A red eastern screech owl asleep in a hole in a tree.
A bunch of black-bellied plovers in their winter molts standing on the shore in the early morning light.
An immature roseate spoonbill standing in a marsh.
Been a while since I posted to this account but rest assured my birdwatching skills have upgraded since we last spoke
When I was job hunting, it felt like all my hobbies orbited it: reading tech books, doing personal data projects, doing leetcode problems, etc.
Now that I’m not job hunting, it’s weird to finally have time to actually get back into real hobbies
A photo of an American Robin sitting on a branch in a tree. It’s in profile looking off to the left.
A photo of an American Robin standing in a tree branch through some out-of-focus leaves.
I’m nearly 30 so naturally I got some nice binoculars and a smartphone mount and now I’m taking amateur bird photos
I also really appreciated the final third of this video talking about sexual harassment and discomfort women/people with vaginas have received as an unfortunate side effect of these plots
This 100% has been my experience with them and I’ve heard similar anecdotes from other women
Been going through @acollierastro.bsky.social’s backlog of videos and her hatred of violin plots really resonated with me
youtu.be/_0QMKFzW9fw?...
Yuki, a white German Shepherd, is lying on the grass just off the edge of a patio next to a planter box. He’s staring directly at the camera, ears up.
We’re moving to Massachusetts at the end of the month and I’m no closer to remembering how to spell the state’s name without autocorrect
Tableau’s 79 different menus are my enemy
Switching from doing 100% of my work in Power BI to 100% in Tableau is causing me genuine daily headaches
Signal is a great app that has really given me peace of mind, and I genuinely think everyone should give it a shot
Federal consulting agencies and contractors still have to tread really carefully so I avoided making any public statements until getting some separation, but I didn’t want to stay silent on this for long
![Screenshot of a LinkedIn post by Madeline Clark (Senior Data Analyst @ Chegg Skills):
I wanted to share a few personal thoughts on an experience I had earlier this year.
I previously worked at a consulting firm supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs. I worked as a senior data analyst on a handful of contracts, but notably I tracked the improvement of software/hardware infrastructure across medical centers for the VHA. For nearly two years I worked on a team filled with highly capable people, both contractors and federal employees, with incredible technical capabilities and a clear understanding of the VA's mission.
On February 25, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency terminated my contract. Nearly 900 VA contracts were terminated that same day, VA Secretary Doug Collins tweeting that the VA wouldn't be "paying consultants to do things like make Power Point [sic] slides and write meeting minutes."
I'm not here to argue that the work I did was important or meaningful because I know it was. Every team I worked on was filled with talented consultants that did incredible work to improve veterans' lives.
I'm also not here to argue whether DOGE's actions have had harmful effects on the government; harm has always been the intent behind them. Russell Vought, director of the OMB and key contributor to Project 2025, called for a heavily defunded and demonized government last October: "When [federal employees] wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains... We want to put them in trauma." Demonizing federal employees and contractors is nothing more than a pretext for DOGE's current actions.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bfsoht5yyf6o5alwssmns55r/bafkreidovb53axfgtqbzjpsjlgjgp66rot2phe6p3twwq3klrs3tsyx6ii@jpeg)
Screenshot of a LinkedIn post by Madeline Clark (Senior Data Analyst @ Chegg Skills): I wanted to share a few personal thoughts on an experience I had earlier this year. I previously worked at a consulting firm supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs. I worked as a senior data analyst on a handful of contracts, but notably I tracked the improvement of software/hardware infrastructure across medical centers for the VHA. For nearly two years I worked on a team filled with highly capable people, both contractors and federal employees, with incredible technical capabilities and a clear understanding of the VA's mission. On February 25, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency terminated my contract. Nearly 900 VA contracts were terminated that same day, VA Secretary Doug Collins tweeting that the VA wouldn't be "paying consultants to do things like make Power Point [sic] slides and write meeting minutes." I'm not here to argue that the work I did was important or meaningful because I know it was. Every team I worked on was filled with talented consultants that did incredible work to improve veterans' lives. I'm also not here to argue whether DOGE's actions have had harmful effects on the government; harm has always been the intent behind them. Russell Vought, director of the OMB and key contributor to Project 2025, called for a heavily defunded and demonized government last October: "When [federal employees] wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains... We want to put them in trauma." Demonizing federal employees and contractors is nothing more than a pretext for DOGE's current actions.
Continuation of LinkedIn screenshot: I'm here to ask: once the VA has cleaned out its contract support and laid off its employees, what happens to the veterans who relied on the VA's services? When entire offices dedicated to providing support are gutted, who is there when a veteran needs that support? This goes beyond the VA as well. If Medicare and Medicaid are defunded, how many Americans will no longer have access to medical care? How long will it take for FAFSAs to be processed for low-income students? How many groundbreaking studies and clinical trials have stopped due to canceled funding? In my opinion, the answers to all of these is that DOGE and its enablers do not care. Regardless of long-term goals, the American people will suffer because of these decisions in the interim. Even still, the DOGE website will claim that billions of dollars have been saved to "give back" to the same people who stand to lose so much, if they haven't lost everything already. I believe in a government that truly gives back to its people, that puts taxpayer dollars towards public services and programs. If that means hiring more staff, bringing on more contractors, or increasing funding in order to accomplish this, then to me, nothing about that is abusive, fraudulent, or wasteful.
Took a little bit but here are my thoughts on my federal contract getting cut by DOGE
Yukon, a white German Shepherd, walks on an unpaved, snowy path. Snow falls around him as the trees and plants are covered. Photo taken March 24, 2025 in southern Maine.
“spring”
(photo from today)
We 💙 links!
Starting this week, we've made it even easier for newsrooms and more to track how much traffic Bluesky is sending to their sites.
For those setting up analytics, Bluesky's referrer is go.bsky.app.
Screenshot of Madeline Clark (subtitle: Senior Data Analyst @ Chegg Skills) on LinkedIn: “I'm thrilled to announce that l've started a new position as a Senior Data Analyst at Chegg Inc. as part of their Chegg Skills team! Super excited for this next step!! #LifeatChegg” Post contains a drawing of a man with a megaphone on an orange background with the text “I joined Chegg” with the subtitle “Starting a New Position.”
It’s official! Today was my first day joining the Chegg Skills team 🎉
She’s super interesting from a marketing/brand perspective, I wouldn’t be surprised if record labels are still searching for ways to recreate this kind of success story
I’m a fan myself but I can even admit she’s playing some 5D business chess we can’t comprehend yet
I heard this book was really great but I haven’t gotten around to it 😔
It’s on my list though!
As of today, I am no longer a federal consultant, but stay tuned for Monday!
One time I was working with a stakeholder on getting requirements for an dashboard and at some point in the wireframe process, he just pasted in a screenshot of the pizza tracker from a recent order 💀
I love Bits, I’m his biggest fan
This morning on my bike commute a pickup truck pulled up beside me at a red light. I was in the bike lane. He asked me how I liked the new bike lane. I said I loved it. He told me he was the contractor putting them in and he had more coming. He seemed very proud of the work.
🌍 As DEI programs face setbacks, it’s crucial to rethink inclusive design. The Do No Harm Guide by @urbaninstitute.bsky.social goes beyond aesthetics, challenging us to communicate data with empathy and equity. A must-read for those working with data. 📊
🔗 www.urban.org/sites/defaul...
#dataviz
SXSW conference stage appearance by Jay Graber.
A lot of people are asking what it says on @jay.bsky.team's T-shirt on stage at @sxsw.com. It's Latin" Mundus Sine Caesaribus" which means "A World Without Caesars."
Three years ago today, the day before my 31st birthday, I launched the Accessible Social website. Since then, more than 110,000 people worldwide have visited the site, representing nearly every country on the planet.
I couldn't be prouder of Accessible Social and the many people it has helped. 🎉
(Small plug for his neural network repo)
github.com/mkranzlein/n...
The other week, my partner on a whim built a neural network from scratch with no dependencies to fully solidify everything from a math perspective
Honestly, I should probably consider doing something similar with (less complex) ML methods, I’ve never been the best with understanding the math
An extreme closeup of a white dog’s nose resting on its paws
Important dog update
I watched the first episode about the East Coast and the footage of the cicada brood was absolutely insane
I wrote something on the state of and outlook for indie dataviz.
"Crisis? What crisis? — Why 2024 was a dead year for indie dataviz — and how we’ll do much better in 2025"
truth-and-beauty.net/texts/crisis...
Huge changes are on the horizon for me 👀👀👀👀
Stay tuned!!
Put gently, there’s no force in the world that could make me watch this address
