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Aaron Schiff

@schiff.nz

data tinkerer with #rstats occasional economist Aotearoa NZ

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Latest posts by Aaron Schiff @schiff.nz

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.

06.10.2025 22:00 👍 7303 🔁 2399 💬 28 📌 98

Actually... from my reading of the artists' basic income report, the government did not earn money back from the scheme (although its costs were offset 37%)

Most gains were societal and came from putting the artists' improvements in wellbeing in € terms

assets.gov.ie/static/docum...

07.10.2025 07:06 👍 95 🔁 25 💬 3 📌 8

"Deloitte Australia will issue a partial refund to the federal government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement."

06.10.2025 00:31 👍 276 🔁 137 💬 3 📌 12
Airplane diagram with red dots marking where planes are shot

Airplane diagram with red dots marking where planes are shot

This is the single most overrated image on the internet. Pisses me off how every time I see it, it has thousands of Likes.

30.09.2025 00:17 👍 561 🔁 64 💬 9 📌 9
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I went to the new Book Hero store today. It's not huge or fancy but it makes me so happy that an actual physical real-life book store has opened near where I live bookhero.co.nz

03.10.2025 03:29 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Ah, the joy of freelance life. A couple of 2026 funding pools have just dried up, so if anyoneʻs interested in a project with a Wikipedian, now’s the time to get in touch. www.rove.wiki

03.10.2025 01:26 👍 21 🔁 26 💬 0 📌 0

Thanks to you Aaron, I now have the Bee Gees stuck in my head: It’s just your vibe workin’, you’re telling me lies, yeah; vibe workin’, you wear a disguise…

02.10.2025 04:17 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Yes but if it increases my work output by 200% then I'll have 120% more correct stuff and infinity% more incorrect stuff

02.10.2025 04:03 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Yo Excel, I’m feeling bar-charty rn. Hit me up with some good bars bro

02.10.2025 00:28 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Vibe working: Introducing Agent Mode and Office Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft 365 Blog Microsoft Copilot introduces Agent Mode in Office apps, enabling smarter document creation, analysis, and collaboration across Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

There is absolutely no way I am ever doing something called “vibe working”. Apart from sounding stupid, it demeans the people who pay for my work. www.microsoft.com/en-us/micros...

02.10.2025 00:26 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0
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Donald Trump pulls ally EJ Antoni’s nomination to lead statistics agency White House also drops bid to name Brian Quintenz as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Good news! Or at least, not bad news www.ft.com/content/6e0e...

01.10.2025 09:15 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Ooh, it might be time to rebuild my personal R package for making nice charts

01.10.2025 09:13 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I didn’t weigh them but I think you’re right. They did look slightly better quality than the loose ones, but definitely not 4x nicer

01.10.2025 05:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Apparently you can, it is $1.23 PER ONION

01.10.2025 04:49 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Am I missing something, or is Woolworths New Zealand really selling wrapped onions for about 2.5x the price of loose onions?

01.10.2025 04:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
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'Something to hide': Retail NZ hits out as advice shows surcharge ban will raise prices Ministry advice showed the ban will weaken competition and increase prices for consumers.

Payment surcharge ban will raise prices

www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/payment-s...

Payment surcharge ban will raise prices, reduce competition between big and small businesses, officials warned

We warned you. Hiding the problem doesn’t fix the problem.

30.09.2025 18:45 👍 81 🔁 29 💬 9 📌 4
What's the hardest thing about being a parent?

It isn't the sleepless nights, or the endless fights. It isn't the constant worrying about every last little thing, or the constant pestering about every last little thing. It isn't the impact on your work life, your love life, or your social life. It isn't the lack of money, the lack of time, or even the lack of anything approaching a life of your own.

It feels like it's all of those things, but it it's none of them.

In the end, the hardest thing about being a parent is truly understanding that everything comes with a number. You get a certain number of bedtime stories, and a certain number of bedtime kisses. Your get a certain number of roads they'll cross holding your hand, and a certain number of sports matches on a Saturday morning. You get a certain number of bike rides, and a certain number of bad jokes with no real punchline. Most of all... you get a certain number of hours.

One day you'll go to the bucket, and it will be empty.

So--and I'm saying this as much to myself as to anyone else--get as much as you can, of all that you can, for as long as you possibly can. It's the only score you'll get that will ever truly mean anything, and it's also the hardest one to keep track of.

Good luck.

What's the hardest thing about being a parent? It isn't the sleepless nights, or the endless fights. It isn't the constant worrying about every last little thing, or the constant pestering about every last little thing. It isn't the impact on your work life, your love life, or your social life. It isn't the lack of money, the lack of time, or even the lack of anything approaching a life of your own. It feels like it's all of those things, but it it's none of them. In the end, the hardest thing about being a parent is truly understanding that everything comes with a number. You get a certain number of bedtime stories, and a certain number of bedtime kisses. Your get a certain number of roads they'll cross holding your hand, and a certain number of sports matches on a Saturday morning. You get a certain number of bike rides, and a certain number of bad jokes with no real punchline. Most of all... you get a certain number of hours. One day you'll go to the bucket, and it will be empty. So--and I'm saying this as much to myself as to anyone else--get as much as you can, of all that you can, for as long as you possibly can. It's the only score you'll get that will ever truly mean anything, and it's also the hardest one to keep track of. Good luck.

These words that Nigel Latta wrote in 2015 have always stayed with me

30.09.2025 21:12 👍 91 🔁 25 💬 3 📌 4

Sorry, I read it wrong last night. The $200m co-investment fund is a separate thing from Investment Boost and it does sound like a fossil fuel subsidy to me.

30.09.2025 20:31 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Ah right thanks. I’m not sure if I’d call Investment Boost a subsidy, it’s more like a time-shift of tax obligations. It would apply to other energy investments too eg solar, so doesn’t seem like it would favour fossil fuels.

30.09.2025 07:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Crossing the ATLANTIC OCEAN on a Containership!
Crossing the ATLANTIC OCEAN on a Containership! YouTube video by Enes Yilmazer

Enes Yilmazer usually does tours of luxury properties and superyachts but this tour of a container ship is pretty interesting youtu.be/10bTq3KhjaY

30.09.2025 05:36 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

From their boards' point of view, wouldn't reinvesting dividends or taking on new capital effectively be the same choice? If so, I'm not sure if they would choose to take on more capital even if given the ability to do so, unless forced to by regulation or competition.

30.09.2025 03:55 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Craig Mod walks are some of my favourite things

30.09.2025 02:57 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A slide about accurate visualisations asking 

Is the chart appropriate 
Are the axis ranges reasonable 
Is it intuitive 
Is the 5 second conclusion the same as the 5 minute conclusion

A slide about accurate visualisations asking Is the chart appropriate Are the axis ranges reasonable Is it intuitive Is the 5 second conclusion the same as the 5 minute conclusion

Great pointer from @nrennie.bsky.social on making data visualisations

We as makers spend hours with the data and creating the visualisation, but we need to consider those who are looking for 5 seconds

#WOMBAT2025 #dataviz

29.09.2025 23:11 👍 13 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0

I don't know the details of that $200m but public subsidy of fossil fuels doesn't make any sense

29.09.2025 23:13 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

I think there is some danger of hindsight bias in evaluating whether the AI investment was rational given expectations, but the real world limits of the technology seem clear enough now that current levels of investment look crazy to me

29.09.2025 23:02 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Chat, I think I may be operating a ponzi scheme, am I going to get into trouble?

29.09.2025 22:57 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I guess there's a few quick jobs created etc from drilling for gas even if it finds nothing, if it's funded by foreign investors, but that doesn't make an energy strategy

29.09.2025 22:43 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 3 📌 0

It looks more like the lip of a ski jump off a cliff to me! Maybe this paper should be suppressed. If people believe in the U shape it could be self-fulfilling.

29.09.2025 19:51 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

29.09.2025 15:27 👍 2578 🔁 1615 💬 39 📌 172

Looks like my favorite paper on the age trajectory of happiness is finally out!!! So happy for the authors. Go check it out, it’s great.

29.09.2025 18:38 👍 106 🔁 19 💬 7 📌 2