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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 2h

Sure you might be a pedant, but are you a "finds mistakes in Hansard" level of pedant? (Feeney wasn't in parliament on this day). Lindsay Katz FTW!

Screenshot of Hansard, with "Mr Feeney interjecting" highlighted

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 1d

"Overcome Imposterism" "Manage Procrastination" "Tame Perfectionism". Real "tag yourself" moment in terms of which workshop you sign up to.

A list of four academic workshops under the heading “Workshops.” The sessions include: “Give Effective Academic Presentations” on Monday, October 6, from 4:00–5:30 pm; “Build Academic Confidence and Overcome Imposterism” on Thursday, October 9, from 12:00–1:15 pm; “Manage Procrastination” on Monday, October 20, from 12:00–1:15 pm; and “Tame Perfectionism” on Thursday, October 23, from 1:00–2:15 pm. Each workshop title is a blue, underlined link.

Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 2d

Rowing is very much the best sport!

Ryan Briggs @ryancbriggs.net · 2d

If you don’t yet exercise, strongly consider starting regular indoor rowing. It’s not fun, but:
1. It’s a full body workout, muscle and cardio
2. It can be done in about 20 min/day
3. It’s not so hard to fit a C2 erg in many homes
4. It’s low impact and your chance of injury is low

essencesimmone.blacksky.app @essencesimmone.blacksky.app · 5d

Those who are 35+, what advice do you have for people just entering their 30s?

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 3d

Data scientists: “OMG we had to learn a new programming language for this project”
Anthropologists: “We literally learnt two languages”

Photo of a book with the following quote circled:
“Learning to speak !Kung was a laborious task. No !Kung-English speaker was available, so one had to work with two interpreters. Onesi-mus Mbombo translated my questions from English to Setswana, and Gakekgoshe Isak (the son of Headman Isak and a fluent !Kung speaker) from Setswana to !Kung. The answer came back like a broken telephone from Kung to Setswana and Setswana to English. This cumbersome system spurred me on to learn! Kung quickly, but in fact during the early months I learned more Setswana than !Kung. By March 1964 I could use Setswana in interviews and to elicit more !Kung vocabulary. The !Kung word can be described as an explosion of sound surrounded by a vowel.
The bundle of clicks, fricatives, and glottal stops that begins most words makes !Kung a difficult language to record, let alone learn to speak; and the difficulty is compounded by the extremely rapid-fire delivery of !Kung speakers. Nevertheless, month by month my facility progressed until it was possible to dispense with the services of the English-Setswana interpreter a year into the fieldwork.”

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 4d

Some nice examples for data science ethics classes: blog.pragmaticengineer.com/asked-to-do-...

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 5d

OMG it's @statisticalsam.bsky.social on BlueSky!

Sam Caetano @statisticalsam.bsky.social · 5d

The International Day of Women in Statistics and Data Science (IDWSDS) takes place on October 14. Lots of great talks, including session "S314 - Florence Nightingale Day - Lessons on Longevity" at 14:00 EST about stats outreach events for highschool girls.

Full conference info here: www.idwsds.org

Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 5d

New faculty website profile!

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 5d

This is super nice. (although “the universe” == the US in this case ;) ). Had been looking for something like this to use to code some Hansard speech and looking forward to trying your ensemble approach. Thanks for setting out the approach so clearly.

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 6d

That's incredible. I had no idea.

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 6d

I was against this policy 20 years ago - rohanalexander.com/blog/blog-20... - and I remain against it.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
(Sadly, I don't have a photo of the print original, although I'm sure Mum does.)

Fears the expanded Home Guarantee Scheme will send property prices into overdrive

Sarah Ferguson presents Australia's premier daily current affairs program, delivering agenda-setting public affairs journalism and interviews that hold the powerful to account. Plus political analysis...

www.abc.net.au

Reposted by Rohan Alexander

Paul Hünermund @p-hunermund.com · 10d

Two more days to submit! 🚨 Please share if you can! 🙏 #CDSM2025

Paul Hünermund @p-hunermund.com · 15d

🚨 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 – One Week Left to Submit: #CDSM2025 🚨

📅 𝗡𝗼𝘃 𝟭𝟮–𝟭𝟯, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 (Virtual)
📥 Submission Deadline: 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝟯𝟬, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

We welcome:
✅ Presentation proposals
✅ Extended abstracts
✅ Full papers

📧 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼: [email protected]
🌐 Register or learn more: www.causalscience.org

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 11d

This was really interesting. Thanks for writing/sharing it. The history bit was fascinating.

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Reposted by Rohan Alexander

Investigative Journalism Foundation @theijf.org · 12d

When you buy an Edmonton Oilers 50/50 ticket, how much money ends up with charity? Check out our investigation to find the answer.

zurl.co/5aL6i

#abpoli #hockey

Oilers 50/50 raffle has paid $81M to company owned by hockey group over 4 years, documents reveal

Financial statements show percentage of ticket sales available for charity has declined since raffle moved online

zurl.co

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 13d

How early is too early for children to watch Margin Call?

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 14d

Wow! Congratulations!

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 16d

My friend was on a podcast talking about his running! fluorescentrunner.substack.com/p/episode-30...

Episode #30 - Owen Wareham is a Fluorescent Runner

Owen Wareham is a runner who sees success in doing the little things, even talking about how a morning run can give him the little bit of courage he needs for his day ahead.

fluorescentrunner.substack.com

Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 18d

And now there are two on the ice!

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 18d

Going to be upset if William Sealy Gosset doesn’t get a guernsey.

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 20d

Preprint of “Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education” available: arxiv.org/abs/2509.12283

By Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda (an exceptional undergrad!), @tiffanytimbers.bsky.social, and me.

Comments appreciated!

Prompting the Professoriate: A Qualitative Study of Instructor Perspectives on LLMs in Data Science Education

Ana Elisa Lopez-Miranda, Tiffany Timbers, Rohan Alexander
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shifted in just a few years from novelty to ubiquity, raising fundamental questions for data science education. Tasks once used to teach coding, writing, and problem-solving can now be completed by LLMs, forcing educators to reconsider both pedagogy and assessment. To understand how instructors are adapting, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 42 instructors from 33 institutions in 10 countries in June and July 2025. Our qualitative analysis reveals a pragmatic mix of optimism and concern. Many respondents view LLMs as inevitable classroom tools -- comparable to calculators or Wikipedia -- while others worry about de-skilling, misplaced confidence, and uneven integration across institutions. Around 58 per cent have already introduced demonstrations, guided activities, or make extensive use of LLMs in their courses, though most expect change to remain slow and uneven. That said, 31 per cent have not used LLMs to teach students and do not plan to. We highlight some instructional innovations, including AI-aware assessments, reflective use of LLMs as tutors, and course-specific chatbots. By sharing these perspectives, we aim to help data science educators adapt collectively to ensure curricula keep pace with technological change.

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Reposted by Rohan Alexander

Emily Riederer @emilyriederer.bsky.social · 23d

Really insightful post from Julie Tibshirani (spotted in LinkedIn, can't find on Bsky) reflecting on #rstats 's unique governance structure and what can be learned for other languages

jtibs.substack.com/p/if-all-the...