Kevin Kent
@kevin-m-kent.bsky.social
Data science at Microsoft, working on GitHub Copilot. Formerly education research
Reposted by Kevin Kent
If the shooter isn’t in custody I’m genuinely frightened by what happens in this city when the video is inevitably released. People need to see that their state and local officials are on their side against the federal invaders
January 7, 2026 at 5:45 PM
If the shooter isn’t in custody I’m genuinely frightened by what happens in this city when the video is inevitably released. People need to see that their state and local officials are on their side against the federal invaders
Reposted by Kevin Kent
Arrest the murderer and arrest Bovino. Not complicated.
January 7, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Arrest the murderer and arrest Bovino. Not complicated.
Reposted by Kevin Kent
Jacob Frey: "To ICE -- get the fuck out of Minneapolis"
January 7, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Jacob Frey: "To ICE -- get the fuck out of Minneapolis"
I’ve been reading Enshitifcation by Cory Doctorow (great book so far). I went to reactivate our Peloton membership today and witnessed everything he talks about in action.
Almost $100 to reactivate our subscription to use the bike we “own” on top of the monthly payment. And I decided to pay it!
Almost $100 to reactivate our subscription to use the bike we “own” on top of the monthly payment. And I decided to pay it!
January 5, 2026 at 6:10 PM
I’ve been reading Enshitifcation by Cory Doctorow (great book so far). I went to reactivate our Peloton membership today and witnessed everything he talks about in action.
Almost $100 to reactivate our subscription to use the bike we “own” on top of the monthly payment. And I decided to pay it!
Almost $100 to reactivate our subscription to use the bike we “own” on top of the monthly payment. And I decided to pay it!
AI is going to revolutionize learning, especially self-directed adult learning given the right application design - scaffolding, prompting to use various strategies like self-explanation, question asking, reflecting, making plans, monitoring progress towards goals etc. Realizing the promise of ITS
For the record, active learning strategies help people do most of the things people are fearful developers won't do if they code with AI:
- make plans for testing solutions
- get exposure to diverse examples
- question your own thinking
- deliberate practice within small worked examples
- make plans for testing solutions
- get exposure to diverse examples
- question your own thinking
- deliberate practice within small worked examples
I have a much more optimistic take right now: tech has massive massive cultural problems but it did before AI. An explosion of *active learning* is potentially a really positive thing
January 4, 2026 at 7:21 PM
AI is going to revolutionize learning, especially self-directed adult learning given the right application design - scaffolding, prompting to use various strategies like self-explanation, question asking, reflecting, making plans, monitoring progress towards goals etc. Realizing the promise of ITS
Reposted by Kevin Kent
My statement on President Trump’s actions in Venezuela.
January 3, 2026 at 10:27 PM
My statement on President Trump’s actions in Venezuela.
Reposted by Kevin Kent
We may have the chance to hire an outstanding researcher 3+ years post PhD to join Tarleton Gillespie, Mary Gray and me in Cambridge MA bringing critical sociotechnical perspectives to bear on new technologies.
jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...
jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...
Search Jobs | Microsoft Careers
https://jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/job/1849026/Principal-Researcher-–-Sociotechnical-Systems-–-Microsoft-Research
July 28, 2025 at 5:26 PM
We may have the chance to hire an outstanding researcher 3+ years post PhD to join Tarleton Gillespie, Mary Gray and me in Cambridge MA bringing critical sociotechnical perspectives to bear on new technologies.
jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...
jobs.careers.microsoft.com/global/en/jo...
Reposted by Kevin Kent
BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.
This is a major win for public health.
This is a major win for public health.
June 16, 2025 at 9:46 PM
BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.
This is a major win for public health.
This is a major win for public health.
And how about the Iga comment or saying that Coco hit a bunch of lucky frames?
Aryna Sabalenka releases a statement saying she wants to give Coco Gauff the credit she deserves:
“I made over 70 unforced errors, so I can't pretend it was a great day for me.
But both things can be true... I didn't play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose.”
“I made over 70 unforced errors, so I can't pretend it was a great day for me.
But both things can be true... I didn't play my best, and Coco stepped up and played with poise and purpose.”
June 8, 2025 at 4:53 PM
And how about the Iga comment or saying that Coco hit a bunch of lucky frames?
Coded up my first MCP client this week for some experimentation and found this QuickStart from MCP quite helpful modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/c...
Docs and examples will improve over time but there was certainly a lot of guesswork beyond this (using remote and local with one client)
Docs and examples will improve over time but there was certainly a lot of guesswork beyond this (using remote and local with one client)
For Client Developers - Model Context Protocol
Get started building your own client that can integrate with all MCP servers.
modelcontextprotocol.io
June 7, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Coded up my first MCP client this week for some experimentation and found this QuickStart from MCP quite helpful modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/c...
Docs and examples will improve over time but there was certainly a lot of guesswork beyond this (using remote and local with one client)
Docs and examples will improve over time but there was certainly a lot of guesswork beyond this (using remote and local with one client)
Reposted by Kevin Kent
Baseball analytics people, I encourage yall to join and submit an entry to my latest Kaggle competition: predicting strikeouts
If you’re just getting into analytics or if you have a stuff model you want to put to the test, here’s your chance!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
If you’re just getting into analytics or if you have a stuff model you want to put to the test, here’s your chance!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
Predict strikeouts with new MLB arm angle data
Using MLB data from Baseball Savant to predict strikeouts
www.kaggle.com
February 22, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Baseball analytics people, I encourage yall to join and submit an entry to my latest Kaggle competition: predicting strikeouts
If you’re just getting into analytics or if you have a stuff model you want to put to the test, here’s your chance!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
If you’re just getting into analytics or if you have a stuff model you want to put to the test, here’s your chance!
www.kaggle.com/competitions...
A fun little exercise exploring Benford's Law with Bluesky posts for my stats class: github.com/kevin-m-kent...
GitHub - kevin-m-kent/bluesky-benfords-law
Contribute to kevin-m-kent/bluesky-benfords-law development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
February 7, 2025 at 9:35 PM
A fun little exercise exploring Benford's Law with Bluesky posts for my stats class: github.com/kevin-m-kent...
I don't get how Pearson can sell a digital textbook on mathematical statistics with this kind of formula rendering
January 27, 2025 at 3:37 PM
I don't get how Pearson can sell a digital textbook on mathematical statistics with this kind of formula rendering
I wrote about some recent career updates and why I'm focusing on slowing down and going deeper in my data science career. I was inspired by some of Frank Corrigan's recent substack posts as well as @simonwillison.net 's link blog reflection article.
publish.obsidian.md/kevinkent/Bl...
publish.obsidian.md/kevinkent/Bl...
2025-01-18 Career, Life, Writing - Obsidian Publish
I'm back in the blogging game! I was recently inspired by people like Simon WIllison's reflection on blogging regularly and a link blog, particularly his emphasis on sharing thoughts, even something …
publish.obsidian.md
January 18, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I wrote about some recent career updates and why I'm focusing on slowing down and going deeper in my data science career. I was inspired by some of Frank Corrigan's recent substack posts as well as @simonwillison.net 's link blog reflection article.
publish.obsidian.md/kevinkent/Bl...
publish.obsidian.md/kevinkent/Bl...
There has got to be a better way to do Ed tech without having student identifying information in some third party product’s cloud. Couldn’t we figure an on prem layer that maps guids to student information that never leaves the school?
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/08/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/08/m...
Needham, Nashoba school districts among those possibly affected by PowerSchool data breach - The Boston Globe
School officials learned of the “potential cybersecurity incident” on Tuesday, Needham Public Schools Superintendent Dan Gutekanst said in a statement.
www.bostonglobe.com
January 9, 2025 at 1:10 PM
There has got to be a better way to do Ed tech without having student identifying information in some third party product’s cloud. Couldn’t we figure an on prem layer that maps guids to student information that never leaves the school?
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/08/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/01/08/m...
I really don’t get this part of it. Let’s disincentivize driving in midtown, but we love those yellow cabs so they pay a fraction of the fee. Why the romanticism for yellow cabs? I think these trips are potentially the most elastic, potentially responsive to an incentive like this.
It’s a little sad seeing that the extra fee for a cab entering the zone is only $0.75 more per ride.
January 6, 2025 at 4:30 AM
I really don’t get this part of it. Let’s disincentivize driving in midtown, but we love those yellow cabs so they pay a fraction of the fee. Why the romanticism for yellow cabs? I think these trips are potentially the most elastic, potentially responsive to an incentive like this.
I’ll be interested to see the impact on taxi vs public transit behavior. My guess is this is the most ripe for influence/potentially elastic.
I’m a little skeptical that it will nudge commuter behavior significantly for the reasons below.
I also would watch business delivery activity.
I’m a little skeptical that it will nudge commuter behavior significantly for the reasons below.
I also would watch business delivery activity.
As congestion pricing takes effect, remember that 85% of people who work in Manhattan commute by public transit, walking, or biking (and the share is even higher for workers in the congestion relief zone south of 60th)
January 6, 2025 at 3:13 AM
I’ll be interested to see the impact on taxi vs public transit behavior. My guess is this is the most ripe for influence/potentially elastic.
I’m a little skeptical that it will nudge commuter behavior significantly for the reasons below.
I also would watch business delivery activity.
I’m a little skeptical that it will nudge commuter behavior significantly for the reasons below.
I also would watch business delivery activity.
Reposted by Kevin Kent
Students at Brown have used the Google Maps API to create a live tracker for traffic flows under congestion pricing in NYC. It includes a real-time diff-in-diff type comparison between NYC, Boston, and Chicago:
www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com
www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com
Congestion Pricing Tracker | Benjamin and Joshua Moshes
This project is run by Joshua Moshes and Benjamin Moshes, under the supervision of Brown University Professor Emily Oster
www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com
January 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Students at Brown have used the Google Maps API to create a live tracker for traffic flows under congestion pricing in NYC. It includes a real-time diff-in-diff type comparison between NYC, Boston, and Chicago:
www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com
www.congestion-pricing-tracker.com
slowly working through the c for everyone course (www.cc4e.com/book/chap01.md) after reading @vickiboykis.com 's 2024 post.
I liked this framing of c relative to c-like languages, makes a lot of sense!
I liked this framing of c relative to c-like languages, makes a lot of sense!
January 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
slowly working through the c for everyone course (www.cc4e.com/book/chap01.md) after reading @vickiboykis.com 's 2024 post.
I liked this framing of c relative to c-like languages, makes a lot of sense!
I liked this framing of c relative to c-like languages, makes a lot of sense!
Reposted by Kevin Kent
Want to kick off 2025 with a comfy cozy book club all about the philosophical practice of how we squishy humans can choose to represent reality (or at least reality as we perceive it) in cold hard bytes? This Thursday is the 1st session - find the details here: jennajordan.me/book-club/
#datasky 📚
#datasky 📚
Book Club | Jenna Jordan
The first rule of Book Club is we have fun talking about data/information & philosophy
jennajordan.me
December 30, 2024 at 9:55 PM
Want to kick off 2025 with a comfy cozy book club all about the philosophical practice of how we squishy humans can choose to represent reality (or at least reality as we perceive it) in cold hard bytes? This Thursday is the 1st session - find the details here: jennajordan.me/book-club/
#datasky 📚
#datasky 📚
Reposted by Kevin Kent
I quite enjoyed this article issues.org/limits-of-da... #databs
The Limits of Data
Policymakers want to make decisions based on clear data, but important factors are lost when we rely solely on data. A philosopher writes:
issues.org
December 27, 2024 at 9:56 PM
I quite enjoyed this article issues.org/limits-of-da... #databs
I agree and I think it's because the more foundational/lower level layers that are common to each implementation are better represented in the LLM training data.
I'm much more inclined now to load up some API docs and have an LLM help me construct a HTTP request.
I'm much more inclined now to load up some API docs and have an LLM help me construct a HTTP request.
I have a theory that AI-assisted programming reduces the value of abstractions like React a little, since you don't need to optimize as much for avoiding tedious state synchronization code (tedious code is less tedious now)
Given that, I wonder what the best JS libraries are for building with LLMs?
Given that, I wonder what the best JS libraries are for building with LLMs?
December 24, 2024 at 12:04 AM
I agree and I think it's because the more foundational/lower level layers that are common to each implementation are better represented in the LLM training data.
I'm much more inclined now to load up some API docs and have an LLM help me construct a HTTP request.
I'm much more inclined now to load up some API docs and have an LLM help me construct a HTTP request.
Reposted by Kevin Kent
It turns out OpenAI have a GitHub repository with a 26,000 line YAML OpenAPI schema describing their full API - the same API that's emulated by all sorts of other tools within the LLM ecosystem. Made some notes on that here, plus a YAML exploration tool:
simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/22/...
simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/22/...
openai/openai-openapi
Seeing as the LLM world has semi-standardized on imitating OpenAI's API format for a whole host of different tools, it's useful to note that OpenAI themselves maintain a dedicated repository …
simonwillison.net
December 22, 2024 at 11:00 PM
It turns out OpenAI have a GitHub repository with a 26,000 line YAML OpenAPI schema describing their full API - the same API that's emulated by all sorts of other tools within the LLM ecosystem. Made some notes on that here, plus a YAML exploration tool:
simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/22/...
simonwillison.net/2024/Dec/22/...
Spend a little time this weekend exploring the Model Context Protocol framework and adapted their getting started example for an Azure AI inference client with the GitHub Models endpoint: github.com/kevin-m-kent...
GitHub - kevin-m-kent/mcp-ghmodels
Contribute to kevin-m-kent/mcp-ghmodels development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
December 16, 2024 at 2:14 PM
Spend a little time this weekend exploring the Model Context Protocol framework and adapted their getting started example for an Azure AI inference client with the GitHub Models endpoint: github.com/kevin-m-kent...
Reposted by Kevin Kent
Try it out in the GitHub Models playground now 🏃
gh.io/models-llama3.3-70B
gh.io/models-llama3.3-70B
December 13, 2024 at 8:19 PM
Try it out in the GitHub Models playground now 🏃
gh.io/models-llama3.3-70B
gh.io/models-llama3.3-70B