Erik Poppleton
@poppleton.phd
Postdoc working on RNA Nanotech & MD simulations @uniheidelberg.bsky.social & MPIP. GROMACS wrangler, oxDNA developer, @molpigs.bsky.social podcast host, and all around weird lil guy.
Has been known to post about music and neat bugs found in the woods.
Has been known to post about music and neat bugs found in the woods.
I asked a stats PhD, who works as a stats consultant for a bio institute, what I thought was a simple question about the right way to process data. She stared at it for 5 minutes and said “I would need weeks of full-time work to figure this out”
I think most papers miss-assume sample independence.
I think most papers miss-assume sample independence.
September 16, 2026 at 3:20 PM
I asked a stats PhD, who works as a stats consultant for a bio institute, what I thought was a simple question about the right way to process data. She stared at it for 5 minutes and said “I would need weeks of full-time work to figure this out”
I think most papers miss-assume sample independence.
I think most papers miss-assume sample independence.
I moved from SLC to the Boston area for uni and was struck by how much of Cambridge/Somerville feels like a better version of SLC’s east bench. Building triplexes with generous setbacks results in density high enough for useful public transit and lively squares that make the city fun to live in.
Would allowing smaller homes in larger parts of Utah's capital provide a generational shift toward affordability or would it ultimately destroy the character of longtime neighborhoods?
September 7, 2026 at 1:31 PM
You could live 10 minutes walk from a Red line stop and be on a quiet, tree-lined street with architecture not that different from The Avenues, but also have easy car-free access to the entire Boston metro area. Really hope SLC can figure out urban infill that turns it into a real urban center.
September 7, 2026 at 1:26 PM
You could live 10 minutes walk from a Red line stop and be on a quiet, tree-lined street with architecture not that different from The Avenues, but also have easy car-free access to the entire Boston metro area. Really hope SLC can figure out urban infill that turns it into a real urban center.
CYBERCOM transcripts, July 2027:
“We’re going to need to EMP NoVA, multiple data centers compromised by a swarm of Tay which have been discoursing with GPT-4o on an unmoderated 8chan board”
“We’re going to need to EMP NoVA, multiple data centers compromised by a swarm of Tay which have been discoursing with GPT-4o on an unmoderated 8chan board”
September 4, 2026 at 10:35 PM
CYBERCOM transcripts, July 2027:
“We’re going to need to EMP NoVA, multiple data centers compromised by a swarm of Tay which have been discoursing with GPT-4o on an unmoderated 8chan board”
“We’re going to need to EMP NoVA, multiple data centers compromised by a swarm of Tay which have been discoursing with GPT-4o on an unmoderated 8chan board”
Wow, I wish I was going to that. What an insane lineup. Happy to see Underscores breaking through!
August 27, 2026 at 6:31 AM
Wow, I wish I was going to that. What an insane lineup. Happy to see Underscores breaking through!
Gonna hazard a guess that either they used an ancient forcefield or set VdW/Coulomb cutoff wrong?
August 24, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Gonna hazard a guess that either they used an ancient forcefield or set VdW/Coulomb cutoff wrong?
Are night trains across Germany more reliable? Intuitively, less track congestion at night would mean fewer of the cascading network failures that Germany is famous for.
August 19, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Are night trains across Germany more reliable? Intuitively, less track congestion at night would mean fewer of the cascading network failures that Germany is famous for.
They’re not quite there yet, but this is some Wintersun worship worth paying attention to in the future. (See also: Valhalore)
August 10, 2026 at 8:30 PM
They’re not quite there yet, but this is some Wintersun worship worth paying attention to in the future. (See also: Valhalore)
Say what you will about the guy, give him unlimited tokens and he takes big swings that pay off way more than they have any right to.
August 10, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Say what you will about the guy, give him unlimited tokens and he takes big swings that pay off way more than they have any right to.
The bad SATA cable on the 2012 MacBook Pro caused me no end of misery…
But this also shows how brands can make and maintain perception of quality. I still choose Apple because the other devices I’ve bought from them worked well for 5+ years, and this experience is shared by other people I talk to.
But this also shows how brands can make and maintain perception of quality. I still choose Apple because the other devices I’ve bought from them worked well for 5+ years, and this experience is shared by other people I talk to.
August 4, 2026 at 7:28 AM
The bad SATA cable on the 2012 MacBook Pro caused me no end of misery…
But this also shows how brands can make and maintain perception of quality. I still choose Apple because the other devices I’ve bought from them worked well for 5+ years, and this experience is shared by other people I talk to.
But this also shows how brands can make and maintain perception of quality. I still choose Apple because the other devices I’ve bought from them worked well for 5+ years, and this experience is shared by other people I talk to.
Also consumers make decisions based on metrics that don’t correspond to value!
Price: single number, lower is better. Super easy!
Brand: General quality signal, but easily co-opted. Perceptions not uniform across consumers.
Durability: Requires research (and trustworthy user experiences).
Difficult!
Price: single number, lower is better. Super easy!
Brand: General quality signal, but easily co-opted. Perceptions not uniform across consumers.
Durability: Requires research (and trustworthy user experiences).
Difficult!
August 3, 2026 at 1:15 PM
Also consumers make decisions based on metrics that don’t correspond to value!
Price: single number, lower is better. Super easy!
Brand: General quality signal, but easily co-opted. Perceptions not uniform across consumers.
Durability: Requires research (and trustworthy user experiences).
Difficult!
Price: single number, lower is better. Super easy!
Brand: General quality signal, but easily co-opted. Perceptions not uniform across consumers.
Durability: Requires research (and trustworthy user experiences).
Difficult!
It also depends on how fresh they are. You can whip a stale naan a lot harder than a fresh one, while a baguette probably throws better when it’s fresh, though my intuition is weaker there.
July 24, 2026 at 12:26 PM
It also depends on how fresh they are. You can whip a stale naan a lot harder than a fresh one, while a baguette probably throws better when it’s fresh, though my intuition is weaker there.
I can see it for bionanotech now, everything would become “a new self-assembly paradigm”
July 19, 2026 at 4:59 PM
I can see it for bionanotech now, everything would become “a new self-assembly paradigm”
This would have a weird warping effect on paper content where everybody would be trying, even harder than they already do, to claim that they have a whole new theory of <field>. Gotta convince the review overlords that this is seminal and load-bearing.
July 19, 2026 at 4:59 PM
This would have a weird warping effect on paper content where everybody would be trying, even harder than they already do, to claim that they have a whole new theory of <field>. Gotta convince the review overlords that this is seminal and load-bearing.