Chris Roat

Many hats: Dad, former Googler, former Physicist, current Data Scientist, Election Reform Advocate

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@RossDynamicsLab Any chance the model files were made available for the water wheel? Otherwise, I may have to reinvent the, uh, wheel.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@mcuban @VP TRANSPARENCY IS EVERYTHING. I'm a data-nerd/software-guy (particle physics PhD, 10 year Google veteran, astrophysics, neuroscience) who has above average healthcare costs. Trying to collect relevant info to make informed/optimal decisions gives even me a giant headache.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@3blue1brown Ranked Choice Voting for multi-winner contests could use some data viz help. It should be the de-facto voting method for city councils. But the algorithm is sometimes difficult to explain.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@cynthiaccox Saw your healthcare pricing advocacy in NBC news. Data nerds like me could build tools for picking insurance&providers. CA ACA gold&plat. plans are rip-offs. I have high costs on a silver plan, which is a $5k gamble that I won't have huge expenses or lower expenses.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@BNativephd4 @KQEDForum @mlagos @ericjaye @NPR @MilesParks @AaronTiedemann @poliscigrl I work with high school students to implement RCV for their student governments. They understand it in less than 5 minutes. Everybody has preferences and understands how to rank them - whether its for types of ice cream or a slate of candidates.
No one likes vote splitting.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@FelixSargent @KQEDForum @mlagos @ericjaye @NPR @MilesParks @AaronTiedemann @poliscigrl Approval voting is nice, and theoretically could work. Unfortunately, in practice, it has challenges. In Fargo, ND and St Louis, MO (where it is used), the candidates devolve to asking their supporters to "only vote for one" -- which negates the benefits of approval voting.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@mjdix8 @KQEDForum @mlagos @ericjaye @NPR @MilesParks @AaronTiedemann @poliscigrl Without RCV, Kim likely would have dropped out and supported Leno (or vice-versa). Breed would still win: RCV final round shows Breed would have beat Leno 116k to 113k votes.

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@mjdix8 @KQEDForum @mlagos @ericjaye @NPR @MilesParks @AaronTiedemann @poliscigrl Though I feel for people who did not like Jean Quan, this claim is not factual. Perata would have lost head-to-head. Perata could have won in a old-school election where "vote-splitting" occurs (think Perot in '92 or Nader in '00).

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@TeamYouTube <sniff> What's the rationale? I just wanted to give my daughter the chance to rehearse for her school musical by uploading instrumental and guide tracks to her device. </sniff>

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@elonmusk Best thing done since buying Twitter, but could be better: charge enough to remove ads. If X can't survive a direct payment model, then it shouldn't be a product. (Or you just have to admit your business model is advertisers as your users.) https://t.co/Kwqlrish6w

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@TeamYouTube @haimonas I cannot find in that link how to set things up so my kid (supervised account) can upload songs to her YouTube music account. She wants to rehearse the tracks for her school musical. Is YouTube music not the site to use?

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@rnakashi @MarkRober @thephysicsgirl Haven't done the course, but did subscribe to @MarkRober's new company's -- @CrunchLabs -- monthly build boxes. The first one was a hit (literally, we hit many things, including the dog...).

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

Hey @MarkRober -- look familiar? My daughter and I finished our workbench over the Thanksgiving break.
And with her t-shirt, my daughter is sending @thephysicsgirl best wishes in her battle with long covid. (Bonus for anyone recognizing my t-shirt)

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

@Ayush_Sapkota__ @MarkRober @thephysicsgirl We based it off of what Mark had built: https://t.co/X4WoERcF9H

[Chris Roat @chrisroat]

Advertising does *not* make the internet free. Framed as a letter to Netflix, the following is also a swipe at social media sites and a warning to newspapers https://t.co/8m8saLQtIP