apoorva lal
@apoorvalal.com
causal inference, econometrics, ML, arsenal, loud music, unix, FOSS for scientific computing. opinions my own.
apoorvalal.github.io
(passively) maintains @paperposterbot.bsky.social
apoorvalal.github.io
(passively) maintains @paperposterbot.bsky.social
if i had a time machine i'd show up at trinity college, cambridge in 1670 and inflict this sentence upon newton
January 9, 2026 at 9:52 PM
if i had a time machine i'd show up at trinity college, cambridge in 1670 and inflict this sentence upon newton
I once tried to trick it into admitting it was the protagonist of GTA3
January 9, 2026 at 6:22 PM
I once tried to trick it into admitting it was the protagonist of GTA3
another pro tip - define it as a snippet and map to ctrl/cmd+shift+semicolon in vscode.
January 9, 2026 at 4:16 PM
another pro tip - define it as a snippet and map to ctrl/cmd+shift+semicolon in vscode.
posted this on xitter attached to a post by grus (the king of notebook haters):
switch to quarto, or pair with jupytext. notebooks + agentic edits are a disaster (which i bet you've already experienced plenty)
switch to quarto, or pair with jupytext. notebooks + agentic edits are a disaster (which i bet you've already experienced plenty)
January 9, 2026 at 3:37 PM
posted this on xitter attached to a post by grus (the king of notebook haters):
switch to quarto, or pair with jupytext. notebooks + agentic edits are a disaster (which i bet you've already experienced plenty)
switch to quarto, or pair with jupytext. notebooks + agentic edits are a disaster (which i bet you've already experienced plenty)
aliases ftw; anything i'd like to remember to do on the terminal goes into my ~/.zshrc as a 3-4letter alias
eg here i'd reduce it to running the 3 lines at the bottom
eg here i'd reduce it to running the 3 lines at the bottom
January 9, 2026 at 2:12 AM
aliases ftw; anything i'd like to remember to do on the terminal goes into my ~/.zshrc as a 3-4letter alias
eg here i'd reduce it to running the 3 lines at the bottom
eg here i'd reduce it to running the 3 lines at the bottom
never ceases to amuse me that the most vocal luddite denizens of this social network fail to notice it is the easiest place to scrape on the entire internet, and it is this way by design.
January 7, 2026 at 4:59 AM
never ceases to amuse me that the most vocal luddite denizens of this social network fail to notice it is the easiest place to scrape on the entire internet, and it is this way by design.
closer to 50% active [adhoc-active in last 3mo] for @paperposterbot.bsky.social what with this being the phd-haver social network and all
January 7, 2026 at 4:57 AM
closer to 50% active [adhoc-active in last 3mo] for @paperposterbot.bsky.social what with this being the phd-haver social network and all
also that topline follower count is an overestimate for the typical people signed up but disappeared / got put off by the general feed and vibe on here reasons. plotted timestamps of last post for my ~5k+ followers and i'd say ~2k are 'active' [in the last 3mo]
code: gist.github.com/apoorvalal/6...
code: gist.github.com/apoorvalal/6...
January 7, 2026 at 4:16 AM
also that topline follower count is an overestimate for the typical people signed up but disappeared / got put off by the general feed and vibe on here reasons. plotted timestamps of last post for my ~5k+ followers and i'd say ~2k are 'active' [in the last 3mo]
code: gist.github.com/apoorvalal/6...
code: gist.github.com/apoorvalal/6...
actually an excellent interface
January 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM
actually an excellent interface
ball x pit:
vampire survivors comes to brickbreaking games. hypnotic, surprisingly many variations on what should be a simple formula, made the christmas break disappear
vampire survivors comes to brickbreaking games. hypnotic, surprisingly many variations on what should be a simple formula, made the christmas break disappear
January 6, 2026 at 4:05 AM
ball x pit:
vampire survivors comes to brickbreaking games. hypnotic, surprisingly many variations on what should be a simple formula, made the christmas break disappear
vampire survivors comes to brickbreaking games. hypnotic, surprisingly many variations on what should be a simple formula, made the christmas break disappear
i am your beast:
probably the best twitch-y fps i've played in ages; made me feel very old and very slow (complimentary).
probably the best twitch-y fps i've played in ages; made me feel very old and very slow (complimentary).
January 6, 2026 at 4:03 AM
i am your beast:
probably the best twitch-y fps i've played in ages; made me feel very old and very slow (complimentary).
probably the best twitch-y fps i've played in ages; made me feel very old and very slow (complimentary).
going under:
roguelike set in a parody of silicon valley companies. pointed enough to make you wince; very moreish gameplay.
roguelike set in a parody of silicon valley companies. pointed enough to make you wince; very moreish gameplay.
January 6, 2026 at 4:02 AM
going under:
roguelike set in a parody of silicon valley companies. pointed enough to make you wince; very moreish gameplay.
roguelike set in a parody of silicon valley companies. pointed enough to make you wince; very moreish gameplay.
exo one:
flying ball in space simulator. the most relaxing game i've ever played (esp good when braindead from childcare)
flying ball in space simulator. the most relaxing game i've ever played (esp good when braindead from childcare)
January 6, 2026 at 4:00 AM
exo one:
flying ball in space simulator. the most relaxing game i've ever played (esp good when braindead from childcare)
flying ball in space simulator. the most relaxing game i've ever played (esp good when braindead from childcare)
some good games i played in 2025 in no particular order
1. minishoot' adventures
wildly ambitious 2D zelda-like with a spaceship. also wins award for the most unnecessary apostraphy of all time.
1. minishoot' adventures
wildly ambitious 2D zelda-like with a spaceship. also wins award for the most unnecessary apostraphy of all time.
January 6, 2026 at 3:59 AM
some good games i played in 2025 in no particular order
1. minishoot' adventures
wildly ambitious 2D zelda-like with a spaceship. also wins award for the most unnecessary apostraphy of all time.
1. minishoot' adventures
wildly ambitious 2D zelda-like with a spaceship. also wins award for the most unnecessary apostraphy of all time.
fun(?) little webapp to plot daylight length D(t) and D'(t) for anywhere on the globe at any time (t) in the year
lalten.org/daylight
sanity checks:
- reproduce solstices as D'(t) crossing y=0
- equator has flat D(t), D'(t)
[cc @dggoldst.bsky.social who frequently posts about D''(t) ]
lalten.org/daylight
sanity checks:
- reproduce solstices as D'(t) crossing y=0
- equator has flat D(t), D'(t)
[cc @dggoldst.bsky.social who frequently posts about D''(t) ]
January 3, 2026 at 5:32 PM
fun(?) little webapp to plot daylight length D(t) and D'(t) for anywhere on the globe at any time (t) in the year
lalten.org/daylight
sanity checks:
- reproduce solstices as D'(t) crossing y=0
- equator has flat D(t), D'(t)
[cc @dggoldst.bsky.social who frequently posts about D''(t) ]
lalten.org/daylight
sanity checks:
- reproduce solstices as D'(t) crossing y=0
- equator has flat D(t), D'(t)
[cc @dggoldst.bsky.social who frequently posts about D''(t) ]
This is lovely. Also the ascent in the infancy is no joke: i thought i had a pretty productive 2025 but that's nothing compared to The Agent growing a fully functioning spinal column in 3 months
December 31, 2025 at 9:31 PM
This is lovely. Also the ascent in the infancy is no joke: i thought i had a pretty productive 2025 but that's nothing compared to The Agent growing a fully functioning spinal column in 3 months
I mean look at Agamemnon ffs. Totally period-inappropriate armor.
December 30, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I mean look at Agamemnon ffs. Totally period-inappropriate armor.
finally got around to watching the Odyssey trailer; yeah Nolan's anachronism really rankles.
December 29, 2025 at 11:10 PM
finally got around to watching the Odyssey trailer; yeah Nolan's anachronism really rankles.
bundles the entire greek alphabet and a bunch of other symbols, but you can also add your own
December 28, 2025 at 7:14 PM
bundles the entire greek alphabet and a bunch of other symbols, but you can also add your own
vibecoded a little chrome extension to fix a perpetual bugbear with reading pdfs: being sent on search expeditions to figure out where a particular parameter was introduced.
Instead, just type in the latex expression and get back unicode that you can ctrl/cmd+F easily
github.com/apoorvalal/m...
Instead, just type in the latex expression and get back unicode that you can ctrl/cmd+F easily
github.com/apoorvalal/m...
December 28, 2025 at 7:09 PM
vibecoded a little chrome extension to fix a perpetual bugbear with reading pdfs: being sent on search expeditions to figure out where a particular parameter was introduced.
Instead, just type in the latex expression and get back unicode that you can ctrl/cmd+F easily
github.com/apoorvalal/m...
Instead, just type in the latex expression and get back unicode that you can ctrl/cmd+F easily
github.com/apoorvalal/m...
LLM personalization is a work in progress
December 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
LLM personalization is a work in progress
Caterpillar of Daughter
December 24, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Caterpillar of Daughter
incredible idea
dosaygo-studio.github.io/hn-front-pag...
dosaygo-studio.github.io/hn-front-pag...
December 19, 2025 at 9:43 PM
incredible idea
dosaygo-studio.github.io/hn-front-pag...
dosaygo-studio.github.io/hn-front-pag...
economics of tech this week is firms repeatedly rediscovering that the optimal price is the inverse hazard rate of the customer valuation distribution plus markup, and that their prior over this is wrong (llms, snap, github pricing runners)
read/tinker: pricingexperiments.streamlit.app
read/tinker: pricingexperiments.streamlit.app
December 17, 2025 at 9:31 PM
economics of tech this week is firms repeatedly rediscovering that the optimal price is the inverse hazard rate of the customer valuation distribution plus markup, and that their prior over this is wrong (llms, snap, github pricing runners)
read/tinker: pricingexperiments.streamlit.app
read/tinker: pricingexperiments.streamlit.app