Quantifiably Good
My daughter got accepted to a summer program at MIT for women in engineering. So we thought since we'll already be on the east coast, why not extend the trip into exploring colleges in the Northeast. Now, being from the Pacific Northwest, my geography skills for anything east of the Rockies starts to get a... Continue Reading →
I've climbed Rainier a couple of times and there were a few crevasses we had to cross. Some were just a mere jump, others were wider and had to be crossed with a ladder. Got me thinking about crevasses in data and how you might want to fill in those crevasses with the last known... Continue Reading →
This morning, I was perusing an article on NPR about humanitarian icons. The short of it is - UNOCHA (United Nation's Humanitarian Agency) has created 295 icons to help convey useful information. 295? Wow! That does seem excessive. Why not create a new icon language and stack a few icons together to communicate? Oh wait,... Continue Reading →
We often ask children what they want to be when they grow up. I have no idea what my answer was when I was a kid – some people have memories of wanting to be a doctor or fireman but I was in high school before I decided and then I changed my mind 100... Continue Reading →
Today I was asked how to extract the directional component from a street address. For example, the following 3 street addresses should have a directional value of 'East': E Street East Road Big River Blvd E My first approach was to do the old fashioned case statement. Select street_address , case when address like 'E%'... Continue Reading →
A few months ago I interviewed for a job in London. I’ve always wanted to live in Europe and this role seemed made for me. But moving from the U.S. to London is a big step, so when I was offered the position I of course turned to data to help me decide if I... Continue Reading →
I don't know where the rest of the 2018 went. All I know is that it's December, the last month of the year. Instead of feeling rushed through the last 31 days of 2018, I decided that I will purposefully slow down, reflect, and get a head start on my New Year's Resolutions. If you're... Continue Reading →
City governments have accumulated enormous amounts of data, and up until the last decade, accessing it was a challenge, even for those working in city governments. With more information going digital, many cities now share datasets publicly. The potential civic benefits are huge: greater government transparency and trust, better-informed decision-making, large-scale efficiencies, and more. Seattle... Continue Reading →
Wendy's recent article about migrating salmon got me thinking about our local Orca population and how these magnificent creatures have been struggling of late. Killer whales like to snack on salmon. And with all the news stories about emaciated Orcas, where's their salmon? What was the salmon tally this year? Is there a decline in... Continue Reading →