Eric Roche
@datacrunch.bsky.social
Chart enthusiast and city data wonk.
Nothing I say, do, think, or am represents nor endorses any idea, organization, human, or human-adjacent anything, anywhere, ever.
DM me your graphs.
Nothing I say, do, think, or am represents nor endorses any idea, organization, human, or human-adjacent anything, anywhere, ever.
DM me your graphs.
A city should actively regulate robotaxi fleets *before* they are deployed. There may be major benefits, but there will also certainly be costs and tradeoffs. It's the role of a city to balance the positives and negatives based on what their citizens want. Pause, reflect, be proactive.
#robotaxi
#robotaxi
August 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM
A city should actively regulate robotaxi fleets *before* they are deployed. There may be major benefits, but there will also certainly be costs and tradeoffs. It's the role of a city to balance the positives and negatives based on what their citizens want. Pause, reflect, be proactive.
#robotaxi
#robotaxi
I'm in the middle of a deep-dive on the different ways governments turn legislative and administrative goals into results. The lack of standard definitions around "policy", "strategy", "initiative", etc. is astounding. Everyone has different definitions and the terms massively overlap each other.
June 25, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I'm in the middle of a deep-dive on the different ways governments turn legislative and administrative goals into results. The lack of standard definitions around "policy", "strategy", "initiative", etc. is astounding. Everyone has different definitions and the terms massively overlap each other.
Local governments need to pay attention to this.
The Dutch government says pro-Russian hackers have launched a series of denial-of-service attacks on municipalities and organizations linked to a NATO summit this week in the Netherlands.
Dutch government says pro-Russian hackers target municipalities linked to this week's NATO summit
The Dutch government says pro-Russian hackers have launched a series of denial-of-service attacks on municipalities and organizations linked to a NATO summit this week in the Netherlands.
bit.ly
June 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Local governments need to pay attention to this.
If I need to search a dataset for a huge list of terms that have been typed by humans, ChatGPT is very useful for generating common misspellings of the words on my search list.
Allows more robust results and usually finds between 2% & 8% more data that would have otherwise been missed.
Allows more robust results and usually finds between 2% & 8% more data that would have otherwise been missed.
June 23, 2025 at 12:47 AM
If I need to search a dataset for a huge list of terms that have been typed by humans, ChatGPT is very useful for generating common misspellings of the words on my search list.
Allows more robust results and usually finds between 2% & 8% more data that would have otherwise been missed.
Allows more robust results and usually finds between 2% & 8% more data that would have otherwise been missed.
Reposted by Eric Roche
The Onion is doing some really innovative work in survey design
May 27, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The Onion is doing some really innovative work in survey design
Reposted by Eric Roche
Not sure how many people realize that battery storage already supplies 30% of California’s electricity demand at peak.
Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.
Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.
May 23, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Not sure how many people realize that battery storage already supplies 30% of California’s electricity demand at peak.
Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.
Batteries aren’t the future — they’re here now.
Reposted by Eric Roche
For academics that are skeptical about AI's ability to provide perceptive & useful results, a fast way to test your assumptions is to give one of your papers as a PDF to o3 (or Gemini 2.5 but it lacks some tools), with the prompt:
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
May 11, 2025 at 1:56 AM
For academics that are skeptical about AI's ability to provide perceptive & useful results, a fast way to test your assumptions is to give one of your papers as a PDF to o3 (or Gemini 2.5 but it lacks some tools), with the prompt:
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
"critique this paper"
I have found very good accuracy & insight...
Reposted by Eric Roche
The Chicago Pope implies the existence of a New Keynesian Pope and a Behavioral Pope
May 8, 2025 at 6:05 PM
The Chicago Pope implies the existence of a New Keynesian Pope and a Behavioral Pope
Reposted by Eric Roche
To anybody in leadership at the state or municipal level: 18F’s destruction makes this *the perfect time* to hire experienced technologists, which you all need very badly. Most 18Fers would love to stay in public service. They are spread throughout the country.
Go go go!
Go go go!
March 1, 2025 at 2:41 PM
To anybody in leadership at the state or municipal level: 18F’s destruction makes this *the perfect time* to hire experienced technologists, which you all need very badly. Most 18Fers would love to stay in public service. They are spread throughout the country.
Go go go!
Go go go!
Reposted by Eric Roche
There is a lot going on in this paper, but it shows that no matter their maker's country (China or US) or politics (Musk's Grok vs. OpenAI), models seem to converge to the same values, often with some fairly shocking results. Those values might be steered in the future, but by who is a big question.
February 11, 2025 at 6:54 PM
There is a lot going on in this paper, but it shows that no matter their maker's country (China or US) or politics (Musk's Grok vs. OpenAI), models seem to converge to the same values, often with some fairly shocking results. Those values might be steered in the future, but by who is a big question.
Can we force a sale of Concur?
January 20, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Can we force a sale of Concur?
I grew up listening to stories about "Jimmy" being told by my grandfather. They both went through the Naval Academy at the same time.
Both were tremendously kind, honest, and wonderful people that I will always admire. The world is a bit dimmer this evening.
Both were tremendously kind, honest, and wonderful people that I will always admire. The world is a bit dimmer this evening.
December 30, 2024 at 1:38 AM
I grew up listening to stories about "Jimmy" being told by my grandfather. They both went through the Naval Academy at the same time.
Both were tremendously kind, honest, and wonderful people that I will always admire. The world is a bit dimmer this evening.
Both were tremendously kind, honest, and wonderful people that I will always admire. The world is a bit dimmer this evening.
Reposted by Eric Roche
Feels like the Dreadnought Moment for AI is coming
When the HMS Dreadnought launched, she rendered all other warships obsolete. It was not one thing, but a mix of technologies combined into the right design that disrupted.
The pieces for transformative AI applications are there, not assembled yet.
When the HMS Dreadnought launched, she rendered all other warships obsolete. It was not one thing, but a mix of technologies combined into the right design that disrupted.
The pieces for transformative AI applications are there, not assembled yet.
December 17, 2024 at 4:54 AM
Feels like the Dreadnought Moment for AI is coming
When the HMS Dreadnought launched, she rendered all other warships obsolete. It was not one thing, but a mix of technologies combined into the right design that disrupted.
The pieces for transformative AI applications are there, not assembled yet.
When the HMS Dreadnought launched, she rendered all other warships obsolete. It was not one thing, but a mix of technologies combined into the right design that disrupted.
The pieces for transformative AI applications are there, not assembled yet.
📉📈
New study from IIHS shows that car bloat is dangerous even at low speeds:
If hit by a sedan going 27 mph, a pedestrian has a 60% chance of a moderate+ injury and 30% chance of a serious one.
If it's a pickup going 27 mph, those odds rise to 83% and 63%, respectively.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/...
If hit by a sedan going 27 mph, a pedestrian has a 60% chance of a moderate+ injury and 30% chance of a serious one.
If it's a pickup going 27 mph, those odds rise to 83% and 63%, respectively.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/...
Vehicle height compounds dangers of speed for pedestrians
New pedestrian injury risk curves calculated by IIHS show that vehicles with taller front ends begin to cause serious injuries at lower speeds.
www.iihs.org
December 11, 2024 at 12:14 AM
📉📈
Reposted by Eric Roche
WASHINGTON (AP) — Agriculture Department orders testing of the nation's milk supply for bird flu.
December 6, 2024 at 8:19 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Agriculture Department orders testing of the nation's milk supply for bird flu.
Reposted by Eric Roche
This is a beautiful jobs-day love letter to FRED, without which #EconSky (and, especially, #NumbersDay) would not be possible. From @jeannasmialek.bsky.social:
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/b...
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/b...
Everybody Loves FRED: How America Fell for a Data Tool
From Facebook political debates to college classrooms, the St. Louis Fed’s data tool has gained a major following.
www.nytimes.com
December 6, 2024 at 1:00 PM
This is a beautiful jobs-day love letter to FRED, without which #EconSky (and, especially, #NumbersDay) would not be possible. From @jeannasmialek.bsky.social:
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/b...
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/b...
Reposted by Eric Roche
Evidence has demonstrated this effect in numerous cities now.
I understand why it sounds weird to say, 'building a bunch of fancy new townhouses and skyscrapers will make housing more affordable!' but it simply appears to be true.
I understand why it sounds weird to say, 'building a bunch of fancy new townhouses and skyscrapers will make housing more affordable!' but it simply appears to be true.
So proud of the great work happening in Minneapolis, which shows that boosting housing supply helps make homes more affordable.
December 3, 2024 at 3:15 PM
Evidence has demonstrated this effect in numerous cities now.
I understand why it sounds weird to say, 'building a bunch of fancy new townhouses and skyscrapers will make housing more affordable!' but it simply appears to be true.
I understand why it sounds weird to say, 'building a bunch of fancy new townhouses and skyscrapers will make housing more affordable!' but it simply appears to be true.
Good context
what i think most people don't understand is that defense spending is not actually high--in fact, it is *near record lows* as a percent of gdp. and we're not living in the end of history anymore--we're headed into a new era of instability and great power conflict.
www.defense.gov/Multimedia/P...
www.defense.gov/Multimedia/P...
December 1, 2024 at 8:25 PM
Good context
I'm driving (passenger) from Houston to KC today and absolutely need some reading material. Does anyone have any AI articles they recommend?
November 24, 2024 at 2:37 PM
I'm driving (passenger) from Houston to KC today and absolutely need some reading material. Does anyone have any AI articles they recommend?
This is really similar to a lecture I give on dataviz. I also highly recommend choosing a color palette that is constant between presentations and getting away from default Calibri/Times New Roman solid-black typeface!
Trying something new:
A 🧵 on a topic I find many students struggle with: "why do their 📊 look more professional than my 📊?"
It's *lots* of tiny decisions that aren't the defaults in many libraries, so let's break down 1 simple graph by @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social
🔗 www.ft.com/content/73a1...
A 🧵 on a topic I find many students struggle with: "why do their 📊 look more professional than my 📊?"
It's *lots* of tiny decisions that aren't the defaults in many libraries, so let's break down 1 simple graph by @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social
🔗 www.ft.com/content/73a1...
November 21, 2024 at 12:04 AM
This is really similar to a lecture I give on dataviz. I also highly recommend choosing a color palette that is constant between presentations and getting away from default Calibri/Times New Roman solid-black typeface!
Reposted by Eric Roche
First starter pack. I assembled a collection of innovation / data professionals who work / have worked in and around municipal government. Let it be a reminder that there are talented, passionate people working to make communities better.
go.bsky.app/2F5V9bS
go.bsky.app/2F5V9bS
November 20, 2024 at 3:52 PM
First starter pack. I assembled a collection of innovation / data professionals who work / have worked in and around municipal government. Let it be a reminder that there are talented, passionate people working to make communities better.
go.bsky.app/2F5V9bS
go.bsky.app/2F5V9bS
Reposted by Eric Roche
6. Custom feeds on Bluesky are the first implementation of algorithmic choice. Instead of using a single black-box For You algorithm, you can create and subscribe to your own.
Now, there are over 50k+ custom feeds on the network! Check them out:
bsky.app/feeds
Now, there are over 50k+ custom feeds on the network! Check them out:
bsky.app/feeds
November 19, 2024 at 6:52 PM
6. Custom feeds on Bluesky are the first implementation of algorithmic choice. Instead of using a single black-box For You algorithm, you can create and subscribe to your own.
Now, there are over 50k+ custom feeds on the network! Check them out:
bsky.app/feeds
Now, there are over 50k+ custom feeds on the network! Check them out:
bsky.app/feeds
Reposted by Eric Roche
Love this program from the NYT's Leaning Network, where students are asked to interpret a chart published in the Times. The current one is one from a story I did earlier this year with @ellakoeze.bsky.social @emmagoldberg.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/l...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/l...
What’s Going On in This Graph? | Nov. 20, 2024
Four years ago the pandemic changed where we work. What do you notice about where we work now? What do you wonder?
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2024 at 4:55 PM
Love this program from the NYT's Leaning Network, where students are asked to interpret a chart published in the Times. The current one is one from a story I did earlier this year with @ellakoeze.bsky.social @emmagoldberg.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/l...
www.nytimes.com/2024/11/07/l...