Randy Au
@randyau.com
Hobby consultant, 💎🪚🎮🖥️🎙️🎹🎧👨🍳📷🪛➕
Quant UX Researcher @ [Home] (posts are my own)
Writes a data newsletter: https://www.counting-stuff.com/
https://linktr.ee/randy_au
Languages: EN/JP/CN
Quant UX Researcher @ [Home] (posts are my own)
Writes a data newsletter: https://www.counting-stuff.com/
https://linktr.ee/randy_au
Languages: EN/JP/CN
Pinned
Randy Au
@randyau.com
· Oct 30
Counting Stuff
A weekly newsletter about the important, mundane, parts of being a data scientist, UX researcher. With some extra fun about tech and hobbies.
www.counting-stuff.com
So on here I talk about hobbies and crack snarky data jokes. But once a week I also write a very long form data science newsletter. at www.counting-stuff.com
#DataBS
Here's a thread of old posts that people liked [ugh no thread writing interface] (1/n)
#DataBS
Here's a thread of old posts that people liked [ugh no thread writing interface] (1/n)
I have no idea why my photos of me spraying expanding foam in my basement is doing more numbers than what a boring post should be doing 🤣
November 25, 2025 at 8:50 PM
I have no idea why my photos of me spraying expanding foam in my basement is doing more numbers than what a boring post should be doing 🤣
... new discoveries as I slowly work along the foundation cleaning up to seal the rim joist... the whole front has a normal joist like 2 inches from the rim joist =_= I can't get anywhere in there except in tiny gaps.... BUT this ancient house, I can feel the rim joist from outside
November 25, 2025 at 7:14 PM
... new discoveries as I slowly work along the foundation cleaning up to seal the rim joist... the whole front has a normal joist like 2 inches from the rim joist =_= I can't get anywhere in there except in tiny gaps.... BUT this ancient house, I can feel the rim joist from outside
This week on Counting Stuff, guest post from Michał Chorowski about naive "time to ~" metrics and the various flaws/biases they can have, and how survival analysis can tackle the questions. #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/why-you-are-...
www.counting-stuff.com/why-you-are-...
Why You Are (Probably) Measuring Time Wrong: Why do we need to use Survival Analysis more
Author: Michał Chorowski
[Hey everyone! A guest post from Michał this week! This newsletter is always willing to host/share data-related content, so if you've created anything you'd like to share, re...
www.counting-stuff.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
This week on Counting Stuff, guest post from Michał Chorowski about naive "time to ~" metrics and the various flaws/biases they can have, and how survival analysis can tackle the questions. #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/why-you-are-...
www.counting-stuff.com/why-you-are-...
coooool, went w/ the thermal camera to check on the foam curing that it looks like sealing those parts of the rim joist really is helping because any little gaps in the foam show up as dark cold spots. The cold air still can sneak into the wall cavities but this should start helping control things
November 25, 2025 at 1:03 AM
coooool, went w/ the thermal camera to check on the foam curing that it looks like sealing those parts of the rim joist really is helping because any little gaps in the foam show up as dark cold spots. The cold air still can sneak into the wall cavities but this should start helping control things
trying to be useful in the house but honestly making messes
November 24, 2025 at 11:58 PM
trying to be useful in the house but honestly making messes
Ok, a couple of hours with stellar blade... The combat timing is mercilessly tight, and apparently you're supposed to block/parry more and dodging is harder but years of playing fromsoft games have ingrained dodging into my soul 🤪 I often forget the parry button exists =×
November 22, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Ok, a couple of hours with stellar blade... The combat timing is mercilessly tight, and apparently you're supposed to block/parry more and dodging is harder but years of playing fromsoft games have ingrained dodging into my soul 🤪 I often forget the parry button exists =×
also have the energy to shop for lights again (we still need about 3 ceiling lights for various rooms) and foudn this rather cute, but pricey, one
November 22, 2025 at 3:00 AM
also have the energy to shop for lights again (we still need about 3 ceiling lights for various rooms) and foudn this rather cute, but pricey, one
spending money on games again =x
November 22, 2025 at 2:42 AM
spending money on games again =x
Ok, digging out the humidifier really did help a ton. Now if this stupid cough will go away
November 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Ok, digging out the humidifier really did help a ton. Now if this stupid cough will go away
... madness... so for some REALLY weird reason, as the temperatures dropped my desktop PC kept crashing, freezing, throwing hypervisor errors, this is after a new mobo, trying ALL the recent BIOs verions, updating every last f'ing driver
past 2 days I put a +0.025v offset to the CPU and it's stable
past 2 days I put a +0.025v offset to the CPU and it's stable
November 21, 2025 at 4:35 AM
... madness... so for some REALLY weird reason, as the temperatures dropped my desktop PC kept crashing, freezing, throwing hypervisor errors, this is after a new mobo, trying ALL the recent BIOs verions, updating every last f'ing driver
past 2 days I put a +0.025v offset to the CPU and it's stable
past 2 days I put a +0.025v offset to the CPU and it's stable
Ugh slept like an extra 4 hours today because this cough is some kinda annoying disease of some sort and apparently healing it requires sleep
November 20, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Ugh slept like an extra 4 hours today because this cough is some kinda annoying disease of some sort and apparently healing it requires sleep
to expand on this, whenever I need a cheap stupid plastic part/hook/doodad? awesome. Have a weird house thing that needs 15min of CAD? perfecto. Organized my kitchen drawers!
But how often does this happen? More than i expected, but less than I wish
But how often does this happen? More than i expected, but less than I wish
so I've had this 3d printer up and running for about 6-8mo now? and my opinion of 3d printing is that.. "it's more useful than it initially seemed, but not as useful as I'd like it to be"
November 19, 2025 at 11:18 PM
to expand on this, whenever I need a cheap stupid plastic part/hook/doodad? awesome. Have a weird house thing that needs 15min of CAD? perfecto. Organized my kitchen drawers!
But how often does this happen? More than i expected, but less than I wish
But how often does this happen? More than i expected, but less than I wish
so I've had this 3d printer up and running for about 6-8mo now? and my opinion of 3d printing is that.. "it's more useful than it initially seemed, but not as useful as I'd like it to be"
November 19, 2025 at 11:05 PM
so I've had this 3d printer up and running for about 6-8mo now? and my opinion of 3d printing is that.. "it's more useful than it initially seemed, but not as useful as I'd like it to be"
Wow, I haven't been to the midManhattan library in about 20 years and so I didn't know the very very long period of renovations it had been under was complete and looks amazing. Not even sure when it was done
November 19, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Wow, I haven't been to the midManhattan library in about 20 years and so I didn't know the very very long period of renovations it had been under was complete and looks amazing. Not even sure when it was done
Ahaha the transit museum shop at Grand Central has cute Christmas ornament balls with the subway letters
November 19, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Ahaha the transit museum shop at Grand Central has cute Christmas ornament balls with the subway letters
Gotta love new site designs .. put in a new theme to the newsletter site and it added a big subscribe button on the top of the homepage. And I didn't notice it was going to a nonexistent default page 🤪
November 19, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Gotta love new site designs .. put in a new theme to the newsletter site and it added a big subscribe button on the top of the homepage. And I didn't notice it was going to a nonexistent default page 🤪
YAY, I'm honestly clueless about CSS and modern HTML so if not for LLMs I would be hopeless at modifying the new newsletter site theme to include a proper bluesky share button
November 19, 2025 at 12:07 AM
YAY, I'm honestly clueless about CSS and modern HTML so if not for LLMs I would be hopeless at modifying the new newsletter site theme to include a proper bluesky share button
omg world book still does paper encyclopedias
November 18, 2025 at 10:48 PM
omg world book still does paper encyclopedias
I just ordered the kid a dictionary because every 6yo needs a GIANT BOOK OF WORDS
now I'm wondering if I can still get a paper encyclopedia
now I'm wondering if I can still get a paper encyclopedia
November 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I just ordered the kid a dictionary because every 6yo needs a GIANT BOOK OF WORDS
now I'm wondering if I can still get a paper encyclopedia
now I'm wondering if I can still get a paper encyclopedia
phew, spent 2-3 hours inthe basement w/ the shopvac + dust separator and cleared out like.. 7 gallons worth of dirt/dust/ick out of there.... still have a LOT of cleaning to do before I can seal up the rim joist
November 18, 2025 at 8:20 PM
phew, spent 2-3 hours inthe basement w/ the shopvac + dust separator and cleared out like.. 7 gallons worth of dirt/dust/ick out of there.... still have a LOT of cleaning to do before I can seal up the rim joist
And of cours because I can't leave well enough alone, went from trying to debug why the hell schedule emails weren't sending (but the test one sent!) and installed a potentially nicer site theme, except now it's got things I need to tweak ><
November 18, 2025 at 5:22 PM
And of cours because I can't leave well enough alone, went from trying to debug why the hell schedule emails weren't sending (but the test one sent!) and installed a potentially nicer site theme, except now it's got things I need to tweak ><
This week on Counting Stuff (still debugging broken scheduled sends =\) but I signed an offer and am on vacation until 2026! So a quick lookback at the rush to find a job in this tough market. #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/from-emergen...
www.counting-stuff.com/from-emergen...
From emergency to normalcy again
Things are gonna be okay
www.counting-stuff.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:53 PM
This week on Counting Stuff (still debugging broken scheduled sends =\) but I signed an offer and am on vacation until 2026! So a quick lookback at the rush to find a job in this tough market. #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/from-emergen...
www.counting-stuff.com/from-emergen...
I think our fireplace has become the cat pantry 🤣
November 18, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I think our fireplace has become the cat pantry 🤣
Whelp, somehow this morning's 8:05 email didn't send again, and looked at the logs and...... "Error".... Thanks logging, so helpful =P
November 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Whelp, somehow this morning's 8:05 email didn't send again, and looked at the logs and...... "Error".... Thanks logging, so helpful =P
... upping the voltage on the CPU seems to have helped with crashing... I wonder if it's somehow correlated w/ the room temperature somehow? which is weird but at this point who knows
November 18, 2025 at 2:46 PM
... upping the voltage on the CPU seems to have helped with crashing... I wonder if it's somehow correlated w/ the room temperature somehow? which is weird but at this point who knows