Alexander Harris
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dralexharris.bsky.social
Alexander Harris
@dralexharris.bsky.social
3.7K followers 2K following 720 posts
Neuroscientist/Psychiatrist at Columbia Psychiatry. Circuits. Stress susceptibility & resilience. Reward seeking. Oscillations
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dralexharris.bsky.social
Sh’niyihe l’roast v’lo l’zanav
Silver tip roast marinated in wine, shallots & juniper berries
September 21, 2025 at 7:40 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
מוסיפין מחול על הקודש ומקודש על החול
Picture of racks of round challos for Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah
September 19, 2025 at 12:52 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
R. Meilich Biderman tells an awesome story about the Ruzhiner Rebbe that subverts the expectation of a miraculous happy ending
The Ruzhiner zt'l told his chasidim a story of a businessman who lost out on a lucrative business deal because he didn't want to do business before Shacharis. He had many animal skins, and he had a hard time selling them. A customer came to his home and wanted to buy all of them, but it was before Shacharis, and the businessman didn't want to wait. So he left and bought the skins elsewhere. The chasidim were silent, waiting for the end of the story. The Ruzhiner told them, "I see that you want to hear the end of the story, but that is the end. He kept the halachah, he didn't sell before Shacharis, and he lost a lot of money."
September 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Today’s daf!
Herma of Demosthenes from the Athenian Agora, work by Polyeuktos, c. 280 BC, Glyptothek ^ Origin In the earliest times Greek divinities were worshipped in the form of a heap of stones or a shapeless column of stone or wood. In many parts of Greece there were piles of stones by the sides of roads, especially at their crossings, and on the boundaries of lands. The religious respect paid to such heaps of stones, especially at the meeting of roads, is shown by the custom of each passer-by throwing a stone on to the heap or anointing it with oil. Later there was the addition of a head and phallus to the column, which became quadrangular (the number four was sacred to Hermes). Name and origin The earliest form of the name Hermes is the Mycenaean Greek *hermahãs, written e-ma-a2 (e-ma-ha) in the Linear B syllabic script. Other forms of the name of Hermes are Hermeias, Hermaön, Hermãn, Hermaios, and Hermayos. Most scholars derive Hermes from Greek (herma), 'stone heap’, Hermax, ('heap of stones'), hermaion, ('gift of Hermes'), hermaios hill were holy to Hermes.
August 7, 2025 at 10:54 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
A sesame chicken & a balsamic-ginger-peach chicken.
Wishing for peace. Gut Shabbos
July 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Who does America First Legal (founded by Stephen Miller) hate more: poor people or minorities?

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...
The group also attacked financial aid programs at Hopkins, including one given by alum Michael Bloomberg, making the medical school free to attend for those from families making under $300,000 a year. About two-thirds of Hopkins medical students, according to the university, qualify for the scholarship. But the conservative group argued that "it is well recognized that race and ethnicity are inseparable from socioeconomic status," adding that "Johns Hopkins masks racial preferences behind income thresholds."
July 18, 2025 at 12:26 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Me vs. ChatGPT
Statue of John Henry at the Great Bend train tunnel
July 16, 2025 at 9:41 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
If you tax millionaires, won’t they flee the city?

Turns out, this has been studied & the answer is that yes, a tiny fraction (0.2) will leave for a tax hike of 2%. That means that 99% of the ~3.2 billion dollars raised will remain to make the city a better place to live!
Millionaire Migration and Taxation of the Elite: Evidence from Administrative Data American Sociological Reviow 2016, Vol. 81(3) 421-446 DOI: 10.1177/0003122416639625 Cristobal Young," Charles Varner," Ithai Z. Lurie." and Richard Prisinzano Abstract A growing number of U.S. states have adopted "millionaire taxes" on top income-earners. This increases the progressivity of state tax systems, but it raises concerns about tax flight: elites migrating from high-tax to low-tax states, draining state revenues, and undermining redistributive social policies. Are top income-earners "transitory millionaires" searching for lower-tax places to live? Or are they "embedded elites" who are reluctant to migrate away from places where they have been highly successful? This question is central to understanding the social consequences of progressive taxation. We draw on administrative tax returns for all million-dollar income-earners in the United States over 13 years, tracking the states from which millionaires file their taxes. Our dataset contains 45 million tax records and provides census-scale panel data on top income-earners. We advance two core analyses: (1) state-to-state migration of millionaires over the long-term, and (2) a sharply-focused discontinuity analysis of millionaire population along state borders. We find that millionaire tax flight is occurring, but only at the margins of statistical and socioeconomic significance. Our core migration estimate translates into a population elasticity of roughly .1, meaning that a 10 percent increase in the top tax rate leads to a 1 percent loss of the millionaire population. Incorporating this estimate into optimal tax rate models (Mankiw et al. 2009; Piketty and Saez 2013) suggests that the revenue-maximizing top marginal tax rate on income above $1 million is much higher than the current tax rate in any state.
July 1, 2025 at 12:36 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Am I overthinking these differences in the descriptions of Jewish and Muslim students?
• Jewish students were more likely to experience social pressure from their classmates over political issues (59%, compared to 33% for the overall student population • Muslim students were more likely to report experiencing pressure to conform their views to align with the university administration (51% versus 29% for the overall student population). Green highlights over “likely to experience” red highlights over “likely to report experiencing”
June 20, 2025 at 6:49 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Looking good 😋
Pot of rice with saffron and potatoes peaking through
June 20, 2025 at 3:49 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
To accompany this koobideh
Ground chicken kabobs
June 20, 2025 at 2:20 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Making potato tahdig for the first time
Slices of potatoes in saffron and oil
June 20, 2025 at 2:11 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
הרה״ג ר׳ שמשון רפאל הירש זצוק״ל
June 19, 2025 at 10:22 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Apparently some folks were a bit salty about this piece
CITY & STATE NEW YORK Under the impression that they'd be the only people weighing in on the mayoral race, several of the panelists convened by the Times for the project said they felt blindsided by the editorial board's piece. 三
June 16, 2025 at 11:26 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
The New York Times: No More Local Endorsements!

Also the New York Times
OPINION THE EDITORIAL BOARD Our Advice to Voters in a Vexing Race for New York Mayor
June 16, 2025 at 11:23 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
From the garden of earthly delights 1490-1510 by Hieronymus Bosch
June 12, 2025 at 4:15 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
The inimitable Rachel Ding presenting a medieval restraint stress paper at lab meeting
June 12, 2025 at 4:15 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Preliminary data figure 2, panels A, B and data not shown
Empanadas ready to be fried Empanadas fresh out of the fryer Leftover empanada filling
May 27, 2025 at 1:50 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Is my R01 research still very much unwritten? Why yes.
Is Shavuos coming nonetheless? You betcha!
Fresh baked cheese straws
May 25, 2025 at 9:57 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
Every federally funded researcher right now
יפל מצדך אלף ‏ורבבה מימינך אליך לא ‏יגש A thousand may fall at your left side, ten thousand at your right, but it shall not reach you. (Psalms 91:7)
May 11, 2025 at 5:27 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
“At this rate he won’t be an upright for long”
New Yorker cartoon contest showing a bartender talking to 2 men while a piano stands at the bar happily drinking a red effervescent drink from a wine glass
May 7, 2025 at 11:52 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
לֹא-תִהְיֶה אַחֲרֵי-רַבִּים לְרָעֹת

רש״י: אם ראית רשעים מטין משפט לא תאמר הואיל ורבים הם הנני נוטה אחריהם.
Mi LaShem Elai: When God and B'nei Yisroel Clash Shiur with Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Weiner What are are our responsibilities when Jews en masse act against the will of God? What are our obligations to God, and to our people? What if acting for God endangers Jews? How does opposition and rebuke (hocheach tochiach) relate to Jewish peoplehood (kol Yisroel arevim zeh ba-zeh)? Learn and derive strength from various Torah sources about how to walk confidently with God in the face of social and material risk. Tuesday, May 6, 6:30-8:30pm • 6:30-7:15pm: Chavrutah time • 7:15pm: Food • 7:20-8:20pm: Shiur over dinner • 8:20pm: Maariv Private address in Washington Heights Dinner will be served - RSVP at bit.ly/hl-shiur Yaakov Weiner received his smicha from Hebrew Theological College (aka Skokie Yeshiva), an MA in Bible Studies from Yeshiva University, and PsyD in School Psychology from Rutgers University. He works as a clinical psychologist, providing therapy to individuals, and as a musician, providing the low-end at local smachot with his bass guitar.
May 5, 2025 at 12:13 PM
dralexharris.bsky.social
impa.american.edu/costs-of-cut...
The brief finds that budget cuts to public R&D would significantly hurt the economy in the long run, with large negative effects on GDP, investment, and government revenue. A 25 percent cut to public R&D spending would reduce GDP by an amount comparable to the decline in GDP during the Great Recession. Cutting annual public R&D spending in half would making the average American approximately $10,000 poorer (in today's dollars) than the value implied by the historical trend in GDP. Cutting public R&D would also shrink federal government revenue. A 25 percent cut in R&D would decrease revenue by approximately 4.3 percent annually, while a 50 percent cut would decrease it by 8.6 percent annually.
April 30, 2025 at 11:36 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
I’m fired up about this cholent. Started with a Hungarian base: paprika (sweet & smoked + cayenne), goose fat, and tomato paste, barley, potatoes, carrots, & kidney + pinto beans, but then gussied it up with caramelized onions, garlic, parsnips, wine, cumin, bay leaves, eggs, kishke, & jachnun
Cholent in a crockpot with eggs beans potatoes meat and bay leaves visible Same cholent with added kishke pastrami and jachnun
April 25, 2025 at 11:12 AM
dralexharris.bsky.social
To be served with an appetizer of matzah grenki topped with bruschetta style pomodoro fresco
Garlic oil & cracked black pepper coated toasted matzah
April 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM