Miles McBain
@milesmcbain.bsky.social
Code hacker, number cruncher, #rstats user, board gamer, road racer, plant eater, bass slapper.
I like big bikes and I cannot lie. #cargobike
Coming to you from AUS / BNE.
https://milesmcbain.com
I like big bikes and I cannot lie. #cargobike
Coming to you from AUS / BNE.
https://milesmcbain.com
Reposted by Miles McBain
ChatGPT’s signature writing style is everywhere now, and I hate it. It reminds me of when we tried mixing all the beverages at the soda fountain in middle school. We didn’t actually create the perfect drink, we just made a cloying monstrosity that lost everything good about its constituent parts.
November 19, 2025 at 5:17 PM
ChatGPT’s signature writing style is everywhere now, and I hate it. It reminds me of when we tried mixing all the beverages at the soda fountain in middle school. We didn’t actually create the perfect drink, we just made a cloying monstrosity that lost everything good about its constituent parts.
Reposted by Miles McBain
November 19, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Miles McBain
The recording of my #rstats posit::conf talk ✨ practical {renv}✨ is available! 🎉
I created this talk for frustrated {renv} users 🫠 and potential {renv} users🤩
youtu.be/l01u7Ue9pIQ?...
Even if {renv} isn't on your radar, you may still find this talk interesting if you are curious about🤔...
I created this talk for frustrated {renv} users 🫠 and potential {renv} users🤩
youtu.be/l01u7Ue9pIQ?...
Even if {renv} isn't on your radar, you may still find this talk interesting if you are curious about🤔...
Practical {renv} (Shannon Pileggi, The PCCTC) | posit::conf(2025)
YouTube video by Posit PBC
youtu.be
November 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
The recording of my #rstats posit::conf talk ✨ practical {renv}✨ is available! 🎉
I created this talk for frustrated {renv} users 🫠 and potential {renv} users🤩
youtu.be/l01u7Ue9pIQ?...
Even if {renv} isn't on your radar, you may still find this talk interesting if you are curious about🤔...
I created this talk for frustrated {renv} users 🫠 and potential {renv} users🤩
youtu.be/l01u7Ue9pIQ?...
Even if {renv} isn't on your radar, you may still find this talk interesting if you are curious about🤔...
Reposted by Miles McBain
(spending 9 billion dollars to make a robot say "i have always loved you") hard times create strong men
November 16, 2025 at 9:35 PM
(spending 9 billion dollars to make a robot say "i have always loved you") hard times create strong men
Reposted by Miles McBain
that people use AI technologies in their work and explain that it saves them precious time that they can devote to other more urgent tasks tells me less about the wondrousness of the technologies and more about the overextension and immiseration of workers.
November 15, 2025 at 11:29 PM
that people use AI technologies in their work and explain that it saves them precious time that they can devote to other more urgent tasks tells me less about the wondrousness of the technologies and more about the overextension and immiseration of workers.
Reposted by Miles McBain
You know it's gonna be interesting when it starts with, "Yes, I’m ready to touch the hot stove." 😂
I've seen folks missing the base R in the footnote 👀
What say you, #databs #rstats #pydata? /Aragorn voice/
Is there civilized discussion to be had? 🤔
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/python-is-...
I've seen folks missing the base R in the footnote 👀
What say you, #databs #rstats #pydata? /Aragorn voice/
Is there civilized discussion to be had? 🤔
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/python-is-...
Python is not a great language for data science. Part 1: The experience
It may be a good language for data science, but it’s not a great one.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:21 AM
You know it's gonna be interesting when it starts with, "Yes, I’m ready to touch the hot stove." 😂
I've seen folks missing the base R in the footnote 👀
What say you, #databs #rstats #pydata? /Aragorn voice/
Is there civilized discussion to be had? 🤔
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/python-is-...
I've seen folks missing the base R in the footnote 👀
What say you, #databs #rstats #pydata? /Aragorn voice/
Is there civilized discussion to be had? 🤔
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/python-is-...
Sir we are purveyors of quality hand-coded software. Typed out in the traditional way by fingers on mechanical keys. Some backlit by LEDs.
Look here, look at this code. It looks clean, just like shoddy AI work, but let me draw your attention to this unexpected line break here…
Look here, look at this code. It looks clean, just like shoddy AI work, but let me draw your attention to this unexpected line break here…
November 7, 2025 at 7:54 AM
Sir we are purveyors of quality hand-coded software. Typed out in the traditional way by fingers on mechanical keys. Some backlit by LEDs.
Look here, look at this code. It looks clean, just like shoddy AI work, but let me draw your attention to this unexpected line break here…
Look here, look at this code. It looks clean, just like shoddy AI work, but let me draw your attention to this unexpected line break here…
Going out on a limb here but the most exquisitely designed deeply domain specific functions in the #rstats #tidyverse are probably the tidyr::separate_ family.
separate_wider_regex() is my main. The patterns arg! Beautiful. The debug mode! So sympathetic to the user’s whole process.
separate_wider_regex() is my main. The patterns arg! Beautiful. The debug mode! So sympathetic to the user’s whole process.
November 4, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Going out on a limb here but the most exquisitely designed deeply domain specific functions in the #rstats #tidyverse are probably the tidyr::separate_ family.
separate_wider_regex() is my main. The patterns arg! Beautiful. The debug mode! So sympathetic to the user’s whole process.
separate_wider_regex() is my main. The patterns arg! Beautiful. The debug mode! So sympathetic to the user’s whole process.
Reposted by Miles McBain
George I need you to do to these companies what you could never do to your books and finish them.
Massive win and beginning of the end for generative ai
October 30, 2025 at 12:54 AM
George I need you to do to these companies what you could never do to your books and finish them.
One of the greatest things about my job is the things talked about vs not. A whole floor of nerds.
Talked about: R, stats, fantasy leagues, coffee, cycling, running, hiking, urbanism, bargains, the competitive puzzling scene, video games.
Things not talked about: Python, ever.
Talked about: R, stats, fantasy leagues, coffee, cycling, running, hiking, urbanism, bargains, the competitive puzzling scene, video games.
Things not talked about: Python, ever.
October 30, 2025 at 4:39 AM
One of the greatest things about my job is the things talked about vs not. A whole floor of nerds.
Talked about: R, stats, fantasy leagues, coffee, cycling, running, hiking, urbanism, bargains, the competitive puzzling scene, video games.
Things not talked about: Python, ever.
Talked about: R, stats, fantasy leagues, coffee, cycling, running, hiking, urbanism, bargains, the competitive puzzling scene, video games.
Things not talked about: Python, ever.
Reposted by Miles McBain
Current demographic trends have long-term implications for care and dependency. Intergenerational inequality is not just an economic issue, but it is also social and democratic issues. #auspol #economy
Five charts that show how young Australians are getting screwed
Australia is becoming increasingly unequal. The story is unmissably generational: young Australians today face a tougher reality than their parents and grandparents.
johnmenadue.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Had cause to share this classic software design talk yesterday: youtu.be/SxdOUGdseq4?...
And wow. What a time of optimism that was compared to now. The false promise of AI doing it all has probably set the field back a decade at least.
And wow. What a time of optimism that was compared to now. The false promise of AI doing it all has probably set the field back a decade at least.
"Simple Made Easy" - Rich Hickey (2011)
YouTube video by Strange Loop Conference
youtu.be
October 28, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Had cause to share this classic software design talk yesterday: youtu.be/SxdOUGdseq4?...
And wow. What a time of optimism that was compared to now. The false promise of AI doing it all has probably set the field back a decade at least.
And wow. What a time of optimism that was compared to now. The false promise of AI doing it all has probably set the field back a decade at least.
Reposted by Miles McBain
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:58 PM
There's been endless talk about an AI bubble, but less about exactly how, why, and how much it's a bubble. So I turned to the framework put forward by scholars Brent Goldfarb and David A. Kirsch, authors of "Bubbles and Crashes," for assessing tech bubbles.
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Spoiler: On a scale of 1 to 8, AI is an 8
Reposted by Miles McBain
Tried to sneak a photo of a cute doggo and accidentally had long exposure on and I believe I have created man’s greatest expression of art
October 21, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Tried to sneak a photo of a cute doggo and accidentally had long exposure on and I believe I have created man’s greatest expression of art
Coming across this sitting at kid 1’s piano lesson we got to by cargo bike. 😊🚲💪
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Load and behold: should you opt for an electric cargo bike over a second car?
Cargo ebikes are ideal for the millions of short-distance car trips Australians take every day. Here’s how to make one work for you
www.theguardian.com
October 18, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Coming across this sitting at kid 1’s piano lesson we got to by cargo bike. 😊🚲💪
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by Miles McBain
I tried using AI to help me "speed up" my writing process. I hated every second of it. (I know, "duh")
I dislike reading AI slop, so I don't use AI to write stuff that isn't code. But, while I love writing, I am not fast at it, & I let ✨capitalism✨ convince me that I should maybe SPEED UP.
🧵 1/n
I dislike reading AI slop, so I don't use AI to write stuff that isn't code. But, while I love writing, I am not fast at it, & I let ✨capitalism✨ convince me that I should maybe SPEED UP.
🧵 1/n
October 16, 2025 at 3:46 AM
I tried using AI to help me "speed up" my writing process. I hated every second of it. (I know, "duh")
I dislike reading AI slop, so I don't use AI to write stuff that isn't code. But, while I love writing, I am not fast at it, & I let ✨capitalism✨ convince me that I should maybe SPEED UP.
🧵 1/n
I dislike reading AI slop, so I don't use AI to write stuff that isn't code. But, while I love writing, I am not fast at it, & I let ✨capitalism✨ convince me that I should maybe SPEED UP.
🧵 1/n
Reposted by Miles McBain
Hey #rstats friends! 👋
Only one week to go until my "Introduction to R Packages" tutorial at #WOMBAT2025!
This is a gentle introduction to making R packages, going from initial code to `devtools::check()`
Still plenty of spots available :)
Sign up at: wombat2025.numbat.space
Only one week to go until my "Introduction to R Packages" tutorial at #WOMBAT2025!
This is a gentle introduction to making R packages, going from initial code to `devtools::check()`
Still plenty of spots available :)
Sign up at: wombat2025.numbat.space
September 19, 2025 at 5:50 AM
Hey #rstats friends! 👋
Only one week to go until my "Introduction to R Packages" tutorial at #WOMBAT2025!
This is a gentle introduction to making R packages, going from initial code to `devtools::check()`
Still plenty of spots available :)
Sign up at: wombat2025.numbat.space
Only one week to go until my "Introduction to R Packages" tutorial at #WOMBAT2025!
This is a gentle introduction to making R packages, going from initial code to `devtools::check()`
Still plenty of spots available :)
Sign up at: wombat2025.numbat.space
The thing is, I feel it’s the {breakerofchains} crowd who are most likely hunt me down if I ever retired the repo.
The GOAT RStudio addin by @milesmcbain.bsky.social
Jonathan McPherson just mentioned datapasta at the opening keynote of #positconf, so I'm sharing this once again to share the magic, for all those discovering it for the very first time ❤️
#databs #rstats
#databs #rstats
September 18, 2025 at 3:39 AM
The thing is, I feel it’s the {breakerofchains} crowd who are most likely hunt me down if I ever retired the repo.
Reposted by Miles McBain
In my experience, courage is usually the product of love and/or solidarity. When we are deeply invested in each other, we are more likely to take risks that we wouldn't take out of mere principle, or for the sake of people we feel disconnected from. Our alienation mass produces cowardice.
September 12, 2025 at 4:23 AM
In my experience, courage is usually the product of love and/or solidarity. When we are deeply invested in each other, we are more likely to take risks that we wouldn't take out of mere principle, or for the sake of people we feel disconnected from. Our alienation mass produces cowardice.
Reposted by Miles McBain
Great video by @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social featuring Brisbane's low cycling mode share. Fun fact: in 2006 Brisbane aimed to more than double cycling from 2% to 5% by 2026.
In 2016 when they reviewed the plan, mode share was...still 2%. What did they do in the 2016-2036 plan?
youtu.be/_DQonhJLKTc?...
In 2016 when they reviewed the plan, mode share was...still 2%. What did they do in the 2016-2036 plan?
youtu.be/_DQonhJLKTc?...
The Cycling Potential Hiding in Plain Sight
YouTube video by Oh The Urbanity!
youtu.be
August 27, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Great video by @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social featuring Brisbane's low cycling mode share. Fun fact: in 2006 Brisbane aimed to more than double cycling from 2% to 5% by 2026.
In 2016 when they reviewed the plan, mode share was...still 2%. What did they do in the 2016-2036 plan?
youtu.be/_DQonhJLKTc?...
In 2016 when they reviewed the plan, mode share was...still 2%. What did they do in the 2016-2036 plan?
youtu.be/_DQonhJLKTc?...
Reposted by Miles McBain
Tax breaks for huge, American-style utes cost the Australian government $250 million in 2023.
But it gets worse.
Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005, but that drop was wiped out by the increased use of big utes. #auspol
But it gets worse.
Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005, but that drop was wiped out by the increased use of big utes. #auspol
August 25, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Tax breaks for huge, American-style utes cost the Australian government $250 million in 2023.
But it gets worse.
Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005, but that drop was wiped out by the increased use of big utes. #auspol
But it gets worse.
Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005, but that drop was wiped out by the increased use of big utes. #auspol
Reposted by Miles McBain
i need politicians to be as mad at housing prices as they are about cracker barrel's new logo
August 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
i need politicians to be as mad at housing prices as they are about cracker barrel's new logo