Ever since @JesseJenkins and colleagues work on a zero carbon US and this work by @DrChrisClack and colleagues on incorporating DER, I've been having the following set of thoughts about how to reduce the risk of failure in a US clean energy buildout. Bottom line is much more DER.

A Thread about Famous Armenian Inventors and what we have contributed to the world. So the next time someone wants to say we are unimportant, you can rest easy knowing Armenians have contributed some of the greatest inventions to mankind. Here is a handful but there's more.

Raymond Damadian: Armenian-American Physician and inventor of the first MRI machine. MRI is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. Raymond created the first MRI in 1977.

Artem Mikoyan: One of the most famous engineers in aviation. Mikoyan along with Gurevich created one of the most famous Jet lines in history, the MiG. MiG jets directly competed with American Lockheed Martin F Series planes and were among the first to surpass the speed of sound.

Hovannes Adamian: Most notably laid the foundations of color television with his Tri-Color Principle. His work would go on to become the framework that is used to create Color-TV that we see today. He is recognized as one of the founders of color television.

Emik Avakian: An inventor who unfortunately was disabled, but that didn't stop him from contributing work that would help people similar to his condition. Notable contributions are the automatic wheelchair which dismiss the action of hand rolling and a breath operated typewriter.

Announcing the 2021 Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science. #SICSS is for grad students, post-docs & beginning faculty. Free for participants. @chris_bail and I are happy to tell you about all 20 locations. https://t.co/wolhtZIMc5 [thread]

SICSS brings together social scientists & data scientists interested in computational social science for 1-2 week events with intensive study & collaborative research.

Topics covered include automated text analysis, web scraping, non-probability sampling, digital experiments, ethics & much more.

All education materials created for SICSS are available open-source so that people who are unable to participate can still learn. You can also use them in your teaching. Here are materials from previous years:

Because of COVID, all SICSS locations will be online only in 2021.

Beyond the scientific and epidemiological reasons to doubt the lab escape theory of pandemic origin, let’s not forget that no US or allied intelligence has emerged with even a whiff of evidence that a lab was the origin by accident or intention.

To believe the lab escape theory you also have to believe the Chinese have mounted a successful, extended campaign to eliminate incriminating evidence and muzzle officials and scientists who knew or might have suspected it came from a lab.

It’s a pretty big secret to hold on to, especially for a sizeable group of people that includes an international network of scientists, other workers, and families -- many of whom are not exactly in the secrecy business.

It’s been 12 months now of intense pressure on Western intelligence services to uncover that secret. Doesn’t have to be a taped confession, slam dunk email, or official document (though that would be handy). It could be indirect evidence or suspicious behavior.

The White House in particular leaned has heavily on US spy agencies to uncover Chinese malfeasance or error. “Trump made clear...his interest in intelligence supporting the theory the virus emerged accidentally from a Wuhan