Michael Ekstrand
@md.ekstrandom.net
Info sci prof @ Drexel, trying to keep the machines (esp. RecSys & IR) from learning bigotry and discrimination. ADHDS9. Usually self-propelled. Opinions those of the Vulcan Science Academy. 🐰x2.
🏡 https://md.ekstrandom.net
🧪 https://inertial.science
🏡 https://md.ekstrandom.net
🧪 https://inertial.science
for a hot second I thought this cartoon was about statistics and was confused.
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
November 11, 2025 at 1:48 PM
for a hot second I thought this cartoon was about statistics and was confused.
“Per compliance policy, certain AI-generated fields cannot be manually updated and require vendor correction”
wtf compliance policy is this? Some insurance thing? Vendor-imposed bullshit?
You shouldn’t need the vendor involved to correct AI mistakes.
wtf compliance policy is this? Some insurance thing? Vendor-imposed bullshit?
You shouldn’t need the vendor involved to correct AI mistakes.
a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,
November 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
“Per compliance policy, certain AI-generated fields cannot be manually updated and require vendor correction”
wtf compliance policy is this? Some insurance thing? Vendor-imposed bullshit?
You shouldn’t need the vendor involved to correct AI mistakes.
wtf compliance policy is this? Some insurance thing? Vendor-imposed bullshit?
You shouldn’t need the vendor involved to correct AI mistakes.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
There is something really wrong with people who need workers to be not just competent, but slavishly fake-happy. "Slavishly" used on purpose, bc that's where this grotesquerie comes from.
"Store employees are now required to smile if they are within 10 feet of a shopper.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
They also must make eye contact with and wave to or greet the customer.
If they’re within four feet, the employee should ask how the customer’s day is going or if they need help."
🙄 Won't stop the boycott, y'all.
Target is now requiring its employees to smile more
As the holiday season fast approaches, Target is urging its employees to add a little more “jolly” to their work routine.
www.wilx.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:12 PM
There is something really wrong with people who need workers to be not just competent, but slavishly fake-happy. "Slavishly" used on purpose, bc that's where this grotesquerie comes from.
this.
this year at 40yo I finally started playing TTRPGs, one-shots and mini- campaigns while I look for a full campaign to join.
it has been a lot of fun and also cathartic.
Currently playing a professional thief & contract assassin who deeply distrusts all things digital in a cyberpunk setting.
this year at 40yo I finally started playing TTRPGs, one-shots and mini- campaigns while I look for a full campaign to join.
it has been a lot of fun and also cathartic.
Currently playing a professional thief & contract assassin who deeply distrusts all things digital in a cyberpunk setting.
This all the way to the bone marrow. Find things that bring you joy and cling to them like the life preserver they are in the stormy seas of our present moment in history.
I saw someone on my timeline shaming someone else for posting about college football in a time like this.
Folks, if we're going to survive a time like this, we're going to need to avoid burning out from an attitude of 24/7 vigilance and constant outrage.
Let people find joy where they can, please.
Folks, if we're going to survive a time like this, we're going to need to avoid burning out from an attitude of 24/7 vigilance and constant outrage.
Let people find joy where they can, please.
November 9, 2025 at 12:08 AM
this.
this year at 40yo I finally started playing TTRPGs, one-shots and mini- campaigns while I look for a full campaign to join.
it has been a lot of fun and also cathartic.
Currently playing a professional thief & contract assassin who deeply distrusts all things digital in a cyberpunk setting.
this year at 40yo I finally started playing TTRPGs, one-shots and mini- campaigns while I look for a full campaign to join.
it has been a lot of fun and also cathartic.
Currently playing a professional thief & contract assassin who deeply distrusts all things digital in a cyberpunk setting.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
virtue signalling is good actually
Performative decency is actually *so* important for this reason.
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
virtue signalling is good actually
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
"Eat your own dogfood" is actually a credible business strategy.
(Circa 2000 I worked at Cisco, which used its own VoIP phones internally, for just this reason. Which back then weren't very good. So the company struggled to talk to itself... but it probably helped make a better product.)
(Circa 2000 I worked at Cisco, which used its own VoIP phones internally, for just this reason. Which back then weren't very good. So the company struggled to talk to itself... but it probably helped make a better product.)
15 years ago, I said every social media founder should be forced to use and live with the default settings of their platforms. Now I would say that the AI founders should have their tools pointed at their families for a year before they can deploy them elsewhere.
I seem to remember whole congressional hearings about the terrible destructive force that is violence in video games and yet, there is a very strange quiet about an unregulated technology that coaches people to suicide.
November 7, 2025 at 2:41 PM
"Eat your own dogfood" is actually a credible business strategy.
(Circa 2000 I worked at Cisco, which used its own VoIP phones internally, for just this reason. Which back then weren't very good. So the company struggled to talk to itself... but it probably helped make a better product.)
(Circa 2000 I worked at Cisco, which used its own VoIP phones internally, for just this reason. Which back then weren't very good. So the company struggled to talk to itself... but it probably helped make a better product.)
This is absolutely cursed. It’s giving eldritch horror.
I love it, now what would ggplotz look like?
I love it, now what would ggplotz look like?
Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp....
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
GitHub - hadley/genzplyr: dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap
dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap. Contribute to hadley/genzplyr development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
This is absolutely cursed. It’s giving eldritch horror.
I love it, now what would ggplotz look like?
I love it, now what would ggplotz look like?
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
November 6, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
<taps the sign> it is basically always a category error to use physical attributes to predict socially-contingent or constructed classes of actions.
We should avoid such category errors as a matter of scientific rigor.
We should avoid such category errors as a matter of scientific rigor.
bro are you fucking kidding me
November 7, 2025 at 12:16 PM
<taps the sign> it is basically always a category error to use physical attributes to predict socially-contingent or constructed classes of actions.
We should avoid such category errors as a matter of scientific rigor.
We should avoid such category errors as a matter of scientific rigor.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Our School of Information Sciences is running four searches, and we can hire more than four candidates. Here’s the first link, for a job that might appeal to people working in history of information, history of science, or digital humanities. +
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Information, Culture & Society - School of Information Science
Duties & Responsibilities
illinois.csod.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Our School of Information Sciences is running four searches, and we can hire more than four candidates. Here’s the first link, for a job that might appeal to people working in history of information, history of science, or digital humanities. +
thread + post reminded me of Candycorn Krispykreme (Kipperlilly Copperkettle) from Fantasy High Junior Year, except the Intrepid Heroes were not nearly so consistent in formulating alternate monikers.
Higgledy piggledy
Timothée Chalamet
Has a name meriting
Endless design
Much like his forerunner
Benedict Cumberbatch:
Hexasyllabically,
Easy to rhyme
Timothée Chalamet
Has a name meriting
Endless design
Much like his forerunner
Benedict Cumberbatch:
Hexasyllabically,
Easy to rhyme
November 6, 2025 at 12:44 PM
thread + post reminded me of Candycorn Krispykreme (Kipperlilly Copperkettle) from Fantasy High Junior Year, except the Intrepid Heroes were not nearly so consistent in formulating alternate monikers.
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
November 5, 2025 at 4:54 AM
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
This whole thread (and embedded Bandersnatch Cumberboot blog post) is brilliant
Higgledy piggledy
Timothée Chalamet
Has a name meriting
Endless design
Much like his forerunner
Benedict Cumberbatch:
Hexasyllabically,
Easy to rhyme
Timothée Chalamet
Has a name meriting
Endless design
Much like his forerunner
Benedict Cumberbatch:
Hexasyllabically,
Easy to rhyme
November 6, 2025 at 12:24 AM
This whole thread (and embedded Bandersnatch Cumberboot blog post) is brilliant
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
ma'am the raccoons are no longer in the trenchcoat, they're on the run in a stolen powered exoskeleton
November 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM
ma'am the raccoons are no longer in the trenchcoat, they're on the run in a stolen powered exoskeleton
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
This is why if you learn nothing else for evidence literacy, learn to look up survey items and read them for yourself and think about how someone might interpret them.
Poll: Americans say “too divided”
Pundit: Dems are being too divisive
Poll: Legal system unfair
Pundit: The public thinks Trump should get away with crimes
Poll: Low trust in media
Pundits: MSM is too far left
Every time they see a nonspecific term and assume everyone thinks like a Republican.
Pundit: Dems are being too divisive
Poll: Legal system unfair
Pundit: The public thinks Trump should get away with crimes
Poll: Low trust in media
Pundits: MSM is too far left
Every time they see a nonspecific term and assume everyone thinks like a Republican.
I will never understand the pundit obsession with getting Democrats to solve "political division."
Not only is this what they're already doing, but Klein admits that Republicans will never do the same. So elections will remain constant GOP smears and simping Democratic promises of bipartisanship.
Not only is this what they're already doing, but Klein admits that Republicans will never do the same. So elections will remain constant GOP smears and simping Democratic promises of bipartisanship.
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
This is why if you learn nothing else for evidence literacy, learn to look up survey items and read them for yourself and think about how someone might interpret them.
nothing to see, just the AI "search assist" making up complete bullshit about trivially verifiable technical matters. Yet again.
(pyproject.toml has no 'constraints' option in any widely-supported specification, including both of the sources linked below. unfortunately.)
(pyproject.toml has no 'constraints' option in any widely-supported specification, including both of the sources linked below. unfortunately.)
![DuckDuckGo "search assist" informing me that "To specify dependency constraints in a pyproject.toml file, you can use the constraints key within the [project] table to define version limits for dependencies. This allows you to impose specific version requirements for packages that your project indirectly relies on, ensuring that secure or compatible versions are used.", sourced from packaging.python.org and python-poetry.org.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:br2otuyrxpxlqclcaqdctvee/bafkreiflawxxtsc3b4rmlmuwim5w332z6skpsr6mshbcb7a3my3lxsmc7a@jpeg)
November 3, 2025 at 2:22 PM
nothing to see, just the AI "search assist" making up complete bullshit about trivially verifiable technical matters. Yet again.
(pyproject.toml has no 'constraints' option in any widely-supported specification, including both of the sources linked below. unfortunately.)
(pyproject.toml has no 'constraints' option in any widely-supported specification, including both of the sources linked below. unfortunately.)
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
Now I'm also looking for a research software engineer to implement a pile of research results to R packages loo, posterior, bayesplot, projpred, priorsense, brms or/and Python packages ArviZ, Bambi and Kulprit. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact info at users.aalto.fi/~ave/)
I'm now also looking for a postdoc with strong Bayesian background and interest in developing Bayesian cross-validation theory, methods and software. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact information at users.aalto.fi/~ave/).
Others, please share
Others, please share
I'm looking for a doctoral student with Bayesian background to work on Bayesian workflow and cross-validation (see my publication list users.aalto.fi/~ave/publica... for my recent work) at Aalto University.
Apply through the ELLIS PhD program (dl October 31) ellis.eu/news/ellis-p...
Apply through the ELLIS PhD program (dl October 31) ellis.eu/news/ellis-p...
November 3, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Now I'm also looking for a research software engineer to implement a pile of research results to R packages loo, posterior, bayesplot, projpred, priorsense, brms or/and Python packages ArviZ, Bambi and Kulprit. Apply by email with no specific deadline (see contact info at users.aalto.fi/~ave/)
Sunday night, so just chilling with some symphonic power metal.
November 3, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Sunday night, so just chilling with some symphonic power metal.
I understand why arXiv is making this change, and don't have a better solution, but one of the consequences will be that arXiv Proceedings are no longer a viable mechanism for publishing proceedings for workshops that accept position or survey papers. blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 1, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I understand why arXiv is making this change, and don't have a better solution, but one of the consequences will be that arXiv Proceedings are no longer a viable mechanism for publishing proceedings for workshops that accept position or survey papers. blog.arxiv.org/2025/10/31/a...
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
... but they were, all of them, deceived, for a seventh factor was made...
Hear me out: six factor authentication
October 31, 2025 at 1:21 PM
... but they were, all of them, deceived, for a seventh factor was made...
Reposted by Michael Ekstrand
A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:27 AM
A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com
I will neither confirm nor deny drafting a cyberpunk character sheet for Violent "Vi" Faygo McDonald, child of wannabe Juggalos, collegiate chess-boxer, and academic nepo-baby PhD student, who is completely unprepared for the reality of the adventure that awaits.
October 31, 2025 at 1:15 AM
I will neither confirm nor deny drafting a cyberpunk character sheet for Violent "Vi" Faygo McDonald, child of wannabe Juggalos, collegiate chess-boxer, and academic nepo-baby PhD student, who is completely unprepared for the reality of the adventure that awaits.
Prepping a new class for next term called “Data Workflow Automation” about building reproducible, adaptable data science / ML pipelines, versioning artifacts, etc., also with a bit of MLOps. V. excited!
Want to ask my broader network — what oft-overlooked things should students learn here?
Want to ask my broader network — what oft-overlooked things should students learn here?
October 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Prepping a new class for next term called “Data Workflow Automation” about building reproducible, adaptable data science / ML pipelines, versioning artifacts, etc., also with a bit of MLOps. V. excited!
Want to ask my broader network — what oft-overlooked things should students learn here?
Want to ask my broader network — what oft-overlooked things should students learn here?