Author: James Vornov

I'm an MD, PhD Neurologist who left a successful academic career on the Faculty of The Johns Hopkins Medical School to develop new treatments in Biotech and Pharma. I became fascinated with how people actually make decisions based on the science of decision theory and emerging understanding of how the brain works to make decisions. My passion now is this deep explanation of what has been the realm of philosophy, psychology and self help but is now understood as brain function. By understanding our brains, I believe we can become happier, more successful people.

Let Everyone Be Your Teacher

Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science: The backseat driver principle

The driver overestimates his control over the situation (including his own car as well as others on the road). The backseat driver (“Whoa–you’re taking that curve too fast!”) underestimates the driver’s control. As a driver, I listen to the passengers because they provide a useful corrective. Even if the backseat driver is sometimes annoying, it makes sense to listen.

My principle: There is no learning without feedback. Be open to every bit of advice, criticism and praise you receive. Evaluate it, but don’t automatically believe it.

Functional Path Training: Is Periodization Daed?

Functional Path Training: Is Periodization Dead?

Traditional periodization also fails to address adequately the planning and preparation for team sports. We build upon principles of adaptation and current research to build plans that are realistic in our cultural and competitive milieu.

As I’ve ramped up my activities this year, I’ve come to a similar conclusion. My activities are determined largely by weather, travel for work and family commitments. I can’t follow either Friel or Carmichael‘s classic periodization approach. So I have have a broad plan to achieve my goal of being more fit next spring than I was this year and work around the reality as it occurs. Best reference I have on this: Brian Clarke’s 5k and 10K Training.

The Pot Failed In It’s Attempt to Surprise



DSC_4481.fpw, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

This is image is for everyone who says that colors in Nikon D80 images don’t “pop”. I spent some time putting some of the Italy photos through the standard postprocessing for the first time. I had been hoping to have my new Macbook Pro by now, but it may still be “4-6 weeks” for delivery.

In order to get the look I want, images like this need to go through Photoshop where I can control curves and local contrast/luminance as I wish. I’ve been converting from RAW in Capture One, but I may give Nikon’s Capture NX another try once I have the new laptop.

The Bing Blog Tag — You’re It! «

The Bing Blog Tag — You’re It! :

I’m pretty new at this blogging thing and it’s clear to me, even as a newbie, that some blogs get noticed and some just sort of lie there on their backs, peeing like babies on a changing table into the brisk digital wind.

Priceless! And I should follow his advice here.

Beyond the Berm Was the Road

DSC_4660.fpw, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

I post processed this Nikon D80 image only because I wanted to compare it to the black and white images I’ve been working with lately. Desaturated, this image looks very similar. With the bright late spring acid greens added back in, it gets more prosaic. It’s not as strong a composition as the best of the recent black and white, but I took the lesson from it nevertheless.

It’s a different language for me. Color is more difficult, since the form and light have to support what the color informs.

Groundhog Day

Dave Rogers atGroundhog Day:

Image noise seems to be the “crippling defect” in most compact digital cameras. I guess it comes down to how “seriously” you view the hobby. Small sensors enable smaller cameras, which are easier to carry around and afford some very compact “super-zoom” telephoto lenses. But, the images often contain noise. I know what noise is, I can see it in an image, but honestly, the only reason I think it’s “bad” is because everybody tells me so! I mean, I understand why it’s undesirable, but frankly, I’m still just a little bit amazed we can even do the kinds of things we’re able to do with affordable compact digital cameras these days. So I kind of struggle with it. I read the photography sites because I want to learn what the more experienced people know, but then I have to listen to all the criticism of “noise” and then I start to feel as though I need a better camera. And I have a few. (Four, at the moment.)

Dave knows he’s being led by the Have crowd to believe that his compact cameras are “crippled”. You can do a lot with them, which is not to say that more amazing cameras aren’t in the pipeline. I think Daves right to use what he has and work on being a better picture taker.

On Being a Photographer

Via The Best of Photography on the Internet:

R A N G E F I N D E R M A G A Z I N E :
Embracing the Future?With a Mindful Eye on the Past

“This may be one of the advantages of coming out of a photographic background where I had three fixed-focal-length lenses,” laughs Meehan. “I learned what telephoto effects were and what wide angle effects were. And when the zoom lens came in, I didn’t forget these things!”

There are three worlds of photography on the internet, as in much of life, the Be world, the Do world and the Have world.*

The Have world is the circle of gear and camera review sites. It is characterized by posters either talking about their lack of equipment needed to produce great work or about the failures of equipment they do possess. In this world, if you have the equipment (and the gallery or contacts or assignments) you can do the great work and thus be a recognized and rewarded photographer.

Then there’s the Do world of photography on the internet. We’re all about tips and tricks and workflow. Spot, centerweighted or matrix metering? Off-camera flash? Photoshop masking and layers? RAW vs JPEG? We have so much, but we don’t know what to do! You can find examples of fine photographs made with compact digitals. Equipment doesn’t matter,so what do I do?

Finally, there’s the Be world. I find that the sites in this world are written by photographers who consistently produce work that they like. They focus simply on how to be a photographer, thus they do what a photographer does and have the satisfaction, recognition and rewards that result from the combination of their talent and hard work. Along the way, there’s striving to do better, being a photographer so the tips and tricks are collected as wisdom to be a better photographer as one’s own processes are honed through the activity of being a photographer. And when one is photographing a camera is generally necessary, so the choice of equipment is made by envisioning who one wants to be as a photographer, and what would such a photographer do and what would you need to have to be that photographer.

As photographers we all get equipment lust. The acquisition process should always start off with asking, “What will this equipment allow me to do that I can’t do now?” I find it helps stave off the urge to acquire in order to have the equipment to do the work and be the photographer. It helps me refocus on who I’m trying to be and what would that photographer do. The equipment is for the doing, not the having.

*I picked up BE-DO-HAVE principles from a consulting group. I have been unable to find it’s origin, but it seems to have been codified in the self-actualization movement. It’s used by many (EST, Chopra, Dr. Phil) but never credited to anyone. Perhaps it’s lack of clear origin makes it sound like it was discovered by the author or movement using it.

As I Lay Brightly

DSCN0506, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

Another Coolpix P5000 image from last evening, this an ISO 800 capture. The subject has better tonality than the image I posted yesterday. Now I ask myself: If I were limited to this camera, would it provide good enough images? It’s small enough that I could fit it in my seat bag on bicycle rides or on in a pocket on non-photo walks.

RNA and Systems Biology

Economist.com: :RNA | Really New Advances

All that was worked out decades ago. Since then, RNA has been more or less neglected as a humble carrier of messages and fetcher of building materials. This account of the cell was so satisfying to biologists that few bothered to look beyond it. But they are looking now. For, suddenly, cells seem to be full of RNA doing who-knows-what.

Another cellular signaling system is emerging based on observations of microRNA transcription. Another layer in the onion of biology.
Many years ago, as the complexity of intracellular signaling based on G-Protein coupled receptors, PI and cyclic nucleotides was being described, I wrote in a book chapter that it was as if the network complexity that exists in the neuroanatomy of brain was being mirrored inside each neuron, with branching, cross-talking, diverging and converging pathways. I’m no longer surprised, as this is the nature of complex systems and their networks.
My more recent insight is that the really interesting behavior of all of these complex systems is emergent, meaning that it can’t be deduced no matter how well one understands the behavior of the individual components and their behavior. It’s not hopeless as one does not have to know how aspirin works in order to use it. You have to know when and where to look for the effects, which is where knowledge of mechanism provides leverage for system knowledge at a higher level.

The Tree That Did Not Hide

DSCN0530

Reality Check.
Since I’ve seen so many images taken with compact digitals in black and white, I thought I should check to be sure that the expense and hassle of running C-41 process black and white film through a Leica was really worth while.I spent just 15 minutes this evening with the Nikon Coolpix P5000 capturing images at high ISO (800 or 1600) with the camera set to capture monochrome JPEGs.This is probably the best of the lot. Since I’m the photographer, it’s not surprising that it looks not very different from what I would have made with any other camera. It’s hard to tell from the small image on Flickr, but it’s clear that it lacks the tonal range of one of the Noritsu scans of the black and white chromogenic films. Film has extended tonal range built into it because of the chemistry and it’s sensitivity to light. The small sensor is short and clipped by comparison.On the other hand, the P5000 allows all the control one needs and vibration reduction as well. With the slower lens, I can handhold the M6 for the same EV as the slower lens in the Coolpix if it’s not at its widest setting (and thus at maximum aperture).