B. David Tyler

@drbdt

UMass faculty. Notre Dame & UMass alum. Studies rivalry, identity, social sport consumption. Has unabated love of data. Causes existential crises through Excel.

202 Following1,428 Followers699 Posts

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B. David Tyler@drbdt· 8d

Passing three separate tour groups on the way to the bathroom. Not pictured: An earlier tour group of about 15 people who brought with them two (2) videographers.

Three tour groups underneath the dome in the lobby of building 7

B. David Tyler@drbdt· 8d

I'm working from MIT this week. This thread is for sights/experiences that I don't see at UMass, starting with... A tech gadget vending machine.

Vending machine with various cables, lapel mics, and other tech gadgets

B. David Tyler@drbdt· 9d

Noah Taylor has always been a great actor.

Noah Taylor in Almost Famous. And definitely not the CFL player in the clip.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· 28d

I'm not saying that was written by AI.
But it was written by AI.

(meme of Ancient Alien guy)

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jun 30

SMH

Headline:
Ford rehires engineers after AI fails quality checks.
(Summary of the article)
Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jun 12

Did he build out the long-term ramifications, like the famous Herschel Walker trade tree?

Tree diagram showing the long-term impact of the Dallas Cowboys trading away Herschel Walker. Short version: It was a great move.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· May 7

This was definitely not *scheduled* maintenance.

Landing page for Canvas LMS stating that "Canvas is currently undergoing scheduled maintenance. Check back soon."

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Apr 19

The kicking news is exciting, but let's give it up for the printers and perfect Pantone matching. The photo is giving off Garden State wallpaper vibes.

Screenshot from Garden State. Zach Braff is wearing a shirt with the same pattern as the wallpaper behind him, such that it looks like his head is just sticking out the wall.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Apr 15

Wow, GMail's spam filters are good. It correctly flagged a Google email about their AI tools as spam.

Screenshot showing email from @google.com in the spam section of a GMail inbox.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Mar 29

Ready 2 Rumble 2026.

Afro Thunder, from the Ready 2 Rumble Boxing franchise

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Feb 14

I like that Google Search (@developers.google.com) gives options for Men's and Women's cricket when the search term is ambiguous. I wish that would happen for "NCAA basketball", too. (results are surprising since women's college bball is more popular relative to the men's side than the WPL to IPL)

A Google Search for "IPL season dates 2026" shows options for "Women's cricket" and "Men's cricket".

A Google Search for "ncaa basketball standings" defaults to "NCAA Men's basketball" with no women's option.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Feb 12

Image and alt text from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

Illustration of hypothetical damage pattern on a WW2 bomber. Loosely based on data from an unillustrated report by Abraham Wald (1943), showing that a similar plane survived a single hit to the engine 60% of the time, but a hit to the fuselage or fuel system closer to 95% of the time. Picture is based on US Air Force "hit plots", such as this F-4 hit plot published in 1991. New version by McGeddon based on a Lockheed PV-1 Ventura drawing (2016), vector file by Martin Grandjean (2021).

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jan 31

"Warmer weather is on the way" Tomorrow's high is 19°

A weather report showing that it is 2°, but feels like -7°, with a high of 11° and a low of -14°.

The AI weather report says, "Clear and cold tonight, but warmer weather is on the way."

The weather insight headline says that tomorrow's temperature will be 8° higher.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jan 11

Yeah @mattbrown.bsky.social - more fencing content! (No lie - This is the sweatshirt I'm wearing right now)

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jan 9

Two button meme:

Title: deciding how I feel about WNBA players' demands

Left: WNBA players are right to want to abolish the draft

Right: I love using the WNBA draft data set in class

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Nov 27

The #StrangerThings Effect. Despite the spike, Netflix fared a lot better than it has for previous high profile moments of demand.

DownDetector report for Netflix, showing a giant Spike at the moment season 5 of Stranger Things was released (Wednesday at 5pm PST)

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Nov 25

But that's a number stored as text! The call won't go through!

Hotel sign that reads,
Dial "911" for emergency
Dial "0" for front desk

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Nov 20

Do I respond with... - no? (lower case) - 2? - No? (upper case) Respondents are inconsistent enough on their own. Don't introduce MORE variability. (said as someone who spends much of his life cleaning inconsistent survey data)

Text message with the following (all sic):

Was your question, request or concern resolved by the Delta representative?

Please reply "yes" or "no".
1) Yes
2) No

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Nov 8

@sickoscommittee.org Amherst beats Williams with 14 points: No TDs or safeties.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Nov 6

Presenting right now at #NODES2025!! (really, watching former student Will Steadman present) neo4j.com/nodes-2025/a...

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Oct 25

Outside my office last night, the UMass Performing Arts Center did a sing-along, cOZplay [sic] screening of #Wicked, complete with hot air balloon rides. You can't really tell from the photo, but the building was lit up in pink & green.

Hot air balloon outside of Bromery Center for the Arts at UMass Amherst.

Poster for Wicked, an "immersive sign-along film screening and cOZplay event."

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Sep 12

It's hard times down at the old box factory

Screen capture of the Box Factory from The Simpsons episode where the kids tour the facility.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Sep 1

"Best value" University textbook companies continue to show the value of companies like Better World Books and Amazon.

RENT BOOK
Due back 12/19/2025
$21.56

BUY NEW
$26.68

RENT DIGITAL - Best Value
$32.34

MARKETPLACE OPTIONS
Sarting at $11.08

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Aug 15

Ah, I see. Also, I was reading "Merge Queries" when you wrote "Merge Columns;" sorry for my confusion.

The "Combine" section of the Home Ribbon in Power Query, which shows Merge Queries, Append Queries, and Combine Files. But this is all irrelevant since the OP was talking about something else entirely and I just didn't read closely enough.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Aug 14

For Gary Larson, hell is being a West Ham United supporter. #WHUFC

Single cell comic showing people sitting in hell. One of them is blowing bubbles through a bubble wand, another is playing the accordion, another is hitting a ball with a paddle, and another doesn't have anything.

The caption is the bubble guy talking to the guy without anything:
"Oh, they'll find something for you real soon.... Me? I'm forever blowing bubbles."

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Aug 13

Oh, and if you're not using Styles yet -- especially for headings -- make the switch!! I was late to the Styles game, and I regret all that time wasted on formatting individual parts of text. This site is old and "ugly," but the content is beautiful: www.addbalance.com/usersguide/s...

A screenshot of the Styles gallery in MS Word's Home ribbon

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Aug 13

The best way create Level 4 or 5 headings in @apastyle.bsky.social is with the obscure "style separator" (Ctrl+Alt+Enter). This separates paragraph Styles without creating a line break. apastyle.apa.org/style-gramma...

A screenshot of fake text showing the style separator, which looks like a paragraph mark with a dotted box around it.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jul 29

Team valuation between 21.3x - 42.6x!! (reposting for the alt text)

A snippet from the article.

Heading: Valuation explanation

Chelsea reported £11.5 million ($15.4 million) in revenue for the 2023-24 season. That number is not quite what it seems and includes significant intercompany transfers — what’s known as “group income” — from the men’s team. Strip that away, and actual revenue falls by at least half to £5.75 million ($7.7 million) or less. At a £245 million valuation, that implies a 42.6x value-to-revenue multiple. Even without adjustment, the deal sits at 21.3x. For comparison, Angel City FC, the NWSL’s most valuable team, last sold for close to seven times its revenue. If the same 42.6x were to be applied to Angel City’s $31 million in organic revenue, their value would be over $1.3 billion. Interestingly, Ohanian is also a member of the original investor group in Angel City.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jul 29

Financial shenanigans in English women's football (soccer). www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

A snippet from the article.

Header: Bottom line

To be clear, European women’s teams still hold long-term promise. <emphasis>The current valuations, though, are tethered to assets they don’t control, revenue that isn’t recurring and holding structures that obscure financial exposure.</emphasis> For investors looking to place capital in the space, these shouldn’t just be red flags; they should be bright, flashing warning signs.

B. David Tyler@drbdt· Jul 28

If you're a cigarette company, maybe don't lead with "Philip Morris International recognizes the importance of taking risks...". (I get what they're saying here, and business risks and product risks are completely different entities, but using that language is a questionable marketing decision.)