Trying to make each and every transform efficient in the micro leads to inefficiencies in maintenance in the macro

Startup idea — a toy that looks like a generic hand-held computer with a few analog inputs/outputs (buttons, switches, lights) and a screen. Kid can use voice to describe an adventure they want to have (exploring a jungle, space rescue mission, vet on Mars). Toy generates a relevant UI onscreen…

Currently solving a thousand dynamic problems (watching Peppa Pig)

Life by 1000 kindnesses

By the way, the judo move if you’re in a conversation with someone like this is: “Why won’t {solution} work?” (They give an example) “You mean you can’t figure out how to solve that problem?”

It’s always easiest to take the position that something is unsolvable, because it puts the burden on the other person to provide a solution. But you can’t be wrong too many times before no one wants to work with you anymore.

Woman culture is interesting and awesome.

One thing I like about this place is how folks list the company they work for in their bio. Look at us. We’re incredible. All of us with our lives and lil jobs

Me: *fills myself up with delicious, nutritious food* My body: Thanks, now time for a little treat

Know your triggers, and have a plan for how to cope with their effects in a healthy way

I love when Instacart suggests wines to pair with the string cheese I just added to my cart.

Don’t think of it as whether the data has error or not. Most of the time it will. Think of it as whether the error in the data will cause you to make a different decision than if the data was perfectly clean. Most of the time it won’t.

Conversely, database tools should offer some affordance for enforcing correct joins, especially in cases where identifiers are not unique in this way. But they don’t! Inexplicable to me.

And all the cloud platform maxxers were like

One of the biggest things I learned this year is there are several things you can do with your body to activate debug mode on your mind. They’re so simple, the mind generally won’t put up much resistance to doing them. But in order for it to work, you have a template for a healthy mind to install.

Identifiers which are only unique within another identifier’s scope (e.g., product IDs that are only unique within their category) are the submarine screen doors of data.

If you give an analyst tabular relational data, they’re going to build a world model, part 1

3 year-old: This is a special coffee. It’s called — juice! Do you want to try some?

The #1 skill for delivering ML models at an eye watering pace is setting performance goals. The goal is not to build the best model. The goal is to build a model that beats the status quo, and get it in production as fast as you can. It works like this:

Defining a sustainable business optimization metric that is not dollars is extremely hard.

When something is going wrong, try skipping over the, “Why is this happening?” phase, and going straight to the, “What would happen if…” phase. Not only is the problem usually solved faster, you often learn the why in the process.

AI doesn’t have a problem writing code. It has a problem creating a system of inputs and outputs.

Claud’s favorite way to gaslight me: “Ah apologies, that code only works with newer versions of this package. Let’s try something else.”

Because all data is either a snapshot of reality or a proposal for how to categorize and describe it (aka facts and dimensions)

Merry Christmas to all those who don’t celebrate but would still welcome sincere wishes for their peace and flourishing.

All I want for Christmas is uuuuuniversally unique identifiers instead of incrementing integers!

Don’t ask me to make a “quick spreadsheet” for someone because I’m going to use the full might of my Excel skills and it’ll look better than everyone else’s lol

Toum is the savory version of whipped cream

Like making me play flawless Stravinsky on my MX Keys

What is your biggest database design pet peeve and why is it camel-cased table and column names?

At that age when I like very few Things more than I like having fewer Things

Mary Oliver you sonofab, you’ve DONE IT AGAIN

I need another word to describe myself instead of “self-taught.” Self-taught captures the hard work I put in, but it doesn’t sufficiently honor the generosity of the friends, co-workers, and community that shared knowledge and opportunities with me. I wouldn’t be here without them.

Does Bluesky like video? Would you watch a video rant(s) about data?

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Me: Sorry I’m just really really bad at formatting in Word

I’ve got the yips except it’s for hitting send on emails

Just realized this is the plot of 100% of the “transporter error” Star Trek episodes.

Every time I have to explain to a software engineer what is required to successfully load a csv with an automated process, I lose 80% of the credibility I built with them. Then I gain 120% of that credibility back when they see it is as hard as I said it is.

Look right at me — moving data around is still the biggest problem in AI bar none. Literally getting your data into a place without mangling it is so hard and it’s so embarrassing for our profession. Imagine being like “Yes I know you invented infinite hydrogen energy but pipes are hard.”

Just tryna be really good at whatever I’m doing at the moment as a way of drawing people in so I can say something encouraging to them

Almost all the system design documents I’ve seen have the same flaw: They mix flows with integrations. Lines should always either mean “first…next” or “from..to” but never both.

Gingerbread Man The best

The laminar flow of my tears as I realize the “customer dataset” the data engineering team prepared for me is day-level aggregate

Posting bangers like a lost Canada Goose honking for its migration buddies

No, you don’t need to hire an analyst, you need to hire a therapist

You: *clicking around my Google Sheet* So where’s the database for this data? Me: *blank stare* The sheet IS the database

The perfect example of why having a (true) mental model of your organization’s inputs and outputs is so important

If you want something thought-provoking — balance (as most people imagine) is also not the answer. When people look at a bridge, they think that its strength is because it is balanced on pylons. That’s not the case. The bridge stands because it is under immense tension. Balance to most people…

When you have a problem, action is not by default justified. The action has to have some reasonably plausible way of improving the problem, and also not have the obvious consequence of creating more problems. If action does neither of those, I’d suggest spending the effort thinking more instead.

Happy thanksgiving!