David Faden
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util.bsky.social
David Faden
@util.bsky.social
380 followers 1.8K following 290 posts
Father, husband, software engineer, and analyst, interested in California native plants, Bayes, utilitarianism. Trying to stay curious about many things.
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util.bsky.social
Say you've had a cooking mishap, the house is a little smokey, and an alarm is going off. Which way should you point a box fan to clear the smoke the fastest? Pointing in, drawing air in, or out?
November 3, 2025 at 4:18 PM
util.bsky.social
fas.org/publication/...
In Remembrance of Dearly Departed Federal Datasets
All federal datasets are currently at risk of death by a thousand cuts, weakened by the loss of staff and expertise, contracts, and scientific advisory committees.
fas.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:13 PM
util.bsky.social
Finished "Rainbow's End" last night, 3rd book I've read from Vernor Vinge. I liked it. Would be curious to get a retrospective from the author reassessing it with the changes in tech since its 2006 publication date. I thank @moultano.bsky.social for introducing me to Vinge's work via a post here.
October 30, 2025 at 6:43 PM
util.bsky.social
Reminds me of "Brothers Home": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother.... I'm sure there are many other historical echoes. Adding Goldstone's "There Is No Place for Us" to my reading list.
October 29, 2025 at 3:29 PM
util.bsky.social
Also happy to see what I think is soap plant popping up. I wasn't sure if it had survived or not. calscape.org/Chlorogalum-... I believe this one came from nativeherenursery.org in Berkeley.
Two green leaves popping out of the ground with prominent parallel veins. Taken on October 20th.
October 29, 2025 at 3:02 AM
util.bsky.social
Something that cheered me up yesterday: Idaho fescue sprouts! calscape.org/Festuca-idah... An earlier batch of the same seed failed to sprout at all earlier in the summer. Too warm?
Grass sprouts emerge from potting soil amongst wood chips that look large due to zooming in. A tray with sprouts. Green grass sprouts. Green grass sprouts.
October 29, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by David Faden
edwardluce.bsky.social
Talking of which, give this a (free to) read
on.ft.com/48JYzji
October 27, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by David Faden
gutenberg.org
To Haunt and Be Haunted: On the Exhumation of Edgar Allan Poe

Ed Simon Explores the Terror of Being Buried Alive and Americanism in Poe’s Work

lithub.com/to-haunt-and...

Edgar Allan Poe at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...

#books #literature
Poe depicted in a modern retouched version from the “Ultima Thule” daguerreotype. Poe’s face is sharply defined with strong lighting emphasizing his cheekbones, deep-set eyes, and somber expression. His hair frames his face, slightly tousled, and he has a mustache characteristic of his known appearance. He wears a dark coat or jacket, with a white shirt or cravat visible at the neck. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe#/media/File:Edgar_A._Poe_-_NARA_-_528345_(cropped).jpg
October 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM
util.bsky.social
Maybe I'm being pedantic (or just wrongheaded), but this line from "The Great Mental Models" bugs me: "If you had perfect information, you would always make the best decision." Shouldn't that be "perfect information" plus "perfect reasoning"?
In life and business, the person with the fewest blind spots wins. Blind spots are the source of all poor decisions. Think about it: If you had perfect information, you would always make the best decision. In a poker game where you could see everyone's cards, you'd play your hand perfectly. You wouldn't make any mistakes.
October 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
util.bsky.social
Having fun looking at the submitted code for benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksga.... First time hearing of chapel-lang.org?
Measured : Which programming language is fastest? (Benchmarks Game)
Fastest program measurements by programming language implementation.
benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net
October 23, 2025 at 6:04 AM
util.bsky.social
When I knew him as a coworker, Sean always had great insights, and I know plaid a central role in a lot of metrics and eval work at Google. I'm looking forward to reading more from him. seantime.substack.com/p/the-metric...
The Metric is Not the Product
or, The Map is Not the Territory
seantime.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:41 PM
util.bsky.social
It'd be fun to glom this together with something that speaks IPA aloud: cohenpr-xpf.github.io/XPF/Convert-...
Convert to IPA
cohenpr-xpf.github.io
October 21, 2025 at 5:01 AM
util.bsky.social
Happy to have come across Project Gutenberg on here.
gutenberg.org Project Gutenberg @gutenberg.org · 29d
How Close Did We Come to Losing Beowulf Forever?

Robert Bartlett on a Vital Work of the Western Canon That Barely Survived Multiple Disasters

lithub.com/how-close-di...

Beowulf at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#books #literature #old_manuscripts
The first folio of the heroic epic poem Beowulf, written primarily in the West Saxon dialect of Old English. Part of the Cotton MS Vitellius A XV manuscript currently located within the British Library. This is a digital photographic copy of the folio. Text shown according to https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43521/beowulf-old-english-version: WE GARDE na in geardagum, þeodcyninga, [129] þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. Oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,monegum mægþum, meodosetla ofteah, egsode eorlas. Then the feast was found, he asked for it, grew under the clouds, the gods, until each of those sitting around him heard the sound of the horn, gomban gyldan. That was a good king. After that, he was remembered, walking in the fields, the good one sent to the king; the fire on the king who had long been dead. His life, the ruler of the people, the lord of the world, was taken away; Beowulf was quick to spring forth, Scyld's son, into the lands of the dead. Thus shall men go forth to good deeds, from pious gifts to their fathers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf#/media/File:Beowulf_Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV_f._132r.jpg
October 21, 2025 at 4:40 AM
util.bsky.social
Watching this online now. Resonates with me as someone who once dreamed of being a journalist. Also credit on the great sound track. Neat to hear of it via a post from someone involved with the production of it. Also fun to see that some of the journalists interviewed are on Bluesky.
earlofedgecombe.bsky.social Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · Oct 11
If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.
Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink
A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.
www.pbs.org
October 12, 2025 at 1:55 AM
util.bsky.social
Possible title: "blue sky divided". One benefit for me of using this site is that I like to imagine sharing nice photos of a blue sky, which gets me to look up at the sky and appreciate it more.
Power lines cross white clouds and a blue sky.
October 10, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by David Faden
faineg.bsky.social
Gary Larson actually visited Jane Goodall in Tanzania and got attacked by a famously belligerent chimp named Frodo:

www.cracked.com/article_4363...
October 2, 2025 at 1:33 AM
util.bsky.social
Grateful to get some new perspectives on collinearity from this.
rmcelreath.bsky.social Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · Oct 1
Was asked about collinearity again, so here's Vahove's 2019 post on why it isn't a problem that needs a solution. Design the model(s) to answer a formal question and free your mind janhove.github.io/posts/2019-0...
tl;dr Collinearity is a form of lack of information that is appropriately reflected in the output of your statistical model. When collinearity is associated with interpretational difficulties, these difficulties aren’t caused by the collinearity itself. Rather, they reveal that the model was poorly specified (in that it answers a question different to the one of interest), that the analyst overly focuses on significance rather than estimates and the uncertainty about them or that the analyst took a mental shortcut in interpreting the model that could’ve also led them astray in the absence of collinearity. If you do decide to “deal with” collinearity, make sure you can still answer the question of interest.
October 1, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Reposted by David Faden
stevenlevy.bsky.social
When @wired asked me to look at Silicon Valley in the age of Trump, I saw the crash of the idealism that originally drew founders--and me--to the tech revolution. Selling out the dream will not serve those moguls (or us) well. www.wired.com/story/silico...
I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong
Tech got what it wanted by electing Trump. A year later, it looks more like a suicide pact.
www.wired.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:54 PM
util.bsky.social
Having some fun with the Speech API: revfad.com/keompyuteo/. Source code: github.com/fadend/keomp...
Screenshot that says "Listen", "Play", "What did you hear?", parts of the UI for a Korean learning game.
September 22, 2025 at 10:18 PM
util.bsky.social
Calscape is running a survey in partnership with a few other groups: morphonativeplants.github.io/redirect/. The images + alt text have more details.

#californianativeplants
Do you live in CA and grow plants? Take our 20-min survey and you can have the opportunity to win a $10 gift card! ELIGIBILITY: • You live in California • You grow plants in a garden, farm, or plot • You would like to learn more about gardening for wildlife ¿Vive usted en CA y cultiva plantas? ¡Participe en nuestra encuesta de 20 minutos y tendrá la oportunidad de ganar una tarjeta de regalo de $10! POR FAVOR CONTESTE NUESTRA ENCUESTA SI: • Usted vive en California • Usted cultiva plantas en una finca, jardín, parcela o patio • Le gustaría aprender más sobre como cultivar plantas para los polinizadores y la fauna
September 17, 2025 at 7:22 PM
util.bsky.social
Glad that Dan Russell is still making these posts. searchresearch1.blogspot.com/2025/08/upda...
Update: What are those bright patches of water without ripples?
I was walking on the bluffs along the Pacific this week... A very clear region of lighter water. P/C Daniel M. Russell. Taken at Black Poin...
searchresearch1.blogspot.com
September 14, 2025 at 6:03 AM
util.bsky.social
Had some fun using @tauri.app and imageproc to undo perspectival distortions of rectangles. blog.revfad.com/2025/09/07/u... Anyone have tips/favorite examples of how to use imageproc's `from_control_points`? Thanks! Looking forward to playing more with Tauri soon.
Undoing perspectival distortion – Revfad Blog
blog.revfad.com
September 7, 2025 at 11:37 PM
util.bsky.social
Has the "folk theorem of statistical computing" been noted in the broader ML world as well? That is: "When you have computational problems, often there’s a problem with your model." Here Prof. Gelman shares an interesting idea on how to make it less folksy.
September 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
util.bsky.social
Anyone have an archive of this? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Top FDA official demands removal of YouTube videos of himself that criticized Covid vaccines
Doctor who created now-defunct channel says he wanted to ‘preserve’ what Trump health officials said during Covid
www.theguardian.com
August 31, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by David Faden
ilyasomin.bsky.social
We just prevailed in our case against Trump's massive IEEPA tariffs, in the Federal Circuit! All challenged IEEPA tariffs ruled illegal, but scope of injunction TBD. Will have more to say later. Here is a link to the ruling (7-4 decision by en banc court): www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-ord...
www.cafc.uscourts.gov
August 29, 2025 at 10:10 PM