After a visit to a bicycle shop I realised that I need to increase my budget. It makes sense to buy the more expensive bike, as it’s more fun, nicer to ride, and I totally need the fancy features, right? With this premise I was happy to find Olof Hoverfält‘s post about data-supported decision making. …
Stan is a platform for probabilistic programming. To demonstrate its features I did data analysis of wind energy capacity factor in Finland. Wind energy is feasible in Finland, and we have quite high seasonal variance, so modeling wind data makes an interesting case. This case study presents a Bayesian data analysis process starting from data, …
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Lab test false positive rates may feel counter-intuitive. Let’s take a closer look at the state-of-the-art Covid-19 real time PCR test. In Interpreting a covid-19 test result Watson & al., The BJM, May 2020 say that the sensitivity of the test is between 71–98%, and specificity around 95%. The English statistics authority estimates that in …
I built a serverless (progressive) web app ppkk.fi using Elm. Elm is a functional language that compiles to JavaScript so you can make web apps and components to use on web sites. Elm is not an extension to JavaScript or something. Indeed, Elm is a stand-alone programming language with its own compiler and standard libraries. …
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By co-incidence I read two views on zoning. This resonated with me because I haven’t thought about zoning being optional, that is, that there could exist Western cities without proper zoning. First, about San Francisco: Imagine you’re searching for an apartment in San Francisco – arguably the most harrowing American city in which to do …
Restic is an open source backup program. I really like Restic’s design goals, so I chose to try Restic for backing up my computer at home. Restic is still a young project and it was (for me) somewhat difficult to figure out the right way the utilize it. I wrote down my approach – maybe it’ll …
There’s a massively delayed subway construction project in Espoo, Finland. Based on the public info, the project seems to be a mess of mismanagement. In a discussion regarding the project’s management style, a friend of mine quipped: You know these managers telling their team will get this done by pulling a few all-nighters, or that she’ll be able …
Last Sunday, I read an interesting article in a print magazine. It’s a rare occasion nowadays so I turned back to the story’s first page to find out the writer’s name. Then I opened the Twitter application on my smartphone. I’ve learned that Twitter is the best way to follow interesting writers, journalists and essayists. You’ll type …
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Zenefits is a company in trouble. They missed revenue projections, face regulatory charges, and their founder/CEO was forced to resign. How to pick up from here? The new CEO, David Sacks sent an email to all employees. The email was said to be “brilliant”. Let’s see what’s in it. Stripping the email down to essential, it …
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I want to learn French language. I thought it would be perfect to attend a course in Brussels, Belgium. Brussels is a French-speaking international city. Lots of active expats move in Brussels every year. The demand for language courses must be huge. However, it’s crazy difficult to study French in Brussels. I’ve heard rumors of people successfully enrolling to a …