Kevin Wilson
@khwilson.bsky.social
Mathematics, data, and policy
Is there an estimate of the “return on marginal dollar invested in 0-10 year olds” versus the S&P?
December 18, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Is there an estimate of the “return on marginal dollar invested in 0-10 year olds” versus the S&P?
Is there a Canadian on the editorial board? So confused by this acronym choice
November 17, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Is there a Canadian on the editorial board? So confused by this acronym choice
Thank you! I do think it’s related! At a high level the problem of “irrevocability” sort of looks like one cryptographic entity signing some other cryptographic entity’s assertion and storing that some where. I’ll take a look
November 11, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Thank you! I do think it’s related! At a high level the problem of “irrevocability” sort of looks like one cryptographic entity signing some other cryptographic entity’s assertion and storing that some where. I’ll take a look
Yeah that was the underlying issue I was running up against: votes are inherently archival, which fits a bit better with the blockchain idea
But you could combine the ideas where ATProto handles the votes themselves and some AppView archives the relevant parts of the firehose
But you could combine the ideas where ATProto handles the votes themselves and some AppView archives the relevant parts of the firehose
November 11, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Yeah that was the underlying issue I was running up against: votes are inherently archival, which fits a bit better with the blockchain idea
But you could combine the ideas where ATProto handles the votes themselves and some AppView archives the relevant parts of the firehose
But you could combine the ideas where ATProto handles the votes themselves and some AppView archives the relevant parts of the firehose
I wonder if you know if there have been projects on “irrevocable” changes to repos. (I have some ideas, but curious what others have done)
November 11, 2025 at 10:56 AM
I wonder if you know if there have been projects on “irrevocable” changes to repos. (I have some ideas, but curious what others have done)
On a different topic: I was designing this where each congressperson had a DID and I was thinking they could use that as they moved institutions (EOs as a gov, votes as a city coucilmember)
But I encountered a problem: users own their repos, so can, eg, delete or change votes in this design
But I encountered a problem: users own their repos, so can, eg, delete or change votes in this design
November 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
On a different topic: I was designing this where each congressperson had a DID and I was thinking they could use that as they moved institutions (EOs as a gov, votes as a city coucilmember)
But I encountered a problem: users own their repos, so can, eg, delete or change votes in this design
But I encountered a problem: users own their repos, so can, eg, delete or change votes in this design
Thanks for the tips! Will do at some point soon!
November 11, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Thanks for the tips! Will do at some point soon!
The gov.congress domain was just a placeholder in the lexicon specification for votes, but the PDS itself I was testing under my personal domain as you see
Anyway, to avoid confusion if you happen to know how I can delete those records, happy to do so as this just a hobby project and not Congress 😅
Anyway, to avoid confusion if you happen to know how I can delete those records, happy to do so as this just a hobby project and not Congress 😅
November 11, 2025 at 10:26 AM
The gov.congress domain was just a placeholder in the lexicon specification for votes, but the PDS itself I was testing under my personal domain as you see
Anyway, to avoid confusion if you happen to know how I can delete those records, happy to do so as this just a hobby project and not Congress 😅
Anyway, to avoid confusion if you happen to know how I can delete those records, happy to do so as this just a hobby project and not Congress 😅
Shut down the PDS during the workweek to save some cash as I didn’t think it had broken containment yet
November 11, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Shut down the PDS during the workweek to save some cash as I didn’t think it had broken containment yet
I was playing around with trying to understand ATProto this weekend and thought congressional votes would be an interesting use case. Was following some QuickStart guides and too early registered with the crawlers
November 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I was playing around with trying to understand ATProto this weekend and thought congressional votes would be an interesting use case. Was following some QuickStart guides and too early registered with the crawlers
My hottest take is that you should put all the votes in a big hat and draw one out. Whoever’s on the ballot wins
Achieves (on average, high variance) proportional representation. Plus I feel like the ceremonial aspects would be incredible
Achieves (on average, high variance) proportional representation. Plus I feel like the ceremonial aspects would be incredible
November 11, 2025 at 3:24 AM
My hottest take is that you should put all the votes in a big hat and draw one out. Whoever’s on the ballot wins
Achieves (on average, high variance) proportional representation. Plus I feel like the ceremonial aspects would be incredible
Achieves (on average, high variance) proportional representation. Plus I feel like the ceremonial aspects would be incredible
Why not just turn off replies by default? Still could be tagged if you want inbounds. And a creative comms strategy might introduce special posts for specific moments like inclusive budgeting
October 25, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Why not just turn off replies by default? Still could be tagged if you want inbounds. And a creative comms strategy might introduce special posts for specific moments like inclusive budgeting
I think this is during the time when he was giving well-regarded televised daily press conferences
October 22, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I think this is during the time when he was giving well-regarded televised daily press conferences
I bike past Rogers basically everyday and the only issue i have is that the intersections around there are huge due to needing to support Gardiner off ramps. Also, the bike lane network is oddly disconnected a couple blocks away from the stadium itself (eg the Yonge and Bay bike lanes disappear)
October 21, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I bike past Rogers basically everyday and the only issue i have is that the intersections around there are huge due to needing to support Gardiner off ramps. Also, the bike lane network is oddly disconnected a couple blocks away from the stadium itself (eg the Yonge and Bay bike lanes disappear)
Semi-seriously, you could probably get the same functionality from a <$200 laptop like a Pinebook, and a small amount of custom software (eg boot into a Chromium browser pegged to a single site)
August 27, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Semi-seriously, you could probably get the same functionality from a <$200 laptop like a Pinebook, and a small amount of custom software (eg boot into a Chromium browser pegged to a single site)
What is the status generally of a DC law? Congress (sort of) approves them, so are they fed laws, maybe “amendments” to the HRA, or are they closer to “regulations” which can be overridden by the President directly? Surely not the latter, or else the President could declare The Purge
August 15, 2025 at 3:21 AM
What is the status generally of a DC law? Congress (sort of) approves them, so are they fed laws, maybe “amendments” to the HRA, or are they closer to “regulations” which can be overridden by the President directly? Surely not the latter, or else the President could declare The Purge
My half-baked theory is that we’re generally so bad at operations and the continuous, incremental improvements good ops require, that people believe change is only possible through miraculous leaps forward. See also meme stocks/get rich quick schemes
August 10, 2025 at 1:05 PM
My half-baked theory is that we’re generally so bad at operations and the continuous, incremental improvements good ops require, that people believe change is only possible through miraculous leaps forward. See also meme stocks/get rich quick schemes
A red LED lightbulb on the theory it lets the kid sleep better while you can still see (I have no scientific evidence this is actually effective, but it worked for us!)
August 10, 2025 at 2:43 AM
A red LED lightbulb on the theory it lets the kid sleep better while you can still see (I have no scientific evidence this is actually effective, but it worked for us!)
On criminal justice research probablecausation.podbean.com
Probable Causation | Jennifer Doleac
A show about law, economics, and crime.
probablecausation.podbean.com
July 25, 2025 at 10:52 PM
On criminal justice research probablecausation.podbean.com
And always shocked that the respect for Fortune 500 CEOs is so much higher than that of public sector enterprises
July 19, 2025 at 12:57 AM
And always shocked that the respect for Fortune 500 CEOs is so much higher than that of public sector enterprises
I am always flummoxed by the sheer scale of public enterprises versus private ones. MTA vs Delta passenger counts? 10x. USPS vs UPS? Same size package delivery but also insane sized mail delivery
July 19, 2025 at 12:56 AM
I am always flummoxed by the sheer scale of public enterprises versus private ones. MTA vs Delta passenger counts? 10x. USPS vs UPS? Same size package delivery but also insane sized mail delivery
Sadly, in the era of climate change, I feel like this phrase could be either good or bad
July 18, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Sadly, in the era of climate change, I feel like this phrase could be either good or bad
Great article. I would only add that *within person* racial identification is also extremely malleable. I’ve personally seen this in how Native American parents identify their children’s race year over year in K12 schools
July 8, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Great article. I would only add that *within person* racial identification is also extremely malleable. I’ve personally seen this in how Native American parents identify their children’s race year over year in K12 schools
At first I was going to complain about how silly this proposal was given that NYC has ranked choice voting. And then I realized that general elections don’t have RCV? What a weird system
advocate.nyc.gov/blog/ranked-...
advocate.nyc.gov/blog/ranked-...
Ranked Choice Voting Explained
advocate.nyc.gov
July 7, 2025 at 11:25 PM
At first I was going to complain about how silly this proposal was given that NYC has ranked choice voting. And then I realized that general elections don’t have RCV? What a weird system
advocate.nyc.gov/blog/ranked-...
advocate.nyc.gov/blog/ranked-...
Maybe it’s in the details, but Akron seems connected here en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akron,_...
Akron, Ohio - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
July 3, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Maybe it’s in the details, but Akron seems connected here en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akron,_...