Kathleen Weldon

AI assisted OCR is amazing. Also in some cases AI seems to be good at taking text organized in ways that are intuitive to humans but not normally machine parsable (like charts in columns separated by titles) and map output to normalized fields.
Useful in some circumstances. Not world- changing

Look at the guy's hand on the trampoline and how it turns into two, appears to stretch into a tube, then turns back into a single hand.

There's a label issue on those charts?

I know people ask these questions to get over social desirability bias (I'm not sexist, but THEY are), but this is silly. Many are reading this as 4 in 10 won't vote for a woman for president (also implied by the headline). It's really that 4 in 10 know a sexist, and I'm stunned it isn't 100%.

One of my favorite comedic scenes in literature

This morning, an attack carried out by Israeli forces killed Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff member, Omar Hayek, and seriously injured four others. The attack took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza. All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers. We express deep sorrow and outrage over the killing, which occurs less than two weeks after another MSF colleague, Hussein Alnajjar, was killed by the Israeli forces, in Deir Al Balah. Our thoughts are with Omar’s family and colleagues at this tragic time. Omar, 42 years old, is the fourteenth MSF colleague to be killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

MSF staff are universally understood to be engaged in an essentially sacred form of work. For a state to nonetheless continuously murder them is a testament to a truly unthinkable degree of depravity.

msf.org/msf-denounce...

Me and my honey at a wedding last weekend, enjoying the youthfulness that comes from not being hateful bastards

54 next month!

As an adult I have been employed at a number of "elite" institutions, but these days I feel pride only in my alma mater, Wesleyan, which has not forgotten that values come first. I hope the big schools will humble themselves to take the lead from one of the little ones.
I'm not too optimistic.

Brochure. “So what’s this cable TV all about? It’s a GIANT TV antenna system shared by many people. More (channels) and Better (reception). Cartoon of shrugging man in front of hill with antenna.

Entry from shopping center directory, early 1970s, with map and store listing, including dueling cocktail lounges (Fin and Feather vs. Mascara)

Secret ballots A-D showing options of Nixon and Wallace vs Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy, Ed Muskie, and George McGovern

One of the fun things about inventorying files from old survey research companies is the random other stuff you find

Read bad art. Write bad art. Critique bad art.

And all music I would be very happy to never hear again

Definitely not.
Seriously, I was excited to see it, since I had never seen the musical and rather liked the book, am a huge Baum fan, etc. It was excruciating.
Music written by the guy who did Godspell, which explains a LOT...

out of curiosity, I checked the list of performers. I’m not as on top of the names in comedy as I once was, but boy - this is a list of people I would never, ever watch.

The government of the United States, which is controlled by Donald Trump in the presidency, Republicans in the Senate, and Republicans in the House, will shut down in a few hours.

It is the first shutdown since the last time Trump was president and he shut down the government.

Harvard Bookstore used to keep Kerouac and Bukowski behind the counter because they were stolen so often.

Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"

I'm surprised how many other people don't drive here in Ithaca. It's very limiting. A train connection to Syracuse (instead of an inconvenient occasional bus) would be life-changing for me.

Bingo. I worked for a bakery that would "interview" job applicants by having them do a day of labor to test them out. Over the holidays. There was, of course, no job.

Was "promoted" to manager, but told I was only in charge of the teens and women - men didn't need a manager.

It’s all so appallingly tacky

Winifred Holtby - Wikipedia

Just read my first Winifred Holtby novel, having picked it up on the never-fail principle that one should buy any Virago Modern Classics book one should happen across. She's great, and I wish I had known about her sooner.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winifre...

I remember someone telling me “even if the worst happens, schools close, and parents have to stay home for a couple weeks, it will be okay.” I realized that trying to explain that that scenario was nowhere near the worse was pointless.

Everything is so unbearably stupid

You and me both. My teen boys asked - they had no idea - and all I could say was ”a right winger, I think one of the younger ones”?

Let it B, let it B

I'll miss Boston and New York, but I'll have Burlington and Eastport. And my house. I think. I'm on the line there.

Trump Still Polling Well With Working-Class American Pedophiles WASHINGTON—Despite the president’s sagging approval rating overall, a Gallup Poll released Tuesday confirmed that Donald Trump’s support remained overwhelmingly strong among working-class American ped...

Trump Still Polling Well With Working-Class American Pedophiles

AAPOR logo. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH A FREE EVENT IN AN OPEN COMMUNITY FORUM ON THE CURRENT CHALLENGES WITH FEDERAL RESEARCH Join fellow AAPOR members for a facilitated conversation exploring significant shifts in federal research and the growing wave of career transitions. Share your insights and learn from others as we unpack this changing landscape together. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 12:00-1:00 PM ET ONLINE VIA ZOOM Register Here: https://shorturl.at/VdjtJ GOALS Discussion goals: Understand how recent federal changes are affecting our community and the field of public opinion research Exchange ideas on how to better support our colleagues through or invested in the future of the field. Community Goals: Strengthen professional networks Foster deeper connections through a sense of solidarity The entire AAPOR community is welcome, especially those impacted by these changes or invested in the future of the field. Let's begin together, your voice is essential, and there is so much we can learn from each other.

Our community has felt the impact of sweeping changes to the federal and contracting workforce. Many are navigating unemployment, rethinking career paths, and seeking new business strategies. Join the AAPOR Open Community Forum on the Current Challenges with Federal Research.

buff.ly/h7mJcQz

If people who have broadcast TV could post information on advertisers for the only-streaming-service crowd, I’m sure many of us would be happy to write.

What if you asked questions of respondents with a chatbot in a "conversational" way and then had that chatbot code themes in the conversation, and then report % off that?

(Real methodology I had to read today, and I just want to crawl back into bed.)

The "underwater basketweaving" that supposedly everyone majors in.