COVID-19/Coronavirus thread

[Chicago White Sox]

25 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

And those workers are making shit pay and receiving very little protections and have no benefits; we're literally sitting here arguing that these people are essential for the basic functions of human life in this country, and we treat them and pay them like they were replaceable garbage. They've been treated as subhumans for a long time and even in the media today, politicians openly state that it's not real people getting sick, it's the immigrants in the meat processing plants in places like Iowa and etc. The best part is many of them feel threatened or etc, and are working for less than the $600 they'd get on unemployment. It's shameful.

No one is saying close the doors on the entire world. That is not feasible, but drastic measures, restrictions and closures clearly saved a lot of people elsewhere, but we're too damn worried about the bottom line to give a shit about the people who actually produce those goods.

Whether people who work at food processing plants and at other essential services are making a fair wage is a completely different argument of whether they are critical during a pandemic.  I’d love to see an improved quality of living for those at the bottom of the pay spectrum.  The wealth balance in this country is beyond horrific and it desperately needs to change.  I just don’t think companies are inherently evil because they don’t want to go under.

[Jack Parkman]

21 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Whether people who work at food processing plants and at other essential services are making a fair wage is a completely different argument of whether they are critical during a pandemic.  I’d love to see an improved quality of living for those at the bottom of the pay spectrum.  The wealth balance in this country is beyond horrific and it desperately needs to change.  I just don’t think companies are inherently evil because they don’t want to go under.

I don't think companies are inherently evil because they don't want to go under either. 

I do think that they should make whatever sacrifices necessary to make working conditions safe for the employees while still at the very least breaking even if possible. 

IMO the idea that companies are entitled to a profit no matter the social cost has to end. 

Business is fine. I believe in capitalism with a conscience. I support the founding of socialist companies that want to go further than the government can, but social democracy(aka the Nordic model) is as far as I'd go on a federal/governmental level. Anything further allows for corruption to take hold. 

I believe that a business is far more than solely a profit machine. They have social responsibilities as well, such as to protect the environment, treat their employees well and fairly, and contribute philanthropy toward the communities in which they're located. 

Btw I'm as pro-labor as you can get but labor has to have more common sense than it does. Protecting bad employees is not a good practice. 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Jack Parkman

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

24 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Whether people who work at food processing plants and at other essential services are making a fair wage is a completely different argument of whether they are critical during a pandemic.  I’d love to see an improved quality of living for those at the bottom of the pay spectrum.  The wealth balance in this country is beyond horrific and it desperately needs to change.  I just don’t think companies are inherently evil because they don’t want to go under.

Not all companies are inherently evil at all, but the companies that are most rewarded under the current system absolutely are. And frankly, the greatest issues with the system and the lack of decency shown to many workers - by whom these companies were built - is being magnified even more so due to the pandemic.

We can go on and on about what behavior is rewarded. Predatory banking and lending. Undercutting labor laws and outsourcing to impoverished nations. Tax evasion. Employee contracting. Avoiding benefits. Environmental shortcuts.

Caufield tries to make this always a left vs right issue, and frankly it's a bunch of BS. While the right is far worse than the left at this point in time - especially with the dear leader promoting no masks - the bottom line is both parties have nurtured this system of inequality for 60+ years. Both parties have ignored the growing wealth gap, and both have produced mass propaganda to discredit and devalue the work done by millions of people in this nation. That's why you see people all over the internet hating on unions; people literally fighting for better pay, better working conditions and workers rights. Why? Because the entire machine that we operate under hates a unified voice to negotiate. Because a unified voice has power and money to compete vs the corporations power and money. While unions aren't perfect by any means and many were mismanaged, the core basis of the union is to lift up the majority and give them a fair pay. People in the middle class fight against minimum wage hikes - despite minimum wage hikes correlating positively to middle income wage increases. People against that absolutely baffle me.

And under the current system? Being profitable doesn't even matter; it's all about having the biggest bank account of investors; the biggest venture capitalist. The way the market works now is companies lose endless amounts of money undercutting an industry that operated on micro-margins to begin with (Uber vs Taxis for example), until eventually the companies that can't operate at a loss have to fold, all because the other company could afford to undercut them for a decade - losing money year after year - and now they've obtained the entire market share. Most every massive startup in America now makes money solely off your data - that's the only thing they generate any real revenue off of. That data belongs to you and me and etc.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[Jack Parkman]

18 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Not all companies are inherently evil at all, but the companies that are most rewarded under the current system absolutely are. And frankly, the greatest issues with the system and the lack of decency shown to many workers - by whom these companies were built - is being magnified even more so due to the pandemic.

We can go on and on about what behavior is rewarded. Predatory banking and lending. Undercutting labor laws and outsourcing to impoverished nations. Tax evasion. Employee contracting. Avoiding benefits. Environmental shortcuts.

Caufield tries to make this always a left vs right issue, and frankly it's a bunch of BS. While the right is far worse than the left at this point in time - especially with the dear leader promoting no masks - the bottom line is both parties have nurtured this system of inequality for 60+ years. Both parties have ignored the growing wealth gap, and both have produced mass propaganda to discredit and devalue the work done by millions of people in this nation. That's why you see people all over the internet hating on unions; people literally fighting for better pay, better working conditions and workers rights. Why? Because the entire machine that we operate under hates a unified voice to negotiate. Because a unified voice has power and money to compete vs the corporations power and money. While unions aren't perfect by any means and many were mismanaged, the core basis of the union is to lift up the majority and give them a fair pay. People in the middle class fight against minimum wage hikes - despite minimum wage hikes correlating positively to middle income wage increases. People against that absolutely baffle me.

And under the current system? Being profitable doesn't even matter; it's all about having the biggest bank account of investors; the biggest venture capitalist. The way the market works now is companies lose endless amounts of money undercutting an industry that operated on micro-margins to begin with (Uber vs Taxis for example), until eventually the companies that can't operate at a loss have to fold, all because the other company could afford to undercut them for a decade - losing money year after year - and now they've obtained the entire market share. Most every massive startup in America now makes money solely off your data - that's the only thing they generate any real revenue off of. That data belongs to you and me and etc.

I love this post. 

I mean in a better world where the US had the same type of social safety net as the Scandinavian countries, there would be incentives to start businesses like this one that exists in Spain:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

It would be very simple: 

Corporate taxes would be significantly less for a corporation structured like this one than a simple for profit current style company. 

Also, high corporate taxes only kill jobs if you let the companies leave your country. If you levy penalties on them for packing up and leaving, then you can tax them at higher rates, which actually leads to more investment in new products (innovation) and higher wages for their employees. It incentives them to cut their profit margins to not pay as much in taxes. 

Another thing: The Sherman Antitrust act is there for  a reason. Use it. Too large of a market share in every major industry is controlled by too few companies. They're essentially being run like the old NYC Mafia, where the CEOs get together like the Commission did and divvy up who gets what business where, and everyone gets screwed. Price fixing is common, but can't be proven. Every industry is basically a mafia style cartel, with 5-10 companies holding 80+% of the market share in each industry, and squeezing whatever is left. Then you have industry giants like Wal-Mart and Amazon that are trying to own the overwhelming majority of the market share themselves, because sharing with other companies is even too much to ask for their greedy asses. 

 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Jack Parkman

[illinilaw08]

2 hours ago, southsideirish71 said:

Other countries have stopped this without shutting down the entire economy.  Wear masks, social distance and stay home when you can.  You don't have to hide in your basement and hunt in the backyard to get game meat.  

 

Unfortunately its not just about the rich people getting richer. In your social utopia where everyone stays in and food is delivered to your door humans are still going to need to be out working, and unfortunately be exposed in shitty conditions at times.   It requires people at the source of food production.   Then people to collect the food and bring it to processing plants.  You realize that it still requires people to go into warehouses, collect the items, put them into shipping containers.  Then people put them on trucks.  The trucks drive to a distribution point, and then those people have to sort them and load them on delivery trucks.   So in the end people are still going to have to work.  We don't have a robot army yet.  

I don't disagree with this.  There are obviously companies and industries that are essential to people living.  People have to eat, and the food comes from somewhere.  Everyone in that supply chain is essential.

The feds needed to intervene early to make those conditions safer, however.   At least 8 workers at a meatpacking plant in Greeley, CO died from COVID.  That's just unacceptable.  Mask up the employees, enforce as much social distancing as you can, and furlough your at-risk employees who are taken care of by a beefed up unemployment system, and whose jobs are waiting for them when it's safe for them to return to work.  The solution to this problem is not insulate the meatpacking plant from any liability for COVID deaths - it's make it safer for them to operate.

We also have to come to terms with the fact that there are industries which are essential - like the food supply chain - and there are industries that are not essential, and in fact as designed are set up to be spreaders (looking at you bars and clubs).  I love bars.  I spend a lot of time at bars.  But there isn't a safe way to sit at a barstool inside right now.  Businesses shouldn't fail because of a pandemic - so how do you balance public health and the bar/restaurant industry?  You get massive stimulus on a federal level.  

Long story short.  We need to make working conditions as safe as possible for the industries that need to work for society to function.  And we need to provide funding to the industries who are not essential to the functioning of society so that people don't lose their business because of a global pandemic.  

[The Beast]

2 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

This is basic modern Econ 101; and as someone who is going back to school in September to get my masters in Data Science solely to attack big data in economics from a more modernized angle, this is something I love and am passionate about and it's also something that enrages me. Econ has a dark and evil past, and it's riddled with racism and sexism to this day. It is the whitest and malest profession of any of the advanced degree professions. The models that we have used for generations are riddled with racial and class biases on the data inputs, and it has destroyed the lives and opportunities for millions and millions of minority and/or impoverished people. It needs to change and it needs to be fixed.

Good luck with the Data Science masters program. To me it is like a modern MBA. It definitely isn’t easy stuff and getting experience in it can be somewhat of a challenge. I’ve lived through the program and am grateful my company paid for it so I could attempt using it for a job change.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

6 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Good luck with the Data Science masters program. To me it is like a modern MBA. It definitely isn’t easy stuff and getting experience in it can be somewhat of a challenge. I’ve lived through the program and am grateful my company paid for it so I could attempt using it for a job change.

Thanks. I was actually surprised I got in because I feel old, but I'm young enough I think (33) where there's a real benefit. I already have a Python, SQL and Dax/PowerBI/Excel Macro background. I'm looking forward to it. I deal with big data now, but I am no where near where I want to be.

I got tired of being upset and frustrated by privilege - privilege that I benefited more from than 99.99% of people in this country and I know that and I would like to attack a systematic issue within economics and how we teach/learn it that marginalizes far too many people.

How did it go for you? I remember when I first joined my last company I sat and looked at all their data and their entry system and realized they honesty probably wasted over 5000 hours a year on shit that could be solved by a simple 3 line program. This exists all throughout corporate america. It is amazing.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[Chicago White Sox]

9 minutes ago, illinilaw08 said:

I don't disagree with this.  There are obviously companies and industries that are essential to people living.  People have to eat, and the food comes from somewhere.  Everyone in that supply chain is essential.

The feds needed to intervene early to make those conditions safer, however.   At least 8 workers at a meatpacking plant in Greeley, CO died from COVID.  That's just unacceptable.  Mask up the employees, enforce as much social distancing as you can, and furlough your at-risk employees who are taken care of by a beefed up unemployment system, and whose jobs are waiting for them when it's safe for them to return to work.  The solution to this problem is not insulate the meatpacking plant from any liability for COVID deaths - it's make it safer for them to operate.

We also have to come to terms with the fact that there are industries which are essential - like the food supply chain - and there are industries that are not essential, and in fact as designed are set up to be spreaders (looking at you bars and clubs).  I love bars.  I spend a lot of time at bars.  But there isn't a safe way to sit at a barstool inside right now.  Businesses shouldn't fail because of a pandemic - so how do you balance public health and the bar/restaurant industry?  You get massive stimulus on a federal level.  

Long story short.  We need to make working conditions as safe as possible for the industries that need to work for society to function.  And we need to provide funding to the industries who are not essential to the functioning of society so that people don't lose their business because of a global pandemic.  

100% agree with everything you posted here.

[southsider2k5]

12 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Thanks. I was actually surprised I got in because I feel old, but I'm young enough I think (33) where there's a real benefit. I already have a Python, SQL and Dax/PowerBI/Excel Macro background. I'm looking forward to it. I deal with big data now, but I am no where near where I want to be.

I got tired of being upset and frustrated by privilege - privilege that I benefited more from than 99.99% of people in this country and I know that and I would like to attack a systematic issue within economics and how we teach/learn it that marginalizes far too many people.

How did it go for you? I remember when I first joined my last company I sat and looked at all their data and their entry system and realized they honesty probably wasted over 5000 hours a year on shit that could be solved by a simple 3 line program. This exists all throughout corporate america. It is amazing.

My company has products centered around SEC and Fed reporting, and I can confirm that most companies are a mess when it comes to big data.

[ron883]

22 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Thanks. I was actually surprised I got in because I feel old, but I'm young enough I think (33) where there's a real benefit. I already have a Python, SQL and Dax/PowerBI/Excel Macro background. I'm looking forward to it. I deal with big data now, but I am no where near where I want to be.

I got tired of being upset and frustrated by privilege - privilege that I benefited more from than 99.99% of people in this country and I know that and I would like to attack a systematic issue within economics and how we teach/learn it that marginalizes far too many people.

How did it go for you? I remember when I first joined my last company I sat and looked at all their data and their entry system and realized they honesty probably wasted over 5000 hours a year on shit that could be solved by a simple 3 line program. This exists all throughout corporate america. It is amazing.

To ray ray and @The Beast, what were your background's prior to pursuing data science master's degrees?

I'm in an engineering field currently, and quite frankly I'm not too happy with it and have been considering getting a master's or learning software development. The pay ceiling in my current industry just doesn't seem worth it for the stress that comes from my job. 

Edited July 1, 2020 by Yearnin' for Yermin

[StrangeSox]

 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

8 minutes ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

To ray ray and @The Beast, what were your background's prior to pursuing data science master's degrees?

I'm in an engineering field currently, and quite frankly I'm not too happy with it and have been considering getting a master's or learning software development. The pay ceiling in my current industry just doesn't seem worth it for the stress that comes from my job. 

Finance and Data Analytics

Honestly though, all my coding skills and etc have been self taught online; my education is much more formal on the math and finance side of things. There are a couple free courses I would recommend you try first, and see if it's something that is interesting to you. I would recommend a Python Course to start and learn the basics of the language.

In data science you shouldn't really be pigeonholed to any industry. I find the biggest hurdle and issue I see with many machine learning/AI/Data Science people is that they understand code but they don't understand what is useful inputs and they don't really know how to implement operational change that coincide with their tellings/findings. A big part of data science is collecting and analyzing, but the valuable part for business is being able to convert those reports into operational usefulness and a language that everyone can understand. This is a hurdle that many are having a difficult time overcoming.

Never forget, regardless of how much money you save the company and how streamlined you make efficiencies, you will never be considered a "revenue generator" for a business.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[bmags]

I would say that u of illinois mcs-ds online program is one of the better value programs out there now.

[The Beast]

18 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Thanks. I was actually surprised I got in because I feel old, but I'm young enough I think (33) where there's a real benefit. I already have a Python, SQL and Dax/PowerBI/Excel Macro background. I'm looking forward to it. I deal with big data now, but I am no where near where I want to be.

I got tired of being upset and frustrated by privilege - privilege that I benefited more from than 99.99% of people in this country and I know that and I would like to attack a systematic issue within economics and how we teach/learn it that marginalizes far too many people.

How did it go for you? I remember when I first joined my last company I sat and looked at all their data and their entry system and realized they honesty probably wasted over 5000 hours a year on shit that could be solved by a simple 3 line program. This exists all throughout corporate america. It is amazing.

Feel free to take this to PMs if you would like to. What program did you get into? Is work paying? The fact that you know SQL and Python is huge. A lot of the people in my program (like me) don’t have a background in it and that makes a learning curve tough. I am coming at the field completely blind, other than having industry knowledge in insurance.

I wanted to go for a graduate degree and see what happened with it since my company paid for most of it. The tough thing is, I’m not in the same state as my employer where large offices are and it is tough to learn from people remotely. I am working to get on different projects at work so I can practice what I have learned, but they are often slow moving and occasionally, there aren’t lots of people who like to teach or help you develop that are on the teams that are involved with the project.
 

So while my program was great, I am having a hard time trying to apply it to work. We will see what happens but my options could open up at the end of the month when I don’t owe my company anything and can look around or look internally at other departments that are tied to data science but don’t necessarily work in it and still involve data analysis. 
 

Programming is amazing, especially when work can be automated and people could be doing more productive things with their time. Creating tools with programming and data science is really cool.

[bmags]

5 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Finance and Data Analytics

Honestly though, all my coding skills and etc have been self taught online; my education is much more formal on the math and finance side of things. There are a couple free courses I would recommend you try first, and see if it's something that is interesting to you. I would recommend a Python Course to start and learn the basics of the language.

In data science you shouldn't really be pigeonholed to any industry. I find the biggest hurdle and issue I see with many machine learning/AI/Data Science people is that they understand code but they don't understand what is useful inputs and they don't really know how to implement operational change that coincide with their tellings/findings. A big part of data science is collecting and analyzing, but the valuable part for business is being able to convert those reports into operational usefulness and a language that everyone can understand. This is a hurdle that many are having a difficult time overcoming.

Never forget, regardless of how much money you save the company and how streamlined you make efficiencies, you will never be considered a "revenue generator" for a business.

unless you do it as a service. Plenty of revenue side work for ds.

[The Beast]

13 minutes ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

To ray ray and @The Beast, what were your background's prior to pursuing data science master's degrees?

I'm in an engineering field currently, and quite frankly I'm not too happy with it and have been considering getting a master's or learning software development. The pay ceiling in my current industry just doesn't seem worth it for the stress that comes from my job. 

All over the place and I may go to school in the future for something unrelated if this doesn’t work out. I graduated with a business degree and have worked in HR, marketing and insurance so far. If the company pays for some of the graduate degree, I would say it is worth it. I think learning programming at a boot camp or getting a graduate degree that is in data science is worthwhile. Software development seems to have less of a barrier to understand, although you may find it easier to grasp data science with a quantitative background. Feel free to take this to PMs if you want to discuss there instead.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

15 minutes ago, bmags said:

unless you do it as a service. Plenty of revenue side work for ds.

but for systems building and efficiency management, you are in turn making your company money they just don't see it that way. you are correct though, there are modelers and machine learners that run the revenue generation, but from an angle of accountability and profit maximization, you are not viewed as a revenue generator. 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

27 minutes ago, The Beast said:

Feel free to take this to PMs if you would like to. What program did you get into? Is work paying? The fact that you know SQL and Python is huge. A lot of the people in my program (like me) don’t have a background in it and that makes a learning curve tough. I am coming at the field completely blind, other than having industry knowledge in insurance.

I wanted to go for a graduate degree and see what happened with it since my company paid for most of it. The tough thing is, I’m not in the same state as my employer where large offices are and it is tough to learn from people remotely. I am working to get on different projects at work so I can practice what I have learned, but they are often slow moving and occasionally, there aren’t lots of people who like to teach or help you develop that are on the teams that are involved with the project.
 

So while my program was great, I am having a hard time trying to apply it to work. We will see what happens but my options could open up at the end of the month when I don’t owe my company anything and can look around or look internally at other departments that are tied to data science but don’t necessarily work in it and still involve data analysis. 
 

Programming is amazing, especially when work can be automated and people could be doing more productive things with their time. Creating tools with programming and data science is really cool.

1. Depaul
2. Work is not, and that's fine. I have the money set aside to cover the program already so don't need to get any loans or etc.
3. I actually learned R/Python and SQL when I started to model MLB and NCAAB/NBA when I was playing poker fresh out of college. Amazing how easy you pick things up when the thing your working on you love doing. Made a couple bucks exploiting NCAAB total markets and mid-major sides and NBA Daily Fantasy Sports, and then gave it all back in MLB where I learned people who model that are well ahead of me at this time in my life.
4. I hear you; communication is difficult in this world, and there are so many people who honestly just have no idea what you're doing or talking about, even though they know it's valuable. I actually don't mind remote learning as I tend to be better at self-teaching and problem solving than having someone walk me through it.

Good luck! I think you'll be fine. It's one hell of an in-demand career right now, and the movement up the ladder is really quick in major corporations for the entry level jobs in that field.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Machine learning and AI is really DS and the future of economy in general, imo. Finding a way to implement that level of automation while still maintaining a sense of work/purpose for the people is going to be one hell of a challenge and hurdle, but it'll be a lot of fun.

Edited July 1, 2020 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[bmags]

not sure what's going on with idph site today but 824 cases was put on twitter which freaked me out, however, over 33k tests - most ever, so actually 2.5% pos rate.

[StateStSports]

NBC has a zip code update on "hot spots". Highwood, North Chicago, Aurora and Joliet have high positive numbers.

[caulfield12]

5 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Not all companies are inherently evil at all, but the companies that are most rewarded under the current system absolutely are. And frankly, the greatest issues with the system and the lack of decency shown to many workers - by whom these companies were built - is being magnified even more so due to the pandemic.

We can go on and on about what behavior is rewarded. Predatory banking and lending. Undercutting labor laws and outsourcing to impoverished nations. Tax evasion. Employee contracting. Avoiding benefits. Environmental shortcuts.

Caufield tries to make this always a left vs right issue, and frankly it's a bunch of BS. While the right is far worse than the left at this point in time - especially with the dear leader promoting no masks - the bottom line is both parties have nurtured this system of inequality for 60+ years. Both parties have ignored the growing wealth gap, and both have produced mass propaganda to discredit and devalue the work done by millions of people in this nation. That's why you see people all over the internet hating on unions; people literally fighting for better pay, better working conditions and workers rights. Why? Because the entire machine that we operate under hates a unified voice to negotiate. Because a unified voice has power and money to compete vs the corporations power and money. While unions aren't perfect by any means and many were mismanaged, the core basis of the union is to lift up the majority and give them a fair pay. People in the middle class fight against minimum wage hikes - despite minimum wage hikes correlating positively to middle income wage increases. People against that absolutely baffle me.

And under the current system? Being profitable doesn't even matter; it's all about having the biggest bank account of investors; the biggest venture capitalist. The way the market works now is companies lose endless amounts of money undercutting an industry that operated on micro-margins to begin with (Uber vs Taxis for example), until eventually the companies that can't operate at a loss have to fold, all because the other company could afford to undercut them for a decade - losing money year after year - and now they've obtained the entire market share. Most every massive startup in America now makes money solely off your data - that's the only thing they generate any real revenue off of. That data belongs to you and me and etc.

Apparently you haven’t been paying attention to what has happened to the state of Wisconsin the last twenty years...or let’s just make it forty.

It’s not a “both sides” issue.

Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan might line up with very similar views on foreign trade and US jobs leaving the country, but their core belief systems about the actual intrinsic VALUE of American labor are quite different.

If approached in a completely centrist/non-partisan fashion (3rd party or reform movement)...the position tends to be basically a neutral one.  All evidence indicates it’s (support of unions or radical restructuring of the economy) going to be led by that generation of those under 30 or 35 starting to pull back to the left again due to two devastating financial crises in their lifetimes.  

52% of Americans approved of labor unions, unchanged from 2010.

78% of Democrats approved of labor unions, up from 71% in 2010.

52% of Independents approved of labor unions, up from 49% in 2010.

26% of Republicans approved of labor unions, down from 34% in 2010.

wikipedia.com

Imo, the GOP has simply done a much better job of consistent messaging on issues like labor unions and welfare/social programs, and for a LONG time.  As labor union membership has eroded by roughly 50% or more, the Democratic Party was then left with a conundrum that would reverberate from NAFTA/GATT/China WTO in the 90’s all the way to the 2016 election.   The decision was made to fight for money from Wall Street and the financial services industry, believing labor unions were going to be stuck with nowhere to go.  And you saw a generation of 35-55 year old disaffected blue collar/non college educated workers who felt completely taken for granted in Michigan, PA and WI rolling the dice and swinging the electoral college with 77,000 votes combined.   You also saw it in recently in huge splits in Nevada over supporting Biden or Sanders (pragmatism vs. progressive litmus tests).  Of course, there are also massive chasms when it comes to protecting white vs. black vs. brown jobs, with racism and anti-American/anti-immigration tides thrown into the combustible mix for good measure the last five years.

The problem is that if you approach this from a data scientist perspective as opposed to a political economist’s, you’re going to be in the exact same position as those who work for Twitter, Facebook and Amazon...forced to “sell out” for profits of a limited few vs. what’s best for the greatest number of people.  Otherwise, you’re going to have to create your own start-up that 100% mirrors your values on this issue and deliberately avoids any politicization.   Mark Zuckerberg is the perfect example, where he straddles the line (or at least attempts to), creating the perception with charitable giving initiatives that he skews to the left (along with most of Silicon Valley with a few notable exceptions like Peter Thiel), when if you really pay attention to what he says and does, it’s always to protect the brand and profits over all other considerations.  Why?  $77 billion dollars in advertising revenue per year.  We can call him the Michael Jordan of Silicon Valley, essentially...”because Republicans buy sneakers, too.”  Just not sure how long anyone can be on “both sides” without eventually having to make a substantive choice here.  While it would be nice to inhabit a utopian reality “beyond politics,” the odds of that happening anytime soon are slim and none.

[caulfield12]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week ordered bars in the state to reclose. But that's not stopping the owner of a bar in Odessa from welcoming customers during the July 4 holiday weekend.

"The government has no business telling us how to deal with our health. That's what we're here for," Gabrielle Ellison, owner of Big Daddy Zane's, told CNN's Brooke Baldwin on Wednesday.

Several bar owners in the state, including Ellison, are suing Abbott after he ordered bars to reclose June 26 as the state's number of Covid-19 cases skyrocketed.

Ellison's customers "also have their rights," she said. "I'm not going to take theirs away from them like mine are being taken away right now."

 

In the lawsuit, the bar owners claim the order violates the state's constitution by depriving them of their "liberty or freedom to operate their businesses." They also say the Governor is picking "winners and losers" by allowing hair salons and other businesses to remain open.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/us/texas-bar-owner-big-daddy-zanes-interview/index.html

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by caulfield12

[The Beast]

3 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Machine learning and AI is really DS and the future of economy in general, imo. Finding a way to implement that level of automation while still maintaining a sense of work/purpose for the people is going to be one hell of a challenge and hurdle, but it'll be a lot of fun.

Automation is going to be tough on the economy. It’s part of one of the reasons I went back to get some modern skills even though I’m no expert. (And if I don’t succeed, I’m definitely considering healthcare or web development down the road.) But what is important is coming up with a product that helps employees do their jobs. Or figuring out what to do with employees. I don’t think it necessarily will be retraining or UBI, but I don’t know. It’s going to be a complex issue if jobs get automated away.

3 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

1. Depaul
2. Work is not, and that's fine. I have the money set aside to cover the program already so don't need to get any loans or etc.
3. I actually learned R/Python and SQL when I started to model MLB and NCAAB/NBA when I was playing poker fresh out of college. Amazing how easy you pick things up when the thing your working on you love doing. Made a couple bucks exploiting NCAAB total markets and mid-major sides and NBA Daily Fantasy Sports, and then gave it all back in MLB where I learned people who model that are well ahead of me at this time in my life.
4. I hear you; communication is difficult in this world, and there are so many people who honestly just have no idea what you're doing or talking about, even though they know it's valuable. I actually don't mind remote learning as I tend to be better at self-teaching and problem solving than having someone walk me through it.

Good luck! I think you'll be fine. It's one hell of an in-demand career right now, and the movement up the ladder is really quick in major corporations for the entry level jobs in that field.

You are right to pursue something that you can apply to your interests. I see more of a future with healthcare data, so that is one other reason to leave my company, in addition to what I previously mentioned. It all depends on the opportunities available though. You are also right about communication, although I am a rookie at this stuff and I wish people would teach more rather than assuming I know this stuff. It’s all about speaking up, pushing back and collaborating. My concern is also that because I am new, I will get into a role and they will become impatient with me if I don’t catch on initially, but I have a feeling they would give warnings and training before they would fire me. They being a hypothetical employer.
 

Best of luck to you in your program and if you want, PM me and we can connect on LinkedIn. There is so much to learn in terms of data visualization, statistics, data analysis and machine learning, in addition to programming. Luckily it is rare that there is a unicorn who does that all well and opportunities will present themselves for those with a background. I hope.

Edited July 1, 2020 by The Beast

[Jerksticks]

You guys have any experience applying data science to construction companies?    
 

Currently we use a pretty comprehensive software that manages the whole process from sales, estimating, job costing and finally reporting.  
 

So we can see general job margins and margins associated with specific tasks which has been eye-opening to say the least.  
 

Just feel like this is the tip of the iceberg of what we could be doing.  Data is everything. Data is dollars.  You should be called Money Doctors.  Do you just cut deals with companies all day and say, “I get to keep 25% of the money I save you, for 24 months.  Deal?”