Randy Au
@randyau.com
Hobby consultant, 💎🪚🎮🖥️🎙️🎹🎧👨🍳📷🪛➕
Quant UX Researcher @ GCP (posts are my own)
Writes a data newsletter: https://www.counting-stuff.com/
https://linktr.ee/randy_au
Languages: EN/JP/CN
Quant UX Researcher @ GCP (posts are my own)
Writes a data newsletter: https://www.counting-stuff.com/
https://linktr.ee/randy_au
Languages: EN/JP/CN
Pinned
Randy Au
@randyau.com
· Oct 30
Counting Stuff
A weekly newsletter about the important, mundane, parts of being a data scientist, UX researcher. With some extra fun about tech and hobbies.
www.counting-stuff.com
So on here I talk about hobbies and crack snarky data jokes. But once a week I also write a very long form data science newsletter. at www.counting-stuff.com
#DataBS
Here's a thread of old posts that people liked [ugh no thread writing interface] (1/n)
#DataBS
Here's a thread of old posts that people liked [ugh no thread writing interface] (1/n)
O.o I didn't even realize we passed post 400....
November 11, 2025 at 6:04 PM
O.o I didn't even realize we passed post 400....
This week on Counting Stuff, I dislike working on persona projects because they're usually started when there's a lot of -organizational level- nonsense going on. Plus they're technically nightmare fishing trips #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/i-dislike-pe...
www.counting-stuff.com/i-dislike-pe...
I dislike persona projects
A rant about failure and magical thinking
www.counting-stuff.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM
This week on Counting Stuff, I dislike working on persona projects because they're usually started when there's a lot of -organizational level- nonsense going on. Plus they're technically nightmare fishing trips #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/i-dislike-pe...
www.counting-stuff.com/i-dislike-pe...
grrr somehow I had scheduled a post for this morning, and it even had the correct date AND the correct EST time... and somehow it didn't seem to send ><
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
grrr somehow I had scheduled a post for this morning, and it even had the correct date AND the correct EST time... and somehow it didn't seem to send ><
🤪 thanks to the cutting oil still on the stone, I can't tell much difference between the 50k grit polished facets (the lower big ones) versus the 8k prepolished smaller facets above
November 10, 2025 at 7:44 PM
🤪 thanks to the cutting oil still on the stone, I can't tell much difference between the 50k grit polished facets (the lower big ones) versus the 8k prepolished smaller facets above
Got up to 8k prepolish over the weekend. First time trying to do an oval stone and am happy I got the facets to line up without too much fuss. Next is to polish on 50k grit and then somehow cut the girdle... Not sure how to do that well yet
November 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Got up to 8k prepolish over the weekend. First time trying to do an oval stone and am happy I got the facets to line up without too much fuss. Next is to polish on 50k grit and then somehow cut the girdle... Not sure how to do that well yet
Doing glue surgery to fix the Swarovski bear that the kid got as a gift a few years ago and inevitably managed to break
November 10, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Doing glue surgery to fix the Swarovski bear that the kid got as a gift a few years ago and inevitably managed to break
booo I wanted to get a second belomo 10x loupe and thanks to the tariffs they don't even ship to the US anymore
November 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM
booo I wanted to get a second belomo 10x loupe and thanks to the tariffs they don't even ship to the US anymore
A friend asked me some questions about gems and that got me off my butt to unpack all my cutting gear. This time learning to cut an oval stone which is tricky because I have to place the side facets by eye, not absolute reference like a round. This is the first prepolish facet I had (8k grit)
November 8, 2025 at 4:43 PM
A friend asked me some questions about gems and that got me off my butt to unpack all my cutting gear. This time learning to cut an oval stone which is tricky because I have to place the side facets by eye, not absolute reference like a round. This is the first prepolish facet I had (8k grit)
... Damn it, I thought I had a 1/2 digital torque adapter to go with the new breaker bar I got for doing wheels but no, apparently I have a 3/8s one for doing spark plugs.. time to get another one 🫠
November 6, 2025 at 10:53 PM
... Damn it, I thought I had a 1/2 digital torque adapter to go with the new breaker bar I got for doing wheels but no, apparently I have a 3/8s one for doing spark plugs.. time to get another one 🫠
gyah make the shitty "contract position at THE BIGGEST SOCIAL NETWORK" (I wonder who could that be???🙄) spam stop linkedin....
November 6, 2025 at 6:34 PM
gyah make the shitty "contract position at THE BIGGEST SOCIAL NETWORK" (I wonder who could that be???🙄) spam stop linkedin....
Reposted by Randy Au
10/10, no notes
vi-coding
It's the future
www.thegadhian.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
10/10, no notes
ok the one tool I need to find in my boxes is a pair of parallel pliers... after that Ithink I have everything located
November 6, 2025 at 5:04 PM
ok the one tool I need to find in my boxes is a pair of parallel pliers... after that Ithink I have everything located
yay, digging around my project boxes, I found my calibrated usb-c mic so I can use my phone as an SPL meter again! also found my clearly bootleg "mitutoyo" dial test indicator
November 6, 2025 at 4:06 PM
yay, digging around my project boxes, I found my calibrated usb-c mic so I can use my phone as an SPL meter again! also found my clearly bootleg "mitutoyo" dial test indicator
Damnit there's a Wera screwdriver advent calendar?!? www.kctool.com/wera-136610-...
I need to pretend I didn't see this so that I don't impulse buy a set
I need to pretend I didn't see this so that I don't impulse buy a set
Wera 136610 Advent Calendar, 2025
Wera 136610 Advent Calendar, 2025 - high quality German engineering at the lowest price
www.kctool.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Damnit there's a Wera screwdriver advent calendar?!? www.kctool.com/wera-136610-...
I need to pretend I didn't see this so that I don't impulse buy a set
I need to pretend I didn't see this so that I don't impulse buy a set
my barbaric american 15oz mug cup that I use all the time is apparently juuuuuuust barely able to put a stroopwafel on top without it falling into my tea. seriously, there's maybe 1-2mm of clearance on both sides
November 6, 2025 at 2:41 PM
my barbaric american 15oz mug cup that I use all the time is apparently juuuuuuust barely able to put a stroopwafel on top without it falling into my tea. seriously, there's maybe 1-2mm of clearance on both sides
O.o whut, there's going to be a new lyrical nanoha anime series for 2026? @cyanoacry.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 12:50 PM
O.o whut, there's going to be a new lyrical nanoha anime series for 2026? @cyanoacry.bsky.social
Yikes, Japanese community for Mozilla disbands because an AI bot has been running all over the kb articles with slop MT translations, ignoring guidelines, and other things
November 6, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Yikes, Japanese community for Mozilla disbands because an AI bot has been running all over the kb articles with slop MT translations, ignoring guidelines, and other things
Ok I really want to know where did i pack my calibrated usb-c mic that I was using as an spl meter ... Of all my weirdo specialized tools, that's the one that disappeared off into a box somewhere
November 5, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Ok I really want to know where did i pack my calibrated usb-c mic that I was using as an spl meter ... Of all my weirdo specialized tools, that's the one that disappeared off into a box somewhere
one thing i find interesting about our cat is watching it jump onto things... it's decently good at judging how much force to use so it always looks like it sorta hovers up onto the landing spot despite it being a 11lb cat
November 5, 2025 at 7:27 PM
one thing i find interesting about our cat is watching it jump onto things... it's decently good at judging how much force to use so it always looks like it sorta hovers up onto the landing spot despite it being a 11lb cat
wow, for once nyc might have a non-shit mayor?
November 5, 2025 at 3:13 AM
wow, for once nyc might have a non-shit mayor?
I've ben delaying getting jack stands and stuff because I was too lazy to do certain kinds of car maintenance... and whelp, car developed a busted tire (on literally 3 day old tires!) and now I have a full set of jack stands and stuff on order =_=
November 5, 2025 at 1:45 AM
I've ben delaying getting jack stands and stuff because I was too lazy to do certain kinds of car maintenance... and whelp, car developed a busted tire (on literally 3 day old tires!) and now I have a full set of jack stands and stuff on order =_=
Reposted by Randy Au
This week on Counting Stuff, using a cheap USB dongle and antenna to catch ads-b signals from airplanes going by and then decide and analyze the data #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
Counting the planes overhead
Through the magic of RADIO WAVES~~~~
www.counting-stuff.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
This week on Counting Stuff, using a cheap USB dongle and antenna to catch ads-b signals from airplanes going by and then decide and analyze the data #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
This week on Counting Stuff, using a cheap USB dongle and antenna to catch ads-b signals from airplanes going by and then decide and analyze the data #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
Counting the planes overhead
Through the magic of RADIO WAVES~~~~
www.counting-stuff.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
This week on Counting Stuff, using a cheap USB dongle and antenna to catch ads-b signals from airplanes going by and then decide and analyze the data #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
www.counting-stuff.com/counting-the...
ugh ok, spent the morning (yay "funemployment") trying to get my manga/light novels off of amazon-jp now that they've locked down a bunch of drm loopholes... luckily i had an old 7gen kindle
on the bright side I managed to get kobo-jp's store to work so gonna buy from there now
on the bright side I managed to get kobo-jp's store to work so gonna buy from there now
November 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
ugh ok, spent the morning (yay "funemployment") trying to get my manga/light novels off of amazon-jp now that they've locked down a bunch of drm loopholes... luckily i had an old 7gen kindle
on the bright side I managed to get kobo-jp's store to work so gonna buy from there now
on the bright side I managed to get kobo-jp's store to work so gonna buy from there now
Me: ??? why is my C: almost full? Ithere's nothing installed on there outside of windows and a few other small things
...
Computer: remember how I crashed? and there's a memory dump? and how you have *128 GB OF RAM*???
Me: ooooh
...
Computer: remember how I crashed? and there's a memory dump? and how you have *128 GB OF RAM*???
Me: ooooh
November 3, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Me: ??? why is my C: almost full? Ithere's nothing installed on there outside of windows and a few other small things
...
Computer: remember how I crashed? and there's a memory dump? and how you have *128 GB OF RAM*???
Me: ooooh
...
Computer: remember how I crashed? and there's a memory dump? and how you have *128 GB OF RAM*???
Me: ooooh