistakes. You have to get used to losing pretty often, but there is a certain amount of skill which can help you win-sometimes.

Thoughts On Laptop Computers

We bought a laptop computer. It has been years since I’ve used one. I forgot how exasperating a touchpad is. Luckily, we have a spare wireless mouse and a USB port. The laptop is slim and very light, like most laptops these days.

I remember the first “laptop” I had early in my career as a consulting psychiatrist. I think it weighed about 2-3 times what the modern ones weigh nowadays. I think I could have stopped a thief from taking it from me by whacking him over the head with it.

If I remember correctly, it had a slot for floppy discs and another for disc media. It developed a hardware problem which forced me to box it up and send it back to the manufacturer for repairs. I don’t remember how long I kept it after that.

The new laptops don’t have any internal optical drives built into them.

I read a tech article in which the author’s opinion about the gradual disappearance of internal optical drives and other physical media for laptops was probably the result of large companies finding out they could make more money by charging subscription fees for digital media.

Microsoft comes to mind.

June CDC ACIP Meeting on Covid and Other Vaccines

There’s an upcoming meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) June 26-28, 2024. They’ll discuss the new Covid-19 vaccine and several other vaccines including RSV.

About That Artificial Intelligence…

I’ve got a couple of things to get off my chest about Artificial Intelligence (AI). By now, everyone knows about AI telling people to put hot glue on pizza and whatnot. Sena and I talked to a guy at an electronics store who had nothing but good things to say about AI. I mentioned the hot glue thing and pizza and it didn’t faze him.

I noticed the Psychiatric Times article, “AI in Psychiatry: Things Are Moving Fast.” They mention the tendency for AI to hallucinate and expressed appropriate reservations about its limitations.

And then I found something very interesting about AI and Cribbage. How much does AI know about the game? Turns out not much. Any questions? Don’t expect AI to answer them accurately.

FDA VRBPAC Meeting: Vaccine Targeting Lineage JN.1 for Fall 2024

I didn’t get a chance to watch the June 5th FDA advisory committee meeting on the new vaccine formulation for Covid-19 for this fall. There is a nice summary on the Minnesota CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy).

The committee unanimously upvoted the selection of the JN.1 lineage strain (which includes JN.1, KP.2 etc) for Covid vaccines this fall in the U.S.

As usual, Director Dr. Jerry Weir’s slides (summary slides 22-26) provide excellent background and clear discussion.

In Memory of L. Jay Stein

I was thinking of one of the Johnson County judicial mental health referees I often worked with years ago. L. Jay Stein died in 2014. I looked up his obituary the other day and was a little surprised to find I had written a remembrance for him. I’d forgotten it.

“I will always remember my first encounters with Judge Stein. I was a first-year resident in psychiatry at The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. He often presided at mental health commitment hearings at which I was often the nervous trainee providing “expert testimony” as the treating physician. Jay taught me and countless other psychiatry residents about the importance of procedure. His knowledge was prodigious. But it was his compassion, his fairness, and his inimitable sense of humor I will always treasure.”

Judge Stein’s vocabulary was impressive. Even his recorded telephone automatic replies sounded amusingly erudite. Occasionally, when I had a question about legal procedures in mental health I would call him but get his answering machine. These out of office replies were entertaining and sounded very much like the way he did during commitment hearings. I can’t remember all of it, but it began with something like, “Once again, your request has been denied…” It made me think of what I might hear at a parole hearing—not mine of course.

L. Jay Stein was wise and funny.

FDA VRBPAC Meeting on Covid Vaccine for Fall of 2024

The voting question for today’s FDA VRBPAC Meeting on the Covid Vaccine strain for this fall is:

“For the 2024-2025 Formula of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S., does the
committee recommend a monovalent JN.1-lineage vaccine composition?
Please vote “Yes” or “No” or “Abstain.”

The FDA Selection of the 2024-2025 Formula for COVID-19 vaccines briefing document has a thorough review on the issue.