Varun
@varunr.bsky.social
Data scientist at Slack (my views don't represent those of my employer, obviously). Based in Queens
Pinned
Varun
@varunr.bsky.social
· Aug 24
On self-serve analytics and evals
Tl;dr
varunprajan.github.io
I wrote about self-serve analytics and "evals": varunprajan.github.io/blog/self-se...
Reposted by Varun
Reposted by Varun
Justice Alito devotes an entire chapter of his new book to the emergency docket—and to responding to people like me (“the most prolific academic critic of the emergency docket”).
As I explain over at “One First,” it … didn’t go well:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/256-so-une...
As I explain over at “One First,” it … didn’t go well:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/256-so-une...
October 6, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Justice Alito devotes an entire chapter of his new book to the emergency docket—and to responding to people like me (“the most prolific academic critic of the emergency docket”).
As I explain over at “One First,” it … didn’t go well:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/256-so-une...
As I explain over at “One First,” it … didn’t go well:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/256-so-une...
Reposted by Varun
I despise seeing what’s really going on stuffed into a “but critics say” clause.
Nearly a billion people in India are being asked to show documents to prove that they should keep the right to vote. The exercise aims to clean India’s voter roll of duplicates and discrepancies, but critics say it undermines the world’s largest democracy, particularly disenfranchising Muslims.
India Cut 130 Million From Voter Roll, Fueling Protests Against Modi
Public anger is growing over an exercise that critics say undermines the world’s largest democracy, particularly disenfranchising Muslims under the Hindu nationalist government.
nyti.ms
October 6, 2026 at 6:48 AM
I despise seeing what’s really going on stuffed into a “but critics say” clause.
Reposted by Varun
what an asshole
Samuel Alito: We won't overturn Obergefell because it's engendered reliance interests.
Jan Crawford: Well, many people had organized their lives around Roe v. Wade.
Alito: No, they didn't. Women merely had an "abstract" interest in "ideas about the kind of society that they were going to live in."
Jan Crawford: Well, many people had organized their lives around Roe v. Wade.
Alito: No, they didn't. Women merely had an "abstract" interest in "ideas about the kind of society that they were going to live in."
The Alito Court: A rare interview with the influential Supreme Court justice
Justice Samuel Alito discussed his opinion in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the leaked draft and its aftermath, same-sex marriage rights and why he's not retiring yet.
www.cbsnews.com
October 5, 2026 at 11:44 AM
what an asshole
Reposted by Varun
this kind of chart doubles down on the dumb in “social science” and economics.
the dumb comes from lossily compressing complex phenomena into rankable scalars, then using arithmetic and ranking to launder claims into “scientific” truths. 1/
the dumb comes from lossily compressing complex phenomena into rankable scalars, then using arithmetic and ranking to launder claims into “scientific” truths. 1/
What’s the evidence on rent control?
I charted the findings from 112 studies:
Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅
But:
Pushes up rents for other people ❌
Pushes down new housing construction ❌
Pushes down building quality ❌
I charted the findings from 112 studies:
Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅
But:
Pushes up rents for other people ❌
Pushes down new housing construction ❌
Pushes down building quality ❌
October 4, 2026 at 3:38 PM
this kind of chart doubles down on the dumb in “social science” and economics.
the dumb comes from lossily compressing complex phenomena into rankable scalars, then using arithmetic and ranking to launder claims into “scientific” truths. 1/
the dumb comes from lossily compressing complex phenomena into rankable scalars, then using arithmetic and ranking to launder claims into “scientific” truths. 1/
Reposted by Varun
I really wasn’t trying to start a fight with Prof. Bender but now that she has created a long thread subtweeting me and her disciples are all yelling at me, let me just say that this is the crux right here. She seems to respond as though I am describing something a priori impossible.
September 30, 2026 at 10:37 PM
I really wasn’t trying to start a fight with Prof. Bender but now that she has created a long thread subtweeting me and her disciples are all yelling at me, let me just say that this is the crux right here. She seems to respond as though I am describing something a priori impossible.
Reposted by Varun
One of the dominant narratives about the labor market over the past couple years has been that it's a "good time to have a job but a bad time to be looking for one."
I think that's only half true. A quick 📈🧵:
#EconSky #NumbersDay
I think that's only half true. A quick 📈🧵:
#EconSky #NumbersDay
U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent.
Data: www.bls.gov/news.release...
Full coverage: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/10...
#EconSky #NumbersDay
Data: www.bls.gov/news.release...
Full coverage: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/10...
#EconSky #NumbersDay
Employment Situation Summary
- 2026 M09 Results
www.bls.gov
October 2, 2026 at 2:11 PM
One of the dominant narratives about the labor market over the past couple years has been that it's a "good time to have a job but a bad time to be looking for one."
I think that's only half true. A quick 📈🧵:
#EconSky #NumbersDay
I think that's only half true. A quick 📈🧵:
#EconSky #NumbersDay
Reposted by Varun
GATES: “.. I almost can’t believe you’re asking that.”
@ezraklein.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
@ezraklein.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
September 30, 2026 at 10:52 AM
GATES: “.. I almost can’t believe you’re asking that.”
@ezraklein.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
@ezraklein.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...
Reposted by Varun
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
Did Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)
An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work.
nyti.ms
September 27, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWayc
Reposted by Varun
Glad about the result, but I don’t think it speaks well of us as a country that after two years of human rights violations, war crimes, naked gangster corruption, and contempt for the Constitution, he’s finally unpopular because gas got expensive.
Remarkable: An Iowa right wing radio host just leaked word that GOP polling shows House Rs in peril even in districts Trump won by +10. The culript? Trump and the war.
On the pod, Iowa Dem chair Rita Hart explains why the conditions are ripe for big Dem rural gains:
newrepublic.com/article/2158...
On the pod, Iowa Dem chair Rita Hart explains why the conditions are ripe for big Dem rural gains:
newrepublic.com/article/2158...
MAGA Radio Host Humiliates Trump by Leaking Truly Brutal GOP Poll Data
As an Iowa-based pro-Trump personality drops a midterm bombshell, the chair of the Iowa Democratic Party discusses whether Democrats are about to regain major ground in rural America.
newrepublic.com
September 25, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Glad about the result, but I don’t think it speaks well of us as a country that after two years of human rights violations, war crimes, naked gangster corruption, and contempt for the Constitution, he’s finally unpopular because gas got expensive.
Reposted by Varun
malpractice story packaging in that the more pertinent details are: this guy is a bodybuilder promoter who killed his own son with a $100K divorce on wheels but is crowdfunding his funeral on a page that just says he was “accidentally struck by a moving vehicle” and they’re close to half that amount
Young boy killed after father backs Cybertruck into him, police say
A California man accidentally hit and killed his 6-year-old son while backing out of the family’s driveway near Temecula in a Tesla Cybertruck, according to police reports.
www.latimes.com
September 24, 2026 at 5:27 AM
malpractice story packaging in that the more pertinent details are: this guy is a bodybuilder promoter who killed his own son with a $100K divorce on wheels but is crowdfunding his funeral on a page that just says he was “accidentally struck by a moving vehicle” and they’re close to half that amount
Reposted by Varun
September 23, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Varun
In a Manhattan federal courtroom today, a lawyer for the Trump administration argued that Article II of the Constitution lets the president fire a federal employee because he’s Black, and there’s nothing a court can do about it. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
DOJ says recent Supreme Court ruling shields Maurene Comey firing
www.politico.com
September 18, 2026 at 10:12 PM
In a Manhattan federal courtroom today, a lawyer for the Trump administration argued that Article II of the Constitution lets the president fire a federal employee because he’s Black, and there’s nothing a court can do about it. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
Reposted by Varun
Polymarket’s compliance team was floored by CEO Shayne Coplan’s response to their discovery of rampant fraud on the platform in February: Just keep growing and pay a fine if regulators ever find out.
www.wsj.com/business/pol...
www.wsj.com/business/pol...
Polymarket’s Rush to Grow Left a Door Wide Open For Fraudsters
CEO Shayne Coplan brushed off concerns about a scheme involving stolen debit cards. Now the prediction market is bolstering its executive ranks as it eyes an IPO.
www.wsj.com
September 20, 2026 at 12:31 PM
Polymarket’s compliance team was floored by CEO Shayne Coplan’s response to their discovery of rampant fraud on the platform in February: Just keep growing and pay a fine if regulators ever find out.
www.wsj.com/business/pol...
www.wsj.com/business/pol...
Reposted by Varun
Now this is the situational awareness I’ve come to expect from an OpenAI employee!
September 20, 2026 at 12:47 AM
Now this is the situational awareness I’ve come to expect from an OpenAI employee!
Reposted by Varun
Reposted by Varun
The Tax Foundation argued recently that we should think of the falling labor share as making a 'round trip' back to 'historically precedented' values.
I disagree and walk through how the argument is weaker than it seems. Plus we dig into NIPA flat files! newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/i-disagree...
I disagree and walk through how the argument is weaker than it seems. Plus we dig into NIPA flat files! newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/i-disagree...
I Disagree With The Tax Foundation, Labor Share is Collapsing
Getting into the guts of NIPA and what prop income really does when you include it.
newsletter.mikekonczal.com
September 17, 2026 at 1:41 PM
The Tax Foundation argued recently that we should think of the falling labor share as making a 'round trip' back to 'historically precedented' values.
I disagree and walk through how the argument is weaker than it seems. Plus we dig into NIPA flat files! newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/i-disagree...
I disagree and walk through how the argument is weaker than it seems. Plus we dig into NIPA flat files! newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/i-disagree...
Reposted by Varun
These people have too much money. They have all the personal stuff and experiences they want.
All that's left for them is trying to seize control of public power to force their tastes and delusions on us.
All that's left for them is trying to seize control of public power to force their tastes and delusions on us.
September 17, 2026 at 8:43 PM
These people have too much money. They have all the personal stuff and experiences they want.
All that's left for them is trying to seize control of public power to force their tastes and delusions on us.
All that's left for them is trying to seize control of public power to force their tastes and delusions on us.
Reposted by Varun
Fail. (Big piece on this tomorrow.) www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
Democratic advisers are warning their candidates not to go too hard at AI
Democratic consultants are warning their candidates in some key races not to lean into AI regulations out of fear that powerful tech groups could spend heavily against them.
www.politico.com
September 17, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Fail. (Big piece on this tomorrow.) www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
Reposted by Varun
when Republicans are on the wrong side of a 60-40 issue they double down over and over and over, it becomes the center of political debate, and more often than not the numbers move. when Democrats are in that position they immediately give up
September 15, 2026 at 2:08 PM
when Republicans are on the wrong side of a 60-40 issue they double down over and over and over, it becomes the center of political debate, and more often than not the numbers move. when Democrats are in that position they immediately give up
Reposted by Varun
dunno if it can get more on the nose than "condemning racism makes you a cuckold"
September 13, 2026 at 11:45 PM
dunno if it can get more on the nose than "condemning racism makes you a cuckold"
Reposted by Varun
What the Trump administration has been doing to the federal government, in one chart. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
September 14, 2026 at 1:20 PM
What the Trump administration has been doing to the federal government, in one chart. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
