I started to post SNAP performance indicators from the USDA in machine-readable format, aggregating and cleaning the data from the many PDF tables. This repository includes quick-access to cleaned, FIPS-linked CSV long-format tables of yearly state reported indicators for Application Processing Timeliness, Program Error Rates, and Case and Procedural Error Rates (coming soon). USDA Descriptions as follows: Application Processing Timeliness “measures the timeliness of states’ processing of initial SNAP applications. The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 entitles all eligible households to SNAP benefits within 30 days of application, or within 7 days, if they are eligible for expedited service.” ...

I took about 70 classes over a one-year unlimited class subscription with Babbel Live for Spanish from mid-2022 to 2023. My level was beginner to low intermediate over the course of the year, and I only took classes in the A1, A2, and B1 range. Prior to the classes, I was working with Anki flashcards and Duolingo lessons. What follows are some thoughts I had wrote down while taking the courses. Some aspects of the course may have changed since I took them. ...

If you’ve got the framework installed, and just want to deploy the static pages, skip to below. Note - my first time doing this, but it works. You can always deploy directly to Observable. Observable Framework is not supported on Windows, according to an issue in their GitHub. (Update Mar 2024: Observable Framework is now supported on Windows). To use it, you need to use WSL. If you want to use it through WSL, then the following still applies. Fortunately, it is very easy to do. Steps I had to take to do this: ...

The choices to make origami sunflowers are few. I adapted the simple Lotus Blossom design from Origami-Instructions.com with an additional small square of brown paper, allowing for a very simple sunflower design that holds up against other designs that have more complicated multi-sheet folding, are hexagon-based, or require glue. Instructions With the Blintz base, place a sheet of brown paper within the corner folds into the center. ...

Some people are very into keyboards. They build them, they buy many of them, they review them. They know a lot about the software and hardware, and can describe the pros and cons of each component. When they look for a keyboard, they can use their prior experience to decide what features they care about, and can identify potential issues. I am not one of these people. But given recent wrist and forearm pain, I decided to switch impulsively to a split keyboard. I did some not-comprehensive-at-all research - I didn’t really know what I was looking at, or how to compare different brands, or what attributes to consider that would be right for me. I ended up buying the MoErgo Glove80 Split Wireless Keyboard, largely because the curved design, tenting system, and my perception of the company as a start-up that had a large passionate community behind the product. It also looked reasonably professional, minimal, and like it would fit on my desk. ...

- Whenever I do analyses I am nervous about being wrong, but using Excel’s autofill function to impute data would have definitely been on my “this is not correct to do,” at the very least. - Nice example of a personal project. Contained, clear output, and interesting to the person doing it + delightful to play with and generate maps as a person who has no use for it. It’s fun! - Helpful and clear description of how XSS (cross site scripting) vulnerabilities work and can be identified. ...

227 vehicles have passed by us in the last hour. We are parked on the side of the road, in a car that is leaking oil. At least the hood has stopped smoking. Our two friends left in a taxi to Taluca, the closest town, to see a mechanic and have a grua tow us either to the town, or back all the way to Mexico City. We had gone to the park to see the monarch butterflies before they begin their migration north; we arrived too late, the mariposas had left three days prior, but the trail was still open at a discount, and many bodies of the butterflies that died were still littered on the edges of the walking paths, the ticket takers told us. We had driven about 2 hours out of the city to see them; we were three days and two hours too late. ...

For the first time, in my many years of eating lentils, I found a small stone in my lentils while I was eating the curry. It was slightly smaller than a single lentil. On the bag of the lentils, and in every online recipe describing how to cook lentils, the following warning exists: be sure to rinse your lentils prior to cooking to remove any rocks or debris as modern cleaning equipment cannot. And I do. But I have never actually found a pebble, and so thought this was a cautionary warning that lawyers required. Now, I figured, the process of cleaning the lentils during production likely was efficient and accurate enough now (in the direct contradiction to what the warning tells me). A good self-reflection example of how my prior experience incorrectly outweighs expert knowledge. ...

- A series of YouTube videos on how “practical effects” in movies are highlighted by directors, actors, and viewers, but actually are building blocks to extremely realistic computer generated visual effects. I didn’t even realize much of what he showed was technically possible: it makes sense that performing a stunt in real life can give VFX artists valuable information about how it should look when it is computer generated, but the fact that oftentimes the stunt itself is replaced with CGI is astounding; see, for instance, the Top Gun: Maverick replacement jets. ...

In the past six months I’ve started to have finger, wrist, and forearm pain. I previously was using the Logitech Mx Mouse and keyboard for business. But due to the pronation of my wrists I wasn’t able to type at all without experience severe pain that would continue through the evening. so recently I’ve been using the Windows voice axis. To try and perform as much typing and as many actions on the computer as I can. This post Is entirely written using my voice. And as you can I sit I’m still having trouble making this a usable tool. ...