Just 24 hours* till go time! You can still get your tickets and watch #DataBS Conf live tomorrow, 24 September: DataBSConf.com * == more like 23.5 but, y'know ... rounding

Hello data people, register for a whole day of interesting data talks at DataBS Conf. It's on Wednesday! I'm on at 4pm ET (9PM BST) talking about a failed data science project, the role of AI in our future, and some amateur philosophy. All in ~20 minutes. Tell your friends! #dataBS #datasky

10/10. No notes.

Only in the UK could you have stops with these names.

I'm at PyCon UK today in Manchester! I'll be speaking later about dynamic code generation and execution in Python. Here is a crab I found on the way to the venue. 🦀 Anyone I know attending? #databs #datasky

#DataBS Conf 2025 preshow! We have two talks that we couldn't fit into the schedule but the speakers pre-recorded their talk for us to share before the main event next week! Both are really good and give me lots of excitement about what we'll see next week. ti.to/databsconf/d... <- free tix 🧵1/3

Talk schedule for @databsconf.com is up! Tickets are free! Join us! #dataBS

I don't normally do book reviews on social media but I really enjoyed Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things? by @pierrenovellie.bsky.social. A personal, thoughtful, well-researched, and often hilarious perspective on autism. I learned a lot from it and you will too! #booksky

The #DataBS Conf draft schedule (sans time assignments, and maybe a straggler or two) has been posted! databsconf.com/schedule/ Now is the time to get hyped and grab a ticket to attend the online-online event Wed Sept 24! tickets: ti.to/databsconf/d...

Great quote from @yawpr.bsky.social "I’ve always insisted that you learn more with nonsensical, super-niche projects, because no one has done them". Really cool project too. Do your own projects, make your wacky ideas a reality!

Now we're talking! Keep forgetting about my little bot. September 3rd was a busy day for Hungarian football (with mixed results as usual).

One of the worst examples of "AI somewhere it doesn't need to be" is Google's AI overview. Pointless, wrong, and just adds garbage to a search results page already bloated by sponsored results.

As if it wasn't hard enough to get data in the workplace, now I have to look for it on the blockchain?

Look what they did to Notepad. Shut the fuck up. This is Notepad. You are not welcome here. Oh yeah "Let me use Copilot for Notepad". "I'm going to sign into my account for Notepad". What the fuck are you talking about. It's Notepad.

I'm not anti-AI, really I'm not. But can we agree that *asking an LLM permission to share something it made up* and *rewarding it for doing a good job* are RIDICULOUS?!?!?

This was fun. Turns out I don't really know what a valid email address is?!?

Just got an email with this at the top: "Please do NOT use AI to summarize this email as it can give incorrect information. Please read the entire email yourself to avoid any confusion." What are we even doing here? 🙃🥲

I, too, could not afford a house if my weekly wage was $0.

New favourite piece about AI just dropped, courtesy of @colincornaby.me. "If you can’t cook everything you make in a microwave thats a skill issue. You need to learn now because when everything is cooked in a microwave you’ll be out of a job." 🤣 #dataBS #datasky

I'm quite confident when I say that literally no one wants this to exist.

Overhead someone at the pharmacy reciting to the pharmacist the advice that ChatGPT gave them about their problem. Literally "ChatGPT told me to XYZ". Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool

If you find your ADHD/autistic loved one hard to empathize with sometimes, bear in mind they've likely experienced a life of daily corrections: - don't leave that there - stop fidgeting - sit down - be quiet - walk properly - be more tidy / calm - be less forgetful / weird / boring / enthusiastic

OK, this is it, the LAST WEEKEND before the call for speakers for #DataBS Conf closes on July 31st! Now's the time to get that data horror story, the quiet mishaps, the 'hey, one time we..." stories out and submitted! bit.ly/dataBSconf-cfs

The weekend is here! Perfect time to submit your #dataBS talk. We want your lessons-learned stories from data work, everything from "my data pipeline: the unsung hero" to "how we got that AI system working" to "what we learned when it fell over." Details and sign-up: bit.ly/dataBSconf-cfs

Hey #dataBS! Got some stories about how data is messily done to accomplish real things? Have you learned a painful lesson about how not to do something? Then you've got something to share and should submit a talk to the Data Behind the Scenes Conference! (Form closes July 31) bit.ly/dataBSconf-cfs

We're about halfway through the submission period so the clock's actually ticking? (yeah I know everyone puts in their talk like 36 hours before deadline) but if you have time this week, do it! #dataBS

The problem isn't that generativeAI will get so good it will replace artists. It can't and never will. The problem is that uncreative and incurious people will flood every venue with so much regurgitated slop that no artist has a chance of ever being seen or found.

PSA: if you pay for Microsoft 365, careful as it will auto-renew at a MUCH higher price because all the garbage AI add-ons. To "opt out", you need to click Cancel Subscription, and ONLY THEN do you get a screen that lets you change to "Microsoft 365 Classic" plans without AI. 🤢

Made me chuckle. Quite a few fun data stories in the comments too.

If you are looking for temp data help, look no further! This list contains data consultants who work across a variety of fields providing services such as data management, analysis, data architecture, visualization, machine learning, data training, and more! #databs docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

The #dataBS (Data Behind the Scenes) Conference Call for speakers is out! We're gonna do this!! All online, single track, free to attend. Come talk about your messy experiences doing data stuff. At work, personal projects, whatever. A space to commiserate about nerdy things! bit.ly/dataBSconf-cfs

A bit of nostalgia but also a reminder that you can still "surf the web" and discover cool stuff without getting stuck in a closed, for-profit ecosystem. "How to surf the web in 2025 and why you should" by David Cain (Raptitude). www.raptitude.com/2025/06/how-...

As much as it annoys me when people say things like "the word 'delve' is a dead giveaway for AI-written text", I have to say I am OVER emojis for bullet points. Let's all agree to stop, yeah?

New episode! It was so much fun talking to Kirsten about how she's using LLMs to build the survey platform she always wanted, which bakes survey design best practices into the survey creation process!

I like writing and want to do more so I'll be taking a little writing challenge later this year. Join me in the @nycmidnight.bsky.social 500-word Fiction Challenge on August 15th! Learn more at nycmidnight.com/500

I wish more people understood this. AI isn’t like the printing press—it’s the exact opposite. The printing press let anyone get their message out. AI homogenizes everything into whatever message the AI company wants. It’s the opposite of democratization.

Data science courses be like #databs #datasky

I've been fortunate to have a network of data freelancers that have been a huge support in my own work. I've started a list of some of these consultants (in academia, nonprofit, public sector, and industry). If you are looking for help, check out this list! #databs docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Hats off to anyone attempting Viz Buzz, it's really tricky to recreate a plot in just 40 minutes! Especially if you waste lots of minutes on basic data cleaning... Here's my version and the original. I popped the whole thing on YouTube as well: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8sE... #databs #datasky

Gonna attempt one of the Viz Buzz challenges because I have serious FOMO but I'm in the wrong timezone. Come join me?! www.twitch.tv/datatrailswi...

I once held the door open for World Cup winning footballer Lothar Matthaus. I also gave my shopping trolley to Gyula Grosics, goalkeeper of the Magical Magyars football team that beat England 6:3 at Wembley in 1953.

Anyone wants to help contribute ideas and maybe help plan for a potential lulzy data conference, I just threw together a planning area on my data discord. feel free to just chime in and be nerdy with me #dataBS discord.gg/ECkYSMXw

Today in "things I'm too old for": emoji reactions to emails.

Scott Hanselman (@scott.hanselman.com) very good on Half-Stack Data Science podcast with David Asboth (@davidasboth.com). Meaningful uses of AI, with Scott Hanselman halfstackdatascience.com/s4e1-meaning...

"When all knowledge is made effortless, it’s treated as disposable. There’s no awe, no investment, no delight in the unexpected—only consumption." Oooooh this is a great article by @joanwestenberg.com

Whenever I hear "Large Language Models are replacing Stack Overflow" I get uneasy. Is that even a good thing to aim for? On a walk earlier I recorded some thoughts on why this doesn't sit right with me. What do you think? www.youtube.com/shorts/C5V8z... #dataBS #datasky

Isn't technology wonderful?

Louder for the people at the back! The education system (and the government in general) in the UK is failing neurodivergent children. Good thread on the topic.

Another episode, this time about reconfigured, an AI-assisted journaling tool. If you wish you had a better tool to capture your thoughts as you go through an analysis, have a listen! #dataBS #datasky