Mark A. Jones

@rbright @teachthemx3 3 decades and I still have this exact dream…..not only did I not go but they changed the room location so when I go to the original room it’s empty. It’s always English class.

@teachthemx3 After almost 2 decades, I still have nightmares about forgetting I had a class until the end of the semester. Glad to see public education is doing its part to alleviate subconscious fears. 🙄

I have a senior on my roster who hasn’t attended my class a single day this semester. She showed up today for the first time. We have 7 days left before grades are finalized for seniors. My administrator just asked me to see what I can do to help her graduate. In case anyone here is a new follower, this is why I’m leaving public education.

@MDSparta @drterrysimpson I took a prep course which helped tremendously with the test…..instructor convinced us if they offered a calculator wink wink 😉 just for you…..that you’d say no thanks. There is a method to taking the test independent of knowledge.

@drterrysimpson I was an MCAT instructor. The students that made big jumps usually had gaps in their knowledge. Most could not improve much. Essentially an IQ test. And yes, smarter people make better physicians.

I once met a student who raised his MCAT score from a 25 to a 30 after taking a commercial test prep course. Did the prep course make him a better future physician? Did it improve his empathy, judgment, communication, professionalism, surgical skill, diagnostic reasoning under uncertainty, or ability to care for frightened patients at 2 AM? Or did it mostly make him better at taking the MCAT? That is the central problem with treating standardized testing as if it were synonymous with clinical excellence.

@kralpprivado @marcorandazza Red gone by 15-20 Orange by 30 Yellow by 30-60 At 100’ everything is green and blue. I like the varied colors and spend most of my time where they are visible. Deeper for something interesting but find I spend much more time at shallower depths.

@MarkA1169 @marcorandazza you don’t lose all color clarity in 100 feet. I have been to 137 twice, just then I was unable to see some colors

This was either group suicide or murder. I've been diving for 30 years. Rescue and deep dive certified. These divers were effectively dead the moment they went in the water. At 150 feet, with recreational gear and without special gas mix, you're already dead. I'm an absolute madman adrenaline junkie. My hard floor is 120 feet. There was no possible way they were coming back, whether they panicked or not. That dive plan was never going to end with any of them alive.

@drterrysimpson Zero evidence? This is where you lose whatever credibility you have and does serious damage to the argument you’re trying to present. Sorry to break it to you but med school is tough….there’s a reason they say it’s like trying to drink from a fire hydrant.

There is zero evidence that MCAT is an indicator of anything other than people who take tests well. It is not a measure of competence, and it is not a be all and end all for what makes a good physician. You've never been on a college admissions or med school admissions committee if you think everything can be cut and dried.

@drterrysimpson This is one take of yours that I can get on board with….academic achievement despite significant obstacles shows a determination and resilience that has merit even if the MCAT and GPA numbers are not top tier.

I understand why many Asian families feel frustrated in elite admissions systems. In intensely competitive environments, there is a real perception — and sometimes evidence — that exceptional academic performance still does not guarantee admission. That feeling should not be dismissed. But admissions committees also confront another reality: if you have 100 applicants from privileged, high-performing educational pipelines with nearly identical scores, resumes, research access, tutoring, and opportunities, it is not irrational to also value the applicant who achieved similar academic success despite poverty, instability, underfunded schools, family hardship, or lack of institutional advantages. That is not abandoning merit. It is recognizing that achievement exists in context. And medicine especially is not merely selecting expert test takers. It is selecting future physicians who will care for human beings across every class, culture, language, and circumstance in society. The irony is that many people who defend “objective merit” often become deeply uncomfortable the moment merit is evaluated in anything broader than a percentile ranking.

@robbys_toupee I’m going to call FAKE on this claim….none of my classmates traded GPA’s and MCAT scores like stats on a baseball card. No one asked and no one shared this information.

I cannot tell you how many people in my class who had a high MCAT get the worst rotation evals. Being a good test taker doesn’t make you a good doctor. That’s why the admissions process is holistic.

@BillAckman Held the state hostage by threatening policies that would have driven even more of the high yield tax base away that the state depends on.

How is getting $8 billion from State coffers and $2.3 billion from deferring pension payments bringing a budget down to zero? The same NYC taxpayers that pay the bulk of NYC taxes are paying the $8 billion of state taxes that are funding the budget gap. This budget ‘fix’ is robbing Peter to pay Paul and it didn’t work out well for either of them.

@long_shot_45 @BillAckman @grok He held the state hostage by threatening policies that would drive more of the high yield taxpayers away which would have hurt the state significantly.

@BillAckman @grok can you explain to Bill who contributes more to the budget NYC or NYC state?

@BrandonLuuMD ‘Can you find a way to help me without leaving the OR?’……..said by my favorite med school surgeon who genuinely loved teaching. Keeping you focused on long cases. ‘You suck ’……meaning more suction of blood.

One story that got passed down during training was about a med student who made a mistake in the OR. The surgeon told her to take off her gloves and show him her hands. She asked why. He said, “I’m looking for a single palmar crease.”

@WallStreetApes You can get a dump truck load delivered from the quarry for a few hundred dollars……if you have a place to dump them

Even the price for buying rocks in America has skyrocketed These basic irregular rocks are priced at $175-$229+ per boulder In 2019, these same rocks would be priced at $20-$50. At name brand stores they’d go for around $80-$120 for the medium ones Overall rocks have increased in price about 40% just since 2019 We’re getting ripped off on literally everything in America…. And now rocks too?? Are we really going to accept paying hundreds of dollars for rocks that used to be $20 bucks….

@memoryhol3d @MarioNawfal He did take him down but immediately lost the advantage on the ground due to size mismatch . Guy yielded when it became two on one.

@MarioNawfal The bystander was emotional support at best. Cop was standing on business with the Jiu Jitsu sweep.

🇺🇸 A Tennessee cop got punched in the head mid-arrest of a suspect, when a random bystander jumped in to help him finish the job. Most people would've just filmed it. Greatly done.

@M_A_X_S Completely faked……clinic providers don’t wear shoe covers meant for the operating room

🚨| انزع هذه القبعة السخيفة إذا كنت تريدني أن أكشف عليك.. في مشهد وثقته كاميرا لطبيبه في إحدى العيادات حيث رفضت الطبيبة تقديم الرعاية الصحية لمريض بسبب قبعة كان يرتديها، من تعتقد نفسك؟ هل تظن أن هذه القبعة تجعلك مهماً؟ أنا الشخص المهم هنا، أنت من تحتاجني، أنا لا أحتاجك!".

@gothburz I think what many also miss is that entrepreneurs are better at generating wealth and innovating than the government will ever be. I’d rather tax billions at a 10% effective tax rate than millions at 90%.

I am the Chairman and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust. Eighty-four years old. Seven buildings in Midtown Manhattan. I said what I said. I said "tax the rich" is the equivalent of a racial slur. I said it at REBNY. Into the microphone. Eight hundred people. Median net worth in that room was north of $240 million, I know because our CFO ran the guest list through a Bloomberg terminal as a joke, and then it wasn't a joke. And when I said it, twelve people applauded. The rest nodded. One woman in the third row mouthed, "Finally." I saw her. Sharon, my communications advisor, Columbia, $430,000 a year, very bright, Sharon wants me to walk it back. She drafted something. "Mr. Roth's comments were intended to highlight the emotional impact of political rhetoric on business communities." I read it. I put it in the trash can on my desk. Not the recycling. The trash. Here's my clarification: I understated it. "Tax the rich" is worse than a slur. A slur is just a word. It doesn't come with a CBO score. Nobody is introducing a bill called the Racial Slur Implementation Act of 2026. But there are seventeen active proposals in Congress, I had Sharon count them, seventeen proposals designed to take more of my money. My money. Mine. Money I acquired by being better at acquiring Manhattan commercial real estate than anyone alive for four consecutive decades. That is not a crime. That is a record. I pay property taxes on $18.2 billion in assessed assets. $412 million a year. Say it again: four hundred and twelve million. I carry that number. It's the first thing I think about when I see a protest sign. I think: I pay more in property tax than the entire annual budget of the city of Fort Lauderdale. I looked this up. Fort Lauderdale: $408 million. Steve Roth: $412 million. I am a small city. And the city doesn't get screamed at. My effective tax rate last year was 11.4 percent. I say this because I believe in transparency and because I'm not ashamed of it. The rate reflects the legal structure of real estate investment trusts, depreciation schedules Congress established in 1986, and carried interest provisions that both parties have voted to preserve for forty years. I did not write these laws. I organized my entire financial existence around them with the help of nine full-time tax professionals who have offices on the 38th floor of 888 Seventh Avenue, which I also own. Their office is in my building. Their work protects my buildings. This is not a loophole. Sharon calls it a loophole. I've told her: a structure maintained by nine attorneys across four decades is not a loophole. A loophole is something you slip through once. This is architecture. This is the foundation. This is the building. Last Tuesday, same as every Tuesday, I walked past 1290 Sixth Avenue. My building. And there was a man. Same man as last week. Same sign: "Billionaires Pay Your Fair Share." He was standing on my sidewalk. My literal sidewalk — my company owns the ground lease. He was maybe thirty. He was wearing a jacket I would estimate cost $60. My lunch that day was $114. For one. I am telling you this not to boast but because these are facts. He has decided I'm his enemy. Based on a number he saw on a Forbes list. He doesn't know what I pay. He doesn't know what my buildings cost this city in construction jobs and lease revenue and foot traffic. He knows one number. He has made one judgment. I see him every Tuesday. I've started to notice things. He brings coffee from the cart, not the Starbucks. He has a backpack that looks heavy. He doesn't look unhealthy. He looks like he probably works somewhere, but not on Tuesdays. I've wondered: does he have a job? Does he have a building? Does he have anything that depends on him the way 4,200 employees depend on me? I suspect not. And yet he has opinions about my tax rate. I gave $22 million to charity last year. The Met. NYU Langone. Mount Sinai. I gave a building to NYU. Not money for a building — a building. The Steven Roth Residence Hall. It houses 400 students. That man with the sign has never housed 400 students. He hasn't housed one. He gives cardboard. I give structures. This is not a comparison I'm making to flatter myself. It's just arithmetic. When I said what I said at REBNY, I was saying what every person in that room believes and none of them will say publicly because they have communications advisors and the communications advisors all went to Columbia and they all say "unhelpful." I'm eighty-four. I'm too old for helpful. I'm too old to perform restraint for people who hate me for something I can't change. I didn't choose to be rich. I chose to be good at one thing for a very long time, and this is what happened. You don't punish someone for that. You don't legislate against someone for that. My net worth fluctuates between $3.8 and $4.1 billion depending on the quarter. I fluctuate more in a fiscal week than that man on my sidewalk will earn in his life. Both of these are facts. Only one of them is considered polite to say. They want me to apologize. I'll be dead in ten years. Twenty if I'm lucky. And they'll still be renting my buildings.

@NewswirePatriot Hard to claim the political intellectual high ground when you post dumb stuff like this

Footage released from the THIRD Presidential assassination attempt has reignited the debate over women protecting the President. When shots were fired, the female agents IMMEDIATELY ran away. Should female officers be protecting the leader of the free world? 🇺🇸

@PNWConservative To give validation to your willfully unemployed husband?

“I want to live in a city that honors what you are doing when you aren’t making money” Well, nobody will be making when all the employers leave. There will be a lot of honored people!!!

@saniyafatma1278 All cars have power steering….some are supplied by the car and others supplied by the driver

@Sofia50020Sofia Is this a test?

How good is your English ???

@Aero_Cyd @HappyMotorhead Video wasn’t

@MarkA1169 @HappyMotorhead The video was fake. Thats what I said.

Do you want this? Wait, so you're telling me I don't have to spend three hours grinding sparks into my eyeballs anymore? 🪚🦾 ​Who else is throwing their abrasive discs in the bin after seeing this? 🗑️ ​#DiabloTools #MetalFabrication #ShopLife #Restomod #ToolPorn #FabricationLife #WorkSmarterNotHarder

@Aero_Cyd @HappyMotorhead Not getting your point but I don’t think you do either. Blades are real and a new one cuts just as the video shows. Every piece you see here was cut with a metal demon blade

@MarkA1169 @HappyMotorhead Yours all have all of the red paint too I bet? LOL