I’ve been really struggling to master the R language

|

I’ve been really struggling to master the R language. While I’ve done a fair amount of reading about it and studying up watching YouTube – I find the principles simple to understand but sometimes the coding isn’t easy with all the werid operator symbols and function names.

ggplot2 for R clearly is the superior graphing utility compared to the somewhat broken implementation of ggplot2 on python as plotnine. There is matplotlib and the prettier version of it using Seaborn but clearly nothing beats ggplot2 on R. That said, I really think PANDAS is superior for data wrangling to dplyr and tidyverse on R – the R pipeline is fine but the way it is implemented is clumsy to type and its just not as fast or flexible as PANDAS.

It’s not difficult in Jupyter to chain PANDAS and R together although it can be messy to code in both languages. But I’m still learning and not really all that happy with the quality output of my graphs but they are getting better. 

Programming

|

Since getting into PANDAS and Python more generally, I’ve been thinking about getting more books about computer programming and learning more languages. Having learned most of the common data structures, functions, classes and other methods like overloading in several different languages, learning new ones really isn’t that much of a challenge.

I want to learn the “R” language next as I think that is an important one for data processing and visualization. I know 538 Politics uses “R” extensively for its models along with PANDAS and Plotty. I also want to learn more about Plotty, D3 charts and other ways to visualize data. If I don’t move the blog charts to D3, I certainly want to at least use the latest version of Chartjs with Zoom. I don’t see any books in the library on this but I bet there are many good videos and tutorials online.

Sometime this winter I want to also get the book I saw at the library on Java. I‘ve never had much of an interest in coding in Java but I think it would be a good language to learn, even though most Java apps with its virtual machine always seem slow and clunky. But I think learning it would make me a better developer.

I’d also like to learn more about GUI programming. I know a bit about the Qt API by writing code using PyQt with QGIS plugins. But I’ve never done a lot of GUI coding because I don’t have a lot of use for it. Yet, I think it’s a good skill to have as it really educates you on threads, slots and signals. Maybe Android programming too.

I have written my share of Applescript, Hypercard, PERL, PHP, C, C++, Javascript and Python over the years but there is a lot I don’t know. I’ve studied an dabbled a bit in Assembler, COBOL and FORTRAN. But I’m not a professional developer but I want to become more knowledgeable about coding, better understanding the core concepts. I’d also like to learn more about documenting, Github and better code practices.

The questions I have about the COVID vaccine booster 🔬

|

The questions I have about the COVID vaccine booster 🔬

I got vaccinated in April. Both shots of the Pzifer vaccine. The evidence is that it is quite effective, as while people are still getting sick from Delta varient, people aren’t ending up in the hospital or dying.

I’m not sure about the next round of boosters for they a proposing people get in 8 months. So far the vaccine has had an excellent safety record and I nor my friends have not had any ill effects from the vaccine except feeling a little ill after the second shot for a few years.

But I just wonder about the idea of injecting more of the same substance after the effects of the vaccine wear off. It really feels like to me the ideology of a heroin user – inject more to feel better. Substances used in moderation are often safe but things build up resistance and bioaccumulate. I am reminded of DDT and how harmless it was proven to mammals but how destructive it became to birds’ egg shells as they choice pesticide on farms and in the home.

Science is better now than fifty years ago. I am sure they have thoroughly tested the extra third dose on animals and humans. Messenger RNA has a short life both in the environment and in the human body – it’s quickly attacked by human bodies and natural forces, and broken down to harmless amino acids. But what if there is something that science is missing like with DDT?

There is a lot of good reasons why the drug manufacturers are more than happy to have a third round of vaccinations. For one, they have an extra stock of vaccines and it’s the same substance used for round 1 and 2. Pharmacies already have it in stock, factories continue to crank it out at a breakneck speed. Might as well use the supply by injecting it into people arms as a booster before its sent to the landfill, manufacturers say.

Lasting immunity might be hard with a Coronavirus as most are relatively harmless so our bodies T-cells might not prioritize memory of the virus and attack it immediately upon entry like it would with other deadly diseases. So maybe boosters are necessary. If the science continues to indicate that it is a good, safe preventive step come November or December when I’m eligible, I’ll give it a good hard look.

But I’m not celebrating or embracing a third shot but it is necessary I’ll give it a good hard look.

Most People Don’t Need a Covid Vaccine Booster, New Review Says – The New York Times

|

Most People Don’t Need a Covid Vaccine Booster, New Review Says – The New York Times

None of the data on coronavirus vaccines so far provides credible evidence in support of boosters for the general population, according to a review published on Monday by an international group of scientists, including some at the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.

The 18 authors include Dr. Philip Krause and Dr. Marion Gruber, F.D.A. scientists who announced last month that they will be leaving the agency, at least in part because they disagreed with the Biden administration’s push for boosters before federal scientists could review the evidence and make recommendations.

The Biden administration has proposed administering vaccine boosters eight months after the initial shots. But many scientists have opposed the plan, saying the vaccines continue to be powerfully protective against severe illness and hospitalization. A committee of advisers to the F.D.A. is scheduled to meet on Friday to review the data.

Why most gas stations don’t make money from selling gas

|

Why most gas stations don’t make money from selling gas

Most major oil companies have backed out of the retail business because selling gas generally isn’t very profitable.

According to IBISWorld, gas stations make an average net margin of just 1.4% on their fuel.

That’s far lower than the 7.7% average across all industries — and ranks beneath other notoriously low margin businesses like grocery stores (2.5%) and car dealerships (3.2%).

When the time comes, I think electric cars with fast charging will be vastly more profitable for gas stations. While there is costs to adding additional electricity capacity, and electricity is not free, it's actually a pretty inexpensive product when bought on open market. Combined with the longer times to fast charge, it's much more likely people will go into gas stations to buy food and other supplies while they wait for their electric car to charge.

The industries causing the climate crisis and attacks against defenders | Global Witness

|

The industries causing the climate crisis and attacks against defenders | Global Witness

Since 2012, Global Witness has been gathering data on killings of land and environmental defenders. In that time, a grim picture has come into focus – with the evidence suggesting that as the climate crisis intensifies, violence against those protecting their land and our planet also increases. It has become clear that the unaccountable exploitation and greed driving the climate crisis is also driving violence against land and environmental defenders.