Economists who are interested in #DataScience: I'm teaching a master's-level course this semester entitled "Data Science for Economists." Feel free to follow along---all materials are publicly available on GitHub here:

How India's obesity rate has doubled over the past 20 years.

This was interesting. It was about 50/50 in these two camps:. 1. "Of course I wouldn't be pro-alcohol; both alcohol and seed oils are poison!". 2. "Now that I'm not double-poisoning myself, I have a much higher tolerance for alcohol and it's great. Bottoms up!".

My neck did get a bit pink from where my lanyard was rubbing all day, but I doubt it will turn into a peeling mess like the same thing would have a couple years ago.

Not sure if it's "cheating" but I was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses throughout the day.

Meanwhile, some of the other people I was with got toasted, even in some of the places they had applied.

There's definitely something to this "give up seed oils → no sunburn" thing. I spent all day today in the sun at a water park. I put on some mineral SPF 50 sunscreen before entering, never re-applied, and came out without any sunburn, even on the places I didn't apply sunscreen.

My peer review duration statistics .(i.e. no. of days between being invited and turning it in):. n: 159 articles.mean duration: 20.9 days.sd: 13.8.min: 0.p10: 4.med: 20.p90: 39.max: 84. On avg, I do about 1 every 2-3 weeks (~20/yr).

RT @itschappy: To me Frank Layden embodies everything Utahans love about an “outsider.” He came to Utah and fell in love enough to make it….

Another possible idea is to start blocking out your idea in the initial prompt. Then that will both provide the LLM with more context *and* allow you to learn / practice existing knowledge.

I have noticed my coding skills waning with having the LLM do most of the lifting for me. Much like using LLMs as writing assistants, it's important to begin the workflow as if you didn't have access to the tool, and then use it to fine-tune later.

For me, I also get distracted just curious about "how much farther can this tool *actually* take me?". There's an entertainment value in using the LLM.

This accords with my own experience of using LLMs to code. Biggest pitfalls for me: .• what to do during "LLM response time" (what used to be "compile time" in olden days).• when to "cut bait" with the LLM and start a new context.

Curious: are there any of the anti-seed-oil crowd that are pro-alcohol?.

I've felt really, really good on this. Very light, energetic, and seemingly not needing as much sleep. In contrast to feeling bloated or sluggish on some other diets I've recently tried. cc: @markeatsmeat @tarheals31.

I've been trying a "carnivore lite" the past few days:.• Lunch: my usual (kefir, some fruit, macadamias, raw milk cheese, cucumber/sauerkraut salad, 2 chomps beef sticks).• Dinner: lots of 🥩, sometimes with eggs.• Dessert: ¼ cup plain cream and 20g-40g of 90% dark chocolate.

RT @exfatloss: Interesting vinegar study from Japan🇯🇵. 175 obese people, 3 groups, 12 week intervention:.- 15ml vin….

I'm pleased to have been awarded a Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize from @Heritage! Announcement below:.

I've noticed some interesting web design features on big box sites that seem to be there to increase "time on site," regardless of functionality.

Since Amazon Prime Day is coming up, it's a good time to point out that big box retailers seem to have an interesting combination of incentives:. 1. make *purchasing* as convenient as possible. but. 2. make *shopping* as inconvenient as possible.

cc: @mold_time @meta_boli @markeatsmeat.