Large Data on a Laptop: Tools and Strategies

Apache Spark, Python and Pandas, Columnar data formats, migrating away from Excel: It’s essential you get familiar with these topics if you’re beginning to grapple with challenging amounts of data. Before immediately jumping to the conclusion that “The Cloud” is the only next step– and getting lost in studying all the services out there – consider what you can do on your own laptop. Good data engineering will take you far. This post is an abbreviated version of three detailed articles I posted last year on the ISRDI Tech Blog. [Read More]

What's the Healthiest Diet?

A few years ago I fasted every other day for a month to try out a human version of an experiment involving rats, to see if doing so would improve my vision. Read full details and results. [Read More]
Tags: Health

Colin or Collin?

Over the years a lot of people have had trouble spelling my name. When I was younger I assumed they hadn’t heard the name “Colin.” It was pretty unusual where I lived. Over the past twenty years the name has become more popular but the spelling trouble hasn’t improved. It turns out these days there’s another problem: an alternative spelling. Could “Collin” really be as common as “Colin”? I didn’t believe it. [Read More]