#spreadsheets and metrics tracking

[writing-royza]

It would be the most boring fanfic of all time, but I have such a desire to write the administrative onboarding of Team Mustang. Like it could probably be very funny, at least in my mind.

[ms-demeanor]

probably not a good sign that i couldn't talk about work at the con this weekend without crying a little and that I had to force myself to leave my laptop at home so i couldn't do work and leaving my laptop at home made me feel a little panicky and also now i kind of want to throw up instead of going to work tomorrow.

I'm so overloaded that I've become completely ineffective, I've got so many projects that none of them are getting done, fucked up tracking time a couple weeks ago and missed twenty or so hours on my paycheck and am feeling so fried that I am struggling to muster up the energy to fix it (i shouldn't have missed that many hours anyway i'm hourly there's supposed to be a clock system for me but there isn't the time tracking is supposed to be for metrics not for how i get paid and now i have to dump time into fixing that)

there is a repository of business information that lives ONLY on my computer (my personal computer, because I do not have a work computer) that needs to get uploaded to our documentation system but the configs exported from one system as PDFs but can't be uploaded to the other as PDF so I need to open each one and save it in word so I can upload them individually because the system can take word docs but not PDFs

I need to finish creating the spreadsheet of standard hardware and put specifications and part numbers and standard costs on it but I need to meet with the networking team lead so we can go over spec for the networking equipment because the standards are new to both of us and I need to know what he's looking for if one of the standards are out of stock and he needs to learn the abbreviation/part number system for that particular vendor so i need to teach it to him and until we're on the same page I can't finish my hardware standards project

I need to create a guide for the practice leads to reach out to vendors in their relevant practices because right now I'm the one who reaches out so I'm the one who has the meetings about spec quotes and nobody else knows who to call or where to submit a consultation request

I need to create a guide for the techs to source hardware and figure out part numbers and compare specs

i need to quote two printer options for a client

i need to email the vendor about the mis-applied warranty and have it corrected to the appropriate device

i need to get uptime data on eight servers collected for the bimonthly client meeting

i need to call microsoft to get access to a tenant for a user we never should have sold licenses to

i need to check tracking and update the order spreadsheet

i need to export the list of firewalls from one vendor and sort it by active clients and sort it by the ones that need to be replaced because they're EOL and then the ones that need to be renewed and then the ones that aren't on fire that we can consider replacing in two years

I need to look at the list of servers and sort by drive type and get the drive part numbers so that I can get spares to all the clients

of those things, I think I've got tickets for two or three of them. The other forty five tickets I have are unrelated to this task list.

[cirrus-grey]

ALICE: So each of the cases is categorized on four metrics with a standard integer scale, that’s your DPHW.

GWEN: Okay. Now I’m pretty sure I need to try and keep them as even as possible.

ALICE: Ok, so, it makes sense that if you’re low on “W” that means we should probably prioritize processing cases with a higher rank on that metric to bring the average up, right? … So, it’s just a hunch but I bet if we have a look at old cases and then try and sort by “W” we can find out which cases got the biggest scores in that metric and reverse engineer what you need … Now, unless I’m wrong, which, let’s be honest, is pretty damn likely, when we cross reference this shortlist for common terms we’ll find out what Freddy thinks you need and that... is... more... Bonzo?

Loving finally getting a breakdown for why DPHW is important, here.

Now I, like the utter nerd I am, have been tracking the DPHW of each case on a spreadsheet, and therefore was able to do some quick sorting just like Alice. Bonzo is definitely our highest W scorer of the lot – he’s got 2 of the 5 cases ranked as “8” on that metric, though he tends to score pretty high on P and H as well.

However.

We are not low on W. When you add up the total DPWHs of every case we’ve gotten so far, you get:

D – 136 (average score 3.2)

P – 148 (average score 3.5)

H – 210 (average score 5.0)

W – 218 (average score 5.2)

W is the highest metric. So either it needs to be the highest, and the balance only works if it’s at the top...

…Or Freddie is lying about what’s needed, and intentionally trying to send things haywire.

Not too much mercury or the world ends, not too much sulfur or we all go mad…

[hostilemuppet]

finally finished watching ppg16

my take on it is that if it wasnt the powerpuff girls, itd be solidly "whatever". just a generic childrens animated sitcom that happened to have superheroes with the amount of grossout humour you can expect of a childrens cartoon from the mid/late 10s. but the ppg label was forced on it, and it is so not powerpuff girls that it is unenjoyable. i wouldnt be surprised if it was originally going to be its own thing, but they were forced to make it ppg early on in development

i ALSO wouldnt be surprised - in fact i think it is almost definitely the case - that this was supposed to be a sequel series set at least a few years in the future, which is why they no longer go to kindergarten (with an extremely forced reason; pokey oaks got destroyed all the time in the original show!), they have smart phones (no 5 year old has their own smart phone. they just use mummys ipad), the professors hair is going grey, etc. but the creators were forced to make them stay the same age so they could stick to their iconic designs. for marketing/merch purposes. so the creators did the bare minimum so they could claim the girls were still 5, and thats why blossoms love interest is a boy who looks at MINIMUM 12 years old; blossom was also supposed to be 12. this is my conspiracy theory

tldr: cw powerpuff would have been a better adaptation than ppg16 and i am NOT kidding

i also kept a spreadsheet while i was watching. its colour coded

i kept track of how i personally would rate the comedy, story, and the episode overall, any unnecessary facial expressions (the "next big meme faces" as the kids call them), grossout humour, inappropriate moments (it took restraint to not mark every episode jared appears), whether it rehashes something from the 98 era (eg, "man up" is the exact same plot as "makes zen to me", and the opening to "escape from monster island" is extremely similar to the opening of idw comic #9) any bigotry (usually offensive caricatures, eg at least two of princess' kash money krew members are black characters with doughnut lips (doughnut lips are used FREQUENTLY in this show but i only marked it when it was specifically used on black characters), and one of the derbytantes is a transmisogynistic caricature) and finally, any misc comments i had, which got less frequent as i went along and also less coherent. compare my notes from s1:

to my notes from s3:

final stats, on average:

comedy: 2.6/10 story: 2.9/10 overall: 2.7/10

total counts:

unnecessary facial expressions (subjective, but i was using the metric of "it distracted me from the scene"): 242 grossout moments: 49 inappropriate moments: 18 (GENUINELY surprised it wasnt higher) 98 rehashes: 23 and last but not least, bigotry: 28

the best episodes i would say are "bridezilla" and "aliver", both of which were tied for the highest score of 8/10 and id say were genuinely good episodes (although bridezilla doesnt make sense without the previous episode, "monkey love"), 2nd place going to a selection of episodes with the score of 5/10 but despite that id say the only two from 2nd place actually worth watching would be "monkey love" and "strong-armed". MAYBE the power of four episodes if you want to see bliss for yourself but she is VERY underwhelming despite being so overpowered

finally: i have not watched the shorts. and probably will not for a while since the show was solidly "meh". also i know my previous stance of "it was okay i guess" seems odd when i gave it a 2.7/10 but thats probably the same score id give amphibia. so. amanda leighton should try harder ig

[la-principessa-nuova]

i kind of wonder how neurotypical people respond when a doctor or therapist or whoever says they should pay attention to some symptom or mood changes or something like that

bc i respond in one of these 3 ways or some combination:

Autism: Make a spreadsheet with complicated formulas to calculate metrics around it and automate any parts of the entry or analysis process I can. Typically over the next few weeks I spend many hours on this and it expands to somewhere around 5 worksheets, typically ~3 with manually entered data and maybe a VLOOKUP column or two to connect things between them, and ~2 different views into analyzing or summarizing the data. Then I feel limited by the spreadsheet and start to think about making a mobile app for it, which occasionally does happen.

OCD: I think constantly about it, but I can never quite tell what the answer is? “Is this the symptom? Maybe it is. I guess this kind of counts? Surely that shouldn’t count though. What if that’s not it? What else could it be? How bad is that?” and if combined with the Autism response I will typically expand my tracking to try to capture the severity/confidence and surrounding details, at which point ADHD takes over and I will be overwhelmed by the amount to track and put off tracking things until I stop tracking it altogether.

ADHD: Next time I see the doctor when they ask about it I go “Oh yeahhhhh, I forgot you said that. Maybe I should write that down this time.” and then I never read that note and forget it exists until the next time I visit the doctor when I go to make a note and there already is one.

Do they just like… notice and remember the symptom occurring?

[gywo]

Did You Miss It?

If you haven’t been around Dreamwidth recently, you may have missed a great post at GYWO!  All links are member-locked, so if you’re not signed up for the challenge, you won’t be able to access them.

Challenges

WIP Challenge: Write one sentence on your current WIP

Microfiction Dice Challenge: This month’s big challenge is to see how small a story you can write

Discussions

Building Writer Confidence — Lack of Positive Feedback: Not getting positive feedback? Not getting ANY feedback? There are ways to stay motivated — I'll share some of mine, and I'd love to hear yours!

More Things To Add To Your Spreadsheets or What Else Can You Track?: At GYWO you're already tracking word count or days written. But what other useful information can you track to give you new reasons to build your tracking method of choice?

Plotters, How Do You Plot?: All writers have their own unique way of plotting and outlining their stories. What's yours?

Effective Beginnings and Endings: How can you make both the beginning and ending of your story more effective?

How to Keep Up Momentum with ADHD: Motivation can be hard to keep up for anyone, but it can be even harder if you have ADHD. Here are some tips and tricks to try and keep your momentum going

Creating Unease in Your Reader: One of the fun things about writing is finding ways of influencing the reader without telling them what to feel directly. Here are 3 methods of creating unease in your reader, as well as 3 common pitfalls

What Do Your Writing Sessions Look Like?: Let’s talk about our writing setups, from tools and physical environments to convincing our brain it’s time to write

Support

Chronic Illness Support Post: Writing spaces that benefit us

Share Time: Share your work and get positive reinforcement

Pep Talk: Haven’t started writing for 2025? It’s not too late

Success!: Share a success, no matter how small!

Writing Goals Beyond Metrics Check-In: Share your progress or set new goals aside from your GYWO pledge

Events & Announcements

7 Days, 7 Stories: Write a draft of a story in a day for 7 days

GYWO Yahtzee

Yahtzee Leaderboard & Digest: Fills April 1–April 14

Yahtzee Leaderboard & Digest: Fills April 15–April 21

Monthly Check-In

April Check-In: Don't forget to check in for April! Check-in closes May 5th

[livwritesstuff]

So I’ve made a few references to Steve being an Excel guy as an adult (because someone had to be in charge of Steve and Eddie’s money and it certainly wasn’t going to be Eddie).

He’s got the classic spreadsheets – monthly budget, college savings projections, income tracking because he and Eddie both work jobs with variable incomes (Steve is a counselor and Eddie is an author), the whole nine yards.

Steve also has some “extracurricular” spreadsheets. I’ve talked about how Steve has a spreadsheet tracking the combinations of Mario Kart racers/vehicles he tries out (there’s a ranking system involved, it’s very complex). He’s got one for his fantasy football league, obviously, and he and Moe put money on their March Madness brackets so there’s a spreadsheet for that too.

Eddie’s personal favorite is the one comparing monthly expenses by kid, which isn’t exactly a necessary metric per se, but from it stems a game Steve and Eddie secretly play: who is the most expensive Harrington daughter?

The winner tends to rotate throughout the year, but Hazel is usually their least expensive child in the long run. She does ballet, which isn’t too bad when she’s little but then she graduates to pointe shoes, and Steve had no idea that not only do pointe shoes set you back $100 minimum, they also wear out ridiculously fast, and, as he’s been told many times, you can’t wear the dead ones.

Moe usually takes that top spot in the winter – elite basketball teams aren’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and then in high school she gets into snowboarding, which is somehow even more expensive. She’s also consistently the reason they hit their health insurance deductible every year. 

Robbie is their overall most expensive kid by a mile. She drove up their car insurance by getting into an accident a month after she got her driver's license, had braces for five years, and the prescription on her glasses has changed every eighteen months since she was seven. She’s notorious for breaking her phone, so she racks up quite a tab in that regard too (the one year they got a protection plan was also the one year she had no phone-related incidents, so they didn’t even bother renewing it – they just make her suffer with a cracked screen for a few months before they finally drag her to the mall to get it fixed). There’s also the year Eddie bought her an electric violin which was, naturally, not cheap (Eddie argues it shouldn’t count because he was the brains behind that operation).

[youcouldmakealife]

Hi Taylor! Question from an aspiring writer... how do you track your words written per month? Is it the words you actually publish or do you have a spreadsheet? Just curious!

I use a few methods, because I a) lose things (I lost a whole ass writing journal after a year of steady use, and had to start another after tearing my house apart. I'll probably find it the day I move). b) really really like tracking metrics, and get a sense of satisfaction from them that's almost like accomplishment, but for most of the time I've been writing the 'verse, I've used simple monthly spread sheets.

Like this:

Typically, I have a set writing goal for the day (1250 right now) and only update the 'Min' when I'm finished, so I can see where I am for my monthly goal. I absolutely need to separate out projects for my own sanity, but you don't need to. At the bottom of the month are my totals for each project.

All my WIPs are titled to include the POV char or prompt, the part number if it's a series, and the current word count. So if I start the day on James 25 (850), and at the end of the day it's at, say, 1250, then Hold'em (Cards on the Table) gets updated with 400 words. If I worked on Holden as well, I just add 'em up, I don't mind that. Go with what makes your brain happy.

I'm just going to say straight up that this has been something I've trialled and errored for literally a decade now, and it's something that's worked for me, but I've also used:

a literal piece of paper that happened to be within reach

a notebook (and still do, updating it with a handwritten version of the above, along with what's been posted, and a 'fill in a square every 250 words' in which each project gets a different colour, which I find immensely satisfying, and helpful for seeing trends.

~estimation (or yeah, adding up word counts, though then you don't get to log anything you cut and that's no fun)

A fancy tracker that gives me ~graphs~

But at the end of the day, I can't rely on my enjoying a thing forever, and I'm pretty decent at keeping up the spreadsheet. But I should note that I like data analysis and I like spreadsheets, and if spreadsheets make you break out in a cold sweat, they're not going to work for you.

Whatever is easy enough to consistently keep up with, do that one, because it sucks when you have a big data gap because you hit a rough patch and couldn't be bothered to keep your system up. For me, that's the spreadsheet. For you it could be a little notebook, or in a planner, or numbers in a calendar box, or a habit tracker, or an email draft you update at the end of the day and send yourself every once in awhile. Whatever you'll be fucked to do when you don't have many fucks to give.

(I have...also done all of those at some point.)

[hit-song-showdown]

My favorite songs of 2023

I am putting together my favorite songs released in 2023. I started off doing a project where I listened to as many new albums as I could (and recording my findings in a spreadsheet), but that project tapered off around June when my move + school year started. But even though I wasn't able to listen to every album that came out, I still came out of 2023 with some of my favorite musical projects of all time. Also as another disclaimer: I am not a professional music writer.

I am also limiting this list to 1 song per album/project.

1. Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMafia and Danny Brown. I wish I could go back and experience again what happened to my brain when I first heard this track so I could properly convey it with text. When I first saw this project was announced, I knew it would take over my life. When I heard this track before the album was released, I knew I would have to form some kind of religion around it. The reason why I'm limiting this list to one track per album is because Scaring the Hoes has 14 tracks so I wouldn't be able to fit them all (other songs I would have given the number 1 spot include Burfict!, Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up/Muddy Waters, God Loves You, and Kingdom Hearts Key). But the title track is the perfect introduction. It's less of a single and more of a thesis statement for the entire project. The production throughout this album is incredible, but STH hits different. The rhythmic, almost menacing handclaps (fun fact: those aren't handclaps--that's the sound my asscheeks make when this song comes on) and the horn sample which I can only describe as Blood Money era Tom Waitsian, it is by far my favorite beat of 2023. Combined with Danny and JPEG's charisma and the way they bounce back and forth, this song is a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. Also I saw them live and that experience elevated a 10/10 to a 20/10 for me.

2. Prof. Aronnax' Descent into the Vast Oceans by Ahab. I started seriously listening to German nautical funeral doom metal band, Ahab around early 2022 so this was the first new release I got to experience. Even though I loved what I heard previously, nothing could have prepared me for this. The opening track is everything I want from a doom metal song. It starts out with a frantic onslaught of screaming and inhuman growls before mellowing out into a serene instrumental before the mournful vocals kick in. It really feels like the initial shock of your body slamming into the water, then having to slowly drift among the waves as your muscles give out and you're taken deeper into the depths. That's what I like about doom metal: it's music to decay to. This track (and by extension this album) hooked me from a story-telling perspective right away, which shouldn't be a surprise as it was based on Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The story presented in this album intrigued me so much that I had to read the book for myself. Then I read it again. Then I read two different translations. Now I'm working on a visual novel adaptation. I know metrics for album rankings are subjective, so I'm willing to give an album an extra bump if it gets me to read a 19th century novel at least five times in less than two months and learn Python coding. (Other tracks I would have included: the album is at its strongest as a single listening experience, but I especially enjoyed Mobilis in Mobili and Ægri Somnia).

3. What A Man by Debby Friday. This is a track off of Nigerian-Canadian electronic musician Debby Friday's first album Good Luck and holy shit, what a debut. This is such a well-formed project I can't believe it. I was already enjoying the album throughout the first few tracks. It brought me back to listening to 2000s club music and thinking "wow I wish I got invited to parties." But then I got to What A Man and the world screeched to a halt. I think I was posting on my main blog at the time, so anyone unfortunate enough to follow me had a chance to see my incoherent screeching in real time. This track is incredible. Debby's warm and sultry voice, the spacey production, THE ELECTRIC GUITAR? The first time the guitar kicks in, that's just a teaser for what ended up being one of my favorite music moments of the year. The electric guitar feels like an oncoming storm and Debby is standing strong before it, taking on the wind and rain as her voice becomes louder and almost yearning. Then the song builds with Debby yelling to the high heavens as the guitars wail around her before fading back down into the low bass and rhythmic breathing motif found throughout the album. This track is an experience, and the music video is gorgeous too (the picture I chose for the banner is from the video itself) and the fact that it has less than 20K views hurts me. (Other tracks I would have included: I Got It, So Hard To Tell, Let U Down)

4. Bite Back by Algiers (ft. billy woods and Backxwash). Speaking of songs that build... This is the sixth track off of Algiers' album, Shook and by this point I was already feeling pretty good about the release. I was already prepared to put the opening track, Everybody Shatter on my top 20, but when Bite Back kicked in, something changed. Here's a recreation of my initial reaction: "this sounds pretty good, I like the way this intro...is that billy woods??") Just to be transparent: billy woods' involvement would have been enough to give this an automatic top slot for me, but it helps that his verse is fantastic. His flow is slower than the introductory verse, but that only makes his lyrics stand out more. From the opening lines "One hand wash the other, they both wash the face / Centrifugal force and inertia keep everything in its place / Slowly, spinning in space, speeding, lead foot on the brakes" I knew I was in for something special. One thing I really appreciate about this track is the production. billy woods has a very steady flow with an almost menacing quality to it depending on the subject matter of the lyrics, and the beat shifts during his verse to reflect that. It sounds like it could be a billy woods beat, but it doesn't sound like one of his beats was carelessly shoved into an Algiers song. It's like the beat ebbs and flows with the artists involved. The production gets gradually more intense as billy picks up more ferocity in his delivery. A detail I really like is when billy says "claws rattling, delicate as roaches' wings," the percussion on the backing track picks up an almost rattling quality, but it doesn't sound corny or too obvious. Then billy continues, the backing track picking up even more intensity until it feels like each noise is blasting at full power...and then the tension releases and settles down with Algiers frontman, Franklin James Fisher, delivering the second verse. His delivery contrasts wonderfully with billy woods' too, with his faster, almost whispered vocals allowing the track to pick up momentum again after the previous release of tension. This track knows when to breathe and it's fantastic. But it also knows when to take the air from your lungs as Fisher goes all out with the vocals in the hook and third verse, reinstating what an absolute powerhouse vocalist he is. And just when the track is at its peak ferocity, in comes Backxwash with the steel chair! If billy and Fisher were allowing the beat to gradually shift under their performances, Backxwash grabs the song by the throat and makes it do whatever she wants. Her verse then trades off into Fisher delivering the outro, operating at full power in his delivery. This song is so well-crafted and none of the artists feel out of place. (Other tracks I would have included: Everybody Shatter, A Good Man, Irreversible Damage)

5. Billions by Caroline Polachek. As of writing this, I haven't been keeping up with other people's year end lists, but I know this album is going to make everyone else's. So I feel a bit intimidated to talk about it, but I will try. The production on this album is so good my brain can't even comprehend how it was crafted. I've seen it described as "maximalist," but that doesn't fully capture how well this album knows when to pull back and let the tracks breathe. Billions is one of the more sparse tracks compared to some of the others, but that only makes each production decision stand out more. The second time Caroline says "give me the closure," you hear a little musical sting in the background (probably some kind of synth, but at first listen I thought it was an electric guitar) which didn't show up after the first time that lyric was sung. It's that attention to detail and letting the production build on itself that makes this project incredible. And it goes without saying that Caroline is an outstanding vocalist. She sounds like a siren. It's ridiculous. (Other tracks I would have included: Welcome to My Island, I Believe, Hopedrunk Everasking)

6. The Black Seminole by Lil Yachty. Opening track off of Lil Yachty's psychedelic rock album, Let's Start Here, and what an opening track on a fantastic project. It should be clear by this point that I love songs that build, and holy shit does this song build. I first listened to this album while I was on a plane, and this track synced up with my takeoff. So while the plane was lifting off the ground and I was being pressed against my seat, Lil Yachty gave the final line before the electric guitars and the female vocalist kicked in, both wailing with equal ferocity. Top 10 music experiences of the year, but even going back to listen to that same track when I'm not on an airplane delivered the same euphoric experience. (Other tracks I would have included: Drive Me Crazy, Should I B, We Saw the Sun)

7. Xena by Skrillex and Nai Barghouti. I debated whether to put this song or Hydrate on the list, but Xena was the first track that made me fall in love with this album. With vocals by Palestinian singer, Nai Barghouti, Skrillex delivers an absolutely outstanding dubstep track. Like Billions, it's the kind of music production that makes me have to step back and fully appreciate the craft. The song is incredible at building intensity, but he also knows when to pull back to let the tension build again. And Barghouti isn't just a feature--she is the heartbeat of this song. Her voice melds with the production so well, but in a way that sounds like she's commanding it. My absolute favorite part of the song is when she starts singing in her lower register as the production turns to more naturalistic instruments. Sometimes I see electronic producers robbing their singers of their voices for the sake of cohesive production, but that isn't the case here. Nai Barghouti's voice is crisp, unique, and perfect. It's a fantastic melding of producer and vocalist that makes way more sense than it should. (Other tracks I would have included: Hydrate, Rumble, Ratata)

8. Babylon by Bus by billy woods and Kenny Segal. I already talked about billy woods, but he was a feature so this still counts. Everything I already said about billy woods' skills applies here as well, especially now that he has full control over the track. billy's flow sounds both effortless, and that he knows the perfect word to use for each line. And he uses interesting words. "Glistening waterbug on clean counter / Plague mask, gave the place a cursory glower / He ran away, I gave chase but gave up and sat on his gate for hours" I love this series of bars. He is a storyteller. And then, the beat pauses after billy's first verse, with low menacing notes, a clattering of naturalistic metallic percussion, and then the switch up??? Seriously the way the beat ramps up for SkrapKnel's verses takes the song to another level. The way the Curly Castro and PremRock pass the mic back and forth to each other is outstanding. This doesn't feel like a guest verse; this is a fully realized project. The shamelessness is even more apparent when billy takes the mic again for the final verse, but now with more ferocity in his delivery as if he's building off of the energy created by SkrapKnel. This song is masterful. "I take care of these words, Munchausen by proxy / Somehow beat the tox screen / God save the queen, but that train doesn't stop here anymore" (Other tracks I would have included: FaceTime, Year Zero, Soft Landing)

9. Drain You Empty by Cannibal Corpse. I listened to this album right around midterms and I needed it. But this was the song I kept coming back to. For one, it's fun. Obviously: it's Cannibal Corpse. But I love the way the song opens with a full minute of just blasting you before the drums, riffs, and screams really kick in. Good god the drumming on this album is so good. I absolutely love Corpsegrinder's delivery on this track. The way he shifts from bellowing growls to shrieks, the way he speeds up his delivery to match the pace of the drums, it's so good. I'm sorry I don't have a better analysis. It's fun. (Other tracks I would have included: Chaos Horrific, Overlords of Violence, Blood Blind)

10. Crossing Guard by Model/Actriz. This is a song that made me wish I went to gay clubs more. Yes, it's a killer dance song, but what draws me in is how chaotic the production is. It starts out slow and quiet, then bam! The production starts screeching at you in a glorious onslaught of noise, held together with a fantastic bassline. I love the vocalist too. He can be monotone and subtle, but he also knows how to raise his voice to match the ferocity of the production. I listened to this song countless times last year (often while crossing the street and trying not to get hit by cars), and the line "Like Germanotta, Stefani / Pull the weight from under me" will be stuck in my head forever. (Other tracks I would have included: Donkey Show, Amaranth)

[digitaldetoxworld]

Data Visualization: Transforming Data into Insight

 In an technology wherein information is produced at an remarkable tempo, the ability to extract significant insights is extra vital than ever. Data visualization plays a vital function on this procedure, enabling individuals and corporations to understand complex statistics sets, pick out trends, and communicate findings effectively. By converting abstract numbers into intuitive visuals, information visualization bridges the gap among uncooked data and human cognition, turning complexity into readability.

Data Visualization In Research 

The Importance of Data Visualization

Data visualization is the graphical illustration of information and facts. By the use of visible elements like charts, graphs, and maps, statistics visualization tools make it less difficult to see and understand styles, trends, and outliers in facts. Its importance lies in numerous key areas:

Improved Understanding: Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than textual content by way of the human mind. Graphs and charts can screen insights that would pass omitted in spreadsheets.

Enhanced Communication: Well-crafted visualizations allow statistics to be shared in a manner that’s available to a broader audience, no longer simply records analysts or statisticians.

Data-Driven Decision Making: In enterprise, governments, and medical research, visualizations support selection-making via without a doubt showing the implications of various statistics tendencies.

Pattern and Anomaly Detection: They help users quick become aware of deviations, spikes, or drops in data, which could suggest possibilities or threats.

Types of Data Visualization

Data visualization encompasses a big selection of techniques, each applicable to precise types of records and analytical desires. Some of the most commonly used sorts include:

1. Bar Charts

Bar charts are best for comparing quantities throughout classes. They are simple however effective for displaying differences among agencies.

2. Line Graphs

Often used to music changes over time, line graphs display tendencies and fluctuations, making them a fave for time-series information.

3. Pie Charts

 They’re satisfactory for simple, clear percent facts.

4. Histograms

Histograms display the distribution of a dataset, making them beneficial for understanding records spread, crucial tendency, and frequency.

5. Heat Maps

Heat maps use colour gradients to indicate value depth throughout two dimensions. 

6. Scatter Plots

Scatter plots are used to pick out relationships between  variables, often revealing correlations or clusters in facts.

7. Box Plots

Box plots show the distribution of a dataset thru its quartiles, highlighting medians, variability, and ability outliers.

8. Geospatial Maps

These visualizations display facts associated with geographic regions and are extensively utilized in demographic research, environmental tracking, and logistics.

9. Dashboards

Dashboards integrate multiple visualizations into one interface, supplying a actual-time assessment of key metrics and overall performance signs.

Tools for Data Visualization

A huge range of tools is to be had for growing effective statistics visualizations.  Popular alternatives encompass:

Tableau: A leading platform for interactive, shareable dashboards with drag-and-drop functions.

Power BI: Microsoft's enterprise analytics tool with sturdy integration into the Office atmosphere.

Google Data Studio: A unfastened tool for developing customizable reports the use of Google records sources.

Ggplot2: A effective R package for constructing state-of-the-art plots the use of the grammar of snap shots.

Each device gives distinctive competencies depending at the user’s technical information, information complexity, and desired results.

Best Practices in Data Visualization

Creating effective facts visualizations requires more than just technical skill. It includes an information of design ideas, cognitive psychology, and storytelling. Here are key exceptional practices:

1. Know Your Audience

Tailor the visualization to the information stage and pursuits of your target market. What a statistics scientist unearths intuitive is probably complicated to a business executive.

2. Choose the Right Chart

Using an inappropriate chart kind can deceive or confuse the viewer. For instance, a line chart ought to not be used for specific information.

Three. Simplify and Clarify

Avoid muddle. Focus on essential statistics and put off unnecessary elements like immoderate gridlines, decorative snap shots, or redundant labels.

Four. Use Color Thoughtfully

Color can enhance know-how but additionally lie to if used improperly. Stick to a consistent color scheme and use contrasts to highlight key points.

5. Tell a Story

Effective facts visualizations guide the viewer through a story. Highlight tendencies, anomalies, or correlations that support your message.

6. Maintain Integrity

Never manipulate axes or distort scales to magnify findings. Ethical visualization ensures accurate illustration of statistics.

Real-World Applications

Data visualization is applied in nearly each region, transforming industries through stepped forward insight and communication.

1. Business Analytics

In commercial enterprise, visualization tools assist in monitoring sales, client behavior, supply chain efficiency, and extra. 

2. Healthcare

In medicinal drug and public health, visualizations are crucial for tracking disorder outbreaks, affected person records, and treatment results. For example, COVID-19 dashboards performed a main function in information the pandemic's unfold.

3. Finance

Financial analysts use records visualization to recognize market tendencies, examine investment overall performance, and check chance.

Four. Education

Educators and researchers use visualization to track pupil performance, perceive mastering gaps, and gift studies findings.

Five. Government and Policy

Policymakers use visible facts to understand social trends, aid allocation, and financial overall performance. 

6. Journalism

Data journalism is growing hastily. Visual stories on topics like weather change, election results, or social inequality use charts and infographics to inform and engage readers.

Challenges and Limitations

Despite its electricity, facts visualization isn't with out demanding situations:

Data Quality: Inaccurate or incomplete information can lead to deceptive visuals.

Over-Simplification: Trying to make information too easy can lead to lack of nuance or important info.

Misinterpretation: Poor design selections or biased displays can cause audiences to draw wrong conclusions.

Tool Limitations: Not all equipment aid the extent of customization or interactivity wished for unique projects.

Overcoming these demanding situations requires a mix of technical talent, area information, and moral responsibility.

The Future of Data Visualization

The future of statistics visualization is increasingly interactive, actual-time, and AI-assisted. Emerging traits include:

Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR): Immersive visualizations permit users to explore records in three-dimensional environments.

Machine Learning Integration: Algorithms can now endorse or even vehicle-generate visualizations based on the information furnished.

Collaborative Platforms: Teams can now work collectively in actual time on visualization dashboards, improving communique and agility.

These advancements will hold to make records greater accessible and insightful throughout all domain names.

Difference Between  Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) 

What Is Data Analysis In Research 

[canonicallyanxious]

Favorite 2024 Album Drops

It is time once again for my favorite annual tradition, making lists of my favorite things! This year i only have music-focused rankings, and no books or shows or movies for reasons we do not have to get into lol [let's just use lack of brain cells as a catch-all term]. however i did listen to a METRIC FUCKTON of music and tracked all my album listening in one unwieldy spreadsheet which means this year i have STATS!

i listened to 70 whole albums that were released this year (200 in total)! i rated over 40 of them at least a 7/10 or higher! August was the month i listened to the most 2024 releases (a total of 8)! Wowie zowie!!!

Full list along with notes/ramblings under the cut:

10. Big Sigh - Marika Hackman

9. Romanticism - Hana Vu

8. ten days - Fred again..

7. What A Devastating Turn Of Events - Rachel Chinouriri

6. Big Ideas - Remi Wolf

5. Bando Stone and The New World - Childish Gambino

4. Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace - Shabaka

3. All Born Screaming - St. Vincent / historically i've not actually been super big into St. Vincent - like i can acknowledge her music is objectively well made but it's never been my personal cup of tea - until this record, which pushed all my buttons lyrically and production and everything wise (apparently she both wrote and produced this album! what can't this woman do!) and i must thank her for it

2. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT - Billie Eilish / this was a very strong contender for my personal AOTY for a good chunk of the year and i'm genuinely a bit surprised it didn't take it home

1. What Now - Brittany Howard / however i do think this album is fucking flawless from start to finish, like i didn't do a ton of relistening beyond initial listens this year but this is one i frequently came back to. dripping in both raw emotion and impressive musicality, it is imho a tour de force

HONORABLE MENTIONS: EPs

These did not make the list proper simply because they are not full album length, however i needed to shout them out bc despite my inherent bias toward longer records i think these are all basically as close to perfection as EPs can even get

Drop 7 - Little Simz

Sophcore - Moses Sumney

Lagos Paris London - Yannis & The Yaw / collab between foals' lead singer and the late Afrobeat/jazz drummer Tony Allen

[mizziix]

thoughts on this for mage distribution for mage the awakening in the US? Plus bonus order percentages on the side! :D https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LVdqhsMk0QPYuIGWfP3X8oqQVuPFhz0AcvxhWxSlfuA/edit?usp=sharing

Interesting! This is gonna be a long post, mostly cuz I added my own rambles on top of this, I hope you don't mind lol.

All of the math you've done makes sense and it's definitely an interesting way to calculate general size. I'm curious how you calculated your global population number. Originally I thought the seer percentage was high, but then I remembered that that's all seers compared to the Pentacle orders individually. I actually really like these numbers, especially for leaning on a small theme in Awakening I don't think gets brought up enough, isolation.

For fun, if I were going to calculate percentages I'd go by two things. One, the only concrete metric I've found for how often Awakenings occur is in the Guardian of the Veil book, where it mentions that the Guardian Labyrinths might go months if not years monitoring people without an Awakening occurring.

(Guardians of the Veil, pg 89)

This give us the metric of 17/20 recruits failing, so about 3/20 do manage to awaken. That's 15%. However, keep in mind that this is 15% of the most specifically selected, most likely to awaken sleepers over a matter of years. 3 Awakenings over 5 years is a fucking minuscule volume.

Something that corroborates this is the Consilium. In this regard Awakening is surprisingly consistent in both the size and scope of most Consilium, with two important factors. First a consilium more often than not has at least a few representative members from each order, most often at least one full Cabal, sometimes an order isn't fully represented or represented at all, but usually it's one full cabal. Second, a Consilium usually covers a rather large area, often the size of a large city's greater reach. There's one LA Consilium, and one Consilium for all of greater New York City as seen in Tome of the Pentacle.

From both of these, when you consider that a cabal is typically four or five mages, the quote unquote minimum functional size for a consilia is 20-25 mages. Now, you could probably do some math and track how many major cities a specific state has, extrapolate that out, etc etc etc but that's a lot of work I don't feel like doing, and also doesn't incorporate a lot of other factors like apostates and seers, both of which are notably less common. In general, if we assume that there are an equal number of Pentacle and Seer mages in a city, we get roughly 1 in 100,000 people are mages, giving a rough estimate of a global population of about 80,000. That's fucking tiny. That's the population of Germany. There are more

----

As a fun aside, in Ascension using similar statistics, the bare minimum functional population for a single tradition is about 20 to 30. Given that there are nine Traditions and the Technocratic Union at least matches them, that's HUNDREDS of mages per city, not to mention their retinues of Sleepwalkers (which are even rarer than mages in Awakening!), Cult members, and other participants, it's no surprise that Ascension mages have global conspiracies controlling governments and whole quests for reality, and it's REALLY no surprise that the Tremere lost the second Massassa war of the 90's badly.

[catboybiologist]

I'm going to document some things about my transition, and I want feedback about what to record!

As you can probably tell from my previous joke post, I’m about to start MtF HRT! There’s one thing that I want community feedback on, however. As a biologist, I want to document my transition in detail, and I’m going to be making a data spreadsheet to keep track of some key metrics. But I want to know something from y’all, the trans community here! Before I start taking HRT, I want to have an extensive list of what I should measure, and I want to make sure I don’t miss anything. If there’s any metric you are curious to see documented in a single person from the start of HRT onwards, please let me know!

The ones that I already know I want to include are:

Medical metrics (still undecided if/when I want to post these around for privacy)

Dose of each drug taken

Administration route of each drug taken

T levels (when available)

E levels (when available)

Body metrics (my body is on display with pics here anyways so might as well)

Height

Weight

Band

Bust

Waist

Hip (measured from thickest point around hips/thighs)

Shoulder spread

Qualitative notes

Skin quality/softness

Body and facial hair growth notes

Mood and emotional shifts

Libido

Potential side effects and brain fog

Pictures (less likely to be consistent about this but I’ll try. Some will be public, but a lot will be for my own purposes or sharing among friends.)

Face picture with mask (public)

Full front body picture, short shorts/underwear and sports bra (public)

Full side profile, masked, short shorts/underwear and sports bra (public)

Neutral face picture, maskless (private, may post later)

Nude full body front picture (private)

Nude side profile (private)

Unclothed chest (private, may post later)

I plan to take each of these on about a monthly basis. I want to make as much of this information as publicly accessible as possible, obviously within privacy limits. The most likely option is that I’ll record this from the start, but I’ll post the information itself at a lag. Please let me know if there’s anything else you want to see documented in this way! Or, of course, anything you wish you think would be useful or fun for myself to see, even if I don't record it publicly.

For reference, I had my initial blood taken earlier this month at a consultation appointment, and will have my appointment to get the actual prescription late next week. So lmk what you think!

I’m gonna make at least one other post about trans stuff, but I also want to emphasize that I’m going to be taking this very slow. So mostly, I thought this data would be a fun way to keep track of changes when I get kind of “frog pot” about what’s going on.

[aggressive-almond-cookie]

Lately I've sort of gotten my second wind in wanting to get better at anarchy. I thought that setting myself an ambitious rank goal might push me into working harder for it, but it actually just made me over-focus on winning which made it hard for me to want to take risks, experiment, and learn, and ultimately stressed me out and made me too nervous to play much. I ended up avoiding it, and then feeling bad for avoiding it, and then feeling worse when I did play because I was so out of practice due to avoiding it. So... lesson learned, I need to not do that. I still need to set goals, but stick to personal learning goals.

To some extent, it's mentally easiest to just trust that rank will naturally put me wherever I belong eventually. I don't need to focus on getting rank to put me in a certain place as much as I need to focus on 1) cultivating enough skill to belong there, and 2) then play enough games for the randomness factors to even out well enough that my placement is accurate. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it sort of lets me relax and not get too stressed out about results of individual games. I trust that I'll get to the next rank when I'm ready, and I don't know what 'ready' means-- that's up to the games to decide. All I can do is keep learning.

The last several times I have played anarchy have been pretty demoralizing. Some of that is because now I have friends that are willing to do open with me, but they are far better than me and it's a difficult environment to learn in. We get matched against teams way above my skill level and everyone is just sooo efficient and aware and precise; it's hard to get practice in when I take two steps into mid and die immediately. Additionally it's hard feeling like the weakest link on the team. I am making the majority of the mistakes that cost us games and when the knowledge of that starts to weigh on me I start inwardly tilting pretty quickly. My friends are patient and kind with me but I'm not sure they know how to help me, and I think the only way I can realistically start helping myself is in solo queue.

So I was dusting off and tuning up my old system of tables and spreadsheets that I was using to track my learning progress last season, getting ready to put them to use again. And once thing I did find very heartening, I realized, as I was going through my list of things I wanted to improve on, that I actually had improved on quite a few of them. I retagged more items to the 'improved' list than I expected to, and it gave me some faith that.... I am still improving, ultimately. even if it doesn't feel like it compared to others. I guess since others are also improving at a similar rate as me, it's a lot harder to notice my own progress. Even though I am improving compared to my past self, I have been perceiving my progress based on how much I am closing the skill gap between myself and others, and that's not really an accurate metric.

So I've added to and reformatted a bunch of stuff in my learning systems specifically to help me better track my own personal improvements more objectively. I am hoping having the numbers in front of me will keep my morale from tanking too badly next time I'm on a 5+ loss streak. Plus tables and spreadsheets and data just make my brain happy. I just need to be careful to avoid the trap of spending more time fine-tuning my learning systems than..... actually using them to learn things, lol. I know I'm prone to that, especially when I'm nervous about practicing.

Meanwhile, well, I'm still stuck in B+ where I was when the season began, and with my win/loss ratio I haven't moved the needle very much. So.... maybe this weekend I can put these systems back into action and see where I end up by Fresh Season.

[pricklyest]

I added tracking metrics to my spreadsheet that I'm working from today and now I get to play number go up game while getting work done which is a fantastic motivatir

[triassictriserratops]

Milo Thatch gets it. 😂

I give EVERY SINGLE potential date (regardless of gender) the same questionnaire to answer.

It's entirely optional and they can choose not to answer, but the questionnaire is a prerequisite for a date with me.

1.) it shows me that they're willing to have a little fun. commit to the bit with me! are you willing to engage? Are you a one word answer person? Do you put thought in? Are you willing to laugh?

2.) I put in questions that are designed to be disagreed with. are you able to disagree and keep it fun or respectful? what kind of person do you become when someone doesn't agree with you about something as small as pineapple on pizza or the best Star Wars movie.

3.) Are you Republican, Conservative, or Moderate? None need apply. Enough said. (Not voting - when you can vote - is just as bad as far as I'm concerned. you don't get to conscientiously object my rights away. 🖕🏽

every person who I have ever been on a date with has answered this questionnaire (and I keep a running spreadsheet of everyone's answers for pattern tracking and metrics because I'm a weirdo)

and let me tell you, I have only ever been on ONE SINGLE bad date. EVER.