
On Meatless Meat
I’ve got to admit—from keeping ourselves fed to revamping our crossword site, full-blown adult life is busier than I expected! In keeping with the newfound freedom of adulthood, this post marks a bit of a topical shift, or expansion, for the blog. I’ll keep posting about stats and data when I find them interesting, but … Continue reading On Meatless Meat
Ballots & Bookies
Swing states, mail-in votes, litigation threats… there was so much to keep track of as the election news rolled in this week, and it was hard to contextualize it toward results. It looked like Trump’s victory before Biden’s, but how convincing were those hints? It seemed like none of the news channels would give us … Continue reading Ballots & Bookies
Quick thought: Letter frequencies in crossword puzzles
Just a quick follow-up on my last post about Crossword puzzles and our new website, CrossWorthy.net. (New puzzles there every Sunday! Check it out if you haven’t had a chance.) Our crossword-filling algorithm works in such a way that it maximizes the remaining possibilities left by each word, based on the other letters in that … Continue reading Quick thought: Letter frequencies in crossword puzzles
Crossworthy Combinations
Wow, it’s been busy lately! May and I are in the middle of moving across the country to Berkeley, California, where I’ll start a new job in an entirely new industry. We’re also finalizing May’s immigration paperwork, while I’m trying to get a last paper out the door to close out my public health research. … Continue reading Crossworthy Combinations
Slow and steady… gets published eventually?
Lately, I feel like I’ve been talking about fracking nonstop. I’ve been researching fracking as a public health scientist since January 2018, but in this transitional time for me—graduation looming, the job search ever continuing—it seems that the last two and a half years of fracking research are all flashing by one last (?) time. … Continue reading Slow and steady… gets published eventually?
Some AI transcriptions of popular song lyrics
Amazon Transcribe is a Siri-like tool that can write down text from an audio recording. It’s probably useful for closed captioning, etc. I thought I’d have some fun by feeding it a few famous songs: Shake It Off (Taylor Swift) “people, people, but people, people. Hey, just think you’ve been getting down and out about … Continue reading Some AI transcriptions of popular song lyrics
Coronavirus, Disease Burden, and the New York Times
So, UChicago just canceled their entire spring term, migrating all classes to online platforms and sending students home after we take winter quarter finals next week. Suddenly, I have one week to say bye to all the friends and acquaintances I’ve made over the last four years. And graduation? Senior week? The concerts and shows … Continue reading Coronavirus, Disease Burden, and the New York Times
Are We Good at Being Random?
One day in high school, my statistics teacher announced an activity: flip a mental coin 25 times (I don’t recall the actual number) and write down the results. Be as random as you can. Then, flip an actual coin 25 times and write down those results too. Then she walked out of the room. She … Continue reading Are We Good at Being Random?
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.