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Sam Yule

@tukeybackyards.bsky.social
150 followers 346 following 28 posts

Researcher in uncertainty aware AI and signal processing. Interested in many areas of statistical machine learning and applications. "The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone’s backyard” -- John Tukey

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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
We have to be reaching peak capitalism/financialization soon.
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This reminds me of a regression analysis I did during undergrad, looking at state revenue and annual expenditure on various programs. Texas was an outlier to the rest of the country such that their spending on prisons had a positive correlation with growth where most states were clearly negative.
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
The irony of the Federal Government allowing states to be attacked by a foreign military and not offering to help/ do anything given the alleged purpose of the Fed. The Constitution seems meaningless these days.
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Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 21/07/2026
The U.S. Secretary of Defense just stated that—so far—the war with Iran has cost $37.5 billion dollars. That's since February. That same amount is how much the United States spent on planetary science from FY2013 through FY2026 inclusive. Thirteen years of planetary science or five months of war.
The Curiosity rover on Mars. At about $2.6 billion, it buys you about ten days of Iran war.
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Of the 70% that said no, I wonder how many support the military and violence by proxy.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Last night was the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride to warn the Minutemen of approaching British troops. I want to take a moment to share an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence's grievances against King George III. Remind you of anyone?
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
I made a meme
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Half of the United States has been slowly and carefully inculcated by Fox News to believe that the other half of the country is their enemy and out to ruin their lives. Once this was established, it didn't take long for those viewers to value hurting these other Americans over helping themselves.
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Popehat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
The whole point is not just the state disappearing whoever they want, it's you being in the habit of accepting the state choosing whom to disappear, without question. It's submission to the state. Same as with Gitmo after 9/11. The state's judgment must not be questioned.
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Kevin Collins @kwcollins.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Scientists have just cured pancreatic cancer in some patients with personalized mRNA vaccines. Pancreatic cancer. And this Trump administration wants to throw it all away. They’re throwing away a cure for cancer.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
pretty good representation of the mask off era here
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
So if companies aren't people can we rescind citizens United
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David Pfau @davidpfau.com · 10/03/2025
Apparently a British woman has been held in detention for 10 days after trying to cross the Canadian border as well. I wonder how much of this is downstream of the extremely aggressive quotas that officers have been given.
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Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Historian here: “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
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🌊🏄BlueWaveSurfer🏄🌊 @bluewavesurfer.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Stupidity has its consequences...
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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 01/03/2025
18F, the federal government’s technology shop, was demolished by Musk’s team shortly after midnight. It was a cost-recoverable org, charging agencies for their expertise, using a consulting model. Its cost to government was negligible, its benefits huge. My team there once saved DoD $500 billion.
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April Schittyface @braincandycrush.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
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Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
The FAA is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon to overhaul the communications system that serves as the backbone of the nation’s air traffic control and is awarding the work to Musk’s Starlink. Follow the money and see where it goes.
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Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Sending Jeff Bezos an email, lauding him for promoting personal liberty, and asking him if, to that end, he will run my column about how great a personal choice it is for people to join a union.
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Guillotines for Traitors 🏴‍☠️🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦🇨🇦 @sburr741600.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
This morning at Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HQ in DC as mandatory return to office began, this video played on loop for ~5 mins on screens throughout the building, per agency source. Building staff couldn’t figure out how to turn it off so sent people to every floor to unplug TVs.
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The Lincoln Project @lincolnproject.us · 24/02/2025
America, say hello to your newly appointed Deputy FBI Director.
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Please don't disrespect Father Ted in such ways /s
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ceej @ceej.online · 23/02/2025
FEDERAL RESEARCH LAB SCIENTIST IN 1965: After five years and seventy million dollars we have invented a new type of plastic that prevents communists from being able to climb ladders too fast FEDERAL RESEARCH LAB SCIENTIST IN 2025: My cure for cancer was shelved because it might benefit Hispanics
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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” A classic quote from Malcolm X, who was assassinated 60 years ago today.
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André K. Isaacs @drdre4000.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Diversity is our greatest asset, even if the government disagrees… They not like us! POC in STEM are here to stay. They tried to rig the game but you can’t fake influence! Mustard on the [Be][At] bro. Happy Black History Month!
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
I'm convinced the "DOGE dividend" stimulus checks of 5000 are just to placate the masses long enough to finish their purge.
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Pete Buttigieg @petebuttigieg.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
"Law and order" in the Trump era: if you bow down to the head of the U.S. government, he may help you - whether you're awaiting trial for sex crimes in Europe or doing time in the USA for physically assaulting police.
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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
In announcing the Fort Bragg name change today, the U.S. Army's official X account tagged Elon Musk directly. This is not good.
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Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
This comment on r/fednews really stood out to me. Trump and Musk want people to think they're firing do-nothing "bureaucrats," but they're really getting rid of people dedicated to serving this country and keeping it operational. I hope these stories get told.
I lost my job. USDA Forest Service.


My probation was up next week.


I did everything right. I took a GS-7 role with a master’s degree just to get my foot in the door. I spent years doing seasonal fieldwork for low pay, working in remote places, gaining experience, and building skills, just for a chance at a permanent position. I was about to be a GS-9. I wrote NEPA reports. I conducted field surveys. I worked fire support. I dedicated myself to this work because I believed in it.


Public lands don’t manage themselves. The wildlife, watersheds, and forests we protect don’t just stay protected without people on the ground making it happen. My coworkers and I took on that responsibility, often in places most people never think about but that matter more than they know.


And now? Just like that, I’m out.


Edit: I’ve consistently supported progressive policies and have voted Democrat in every national and local election since I was 18. I do appreciate folks asking, I have some coworker having a serious 'leopards ate my face' moment right now.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
It is perfectly legal to know your rights and to educate others about them, too. EVERYONE in the United States, citizen or not, has rights. I will not allow this administration to intimidate us from helping you know about them. Here’s our shareable guide ⬇️: (pt. 1/2)
KNOW YOUR
RIGHTS
IN CASE OF ICE:
CONOCE TUS DERECHOS
EN CASO DE ENCUENTRO CON ICE:DO NOT OPEN YOUR DOOR.
ICE cannot enter your home without a warrant signed by a judge.
Tell the agents to show you the warrant by sliding it under the door.
NO ABRAS TU PUERTA.
ICE no puede entrar a tu casa sin una orden firmada por un juez. Diles a los agentes que te muestren la orden deslizándola debajo de la puerta.ASK THEM
TO LEAVE.
If ICE doesn't have a warrant, tell them you do not consent for them to enter your home and ask them to leave. At work, ICE cannot enter employee-only areas without permission.
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PÍDALES QUE SE VAYAN.
Si ICE no tiene una orden judicial, diles que no das tu consentimiento para que entren a tu casa y pídeles que se vayan. En el trabajo, ICE no puede ingresar a áreas exclusivas para empleados sin permiso.REMAIN SILENT.
You have the right to remain silent.
If the agents ask you questions, tell them,
"I wish to remain silent."
PERMANECE EN SILENCIO.
Tienes derecho a permanecer en silencio.
Si los agentes te hacen preguntas, diles:
"Deseo permanecer en silencio".
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Emmett Macfarlane 🇨🇦 @emmettmacfarlane.com · 14/02/2025
So media will fail to inform, or outright misinform, about the nature of the government-imposed financial crisis on universities, and then turn around and tell us voters don't care. Well, how can they care if they don't get accurate information about what is going on?
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Someone at the American Bar Association ate their Wheaties this morning.
ABA
It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day.
Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform.
Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity.
We have seen attempts at wholesale dismantling of departments and entities created by Congress without seeking the required congressional approval to change the law. There are efforts to dismiss employees with little regard for the law and protections they merit, and social media announcements that disparage and appear to be motivated by a desire to inflame without any stated factual basis. This is chaotic. It may appeal to a few.
But it is wrong. And most Americans recognize it is wrong.
It is also contrary to the rule of law.
The American Bar Association supports the rule of law. That means holding governments, including our own, accountable under law. We stand for a legal process that is orderly and fair.
We have consistently urged the administrations of both parties to adhere to the rule of law. We stand in that familiar place again today. And we do not stand alone. Our courts stand for the rule of law as well.
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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
We've built a simulated driving agent that we trained on 1.6 billion km of driving with no human data. It is SOTA on every planning benchmark we tried. In self-play, it goes 20 years between collisions.
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Oni Blackstock, MD MHS @oniblackstock.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Under fascism, no one is safe. Universities stayed quiet as the admin targeted DEI & foreign aid, censored research, etc. Now, they face devastating cuts to indirect cost rates, threatening research & operations. Silence won’t protect institutions. It won’t protect people; it never does.
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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
Weak men cannot compromise. Weak men cannot build consensus. Weak men think that leadership means force. Weak men build nothing that lasts.
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Mike Rothschild @rothschildmd.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
"All elections are rigged and Democrats don't exist" is the kind of paranoid delusion that once got you shunned from society and maybe committed. Now it gets you retweeted by the defacto president and the adoration of thousands of other cultists.
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
LLM code vetted by Big Balls and the other teenagers will ensure systems are safe 🙃
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Fred Wellman @fpwellman.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
The United States Military Academy has just eliminated all Cadet clubs and activities for POC. Most of these have existed for decades like the Society of Black Engineers. They were there when I was a Cadet in 1987. All of the religious ones remain. This isn’t DEI. It’s white Christian Nationalism.
A memo listing all of the clubs eliminated by USMA.
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Weird how not a single one of the newspapers and magazines that have been breathlessly churning out "cancel culture" thinkpieces for the past four years have managed to use the word "censorship" at all to describe the most rapid and comprehensive campaign of mass-censorship in recent US history.
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Darby Saxbe @darbysaxbe.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
list of banned keywords
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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Nearly 250,000 people in Berlin showed up to protest fascism and the Musk backed AfD party.
Germany protesting
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Loren DeJonge Schulman @lorenraeds.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
You say: they shutdown USAID. You mean: they illegally broke in to a secure facility over a weekend, hijacked sensitive data on vulnerable people and US businesses, destroyed property Americans paid for, cut off resources for sick and hungry families, and fired Americans across the country.
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eve6 @eve6.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Are the next 4 years really going to be logging on everyday to sentences like "a 19 year old doge intern called Big Balls has your social security number" because I'm already at capacity for this sort of thing
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Think about how fast it went from Trump personally is not liable to prosecution for official acts to Trump’s big Nazi donor’s extralegal and unaccountable goon squad is not subject to arrest.
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Jacqueline Sweet @jsweetli.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Yes totally cool that a 19-year-old who called his deleted LinkedIn "Big Balls," where he lists his experience working as a camp counselor can access the entire US federal payment system without anyone looking into his background, for instance, his Russian national close relatives or anything else
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Sam Yule @tukeybackyards.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Imo, at best it's theatre, at worst it's sabotage/economic terrorism. Will be interesting to see how farmers/the food supply are impacted come the summer.
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Unusual Whales @unusualwhales.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Trump has fired the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra. Chopra’s tenure saw the removal of medical debt from credit reports and limits on overdrafts penalties, per AP
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