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How Data Nerds Have Fun: BBQ, Bikes, and Books
Actionaut Shaun Davis’ “Analytics Advantage” is a weekly newsletter of actionable insights, proven strategies, and top tips for getting the most from your data and making high-stakes decisions with confidence. Here’s a sample issue. We hope you’ll subscribe.
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Tracking Everything for Fun
Everyone loves the Florida beaches, especially in South Florida. But it’s not a surfing hot spot like California or Hawaii. The surf is temperamental and subject to weird physics (see Refraction Swell). The pursuit and tracking of when and where there’d be waves, much less good ones, sparked my love of data analysis. This was my first experience of using data in everyday hobbies. The first database I ever built was to track surfing metrics. I estimated the size, cleanliness, crowd size, and “fun” factor of the waves. It wasn’t until years later that I realized how different this was. I thought everyone lived their lives through data (and I still do).
So, now you know what I do for fun – I collect data!
Here’s a rundown of my hobbies and how I use them to improve my data practice.
BBQ: Smoking Meat with Analytics
There’s a joke out there that white guys have to make a choice as they approach 40. You can be interested in BBQ or WWII history. I chose BBQ.
I love cooking for friends and seeing them enjoy a delicious cut of meat. But smoking meat takes a long time, so I sought out data to help. I use Meater probes that collect data about the meat’s temperature, the smoker’s temperature, and estimate how long until it’s done. This data streams to my phone and lets me keep an eye on all of the key metrics.
But, I immediately noticed the cook-time estimates weren’t accurate. Why? What’s known as the “stall” in BBQ circles happens when the water in the meat starts to evaporate, keeping the meat at the same temperature for hours. There are various ways to get through the stall faster, but they’re all cheating.
The cook-time estimates are wrong because they use a short window of data and apply linear regression to estimate when the meat will be done. Naturally, I’ve looked up how to hack their data (it’s doable) and thought of ways to make a better estimate.
Mountain Biking: Tracking My Rides
Tallahassee isn’t on the coast, and the Gulf Coast is even worse for surfing than the Atlantic Coast where I grew up.
But we have tons of trails in our area, so I took up mountain biking. I love the focus it requires and how it pits you and your body against nature. It helps me relax, get outside, and get away from screens, where I spend all of my working hours.
And, of course, I use an app to track my rides.
I use Strava to track my rides and segment times, showing distance, effort, and route. As soon as I get back, I’m checking my stats and looking for ways to explore new locations and improve my times.
Books: Non-Fiction and Sci-Fi Favorites
While I use data in BBQ and biking, some of my favorite escapes aren’t directly related to analytics. Instead, I’ll read sci-fi books and period pieces, watch mind-bending movies, and listen to historical podcasts. When I read, I tend to enjoy nonfiction pieces. Here are some of my favorite authors and books:
- Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park, Lost World, Andromeda Strain, Prey (scary parallels to the AI revolution)
- Michael Lewis (before he lost his mind with Sam Bankman-Fried): The Big Short, Liar’s Poker, Moneyball
- The Lincoln Lawyer Series by Michael Connelly
All of these books share one theme: They go deep into a subject and reveal deep truths about the characters or their subjects.
Movies: Christopher Nolan’s Mind-Bending Masterpieces
My favorite director is Christopher Nolan, who directed The Dark Knight Series, Memento, Dunkirk, Inception, and Interstellar.
He has incepted (see what I did there?) me with an obsession around time, time-space, and its relativity. I love getting lost in theories about quantum physics and how it does or doesn’t explain our world.
Some of my favorite Christoper Nolan films
Podcasts: Deep Dives, Not Data-Focused
Surprisingly, my go-to podcasts aren’t very data-focused, but they offer deep explorations of fascinating topics:
- Masters in Business with Barry Ritholtz: Goes deep into finance, business, and economics.
- All-In Podcast: Fascinating takes on current events in tech and the wider world.
- Hardcore History with Dan Carlin: Comprehensive looks at historical topics like WWI, WWII, and the Celtic Wars. His series on WWI,
Destroyer of Worlds, is 40 hours long—fascinating, terrifying, and enthralling.
How do you get away from the 1’s and the 0’s?
Share your go-to escapes from data and analytics.
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