Things I’m Considering Lately 6 Jan 2024 2:11 PM (last year)
Whew, I really cannot believe how long it has been since my last post.
Hey there, data enthusiasts! It’s been a while since I last poured my thoughts into this digital space, and I owe you an explanation. As much as I’d love to say I’ve been basking in the tranquility of a secluded data oasis, the truth is quite the opposite. Life, with its relentless pace, swept me into a whirlwind of study and work, making my blogging hiatus an unintended sabbatical.
Over the past few months, my keyboard has been silent, not because the world of data lost its allure, but because I found myself immersed in a different kind of data storm – the relentless pursuit of knowledge and the demands of a bustling work life.
First and foremost, let’s address the elephant in the room: studying. As a data scientist who is always hungry for the next intellectual feast, I embarked on a journey into the depths of advanced data analytics. The lure of unraveling complex patterns, deciphering hidden trends, and staying at the forefront of technological advancements was too irresistible to resist.
I delved into the intricacies of machine learning algorithms, danced with neural networks, and grappled with the challenges of big data analytics. My mind became a battlefield of ideas, concepts, and equations, each fighting for dominance in the grand arena of data mastery. It was a thrilling ride, but it left little room for the leisurely musings that usually find their way into my blog.
But my absence wasn’t solely a result of academic pursuits. Work, with its relentless demands, added another layer to this intricate tapestry of busyness. As a data scientist navigating the corporate landscape, my days were filled with data wrangling, model tuning, and translating complex insights into actionable strategies for my team. The real-world applications of data science kept me on my toes, and every spare moment was dedicated to addressing the challenges that emerged.
In essence, my professional life became a quest to bridge the gap between theory and practice, between the algorithms written on a whiteboard and their implementation in the real world. The dichotomy between being a data scientist in theory and an engineer in practice became a theme that echoed through my daily endeavors, leaving little room for the leisurely pursuit of blog-worthy insights.
However, amidst the chaos of equations and the buzz of the corporate world, I never forgot the joy that comes with sharing my thoughts with you – my fellow data enthusiasts. The hiatus was never a sign of disinterest; it was a temporary withdrawal to gather the knowledge and experiences that would enrich our conversations.
As I reemerge from this self-imposed exile, my mind brimming with new perspectives and my fingers itching to dance across the keyboard, I can’t help but feel a renewed sense of excitement. The data landscape has evolved, and I’ve evolved with it. The hiatus was a necessary pause, a deep breath before diving back into the ocean of information, armed with new insights and perspectives.
So, here’s to the return of the blogger who’s also a data scientist – a little wiser, a little more experienced, and ready to unravel the mysteries that lie at the intersection of data and life. The storm may have momentarily obscured the horizon, but the sun is peeking through the clouds, and the adventure continues. Stay tuned for more tales from the data realm!
I am set to share more of this with you soon!
Writings on Being A Data Scientist 31 Oct 2019 10:18 PM (5 years ago)
“Backend engineer” has traditionally referred to writing software that interacts with the data layer, I guess “data engineer” maybe more specifically refers to skills like architecting ETL pipelines etc.
One one end you have data scientist, which is a statistician. On the other end is a software engineer. A data engineer is roughly in the middle of those two.
In huge ass tech companies where you’re working on complex shit, people become more and more specialized. Those job titles become more granular.
The dude that has to manage a billion people’s data in real time isn’t the same as the dude who makes the buttons orange.
At small startups the ‘data engineer’ usually have credentials of both data scientist and software engineer. (Expert in the data science stack of input, analyze, mange and output).
At large companies like facebook and microsoft the term ‘data engineer’ can mean low level sql or nosql people.
Utterly meaningless title. I know ‘data engineers’ that have ZERO software engineering experience. At most they know a _bit_ of SQL and zero knowledge of how the databases actually work.
Honestly, almost noone who is a ‘data scientist’ these days has ANY experience with statistics. Most are eng/commerce/maths/physics grads who know a bit of python (or maybe R) and know how to make some nice plots.
I got an email from my alma mater yesterday saying they had added Data Science as a major/minor. I had never heard of it before.
Nothing Is Secure 9 Oct 2019 11:26 PM (6 years ago)
The more I use it, the more I think the internet is run from crazies for crazies. Why do I think this? Let’s go there.
Have you ever heard the phrase if you put anything on the internet you can never undo it? Well, it’s true let me tell you why.
There is a website possibly you’ve used. It’s called archive.org. Basically, if you’re unfamiliar, it takes pictures of websites when they are online and then if a website goes offline you can see what it used to look like. Pretty neat right? There are a few kinds of people who use this. First of all, there are people who want to prove something that transpired and they need to use archive to do it. People who do this might be a little crazy. I’m not sure. The second kind is people who want to see something that isn’t online anymore, for example, this site that my browser used to visit is really cool, but isn’t online anymore and is now only visible on archive. So for this reason it’s really cool. Probably there is a third reason but I’m unaware what it is. The point is, a lot of people use it.
Then you have sites like deepdiveduck.com. This is related, but it takes pictures of the site while it’s still online. But one use for this is for users who are following politics. They have section on their site where after each change you can see the way it was and the way it is now. How come this is useful? Well, if you are viewing the elections and you want to see the changes that are being made to each candidates website, this is pretty awesome. I’m not saying these people change their mind on things, but it would be pretty fun to have a record of each thing they’ve said. Basically, here’s the thing, political people like to change their minds, and when you are looking at their website and they say something and then they alter it to say something else, you can get perplexed. I mean think about it, this is the kind of thing that everyone realizes but no one can ever really mention fully. However you at least know that it used to be one way, but this can be remarkable to see the process that they are doing as the campaign rolls on, or according to my thoughts.
But I guess there are other reasons to use it, too. I would say that politics and such involves a lot of changes to your stance and everything and I think seeing what people are doing regarding this can be beneficial.
My point it, the internet contains tons of data, and this is just another way to comprehend what is going everywhere.
Getting Local Channels Without An Antenna 1 Sep 2019 6:27 PM (6 years ago)
Question gotten from a reader:
” I’m trying to come up with a solution that is either an “all-in-one” service or minimize how many different apps need to be used. I currently have Netflix, Amazon Prime and I started a trial for Hulu +TV. I download movies and watch through Plex. I piggyback off of a family members Netflix, and Amazon probably isn’t necessary but I already have it because of Prime and I don’t think I’ve even watched anything on that app. I’m really looking to see if there is an option that would substitute the Hulu+TV. The only device I have that is compatible with Hulu+TV is a first gen Firestick, and I hate wireless streaming. A friend of my wife says she gets a service through something called A+ (or A Plus,) $100 a year for 1 TV. It seemed like the new digital age satellite box method. I’d rather get whatever equipment I need (if any) I just do it myself. “
Great question! I’m up for cord cutting if/when I can get equivalent service with DVR functionality, like with podcasts. For now, adding everything with increased internet service for streaming and then all the unique streaming providers…just seems to be a wash. I like picking a few shows or games and getting them recorded while I sleep and watching later. Sunday ticket was a game changer but when it got so expensive, it’s fine to just use the reddit streams.
Wireless streaming is a lot better than it used to be. throw out the old firestick and get the new firestick 4k, they go on sale for $25 all the time. you could also get a fire tv recast, you hook up an antenna to that and you can put it anywhere in the house because it connects wirelessly to the fire tv sticks.
I don’t like wireless streaming because I always seem to come across buffering, but that could just be from the content, plus I’m already hard wired everywhere.. I have 1 AP Pro already.
I cancelled my TV and landline and my internet was upgraded to 500/500. I bought a flat antenna from Wal-Mart and it’s decent. I still need to mess with the positioning because a few channels come through choppy. It’s my downstairs TV, I need to see if I move it upstairs if the reception is better. I could also get a TV tuner card for my PC and stream through Plex and that PC is next to a window pointing somewhat towards the broadcast source.
i’m happy with fubo except that it doesn’t have abc. so far the 30 hour dvr thats included is good enough & $55/mo is way better than the 110 i was paying for cable.
Computer Controls 24 May 2014 1:24 PM (11 years ago)
I like to try and keep my computer and everything up to date. I mean, I wasn’t necessarily excited to try Windows 8 although I am starting to like it a little bit more, but as far as hardware and stuff, I like to have stuff that is fun and new. I also tend to want to try out a lot of the new stuff that I see. For example, one of my favorite things are the mouses that have buttons on them that you can set up to do other things. They make it easy to assign something to them so you can perform something by pressing the button with one of your fingers. The only thing I don’t like about that is some of them have the buttons set up to where I will hit them when I don’t want to use them, so for that reason it’s important to get one that you like. Keyboards are another area where there are some cool styles. For example, you’ve probably all seen chiclet style keyboards. If not, those the kind where the keys are lower and don’t stick up as high, similar to what you find on a laptop. And then of course there are the ones that are kind of rounded that are supposed to be more comfortable to use. And then there is a new one that I just heard about when I was looking online and I came across a Logitech TK820 review that has a touchpad built into the keyboard. Look at it! How cool is that though? Touchpads might not be my favorite method of moving the cursor about but I do think that is a pretty cool feature and I would like to try it out.
Logitech tends to make some good stuff and they are one of the brands I see most often when I go to the store. There aren’t many Logitech products that I actually do own, but I usually consider them when it comes to making a new purchase. But this new keyboard is kind of strange and I definitely think I want to try it and see if I like it. The only touch pad I’m used to is the one on my tablet and I don’t even really use that one that much, although it’s fun for checking email or whatever if you’re not at your desk. The other thing I have been seeing recently are really small keyboards, but I don’t know if that is just a new fad or if that is something that is going to become the norm as people start to like them.
Maintaining My Car 6 Feb 2014 12:28 PM (11 years ago)
Ever since I got my car I have been thinking that I like it. You know how you will be driving somewhere and actually thinking it’s incredible because you love your car? It’s like that. I know people who love their cars and it’s all they talk about and I never got that before I got my car. I was like yeah, this car is great, and I wanted to drive more places because it was the kind of thing where I just loved doing it. So the other day I noticed that the car wasn’t heating the inside as well as it should and I think I’m going to get it serviced. I think that it might be something that will be relatively easy to fix but I am not sure how to do it I’m going to have someone else do it. I think too that it might be a good idea to go to a vehicle repair place here because that way someone with knowledge about how to do it can do it. I’d rather bring it there than somewhere where the people might not know what they are repairing. This way I know that they will be talented.
So anyway, we are talking about repainting our living room. I don’t think it really needs it but you never know because a lot of people will not really notice that stuff and then it changes and they’re like why didn’t I do this sooner? My friend was telling me that he was going to do it and I said that is fine but I am able to say change if I don’t like the color he picks. But since I ‘m not really into décor and stuff I will probably just agree with whatever he says because he tends to know about that stuff. There are a few additional things I was concerned about but when I was talking to him he basically eased all my concerns. I think that we are to going to have to see if we can get some samples though because I would like to see what I am going to be working with before it actually starts. Because I don’t want to come home and see that the color is weird. Basically though I just think that it’s going to look good and that is pretty much why I am going to let him redesign it. This kind of thing is what I usually ask other people about anyway.
Windows, OSX, UAC 9 Sep 2013 1:23 PM (12 years ago)
Type password vs. click ok. Now, type password into a window that runs in user-space, or click ok on a screen that runs in a memory space you’re not allowed to step into. I honestly cannot see how anyone that is remaining completely objective can claim to hate Vista UAC and not claim that Apple’s is just as bad.
OSX just doesn’t have the security problems that Windows does. all of the people who fail to recognize this are just ignorant. for years people have been saying that when Apple’s OS has the market share to justify hackers spending time on writing malware for it that everything would come crashing down on them…. but it hasn’t. OSX continues to gain market share and definitely has enough to be worth attacking, but you never hear a peep about anything like you do with Windows.
And again, with the OSX implementation, you put in your password once and it lasts for a while. with Vista, if you were doing the exact same thing, you would be intruded upon god only knows how many times.
2 things… 1) if you are constantly being harassed by OSX’s UAC, you are doing something wrong. what are you changing that often to be bothered? they are so much more intelligent about what you would be bothered about than Microsoft whose UAC was flagged for all kinds of stuff. 2) i’m sure that Microsoft made it so easy to turn off because it is a horrible piece of junk. again, the best thing you could say about Vista’s UAC is that it is easy to turn off. lol. how could you possibly argue then that it isn’t a piece of junk? if it didn’t suck, leave it on.
are you hearing that people are having problems or are you stumbling across the various articles talking about how insecure OSX is? when you read about Windows insecurities you are reading about people whose computers have been compromised and are now part of a bot net or about people whose computers are all but dying due to the various malware that is on it. if you read about OSX insecurities, you are generally reading theoretical discussions about possible insecurities that are rarely exploited.
i remember reading an article that was posted on this forum about how OSX is less secure than Windows because the writer counted the number of security reports on some website for Windows and OSX and saw that there were more for OSX. it was the most ignorant article i can remember reading outside of readers digest. if you looked at most of the security reports for OSX, most were either place holders for security problems that weren’t found yet or were security problems with 3rd party applications such as various Adobe products. then, for the Windows side, each security report covered a multitude of issues that were resolved with a single patch. so, to compare the security of the OSs based on numbers was BS.
Reading People’s Diaries 15 Aug 2013 12:56 PM (12 years ago)
My friend recently told me that he snooped and read his girlfriend’s diary. As you may expect, he found some stuff that upset him.
I told him that as someone who has done an insane amount of blogging/journaling, I can say this without hesitation….what is said in a journal/diary post is COMPLETELY different than what is said in a personal interaction with another person. Diaries and journals are not MEANT to be shared with other people…they are not communication with others, it is communication with your self…and a way to resolve and mange internal issues, emotions, and situations BEFORE you have the face-to-face interaction.
And the reason why people do that is because taking the time to reflect internally before responding is a FANTASTIC way to make sure you resolves your own issues before communicating with someone else.
In other words, having someone read your personal thoughts in a journal is to have that someone take those thoughts completely out of context. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE WAS THINKING WHEN SHE WROTE THAT. And, if she didn’t communicate that TO you, it probably means that she resolved it internally and didn’t NEED to communicate that to you.
So, for you to snoop on her private thoughts is for you to take raw thoughts out of context. This is why snooping is usually a terrible idea. Because you don’t know the context of those thoughts and/or how those thoughts were resolved.
My friend is upset because what she wrote in her journal seems to have blown everything out of proportion.
That is exactly what a lot of people do. This is the problem with text. Unless you’re talking to the person directly its nearly impossible to correctly translate the inference and context of what’s written. You can’t “hear” if someone is genuinely hurt, or sarcastic. There’s subtext in HOW we say what we say, and half the time what we SAY (or write) isn’t the best most accurate way to translate how we actually feel. When you say it TO the person, and they don’t understand, they have an immediate opportunity to ask for clarification. The speaker, then has the ability to change direction and modify their words in an effort to be better understood. And that change in direction could be all one needs to really SEE what the other person means. And it could be completely different than how it originally sounded. But in sneakily reading her private thoughts you’re jumping to conclusions based on what she didn’t say, and taking your own meaning from the scant selection of words she chose. Which, for all you know, she was in the heat of the moment, venting to herself and perhaps if asked about the incident today, might feel entirely different than her words on the day of the event. We all find clarity after a moment has cooled and we have time to process.
Microsoft’s UAC Makes Things Safer 13 Apr 2013 1:17 PM (12 years ago)
That is a level of implementation that I’m not concerned with. Microsoft could easily have implemented their own more secure version without harassing you indefinitely with their stupid “are you really sure you want to do that? i mean really sure. come on. are you positive? have you really thought this through? do you really, really, really want to create your own directory in c:\program files? and then do you really want to name it something in particular?”
The only security i really want from those things is to make the user think twice about what they are doing, not stop some sort of malware from infecting the system. also, it stops other people from installing (which is what always breaks my parents’ and brother’s computers when my young cousins want to install their stupid software).
MS was in a tough spot. They have all those programs out there needing administrative access because of all the hacks required to get windows apps to run across versions over the last couple decades… and yet they were under mucho pressure to improve security. So they just decided to inconvenience the user with admin access warnings until all the software providers updated their software. Its not just about security, its about “This program hasn’t been updated to our new way of doing things, doesn’t this PISS YOU OFF?” Its advertising for updates from vendors.
Maybe they should add a disclaimer to the confirmation window that says “…if you are seeing this message very often, please contact the software vendor to request that they update their software.” That would take the heat off Microsoft in an instant.
It’s a level of implementation you should be concerned with, because something that asks the user to confirm they are in control of the machine doesn’t do any good if a machine process can trick the OS into thinking the user is in control when he’s not.
Yes, I agree that Microsoft applied UAC to things that don’t need it; something is wrong with the rule system they cooked up to determine which settings need UAC and which don’t. I made that point a couple of times myself. But it’s all pointless if it isn’t actually secure.
More time consuming? i used OSX for a while, enough not to be a noob, but not enough to be the best, and i had no issues at all with their UAC. i had vista for less than a week and i was about to smash my brand new laptop because of Microsoft’s incredibly intrusive and utterly horrendous implementation. so, you are completely bass ackwards on that one.
Vista’s UAC is not going to stop viruses and malware. This is Windows. Every door they close leaves 4 other windows (pun not intended) open for malware programmers to sneak their code though.
All UAC is going to do is help keep machines running a little better by A) making someone think twice before they make that change and B) by preventing those without access from installing software or making changes that they shouldn’t be making. So, once you acknowledge that you recognize the changes you are going to make are possibly dangerous, it should leave you alone. But, because it doesn’t, so many people shut off their UAC and break the biggest new security enhancements that their bad programmers came up with.